167 Chapter 167
◎He loves me.◎
It was already dark when Li Shimin returned to his bedroom. Seeing his wife dozing off against the head of the bed, he wanted to help her lie down.
"Are you done?" Changsun suddenly spoke.
Li Shimin whispered, "I thought you were asleep."
Chang Sun sighed softly and said, "There's something I can't let go of that I won't tell you."
Li Shimin hurriedly held her hand and asked with concern, "What's bothering you?"
Changsun said, "Chengqian looks a little strange..." She told him what happened today. It would be fine if he was sensible, but Changsun just taught him many things casually, and he was able to do them easily. It was really unreasonable.
Hearing this, Li Shimin laughed and said, "It's not a good thing that our son is smart, but you are worried about him."
Changsun glanced at him and said, "Cheng Qian is certainly not stupid, but something like this has never happened before. I must have been negligent these days..." She sighed deeply.
The Princess of Qin naturally could not stay out of the Qin Palace's previous plan, so she had not really visited her children for many days.
Seeing his wife so worried, Li Shimin stopped joking and said seriously, "Guanyinbi, don't worry. I'll go see Cheng Qian right away. He's still a child after all. I'll comfort him, and he'll get better naturally after things settle down."
Chang Sun nodded and said, "Well, I'll ask Cheng Qian to come over tomorrow."
After comforting his wife for a while, Li Shimin got up and went to his eldest son's courtyard. He stopped the servant from reporting, and seeing that the room was brightly lit, he went straight in and pushed the door open.
There was no one outside, but the person inside had obviously heard the noise. He stuck his head out to take a look. Li Shimin saw at a glance that his eldest son curled his lips and bowed reluctantly, saying, "Greetings, Aye."
Li Shimin paused as he was about to speak. This attitude...
He hadn't seen his eldest son for more than a year or two, but he looked completely different from the last time he saw him, not only was he not as smart and sensible as his wife had described him to be.
Li Shimin couldn't help but feel suspicious. What happened to his eldest son?
Seeing that he didn't say anything, Li Chengqian said again: "It's late. If you have nothing to do, I'm going to sleep."
Li Shimin frowned and said, "Chengqian, why do you speak to Aye like that?"
From today onwards, the status of everyone in the Prince of Qin's Mansion has changed, and they must be polite and courteous in their words and actions. This is especially true since Cheng Qian is his eldest son, so he must not make any mistakes.
"Oh." Li Chengqian leaned forward and said, "Your Highness, Prince of Qin, is there anything I can do for you? Otherwise, I need to go to bed."
Li Shimin: “…”
Li Shimin felt the blue veins on his forehead twitching a few times. Guanyinbi was so right. Cheng Qian was very abnormal, too abnormal!
Li Shimin was very patient when facing his own son. He bent down to look at his eldest son, then raised his hand to stroke his forehead and cheek. Just as he was about to speak, he saw the man take a few steps back in fear.
Li Chengqian pointed at him and said, "You have a bi... Did you recognize the wrong person?"
He was the Qingque slave of the Heavenly Khan, so why was he treated like this? Was the Heavenly Khan out of his mind? This was too bad. The Tang Dynasty was in danger.
Of course, a child could not escape the clutches of General Tiance. Li Shimin reached out and grabbed him, frowning and asking, "Cheng Qian? Are you Cheng Qian?"
"Ah..." Li Chengqian understood and grinned, "No, I'm a ghost!"
Li Shimin's hands trembled for a moment, but immediately became as steady as a rock. He looked at Li Chengqian with his bright dark eyes and asked softly, "Chengqian, did someone say something to you? Don't be afraid, tell Aye, Aye will protect you."
Tsk. Li Chengqian thought, this is superfluous. If he admits that he is a ghost, the Khan will definitely not believe it.
The Xuanwu Gate Incident had just happened, and he suspected that there was something fishy going on in the Prince of Qin's Mansion. Someone took the opportunity to talk nonsense in front of his eldest son, which scared Li Chengqian.
What's the point of this speculation? Li Chengqian suddenly lost interest.
"Nothing..." Li Chengqian had just said a few words when he changed his mind. He looked at Tian Khan, who had not yet straightened up, and asked maliciously, "Will Qingque and I one day end up like my father and uncle?"
Li Shimin tightened his grip on his eldest son's shoulder, confirming his previous suspicions. Sure enough! Someone had said some nonsense in front of Cheng Qian that shouldn't have been said! Trying to drive a wedge between them! Their intentions were utterly despicable!
"Cheng Qian..." Li Shimin slowly loosened his hand, took his eldest son's hand and sat down on the couch beside him, saying slowly, "Father, let me tell you, you are still too young to understand the complexity of this. These things are not as simple as they say..."
But Li Chengqian didn't care about his words and continued to ask, "Father, do you think it will be like this then, and Erlang will still be the winner?"
Li Tai was not Li Shimin's second son, so he could not be called Erlang, but considering his mother, Changsun, Li Tai was indeed the second among his brothers.
