200 Chapter 200
◎Difficult things.◎
After Li Shimin and Zhangsun Shi finished their conversation, Sun Simiao also finished taking Li Tai's pulse. Li Tai's condition was the same as Li Yuan's. He mainly had to control his diet and move his legs, but Li Tai could only do the latter with difficulty.
Speaking of this, Li Shimin touched his nose. After all, he was the one who encouraged Li Tai to eat whatever he wanted without caring about Li Chengqian's request.
It's too late to change my words now. The two brothers just had a small problem today, so it's really not appropriate to bring this up again.
Fortunately, Sun Simiao's instructions were just routine medical advice, and he didn't mean to ask for a guarantee - of course, he didn't dare to ask for a guarantee from the people in Lizheng Hall.
When Sun Simiao was leaving, Li Chengqian said, "I'll see you off, sir."
Sun Simiao hurriedly said, "I dare not trouble Your Highness."
"Mainly, I want to trouble you with something. Let's talk about it on the way." Li Chengqian nimbly carried Sun Simiao's medicine box on his back.
Li Shimin said with a smile, "The prince is naughty, sir, please bear with him for a while and let him send him off."
"Yes." Sun Simiao greeted everyone one by one before following Li Chengqian and leaving.
Li Chengqian paused, letting himself stand side by side with Sun Simiao. After they left the Lizheng Hall, he spoke, "Mr. Sun, do you have any plans to leave the capital?"
Sun Simiao was just thinking about walking slower so as not to walk shoulder to shoulder with the Crown Prince, when he was startled by these words: "How can you leave the capital before fulfilling the Emperor's command?"
Li Chengqian said, "Sir, if you don't like being an official in the Imperial Medical Bureau, then you certainly don't like staying in the Kyoto Imperial Palace all the time, right?"
Sun Simiao bowed his head and said, "It's all about curing illnesses and saving lives, there's no difference."
"There is still some," Li Chengqian said. "I know it's hard for you to say it directly, sir. But if you ever want to leave the capital, just tell me quietly, and I'll leave it to the Saint."
Sun Simiao looked at the prince's young profile and suddenly thought of the idea that had been suppressed in his heart. Today he might be able to confirm that the matter that had been bothering the prince was in this palace.
"Your Highness..." Sun Simiao whispered, "Do you want to leave too?"
Li Chengqian smiled and said, "Sir, if I could leave one day, I'm afraid the scene would not be very good."
Sun Simiao realized what he meant and broke out in a cold sweat: "Your Highness, please be careful with your words."
Li Chengqian smiled and said, "Don't be afraid, sir. I've been in this place since I was born, and everything I think about is inseparable from this place."
Sun Simiao said, "Your Highness, if you don't want to laugh, you don't have to laugh."
"Do you think I should cry, sir? I've cried many times, but crying is useless." Li Chengqian still smiled, "But it may be because I always cry behind people's backs, so it's useless."
"But crying and begging for pity is too embarrassing, isn't it?" Li Chengqian shrugged. "Forget it, let's not talk about it."
He handed the medicine box to Sun Simiao and said, "Then it's settled, sir. You've never held back, passing on all your medical skills to the imperial physicians. Good people should be rewarded."
Sun Simiao took the medicine box and said, "Your Highness has spread medical books throughout the world. This is selfless and fair. Good people should be rewarded."
"I am not a good person, sir. I do this for my own purpose. I want you to come to Beijing to treat my mother's illness." Li Chengqian said.
Sun Simiao said, "Whatever your purpose, Your Highness has indeed made this medical book available to every literate person in the world."
Li Chengqian smiled and said, "Thank you, sir."
Sun Simiao asked, "It was Your Highness who suggested that I go to the Imperial Medical Bureau. Did Your Highness foresee this day?"
Once the imperial physicians of the Imperial Medical Bureau have learned Sun Simiao's medical skills and are able to treat the Queen and others, he can retire.
"That's not the case." Li Chengqian said honestly, "It's because I want to suggest that the saint set up official hospitals in all places. Master, you teach them so that they can teach other things..."
"Your Highness, do you have such a plan?" Sun Simiao was so excited that he interrupted the prince rashly.
Li Chengqian nodded and said, "Sir, if you have any ideas, please feel free to ask."
Sun Simiao smiled and said, "No, I just didn't expect Your Highness to have such an intention. However, there are official doctors in every part of the country, so I'm afraid it won't be that easy to achieve."
At the end of his words, he became worried again. Since the war at the end of the Sui Dynasty, the people have been living in poverty and have not yet recovered. The court may not have such strong financial support. If it relies on increasing taxes on the people, wouldn't it be putting the cart before the horse?
"We need to make a plan first before we can start implementing it," Li Chengqian said. "We'll discuss this in detail next time, sir. It's too hot outside at noon. You should wait until it cools down before going back."
Sun Simiao smiled and said, "Getting more sun is good for your health. Your Highness, you should also go out more often."
"There's no need in the middle of summer. I'm afraid of getting a heat stroke." Li Chengqian covered his face and said, "If you can really go back, sir, don't try to be brave. Otherwise, it would be embarrassing if the miracle doctor got a heat stroke."
Sun Simiao shook his head and smiled, "Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. It's alright."
"Alright, sir, take care." Li Chengqian said, "I'll have someone take you there."
