I was Idle and Cool Chapter 1

The beginning of spring has just passed and the sky has not warmed up yet.

It snowed last night, covering the mountains with layer of silver.

On the mountainside was the famous Jokhang Temple in the capital.

There was thick snow on top of the golden glazed roof. After noon, the snow was dripping and melting down the eaves.

The sky was grey, a little gloomy and depressing, and there was no sign of clearing up.

Abbot Jueyuan was very old, his face was full of wrinkles.

Walking on the mountain road, he looked down and glanced at the figure in front of him. He said, "Ten days later, it will be his fiftieth birthday... Shouldn’t you go back?"

Gu Juefei didn't speak.

He was a scholar, but he was not frail.

His back was as straight as green bamboo.

He was tall and wore a dark blue bamboo-patterned satin robe. Although he also wore a large crane-patterned cloak, it couldn't hide his broad shoulders and narrow waist.

The eyebrows were like it was painted manually, and the temples was like it was carved by a sculptor.

His eyes were silent and deep, and he was born with a good appearance.

Six years ago, when the arrogance from becoming famous at the young age was washed away, and under the trials and tribulations during the years, he has become a calm and mature person who was as deep as an abyss and as stable as Mount Tai.

If he had not witnessed his changes with his own eyes, it would be difficult for abbot Jueyuan to connect the past with this person today.

Seeing that the other party did not speak, Jueyuan sighed.

“Although I don't know why you went up the mountain, how can there be a long-term feud between father and son? Besides, it has been six years. In a few years, he will soon be old enough to retire."

“I heard that the second young master has passed the Juren exam. There will be another imperial examination this year, so he should take part in this spring."

"You are the heir of the family, if you go back and give him some pointers..."

"Where did you hear about this?"

Gu Juefei heard the word ‘heir’ and finally got impatient. He lifted his eyelids and interrupted Jueyuan with a half-smile.

If you look closely, you will find that the bottom of his eyes is covered with a layer of ice.

Jueyuan knew that he could not hide it: "It's your father. He came here yesterday afternoon and talked with me in the meditation room for a long time. He didn't go down until hai shi*. At that time, the snow was heavy…”

[TN: The period of the day from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m.]

Gu Chengqian, the supreme master of the current dynasty. He was the first among the first-class officials.

Thirteen years ago, in order to protected the third prince when the palace was in chaos, he was shot in the leg by a stray arrow.

Later, when the third prince ascended the throne, he was named as Taishi, but the root cause of the disease fell. Every time the weather was cloudy, wet, and cold, his leg was in unbearable pain, as if needle, axe, and chisel repeatedly grinding down his bones.

The new emperor remembered his meritorious service and was sympathetic to his hard work for the country. He was granted special permission to stay in his residence during rain or snow.

But last night, it was freezing cold and the snow was heavy.

Abbot Jueyuan remembered that when this important court official who held the power in his hand opened the door to leave, the white hair on his head looked the same as the snowflakes dropping in the cold night.

Sometimes, you don’t need to say anything, especially when it comes to smart people.

Jueyuan glanced at Gu Juefei, and he fell into an expected silent.

There was no single pedestrian on the long mountain road. On the snow that has begun to melt, there was only a string of footprints left by abbot Jueyuan when he came up to find him.

In the temple on the mountainside, the voice chanting ‘Buddha says Amitabha Sutra’ was faintly heard.

He didn’t know when the wind began blow, it was rather cold.

Gu Juefei only felt that his feet were a little stiff, and then he remembered that he was going down the mountain.

He started walking again, but he still didn't speak.

Abbot Jueyuan didn't bother him and let him think about it slowly. He couldn't help but think of those old things inside his heart.

Gu Juefei, formerly known as ‘Gu Da Gongzi*’.

[TN: Eldest young master.]

Born from the famous Gu family in the capital, he was the first legitimate son of the main house, and he has read poetry and books since childhood.

He studied under Youyang Xiansheng* at the age of eleven, went out to study at the age of fifteen, and returned to the capital at the age of nineteen. At that time, he was already a well-known young talent in the world.

[TN: Sir or Mister, this term was used among scholars.]

On the day of his Guan Li* ceremony, he visited many famous houses in the capital.

[TN: Capping ceremony for a young man on reaching 20.]

Gu Taishi looked solemn and took the word ‘Rang Xian’ for this eldest son.

Soon after, Gu Juefei participated in the imperial examination.

All the way from the first provincial examination and aptitude test, he amazed the government and the public. It was not until the imperial examination that he was pressed down by the emperor because of his young age and declared as Tanhualang*.

[TN: Number three in imperial examination.]

He was also the youngest Tanhua in Daxia.

At that time, which ladies in the capital who would not want to marry him?

The matchmakers almost broke the threshold of Gu family’s mansion because of this.