However, neither Li Chengqian nor Li Tai would be the final winner. The final winner would be Li Zhi, who would be born two years later.
But in a sense, Erlang is indeed the winner.
Li Shimin defeated his father and brothers, as well as his sons. Whether it was the eldest son who overestimated his own abilities and wanted to repeat the Xuanwu Gate Incident, or the second son who cleverly deceived his father to gain the throne, they were all defeated by the Heavenly Khan.
Li Shimin lowered his eyes. He knew what someone had said to his eldest son. While secretly blaming himself for allowing this loophole in the mansion, he also felt sorry for his eldest son.
Although Cheng Qian is young, he is not like other children who are naive. In recent years, Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, together with the saints in the palace, have repeatedly pressured the Qin Palace. This child must have noticed it. In addition, there has been a lot of unrest in the Qin Palace in recent days, so he feels uneasy. When others say something that is easy to cause misunderstanding, he does not know how to distinguish it, so he believes it to be true and is naturally afraid.
Li Shimin consciously sorted out the logic. As for why his eldest son was so rude, he also had an explanation. The child was uneasy, and a lot of it was related to him. Those people had to say a lot of bad things about him. The eldest son misunderstood and got angry at his father. Isn't this normal! He was not a partial father like a saint. He had always been close to his wife's children. It was normal for his children to get angry at him!
Therefore, Li Shimin opened his arms, held his eldest son in his arms, stroked his back and said softly: "Chengqian, don't be afraid. Aye is different from Aweng. Aye will treat you and Qingque fairly. Aye promises Chengqian that such a thing will never happen between you two brothers."
If Li Chengqian had heard these words, he would have laughed out loud for three minutes. It was so funny.
Tian Khan, who made a solemn promise, had no idea that in the future, Li Chengqian and Li Tai would become a life-and-death struggle.
But now, Li Chengqian was held in the arms of the Heavenly Khan. He could do nothing and say nothing. He got goose bumps all over his body and deeply understood the feelings of Liu Ju's grandson - like a thorn in the back.
The ones who would be held in their father's arms were Qingque and Zhinu. At least in Li Chengqian's memory, he had never been held in his father's arms.
Li Chengqian became the crown prince at the age of seven and had his own East Palace. Unlike Li Tai and Li Zhi, he did not stay with his parents in the palace for a long time during his childhood and adolescence. Except for visiting his mother in the morning and evening, and feeling relaxed when his mother was by his side, he often had to observe the etiquette of a crown prince towards his emperor and father when facing his father.
Li Chengqian couldn't accept this situation at all!
Let me die! Li Chengqian thought, I would rather go to the eighteenth level of hell!
Who can make Tian Khan take away his magical powers!
But General Tian Ce could not read minds. He felt the stiffness of the child in his arms, so he comforted him more gently until Li Chengqian gave up resistance and collapsed on him, half dead.
Li Shimin put the person on the couch and coaxed him to sleep before getting up and leaving.
The sound of a door closing was heard, and Li Chengqian on the couch opened his eyes, calculating the time for him to leave the yard. His eyes were dull and he looked half dead.
Not knowing what he was thinking, he suddenly jumped up from the couch, stumbled to the table, picked up the knife for peeling fruit and cut his wrist.
Li Ying came in and saw this scene. His pupils immediately trembled. He rushed over and grabbed Li Chengqian's knife-wielding hand, shouting, "What are you doing!"
Li Chengqian fell to the ground, looking at the roof, and said weakly: "What is there to be afraid of? I'm not going to commit suicide."
The people outside heard the noise and ran in. Fortunately, the knife was blocked by the two of them, so everyone just looked at them in confusion.
The wet nurse asked hesitantly, "Young Master, is there something wrong?"
Li Chengqian sat down cross-legged and said casually, "We are just joking. Please leave."
The wet nurse was half-believing and half-doubting, but seeing that Li Chengqian had no intention of saying anything else and seemed just waiting for them to take action, she had no choice but to lead everyone out.
After the door closed, Li Chengqian poured himself a glass of water and drank it all, saying, "I'm just disgusted by him. It's as if he loves me very much."
Li Ying didn't know why he said that, so she could only answer truthfully, "He loves you anyway."
"Oh." Li Chengqian said lightly. He poured another glass of water and drank it slowly.
Li Ying continued, "Your father did love Li Tai and Li Zhi, but that doesn't mean he didn't love you. Otherwise... regardless of the cause and effect, in short, big brother, you rebelled, did you know that? What happened to Liu Ju? What happened to you? Liu Ju even admitted that his father loved him. Can you say your father doesn't love you?"
Li Chengqian nodded and said, "Yes, you are right. Of course he loves me. Everyone knows that he loves me."
"Then you..." Li Ying really didn't know why he was like this.
Li Chengqian laughed twice: "How interesting, he loves me, and more than a thousand years later, everyone still knows that he loves me."
Li Ying couldn't understand his expression, but from Li Chengqian's expression and tone, he could feel that his father's love for Li Chengqian seemed to have brought him endless pain.
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