The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 237 Hairstyle Ceremony
Li Ji and Xue Wanbei had already prepared the carriage, and a group of children were chattering as they got ready.

Li Chengqian sat next to Grandpa and said, "Grandpa, come along for the winter hunt this time."

Li Yuan sighed, "What kind of winter hunting is this? Your mother invited many noble ladies to the Qujiang Lake for a banquet, and your father just took the opportunity to go out for winter hunting."

Tightening his coat again, Li Yuan said wistfully, "Why don't you go?"

Fortunately, my grandfather’s presbyopia has not worsened further and is not too serious.

Li Chengqian stood aside with his hands in his pockets and said, "My grandson is the crown prince and he has to guard Chang'an."

Li Yuan lay on the recliner and said, "It doesn't matter if you and your grandson don't go."

Inside the East Palace, a group of children were preparing for their outing. Gao Yang was stuffing snacks and the cakes that Xiao Fu had just baked into her backpack.

In front of the Chongwen Hall, Li Yuan said, "Yesterday your father told me that he wanted to demolish the Xuanwu Gate and build a palace around the Taiye Lake."

"is it?"

Li Chengqian answered in a low voice while drinking his tea.

Li Yuan closed his eyes and nodded.

When the brothers and sisters were ready, Li Lizhi shouted, "Get in line!"

A group of younger brothers and sisters stood up, from tall to short, straight and neat, and began to count.

After confirming that no one was left out, Li Lizhi ran over and said, "My royal brother is ready."

Li Chengqian nodded and said, "Let General Li Ji and General Xue Wanbei keep an eye on them. Go ahead."

Li Lizhi hadn't moved yet, and whispered, "I didn't know at first, but I heard that Zhinu and Shendi had a fight outside."

"Fight? Who did you fight?"

Li Lizhi replied: "A child named Zhang Jianzhi."

Li Chengqian looked clear and asked, "Is he okay?"

"He wasn't injured. I heard that General Xue Wanbei was watching, so the other party didn't dare to fight back."

"Ah."

In fact, it’s good that my younger brother would fight, at least it would let us know that they would not suffer in vain outside.

Li Chengqian nodded slightly.

After Li Lizhi understood, she took her younger brother and sister into the carriage and left the Eastern Palace.

After they all left, the usually bustling East Palace suddenly became quiet.

There was no more noisy laughter, and no more figures coming and going.

Li Chengqian walked to Taiye Lake with a fishing rod. The snow-covered scenery was beautiful, especially at Taiye Lake.

The heavy snow was still falling. An eunuch picked up a stone and smashed it at the ice in the distance, creating a hole in the ice.

Li Chengqian threw the fishing line into the small hole and waited for the fish to bite.

Ning'er took out a stove from the villa and lit it next to His Highness, and the waterside pavilion became a little warmer.

The Queen built several more water pavilions on the Taiye Lake. In winter, these pavilions were covered with snow, which was quite pleasing to the eye.

A little deer came walking on the snow. It first listened outside the pavilion as if confirming something, then quickly ran into the pavilion and lay down beside the prince, probably because it felt it would be warmer by the stove.

Ning'er stood quietly by the side, making tea.

The eunuch came quickly with a pile of files. He walked outside the waterside pavilion and saluted, saying, "Your Highness, these are the files sent by Jingzhao Prefecture."

Li Chengqian held up the fishing rod and said, "Put it aside."

Upon hearing this, the eunuch walked into the pavilion, placed the file on the stone table, and left.

When he is free, Li Chengqian can fish here all day long. When the deer wakes up, it will warm itself here, and then run away unscrupulously.

Li Chengqian was eating the steamed buns that had just been taken out of the oven. It was most comfortable to take a bite of the greasy steamed bun and then take a sip of tea.

As for the files on the stone table, he had no intention of looking through them.

Li Chengqian said, "Sister Ning'er, please help me take a look."

Ning Er took a file and began to look through it. She said, "These are all the examination papers of the teachers who took the examination in Chongwenguan, and Yan Qinli's comments."

Li Chengqian nodded slightly and said nothing more.

The first day after the heavy snow was quite comfortable.

But on the next day, the snow just showed signs of melting, and after a night the melted snow froze into ice at night.

When walking on the snow, you can feel the ice cubes in the snow that hurt your feet.

There were also eunuchs clearing the snow. They were busy clearing the snow with baskets in their hands.

Because the emperor was hunting outside the city of Chang'an in winter and took many people out of the palace, there were not many people in the palace to clear the snow.

The snow that fell yesterday was relatively mild, but the next day it was freezing cold. The snow on the ground was slightly frozen and had to be chiseled away before it could be cleared, which was very laborious.

When Li Chengqian walked by, the eunuchs had just managed to clear a path.

