Mingyue of the Great Song Dynasty http://www./0_1/Chapter 33: Is the temple high (2)

South of Chang'an City, Du Kangsi.

“Good place.”

With Wang Mu's careful support, Wang Mang sat down slowly, raised his head and looked at the furnishings in the room, and nodded.

It was only morning, and there were no customers in the restaurant. But for the sake of quietness, Wang Mu naturally asked the store to arrange a second-floor compartment. There were only two of them in the compartment, and even Han Zhuo was not brought by Wang Mang.

The furnishings in the compartment are very simple. In addition to a screen at the entrance, there are several pottery on the shelf. The seats are placed next to the window, and the window pages are closed tightly, blocking the overwhelming snow and the biting cold wind outside.

"Yes, sometimes, my disciples will come here alone to drink two glasses. Is their food better or second, and most importantly, the wine better."

"It doesn't matter whether it's good or bad anymore. It's just a matter of mood..." Wang Mang waved his hand and a faint smile appeared on his face.

"Yes. I understand." Wang Mu nodded and sat down opposite Wang Mang. He had already instructed the shopkeeper to hide two stoves under the table in front of them. Even though the windows were wide open, at least his legs would not be exposed to the wind.

Wang Mang's upper body was wearing a pure white fox fur cloak, wrapping himself tightly. However, the cold wind that occasionally penetrated into the cracks in the window still seemed to be somewhat deficient.

"Teacher, add two more braziers." Wang Mu asked softly.

Wang Mang just shook his head, but instead stretched out his hand and gently pushed open the window. A cold wind squeezing the snowflakes, rushed into the window and hit Wang Mang's face. His body trembled involuntarily, but there was no trace of chill on his face, but there was infinite melancholy.

"Teacher, close the window..." Wang Mu frowned unbearably and asked Wang Mang softly. Although the fox fur is warm enough, at Wang Mang's age, if he suffers a little cold, he will have a headache.

"No, no need." Wang Mang stretched out his hand and stood in front of him, but his eyes were still looking at the snowy street outside the window without a moment.

"...Yes." Wang Mu sighed helplessly, and could only bend down and tug the charcoal fire in the two stoves at the bottom of the table to a higher level.

"It's been twenty years... Just twenty years, it's fleeting." Wang Mang sighed softly, staring at the heavy snow outside the window with a daze, as if he was talking to Wang Mu, or as if he was just talking to himself.

Wang Mu just stared at the teacher in front of him. The wrinkles on his face, sparse gray beard, and his turbid eyes all reminded him that the teacher was old.

Even the confidence and passion that had always been in my eyes had gradually passed with the years.

Wang Mu knew that he had never been happy for a day in the position of Emperor.

"Twenty years ago, there was such a heavy snowfall in Xindu." Wang Mang murmured, stretching out his hand to Wang Mu: "Wine comes."

Wang Mu quickly scooped up a spoonful of wine warmed by charcoal fire from the wine bottle on the table, put it into the wine bottle, and handed it to Wang Mang's hands.

"It's indeed a good wine." Wang Mang took a sip and nodded: "It's good snow, so it should be made of good wine. But twenty years ago, I didn't know how to taste wine. At that time, wine was just a tool to pass the time in a long wait. But now... I can taste the quality of the wine. Over the past twenty years, I have really changed a lot."

After saying that, he patted the white fox fur wrapped in his body with self-deprecating self-deprecating : "Power makes people corrupt, absolute power makes people corrupt. This is true that I do not deceive. Even I gradually begin to fall..."

"Just a piece of clothing is nothing. Teacher, isn't your body more important than this fox fur... no, is the whole world more important?" Wang Mu shook his head indignantly.

Wang Mang smiled without comment, stretched out his hand again and pointed at the snowflakes in the sky outside the window: "Zihe, do you know what I was thinking about on that snowy night in Xindu twenty years ago?"

Wang Mu shook his head: "Disciple doesn't know."

Wang Mang sighed softly: "Twenty years ago, I was still in Xindu's own fiefdom, waiting for the opportunity to return to the court. And on that day, I finally waited. Han Zhuo brought me the news of his return from Chang'an. Although the official edict was only put into my hands a few days later, I had successfully walked out of the cage that night."

"At that time, the ambition in my heart was so fierce that it could melt the whole world. I wanted to change the world, make it what I wanted it to be, and make it what it should be. At that time, I was eager for power endlessly because I thought that as long as I had power, the world could develop in the direction I wanted."

"But..." A bitter smile appeared on Wang Mang's face: "But I was still too naive at that time."

"Teacher..." Wang Mu stretched out his hand and held Wang Mang's hand. The dry hands were cold and weak.

"You know, I don't believe in ghosts, gods, and all things that are strange and powerful. But I only believe in the existence of one thing." Wang Mang sighed: "That... is the way of heaven."

"Yes, teacher, you often say that destiny is on you. But... I have never understood why you sneered at all the sayings of ghosts and gods, but believed in destiny?" Wang Mu nodded and asked softly.
Chapter completed!