Living leisurely in Tang Dynasty

Chapter 60

On usual days, Wei Zheng would not deliberately find fault with Li Yuanying. After all, the young prince is a known fool. But this is an unusual incident. How can the younger brother beg for his older brother’s people? Fine by me that you barely respect him on daily basis but to court your brother’s concubine?

Wei Zheng angrily went looking for Li Yuanying.

Li Er was gleaming in joy when looking at the little old man’s angry. He quickly ask that tea be served. When the elder brother is in trouble, it is only right that the younger brother block the first hit!

This tea is fragrant!

Why didn’t tea taste so good before?

……

Li Yuanying had been very busy lately. After sending Wu Mei off, he quickly had breakfast before heading to class to find trouble with his teachers.  Just as he was being send off by mother, his path was blocked by Wei Zheng!

Wei Zheng started nagging about this and that, making Li Yuanying super confused. When he heard the accusations against him, he felt a little apprehensive.

This old Wei, why isn’t he scolding the Emperor? Why is he here? Li Yuanying couldn’t figure it out but since Wei Shu gave him prior warning, he was prepared.

He has already received the favor, so it’s impossible not to give any back. Li Yuanying waited for Wei Zheng to finish before dragging him to the nearby pavilion to have a talk.

While Wei Zheng did spend much time seriously teaching the boy about <<Book of Rites>>, he still disliked this troublemaker who had kidnapped his precious granddaughter to play all day long. With this incident, he is even more convinced that this brat is overly wild and had no limits.

Li Yuanying had already thought about how to deal with him.

“I read before that divorce and separation is something that the common people practices. For example there’s this poem called <<Peacock flying southeast>> which talked about a man named Liu who separated and remarried on his mother’s insistence.” (Li Yuanying)

“That was instructions from the parents.” (Wei Zheng)

“Although I am young, I know that marriage is an important topic. If you get along well, your family will be magnificent but if you don’t, the family life is a disaster. In that poem, the couple got along really well but is forced to break up. Now this destroyed the life of four families. On the contrary, when two people cannot get along and you force them to do so, you are also destroying their life!” (Li Yuanying)

Hearing a kid expressing his opinion about marriage, Wei Zheng sneered:  “Can the Emperor’s harem be the same as ordinary people?”

“It is because this is the royal family that we have to lead by example. You too have daughters and granddaughters. If they are being bullied, would you ask them to blindly tolerate it and say that life is such so live with it and hope that the man will change one day? I think a couple should be compatible. If they are not living in harmony, they should separate. No one should be a punching bag!” (Li Yuanying)

“Yes, divorce is okay. If the couple wants to, just follow the official regulations and processes.” (Wei Zheng)

“Then why don’t you get it?! Do you mean that this only applies to the common people but the Emperor is not allowed to do the same?” (Li Yuanying)

“There must be a valid reason before his Majesty can let his Lady of Talent leave.”  (Wei Zheng)

“They can’t get along! Isn’t that a valid reason? Since meeting Mei Niang in Jiucheng Palace, I’ve became aware that she’s a knowledgeable person who can help me find anything and so I often seek her help. That day, someone stopped the Emperor and accused us of meeting often. The Emperor then became suspicious and tried to test Mei Niang. He directly asked her if she had any objections of being given away to me.”

This was new info to Wei Zheng. The Emperor had only said that Li Yuanying made a fuss to get this woman.

He listened seriously as the boy continued.

Yuanying sat up straight and looked at Wei Zheng fearlessly: “Even though they cannot be considered a normal couple, that question from the Emperor is a punishment. What do you think? Should she say yes or no?  Since it’s already like this, how can she continue to live in the palace? Therefore, I ask for her to come over to my side. Mei Niang is extremely intelligent and talented. Due to my unintentional actions, she has lost all favor with the Emperor. Shouldn’t I return her a good future?”

Is Li Yuanying stupid?

He is not.

He doesn’t understand a lot of things because he has never wanted to think deeper about them.

After listening to Wu Mei’s analysis, he still insisted to get her from the Emperor because this is a matter that started because of him.

He grew up in Da’an Palace. Although he cannot say that he has experienced all of life’s warmth and cruelness, he understands that life in the deep palace was not easy. If you had status and power that’s fine but without it even lowly servants would step on your head.  

In his early childhood when older brother and sister-in-law hadn’t moved him to Taiji palace, people looked for opportunities to bully his mother. After all, with the previous Emperor dead, what good is a Lady of Treasure?  Although Yuanying was only five, he was raised as royalty. When he saw his mom being bullied, he got angry and instructed that the bully be buried in snow without a second thought. If his sister-in-law hadn’t come over by chance, he would have took a life that day.

Until today, rumors about him being a little demon king is prevalent. But he doesn’t really care much about his reputation, he only wish that those around him lives good happy life. But if someone bullies those he holds dear, he will not treat them as human beings. Even if they die a hundred times, it is not enough to repay the single tear that his mom had shed.

