Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 393 Changing to Wu
Outside the palace gate, Wu Meiniang and Li Xian were waiting for the emperor.

When Li Zhi saw Li Xian was there, he knew why Wu Meiniang had come.

Just as he thought, after entering the main hall, Wu Meiniang said, "Your Majesty, tomorrow is Xian'er's tenth birthday. Mother has been unwell recently, so I want to take him to the Wu Mansion to celebrate his birthday and make her happy. Is that okay with you?"

Li Zhi nodded and said, "Of course."

He glanced sideways at Li Xian and said with emotion, "Unknowingly, our Xian'er is already ten years old. Time flies."

Li Xian said with a smile, "But I feel like time is passing too slowly."

Li Zhi sighed, "Silly boy, when you grow up, you may not be as happy as you are now."

Li Xian often heard adults say this, but he didn't believe it at all. He thought to himself, "When I grow up, I can do whatever I want and go wherever I want. How can I not be happy?"

Li Zhi instructed: "After you leave the palace tomorrow, listen to your mother and don't act naughty."

Li Xian said, "Father, you might as well tell Taiping about this. She's much more mischievous than I am."

Wu Meiniang snorted, "You two are the same as each other."

Li Zhi sat in the Lizheng Hall for a while and then left. Wu Meiniang was busy preparing for Li Xian's birthday the next day, so she asked him to go back to Chongwenguan to study.

Li Xian finally didn't have to study today, so naturally he didn't want to go back. When he passed by Daji Hall, his eyes rolled and he took a detour to Daji Hall.

As soon as I reached the temple gate, I heard shouts from inside: "Bite him! Bite him!"

Li Xian's eyes showed surprise, and he quickly entered the hall, only to see the fourth prince Li Lian fighting insects with a group of eunuchs.

Li Xian walked forward quickly and saw two green-backed insects fighting fiercely in the fighting basin.

Li Xian is playful by nature and has inherited his mother's energy, so he is interested in everything.

The people of the Tang Dynasty loved cockfighting and insect fighting, and insect fighting had developed into a sophisticated profession. There were even specialized insect catchers and insect breeders among the people.

These two green-backed insects are both top-grade fighting insects. If they were sold among the people, their price would be equivalent to several months' wages for an ordinary person.

Of course, only rich people can afford to play insect fighting. They are only afraid of not being able to buy good insects and don’t care about such a small amount of money at all.

Li Xian was not polite at all. He put his head on the fighting basin and was watching it intently when he suddenly saw a hand pulling the fighting basin away.

Looking up, he saw that Li Lian was holding the basin in his hand, and two insects were lying on the ground. Li Lian stepped on them one by one and killed them.

Li Xian was surprised and asked, "Fourth brother, what are you doing?"

Li Lian ignored him, walked to a chair, sat down, picked up an orange and started eating.

Li Xian was not angry. He came to his side and stretched out a hand to take the oranges, but was slapped in the face by Li Lian.

"Don't you have good oranges in Lizheng Palace? Why are you eating these low-quality oranges of mine?" Li Lian said coldly.

Li Xian clenched his hands, lowered his head and said nothing.

After eating the tangerines, Li Lian walked back to his bedroom, lay down on the couch, crossed his legs, and flipped through a booklet.

He was watching with great interest when he suddenly felt a heat next to him. He turned around and saw that Li Xian had come into the room at some point and had put his head next to him and started watching with him.

Li Lian quickly pushed him away and said angrily, "Why don't you leave?"

Li Xian laughed and said, "Fourth brother, the stories in this booklet are very interesting. Where did you find it?"

Li Lian said with a straight face, "It's none of your business. Today is not a public holiday. Why don't you go to Chongwenguan to study?"

Li Xian asked, "Brother Four hasn't gone yet, has she?"

Li Lian laughed at himself and said, "No one cares whether I go or not."

Li Xian stared at him and said, "Fourth brother, are you unhappy?"

Li Lian said coldly: "What does it have to do with you? Get out of here!"

Li Xian lowered his head and muttered, "I just want to play with my fourth brother for a while."

Li Lian said, "But I don't want to play with you. Can you please stop acting like a scabby dog?"

Li Xian showed a hint of anger on his face, but then he suppressed his temper and said softly, "Fourth brother, I know you did this on purpose."

Li Lian snorted, "What are you doing on purpose?"

Li Xian looked at him and said, "I know you deliberately pretended to be playful, deliberately avoided interacting with your brothers, and deliberately disappointed your father. None of this was your intention."

After hearing this, Li Lian was slightly startled, looked up at the void, and was lost in thought.

He is an extremely intelligent prince.

Although Xiao Siye did not reveal any plan to him, he guessed from the reactions of the Xiao family members and their teachings to him that the Xiao family wanted to support him to become the crown prince.

He actually didn't want to be a prince, he just wanted his parents to love him.

Unfortunately, his biological mother was expelled from the palace and demoted to a commoner. His two sisters were loved by their father and could see their mother, but he could not.

Perhaps only if he becomes the crown prince, or even further, the emperor, can he see his biological mother again.

After a complex psychological struggle, he finally decided to move towards this goal.