But no one could have imagined that in that year, the old master of the Gu family drove a crane to the west. Gu Juefei fell out with his family for no reason, came to Jokhang Temple on a rainy night, and never returned home.

How many people was confused?

A twenty-three-year-old Tanhualang, whose father was also the supreme master of the dynasty, put everything down and said that he would give up, and went up to live in a temple, becoming a disciple of Lao Shizi!

People pondered over and over and finally reached a conclusion -

Hurt by love.

Rumor said that it was Wei Yi, the third girl of Wei Taifu* family, whom Gu Da Gongzi greatly admired, was elected to the palace at the age of nineteen and became the emperor's favorite concubine.

[TN: Imperial preceptor.]

Coincidentally, it was just before Gu Juefei lived in Jokhang Temple.

As for whether Gu Juefei was infatuated?

No one knows.

Even seeing his changes in the past six years, Jueyuan couldn’t explain it clearly.

Jueyuan walked and thought about it all the way.

No matter how deep these thoughts were, they were like a breeze, and there was no trace in the end.

After a while, the two men who had walked down the mountain one after the other and arrived in front of Jokhang Temple.

Walk alongside the wall and you will find the gate of the temple.

At this time, a group of people came from down the mountain.

There were men and women, all dressed neatly and plainly, surrounding a small green-curtained sedan, and stopped in front of the mountain gate.

As soon as the sedan landed, a girl in a green jacket with a double bun took two steps. When she reached the sedan, she hurriedly greeted the bearer.

The voice was soft.

Seeing this scene from a distance, Gu Juefei stopped.

The sedan chair was used by a female family member, so he didn't want to rush forward.

At first glance, there was nothing special about this group of people, but he could keenly sense that this was a preparation from a big family.

Also, it's kind of weird.

In such weather, and it was not a festival, there should not be any pilgrims that went to the temple.

Abbot Jueyuan also looked from a distance, but his old eyes showed compassion and sighed: "It's a sedan from the general's mansion. There was a serious illness a while ago, otherwise they should have come half a month ago.”

He didn't mention who was seriously ill, but after Gu Juefei heard the words ‘General's Mansion’, the doubts in his heart were immediately resolved.

So, there was a moment of trance.

"It turned out to be her..."

The person sitting inside the sedan was probably Lu shi, right?

The wife of the head of the general's mansion, and the widow of General Xue Kuang.

This year, she should be about twenty-seven years old, a mother of four children.

Eleven years ago, she was known as the three beauties in the capital along with Wei Yi and Sun Xuedai.

At that time, because of Wei Yi, Gu Juefei also vaguely knew about this Lu shi.

Different from Wei Yi's begonias temperament and Sun Xuedai’s cold elegant temperament, Lu Jinxi was light and graceful, a person with soft temperament.

Even though her appearance was equally outstanding, she really has no sense of existence under the light of the other two.

In the year after her Ji Li* ceremony, she was granted a marriage by the new emperor and married Xue Kuang, the second son of the general's residence.

[TN: Coming of age ceremony for women.]

Xue Kuang was born in the general’s family. At young ae, he has gone on several expeditions with his father. He has iron and blood pride that other noble children will never have. He also has attracted many young ladies’ attention.

When the marriage decree went down, the other party was still at the border. After receiving the decree, they rushed back to the capital to get married.

However, he returned to the capital with an enchanting woman and a child with a leg problem.

When people heard about this, the whole capital exploded.

No one expected that Xue Kuang, who guarded the border, had already taken a concubine and have a five-year-old child!

Xue Kuang was twenty-two years old and he was just a young man. It was normal to have a concubine.

It's just that he even has a big son. The family members didn’t know what to say, but there was a marriage given by the emperor. He came back to the capital with a concubine. Wasn’t this beating Lu family's face?

Lord Lu loved his daughter so much that he was so angry and knelt in front of the palace gate that night, scolding the man for being rude and shameless, for breaking etiquette, and for not giving people a way to live. Crying to heaven and earth, and begged the new emperor to take back his life.

But the emperor already opened his mouth, the golden and jade rules, how could it be changed at will?

In the end, Lord Lu was persuaded by his colleagues to go back.

Two days later, the concubine that Xue Kuang brought back caught an illness because she was unaccustomed to the conditions in the capital and unfortunately passed away. She was carried out of the house, wrapped in straw mats, and thrown into a mass grave.

Probably the people in the general's mansion also knew that it was their Xue mansion's fault for this matter.

However, the five-year-old child was not disposed of and was raised in the house.

The Lu family was a family of scholars. He never thought of driving people to a dead end, and he was not so vicious that he would even take the life of a lame child. Then again, he was still a blood Xue family. He has to call the Lu young lady as his mother.

On the day they got married, the family swallowed all kinds of resentment, and reluctantly married their precious girl into Xue mansion.

Xue family eldest son participated in a war few years ago and was buried in the battlefield. The second son, Xue Kuang, became the head of Xue family.