Sun Simiao couldn't refuse, so after thanking him, he carried the medicine box and headed towards the palace gate.
Li Chengqian stood in the sun for a while before turning around and returning to Lizheng Hall.
…
During the Dragon Boat Festival, Li Chengqian's mother asked him to tie a colorful rope around his wrist. He was turning the rope while listening to Li Lizhi and Li Yuxiu complaining one by one.
Li Shimin assigned each of them a female teacher to teach them etiquette, and the two girls were given a lot of trouble. After just two or three days, they were all full of resentment.
Li Chengqian said, "My father mentioned it that day, but I forgot to persuade him later. Now that everyone is here, I don't have any good ideas."
"Brother~" The two little girls pulled Li Chengqian's sleeves and acted coquettishly in a soft voice.
"Well, well, well...where's Mother?" Li Chengqian was twitching from being pulled by the two of them. "What did Mother say?"
Li Lizhi pouted and said, "Mother said we really should learn some etiquette."
"Mother asked us to learn from the teacher well so that we can be like our elder sister in the future," Li Yuxiu continued.
The newly-titled Princess Xiangcheng has already arranged her marriage. In the autumn, she will marry Xiao Rui, the eldest son of Xiao Yu, the Minister of the Left. Because she does not want to build a new princess's mansion and regards herself as the daughter-in-law of the Xiao family, she has been praised by the emperor for her elegance and propriety, and all the princesses are encouraged to learn from her.
Li Chengqian knew that this was actually a face-saving project. Even though the Khan felt that no one should treat his daughters badly, he could not say this out loud. On the surface, he had to demand that his princesses be virtuous and kind.
This is even more so for the empress. She is the mother of the country and should be a role model for women all over the world. Empress Wende has a reputation as a virtuous empress in history, but the real Empress Zhangsun was never such a rigid and boring person. But there was no way. According to the requirements of women in that era, she could only behave like this to the outside world.
But this obviously put a lot of pressure on the little princesses who were not very sensible yet. They were still at the age of playing, and they couldn't help but feel a little panicked when such a target suddenly appeared in front of them.
Li Chengqian pulled back his sleeves, rubbed the heads of the two little sisters, and said with a smile: "Big sister is big sister, you are you, what father and mother said was just a joke, it doesn't matter if you can't be like big sister."
"Really?" Both girls looked at him with bright eyes.
"Of course it's true, but they can't say it out loud. Just like we have to be polite when meeting people, this is something we want to do for outsiders to see." Li Chengqian said with a gentle smile.
Li Lizhi nodded slowly: "I understand. As long as people outside think we are like this, it will be fine."
Li Yuxiu blinked her eyes and said, "This is very simple. We don't even need to learn it."
Growing up in the royal family, they have been faced with various etiquette rules since they were born. For them, it is easy to prevent outsiders from finding any mistakes.
After comforting the two little sisters, Li Chengqian went to find his mother and told her about them. After hearing this, Changsun laughed and said, "I thought these two days would be enough to temper their tempers. They were a bit naughty before, but I didn't expect to scare them."
"How can I be naughty, mother? Girls should be lively, just like you, so cute." Li Chengqian gestured and smiled.
Chang Sun knocked on his forehead and said with a smile: "Aniang is so old, and she is still cute. I can't stand this."
Li Chengqian shook his head and smiled, "Mother, you're just adorable. If you show it to people who don't know you, who would have thought your son has grown up so big? You see, this is a bad thing, Mother. You're too modest."
Chang Sun was amused by him and laughed out loud: "You only know how to say nice things to flatter me. Alright, alright, tell your sisters to go, and I'll let the master know. I'll be less strict tomorrow."
"Thank you, mother!" Li Chengqian smiled and ran away, "You are the best mother in the world!"
Chang Sun smiled at the people around her and said, "This child... Look how much he has grown up, yet now he is so childish again."
The female official laughed and said, "It is precisely in the presence of His Highness that the Prince behaves like this."
"Yes, in front of parents, no matter how old you are, you are still a child." Changsun said quietly, like a sigh.
…
It was already summer, and Li Shimin had been worried about the severe drought that Li Chengqian had mentioned before. Even though he had made preparations to store water, it could only solve the immediate problem. It was still unknown when this drought would end.
Overwhelmed with worry, Li Shimin went to ask Li Chengqian: "Chengqian, when will it rain in Shandong?"
"I really don't know about that." Li Chengqian sighed, "Why don't we prepare some food first so we can distribute it in time if there's a disaster over there?"
Li Shimin said worriedly, "Not many places have abundant food these days. After all, the curved plow and waterwheel have only been used for half a year, or even just started to be used. The grain reserves can't increase that quickly."
Li Chengqian frowned as well: "Is our Tang Dynasty really that miserable?"
"Since the end of the Sui Dynasty, the people have only enjoyed peace and stability for a few years?" Li Shimin said, "This is already considered good."
At this time in his previous life, Li Chengqian had just become the crown prince and had never heard of the political supervision of the country, so he really didn't know much about what was happening at that time.
Li Chengqian scratched his head and said, "Then we should eat less, wear less fancy clothes, and save money to buy food."
"Also, the common people have no food, but those wealthy families must have stored food. Ask them for it."
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