However, not long after he made the decision, Xiao Siye died.

The Xiao family no longer taught him academic knowledge, but instead began to teach him how to have fun.

If it were an ordinary child, he would just feel happy.

But Li Lian was too smart. He had guessed that his father's assassination was related to the Xiao family, so Xiao Siye died suddenly.

The change in Xiao's attitude towards him showed that they had given up on supporting him to become the crown prince, which made Li Lian very painful and depressed.

They decided to support him as the crown prince without even asking for his opinion.

Now that I haven't gotten his consent, I have to give up on him.

Li Lian was only thirteen years old when he felt the cruelty of the power struggle. He became self-destructive and began to alienate everyone, including his father and the Xiao family.

Li Zhi was busy and didn't notice the changes in his son at all. Moreover, because of Xiao Siye, he had some grudges against him and didn't pay much attention to him.

The Xiao family members could hardly protect themselves and had no time to focus on him.

Princess Gao'an and Princess Yiyang had never had a very good relationship with him. After being treated coldly by him several times, they stopped visiting him.

Li Yong used to come to him all the time and tell him things like "Second brother Li Xiao has changed".

As a result, after being treated coldly by him several times, she shouted, "You have changed too," and never came to Daji Hall again.

No one thought about why he changed, and no one cared about the pain in his heart.

Unconsciously, he, the fourth prince, was gradually forgotten by everyone. Even if he didn't go to Chongwenguan to study, no one came to look for him.

He should have opened a government last year, but no one mentioned it.

Li Lian's heart became increasingly cold, and his behavior became increasingly introverted.

Unexpectedly, Li Xian was the first person to discover his secret.

The reason why Li Xian was able to discover it was because he and Li Lian were very similar when they were children, equally smart and equally naughty.

The only difference is that Concubine Xiao Shufei was expelled from the palace and could not feel the love of her parents.

Li Xian has always been loved by his mother and father.

Li Lian's frozen heart began to crack because of Li Xian's words.

What rushed out from the gap was a sense of resentment!

"What do you know? What do you know?" He looked at Li Xian viciously.

Li Xian was slightly frightened, but he still said, "Fourth brother, I know you're unhappy about what happened to your biological mother and the Xiao family. But you should be more open-minded and learn more from your two sisters. Aren't they also very happy?"

Li Lian shouted angrily, "You don't know anything. How can they be like me? Get out of here, or I will be rude to you!"

Li Xian slowly retreated to the door, looked at the ferocious Li Lian, and finally turned and left.

When he arrived at the door, he saw a young eunuch kneeling at the door, kowtowed to Li Xian and said, "Sixth Prince, please don't leave. Please help Fourth Prince."

Li Xian was holding his breath and snorted, "I wanted to help, but he's so fierce, how can I help him?"

The young eunuch sobbed, "His Highness often has nightmares at night, and sometimes he even cries because of them. His temper has also been getting worse and worse recently, and he hasn't smiled in a long time." Li Xian muttered, "I'm not even ten years old, why do I have to do everything?"

The young eunuch said, "For the past month, no one has come to Daji Hall to see the Fourth Prince. Only you come to see him."

Li Xian remained silent.

Zhang Baofu, who was standing by, reminded him, "Your Highness, don't worry about these trivial matters. Hurry and go to Chongwenguan. Otherwise, if Her Highness the Queen finds out, she will definitely blame you."

It would have been fine if she hadn't said anything, but when she brought up Wu Meiniang, Li Xian snorted and said, "Then go ahead and file a complaint."

He turned around and returned to Li Lian's bedroom.

When he arrived at the door and looked into the room, he saw Li Lian sitting on the couch, covering his face with his hands, sobbing softly.

"Fourth brother, why... are you crying?" Li Xian said blankly.

Li Lian quickly wiped the tears from his eyes with his sleeve and choked out, "What are you doing back again?"

Li Xian walked over to sit next to him, looked at him sideways, and said, "Fourth brother, tomorrow is my birthday. I can ask mother to let you meet your mother."

Li Lian stared at him for a moment and said, "If you tell me, your mother will definitely be angry with you. Besides, I don't want to see my mother."

Li Xian asked, "Then why are you crying?"

Li Lian shook his head and said, "There are some things I can't tell you. Liu Lang, go study and stop bothering me."

Li Xian was a man who talked to himself. He frowned and thought hard for a while before muttering, "Fourth brother, you're not sad because of Xiao Siye, are you?"

Li Lian was shocked and covered his mouth with his hand, saying, "Don't talk nonsense."

Li Xian pried his hand apart and said with a smile, "Such a big reaction, could it be that I was right?"

Li Lian said seriously, "No, you don't have to guess. It's impossible for you to guess it."

Li Xian said, "Then let's go play bug fighting?"

Li Lian was stunned for a moment, then said unhappily, "You're just playing around now. Didn't you come here to comfort me?"

Li Xian blinked and said, "But I think you're okay."

Li Lian sighed wearily, and after a while, he suddenly said, "Sixth Brother, can you do me a favor?"

Li Xian asked, "What's the matter?"

"Tomorrow is your birthday, right?"

