Tang Dynasty: Taking the Empress Dowager to a brothel, Father Emperor, what a coincidence!

Li Shimin never expected that this brat would not only refuse to admit his mistake, but also dare to shift the blame onto him in front of the entire court.

"The traitor!"

Li Shimin roared and reached out to grab Li Chengqian and beat him up.

Li Chengqian wasn't about to stand there and take a beating. As soon as Li Shimin pointed at him, he started moving towards the door.

When Li Shimin lunged at him, Li Chengqian turned and ran outside.

"Father, please calm your anger! Your son will go to the Imperial Hospital immediately to expedite the Grand Tutor's treatment."

Li Chengqian shouted with a grin as he ran.

"Wang De! Stop him! I'm going to break his legs today!"

Li Shimin roared in anger.

Wang De, accompanied by a few eunuchs, merely extended his hand symbolically.

How could they dare to actually stop the Crown Prince?

Upon seeing this, Li Shimin angrily chased after him.

The entire court was stunned by this scene of fatherly love and filial piety, and they looked at each other in bewilderment.

I didn't know what to do for a moment.

Li Chengqian ran wildly, with Xiao Shunzi chasing desperately behind him.

"Your Highness! Please slow down. This servant can't keep up."

Xiao Shunzi shouted, panting heavily.

"Slow down my ass. If that old man catches me, I'm going to get a beating today."

Li Chengqian ran straight towards the Lizheng Hall without looking back.

Inside the Li Zheng Palace.

Empress Zhangsun was sitting on the couch, looking through the account books sent by the Imperial Household Department.

"Waaaaah... Mother, save me! Father is going to kill me to silence me."

Before Empress Zhangsun could react, Li Chengqian threw himself into her arms and hugged her waist tightly.

Empress Changsun was startled by this sudden turn of events, and even dropped the account book in her hand to the ground.

She quickly pulled Li Chengqian up and looked him up and down.

"Gao Ming? What happened? Who wants to kill you?"

Empress Zhangsun felt heartbroken seeing the terrified look on Li Chengqian's face.

Li Chengqian buried his head in his mother's chest, pretending to cry as he said:

"Mother, Father has gone mad in the Taiji Hall. He insists on pinning the blame for making the Grand Tutor faint on my head, and he even said he would break my legs."

No sooner had Li Chengqian finished speaking than Li Shimin's furious roar came from outside the hall.

"You unfilial son! Get out here right now!"

Li Shimin rushed into the Lizheng Hall, panting heavily.

As soon as he entered the room, before he could even react, he saw Empress Zhangsun staring at him with a cold expression.

Li Shimin's anger was instantly extinguished by more than half.

"Guanyinbi..."

Li Shimin swallowed hard and chuckled twice.

Empress Zhangsun stood up and shielded Li Chengqian behind her.

"Your Majesty, are you going to beat my son to death right in front of me?"

Li Shimin hurriedly said:

"No. Guanyinbi, you have no idea what this rebellious son did today. He made Grand Tutor Li Gang faint with anger."

Li Chengqian, who was hiding behind Empress Zhangsun, peeked out halfway and called out in a pitiful voice:

"How can Father Emperor lie through his teeth? The Grand Tutor was perfectly fine when he left the Eastern Palace."

That was because the Grand Tutor fainted from anger after arriving at the Taiji Hall, when he was joined in by the Emperor and you, Father Emperor.

"The entire court is watching, why does Father insist on pinning this on me?"

Empress Zhangsun frowned, turned to look at Li Chengqian, and asked:

"Did the Emperor Emeritus go too?"

Li Chengqian nodded and continued:

"I've gone. When my grandfather heard that the Grand Tutor had filed a complaint against me, he went to the Taiji Hall to settle the matter."

In front of all the officials, the Emperor said that the two Crown Princes, Yang Yong and Jiancheng, who were taught by the Grand Tutor, had both met with bad ends. Upon hearing this, the Grand Tutor fainted.

Father didn't dare stop Grandfather, so he took his anger out on me.

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin angrily pointed at Li Chengqian and began to curse:

"You little brat, how dare you talk nonsense? You were the one who first used this matter to contradict the Grand Tutor in the Eastern Palace."