He clearly distinguish right from wrong.  Sister-in-law used to teach him patiently and really loved him. Therefore, he happily be a good brother and play with his nephews and nieces and obediently listens to her teaching. For example, ‘A man must be responsible for the things he does!’

Since this is a ruckus he has caused, he won’t let he others suffer on his behalf.

Li Yuanying raised his head and looked straight at Wei Zheng with clear eyes: “Don’t you agree with what I say?”

Wei Zheng was speechless.

If Li Yuanying wants the Emperor’s woman for their beauty, he would definitely criticize him to the bone. But when the boy explained it like this, he now feels that the Emperor is the one at fault.

After all, Li Yuanying is just a child. If he has reached the age of knowing about relationships, he should be granted the right to leave the palace for his own land. His Majesty knows very well that it was impossible for them to have an affair and yet he still tested his concubine. Isn’t this mental abuse? Asking if she wants to leave with the younger brother. If they were an ordinary couple, the relationship is already doom with such an accusation.

Looking at things from this angle, Li Yuanying’s actions seems like the righteous and responsible move.

“You really are good with words.” (Wei Zheng)

Seeing that Wei Zheng had calm down, he immediately ask why was he here scolding him instead of the Emperor. He then found out that the initial target was the Emperor but Li Er manipulated and managed to fool him!

Li Yuanying is amazed by the shamelessness of his older brother.

How dare he?!

This dignified king of a country, lying and deceiving people! Yes he’s part of this drama and he did say stuff but he’s not the instigator. When his brother say things like this, it puts him in a horrible light. Almost as if he’s a pervert that had became greedy and wanted the beauties from the palace!

Li Yuanying was furious. Sensing that Wei Zheng also thinks that the Emperor handled this badly, he quickly thought and came up with a plan. The boy leaned over to hold Wei Zheng’s hand.

“I think brother handle this well. He realized that he did wrong and so let Mei Niang free. You should praise the Emperor and encourage others to learn from his good quality of being willing to correct his mistakes. So that others will take the warning and learn to respect and love their wife and not listen to hearsay and speak ill of their partner.”

Within the Imperial harem sits the Empress, 4 Consorts, 9 Imperial Concubines, 27 Hereditary Consorts and 81 maids-in-waiting. Lady of Talent is a rank among the 27 Hereditary Consorts and is the lowest rank in this category. Together with those ranked as Jieyu (Lady of Handsome Fairness) and Meiren (Lady of Beauty) they are in charge of rituals in the palace and receiving guests. Although different from the official wife of the common people’s family, they were still official concubines of the Emperor with ranks.

Through Li Yuanying’s little trick, the incident is no longer one that spoils the family good name but became an incident that happened due to the Emperor’s momentary slip of the tongue which caused him to lose a woman he loved.

Wei Zheng could never write such a thing. This sounds like something a flamboyant person would write about as flattery! Wei Zheng refused the boy’s request but he did stop scolding him. He went home to ponder on how to re-write another set of criticism, this time including  how the Emperor is at fault for pushing away his responsibility.

As for Li Yuanying, Wei Zheng now thinks that this child can still be saved. His Majesty  put the blame on him and yet he was willing to say good words about his brother. Such a good boy!  

When the old man left, he was full of energy and ready to start writing his next set of criticism.

After Wei Zheng left, Yuanying saw that it was late and class should have already started. Since he’s late, let’s skip another day of class. Thinking about Li Er’s shameless behavior, Li Yuanying got a wicked idea. He asked his attendants to lean over and ordered him to do this and that.

After making the arrangements, Li Yuanying wandered off to play with the other children, continuing his strike as the wildest child in the palace!

Soon, a new story gradually emerged: <<Reckless King  Loses His Beauty with One Word>>.

The story was slightly framed, improved, and then turned into an exciting legend. The heroine is firm, intelligent, and assertive. She is strong-willed and dares to love and hate. She carries the believe that “Since the hero is ruthless, I will then leave”. When the king regrets his action, it was too late. The heroine has left to live a free life outside the palace!

The story did not specifically mention His Majesty Li Er or Lady Wu. However, anyone who knows about the incident of Li Er giving away Lady Wu to Prince Teng would think of the Emperor when they heard this story!

During court session, many ministers were quietly judging the Emperor. They wanted to see if His Majesty was as “depressed and haggard” as the story said.

At first, Li Er didn’t notice anything. After being scolded by Wei Zheng, no one forced him to take action to bring Wu Mei back and so he let go of the matter. As a result, the story spread widely. Those who serves the Emperor hesitantly mentioned it to him when dressing him in the morning.

Only then did  Li Er found out that he had become the pitiful king who was abandoned by a beauty due to his own slip of tongue!

Even if the Emperor thinks with his toes, he knew who wrote this.

He furiously called for Li Yuanying to be brought over.

When Li Yuanying heard this, not only was he unafraid but he was actually quite proud. He hummed and said, “What? You are allowed to push the blame on my head but I’m not allowed to make up a story?”