191 Chapter 191
◎New Year.◎
The next day, Li Chengqian deliberately arrived half an hour late when he went to the Lizheng Palace to pay his respects to his mother, and sure enough, there was no one else in the palace when he arrived.
Seeing his relieved expression, Chang Sun couldn't help but smile and said, "You were so happy yesterday, but today you're hiding from people. Why are they so noisy?"
"The noise is fine, but they're uncomfortable playing with me." Li Chengqian said with a smile, "They're not ignorant children. They know the hierarchy of elders. They're so reserved and trying to please me in front of me. Let's not make it difficult for them."
The playful look in Changsun's eyes had long since faded. After hearing her eldest son's words, she said, "Cheng Qian, they might not be as comfortable with you as they are with their mother, but there are benefits."
It is true that the children of the royal family are noble, but their nobility all comes from the emperor, whether this emperor is their father or brother.
After all, only by pleasing the emperor can one enjoy a lifetime of honor and wealth.
The children may have only a vague idea of the opportunity to be close to the prince, but their mother is more than happy to do so.
Li Chengqian smiled and said, "Mother, let's not do that. My father is still young, and they won't expect anything from me, their eldest brother."
Besides, the princesses would be fine, as they would not be easily implicated. But the sons of the Khan would hardly have a good ending. If they were to be implicated by the crown prince, who would most likely not have a good ending, I am afraid that everyone would have an even more miserable ending.
Li Chengqian thought, I'd better do less evil.
Seeing that he insisted, Changsun thought carefully. It was okay when he was young, but when he grew up, if the prince was close to his brothers, it could be said to be a close relationship, but it could also be said to be forming a clique for personal gain, which was indeed not appropriate.
"As you wish." Changsun patted his hands. "But Cheng Qian, the children are still young. You take them out to play. They will know what is good and what is bad. You don't have to think only of the bad side and take all the blame on yourself."
Li Chengqian was startled for a moment, then smiled and said, "Don't worry, mother. I'm not that good. I'm not someone who would reflect on myself three times a day."
Chang Sun tapped his forehead and said with a smile, "You're naughty again."
Since the mother and son had reached an agreement, the people in the harem naturally didn't dare to say much. Li Tai was not afraid of not having playmates. Who could dare to refuse him if he wanted to play with them?
Li Shimin, however, had something to say about this. During lunch in the afternoon, he took the opportunity to ask, "Are they arguing about Cheng Qian?"
Chang Sun smiled and said, "Cheng Qian is still a child after all. It's really hard for him to watch over these children all day long."
"He's still a child, acting on impulse. Yesterday he even said he wanted to plant garlic, so mysterious," Li Shimin said with a smile. "He makes it sound like he's so busy, even busier than me, the emperor."
Chang Sun smiled slightly and said, "Didn't Cheng Qian give us some good things before? This time it will definitely be no worse. Erlang, just wait and see."
Li Shimin nodded. Since this topic had come up, he looked at his wife again and asked tentatively, "Guanyinbi, do you think Chengqian is an unusual child?"
"Well, Erlang, you don't intend to hide it from me anymore?" Changsun said with a smile.
Li Shimin was unusually embarrassed. "This... It's not that I intentionally concealed it. It's just that I was afraid that Cheng Qian himself didn't understand the unusual condition. I was afraid that you would worry, so I wanted to hide it from you."
"I'm not stupid. If you and your son don't mention it, can't I see it for myself?" Chang Sun sighed, "Fortunately, I've always thought Cheng Qian was a good person. If you don't say anything, I'll just pretend I don't know."
Li Shimin thought to himself, he is only well-behaved and cute in front of you, but with me, he has a very bad temper.
But there is nothing wrong with this. No matter what the attitude is, Cheng Qian is showing closeness, and others will not get this treatment.
Li Shimin held his wife's hand and said, "Chengqian is fine. With me as the emperor, no one would dare to get close to Chengqian even if there was something wrong."
…
Nine years after the Wude era, on the first day of the first lunar month of the new year, Li Shimin officially changed the reign title to Zhenguan.
Li Shimin had already found evidence of Luo Yi's rebellion years ago, but in order to celebrate the New Year, he did not punish him for the time being and only detained him in prison awaiting interrogation.
"Waiting to die is the most horrible feeling." Li Ying said, "Your father is really scary."
Li Chengqian said, "If the rebellion fails, you will die. What's so scary about that?"
"Then you do have experience in this area." Li Ying said casually.
Li Chengqian threw the jade back into the box and said unhappily, "It's New Year's Day, can't you say something nice?"
Li Ying immediately smiled and said, "Congratulations on your prosperity! Good luck! I wish you a speedy reincarnation!"
Li Chengqian: "..."
"Don't choose anymore, just take whichever one you love." Li Chengqian lay back on the couch and said sarcastically.
Li Ying deftly closed the dozen or so brocade boxes on the table: "If you don't want to choose, then don't choose. They are all gold, silver, jade and precious stones anyway. You can pick a few to give to others. Who can say they are not good?"
There are many troubles in being the crown prince. One of them is that during festivals, he has to give gifts to the princes and princesses to express his friendship. The officials of the Eastern Palace also receive rewards. But Li Chengqian doesn't need to worry about this. He just arranges the people in charge to do it according to the rules.
