Cueillir des fleurs et sourire

Chapitre 43

What he wanted was not power, not money, but happiness. He had seen many people with shallow desires who easily gave up everything; some only needed a little temptation to fall into a self-satisfied trap of self-pity and spend their lives wallowing in self-pity. But Wan Yuyuedan was different!

He wants everything, and he goes all out to get it—even by any means necessary.

He is a gentle person, but his gentleness is extremely domineering.

He knows how to follow his heart and how to be good to himself.

That being said, he is a selfish person, but also a selfish person with great courage.

There aren't many people in this world who dare to boldly and decisively pursue their own happiness, and even if he uses any means necessary, he doesn't harm others.

Is this the limit that a wise and capable king can achieve for himself? Tang Tianshu suddenly thought of Li Lingyan.

Compared to him, Ling Yan is a fool.

Li Lingyan never pursued anything; he didn't even love women.

He gave all his love to his family: Li Shiyu, Li Shuangli, Madam Li, and Li Chenglou.

He himself had never gained anything; he had no desires other than indulging the desires of the people he loved.

In fact, compared to Li Lingyan, Li Lingyan is more like a good person, while Wan Yuyuedan is more like a bad person. The only difference between them is that Lingyan only cares about the few people he cares about and doesn't care about the lives of others, while Wan Yuyuedan does care.

Tang Tianshu was envious of Wan Yuyue at that moment. As a king, being able to do this much for himself was truly admirable. "Ma Xian is in my room," he actually replied.

Wan Yuyuedan's needle tip slowly left Tang Tianshu's forehead. "I am grateful to you."

"No, I admire you." Tang Tianshu and Wan Yuyuedan suddenly felt a sense of mutual appreciation. "You are a very honest person."

Wan Yuyue gazed at him for a moment, then finally smiled slightly. "I haven't always been a very honest person either, until I met the most dishonest person in the world. I finally understand how one should act to make oneself happy." He even smiled gently. "Only when you are happy first can you make the people who love you happy, right?"

Tang Tianshu was actually infected by his smile and smiled slightly as well. In any case, Wan Yuyuedan was always a very relaxing and comfortable person. "That's because you don't have to carry anything, so you have the right to be honest," he said tactfully.

Wan Yuyue tilted his head and thought for a moment, then admitted, "I admit that selfishness requires qualifications. But since I don't have any burdens, I must be selfish for a while, otherwise I will regret it for the rest of my life." His eyes were dark and bright. "I don't want to make others happy; I want to be happy myself too."

“I’ve always looked down on the so-called chivalrous way of life; they’re all too pretentious and disgusting… But today, based on your honesty, I’ll give you Ma Xian.” Tang Tianshu said, word by word, “It’s in the ninth book on the third row of my bookshelf; it’s a thin leaf. If you can eventually get there, it’s yours.”

"Are you encouraging me to mobilize troops to attack the Blood Sacrifice Society?" Wan Yuyuedan asked with a half-smile.

"If you could have fought your way there, I suppose you would be dead by now," Tang Tianshu said with a smile. "So I must send you there beforehand, lest I break my promise."

"Thank you so much." Wan Yuyue smiled. "I would cry for you if you died."

"What are those two saying that's making them want to cry? It's disgusting." A voice suddenly interrupted from the side. Sheng Xiang had somehow gotten behind Wan Yuyuedan without anyone noticing. Not only did Tang Tianshu not notice, but Wan Yuyuedan didn't notice either.

When did he arrive? Wan Yuyue exclaimed "Ah!" and laughed, "You gave me quite a fright."

Shengxiang glanced at Tang Tianshu and praised, "You're Tang Tianshu? You look very clever. Here's what we'll do." He clapped his hands and suddenly had a brilliant idea, "How about we play chess? Awan, you, me, Rongrong, and Yumutou, let's play chess and see who's the smartest."

