The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 270 New Home
Too many people drank too much yesterday, including in Chang'an City. Some people stood when entering the palace to congratulate, and when they left, most of them were dragged out.

This is the scene described by Li Chongyi and Li Jingheng. Most people drank too much last night.

Because of the wedding of the Crown Prince, the curfew in Chang'an City was lifted. Listening to the two people's stories, Jingzhao Prefecture is still arranging people to clean up Zhuque Street.

Li Chengqian took out some tea eggs from the pot and shared them with them, then said with his hands in his pockets, "That's fine. If it's not convenient for the two uncles to come, you can come too."

The two men then sat down, and Li Chongyi said, "Most likely the old man in the family is hiding from things and doesn't dare to come."

Li Jingheng also nodded.

Li Chengqian was peeling the shell of a tea egg and telling the story of Su Xu and Zhang Xuanbi.

"Your Highness." Li Chongyi said, "In fact, Zhang Xuanbi's matter is easy to handle. Your Highness can just write a letter to reprimand Li Yifu, or even fine him."

Li Jingheng added: "We can also ask him to go find Zhang Xuansu and let Zhang Xuansu punish him with a cane."

"As for Su Xu's matter..." Li Chongyi paused and added, "It was indeed someone from King Peng who went to see Su Xu that night, but they only said a few words before parting. This is what my father said. The two families didn't visit each other before, and Su Xu and King Peng didn't know each other."

After hearing the prince's instructions, Li Jingheng and Li Chongyi walked together and left Chang'an City through the Suzaku Gate.

After the hustle and bustle of last night, Chang'an City was very quiet in the early morning. People had consumed a lot of enthusiasm last night, and there were not many pedestrians on Zhuque Street. One or two people could be seen walking in front of each house from a distance.

The streets have been swept clean and rain and snowflakes are falling on the ground continuously.

Li Jingheng asked puzzledly: "Does Su Xu want power?"

"Don't think about it. We all know that the crown prince never uses relatives outside the emperor's family. King Peng shot himself in the foot and doesn't even feel the pain."

"Brother Chongyi is right. Since it is the order of the Crown Prince, I will go to meet Zhang Xuanbi and make him retreat."

Li Chongyi nodded, "I'll go to Su Xu's residence."

At this moment, Su Xu was sitting in his own mansion. His niece married the prince as the crown princess. Since last night, several powerful families in Taiji Hall had expressed their intention to make friends with him.

What made Su Xu feel pressured was that even people from the royal family had come.

The servant hurried over to report: "Master, the Junior Secretary of the Zongzheng Temple is here."

After Prince Peng sent someone to see him last night, Su Xu felt something was wrong. So early in the morning, the Shaoqing of the Zongzheng Temple came to visit him.

Su Xu stood up quickly and said, "I will go to meet him myself."

Li Chongyi was standing outside the door. When he saw Su Xu, he smiled and said, "Greetings, Scholar Su."

Su Xu welcomed the person in first, and hurriedly bowed and said, "Master Chongyi."

Li Chongyi looked around and thought that this house was one of the best in Chang'an and was worth a lot of money. He said, "The Wugong Su family is a famous family in Guanzhong. Now that the eldest daughter is married into the East Palace, the family will surely be more glorious."

"Master Chongyi is joking."

Hearing another sigh from the other party, Su Xu looked a little more nervous. The young man in front of him was the Shaoqing of Zongzheng Temple and the son of Hejian Prince Li Xiaogong.

Prince Peng sent someone to see me last night, and today the Zongzheng Temple sent someone to see me.

The Li Tang royal family was very complex, with many relatives and princes.

Li Chongyi said with a gentle smile, "I heard that Scholar Su is a scholar in the Literary Institute of King Wei and is the main editor of the Comprehensive Geography. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince highly appreciates Scholar Su's erudition."

Su Xu bowed and said, "Your Highness, thank you for your compliment."

"During the Princess Changguang incident, some people died, and Princess Changguang's family moved out of Chang'an and could not be summoned. What caused this incident? Scholar Su, do you remember?"

Su Xu stood with his body bent, his expression showing a bit more panic.

Li Chongyi smiled and said, "After all, you are the uncle of the Crown Princess. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has given you special instructions."

"Everyone in the court and the public knows that the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace is very close to the King of Wei and the King of Wu. They are brothers who support each other. If Scholar Su's words and deeds are inappropriate, even if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince does not care, how should Scholar Su deal with himself in front of the King of Wei?"

"Your Highness the Crown Prince has always been kind and tolerant. If this is just a misunderstanding, then Scholar Su can not only continue to work in the Prince of Wei's Palace, but also be appreciated by the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace. Isn't this better?"

Su Xu said quickly, "King Peng wanted to invite me to the banquet today, but I refused. However, the other party is King Peng's man, and I am afraid King Peng will not give up. If he continues to pester me, I will have to return to Wugong County to retire."

