Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 611 An unexpected encounter
A few days after Emperor Jingtai arrived, the Li siblings also arrived, which is quite understandable. In fact, Xia Lin over-interpreted it a bit. Their trip south didn't involve many twists and turns; they simply missed their child.

Li Shimin was alright; he was a hard-hearted man, and besides, Li Chengqian was getting older and less close to him. He was having a great time in the beautiful Sichuan region. But Third Sister was different. She was truly anxious and worried about her child. The situation had been too unstable recently. The silent flames of war in Chang'an had spread to almost every corner of the city. She had suppressed seven or eight uprisings in the northwest alone, and there were also some other bizarre events. She had killed several thousand people in total. During that time, the entire city of Chang'an was filled with the smell of blood.

Back then, she was constantly on edge, so she didn't have much time to think about it. However, things have gotten better recently. Her elder brother, Li Jiancheng, went back to his hometown with Li Yuan to pay respects to their ancestors, and Chang'an gradually became more stable after Li Jiancheng left.

In fact, anyone with eyes to see knows that Li Yuan probably couldn't stand it anymore and that's why he took Li Jiancheng away. But the problem is that Li Yuan is still doing things the old way. He's only treating the symptoms, not the root cause. After this ancestral worship ceremony, there's no doubt that the conflict will become even more intense.

Between the two intense clashes, San Niang resolutely decided to go south to see her son, since no one knew if she would have the chance to see her precious son again after the next violent conflict.

Li Shimin, however, put forward a very bold and adventurous idea: he wanted to meet Xia Lin. Their camp urgently needed a very strong economic backing. The aristocratic families were unreliable, and they were more inclined to control their behavior, which was something Li Shimin could not tolerate.

But if they could find a breakthrough with Xia Lin, who knows, when they returned to Chang'an after this, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty might be a different person. In any case, Li Shimin felt that it didn't matter whether he was the emperor or not, but it absolutely couldn't be Li Jiancheng; his sister was the perfect candidate.

As for Xia Lin's guess that they intercepted Emperor Jingtai's information in advance and created a chance encounter, it's really not that deep a thought. After all, the intelligence agency in Chang'an is still in Li Jiancheng's hands, and he probably wouldn't share such important information with his younger siblings.

Third Sister led Li Shimin to knock on the door of the Dugu family. As soon as they entered, they saw Dugu Han sitting in front of an earthen stove made of stacked stones, with two children squatting beside him, waiting expectantly.

This earthen stove was completely out of place in the magnificent Dugu family compound, and even more so incompatible with Dugu Han, who was usually dressed in fine clothes and dressed in luxurious attire.

"Mother!"

Li Zhi was the first to see San Niang. He raised his dirty hand and rushed towards his mother. Dugu Jiaye, who was next to him, was obviously not very close to San Niang. Even though she was his mother in name, she clearly favored Dugu Han more.

"Good boy..."

Third Sister picked up Li Zhi, and tears immediately streamed down her face. At that moment, her most cherished person was this son. Now, a year had passed in the blink of an eye, and when she saw him again, she felt extremely indebted.

"You're only hugging that one, but not this one?" Dugu Han glanced sideways at Third Sister: "What? Isn't Jia Ye your daughter?"

Third Sister was amused by the bean sprout. She held her son in one hand and opened the other hand towards Kasyapa, saying, "Baby, come here to your mother."

But who would have thought that Dugu Jiaye would turn his head and hug Dugu Han from behind, refusing to come forward no matter what. San Niang glanced at Dugu Han, but Dugu Han just spread his hands and said, "I won't kiss you."

At this moment, Li Shimin circled around Dugu Han a few times, and said with a hint of mockery, "The Dugu family head, the son of two emperors, is so unpretentious at home?"

"Shut up!" Dugu Han frowned. "Call me brother-in-law!"

Li Shimin was taken aback. He, the King of Shu, had lived in this world, but no one had ever dared to be so arrogant in front of him... Oh, it wasn't that there wasn't one. There was an old friend. The shout of the Dugu family head made Li Shimin feel as if an old friend had come.

"By the way, what brings you two here? Weren't you supposed to be going to fight Li Jiancheng at Xuanwu Gate? Didn't you manage to finish him off?"

Li Shimin turned around and looked at his sister in surprise. Third Sister quickly shook her head and then asked, "How did you know?"

"What? How do I know? Just wait."

Dugu Han placed his daughter in San Niang's arms, turned around and went back into the house. He took out a handwritten booklet with five large characters on it: "The Xuanwu Gate Incident." They were all too familiar with that handwriting, but upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a signature from ten years ago.

