Pear Garden
The summer night was sweltering, and even the ice chest in the Zichen Palace couldn't dispel the heat.
Li Xian tossed and turned in the cradle, his little face flushed red.
Wu Meiniang gently fanned herself, humming a nursery rhyme from her hometown of Bingzhou.
(Inner monologue: In this weather, if only we had air conditioning...)
The palace door opened softly, and Li Zhi entered carrying two bowls of chilled sugarcane juice.
He first peeked into the cradle to check on Li Xian before walking to the bedside: "Meiniang, rest for a while."
He took the fan and, though clumsy, earnestly fanned her.
Wu Meiniang leaned on his shoulder and suddenly remembered that equally hot night thirteen years ago—when she had just transmigrated and was tossing and turning in a dilapidated meditation room at Ganye Temple, unable to sleep.
"Does Your Majesty still remember..." she asked softly, "the summer of the twenty-third year of the Zhenguan era?"
Li Zhi paused in his fanning, his gaze becoming distant: "I remember. When my father passed away and I first ascended the throne, I couldn't sleep night after night."
He looked down at her, "Until one day I went to Ganye Temple..."
(Inner monologue: So he does miss our first meeting too!)
Wu Zetian chuckled, "His Majesty was wearing casual clothes at the time, and his forehead was covered in sweat."
"Yet you handed me a bowl of plain water." A smile flickered in Li Zhi's eyes. "Your gaze was like that of a frightened fawn, yet your hand trembled."
"I was faking it." She winked slyly. "Back then, all I could think about was how to curry favor with someone powerful."
Li Zhi laughed loudly, startling Li Xian awake from the cradle.
The little one grumbled in dissatisfaction. Wu Meiniang was about to get up when Li Zhi stopped her, saying, "I will."
He awkwardly picked up the baby and gently patted it, imitating the wet nurse.
Upon smelling the familiar scent, Li Xian quickly fell into a deep sleep again.
(Inner monologue: The boss is getting better and better at being a father figure.)
A night breeze suddenly arose, dispelling some of the summer heat.
Li Zhi was still holding his infant son, standing side by side with Wu Meiniang by the window.
As the Milky Way descends, the fragrance of lotus blossoms from Taiye Pond drifts in on the breeze.
"Meiniang," Li Zhi suddenly said, "when Xian'er is a little older, I want to take you to Jiucheng Palace to live permanently. It's cool there, and you won't have to suffer from this summer heat every year."
Wu Meiniang looked at Li Xian in his arms: "Then the court..."
"I'll take it with me," he answered readily. "Now that the canal transport is smooth and the post roads have been improved, where can't we govern?"
(Inner monologue: Is this the start of remote work?)
She suddenly noticed that Li Zhi had a few gray hairs at his temples.
She couldn't help but reach out to touch it, but he grabbed her wrist.
"It's alright," he chuckled. "I'm luckier than my father; I have you to grow old with."
Li Xian, nestled in his arms, smacked his lips, seemingly lost in a dream.
Wu Meiniang rested her head on his shoulder, feeling as if all thirteen years of palace life had melted into this starry night.
[Mini-Theater: The Night is Cool]
(The night watch eunuch's record)
At three quarters past midnight, His Majesty quietly got up to cover the Third Prince with a blanket.
At the beginning of the hour of Chou (1-3 AM), the Empress woke up and massaged His Majesty's temples.
At 3:30 AM, the couple stood side by side by the window looking at the stars and whispered to each other for half the night.
(The strangest thing is that before the emperor held court at dawn, he actually asked me, "Do you know where I can learn the nursery rhymes of Bingzhou?")
It seems I'll have to remind the Imperial Household Department to prepare more ice tonight.
——
In the spring of the tenth year of the Yonghui era, the emperor and empress moved to Jiucheng Palace with their three sons.
When the carriage reached the foot of Qishan Mountain, Li Xian pointed at the mountain flowers and began to babble, Li Xian excitedly leaned out of the car window, and even the usually composed Li Hong showed an expectant look.
