195 Chapter 195
◎Brother.◎
That day, all of Li Chengqian's clothing and daily utensils were moved to Lizheng Hall. The three children who lived with their mother were the first to notice. Li Lizhi hurriedly brought her younger sister over and asked, "Brother, are you going to live with us again?"
Li Chengqian was reading in the corridor. He smiled and said, "Yes, from now on, Lizhi can come over anytime she wants to play with me."
Li Tai was a step behind, and just in time to hear this, he said, "Brother, let's play together. Li Zhi is a girl, she should play with Yu Xiu."
Li Lizhi pouted and said, "Fourth brother, you are unreasonable. Can't we play together?"
Li Yuxiu chimed in, "That's right, big brother is so cute and is playing with me and my sister." She turned to Li Chengqian for confirmation, "Is that right, big brother?"
"Well..." Li Chengqian smiled and said, "I'm actually here to recuperate. My mother asked me to move to Lizheng Hall so that she could supervise me taking my medicine."
"Ah?" The three of them were immediately shocked. "Brother, are you sick?"
Li Chengqian clutched his chest and nodded, "Yeah, yeah, so I probably can't play with you guys anymore, but you can come over to my place and play on your own."
The children could not comprehend the inconsistency in his words and believed them all. In order to let their eldest brother recover well, they stopped arguing and just sat obediently with Li Chengqian.
By dinner time, Chang Sun had already learned about this from the female official. She just shook her head and smiled, "Let them have their fun."
There were only five people at dinner. Li Shimin had not returned from the previous court session. Changsun said, "Your father is busy. We don't need to wait for him."
Li Lizhi sighed, "Being an emperor is so busy."
Li Tai said seriously, "Because Aye is a good emperor, he is so busy."
Li Chengqian raised his eyebrows and said, "Qingque, do you still know what a good emperor is?"
Li Tai said with a proud smile: "Brother, I have already started to learn the meaning of the scriptures."
"Good, study hard." Li Chengqian nodded and smiled.
Li Tai shook his head and said, "Brother, not only did the teacher praise me, but my father also praised me after asking about my homework!"
Li Chengqian supported his chin and smiled: "Then you are very good, keep up the good work."
Still not hearing what he wanted to hear, Li Tai had no choice but to ask bluntly: "Brother, which book have you read?"
Before Li Chengqian could reply, the meal was already served. Changsun said at the right moment, "Don't talk while eating, Qingque. Talk to my elder brother after dinner."
As he picked up his chopsticks, Li Chengqian said, "Mr. Lu has been telling me history."
Li Tai's face immediately fell. It turned out that he was so far behind his elder brother. No wonder his father asked him to learn more from his elder brother.
Changsun looked at him, then at her eldest son, but said nothing.
After dinner, they chatted for a while and then left, but Li Chengqian was quietly called back by a female official.
"Mother." Li Chengqian leaned forward and saluted. "Is there anything else you need?"
Chang Sun took his hand and sat him down, saying gently, "It was just a couple of jokes between brothers. Cheng Qian, why are you upset?"
Li Chengqian shook his head and said, "Mother, I'm not unhappy, I just don't want to... compare myself with him."
Li Tai compared his preference with him? That was called showing off.
"Qingque is used to this. It's fine when he's young, but it's not good for him when he grows up." There was a trace of worry between Changsun's eyebrows, and it was obvious that she had bad thoughts because of this. "I will teach him a lesson in private later."
"Mother..." Li Chengqian held his mother's hand and said with lowered eyes, "I'm sorry to have troubled you."
Chang Sun rubbed his head and smiled softly, "You are all my children. I am happy to take care of you."
Li Chengqian raised his head and looked at his mother: "Thank you, mother."
Chang Sun stroked his face and said, "Cheng Qian, mother has something to say, you must listen."
"You say."
Zhang Sun looked into his eyes and said seriously, "Cheng Qian, there is one thing you must do. You must always put your father first. Do you understand what mother means?"
Li Chengqian certainly understood that as a king and a father, he had to be loyal and filial to the Khan.
But Li Chengqian always ignores Tian Khan intentionally or unintentionally. Now he is still young and Tian Khan can tolerate him, so this is not a big deal. But if Li Chengqian continues like this in the long run, I am afraid it will become a disaster in the future.
For Li Chengqian, it was difficult for him to always put the Khan first.
In all of Li Chengqian's impressions of Tian Khan, he has never been Tian Khan's priority. In order to suffer less harm, he no longer dares to put him first.
"Mother, I..." Li Chengqian had just finished speaking when he saw Changsun shaking her head.
"It's all right, Chengqian, it's all right, child, it's all right." Zhang Sun said with tears in her eyes, "Don't push yourself, Chengqian, mother is not going to force you."
Li Chengqian's eyes turned red and he said, "I know, mother is doing this for my own good."
Chang Sun blinked, a tear slipped down her eye socket, she lowered her head and wiped the tears, then said: "Don't be afraid, Cheng Qian, it doesn't matter if you can't do it, you still have mother. Mother will protect you and both of you."
Li Chengqian's throat was blocked, and he could only say, "Um... Mother."
