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

Chapter 51 Sobering up
When Li Xian woke up again, the sun had already set. The afterglow of the setting sun shone down the steps of the room onto his bed. He looked out in the sunlight and for no reason thought of Liu Jianjun's line, "The forest reveals a clear sky after the rain, while the city grows colder at dusk."

"It's very well written," Li Xian exclaimed.

Then he realized that he had just been drunk.

As for what I said and did before, I have almost no recollection of it, only a vague memory...

It seems Liu Jianjun has insulted me!
He shook his head and got up.

The Prince's Sanlejiang (a type of Chinese liquor) was bought from Shengpingfang. Even if you have a hangover, it won't give you a headache, so Li Xian felt full of energy and walked out the door in the golden glow of the setting sun.

He wanted to visit Li Xian, Taiping, and Liu Jianjun.

Although he woke up to find himself moved to the tatami bed in the bedroom, Li Xian was not surprised at all.

This is the Prince of Pei's residence. It would be strange if the master of the residence woke up to find himself sleeping on the ground.

"Where are His Highness the Crown Prince and Chief Secretary Liu?" Li Xian casually called over a maid.

The maidservant bowed respectfully: "Reporting to you, Your Highness, the Crown Prince and the Princess had already left when they woke up. Chief Secretary Liu woke up the earliest and personally greeted and saw them off, without being impolite!"

Li Xian was somewhat relieved, as there were people to greet and see off Li Xian and Taiping.

But then he thought about it again and couldn't help but chuckle. Given Liu Jianjun's personality, it would be strange if he didn't act rudely.

"Where is Chief Clerk Liu?"

"In the house in Nanyuan!"

"Okay, that's all. You can go ahead and get back to work."

"Here!"

Li Xian waved his hand and walked towards Nanyuan.

……

Nanyuan was the residence that Li Xian arranged for Liu Jianjun. It included a whole set of side rooms and a side hall, and was surrounded by a small courtyard. When Li Xian arrived, he was sitting in the small courtyard, with two maids sitting on his left and right.

It seems to be the two maids who served him during his bath.

Liu Jianjun didn't see himself. He was holding a bowl and feeding one of the maids with a spoon, saying in a coaxing tone like he was talking to a child, "Ah~ Yu'er, drink more winter melon soup to moisten your intestines. It's not good for a young lady to be too fat!"

"Don't envy those fat women outside. Girls should be slim to look good!"

Then she handed a papaya to another maid next to her and said, "Cui'er, you should eat more of this. You're not fat, it's just that you don't have any meat on your breasts!"

The maid, named Cui'er, blushed as she took the papaya from Liu Jianjun's hand. Then she saw Li Xian and hurriedly stood up to greet him, saying, "My lord!"

Upon hearing this, another maid also quickly stood up and bowed in unison.

At this moment, Liu Jianjun turned around and called out, "Hey! Xianzi, you're awake. Come and have some winter melon soup!"

Li Xian thought to himself that Liu Jianjun had just fed the winter melon soup to that maid, and now he was feeding it to him, so he rolled his eyes and walked over: "You two go away first."

The two maids bowed and then hurried away.

Li Xian then said, somewhat annoyed, "What are you doing?"

"Didn't you see it? He was using PUA on that young girl!"

Liu Jianjun started spouting strange things again, but Li Xian ignored him and said, "I'm talking about you. Why didn't you wake me up when Taiping and the others left?"

"You've drunk yourself into oblivion, sleeping like a log, how am I supposed to wake you?" Liu Jianjun chuckled, downing the winter melon soup that Yu'er had just drunk in one gulp, and said, "Besides, don't you have some kind of heaven-worshiping ceremony tomorrow? Sleep a little longer, you'll be more energetic!"

Li Xian was about to explode after hearing the first half, but he felt much better after hearing the second half. That's just how Liu Jianjun is; his words are more venomous than anyone else's.

But the person is good.

"I haven't even asked you yet, what should I do for the sacrificial ceremony tomorrow?"