Li Chongyi whispered, "How about just saying that you're not feeling well today and not going?"

"Thank you, Master Chongyi, for your guidance."

"If you have any difficulties in the future, please come to Zongzheng Temple and look for me. As for King Peng..." Li Chongyi put his hands behind his back and was about to leave, whispering, "My father will go there."

Su Xu was trembling with fear as he bid farewell to the Minister of Zongzheng Temple.

Li Chongyi turned back and said, "The Su family is such a famous family. Your Majesty has not made a mistake in your judgment. I hope you will uphold your integrity."

Su Xu bowed and saluted.

It was past noon when Li Chengqian received a reply from Li Chongyi. The matter of Su Xu was not complicated, and Su Xu was one of the most famous families in Guanzhong. They knew the pros and cons.

Li Chongyi knew the limits and explained to him clearly what he needed to be careful about in his words and actions. In the future, the Zongzheng Temple would take care of Su Xu and Su Tan, and the many princes of the royal family should also give up when they saw the difficulty.

As for King Peng, once Du Zhenglun tells his father about this, someone will take care of him.

The Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace has just gotten married and some people are already trying to get close to him. This tendency must be nipped in the bud.

In the past, these uncles did not dare to set foot in the Eastern Palace, but they would also try to curry favor with the Eastern Palace's in-laws.

Now that I have a family and have grown up, I need to take a stand on some things.

Li Chengqian continued to look through the report about Luoyang. This winter, there were more than 20,000 villagers working in various workshops in Luoyang.

A flood three years ago almost left Luoyang in ruins, but now Luoyang has regained its former prosperity.

Looking at the report sent by Ma Zhou, the population of Luoyang has increased to 400,000, and Tongguan is a distribution center for goods. Goods from Guanzhong are continuously transported, and grain is continuously transported from Tongguan to Guanzhong.

It was noon and no one came to the Secretariat, so Li Chengqian decided to return to the Eastern Palace.

The East Palace has a new mistress, and there is a new scene.

Concubine Su's given name is Wan. This is what I said beside her last night.

As a lady of a prominent family and now the Crown Princess, Su Wan is the mistress of the Eastern Palace.

Although she was still a little uncomfortable when she got up early, Li Chengqian, who was sitting beside her, could tell that she really wanted to integrate into this big family.

Compared to Ru Ning'er's naturalness, Su Wan seemed a little forced.

Li Zhi and Li Shen were fighting over the zonggao, and Gao Yang had his mouth full of date paste. The children in the East Palace started quarreling again over a piece of zonggao.

Gao Yang only liked to eat the date paste on the zongzi, and neither of his two younger brothers wanted to give in to the other for the remaining zongzi.

Li Lizhi looked at this scene and held Sister Su's hand, feeling distressed.

Children around ten years old are difficult to manage and are the most playful.

Su Wan covered her mouth and chuckled. She whispered, "It's okay. Just prepare some more zongzi."

"No." Li Lizhi held Sister Su's hand and whispered, "If there are too many zongzi, they won't eat. We can't spoil them like this."

The Eastern Palace is very strict in disciplining the princes, but the entire Eastern Palace looks very warm.

Su Wan liked the atmosphere of this home very much. It was lively and full of life. When Dongyang came back from seeing Dr. Sun, she hurried to check the pulse of her grandfather who had just woken up.

Su Wan walked to her grandfather and whispered, "Grandpa."

Li Yuan smiled and said, "Okay, okay, I will be relieved if you can marry me."

Su Wan bowed.

Grandpa had a hangover last night, and when he got up and washed up in the morning, he found that he had broken another tooth.

Dongyang felt the grandfather's pulse for a moment, asked him to open his mouth, looked at him carefully, and said, "All these years of care are about to fail."

Li Yuan stroked his beard and said, "This is the only time."

Su Wan saw that the retired emperor seemed to be begging for mercy from his granddaughter, and her understanding of this family deepened a little.

Dongyang frowned and said, "Grandpa needs to have light meals these days. Your granddaughter will arrange it for you. You need to take good care of yourself for a few days."

In her free time, Su Wan taught Qinghe and Runan how to play the zither. The two sisters were a little clumsy as they learned to pluck the strings.

Although the rain was still cold today, the East Palace was warm.

Xiaofu was in a good mood. As long as everyone here was still here, she would be happy all the time. Now Sister Ning'er was back, and the East Palace had a new hostess.

With a smile on her face and humming a happy tune, she smeared a piece of mutton fat on the iron pan and began to cook today's dishes.

As night fell, the family had dinner.

At night, the East Palace returned to peace.

In the bedroom, Li Chengqian did not tell his wife about Su Xu. He took the tea brought by Ning'er and continued reading the memorial.

Su Wan likes to read books in the East Palace, and in His Highness's bedroom, the most common thing is books.

She selected a few volumes and sat beside His Highness, reading quietly.

