Tang Dynasty: Starting at Xuanwu Gate, this prince is better off not being one.

"Kid! You're only twelve, yet you act like an adult. Don't you get tired of it?"

Listening to the bursts of laughter and chatter coming from outside the window, Lu Deming stared intently at Li Yu, who was pouring him tea.

"tired?"

Li Yu paused slightly while pouring tea, then continued pouring, saying, "Now that you ask, I do feel a bit tired."

"Being tired is to be expected!" the old man chuckled, picking up his teacup. "At such a young age, you can chat so happily with an old man like me. Who wouldn't be tired?"

"There's nothing I can do!" Li Yu said with a wry smile, "I don't know why, but I'm always entangled in trivial matters and never have a moment of leisure, so I can't enjoy myself..."

Blame yourself!

The old man glared at Li Yu: "It's your own fault for being too sharp and outspoken!"

Seeing Li Yu lower his head, he continued to scold, "At such a young age, you've made yourself so clever; who would still treat you like a child?"

"Sir, you are right!" Li Yu said, still keeping his head down.

He discovered that, just as the old man had said, he had been thinking of himself as the twenty-five-year-old youth from the beginning, completely forgetting that he was now just a child.

From salt production to selling tea and wine, although the initial intention was simply to make money, it can be seen from the fact that Changsun Hui blindly handed over power to him on the day of Xuanwu Gate that he seemed to be taking each step very hastily.

And all of this seems to stem from my fear of the unknown.

"Do what you're supposed to do at each age. As the sages said: 'At thirty, one stands firm; at forty, one is free from doubt; at fifty, one knows the mandate of Heaven.' If you're just over ten, you should be doing what one should be doing at thirty. What will you be doing when you're thirty? Doing what one should be doing at fifty? And what will you be doing when you reach my age?"

"Kid, I don't have that much work for you to do!"

Lu Deming rose shakily from his armchair and walked towards the door without turning back, saying, "While I've never thought that keeping a low profile is a good thing, being too ostentatious is also not good. It might be fine for others, but it's not suitable for you; it could easily bring you to your death..."

.........

Watching Lu Deming leave, Li Yu slumped helplessly into a chair.

The old man's last words sent a chill down his spine.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized that his situation seemed very dangerous.

From the time when the eldest grandson allowed him to command his personal guards, to when Li Er entered the Taiji Hall to force the emperor to abdicate and brought him along, and finally when Li Yuan even bestowed upon him, a mere county prince, the golden fish tally that was reserved for princes, it seemed that he was receiving more and more "special treatment."

Li Yu looked out the window, where Li Chengqian was waving at him.

He didn't know if what Li Er did was truly compensation for his father's self-inflicted leg injury, as Old Cheng claimed, or if he had other motives.

But he was worried that if things continued like this, his relationship with Li Chengqian would develop into something like that of Li Er and Li Jiancheng...

Although Li Yu did not have such intentions, sometimes he was not in control of his own destiny, and even someone as strong as Li Er was no exception.

He had reason to believe that if Li Er had shown the slightest hesitation outside Xuanwu Gate that day, his gang of henchmen would have forced him inside...

"If you don't come soon, Qingque and Xiao Ke will beat me to death!" Li Chengqian's shout from outside the window mercilessly interrupted his thoughts.

Looking at Li Chengqian leaning against the window, Li Yu was speechless: "I still have to finish the tasks your father assigned you. Don't you guys have any homework to do?"

"Schoolwork?"

Upon hearing this, Li Chengqian was visibly taken aback for a moment, then laughed: "Master Lu's next lecture won't be for another three days, why should I be in such a hurry?"

That's right!

Nobody's forcing me to be efficient, so why am I in such a hurry?

Li Yu felt a sudden realization dawned on him, and he felt that he should play freely with Li Chengqian and the others.

Only by acting like a good-for-nothing playboy can one avoid attracting unwanted attention...

The next day, news spread throughout Chang'an that Prince Li Yu of Songshan had disregarded his elders, abused his power, and forced an elderly Confucian scholar to pay his respects to him.

Not only that, but even Li Yu's misdeeds of fighting in front of a brothel and threatening the Imperial Guards were exposed and spread like wildfire...

"This is utter nonsense!" Inside the Prince's mansion, Dugu Jin was so angry that her eyebrows shot up when she heard the news from her servants.

Li Xuanba, sitting in a wheelchair, was pushed in by a maid. As soon as he entered, he saw his wife looking furious, so he smiled and asked, "What has made Madam so angry?"

"Look for yourself!" Dugu Jin angrily threw a piece of paper at her husband.

Li Xuanba took the paper, glanced at it, and burst into laughter.

Seeing her husband laughing, Dugu Jin was furious. "Your son is being portrayed as a good-for-nothing playboy, and you can still laugh about it!"

Seeing her growing increasingly angry, Li Xuanba stopped laughing and explained, "Madam, you don't understand, this boy is just smearing himself!"

"Self-defilement?" Dugu Jin was somewhat puzzled by Li Xuanba's words: "My foolish son has always been well-behaved and sensible, why would he want to defile himself?"

"Because he's hiding his true abilities!" Li Xuanba clicked his tongue twice as he looked at the contents of the paper. "This kid is far superior to his father. If I had done this earlier, I wouldn't be in this state today."

Seeing that Dugu Jin still looked bewildered, Li Xuanba took her hand, placed it on his lap, and patted it, saying, "Since our silly child has made her choice, it's best if we, as her parents, pretend we don't know anything."

After saying that, he tore the paper in his hand to shreds...

.........

The more Li Yu examined the contents of the paper, the more he admired Xu Jingzong.

By simply embellishing the details of the matter, one can easily establish a reputation as a playboy.

This ability isn't something everyone can learn; it requires a certain talent, or rather, this guy was born to be a treacherous minister.

"Old Xu! I never knew you possessed such talent. I owe you a great debt of gratitude for your help this time. I will do everything in my power to find your horse!"

Hearing Li Yu's words, Xu Jingzong was speechless. Did he really lack a horse?

Seeing Xu Jingzong's expression of utter disgust, Li Yu couldn't help but want to laugh.

After a long while, he finally suppressed his laughter and said, "Alright, alright, just say what you want. Having spent so much time with Elder Lu, I can't stand beating around the bush anymore."

Having his little scheme exposed, even Xu Jingzong, who was known for his thick skin, felt somewhat embarrassed: "Then may I speak frankly?"

"Hurry up and say it!" Li Yu urged impatiently.

Xu Jingzong gratefully cupped his hands in greeting: "This humble official is not very talented, but I have some knowledge of music. I wonder if Your Highness still needs more people to compose the music for breaking the enemy's formation?"

"You helped me just for this?" Li Yu asked uncertainly.

Xu Jingzong nodded emphatically: "If Your Highness finds this difficult, this humble official..."

"No problem, no problem!" Li Yu interrupted, "I'm short-handed here, so if Minister Xu wants to come, he can come anytime!"

Just when he was dozing off, someone delivered a pillow to his door. Li Yu had been worried about not being able to find someone to take the credit for him, but unexpectedly, someone came knocking on his door.

"Your Highness, this..."

Seeing Li Yu agree so readily, Xu Jingzong had a strange feeling that he had been tricked...