Tang Dynasty: The poisonous scholar in the Eastern Palace, please abdicate and let the wise one take

Chapter 49 Li Chengqian's Happy Story
Prince Wei's Mansion.

A man came to the study room quickly and said, "Your Majesty, I have something to report."

"Enter."

After hearing Li Tai's voice, the man walked in quickly and bowed, "Your Majesty, after the morning court today, Lord Cen Wenben went to the East Palace."

Ok?
Li Tai put down the historical materials in his hand and looked up. "Did Cen Wenben go to the Eastern Palace?"

"That's right. I heard that Lord Cen has already agreed to let His Royal Highness the Crown Prince participate in the affairs of Chongwen Hall."

"The king knows."

The man bowed and retreated, and the study fell into silence again.

Li Tai frowned as he looked at the historical materials in front of him. Cen Wenben went to the Eastern Palace. What did he do there?
Is it because of the Chongwenguan incident or something else?
"Your Majesty, Lord Cen requests to see you."

"Please."

Li Tai looked up, a Maitreya Buddha smile appeared on his face, he stood up and walked out of the study.

When Cen Wenben saw Li Tai coming out to greet him, he immediately bowed and said, "How dare I trouble the prince to come and greet me personally?"

"Master Cen, why do we have to do this between you and me?"

Li Tai smiled and held down Cen Wenben's arm, preventing him from saluting, and then pulled Cen Wenben into the study.

"Someone serve tea."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Cen Wenben smiled widely, glanced at the historical materials on the table, and was deeply gratified. "It is a blessing for the Tang Dynasty that the prince can compile the Comprehensive Geography with great care."

Li Tai waved his hand. "Why are you coming here now?"

Cen Wenben hesitated for a moment, then stood up and saluted: "Because of your majesty, I have no choice but to agree to the Chongwenguan matter. I came here today to inform your majesty."

Li Tai smiled happily, "Hey, I thought it was something serious, but it's just going to Chongwenguan to teach and educate people, this is a good thing."

Cen Wenben breathed a sigh of relief, and then he heard Li Tai suddenly say, "Lord Cen will not abandon me, right?"

Cen Wenben's heart tightened, and he immediately said, "I definitely wouldn't dare to do that!"

"In fact, I have my own considerations for agreeing to this."

Li Tai looked curious: "I'd like to hear more details."

Cen Wenben: "Your Highness has failed twice in a row, all because of Su Chen. After I go to Chongwen Hall, I can get closer to him, and maybe I can help Your Highness get some useful information!"

Li Tai stood in awe and said, "It is my shortsightedness, Lord Cen, please do not blame me."

Cen Wenben shook his head indifferently, with a look of regret on his face, "Su Chen is indeed a great man. If he can be used by the prince, he will definitely be even more powerful."

Hear the words.

Li Tai nodded involuntarily, "We all underestimated him before. This time, he took out a couplet and solved the riot of thousands of scholars. His talent is evident!"

"By the way, has Lord Lian Cen come up with anything?"

Cen Wen was ashamed on his face, "To be honest, not only did I not come up with this couplet, but Kong Jijiu and others didn't either."

"Even Kong Jijiu couldn't come up with the second line? That's impossible!"

Kong Yingda is the descendant of Confucius and one of the Eighteen Grand Secretaries of the day. He has a profound family background and is well-versed in both ancient and modern times. How could it be possible that he could not even come up with the first line of such a couplet?

Seeing that Li Tai didn't believe him, Cen Wenben sighed, "Except for Kong Jijiu, there are also Fang Xiang, Lord Zhangsun, and Duke Shen who haven't come up with the second line."

Li Tai: “???”

So many people haven't come up with a second line?
and many more!

Li Tai was surprised and asked, "How do you know they didn't come up with the second line?"

Cen Wenben said softly, "Zhao Jie was on duty that day. When he heard that thousands of scholars were causing trouble, he personally led his troops there. His Majesty was furious and questioned the matter in the imperial study. He then summoned all the gentlemen to the palace."

"When I went to the East Palace today, the Crown Prince also mentioned this matter..."

After hesitating for a while, Cen Wenben said again: "Your Majesty is also particularly interested in Su Chen's second couplet."

Li Tai understood immediately.

interested!
That means my father couldn’t come up with the second line either!

So he summoned all the adults into the palace, hoping that they would come up with the second couplet, but he failed!

No wonder there has been no movement from Kong Jijiu!
This couplet is already daunting!

but.

Li Tai pondered: "I heard that Kong Huiyuan vomited blood and fainted because of this couplet. Doesn't Kong Jijiu have any ideas?"

Cen Wenben shook his head. "Maybe there is, maybe not. I can't tell."

Li Tai sighed in disappointment.

Kong Jijiu.