After all, they were newlyweds, and Su Wan and Ning'er would sometimes blush slightly when they noticed the prince's gaze.

In fact, Su Wan's neck is very beautiful, and Li Chengqian always can't help but take another look at it.

Su Wan sat upright, feeling her husband's gaze. She had a smile on her face and had nothing to hide, so she let her husband look at her generously.

Li Chengqian noticed the smile hidden in the corner of her mouth.

Ning Er took the wooden box handed over by the palace maid outside the palace and said, "Your Highness, these are the food and clothing sent by your mother."

When the wooden box was opened, there were some glutinous rice and eggs, and on the layer below were two pieces of silk. The silk was very precious and inlaid with gold thread.

The golden thread thick clothes were given by the Queen to her two daughters-in-law in the Eastern Palace.

Li Chengqian looked at it for a moment and said, "It's a gift from my mother, so just keep it."

Su Wan nodded, and together with Ning'er, she put away the golden thread clothes, and put the glutinous rice and eggs on the table so that they could give them to Xiaofu early the next morning.

Ning'er had taken off her hairpin, letting her long hair fall over her shoulders and taking off all her hair accessories. Normally, she didn't like to dress up so luxuriously.

Suddenly she turned around, put a land deed into a wooden box, sat down beside His Highness, and handed it over, saying, "This is the land deed that my foster father sent to me."

Li Chengqian put his arm around Ning'er's shoulders and said, "I haven't heard from him whether he has given any instructions yet?"

Leaning against her husband's strong shoulders, Ning'er whispered, "It's nothing particularly important. It's just that before I got on the golden carriage, Duke Xu told me that he hoped Your Highness would prepare for the Eastern Expedition as soon as possible."

"Ah."

Li Chengqian nodded slightly.

Su Wan was sitting at the table. She was surprised to find that her husband handled memorials very quickly. More than ten memorials sent from various places were dealt with within three hours.

Seeing the prince go to wash up, Ning Er said, "I used to help His Highness review these memorials, so it doesn't hurt to take a look."

"Sister Ning is really amazing."

Hearing Su Wan calling her sister, Ning Er said, "Crown Princess, you must not say that."

Su Wan took Ning'er's hand and said, "Sister Ning is three years older than me, so she deserves to be called a sister."

She whispered, "In fact, there aren't so many guests in the East Palace, and His Royal Highness is worried that you might feel bored."

Su Wan said: "No, there are so many children in the East Palace, and I like children."

The next day, just after dawn, Li Chengqian woke up early and stepped on the wet ground in his boots.

At this time, Xiao Sizi also woke up, and she started her morning exercise in her Taoist robe.

In front of the East Palace gate, I took a deep breath of the fresh morning air and started my morning jog.

An hour later, Ning'er walked into the East Palace and began to prepare for His Highness' daily life for the day. She had put on relatively simple clothes, and even without makeup or hair accessories, she exuded luxury everywhere.

Today Su Wan is going to follow Ning'er to learn the knowledge of the Eastern Palace. In fact, before she married into the Eastern Palace, she knew that the knowledge of the Eastern Palace was unique.

After the explanations from Princess Changle and Princess Dongyang, she became more interested in the knowledge of the Eastern Palace.

The family had breakfast only after their younger brothers and sisters woke up.

After dinner, Su Wan sat next to the bookshelf in the bedroom and listened to Ning'er talking about the knowledge here.

Early in the morning, Li Chengqian went to Taiye Lake to fish.

The wind and rain had just stopped, and the path beside Taiye Lake was wet. When the wind blew, you could still smell the scent of the lake water.

There is some mist on the surface of Taiye Lake. This wonderful sight can occasionally be seen in Guanzhong when the temperature drops suddenly.

Li Chengqian lit a stove to keep warm, put a kettle on the stove, and placed two cakes and some dried dates and fruits on the side.

During the rest period, a leisurely day begins like this.

Most people at this time of year are leisurely.

There may still be many people struggling to make a living, but things will get better.

Hearing the footsteps behind him, Li Chengqian sat against the pillar of the waterside pavilion. He glanced sideways and saw that his father had sent someone with a puzzle, followed by a number of eunuchs.

Originally, the space in this water pavilion was sufficient.

As soon as my father arrived, eunuchs brought persimmons, wine and meat. A huge puzzle was spread out on the stone table, making the place seem much more crowded.

It's very rude to disturb the tranquility at this moment.

A sika deer lay beside him. Li Chengqian patted its head and said, "It's a rare leisure time, so I came here to fish."

Li Shimin started to work on the puzzle as soon as he sat down, saying, "I sent someone to the Literature Museum to bring back a map of Guanzhong from Qingque. The Ministry of Works has just finished this puzzle, which is the entire Guanzhong."

"pretty good."

Seeing his son holding a fishing rod in one hand, Li Shimin asked, "I heard that you went to the Secretariat again yesterday?"

(End of this chapter)