Living leisurely in Tang Dynasty

Chapter 145

On the way back, Dai Ting was silent as usual. Yuanying likes talking but this man who has stayed with him the longest is a man of few words. He never speaks unless necessary and he is unusually quiet now.

“Next time let’s not get involve and investigate when such things arises again.” His Majesty doesn’t seem to want them to get involve, if there’s a problem let’s just drop hints to remind others.

Dai Ting nodded.

He actually didn’t intend to investigate in depth but got to know abit too much by accident. He didn’t expect Zhang Liang to not cover up so he just casually investigated everything. If it wasn’t for troublesome evidences in his hands, he wouldn’t rush back to meet Li Yuanying. It’s fine if Zhang Liang had strange hobbies; but if he really is plotting something and they did not report it, they will be punished as accomplices.

Now that Li Yuanying had handed the evidence directly to Li Er, everything should be fine.

That being said, Dai Ting couldn’t get rid of the mental picture of how the Emperor looked at him. He is of low status and was standing quietly but his natural instinct alerted him of the hidden danger.

As he left the meeting hall, his back was covered in cold sweat.

Dai Ting looked at Li Yuanying who is standing next to a lotus pond.

Can Li Yuanying feel it too?

Yuanying didn’t think more, it’s not good to have too much clarity sometimes. He stood near the lotus pond and looked at the dry lotus leaves. Seeing servants passing by, he waves and calls to them excitedly: “Do you know how to dig lotus roots? I want to eat them. If anyone helps me dig, I will give you a handful of golden beans!”

Everyone came to the forbidden garden to appreciate the lotus flower and no one had once wanted to dig for lotus roots. When they heard Prince Teng’s bold idea, everyone was surprised. The eunuchs didn’t respond but two palace maids volunteered: “We do this well at home!” The two maids looked similar, like twins, smart and cute.

Yuanying is even more playful now: “Then dig!”

The two maids were not shy and jumped into the shallow pond and pulled out several lotus roots. Anyway, these were ornamental lotuses, so they were not big or fresh or sweet looking. Yuanying was disappointed but he still rewarded them as promised. He then asked where they were from and if the lotus roots in their hometown were delicious!

The two maids came from a water town and were selected into the palace because of their clean family background. Due to  their humble origins, they didn’t have any chance to get much attention. Now that a Royal is asking about them, they attentively answered everything. They are from Baoying, Yang Prefecture. The lotus roots there is the most delicious, fresh and sweet when eaten raw and quality ingredient for cooking and boiling.

Yuanying is fascinated but seeing them drenched in water, he told them to take their leave as it is not good to keep wearing wet clothes. He then took Dai Ting  home to ask mother to make him some cold lotus root slices!

Lady Liu is  happy that Yuanying has return. When she saw Dai Ting carrying back some not-so-good-looking lotus roots, she asked where they were from and was amused.

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“If you want to eat lotus roots, can’t you just ask someone to get them? It’s now the season for lotus roots, can’t you can get them elsewhere?”

Li Yuanying argued: “I see them bloom every summer, but it’s a pity I don’t know what they taste like!”

Lady Liu is just happy to have her child back. She didn’t want to argue and just took the lotus roots for cooking.  

Li Yuanying took the lotus root, and someone started spreading news. Li Yuanying is a boy who gives away money freely. He carries a pile of gold and would give a handful to anyone who played with him. He don’t take money seriously.

In the past, no one paid attention to his nonsense. After all, he was just a little prince with no real influence, so let him spend money however he wants to.

But things are different now. His Majesty intend to train Yuanying well and is no longer interested in letting him be an idle prince. Therefore, he is now an easy target if he misbehaves!  

For example, when Yuanying took the lotus root, he just wanted to taste it on a whim, and gave rewards according to customs of the palace. But when news spread, it changed: everyone is spreading that His Royal Highness Prince Teng saw a pair of pretty twins in the forbidden garden and became lustful. He forces them to jump into the lotus pond to get their clothes wet. He laughed loudly and admired the beautiful figures of the palace maids. In the end, he threw a few golden beans to insult them…

You can’t blame people for making up stories. Li Yuanying has past bad record and his story about “the foolish king who lost his beauty with words” is still circulating in secret! He dares to even take an interest in the Emperor’s concubine, what’s the big deal about flirting with two palace maids?

When he went to Hu County, he set his sights on a newly widowed woman! What? She wasn’t a widow, but a peasant girl mourning her father’s death? That’s not that different!

Looking back further, he also brought the princess to Pingkang square. Since these are scandals related to the Royal family, everyone tacitly suppressed the matter, but suppressing doesn’t mean it does not exist! I heard Li Yuanying also de-registered a female prostitute in Wancui Mansion and secretly kept her outside…

At such a young age, his behaviour is impossible!

Yuanying was already 13 and other princes would have already move to their vassal state by this age. What’s the point of keeping Li Yuanying in the palace? It’s fine if nothing happened, but what if there’s scandal?!

Immediately imperial advisors started telling His Majesty that it’s not good to allow Li Yuanying to come and go freely in the palace. He should set up his own residence, and it would be even better to move him to a vassal state. If he stays, he will easily cause trouble!

The Royal family’s affair are the people’s affairs. The officials all started voicing out in court, saying that Li Yuanying has bad morals and needs to be restrained.

When His Majesty heard about Li Yuanying asking two maids to grab lotus roots in the pond, he also felt it was ridiculous. Why is this kid restless all day long?! If you want to tease young palace maids, at least choose a place with fewer people. How dare you do it at the forbidden garden?

