The immortal of the Tang Dynasty, but the game starts at Xuanwu Gate?

Unlike Chen Huai'an, Li Chengqian's emotions were more complicated.

Born into the royal family, even with Empress Zhangsun present, he only felt deep familial affection from his younger sisters, and his relationship with his brothers was mostly not good.

If this is the case even for Li Tai, who shares the same mother, then it goes without saying that it applies to his other brothers who do not share the same mother.

Li Chengqian cherished these family ties, which is why he indulged Li Lizhi and sometimes even spoiled her.

However, there is good news: Empress Zhangsun is about to give birth, and he will soon have another brother. Li Chengqian hopes that the child in Empress Zhangsun's belly will be a sister.

In this way, he will at least have one more family member worth cherishing.

Chen Huai'an noticed his complicated gaze, said nothing, and simply patted him gently on the back.

Born into royalty, one often has no say in the affairs of the family.

Especially under the rather unique emperor Li Shimin.

"Sir... I'm fine. I was just thinking that my mother is about to give birth, and I'll soon have another younger brother or sister." Li Chengqian forced a smile.

Chen Huai'an sighed inwardly. If nothing unexpected happened, the child in Empress Zhangsun's belly would be Li Zhi, the prince who had gotten his way.

It's true that Li Zhi was a master of finding bargains, but Chen Huai'an didn't mean to look down on him.

In fact, if one studies Li Zhi's life carefully, one will find that Li Zhi did indeed win the throne by chance, but he was not incompetent. On the contrary, he learned all of Li Shimin's methods and was extremely ruthless. He manipulated countless ministers, and Wu Zetian was just a knife he raised at the beginning.

Unfortunately, Li Zhi didn't learn much from Li Shimin's magnanimity, and the two emperors before and after him were too famous, which led to Li Zhi being somewhat overlooked.

Chen Huai'an could understand, because Li Zhi was not raised to be an emperor from the beginning. Later, Li Shimin didn't have much time left, so he could only teach him the art of being an emperor as much as possible.

Of course, the problem still lies with Li Shimin himself.

If you say Li Shimin was sentimental, he certainly was; if you say he was cold-hearted, he certainly was.

Moreover, Li Shimin became somewhat neurotic after Empress Zhangsun passed away.

Thinking of the events of the past, Chen Huai'an couldn't help but pat Li Chengqian's head and said gently, "Don't worry, the master is here for you."

Li Chengqian was stunned for a moment. For some reason, at this moment, he felt like crying.

Everyone was telling him what the Crown Prince should be like and what his future should be like, but only Chen Huai'an told him that he was still a child and that he could play as he pleased and express his nature freely.

Moreover, when Chen Huai'an was by his side, he would always feel an inexplicable sense of security, a feeling he had only ever experienced with Empress Zhangsun.

"I understand, sir." Li Chengqian lowered his head, his voice muffled, unwilling to let Chen Huai'an see him in his current state.

Just then, Zhang Peng seemed to remember something, slapped his forehead, and quickly pulled his three younger sisters to Chen Huai'an and Li Chengqian: "Minister, Your Highness the Crown Prince."

"These are my three sisters. This is my second sister, Zhang Yan. These are my third and fourth sisters, Zhang Xi'er and Zhang Que'er."

"Young lady, this is Minister Chen, and this is His Highness the Crown Prince. Quickly pay your respects."

Zhang Yan's heart pounded. She never expected that her brother would bring back two very important people. She didn't dare to delay and pulled her two younger sisters who were licking candied hawthorns to kneel down.

Chen Huai'an reached out to stop her: "No need for formalities, and certainly no need to kneel. I've never knelt before His Majesty."

"Yes...yes, Minister, Your Highness the Crown Prince." Zhang Yan didn't dare to breathe too loudly, afraid that she would say or do the wrong thing.

Seeing this, Chen Huai'an said gently, "I just saw you catching locusts with your two younger sisters. How was it? Are the locusts easy to catch? Has the locust plague situation improved recently?"

Zhang Yan glanced at her elder brother, hesitated for a moment, and replied softly, "Your Excellency, locusts are quite easy to catch, but they need to be watched constantly and cannot be left unattended. As for the locust plague... it is actually getting worse."

"Yes, yes!" Zhang Que'er laughed carefree, licking her candied hawthorn as she spoke. "Insects are so easy to catch! I can catch several at once. If I use a net, I can catch even more!"

"That's right, that's right. The bugs are eating the grain, making Xi'er hungry." Zhang Xi'er pouted, then happily licked her candied hawthorn again.

Li Chengqian couldn't help but ask, "The locust plague is getting worse, but I don't see that there are as many locusts here as you said. Why is that?"

Chen Huai'an's lips twitched, and Zhang Yan quickly explained, "Your Highness, there are fewer locusts in the village because everyone has been catching them and keeping a close watch these days, so it seems like there are fewer. But there are still many locusts flying in from outside, and their numbers are increasing, which is why I said the locust plague is getting worse."

Li Chengqian suddenly realized that he had asked a silly question and laughed awkwardly.

"Locust plague..." Chen Huai'an sighed and asked Zhang Peng to lead the way to the fields to take a look. Even without intentional actions, he still managed to step on and kill several locusts along the way.

It is easy to imagine how severe the locust plague was.

This was even with the Zhang siblings constantly watching over the locusts and catching them with nets; it's unimaginable in other places.

Then, Chen Huai'an walked to a rock by the stream, and without caring that the ground was dirty, he plopped down and asked, "How many acres of land do you own?"

Zhang Peng immediately replied, "Your Excellency, my family has twenty mu of land, all left by my father. When I turn twenty-one, I can receive eighty mu."

"Twenty acres...can you manage to cultivate them all by yourself?" Chen Huai'an asked casually.

"It's alright..." Zhang Peng scratched his head. "As long as I do more work, and my sister helps me out, I can manage."

"So, with your twenty acres of land, how much do you think you can save?"

Zhang Peng was speechless for a moment. He looked back at his land and said with some disappointment, "I should be able to save four or five acres. The locust plague is too serious. Even if my sister and I keep a close eye on it, most of it will definitely be lost."

"Will the grain grown from four or five mu be enough for your family to eat?" Chen Huai'an asked again.

Zhang Peng paused for a moment, then shook his head: "The rainfall has been bad these past few years, so we can't grow much grain. After paying taxes on four or five acres of land, we have to sell some to buy things like salt, and the rest is barely enough to survive."

After saying that, he changed the subject: "But at least it's better than last year. Last year there was a drought and not a single grain was grown. Luckily, Aunt Xiao took pity on us and lent us a lot of grain without pressuring us to pay it back. Otherwise, I would have had to sell myself to a rich family."

"..."