"In spring sleep... dawn steals past,
Everywhere... I hear birds cry.
Last night... the wind and rain,
How many blossoms... fell?"
In a tavern beside the Zhang River, Liu Heihuang swayed his head, cup in hand, with the distant river off to one side, and recited a poem from the tavern's whitewashed wall.
What awaited him, however, was neither cheering nor applause, but strange looks from Cao Chen and the other Qinghe brothers.
"What are you all staring at me for?" Having finished his recitation, Liu Hei was instead displeased with their reaction.
"Old Liu!" Cao Chen was utterly speechless. "Don't you know what you look like? Your stubble goes all the way down your neck, yet you insist on copying other people and reciting poetry? Now that you have some free time, why not go to the matchmaking gathering down south and settle your marriage first? Besides, it's summer already, and you're still chanting about sleeping through a spring dawn. Is that really timely?"
"Elder Cao, you're just... just hopeless!" Faced with this string of questions exposing his shortcomings, Liu Heihuang showed no embarrassment and immediately struck back. "Didn't the Chief tell us himself last month that camp commanders ought to read? Even if we don't understand the classics, histories, philosophical works, and literary collections, we should at least read novels like the Biography of Li Yue, or, failing that, memorize a few lines of poetry... how does that become untimely when it comes to you? Keep going like this, I say, and you won't keep command of your camp!"
For once, Cao Chen's face darkened. "Old Liu, you're standing safely on shore. Don't gloat over our troubles!"
Liu Heihuang chuckled and sat down like a victorious rooster, paying no heed to his fellow townsman's hurt feelings.
But the