"Yes."

"Can you ask your mother to tell your father about my opening of a mansion?"

Li Xian rolled his eyes and asked, "If I help you, what benefits will you give me?"

Li Lian glared and said, "Aren't you here to help me? Why do you want benefits?"

Li Xian quickly smiled and said, "I was just kidding. Okay, okay, I'll help you tell it, but after Fourth Brother leaves the palace, you have to catch two yellow-backed insects for me to play with."

Li Lian said, "Okay, after spring comes, I'll help you catch some good bugs."

The two brothers made an agreement, and Li Xian left Daji Hall contentedly.

He dawdled along the way, looking around as he walked, and would tease a kitten for a long time if he saw one.

The tutors around him reminded him several times, but Empress Wu couldn't control him. How could he listen to those tutors?
Finally, when he was two hundred steps away from Chongwenguan, the sound of drums rang out, signaling the end of school.

Li Xian chuckled and said, "School is over, it's time to go back for dinner." Although he said that, he did not return to Lizheng Hall, but stood on the road waiting.

After a while, Li Xian was seen walking towards them slowly, holding the hand of his tutor.

When Li Xian saw him, he threw his hands up and ran over, grinning foolishly, "Brother, don't you have to go to school today? Why are you here again?"

Li Xian put his arm around him and said with a smile as they walked: "Seventh Brother, there is something we two brothers need to discuss."

Li Xian shrank his neck and said, "You don't want me to help you deceive your mother again, do you?"

Li Xian smiled and said: "The one who knows me is Qi Lang."

Li Xian lowered his head and said, "I'm afraid if I get caught, my mother will scold me again."

Li Xian smiled and said, "Don't worry, this is just a small matter, it won't be so easy to be exposed."

Li Xian said "Oh" and was easily convinced. He asked, "What do you want me to say?"

Li Xian waved his hand, asking all the followers around him to leave, and whispered in Li Xian's ear: "When you go back later, tell your mother that you saw Wang Dajian going to Daji Hall on your way home from school."

Li Xian said blankly, "What is Wang Dajian doing in Daji Hall?"

Li Xian said, "I told you I was lying to Mother. He didn't go."

Li Xian said "Oh", thought for a moment, and then asked, "But why do you say that Wang Dajian went to Daji Hall?"

Li Xian hummed, "I have my own magic tricks, you don't have to think too much."

Li Xian said obediently, "I understand."

The two of them walked west along the palace road and returned to Lizheng Hall.

When they passed Wude Hall, Li Xian pulled Li Xian aside, pointed to the Wude Gate in the south, and said, "I'm going to Ganlu Hall. You go back first."

Li Xian asked, "Why are you going to Ganlu Palace?"

Li Xian said, "Mother is so astute. If she asks Eunuch Wang what color clothes he is wearing today and you can't answer, won't you be exposed?"

Li Xian exclaimed, "Ah," and said, "Yes."

Li Xian said, "So I have to go to Ganlu Palace to find Wang Dajian and carefully observe his clothes, just in case."

Li Xian said: "Yes, then I will go with you."

Li Xian waved his hand and said, "I can go alone. You are clumsy and it will be troublesome if someone sees you."

After saying that, he left quickly.

Li Xian waited until he could no longer see his figure before he took the hand of his tutor again and took small steps back to Lizheng Hall.

After passing through Wude Gate, Li Xian headed west. When he passed Qianhua Gate, he saw Helan Minzhi striding out of the palace gate and heading towards Changle Gate with a happy look on his face.

Li Xian hurriedly stopped him and asked, "Cousin Helan, why are you so happy?"

Helan Minzhi laughed and said, "Nothing."

Li Xian refused to give up and said with a smile: "I know, it must be because you caught the cunning thief, and mother praised you."

Helan Minzhi suddenly felt a little embarrassed. Since he became the Marquis of Wu, he had not caught a single thief.

"Not really."

Li Xian asked, "Then why are you so happy?"

Helan Minzhi had no choice but to confess honestly: "At your birthday party tomorrow, your aunt is going to make an announcement."

Li Xian asked, "What's the matter?"

Helan Minzhi puffed out his chest and said, "My aunt wants to change my surname to Wu. When I come of age, I will inherit my grandfather's title of Duke of Zhou!"

Li Xian was surprised and blinked, "So, will my cousin be called Wu Minzhi from now on?"

Helan Minzhi said: "Exactly."

When he was a child in Jiangnan, his father died early and Wu Meiniang had not yet left Ganye Temple, so he was bullied by the Helan clan. Therefore, he had no good feelings towards the Helan surname.

Seeing that he was happy, Li Xian took the opportunity to reap the benefits.

"My cousin, since you are the heir to the title, you must give me a wonderful gift tomorrow, so as to live up to the dignity of a duke!"

Helan Minzhi laughed and said, "Don't worry, I will definitely give you an interesting item at your birthday party tomorrow."

Li Xian was overjoyed and said, "It's a deal then. Let's high-five to make it a deal." He stretched out his little hand.

Helan Minzhi clapped his hands, said goodbye, and strode away.

(End of this chapter)