Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 31: Queen of the East
Pingkangfang is one of the most famous neighborhoods in Chang'an City. It has three red-light alleys and a red-building art gallery. It is a gathering place for literati and knights from Kyoto.

Outside the gate, people were coming in and out, making it even busier than at the city gate.

Li Zhi stood outside Pingkangfang, his eyes fixed on a big gate in the distance.

The vermilion-painted gate has two xiezhi beast heads in the center, holding gilded bronze rings.

There are two rows of halberd racks at the entrance, and armored soldiers and slaves are guarding it, which looks quite impressive.

In order to facilitate public security management, the walls of the 108 wards in Chang'an were strictly prohibited from being opened, and everyone could only enter and exit through the ward gates.

However, there are exceptions.

Princes and nobles of the third rank and above were allowed to chisel open the wall and open the door to the street. It was obvious that an official of the third rank and above lived in this mansion.

This gate was not the main gate, and there was no plaque on the lintel. Li Zhi asked, "Whose house is this?"

Wu Meiniang glanced at him and said, "Jiulang, this is Chu Suiliang's mansion."

Li Zhi raised his eyebrows and said, "Didn't Chu Suiliang get demoted?"

Wu Meiniang said, "Although he was demoted, many people believe that he can come back, including his family."

Li Zhi understood instantly.

Although Chu Suiliang's official position was demoted, his family still lived here. These people did not know how to restrain themselves, but instead took advantage of the power of others and became more and more arrogant.

Moreover, this mansion was not the Henan County Mansion awarded to Chu Suiliang by the court, but was bought by Chu Suiliang from a Sogdian official at a low price.

At that time, the Censor-in-Chief impeached Chu Suiliang, and Emperor Gaozong of Tang used an excuse to banish Chu Suiliang from Chang'an.

However, less than two years later, Emperor Gaozong of Tang and Zhangsun Wuji failed in their battle in Chang'an, and Chu Suiliang was recalled and reinstated.

The impeachment was dropped, and the mansion was returned to Chu Suiliang. However, the censor Wei Siqian who impeached Chu Suiliang was banished from Chang'an.

Now that Chu Suiliang has been demoted again, the Chu family did not choose to keep a low profile, but instead acted so ostentatiously. They thought that he would be recalled to Chang'an, so they acted so ostentatiously.

Li Zhi shook his head and said, "Let's go into the square."

The streets in Pingkangfang are not as wide as the main streets outside, but they are still quite wide. There are many shops in the square, and vendors are selling their goods along the streets, which is very lively.

Wu Meiniang also became interested and lingered in front of some jewelry stalls. Although the items were worthless, she looked at them with great interest.

Li Zhi saw her playing with a wooden hairpin. Although the hairpin was ordinary, there was a lifelike phoenix carved on the tail, which was more realistic than the phoenix carved on the phoenix hairpin.

Li Zhi bought a wooden hairpin and put it on her head. Wu Meiniang smiled at him, and her narrow and long phoenix eyes opened up like two willow leaves.

Li Zhi saw a wine shop on the side of the street, and heard bursts of conversation coming from inside. He seemed to faintly hear the word "Tubo".

Li Zhi had an idea and walked towards the winery.

This is a winery that serves the lower class people. As soon as I arrived at the door, I saw that it was dirty and chaotic inside. The smell of wine mixed with sourness hit my nose.

Wu Meiniang frowned.

Zhang Duohai observed his expression and said with a smile, "Alang, this place is not very clean. Let's go to another place."

Li Zhi glanced at Wu Meiniang and said with a smile, "My lady, why don't you go to another stall and look around. I'll go in and listen to what they are talking about."

Wu Meiniang glanced at Zhang Duohai, blaming him for being too talkative, and said with a smile, "I'll go with you. I also want to hear what they are talking about."

Li Zhi then took her into the winery and walked to a table. Wang Fusheng wiped the wine with her sleeve before Li Zhi sat down, and called the waiter to ask him to filter the wine.

Zhang Da Hai also rushed ahead of Wu Meiniang and wiped the chair that Wu Meiniang was going to sit on, and then Wu Meiniang sat down.

After a while, the waiter came over with the wine.

Seeing that the wine was too turbid, Wu Meiniang ordered the waiter to bring a sieve so that she could help Li Zhi sift it more cleanly.

Without waiting for her to finish screening, Li Zhi stood up and walked towards a table in the distance. Xue Rengui and Wang Fusheng followed immediately.

Wu Meiniang looked over and saw two men talking loudly.