Walk through the silent palace and then to the now empty imperial city. The imperial city is very quiet during the holiday season, and you can see official residences with closed doors along the way.

When Li Chengqian arrived at the Secretariat, Yu Zhining had already been there.

Seeing that it was the prince, he stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, the previous files..."

Li Chengqian asked, "Have all the teachers been sent out today?"

"Your Highness, a total of 461 teachers have been sent to various counties and towns in the eastern Shaanxi Province." Yu Zhining added: "According to your Highness's instructions, most of the teachers sent to various counties this time have relatively clean backgrounds, and two of them are descendants of the Bohai Gao family."

Li Chengqian understood and said, "Is he from the same hometown as my uncle?"

"They are the sons of Gao Kan, the chief historian of the left army. The eldest son is Gao Chongwen, and the second son is Gao Chongli."

Seeing that the prince seemed to agree with the arrangements, Yu Zhining took out a roll of paper and said, "This is the test paper that Li Yifu had sent back."

The thing I’m afraid of about Li Yifu is that he might take a crooked path.

Li Chengqian opened the test paper and saw neat handwriting. It seemed that the student had a good attitude in answering the questions. He mainly elaborated on the key points of popularizing knowledge and discussed the obstacles that would be encountered.

After a long while, he finished reading the examination papers and said, "Give him the post of the director of Luoyang Chongwenguan, and let Wen Ting also go to Luoyang Chongwenguan to help Li Yifu."

"Your Highness, do you think Li Yifu is unreliable?"

"Although Li Yifu has been in Luoyang for some time, he is not familiar with the ways of doing things in Jingzhao Prefecture and Chongwenguan, so he needs someone to take him with him."

"I will arrange it right away."

Li Chengqian instructed again: "Now that the generals in the Western Regions have all been withdrawn, it seems that the emperor is not yet prepared for the construction of Tingzhou and Xizhou. Let Chu Suiliang draft a charter for the construction of Anxi Protectorate and submit it after the beginning of winter."

Hearing the Crown Prince's understatement, Yu Zhining hesitated and whispered, "But he is resting now."

“It’s just writing a charter.”

"Here."

Li Chengqian nodded in satisfaction. Those who worked for the crown prince did not distinguish between days off and days off. Even when many officials in the court took days off, officials in Jingzhao Prefecture and even Chongwenguan were still busy.

The current Tang Dynasty is an era of shining stars. After experiencing the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty and up to the present day, the Zhenguan period is full of talented people in the court and the country, which is rare.

This is because the internal strength of the current Tang Dynasty is strong, and the talents of some people do not seem to be outstanding.

In his free time, Li Chengqian sat in his teacher's seat and looked at the memorials that his teacher had reviewed, including the order to transfer troops from Songzhou and to send scouts to investigate Tubo.

After noon, Li Zhi came running over.

Li Chengqian asked, "Why are you here?"

Li Zhi, wearing a cloak, ran into the Secretariat and sat by the stove, stretching out his hands and placing them on the edge of the fire. "There are many women from noble families over at Qujiang Pond."

"Well, are you bored?"

"My younger brother doesn't feel annoyed, he just wants to come and sit with my royal brother."

Li Chengqian also sat down by the stove, took out a cake from the stove, and said, "If you have any news to tell, tell me quickly."

"How did the emperor know that my sister asked me to deliver the message?"

Looking at his brother's expression, Li Zhi lowered his head a little listlessly and said, "No wonder Uncle Wang of Hejian said that even if my brother farts, my brother knows what my brother had for his last meal."

"This... I really don't know."

Li Zhi moved his small stool to his brother's side and whispered, "The Queen Mother gave three sachets to the women in Confucius' family."

"anything else?"

"Also, my father has been very fond of articles and poems recently. He even asked Confucius about his articles. Maybe he wants to find a girl from Confucius's house to be the crown princess for my brother."

Li Chengqian shook his head and said, "Zhi Nu, you are wrong."

"Why?"

"My father and mother never reveal their thoughts easily. The more they do this, the more it shows that my marriage has nothing to do with Confucius' family. With your sister's insight, she should be able to see that she has other intentions."

Li Zhi scratched his head solemnly, "Why did the emperor sister let my brother and the emperor say this?"

Li Chengqian suddenly smiled and said, "Go back and tell Li Zhi that she doesn't need too many disciples, just three or five with good potential."

Li Zhi said suspiciously, "It turns out that it is my sister who is selecting disciples."

After thinking about it again, Li Zhi understood immediately. He slapped his thigh and said, "I understand, my brother. Father and mother are covering for my sister. After all, my sister shouldn't be too ostentatious when she takes a girl as a disciple. Maybe my sister and mother said that she has taken a fancy to one of the granddaughters of the old master and wants to take her as a disciple, so my mother will reward their family."