(Inner monologue: This is what a real spring outing should be like!)
The pear blossoms in Jiucheng Palace were in full bloom. Wu Meiniang carried Li Xian and walked in the rain of flowers, letting the petals fall all over her clothes.
Li Zhi broke off a pear blossom and tucked it behind her ear, then smiled at Li Xian in his arms and said, "Look, my love, your mother is more beautiful than any flower."
Li Xian rolled around under the pear tree, clamoring to hold a pear blossom banquet.
Li Hong, however, pulled aside the female official in charge of the imperial garden and earnestly inquired, "Are there any records of grafting these pear trees?"
(Inner monologue: Hong'er's research spirit... comes from me!)
Wu Zetian ordered a banquet to be held in the pear orchard.
The Imperial Food Bureau baked flatbread with new wheat and served it with tea brewed with snow water stored from last year's cellar.
Emperor Gaozong personally distributed cakes to his three sons, deliberately reserving the crispiest edges for Wu Zetian.
"Your Majesty still remembers." She was somewhat surprised.
"Of course I remember." Li Zhi's eyes were filled with a smile. "When you were pregnant with Hong'er, you always wanted to eat the edges of baked flatbread in the middle of the night."
(Inner monologue: He still remembers such a small thing from over a decade ago!)
Halfway through the banquet, the sound of reading aloud suddenly came from the mountains.
The children from the nearby village school were studying in the pear orchard.
On a whim, Wu Zetian embraced Li Xian and approached to listen.
The children were reciting the Thousand Character Classic when they saw the Emperor and Empress and hurriedly knelt down to pay their respects.
Wu Meiniang, however, sat down on the ground and placed Li Xian on her lap: "Continue reading, let the Third Prince hear it too."
Li Xian opened his eyes wide and even clapped his little hands to the rhythm.
Seeing this, Li Zhi simply ordered his guards to bring Taiping Paper and immediately rewarded each child with a newly printed set of "Three Chapters for Elementary Education".
(Inner monologue: Education should start from childhood; there is no difference between princes and commoners.)
As the sun set, Li Xian was fast asleep in his wet nurse's arms.
Li Hong was still holding the village school teacher's lesson plan and asking for advice when Li Zhi carried his sleeping second son on his back, held Wu Meiniang's hand in one hand, and slowly walked back to the palace.
A mountain breeze swept by, carrying their conversation into the fragrance of pear blossoms:
"...By this time next year, Xian'er will be ready for his formal education."
"I personally taught him the 'Rapid Learning Manual'."
"Then I will teach you mathematics..."
(Inner monologue: I could live like this forever and never get tired of it.)
As the moonlight rose over Jiucheng Palace, Wu Meiniang leaned on Li Zhi's shoulder, watching her three children sleep peacefully.
In his dream, Li Xian was still clutching that pear blossom, a sweet smile on his lips.
"Meiniang," Li Zhi said softly, "when the children are all grown up, I will pass the throne to Hong'er. I'll take you back to Bingzhou to see the world, and then we'll go to Jiangnan..."
She laughed and covered his mouth: "Your Majesty is talking nonsense again."
But a sweet feeling, like honey, welled up inside me.
——
[Mini Theater: Chronicles of the Peking Opera World]
(Notes of a Palace Attendant)
Today, the Emperor and Empress, along with their sons, went on a spring outing. The Third Prince grabbed a village schoolboy's calligraphy brush and wouldn't let go.
His Majesty was not angry at all, but instead rewarded the boy with a set of writing implements.
(It looks like the village school will be packed with villagers bringing their children tomorrow.)
The most interesting thing is that the Second Prince insists on learning the grafting technique for pear trees and has been pestering the gardener with questions ever since.
The Crown Prince went even further, actually calculating the economic value of this pear orchard.
(Indeed, the dragon has nine sons, each different from the other.)
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