The female official hurried in and reported: "Your Highness, the Saint is about to return."
Changsun pressed her eldest son's hand and said, "Chengqian, go back and rest."
Li Chengqian nodded.
A moment later, Li Shimin walked into the bedroom under the moonlight. Seeing that his wife was still awake, he rubbed his brows, his face full of fatigue. "Guanyin, there is no need to wait for me. You can rest first."
Chang Sun said, "I wasn't waiting for you specifically. I just talked to Cheng Qian for a while."
"Cheng Qian?" Li Shimin, who was being undressed by a palace maid, hurriedly asked, "What's wrong with him?"
"This child is very worried." Zhang Sun sighed, "Let's take our time to heal him."
Speaking of his eldest son, Li Shimin sighed, "It's just that this child refuses to tell others about his inner thoughts. I'm afraid that my treatment won't be effective."
According to what Li Shimin knew, he only thought that Cheng Qian was frightened by the future he had seen, and in that future, he and the Qingque Society would fight endlessly, just like Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng, and the final result was Cheng Qian's defeat.
Li Shimin really couldn't imagine that he would be like the retired emperor, allowing the two children to fight to the death. Shouldn't he have stopped everything from sliding into the abyss when he discovered the initial clues?
In Cheng Qian's eyes, what will his future self look like?
Li Shimin couldn't accept this future from the bottom of his heart, but with the peculiarities that Cheng Qian showed, he...
Li Shimin shook his head. No matter what the future Cheng Qian saw, he would never do such a thing.
As the saying goes, we should learn from the past. Now that we know this absurd so-called future, we must of course take it as a warning.
The couple looked at each other and sighed. Changsun asked, "Has Erlang had dinner yet?"
Li Shimin said, "I have already used it up. It is getting late. Let's take a rest."
"Oh, there's one more thing I almost forgot." Before going to bed, Changsun suddenly said, "Qingque said today that you praised him for his good study. Were you comparing him to Chengqian?"
Li Shimin was stunned for a moment and said, "I said that Qingque should study with elder brother, because Chengqian is a better reader. What happened? Did the brothers quarrel over this?"
I swear to God, Li Shimin's original intention was to promote a better relationship between their brothers, and it was definitely not to cause trouble.
Chang Sun said, "This is not a small matter, so there is no need to quarrel. Cheng Qian and Qing Que are not ignorant children."
Li Shimin breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good."
"I wanted Qingque to consult Chengqian. I was thinking that since the two brothers, one in the Eastern Palace and the other in the Lizheng Palace, don't spend enough time together, even if they are close brothers, they won't be close if they become distant day by day," Li Shimin explained. "Now that they are together, I don't have to worry about that."
Changsun was at a loss for words. This was really a case of good intentions leading to bad results. She couldn't help but think that Qingque's love of comparing herself with others might have been cultivated by her husband intentionally or unintentionally.
"Well, I will let these brothers play together often in the future." Changsun agreed, but thought in her heart that if Qingque's temper was not corrected, it would be better for him and Chengqian to keep a distance.
In the following days, Li Chengqian only recuperated in his own bedroom. Occasionally, his brothers and sisters would come to see him, but Li Tai rarely went there. He heard from the female officials that Prince Wei often went to see the Queen.
Li Lizhi also quietly told her eldest brother: "When mother is talking to fourth brother, we are not allowed to be here."
Li Chengqian scratched her little nose and said with a smile: "When mother is whispering to you, she won't let us be here."
Li Lizhi covered her red face with her hands and widened her eyes: "Brother, how did you know that my mother also whispered to me?"
"Because my mother also whispered to me!" Li Chengqian said with a smile.
Li Lizhi moved her small hand down and covered her mouth.
Li Chengqian tapped her brow and said with a smile, "Alright, I won't ask you what you said to Mother."
Li Lizhi lowered her hand with sparkling eyes, but before she could open her mouth, Li Chengqian said, "I won't tell you either."
"Oh." Li Lizhi pursed her lips.
Li Chengqian swung his legs, tilted his head on the soft pillow, and said with a smile: "I asked someone to make shaqi ma, Lizhi, do you want to eat it?"
The little girl immediately perked up and nodded repeatedly: "Let me think about it! Big Brother, can I have two more pieces this time?"
"No." Li Chengqian said, "We agreed that there's a limit on sweets. Don't eat too much, or you won't be able to eat them in the future."
Li Lizhi grumbled, "But Fourth Brother secretly eats more."
Li Chengqian said, "He didn't eat it secretly. It was Aye who ordered someone to make it for him. If you want to eat it, you can ask Aye. I can't control Aye."
Li Lizhi tilted her head and looked at her eldest brother, saying, "Let's not do that."
"Don't you want to eat more?" Li Chengqian asked.
Li Lizhi said like a grown-up, "Big brother is right. Slow and steady wins the race. I don't want to be as fat as fourth brother. I just made two new skirts. If I get fatter, I won't be able to wear them anymore."
Li Chengqian patted her head and said with a smile, "Then make a few more beautiful skirts for our Lizhi."
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