Living leisurely in Tang Dynasty

Chapter 72

Yuanying regretted his actions. Curiosity really do kill a person. Why did he share his thoughts when his brother was in a bad mood? Great! Now that he has personally gave himself away, he will have to live within his brother’s mercy.

Although getting recognized and rewarded is  a good thing, but this reason is going to  scare his mom to death. Also, he is now far away from his mom. If the Emperor send people to award his mom, she’ll probably be scared to death and will never sleep well again!

Yuanying rebuke the Emperor again and again in his heart, yet he still had to show up at his brother’s side like a good boy.  Even Li Zhi was a little puzzled and quietly pulled him aside.

“Why are you being so attentive to father these days?”

“What do you mean attentive? As the younger brother, of course I need to to think about the Emperor’s welfare.” Yuanying became more and more defensive and even chastened Li Zhi. “In comparison, you as his son is pretty useless. Did you know that there was an assassination attempt on the Emperor the night we were resting at the Li Mountain Palace?”

Li Zhi was exhausted that day and had fallen asleep without noticing anything. He was taken aback.

“Really?”

Yuanying said earnestly: “Of course, why should I lie? You really are pretty careless and don’t think much about anything. Your father seems to be in a bad mood and I’m trying to make him happy! Since we can’t help must in important matters, why not do little things to make the Emperor happy?”

Li Zhi actually believed Yuanying. He even went to the Emperor for confirmation and was remorseful that he’s not a good son like young uncle who is a good younger brother. His ashamed for he is not filial enough.

Li Er instantly knew that this son of his was badly fooled by Li Yuanying.

But the Emperor still didn’t expose Yuanying’s lies but nodded his head saying that everything was true and Li Zhi was right to reflect and should learn from young uncle.

As a result, one more attentive person appeared next to the Emperor. Soon, thanks to Li Yuanying the whole group of little radishes rush to accompany Li Er; making the whole scene lively.

When they arrived at Xiangcheng Palace, the courtiers who accompanied the group congratulated the Emperor.

“His Majesty has a good younger brother and a group of good children. If the royal children behaves like this, why are the children of common people so unfilial and disrespectful!”

Li Er was pleased.

Yuanying was also relieved. At first, he was exhausted to death but fortunately he managed to tactfully dragged Li Zhi and the others to surround the Emperor. This helped to annoy the Emperor rather quickly and he shoos them away every day!

Xiangcheng Palace’s construction was supervised by Yan Lide under the Emperor’s instruction. Yan Lide is not very well-known but is a formidable architectural designer who draws good blueprints and has completed lots of renovation within Chang’an City.

Yan Lide also has a famous younger brother named Yan Liben who was good at painting. The Emperor often commission him to paint down important events. An example is when Lu Dongzan came on behalf to request for Wencheng’s hand in marriage. All these were recorded down by Yan Liben  with a paintbrush.

This time the owner of Xiangcheng Palace, the Emperor is visiting and so both brothers naturally came with him. The first intention was to see if His Majesty is satisfied with the palace’s construction and also to see if any occasions needed to be recorded (painted) down.

Yuanying had no chance to get to know the Yan brothers. He had to play the role of a good brother along the journey and once arriving he was finally liberated. He then took the children to play wildly in Xiangcheng Palace.

Although not many were expecting him to collect graphic materials into the Myriad Realm Library, Li Yuanying still went around scanning the palace as reference for the system. If he wants to build something in the future, he needs the system to help with drawings. After all, the system is always idle; it should study and work more for a capable person should work harder!

Yuanying played with the little radishes for a whole day and roughly figured out Xiangcheng Palace. The system analyzed it and concluded that this palace is not suitable for escaping summer for it is even hotter than Taiji Palace. The chosen location is also not good. Surrounded by mountains and forests, it’s built to guard against wild animals but not snakes and insects.

This place is not suitable even for commoners, what more as a summer palace.

Yuanying didn’t quite believe the system’s evaluation result. “The Emperor spent a fortune engaging Yan to built it.  If it’s that bad, shouldn’t the Ministry of Household berate Yan to death?!”

The system re-measured the livability index silently and concluded the same results: Not suitable for summer escape and will trigger the chronic illness of Li Er.