Of course to Li Er  it is not a big deal for his younger brother to be a little curious about women. If he likes the maids, he’ll just give them to him. The Emperor listened carefully to the criticism of Li Yuanying. He is impressed that Yuanying is so young and is already flirting around with girls. He instructed for both palace maids to be sent away to serve Lady Liu.  

The Emperor’s action made the people who criticize Li Yuanying faint. We know that the Emperor is not very particular with things like this but how can you be so chill about it?! If your brother falls in love with your concubine one day, will you give her away too?!

Since Li Yuanying is away at the Academy, it was Lady Liu who had to accept the palace maids. The Emperor only instructed that they be sent to Li Yuanying’s residence but had no further instructions, Lady Liu was quite disturb by this.

After observing the girls, she found that they were quite hardworking. Lady Liu breathe a sigh of relief and made them in charge of cleaning Yuanying’s room and brewing tea.

Now everyone thinks that the Emperor’s love for his younger brother is too much. Even when Prince Teng flirts with palace maids, his Majesty acknowledges his behaviour and even rewarded him.

Zhangsun Wuji is alarmed by this and had to grumble a few words at the Emperor. Ever since the incident with Li Tai, the Emperor should have known better. How can he change a target to dote on?  

No one can predict a human’s heart. Maybe Li Yuanying has no evil intentions now but once he has made friends with outstanding students at the Academy, married into the Wei family, and built good relations with Li Jing, Chu Suiliang and other officials; how can we know for sure that he will not have evil thoughts in the future?

Putting everything aside and just focus on his loyal servant Dai Ting. He looks inconspicuous but controls the largest tea trade in the entire Tang and travels to Gaochang and Tibetan Empire frequently. If he really is planning something, it will be hard to discover it.

Zhangsun Wuji has been the older brother-in-law of the Emperor for 30 years and therefore needs to caution His Majesty about this. When I became your brother-in-law, Li Yuanying is not even born yet.

Li Er leaned on the table and listened but his expression was always indifferent; it’s hard to tell if he’s paying attention.  

Zhangsun Wuji finished speaking but his Majesty did not respond.

“If Your Majesty does not like to hear these words, I will not say them anymore.”

Li Er suddenly laughed.

Zhangsun Wuji looked at  Li Er in confusion, not knowing why he had suddenly laughed.

“Yuanying once told me these words, even your last sentence is the same.” He told Zhangsun Wuji about Li Yuanying’s advice to let go of Li Tai with a calm expression. “I’ll handle this matter, you don’t have to persuade me further.”

Zhangsun Wuji was shocked.

He only knew that Li Tai  disliked and had a feud with Li Yuanying,. He did not know that Li Yuanying had talked to the Emperor about this matter when Li Tai was the most favored.

No wonder Li Tai hates him.

Since His Majesty had spoken, Zhangsun Wuji naturally couldn’t say much. As for His Majesty saying that he know what  he’s doing, Zhangsun Wuji thinks it’s rubbish. Li Er is even more lenient with Li Yuanying than he was to Li Tai!

It was already Mid-Autumn Festival in a blink of an eye. The Imperial Academy closed early in the morning. Yuanying felt that he should be well behave and told someone to inform the palace that he will be home late. He took his friends out shopping and bought gifts to please his future wife’s family.

Although his future father and mother-in-law were not home, Wei Zheng and his wife is there. They are the elders of the Wei family so he naturally have to actively be a good grandson-in-law!

Except for necessary contacts, the Imperial Academy was relatively private. At least the criticism of Li Yuanying did not spread here. After all, His Majesty not only kept silent, but also assigned the palace maids to Li Yuanying’s side!

Emperor Li Er has such an attitude, what else can others say? No one cares!

So even Li Yuanying, the person involved, knows nothing about this.

Yuanying made good calculation but he didn’t know his lotus root incident would cause drama. When he arrived at the Wei family home with Wei Shu, he was greeted with Wei Zheng’s black face!

Li Yuanying took a look and thought that Old Wei looked scary. He whispered to Wei Shu: “What’s wrong with your grandfather? Did your brother do something bad to anger him? Your brother is really not that young anymore, why is he so ignorant!”

Although the couple was whispering, they were not that soft and Wei Zheng heard their conversation.

He was furious and glared at them.

If you want to whisper about something make sure no one hears you!

Wei Zhu nudge Yuanying to remind him not to make grandfather angry.

Li Yuanying ran over and sat beside Wei Zheng, asking him about his well-being: “Who upset you? Tell me, I’ll take people to beat him up!”

Wei Zheng felt even more upset when he heard him say that. This is a guy that even the Emperor beat up. What can others  do to teach him a lesson. Didn’t he already married a daughter to be a princess much earlier, so why is he so forgetful that he is now sacrificing another granddaughter?

Notes from the Author:

Wei Zheng: You may not believe it, but you have a brother who married your wife’s aunt, and you can call him uncle later!

Little Prince:?

Speaking about the marriage system of Tang Dynasty, I read in a book that during the Zhenguan period, if a man was 20 and a woman was 15 and not married, the government would intervene and help you find a partner. If you don’t have money for betrothal gift, you can ask relatives and rich families in the village to help you. As long as the widower is not yet 60 and the widow is not 50, you will be forced to find a partner! Everything is for the sake of having children!

On the other hand, many at that time were looking for marriages with daughters of aristocratic families. These aristocratic families asked for very high betrothal gifts, and everyone calls it “selling marriages.” So Emperor Li Er rebuilt the clan’s history, hold these old aristocratic families back and prohibit “selling marriages”. Princess and Prince consort were also selected from meritorious officials, hoping to weaken the influence of the aristocratic families.

But it was useless. These aristocratic families proudly called themselves “forbidden marriage families”, and many people still flocked to them…