You must be strong!
……

Prince's residence.

Su Chen was listening to Su Wang's report.

The demand for soap doubled every day, driving the sales of rouge and powder in the store to continue to rise. Although the growth rate is far less than that of soap, it is still an income after all.

Due to the popularity of Wen Xiang Lai, the business of other rouge and powder shops on the same street shrunk significantly. Led by Shopkeeper Cui, the shopkeepers of more than 30 rouge and powder shops went to visit Wen Xiang Lai, hoping to sell their soaps, but were directly rejected by Su Wang.

In addition, some foreign vendors, and even non-local merchants, also saw business opportunities in the popularity of soaps and hoped to reach cooperation with Wenxiang.

However, Su Wang couldn't make up his mind and had to report the matter to Su Chen.

Su Chen pondered: "For now, the market in Chang'an City is not yet fully saturated, so other places are naturally not under consideration."

"However, the large number of orders has put pressure on the workshop. Can they still bear it now?"

Su Wang thought about it and shook his head. "I can't bear it any longer. In order to ensure production, I have increased their wages and improved their food, but one person can't be used by two people." "Sir, do you think we should add another workshop to increase the production of soap?"

Su Chen: "We need to add a workshop, but as you said, the gouache merchants in Chang'an City and other places have all noticed the soap, so the location of the workshop also needs to be considered. I will arrange this matter."

Su Wang nodded and put away the account book.

At this time.

Li Chengqian's laughter came from outside, "Brother Su, Brother Su, I miss you so much after not seeing you for a few days."

Hearing Li Chengqian's voice, Su Wang and others turned around and saluted.

"No gifts, no gifts."

It can be seen that Li Chengqian is particularly happy today.

"You guys go down first. I have something to discuss with Brother Su."

"Yes."

Su Wang and others retreated one after another.

Li Chengqian sat across from Su Chen with a big horse and a golden sword, and said with a look of joy, "Guess what happy event I encountered today?"

"Cen Wenben has joined the Chongwen Pavilion of the Eastern Palace."

"...?"

The smile on Li Chengqian's face froze, "Sure enough, it was you who did it."

Su Chen smiled and nodded, taking a sip of tea, "If you're talking about this, then it's meaningless."

Li Chengqian glared at Su Chen with some indignation, he had to spoil his fun!

However, Li Chengqian soon laughed, "Actually, I have two happy events today!"

"What about the second happiness?"

“It also comes from you.”

Li Chengqian kept the question a secret and said with a smile, "Why don't you guess?"

Is it from me too?

Su Chen pondered and put down the teacup in his hand. Apart from the matter of Cen Wenben, the rest were the scholars' affairs.

"Yansuo Pondliu?"

"Not bad!"

Li Chengqian clapped his hands and cheered, "After Father got your first couplet, he couldn't resist writing a good second couplet, so he summoned the Prime Minister's uncle Kong Jijiu and others to the palace for an audience!"

"guess what?"

"From the look on your face, I can tell you haven't come up with the second line."

"correct!"

Li Chengqian laughed out loud.

He was very happy if he could make Li Shimin lose face.

"They studied for several hours but still couldn't come up with the second line. As a result, the next morning, my uncle didn't go to court because he was not feeling well!"

"After the morning court today, my father specially kept me here to mention this couplet. Although his words were full of indifference, I knew he was not convinced!"

"So, I want to get an answer from you through my mouth!"

Done.

Li Chengqian looked at Su Chen eagerly, "What's the second line?"

Su Chen asked back: "Will you tell him?"

"of course not!"

"Me too!"

"Hahaha……"

Li Chengqian clapped his hands and laughed excitedly, tears almost coming out, but he seemed to have thought of something, "Wait! You're not going to tell me, are you?"

"I told Cen Wenben."

"..."

Li Chengqian was so angry that he suddenly stood up, clenched his fist and wanted to give Su Chen a punch!

Why didn't you tell me first?

Li Chengqian took a deep breath and said, "The second couplet is related to Wen Xianglai's business, so it cannot be easily leaked. I naturally understand the seriousness of it."

"But what second line did you tell Cen Wen?"

"I said three."

"Three?"

Li Chengqian looked surprised, "Which three?"

"Peach blossoms burn on the Jinjiang River embankment, mist shrouds the bell of Lingcheng, and the lights color Diaoyucheng."

The smile on Su Chen's face slowly faded, and his eyes stared straight at Li Chengqian, "So, which one does Your Highness want to choose?"

Li Chengqian murmured the three lower lines and could not help nodding repeatedly. When facing Su Chen's questions, Li Chengqian gradually calmed down.

Three lower lines, three ways out.

Li Chengqian suddenly laughed and said slowly, "I choose the lantern-dyed Diaoyucheng!"

(End of this chapter)