Probably affected by the system’s opinions but Yuanying found the room hot and stuffy at night making it uncomfortable to sleep. The next morning, he woke up early to find Li Zhi but was met with panda eyes.

“Did you not sleep last night?”

Li Zhi nodded sullenly. “I think it’s hotter than our palace, not comfortable at all.”

Li Yuanying’s sixth sense is telling him that Yan Lide will suffer soon.

Before Li Yuanying could visit the Yan brothers to discuss anything, an accident has already happened among the concubines accompanying Li Er. A little palace maid was bitten by a poisonous snake that sneaked into her master’s room! Although it was just a palace maid who was bitten, she is a living person and should be treated. The concubine was frightened and she complained to the Emperor to get an imperial doctor and to change her living residence.

Hearing that there were poisonous snakes in the palace, the accompanying females were all quite frightened. The royal children also looked for young uncle asking worriedly what to do if a snake entered their room.

Li Yuanying comforted them.

“It’s okay, let’s visit Doctor Sun to ask for some snake repelling powder. Sprinkle a circle around the room and they wouldn’t dare to enter!”

The children had not heard of such powder before but they fully trusted young uncle and decided to look for Doctor Sun.

Sun Simiao had also heard about the snake incident. However he wasn’t an official member of the imperial doctors and was not involved in giving medical aid. He wasn’t very sure about the whole experience.

“There  are ways to drive away snakes but it’s not a long term solution. It won’t be easy to clean up the whole palace. If you’re worried about insects or snakes approaching then carry a sachet of herbs mixture.”

Yuanying then led Sizi and the others to scout for the medicinal herbs recommended by Sun Simiao.

Chengyang contributed by sharing her stash of small purses sewed by her maid. Everyone worked together to pack the herb sachet and tied it around their waist.

After working hard, Si Zi picked out a nice sachet and wanted to give to father. She was afraid of encountering snakes so she pulled Yuanying along.

After finally being liberated, Li Yuanying was not very happy about visiting the Emperor but he didn’t want to disappoint Si Zi so he tagged along.

Li Er was in a bad mood.

After the snake incident, Li Er ordered the guards to carry out a comprehensive search for snakes so that no more poisonous ones will slip into the palace. The man came back with bad news. They guessed that Xiangcheng Palace was built in a snake’s nest and will be impossible to prevent poisonous creatures from infesting the palace. More importantly, it was no use cleaning up the palace for snakes will enter from the surrounding areas.

Li Er was furious and summoned Yan Lide.

This trip to Luoyang was filled with challenges since the beginning. The Emperor thought that he could finally get rest after arriving here but such a thing had happened. It’s stuffy, hot and full of snakes. Is this really a place for humans?

Before Yan Lide arrived, Yuanying led Sizi, Chengyang and the others over. He observed his brother from afar and concluded that the Emperor is obviously still in a bad mood. He wisely stayed back and let go of Sizi’s hand so that she could deliver the herb sachet.

Si Zi is now more articulate with words and she quickly ran up and tied a sachet on father.

“This is Doctor Sun’s concoction to repeal snakes. Young uncle took us to meet doctor for this. Father, you must wear this well and not let it fall off !”

Speaking of snakes, Sizi is worried. Although she hasn’t seen them with her own eyes, she kept imagining that these slippery things would get into her room, onto her bed and instantly felt very afraid!

She was still worried: “This palace is so big, how are we going to stop them if they climb walls or drill through holes?”

Whatever facts the children could understand, His Majesty knows too. Li Er comforted Sizi and hinted to Li Yuanying who was hiding and pretending to not exist to bring her out to play. Li Er then channeled is anger at  Yan Lide and dismissed all his titles.

Xiangcheng Palace is unlivable. Li Er directed the group to Luoyang City to temporarily live in Luoyang Palace that had recently been restored.

After all the tossing, His Majesty fell ill.

Although Yan Lide was dismissed from office, he still accompanied the Emperor to Luoyang Palace. Hearing that His Majesty was ill, Yan Lide was  anxious and desperately seek updates from the imperial physician. Losing his title and being dismissed is no big deal, but if anything were to happen to the Emperor, he would become a sinner for ages!