Although Lu Jinxi has a gentle temperament, cowardly, and has no means, because of Xue Kuang's identity, she also became the wife in charge of the general's mansion without any risk, and managed the house affairs with reluctance.

In the same year, she became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter.

The following year, Xue Kuang was transferred to the frontier and began to lead a war.

He defeated the enemy in three years, recovered Yumen in five years, and took charge of the tiger token. He dispatched millions of troops, got an official seal, and became a general.

As far as Daxia was concerned, it was undoubtedly a rare period of ‘peace’.

During this time, Xue Kuang rarely returned home.

The young couple rarely met each other.

Lu Jinxi was sealed as a first-class official, gave birth to two daughters for him one after another, and finally conceived her third child in the sixth year after marriage.

In that year, Xiongnu invaded the west on a large scale.

Xue Kuang had been victorious and undefeated in hundreds of battles. He was already the brightest flag in Daxia, and he was naturally duty bound to respond. After taking command, he immediately sent troops and marched to the west.

In January, in the battle of Hanshan Pass, Daxia army defeated Xiongnu and completely repelled the enemy.

But at the same time as the good news came from the border, a shocking news also came, shaking the court and the public——

Xue Kuang, a 27-year-old general, died in the battle and sacrificed his life for the country.

Xue Kuang fought against the Huns for a long time and killed countless enemies. All ethnic groups in the western region hate him to the bone.

In the battle of Hanshan Pass, Xiongnu army got an order. If Xue Kuang died, the 300,000-strong army of Daxia would be vulnerable and there would be nothing to worry about.

Therefore, in that battle, they must behead Xue Kuang at all cost!

The surviving soldiers said that it was an extremely brutal siege.

In the end, they didn't even find Xue Kuang's corpse. They only pieced together his broken sword and silver spear...

After hearing the news, Lu Jinxi in the General's Mansion was so shocked that she fainted.

She also gave birth prematurely because of this fright.

At that time, the situation was extremely dangerous. The emperor gave an order to the imperial hospital: Whether it was Xue Kuang's widow or his posthumous son, neither adult or child were allowed to have an accident!

As a result, the imperial hospital’s doctors went into the general's mansion and made a mess.

Fortunately, God was merciful. Lu Jinxi took a risk and came back from the gate of hell and gave birth to Lin’er safely, the only legitimate son of Xue Kuang.

She wiped her tears and named her son "Chi".

Later...

Gu Juefei was not very clear.

Because not long after that, he became disheartened and went to Jokhang Temple in anger, never returned to the capital.

He also knew that Lu Jinxi was too soft-tempered, so she was easily bullied at home.

In the large general's mansion, there was tai furen*, the eldest princess on the head, little uncles and aunts, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and four children below, one of which was not her own, how could her life go smoothly?

[TN: Address reference to somebody else's mother.]

The monk in the temple sighed, saying that the general's wife was pitiful.

Xue family placed a tablet for Xue Kuang at Jokhang Temple. His wife would come to see it on the 20^th of each month and add some donation to the temple along the way.

If Gu Juefei was the youngest Tanhua Lang, Xue Kuang was the youngest general.

However, they were by no means of the same kind, so Gu Juefei has never had a deep friendship with this person.

After all, he didn’t like Xue Kuang. He brought his concubine and son back from the border, leaving his wife ashamed.

Unexpectedly, there was no intersection in the past, but today, one was going to worship in the Buddhist hall, and the other was living in seclusion in a meditation room.

The eyes were like ancient wells, there was no waves.

Gu Juefei looked at the sedan chair quietly, and his eyes didn’t even have half of his previous anger, as if he was thinking about something.

In front of the mountain gate, the sedan chair has stopped.

"Madam, we're here."

The green-clothed maid called Bai Lu stepped forward and opened the sedan curtain.

Inside the sedan, a woman moon-white skirt was faintly exposed, and several gold flowers were hooked on the top with a dark silver thread, which added soft, transparent, and clean atmosphere to the wearer.

She moved, bowed her head slightly, and went out of the sedan chair.

Both hands were carrying a rabbit fur lotus-embroidered hand warmer.

From Gu Juefei's place, he could not see her face, only her silhouette.

The moon-white skirt was covered with a mink cloak to block the cold wind outside.

She was slender and graceful, her skin was fairer than ice and snow, and her head was covered with blue silk that was comparable to crow's feather. There was nothing on the white jade-like earlobes, and the sandalwood light pink lips were slightly pursed.

There was an unspeakable difference in her, who was slowly raised her head and looked towards the high mountain gate.

When the mountain wind blew, her back was straight, and she didn’t move, which was a bit out of the ordinary.

There corners of her clothes swung gently.

Such gesture...

Gu Juefei suddenly frowned as he watched her, feeling a little strange and unfamiliar.

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