As the maid spoke, she handed him a recipe book. To Li Shimin's surprise, the recipe book not only listed the names of the dishes, but also included illustrations of the dishes drawn by a master painter!

"good!"

"You can tell a lot of thought went into this recipe book!"

"The vegetable prices are a bit high, aren't they? Why are they so much more expensive than downstairs?"

Li Shimin naturally didn't care about the money; he was just curious why the second floor was more expensive than the first.

"You may not know this, but the dishes on the first floor are all cooked in large batches, so the prices are relatively cheaper. On the second floor, many dishes are cooked in small batches, so both the color and taste are better than downstairs, hence the prices are slightly higher..."

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin patted the menu, somewhat displeased.

"Is this a bit too expensive?"

"The prices of vegetables here are at least three times higher than downstairs!"

Just as the maid was thinking about how to appease this nobleman, Li Shimin had already happily ordered the dishes, and all of them were very expensive dishes in the restaurant.

"This...this...and this too..."

"Hey, you guys even have strong liquor here!"

"Yes!"

"Our local spirits are different from those elsewhere; they come in 38-degree, 48-degree, and 58-degree varieties..."

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin smiled and shook his head.

"No need to explain, I know what this is!"

"Just give us the 38-degree one, anything too strong will give us a headache!"

While Li Shimin was drinking with Li Daozong, Princess Gaoyang disregarded her father's prohibition and led a group of servants to Qujiang Pool, specifically asking Li Zhong to come out and meet her.

Li Jue originally wanted to secretly follow Old Li and Li Shimin to observe Li Shimin up close, and even wanted to deliberately walk in front of him to see if he could still recognize him.

Now that Princess Gaoyang has come knocking on our door, we have no choice but to abandon this plan.

"This humble servant greets Princess Gaoyang!"

"Li Zhong!"

"How dare you humiliate me! This princess will take your life today!"

"Men, seize this traitor!"

"promise!"

When Li Jue saw that the people who came were all wearing the uniforms of the Jingzhao Prefecture, he hesitated for a moment.

If they were just servants from the princess's household, then beating them wouldn't be a big deal. But the other side brought officials from Yingtian Prefecture, who represent the government, making this a completely different matter from last time.

"Wait!"

"Brothers, what right do you have to arrest me?"

"On what grounds?"

"We are here to arrest you on the orders of the Prefect of Yingtian Prefecture!"

"To arrest someone, you need a summons and a charge, right?"

"Don't you know what crime I've committed?"

Princess Gaoyang has accused you of harassing her!

"I flirted with her?"

Li Jue was completely stunned when he heard this. Princess Gaoyang was too shameless. In order to get revenge on him, she did not hesitate to ruin his reputation and falsely accused him of harassing her!

"Princess Gaoyang, you've injured the enemy eight hundred while losing a thousand of your own!"

Gao Yang snorted coldly upon hearing this.

"This princess is pleased!"

"I'd pay any price just to kill you!"

Seeing that Gao Yang was being so unreasonable, Li Jue immediately addressed the surrounding constables.

"Fellow officers, I also hold an official title. I am the Commandant of Sanglin and the Baron of Xianyang County."

"Furthermore, I am only ten years old this year. May I ask you, esteemed officers, how can a ten-year-old child flirt with a princess?"

"this……"

The constables were dumbfounded when they heard this. They only knew they were there to arrest people, but they had no idea who they were arresting.

Moreover, if what this boy says is true, and he is only ten years old, then he certainly doesn't have the ability to flirt with the princess!

How can this be proven?

"prove?"

"Go back and ask the Ministry of Personnel. They have my file; just take it out and they'll know!"

The lead constable looked at Li Jue with surprise upon hearing this.

"Are you really only ten years old?"

"certainly!"

"this……"

Upon hearing this, the leading constable looked at the princess sitting in the carriage and then cupped his hands in greeting.

"Your Highness, this matter..."

"Grab him!"

"Today, I, the princess, must see with my own eyes that you take him back to prison!"

Although the powerful and wealthy in the Tang Dynasty could act with impunity, it was still difficult to deal with their outrageous actions.

For example, they would feel somewhat embarrassed to falsely accuse a ten-year-old child of harassing a princess, something that goes against natural law and human sentiment.

"Your Highness, please calm down. It's better to find out the truth before making any arrests!"

After saying this, the leading constable immediately led the rest of the constables away in a sorry state.

It was so shameful! They almost kidnapped a child and made him a rapist!

Princess Gaoyang felt a little flustered when she saw the servants leave. When she saw Li Zhong walking towards her, she was so frightened that she wanted to turn around and run away immediately.

"What...what are you going to do!"

"I'm not doing anything. I just want to take your carriage away so as not to delay other people from visiting Qujiang Pool!"

"Don't touch my carriage!"

Li Juecai paid no heed to Gao Yang's shouts and immediately stepped forward to take the reins of the carriage and pulled it to the parking space.

Seeing that Li Zhong indeed meant no harm, Gao Yang gradually grew bolder.

"Li Zhong, don't think that just because Qujiang Pool has reopened, it's anything special. Do you believe that I, this princess, will have my father close it again tomorrow!"

As soon as Gao Yang said this, the faces of the onlookers immediately darkened.

The opening of Qujiang Pool to the public has greatly benefited ordinary people like them in Chang'an. Otherwise, they would never have seen such a magnificent royal spectacle in their entire lives.

Now that Gao Yang is saying he wants to close Qujiang Pool again, if murder weren't illegal, these people would strangle that woman.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!