Of course, the emperor and empress also had something to give, but everything Li Chengqian had came from the palace, and nothing was his own, so he only gave the simplest things to his parents to show his filial piety.
The Queen used a method to make pure plant rouge and powder. After all, the Tang Dynasty used lead powder, which was a deadly thing. The early deaths of her mother and sisters were not only due to their poor health, but were also definitely related to this thing.
The emperor was easy to deal with. Li Chengqian gave him the drawings of the telescope and that was it.
As for the fact that Tian Khan was anxiously looking for the telescope and wished he could see the real face immediately, that was not Li Chengqian's concern.
In addition to gifts during the New Year period, Li Chengqian would of course also receive rewards from the emperor and empress, as well as a lot of rewards from the retired emperor, most of which were rare antiques, calligraphy and paintings.
In addition, there are sacrifices and banquets. As the crown prince, Li Chengqian is indispensable in sacrifices, and his position in palace banquets is only one level lower than that of the retired emperor and the emperor - he attracts much attention and makes people feel uneasy.
Li Chengqian had experienced such occasions many times in his previous life, and he was very good at putting on airs, but this did not prevent him from feeling annoyed.
In addition to Li Chengqian, Li Ke and Li Tai also attended the palace banquet. As princes who showed up in front of court officials for the first time, they shared a lot of curious gazes with Li Chengqian.
When Li Tai knew that he had the opportunity to accompany his father to attend the palace banquet, he was very nervous. Although he had a special teacher to teach him etiquette and there were proper people accompanying him to ensure that he would not make any mistakes, he still went to his father to act coquettishly, and then went to his eldest brother to try to encourage each other. After all, it was their first time to attend the banquet.
But Li Chengqian was too calm. Li Tai was confused for a moment. He didn't understand why his elder brother didn't look nervous at all. At the same time, he admired his elder brother a little.
No wonder Aye likes my elder brother more, Li Tai thought, I should be like my elder brother, then Aye will like me more.
With this in mind, Li Tai sat upright at the palace banquet, acting cautiously, fearing that he would appear timid and be laughed at.
But he soon found that it was difficult to sit so seriously all the time, because someone had to take the lead in making the scene lively.
This person is none other than the emperor.
The reason why Li Longji was revered as the founder of the opera world by later generations was not only because he was indeed greedy for pleasure and not doing his job properly in his later years, but also because the people in the Li Tang royal family really had artistic genes.
For example, Li Yuan loved and was good at playing the pipa.
Moreover, music was always an indispensable part of Tang Dynasty banquets. When people were enjoying themselves with eating, drinking and having fun, it was very common for them to dance to the music on the spot.
Li Chengqian didn't want to participate, so he stayed next to the retired emperor and watched him play the pipa. Li Tai was pulled over by the Heavenly Khan. Li Ke sat alone and looked pitiful, so Li Chengqian asked the eunuch beside him to call him over.
Li Yuan saw this and said with a cryptic meaning, "You are a good brother."
"An elder brother is like a father. Since I don't have the energy to take care of things right now, I, as the elder brother, have no choice but to take over." Li Chengqian said, supporting his chin.
"You really dare to say anything. If someone hears it, believe it or not, it doesn't matter who else does it, but Wei Zheng will scold you on the spot," said Li Yuan.
Li Chengqian said, "Wei Zheng is a very good person, old man, please don't speak ill of him casually."
Li Yuan was surprised and asked, "What good has Wei Zheng done for you? You still think he's good, but that's because he didn't find fault with you."
Li Chengqian was also surprised and asked, "Could it be that he picked on you?"
"He dares." Li Yuan snorted coldly.
Li Chengqian laughed and said, "Then why are you so angry, Uncle? Are you worried about your son?"
Li Ke just came over and heard this. He suddenly didn't know whether he should come over or not. It seemed that A-grandfather and elder brother were saying something that he shouldn't hear.
Li Chengqian pulled him to sit down, smiled and said soothingly: "It's okay, Grandpa and I were just joking."
"Your father..." Li Yuan glanced at Li Shimin and Li Tai, who appeared to be in harmony with each other, and then looked at Li Chengqian, "You're just talking nonsense."
You say you're worried that your sons will repeat the same mistake, and your worry seems real, but in fact, you don't know how to act in moderation. You're worried that your sons won't make trouble, right?
Li Yuan shook his head and thought, I really said those true words in vain.
Li Chengqian handed Li Ke a piece of dessert and said, "Third brother, just pretend you're deaf. Don't tell anyone else what I said."
Li Ke nodded hurriedly.
Li Chengqian said to Li Yuan again, "Aunt, you really know how to make a fuss about nothing. What can this little thing really mean?"
"To see the big picture from the small details, this shows that the emperor treats Prince Wei no worse than the crown prince." Li Yuan said.
"They're all sons. This proves that my father isn't a partial father. He's better than you in this respect." Li Chengqian waved his hand. "Aunt, there's also your grandson here. Don't scare Li Ke. How about we talk about something else?"
Li Yuan lowered his eyes and looked at Li Ke. He was born in the same year as Li Chengqian, but his eyes were much more ignorant, and he looked like a real child.
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