Tang Tianshu was dumbfounded. "Play chess?" He was a prisoner of Bi Qiuhan's side. Why would Shengxiang want to drag him to play chess?

“We don’t mistreat prisoners of war. Come on, we’re bored anyway, everyone else is busy building houses.” The “others” that Shengxiang referred to were the Wudang Taoists who were working hard to put out the fire. “Let’s play chess. I’m sure I’m smarter than you, you believe me?”

Does this person have no sense of right and wrong? Tang Tianshu glanced at Wan Yuyuedan with a ridiculous expression, and seeing that he smiled slightly as if it were nothing out of the ordinary, "If Shengxiang wants to play chess, then let's play chess. But how can five people play chess?"

"Five people... uh... let's play cards then." Shengxiang's eyes lit up. "Shall we play cards?"

"Playing cards?" Tang Tianshu asked in astonishment.

“Rongrong and Yumutou definitely won’t play cards. Awan, you have to play with me. Also, you, Tang Tianshu, are a prisoner and can’t have any objections. We’re one short…” Shengxiang clapped her hands, “Let’s call Tong Toutuo to play cards. He’ll definitely do it.”

"Shengxiang, I can't see..." Wan Yuyuedan still hesitated a little about "playing cards," "Why don't you find someone else?"

"No way, you're smart enough to figure out what cards they are anyway. You can draw them even if you don't know." Shengxiang rolled her eyes at him unhappily. "We're going to gamble, and you and he are the richest, how can we not play?"

Oh—so Shengxiang dragged Wan Yuyuedan and Tang Tianshu to play cards just because they were rich?

While Wan Yuyue and Tang Tianshu looked at each other in bewilderment, Shengxiang had already excitedly gone to find Tong Toutuo.

"It's one thing that I can't see, but you can't even move a finger now. He's just trying to extort you," Wan Yuyue muttered to herself.

"Is he really the most dishonest person in the world?" Tang Tianshu smiled bitterly. "I think he's quite honest."

This strange bet quickly spread throughout Wudang.

Master Qingjing has been lured away and has not returned. Master Qinghe, though cured of the poison, remains unconscious. No one has spoken up to stop the gambling on Wudang Mountain. In addition, Rong Yin and Yu Xiu have both closed their doors and turned a deaf ear. The group, who have relaxed after the great battle, can only grow more curious.

The end result was that several circles of people were densely packed around the table of mahjong tiles, watching.

"Young Master Tang, do you want to flip the cards or take them?" Two skinny old men with an insatiable gambling addiction stood next to Tang Tianshu, who couldn't move a single finger, and were there to fetch the cards for him.

Tang Tianshu glanced at the gambling table and said, "Flip the cards."

“Young Master Wanyu, you’ve made a mistake. These three tiles, one wan, three wan, and five wan, are called the Three Musketeers. You can just place any one of them in the middle. You played the one wan, and now you’ve got the two wan, so you’ve obviously made a mistake.” Wanyu Yuedan also had his master giving him pointers.

Wan Yuyue was not offended and smiled, "I'm not very good at gambling."

“That’s because he’s too rich, so rich that he doesn’t know the pain of being poor,” Shengxiang interjected. “He only needs to lose. If I win, I’ll treat everyone to drinks down the mountain.”

"Great!" Many people laughed. "Then I'll still stand on Shengxiang's side."

"Eight of Bamboo - Pong!" Copper Monk stared intently at the cards in his hand, revealing a pair.

Saint Incense tapped the back of Copper Monk's hand innocently and said, "Copper Monk, what are you doing taking out 80,000 to try and win the Eight Trigrams? You'll have to pay up!"

"Ah—" Copper-Headed Monk scratched his head in frustration, "I misread it. It's here." He was about to take out another pair of cards.

“No way, that would cost you money—” Sheng Xiang laughed heartily. “One game costs one tael of silver. I can see you’re very poor and will soon have to sell your crescent shovel. Don’t worry, I’ll help you find a pawnshop with good prices.”