Sheng Tang: What is Liu Jianjun going to do today?

Chapter 40 finally shocked Liu Jianjun.

Li Xian was extremely satisfied with his performance.

Remaining calm and composed in the face of danger, without being arrogant or impatient, is crucial. Whether it's the fullness of one's emotions or the control of one's tone, too much is excessive, and too little is inadequate.

He was eager to receive Liu Jianjun's evaluation.

They headed towards the post station.

Back at the post station.

Liu Jianjun is despicable.

"You said you wrote a poem?" Liu Jianjun stared at him, his eyes wide. "I told you to vent your emotions freely, and this is the poem you wrote? And you even wrote a poem with all sorts of embellishments?"

“It’s picking more…” Li Xian argued.

Because the second excerpt doesn't rhyme.

Liu Jianjun interrupted: "Xianzi, how about I recite a poem for you? Listen, flying snow! One flake after another, two flakes, three flakes, four or five flakes, six flakes, seven flakes, eight or nine flakes, flying into the reeds and disappearing!"

Li Xian choked, then said in embarrassment and annoyance, "Is my poem really that bad? Even if I'm not as talented as you, you don't need to make fun of me with such a vulgar style of poetry!"

Liu Jianjun couldn't help but laugh: "Alright, alright! I was just worried you'd get too cocky after becoming a prince, so I was just giving you a little nudge!"

Upon hearing this, Li Xian felt a little relieved, and then looked at Liu Jianjun expectantly: "So... how was my performance just now?"

"Judging from the result, it's a perfect score!" Liu Jianjun answered confidently. "Your mother won't be paying any attention to us for a while!"

Li Xian's face lit up with joy, but then he looked puzzled: "Are there other angles to look from?"

"And looking at the process, this was a lucky accident!"

"A lucky accident?" Li Xian asked, puzzled.

"Don't you feel that your performance today made you seem exceptionally intelligent, wise, and calm under pressure?"

"While the praise may be a bit excessive... the principle is largely correct."

Li Xian was unusually shy. So Liu Jianjun can praise people too?
"Hmph, what if I said that I originally wanted you to hide your shortcomings from your mother... uh, no, that's not what I meant now, I should say I wanted you to show your incompetence?"

"Show humiliation?"

"It's to make you appear as a naive, simple-minded, and clueless young man who can't hide anything, so as to lull your mother into a false sense of security and make her lower her guard against us... Uh, Xianzi, are you alright?" Liu Jianjun quietly looked at Li Xian.

Li Xian's face was as dark as Liu Jianjun's at this moment.

He felt extremely frustrated.

He had tried his best to appear intelligent and wise, but in the eyes of truly intelligent people like Liu Jianjun and his mother, he was just a simpleton?
No scheming

Lacking in cunning,

You can't hide something on your face.

hothead...

It was a lucky accident!
Liu Jianjun's words were like knives cutting into Li Xian's heart.

It hurts, it hurts too much.

"Well..." Liu Jianjun noticed Li Xian's bad mood, "So I said, by sheer luck... your performance was even better than I expected..."

"Liu Jianjun, maybe you shouldn't try to comfort me," Li Xian sighed, then couldn't help but ask angrily, "Am I really that stupid?"

"Uh...not stupid."

"to be frank!"

"To be honest, it's okay to be a little slow!"

"What do you mean? Since our goal is... does it mean it doesn't matter if an emperor is a little stupid? Wouldn't that make him a foolish ruler?"

"Bullshit! Let me tell you this: Emperor Taizong and your grandfather laid such a solid foundation for the Tang Dynasty! At this point, even a pig could become the emperor of the Tang Dynasty! The Tang Dynasty doesn't need an emperor who blindly points fingers; it only needs an emperor who listens to the advice of his ministers!"

"Are you out of your mind?!" Li Xian hurriedly covered Liu Jianjun's mouth. He thought Liu Jianjun's words were extremely vulgar.

And it's so daring!

