Chapter 52 Fireworks (2)
Li Chengqian stood up and patted his clothes to shake off the dust on his body. He thought to himself: I don’t know how effective these fireworks are. I will try them tonight to see the effect.
“Wang Quan!” Li Chengqian called out to the outside of the palace.
Hearing the commotion, Wang Quan hurried in and said, “What do you want, sir?”
Li Chengqian pointed at the thirty or so fireworks and said, “Put them away for me. Send them to Cheng’en Palace tonight. Remember! Don’t let these fireworks get close to fire sources, not even a spark.”
“Yes!” Wang Quan carefully recorded Li Chengqian’s words. He was particularly concerned about these fireworks. He called the eunuchs and repeatedly reminded them of the matters they should pay attention to.
"Also, call the Crown Princess, Consort Xiao and the two grandchildren. I will hold a family dinner in Cheng'en Hall tonight." Li Chengqian ordered Wang Quan.
"I've noted it down! I'll send someone to notify the Crown Princess, Consort Xiao, and the two princes." Wang Quan took the order and left.
At night, Li Xiang and Li Jue, led by their respective wet nurses, were the first to appear in Cheng'en Hall to wait for their father, Crown Prince Li Chengqian. As
soon as they arrived, the newly promoted Consort Xiao arrived!
Li Xiang and Li Jue stood up to pay their respects to Consort Xiao. Seeing that Crown Princess Su and the Crown Prince had not arrived yet, Consort Xiao felt bored being alone, so she started to tease the two children.
Soon, the elegant and dignified Crown Princess Su, dressed in jewels, appeared in Cheng'en Hall with her maids following closely.
"Hello, mother!" Li Jue and Li Xiang bowed to Su.
"Xiao says hello to my sister!" Xiao Liangdi also bowed to Crown Princess Su.
"No need to say anything!" The Crown Princess raised her hand and said, "Jue'er, come here, mother!"
Li Jue happily trotted to the Crown Princess and called out "Mother!" sweetly, which made the Crown Princess smile.
Compared to the incompetent father, Crown Prince Li Chengqian, Li Jue was closer to his biological mother. The young boy Li Xiang looked at Li Jue and his mother playing with envy.
Xiao Liangdi was boredly fiddling with the bracelet on her hand, waiting for today's protagonist, Crown Prince Li Chengqian.
This is the scene in Cheng'en Hall now.
"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has arrived!" Just when everyone was getting a little tired of waiting, Wang Quan's shrill voice came from outside the hall at the right time.
Li Chengqian, supported by Wang Quan, limped in and sat down in the main seat. Crown Princess Su led Xiao Liangdi and the two children to pay their respects to Li Chengqian.
With Li Chengqian's shout, "Let's start!" Today's theme - family dinner - began.
Wang Quan asked the maids to serve the dishes. The maids came in one after another, placed the divided food on everyone's table, and then left!
During dinner, Li Chengqian also asked about the academic situation of the two children. The two children were well-behaved and their answers were reasonable and well-reasoned! Li Chengqian was very satisfied.
After dinner, the maids came forward to remove all the dishes and served desserts to everyone.
"Today I prepared a gift for you, but I don't know if you like it?" After dinner, Li Chengqian went straight to the point.
"Your Highness's gift, I am so happy that I can't wait to like it." The Crown Princess Su said.
"Your Highness! What are you going to give us? Gold, silver, jewelry, gold hairpins and jade hairpins?" Seeing that Li Chengqian was so mysterious, Xiao Liangdi asked with her big watery eyes.
Generally speaking, the things that the crown prince rewards are some jewelry, silk and satin utensils.
But seeing Li Chengqian's attitude now, it doesn't seem like he is giving these items as a reward, so Xiao Liangdi can't help but be curious.
Not only Xiao Liangdi is curious, but also Crown Princess Su and the two children are very curious, but the Crown Princess has to pay attention to her status, so it's not easy to ask directly.
As for the two children, it's even more needless to say. Xiao Liangdi has just entered the palace not long ago, and she doesn't understand the rules of the palace yet.
"As for what it is! You can find out after you follow me to the outside of the palace." After Li Chengqian finished speaking, he stood up and walked out of Cheng'en Palace, with Wang Quan following closely beside him.
Crown Princess Su followed Li Chengqian with her son Li Jue, and Xiao Liangdi and Li Xiang walked side by side at the end.
"Your Highness! Where is the gift you want to give us?" Everyone came outside the palace. Xiao Liangdi looked around and didn't find the gift Li Chengqian mentioned, so she asked.
"Be patient! Wang Quan, bring it up!" Li Chengqian said to Wang Quan beside him.
"Yes!" Wang Quan took the order and turned away. After a moment, Wang Quan came back with two eunuchs following him.
As the eunuchs appeared, their eyes were focused on the bag in the eunuch's hand. There were some sealed bamboo tubes in it, and there was a string at the seal of the bamboo tube.
"Your Highness! Is this the gift you mentioned?" Xiao Liangdi looked at it for a long time and didn't know what the bamboo tube was for.
"Yes! This is the gift I prepared for you!" Li Chengqian rubbed his hands with excitement. This was his first time to see fireworks since he came to the Tang Dynasty, and he made them himself, but he didn't know how effective they would be.
To be honest, he was both excited and nervous.
After hearing that this was the gift the prince had prepared for them, the Crown Princesses Su and Xiao Liangdi couldn't help but twitch their faces. They were helpless about the prince's unconventional behavior.
Giving some jewelry or something like that would be better than the bamboo tube in front of them. What do they want this bamboo tube for? It can't be used as money.
"Watch it, the moment to witness the miracle has come!" Li Chengqian said, turning back to Wang Quan and said, "Let's start!"
"Yes!" Wang Quan took the order and waved to the two eunuchs. The two eunuchs retreated to a certain distance, took out fireworks from the bag, put them away, took out the prepared tinder, opened the lid, blew gently, and the tinder burned.
After the eunuch lit the fuse, he immediately picked up the bag on the ground and ran to the side to avoid hurting innocent people.
Crown Princess Su and Xiao Liangdi and others were confused, not knowing what was going on.
"Bang" was followed by a muffled sound, which scared everyone. Before everyone could see what was happening, they heard a whoosh and the bamboo tube flew directly into the sky. Before everyone
could react, they heard a "bang" and a strong light flashed in the sky, and a beautiful colorful spark bloomed in the air.
"Wow! It's so beautiful!" Xiao Liangdi opened her mouth in surprise. Even if she covered her mouth with her white hands, she still couldn't hide the light of surprise in her eyes.
The movement of Li Chengqian setting off fireworks startled the people in Chang'an. Even Emperor Li Er, who was reviewing memorials in the Liangyi Hall, put down his work, walked out, and looked at the colorful fireworks in the sky.
"What is this? It's so beautiful? But is it made in the East Palace?" Li Er asked Wang Yuan, the eunuch supervisor beside him.
"This... I don't know what this is, but it is indeed made in the south of the East Palace!" Wang Yuan said. It was the first time he saw such a thing.