Li Shimin curiously took the book and began to read it. It told the story of how Li Shimin confronted Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji at Xuanwu Gate, and how he forced Li Yuan to abdicate by holding his brothers' heads.

"I guess he was just writing it for fun and didn't notice it was left here, what do you think?"

Li Shimin's expression changed drastically at this moment. He raised his hand to throw the thing into the fire, but was stopped by San Niang. She took it and looked at it, and then laughed: "It really does look like a real thing."

“If you were dead, then it would be true.” Dugu Han crossed her arms and laughed. “The only turning point is that you, as the older sister, didn’t die. Since you didn’t die, your younger brother still misses that family.”

Li Shimin stood frozen in place, arms crossed, trying to speak several times but unable to utter a word. The booklet, whether in terms of its paper or its worn appearance, was indeed quite old. Ten years ago, Li Shimin hadn't even considered this matter. Yet, he had accurately written down the identity of each person in it, even detailing the reign title of Li Yuan after he became emperor.

It's important to know that the choice of this reign title took into account many factors, the most crucial of which was Li Shimin's status as the Prince of Qin. The only thing missing from this list was his older sister.

You know, now my sister is the King of Qin and I am the King of Shu. This seems like Xia Lin guessed wrong, but if my sister had died back then, the King of Qin would have been Li Shimin. But when this book was written, let alone the King of Qin or the King of Shu, Li Yuan himself was still the King of Tang.

"This monster!"

Li Shimin frowned, a hint of shock in his heart. He wondered what abilities that fellow possessed, but such skills were certainly beyond the reach of ordinary people.

No wonder the King of Shu was so troublesome. He was clearly the most powerful man in the land, but suddenly this monster appeared. Ten years ago, during the first battle of Luoyang, he lost the chance to capture Luoyang because Li Yuanji let him win, and lost to Xia Daosheng.

But after that point, it seemed like every step I took was being calculated, and sometimes I felt utterly helpless...

"By the way, Erfeng, you should go and get some rest. Tomorrow I'll take you two to meet someone."

"Meeting whom?"

"I can't tell you that," Dugu Han said with a smile. "You'll find out tomorrow."

Li Shimin glared fiercely at Dugu Han from behind, but said nothing. He was no longer someone who could be called by his nickname by just anyone, but Dugu Han called him that and he had no way to object. Whether it was because of his status as a member of the Dugu family or his status as her brother-in-law, he couldn't refute it.

Third Sister was definitely going to sleep with the child tonight, but unfortunately, Jia Ye insisted on sticking to Dugu Han, so Third Sister could only complain about her ungrateful son and take him to the next room to chat. At this moment, everything looked peaceful and harmonious, quite warm and cozy.

As for the next day's arrangements, Li Shimin was also going to see Guanyinbi, since he hadn't seen his princess for a long time. However, he didn't see his son, Li Chengqian, because Li Chengqian was at the academy and wouldn't be able to return home for another three days.

"By the way, brother. The Dugu family has invited you to a banquet tonight."

The little princess walked up to Emperor Jingtai, who was fishing, and asked, "Are you going?"

"The Dugu family? Dugu Han? I don't want to see that bean sprout. He's utterly repulsive. Last time I asked him for a loan, he actually demanded that I leave nine times and return thirteen times. What a scoundrel."

Emperor Jingtai was furious when the matter was brought up, and he didn't want to see Dugu Han either. However, Jinlian, who was standing next to him, advised, "Your Majesty, the Dugu family has helped you a lot. Out of respect for them, Your Majesty should do us the honor."

"Hey, my beloved concubine. You have no idea about that bean sprout. He looks handsome with rosy lips and white teeth, but he's actually a real nuisance. That fellow... he's never let out a good fart since he was little. They say a barking dog doesn't bite, and he's the kind that doesn't bark, but if you're not careful, he'll tear a piece of flesh from you. Back when there was a locust plague in the Central Plains, the Dugu family, as a powerful clan, led the way in shorting rice prices, making the forty-seven wealthy families of Jiangnan run for their lives overnight. You thought they were helping me, but actually, they made a whopping seven million taels that time! Seven million!!! My Great Wei's annual tax revenue was only thirty-five million taels! He pocketed twenty percent of that. After that, when it came to flood control in various places, it was the Dugu family again who monopolized the canal and land transport, raising prices by thirty percent, causing me to lose nearly four million taels a year! And then..."