Li Xian felt somewhat worried. Offering sacrifices to Heaven meant facing his father and mother, and he didn't know what to do.

“I hadn’t decided yet, but after seeing Taiping and Xianzi, I have a general idea. Can you tell me what the so-called sacrificial ceremony to heaven is all about?” Liu Jianjun asked.

Hearing Liu Jianjun's explanation, Li Xian felt somewhat relieved and explained, "This sacrificial ceremony to Heaven is actually just the Emperor and his court officials going to the Circular Mound Altar in the east of the city to hold the ceremony. The procedure is nothing more than the imperial carriage leaving the palace, offering jade and silk, presenting sacrificial offerings, and the three-offering ceremony..."

Liu Jianjun interjected, "Your father can't go; your mother will go to the sacrificial ceremony this time."

Li Xian was taken aback and asked, "Why... wait, how did you know?"

"Shangguan Wan'er just came over and said that! Do you really think this mole was planted for nothing? I was going to wake you up, but I was worried you would disturb our time together, so I didn't."

Ignoring Liu Jianjun's flirtatious remarks, Li Xian smiled knowingly and continued, "After the entire sacrificial ceremony is over, Father...Mother will lead the officials in performing the three kneelings and nine kowtows ceremony, and then the imperial carriage will return to the palace."

"The previous edict restoring my status as the Prince of Pei was only circulated privately. Therefore, the edict restoring my status as the Prince of Pei will be formally read during the sacrificial ceremony, at which time my fiefdom and official position will be established..."

"Wait a minute... a fiefdom?" Liu Jianjun was taken aback.

"What's wrong?" Li Xian asked, puzzled.

“You didn’t mention any fiefdoms! If your fiefdom is in some remote mountain area like Shuzhou or Lingnan, then we’ll have to move there!” Liu Jianjun said anxiously, “Then all that digging of that ditch behind the mountain was for nothing!”

Li Xian instantly understood what Liu Jianjun was worried about, and said irritably, "A fief is a fief! It's just a remote fief. Since my Prince Pei's mansion is in Chang'an, my future appointment should also be in Chang'an."

"Take Li Dan for example. Although his fief was Ji Province, he was actually serving as the governor of Luo Province in Luoyang."

Liu Jianjun suddenly realized and said, "So that's how our Great Tang Dynasty divides things. This is good, this is good."

Li Xian gave Liu Jianjun a disgruntled look.

Liu Jianjun is a strange person. Sometimes he is extremely intelligent, as if he can know the past and the future for five hundred years, but other times he is no different from a country bumpkin, and he doesn't even know the most basic "nominal title" system of the Tang Dynasty.

"You just said that Miss Shangguan came by and that the sacrificial ceremony was performed by her mother? Is Father Emperor still in good health?" Li Xian asked again.

He was somewhat worried; his father's health seemed to be deteriorating, and even rituals like the sacrificial ceremony could only be performed by his mother on his behalf.

"What else can we do? We can't even leave now." Liu Jianjun still had that carefree expression.

Moreover, judging from his expression, it seemed that he had even more treasonous words to say, so Li Xian quickly glared at him, and he didn't say them.

“I understand the general process, my son! Can you ask your mother for permission tomorrow?” Liu Jianjun suddenly asked.

"Please grant my request?"

"Yes, bring Wang Bo back! It would be best if he were placed in our Prince's residence!"

"Zi'an? Why?" Li Xian asked, puzzled.

"At least he wrote a poem about cockfighting for you and Xianzi! Now that you've been demoted to that godforsaken place, Jiaozhi, how can you be so heartless?"

Just as Li Xian was about to retort, he heard Liu Jianjun say again, "Liu Nayan is also coming back. This is an order from your mother. I suspect that old woman has no good intentions, so we need to find someone to keep an eye on that old man. Wang Bo is quite suitable."

Li Xian was taken aback again: "Mr. Liu?"

……

(End of this chapter)