Our Tang Dynasty has an open atmosphere, but you can't just curse the emperor as a pig in a government post station, can you?
"There's one more thing! I have to get it off my chest!" Liu Jianjun struggled to pry Li Xian's hand away.

Li Xian thought that if Liu Jianjun insisted on saying it, it must be something very important, so he relaxed his grip a little.

"But we can't let a woman come..."

Next, Li Xian covered Liu Jianjun's mouth again.

Liu Jianjun is too crazy.

……

Li Xian was very satisfied; he had finally suppressed Liu Jianjun.

Liu Jianjun saw the imperial edict and his mouth dropped open: "Furong Garden? You mean you've given the entire Furong Garden to you as your royal residence? And you're charging me 120 yuan for admission to this thing..."

Li Xian interrupted impatiently: "Furong Garden is a closed imperial garden. When has it ever been open to the public... let alone charging admission fees!"

"Don't be so calm! That's over a thousand acres of land!" Liu Jianjun grabbed Li Xian's arm and shook him, his expression manic. "It would take you almost half an hour to walk from the east gate to the west gate! You've given such a huge garden to yourself as your mansion?"

Li Xian couldn't help but reassure him: "Alright, I am, after all, a descendant of a sage. What is a garden of a thousand acres?"

Liu Jianjun was finally defeated, collapsing onto the couch, muttering incessantly, "I was so stupid, so stupid. I only knew that feudal dynasties were utterly evil, that they sucked the blood of the people, but I didn't know..."

Halfway through his rambling, Liu Jianjun suddenly sat up abruptly, grabbing Li Xian's arm: "Xianzi, you're a prince now, you can't just watch me sleep on the streets, can you?"

Li Xian easily saw through Liu Jianjun's intentions and said with a smile, "What are you saying? You brought me back to Chang'an, so naturally I will keep you in the Prince's mansion. In fact, I have already decided to appoint you as the Chief Secretary of my Prince Pei's mansion."

"Long live the feudal dynasty!" Liu Jianjun exclaimed, then looked puzzled: "The Chief Secretary of the Prince of Pei's Mansion?"

"I really don't know how you studied!" Li Xian said with a smile. "It's just an official position within the Prince's mansion, whose duties are to lead the staff and manage the daily affairs of the mansion..."

Li Xian thought for a moment and felt that he shouldn't talk to Liu Jianjun about the functions of official positions, so he changed his words and said: "His rank is the upper fourth rank."

This time, Liu Jianjun was stunned for a moment.

An incredulous exclamation: "I've become an official? A fourth-rank official?"
"To command the staff within the palace and manage the daily affairs of the Prince's residence... isn't that just being a steward? A steward of a fourth-rank official?"

“Yes, so we should pack up and head to the Prince’s Mansion!” Li Xian patted Liu Jianjun on the shoulder, satisfied.

This truly surprised Liu Jianjun, a simple country bumpkin.

Otherwise, he would have thought that his status as a prince was just for show!
"Wait a minute, do you have money right now?" Liu Jianjun asked intently.

Li Xian was taken aback: "What do you need money for? Didn't you just go to a brothel this morning?"

"No, didn't I borrow money from those couriers before? Give me some, I'll go pay them back!"

……

Li Xian and Liu Jianjun were walking on their way to Furong Garden.

Liu Jianjun asked, "Xianzi, is this really where we'll be living in such a big place like Furong Garden?"

"You just said that the Chief Secretary is in charge of all the staff in your Prince's Mansion. Wasn't Wang Bo some kind of compiler in your mansion before? Does that mean if he could come back, I would still be able to control him?"

When are you going to bring your sister-in-law back?

"By the way, what kind of house are you going to give me? It's such a big house, we can't both be crammed into one room, can we?"

Li Xian smiled, turned around, and frowned as he looked at Liu Jianjun.

Mimicking Liu Jianjun's tone from back then: "You talk too much!"

……

(End of this chapter)