Zhao Liulang, unaware of anything, continued with a worried face: "Aside from my monthly salary, what other inco do I have? You and Bai Er have estates, businesses..."
Bai Shan imdiately cut him off, "An estate isn’t hard to co by. Even if State Duke Zhao isn’t willing to give you one, I don’t believe Madam Yang wouldn’t. At the end of the day, you’re just lazy and don’t want to manage it yourself."
He said, "Besides, with the way you spend, not just one estate, even ten or eight wouldn’t be enough for you."
Such things Bai Shan wouldn’t have said to Zhao Liulang before. After all, having a shallow acquaintance makes it unsuitable for deep discussions. But after a year or two of much interaction, their relationship had beco deeper, and Bai Shan then said, "Enjoynt should have limits, you..."
"Enough, enough, at ho I hear my father and others nagging enough. I didn’t expect you, who are younger than , to be even more old-fashioned."
Bai Shan shook his head and said, "This isn’t old-fashioned. I’m not stopping you from having fun. Life is rare, and since we’re in this world for a short while, naturally, we should enjoy it happily."
"I thought you were going to be like my father and say sothing about life needing to taste sweet, sour, bitter, spicy, and achieving great things."
Bai Shan said, "If you can be sweet, why go looking for bitterness?"
He said, "All this sweet, sour, bitter, spicy—those are fake. People are willing to suffer just for the sweet that follows. Because without suffering, there’s no sweet; one has no choice but to suffer. If you could always have sugar, who would toss it aside for bran?"
Zhao Liulang paused for a mont, then gave a thumbs up and said, "Good brother, you’re insightful, I think even my father falls short."
Manbao just rolled her eyes and said, "It’s as if State Duke Zhao doesn’t know this; he’s been through more paths than we’ve had grains of salt, doesn’t he know?"
She said, "He knows, it’s either he didn’t make it clear, or you didn’t understand."
Bai Erlang laughed: "It must be the latter."
"Get lost!" Zhao Liulang said, "How co I didn’t understand? I’ve always understood..."
Bai Shan said, "Then tell , what did you understand?"
Zhao Liulang opened his mouth and couldn’t say anything for a while.
Bai Erlang imdiately shouted: "See, you still don’t understand, do you?"
Manbao chuckled along and then seriously said to him, "I think that even if I don’t achieve great things or beco a marquis or minister, if I decide to enjoy life, I should still be without guilt to the heavens, to my parents, and not let down future family mbers."
She pointed at Bai Shan and said, "Even if I don’t beco a doctor or serve as an official, in the future I must support my parents, be able to sustain myself, take care of my husband, raise children, and based on that, visit mountains I want to see, admire waters I want to behold, listen to music I love, even dance dances that make happy. That’s enjoying, seeing you’re living day by day, needing to borrow money even to go to Spring Breeze Pavilion, it’s so boring."
"When watching entertainers dance, you still worry about repaying debts, what kind of joy is that?"
Zhao Liulang wanted to say he wasn’t worried; usually, he rembered only afterward.
But after opening his mouth, realizing there’s little difference between the two, he shut it.
Manbao waved her hand, her eyes bright, saying, "Real happiness is going to Spring Breeze Pavilion to see singers perform, taking your wife and children along, waving this hand, ordering whatever wine and dish with no care for the cost. If my dad likes it, he’ll gift an entertainer, if my mom likes it, she’ll gift a musician. Enjoying alone isn’t as fun as enjoying with everyone, that’s true happiness."
Bai Shan and Bai Erlang: ...
Zhao Liulang looked at Zhou Man for a while without being able to speak; it took him a long ti to finally find his voice, "You..."
The voice was a bit hoarse, he cleared his throat and looked at Bai Shan, suddenly feeling so sympathy, inexplicably a bit envious, with complex feelings montarily not knowing where to start.
Bai Shan wiped his face and directly pushed his face aside, "Don’t speak, I understand."
Manbao lifted her eyelids to look at the three, "What’s wrong?"
The three kept shaking their heads, "Nothing."
Manbao just snorted and took it as they agreed with her perspective.
Zhao Liulang had been hit hard today to the point he rembered his ultimate goal much later, "No, I originally ca to discuss business with you, who wants to talk about these... these..."
Bai Erlang thoughtfully said, "The aning of life."
Zhao Liulang gave him a glance, "Precisely!"
Bai Shan calmly handed the copied docunt to Manbao, "Weren’t you the one who brought it up?"
Manbao opened to check, casually saying, "If you don’t figure out the aning of life, can you really call it living?"
"Hey, I think your argunt is too broad," Zhao Liulang said, "Even if I can’t match you, I’m still better than Lu Yue, right? Even better than most people in the world, right? Those common folk outside, not to ntion thinking about it, can’t even touch its edge."
"That’s because they don’t have your conditions," Manbao said, "They’re still struggling for survival while you are more for enjoynt. But if those struggling for survival can ponder these, that’s true wisdom."
Manbao pointed at herself, then at Bai Shan and Bai Er, "We read because we’re fed, and only then ponder these things."
"Stop!" Zhao Liulang held up his hand to interrupt her, thinking if he let these three speak anymore, he wouldn’t get to say what he wanted before dark today, "I just want to ask if when you go to the Western Regions this ti, do you want to take the opportunity to do a business deal, like gemstones, spices, and prized horses from the Western Regions, whatever is valuable is in, and if so, count in."
Zhao Liulang quickly finished his speech, afraid of being interrupted again.
After speaking, he savored it a bit, feeling like his words sounded exceptionally cool, he proudly said, "How about it, I’m also motivated, not just about fun exclusively."
Manbao said, "First, you’re too late saying this, now counting people wanting to bring things from the Western Regions, count how many people in my family, how many in Bai Shan’s family, how many in Bai Er’s family..."
"Plus the two princesses, Second Sister Fu, Madam Tang, Madam Yang, Director Xiao, Imperial Doctor Liu, Imperial Doctor Zheng, Shopkeeper Zheng..."
Every ti Manbao counted with her finger, Zhao Liulang’s mouth opened a bit more, eventually he found he couldn’t open it any further and closed it.
"Second, we’re carrying lots of luggage, money is heavy too, even if replaced with gold, it’s not convenient to carry; accidentally getting robbed, whose would be lost?"
Zhao Liulang imdiately said, "Mine!"
Manbao gave him an approving look, "Just for that, I’ll make room for so."
Zhao Liulang, ready with words, suddenly choked, so simple?
Manbao then turned to Bai Shan and said, "Then take gold to exchange for gemstones and spices, it probably won’t take up much space."
Bai Shan held back a laugh and nodded.
Zhao Liulang felt a breath stuck in his chest, after a long ti, he said, "You could at least let finish persuading before agreeing."
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