In fact, Li Zhi, the younger brother, is not that stupid. It's just that when compared with his brothers and sisters, his reaction and agility are indeed inferior, and he is among the poor students.

Li Chengqian said: "Dongyang must still be diagnosing the pulses and treating the illnesses of the women in each family."

"How did my brother know this?"

"Haha, it would be strange if the emperor didn't show off." Li Chengqian understood and said, "Go ahead and have fun. I finally have a few days of free time."

Li Zhi nodded and walked out of the Secretariat. After thinking about it carefully, he suddenly felt something was wrong. How come his brother knew about the situation at Qujiang Lake?

I even know what my two sisters have been doing these days.

Li Zhi looked suspicious, maybe his brother really knew what he had eaten last meal.

On the third day of the emperor's hunting, the sky was gloomy and it started snowing again. Next year, the prince would be twenty years old.

The queen mother helped Dongyang and Lizhi hold a coming-of-age ceremony at Qujiang Lake, which is a ceremony for women to enter adulthood.

After all, my sister will be seventeen next year, and Dongyang will be sixteen.

When the news was delivered, it was heard that there were thousands of distinguished guests in Qujiang Lake.

Ning'er gave the pottery xun she had carefully made to Princess Changle and Princess Dongyang as gifts for their coming-of-age ceremony.

Although the two younger sisters held their coming-of-age ceremonies at Qujiang Pond, the gifts sent by the royal family were all placed in the Eastern Palace, and for a while, they piled up in front of the Eastern Palace gate.

Xiaofu searched around and found a lot of valuable things.

Li Yuan even went to the Wude Hall for the first time, and when he returned to the Eastern Palace, he brought back two small bags of gold sand.

Li Chengqian put his hands in his pockets, looked at the pile of gifts and said, "It seems that the royal family is quite wealthy. Father and grandfather gave a lot of rewards back then."

Li Yuan said: "When I gave the rewards to the various families, I did not consider everything carefully."

"My grandson has been wondering where grandpa put the gold sand in the Wude Hall."

"I will tell you when you ascend the throne in the future."

Li Chengqian said: "If my grandson wants to ascend the throne, grandfather will definitely support him."

This is definitely not the case that a prince will ascend the throne just because he says he wants to.

Li Yuan smiled and stroked his beard as he handed two sachets to Ning'er, the female official in charge of the Eastern Palace, and told her to give them to Lizhi and Dongyang.

Ning'er bowed and agreed.

My father has been busy hunting with his generals these days.

The Queen Mother was also busy dealing with guests from the noble families.

From the celebration of the Beginning of Winter to now, the Tang Dynasty has accomplished many great things this year and is probably very busy right now.

The beginning of winter is about to pass. I heard that Chu Suiliang has been working day and night to study how to build the Anxi Protectorate, but I haven't seen any reply from him.

Xiao Sizi had grown a lot taller. She wore a Taoist robe and walked to the gate of the Shangshu Province with her hands behind her back.

There were no living people in the imperial city, so Li Chengqian came here for a walk when he had nothing to do.

No outsiders can enter the Shangshu Province, and the key is in the hands of himself, the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace, so he can only clean it himself.

Little Sizi was holding a scroll in his hand and wearing a Taoist robe. He looked up at the roof and said, "Actually, my royal brother, you don't have to clean up here. It will be fine after the snow melts."

Li Chengqian looked down and saw his sister. He swept down another pile of snow and said, "My father gave this place to me. If it collapses under the weight of the snow, it will seem that I don't care about my father's gift."

A cold wind blew, ruffling little Sizi's hair. She would be seven years old next year.

Children of this age seem to grow taller every few days. Mingda has been following Taoist Priest Li Chunfeng for two years. Her speech and temperament are indeed like those of a Taoist priest.

She also has a temperament that feels like the world's troubles have nothing to do with her and she has her own attitude towards life.

After cleaning the roof, Li Chengqian came down the ladder and asked, "How have you been learning from Taoist Li recently?"

Little Sizi walks very steadily now, unlike the unsteady way he walked when he was a child.

She put her hands behind her back and looked up at her brother and said, "I want to measure the stars."

"Master Li, why don't you teach you how to use the Huangdao Armillary Sphere?"

"I did, but it's very different from my brother's way."

As he walked out of the Shangshu Province with his sister, Li Chengqian noticed that her steps were very special and asked, "Do you deliberately keep the distance of each step the same?"

Little Sizi looked down at his feet in cloth shoes and said, "I learned how to walk from Taoist Li, and I walked like this without realizing it."

"So the teaching starts with the way of walking." Li Chengqian understood.

(End of this chapter)