Emperor Jingtai kept rambling on about the countless misdeeds of the Dugu family until Xia Daosheng appeared: "If it weren't for my, Daosheng, who single-handedly brought them to their knees through the public-private partnership, who knows who would be in charge of the world today? Originally, everyone secretly said that the Great Wei belonged to the Dugu family, but it was all thanks to Daosheng that the Dugu family became a pig raised by the Great Wei."

"Your Majesty, you've brought up Lord Xia again." Jinlian covered her mouth and giggled, "It seems you really miss him."

"However, I've heard that Daosheng and that fellow from the Dugu family have some ambiguous relationship, but I don't know if it's true." Emperor Jingtai turned to look at the little princess: "Is it true?"

"Yes...right?" The little princess scratched her head. "I'm not really sure, but thankfully, Daosheng keeps his public and private affairs very separate. A few days ago, he even reduced the Dugu family's real estate holdings, saying that the Dugu family should hand over the land they had stockpiled in Jiangnan, or else he would besiege them."

"Hmm? Is that so? The Dugu family is willing to make an appointment? I remember they are notoriously stingy."

“If they don’t pay, Daosheng will really annihilate their family… They’ve already done it once.” The little princess smiled awkwardly: “But the Dugu family surrendered the next day, handed over the land and paid the taxes, more than 20 million taels of silver.”

"What!!!???"

Emperor Jingtai jumped three feet high: "His family can pay more than 20 million taels of back taxes? My annual tax revenue is not that much! Just how rich is the Dugu family...?"

"They seem to be quite wealthy." The little princess chuckled a few times. "But don't worry, brother. Daosheng said that making money is a matter of course, but they shouldn't think about anything else. Not only them, but all the noble families in the world are the same."

"Does that include our family?" Emperor Jingtai smiled smugly. "It shouldn't, right?"

The little princess was extremely honest and completely without guile: "It includes everything. He said even the emperor is the same, regardless of whether the emperor's surname is Li or Tian."

Emperor Jingtai fell silent. He turned to look at Jinlian, who was listening intently, gave an awkward smile, and finally added, "What does the surname Tian have to do with my surname Tuoba?"

Jinlian smiled knowingly...

However, after thinking it over, Emperor Jingtai finally accepted the invitation from that scoundrel Dugu Han and went to the banquet that evening.

But around dusk, Emperor Jingtai suddenly slapped his thigh and started acting up again: "Wait a minute, what is his status? Why should he invite me to dinner? Go and tell him that either he should come to see me, or we should forget about it."

The little princess was helpless against him and could only relay his words verbatim. Little did she know that Dugu Han was just waiting for those words. Anyway, she was completely unprepared. When Emperor Jingtai arrived, she went to a restaurant to order takeout. Fortunately, Emperor Jingtai's personality was indeed easy to guess, and she was right.

So she took her "wife" and brother-in-law and strolled over to the princess's residence.

On the way, Li Shimin joked, "I'm not saying this to be mean, but how did Emperor Jingtai, with his childish temper, manage to hold onto the throne?"

“He has Xia Daosheng,” Dugu Han replied coldly. “With him, even if a dog were sitting on the dragon throne, he could still hold onto the throne.”

"Tsk..." Li Shimin clicked his tongue. "Can you please not mention him?"

"afraid?"

"I'm afraid? Haha... That's ridiculous. Me, afraid?" Li Shimin said arrogantly, "Call him here, have him stand in front of me, and see if I don't beat him to death."

Amidst the constant provocations and bickering between the two, the group arrived at the princess's residence. Upon entering, they discovered that a banquet had indeed been prepared, but it was all takeout, served on plates from the Jinxiangyu Hotel in the county…

"Hey!" Li Shimin pointed at the food on the table: "Brother Jing, isn't this a bit too much?"

Emperor Jingtai squinted, craned his neck, and stared intently at Li Shimin for a moment. He didn't ask, "Why are you here?" but simply cried out, "Catch the assassin! There's an assassin! An assassination attempt on the emperor has begun!!!"

"Having fun, is it, you tyrant!" Li Shimin looked at the imperial guards who suddenly appeared: "Did you lure them in to kill them?"

Just then, Third Sister walked in carrying the child and slammed her hand on the table: "Have you two had enough?! It's just a family dinner, what kind of nonsense are you making!"

Emperor Jingtai shrank back, waved his hand to dismiss the guards, and Jinlian, who was standing next to him, had a real glimmer in her eyes when she saw the Third Princess's behavior and demeanor.

So this is what it means for women to have such a powerful presence...

(End of this chapter)