The Grand Tutor only came to Taiji to seek my judgment.

Li Chengqian curled his lip and retorted confidently:

"Your subject was merely humbly seeking guidance. The Grand Tutor couldn't answer and ran away. How can you blame your subject for that?"

Besides, the Grand Tutor fainted from anger in the Taiji Hall, not in the Eastern Palace.

"Father, you're in the wrong, and you're too afraid to talk back after being reprimanded by Grandfather, so you're taking it out on me?"

Empress Zhangsun then understood the general outline of the matter.

You really can't blame your son for this.

She had never thought of Li Gang's plan to kill the Crown Prince.

But when she thought of the fates of the two crown princes before her, Empress Zhangsun felt a chill of fear in her heart.

Fortunately, his son didn't let Li Gang teach him for very long.

Otherwise, if you follow in the footsteps of those two, you'll have nowhere to turn for help.

As for Li Shimin?

He must have been furious after being scolded by the retired emperor, and with nowhere else to vent his anger, he took it out on his own son.

Empress Zhangsun snorted coldly, finding Li Shimin utterly displeasing.

"Your Majesty is in the wrong and was reprimanded by the Emperor, so you take it out on Gao Ming?"

How old is Gao Ming? What does he know? He's afraid of the Grand Tutor's ruler striking him, worried about his life—is that wrong?

Li Shimin was speechless and anxiously said:

"Guanyinbi, it's not what you think. This boy did it on purpose."

He's full of wicked schemes; he even outmaneuvered me.

That's enough.

Empress Zhangsun roared angrily.

"If Your Majesty feels that I am not teaching my son well, you are free to find someone else to teach him."

"Your Majesty need not come to the Lizheng Hall anymore."

Empress Zhangsun immediately ordered them to leave.

Li Shimin panicked instantly and quickly took two steps forward:

"Guanyinbi, I didn't mean that. I just wanted to scare him."

Empress Zhangsun completely ignored him and turned to Fugui beside her, saying:

"Wealth and honor, see the guests off."

Tell the servants of Ganlu Palace to serve His Majesty well.

Tonight, Your Majesty will continue to sleep in the Ganlu Palace. Without my permission, Your Majesty is not allowed to step into the inner palace.

Fu Gui stepped forward with a bitter face, bent over, and said:

"Your Majesty, what do you think...? This old servant will escort you out?"

Li Shimin wanted to cry but had no tears.

The brothel issue from yesterday hasn't been resolved yet, and now there's another one.

How can we live like this?

He was so angry that he almost ground his teeth to powder when he saw Li Chengqian hiding behind Empress Zhangsun and winking at him.

"Fine. Fine. So you two, mother and son, are ganging up on me?"

Li Shimin flicked his sleeves, turned around, and walked out.

Li Chengqian watched Li Shimin's departing figure, then secretly stretched out his hand and made a peace sign.

Old Deng, you think you can mess with me? You're still too green.

I watched The Legend of Zhen Huan more than a dozen times back then.

Empress Zhangsun turned around, looked at Li Chengqian's carefree attitude, and sighed helplessly.

"Alright, stop pretending. You didn't even manage to squeeze out a single tear."

Empress Zhangsun rolled her eyes at him and sat back down on the couch.

Li Chengqian chuckled, leaned over, grabbed Empress Zhangsun's sleeve, and began to act coquettishly.

"The Empress Dowager has keen eyes; nothing can be hidden from her."

"Your Majesty, I'm just afraid of getting a beating from you."

Empress Zhangsun reached out and pinched Li Chengqian's cheek, scolding him:

"You're getting bolder and bolder, daring to even anger the Grand Tutor?"

Although Li Gang was somewhat old-fashioned, he was a great Confucian scholar of his time.

Aren't you afraid of being criticized behind your back by all the scholars in the world for all this trouble?

Li Chengqian looked at Empress Zhangsun and said solemnly:

"Mother, I am not afraid."

That old man kept talking about rules and etiquette, and he didn't reason at all.

The Empress Dowager should know better than I what became of the princes he raised.

Your son does not want to be the next one.

Besides, if it weren't for my uncle, I wouldn't have angered the Grand Tutor.