One was a skinny traveling merchant, and the other had bare arms in the middle of winter, with muscular torsos, like a warrior.

The two were discussing the envoys from various countries who came to the Tang Dynasty to pay homage, and they could vaguely hear words like "Tibet" and "first".

Seeing Li Zhi walk up to the two of them, I don't know what he said to them, but they became familiar with each other in a short while. The warrior even put his hand on Li Zhi's shoulder.

Zhang Duohai bared his teeth and said, "Oh, where did this peasant come from? He's so rude! Wang Fusheng is a dead man, but he didn't even stop him." Wu Meiniang glanced at him and said, "Wang Fusheng is much more perceptive than you. He didn't see Jiulang was having a good time talking to them, yet you insisted on interrupting him."

Zhang Da Hai smiled innocently.

Just then, a drunk drinker suddenly came over and blocked Wu Meiniang's view.

"My dear, your eyes are like two hooks, which have hooked my soul away. Let me see your face." The drunk laughed and reached out to take off her veil.

Wu Meiniang lowered her eyes and did not move. Zhang Duohai, who was standing beside her, had already reached out his hand, pinched the drinker's fingers, and bent them upwards.

The drinker's finger was broken instantly and he wanted to scream in pain, but Zhang Duohai covered his mouth, fearing that he would disturb Li Zhi's conversation.

Zhang Dahai dragged the drunk man out and came back after a while.

After a while, Li Zhi finished drinking with the two men and came back with a smile on his face.

Wu Meiniang smiled and said, "What did you say to them that makes them so happy?"

Li Zhi drank the wine she had prepared and said with a smile, "The matter concerning the foreign envoys is related to Tubo. Let's discuss it after we get out."

Several people left the tavern.

After leaving the winery, the red sun rose higher and higher. It was already past the hour of Si, and the streets became more lively. Many artists had set up acrobatic stalls on the street.

There were fire-breathing, chest-breaking stones, monkey and snake shows, dancing and singing. It was very lively and many of the performers were foreigners.

Wu Meiniang asked again what Li Zhi had just said to the two men.

Li Zhi said, "Do you remember that I organized a banquet to entertain foreign envoys?"

Wu Meiniang nodded her chin.

Li Zhi said, "Some foreign envoys are dissatisfied with our seating arrangement and have arranged a duel in the West Market."

Wu Meiniang snorted, "It must be the Tibetans' idea."

Li Zhi said, "It's not just Tubo. The countries ranked behind them all want to move up a few places. They agreed to each send one person to fight a match to determine the ranking. Then they will jointly submit a letter to the Honglu Temple, and the ranking at the Grand Court will be determined according to their ranking."

Wu Meiniang said, "They are breaking the rules by standing upside down."

Li Zhi laughed and said, "It's their business if they submit a petition, but it's our business if we listen or not."

Wu Meiniang smiled and said, "Did they come to a conclusion? Who won first place?"

Li Zhi's smile faded, and he said, "The Tibetan envoy 'Dubu' won first place."

Wu Meiniang nodded slightly: "I do have some tricks."

At this moment, a strange carriage passed by the two of them.

The style of the carriage was not strange, except that the curtain covering it was green and had many strange patterns on it, which was not in the Tang style.

The driver was a sturdy man, eight feet tall, a bit stronger than Xue Rengui. He wore a strange blue suit with ragged edges and a round metal hat on his head.

The green-curtained carriage moved forward for a short while before stopping outside a gold and silver shop. The strong man driving the carriage was actually lying on the ground.

A woman got off the carriage, stepping on the strong man's back.

In the Tang Dynasty, there were also noble ladies who stepped on the backs of slaves to get off the carriage. However, foreign women rarely did such behavior, which immediately attracted a lot of attention.

The foreign woman was tall and plump, with a beautiful face. There were a few green marks on her face, which made her look more mysterious and charming.

Two more female guards came down from the carriage. They were wearing armor, a red midriff underneath, and a large cloak outside.

Seeing them enter the gold and silver shop, Li Zhi frowned and said, "I wonder which country those women are from."

Wu Meiniang smiled faintly, leaned close to his ear, and said with a smile: "Jiulang, do you think that woman is the Queen of Dongnu?"

Li Zhi's mind moved and he said, "That should be it. She is going to your house to attend the birthday party, so she went to the gold and silver shop to buy a gift as a birthday present."

Suddenly, the sound of horse hooves was heard, and a horse team came running and stopped outside the gold and silver shop. It was the group of Tibetans just now.

They whispered a few words to each other and followed into the gold and silver shop.

(End of this chapter)