Volume 1 Princess Taiping Grows Up Chapter 1 The reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty
The light at dusk is not much weaker than that at noon. Although it is not dazzling, it can also cover the earth with a layer of cicada-wing-like brilliance.
The clouds in the sky turned orange, like the cheeks of a young girl, and moved slowly.
Especially when the sunlight shines on the vermilion walls of the Daming Palace, it is actually slightly dazzling.
The Linde Hall is the most complex palace in the Daming Palace. It looks like three palaces put together like building blocks.
This is where the royal family holds banquets, receives foreign envoys and entertains.
From the large platform on the second floor, you can overlook the sparkling Taiye Lake and the three artificial fairy islands in the middle.
The scenery was indeed breathtaking, but the little girl in gorgeous clothes standing on the platform had a blank expression on her face.
It seemed that he didn't care at all about the magnificent scenery before him, but was thinking about other things.
The little girl looked to be only two or three years old. She was so small standing there that it seemed that no one would notice her.
But the attention of the eunuch, five palace maids, and twenty armored Jinwu guards around her was all focused on this little girl.
The little girl's facial features have obviously not yet fully developed, but her bright and lively eyes already reveal some signs of a future beauty.
"well……"
The little girl sighed, and the eunuchs and palace maids behind her said nothing, as they seemed to be accustomed to the princess's sighs.
Lao Li felt really fucked up. Until now she still couldn't figure out why she fell down while wiping the glass.
It's fine if you fell down, but why did you travel through time? If you said you would travel through time, then travel through time. My little brother is not here yet!
Looking back to when he first came to this world, Lao Li was just born. When he saw the ancient houses and furniture, he thought that he might have traveled through time.
At that time, I only saw an old woman slapping her feet. In order to cope with the situation, she opened her mouth and cried a few times.
Then he saw his mother lying on the bed, a middle-aged woman with sweat all over her forehead.
Although she looked weak, she had a graceful figure and even a hint of elegance and luxury.
Then the old woman put Lao Li in her arms. A loving smile appeared on her frail face, which made Lao Li, an orphan, feel a strange and indescribable feeling.
However, before she could fully appreciate this thing called family love, a handsome middle-aged man with a beard walked in, grabbed her and held her in his arms. While grinning, his rough fingers poked her face from time to time.
To be honest, if he hadn't grown teeth at that time, Lao Li really wanted to bite him for poking people in the face for no reason.
This handsome middle-aged man is most likely his cheap father. Upon closer inspection, he has a black hat on his head and a yellow dragon robe on his body!
At that time, Lao Li knew that he had probably traveled through time to the ancient royal family.
Before I could react to more questions, I discovered the biggest embarrassing problem: I couldn’t understand what they were saying!
Could it be that he had traveled to the royal family of another world? Could it be the world of immortals? That’s what Old Li thought at the time.
The handsome middle-aged man slowly placed himself next to his mother, then held her hand and said something.
Old Li didn't understand a word!
But when I listened carefully, it felt a bit like Hakka, a bit like Fujianese, and a bit like Cantonese...or rather, like a combination of the three!
This embarrassing question made Lao Li feel helpless. Time travel didn't matter, but it was awkward not being able to communicate.
After looking at his own little hands, Lao Li decided to calm down for the time being. After all, he had just been born, and if he started learning little by little from now on, he should be able to learn their language.
After the full moon, Old Li was held in his mother's arms most of the time every day. From her gorgeous clothes and the respectfulness of the palace maids and eunuchs around her, he guessed that his mother was the queen!
In other words, he was a legitimate child, which should have given him a good status, at least in ancient times when people paid great attention to their origins.
Although he didn't know much about the history of feudal society, he still knew these common sense things.
But what if I was born of a legitimate wife? How could a girl like me expect to fight for the throne?
The thing Old Li wants to figure out the most is whether this is a world of immortals. If so, as a legitimate daughter, she no longer wants the throne. She just wants to see if she can find immortals to learn skills and seek immortality!
After a few days, several boys aged between five or six and over ten came over to tease him, saying the same words that he could not understand.
But you know what, these guys are all handsome, not much worse than I was back then!
But Old Li didn't want to let them tease him, and poked his face with his fingers, and simply turned over and ignored them.
There was laughter coming from behind me.
A year later, one-year-old Lao Li was held in his mother's arms, occasionally chatting with his stepfather and teasing himself.
Since Mr. Li hadn't learned the language yet, he just gave a symbolic response or smiled without saying a word.
Seeing a book on the desk of his father, Old Li leaned over to take a look, and discovered that he recognized the words.
The title of the book reads "Golden Mirror". Although I don't know what book it is, it's easy to understand as long as I can recognize the characters.
Although it is traditional Chinese characters, I can still recognize it!
This discovery made Lao Li very happy. In this way, even if he didn't understand what they were saying, he could still get a general understanding of the world from the book.
But... putting aside how I can express to them my desire to read books, the key point is, isn't it a bit too incredible that a one-year-old child can actually know how to read?
But no matter what! Now Lao Li was eager to know the information of this world, so he babbled and stretched out his hand towards the book on the table, wanting to see what was written inside.
When the cheap father saw this, he stroked his beard, laughed twice, and said something to the mother.
My mother also smiled and said a few words, then she hugged me and moved towards the desk.
Seeing his mother's hand casually turning a page, Lao Li felt helpless. As expected, it was a classical Chinese text without even any punctuation marks.
But never mind, let’s first take a look at what is written specifically.
A whale emerging from the water will lose its ability to swim in the waves, and a swan sinking into the mud will definitely not be able to fly in the air... What the hell is this? I don't understand!
Feeling helpless, Old Li babbled as if he was turning the pages, but his mother thought he was hungry and just carried him back home.
…
It was not until the second year that Lao Li had roughly figured out some things. Although he had not yet fully mastered the language, he could already understand it roughly.
If I'm not mistaken, this should be... the Tang Dynasty!
His adopted father is Li Zhi, and as for his mother...it should be the empress!
After knowing this, Mr. Li was scared!
He had little interest in history and rarely studied it, but he had heard of the name of Wu Zetian.
According to legend, this is a super ruthless person who was willing to kill his own children in order to become emperor. Will he be killed one day?
I heard that she killed her own daughter in order to get promoted. Could it be that she was...
But thinking about it, it didn't make sense. Old Li carefully recalled his memories and it seemed that his daughter was killed before she was even a month old.
And she is now the queen, and she is already two years old.
Then my identity should be...Princess Taiping?
Old Li was a little unsure. He only knew some common sense about history, and most of it was concentrated on the Zhenguan period when there were the most legends.
During Li Zhi's dynasty, apart from knowing that his mother Wu Zetian would become the next emperor, the other people basically knew nothing about anything.
I just saw some things on the Internet before, and I roughly know that Wu Zetian killed many people when she came to power, but I don't know if I was included in that group.
But no matter what, since we have come to this era, we must find a way to survive!
Fortunately, although Lao Li doesn’t understand history, she understands logic.
Human beings are slaves to logic, and all their actions cannot escape these two words, so it should not be a problem to survive in this era.
Perhaps because there is no need to worry about the throne being snatched away in the future, Old Li is particularly popular among his brothers.
Eldest brother Li Hong is now the crown prince, and he doesn't visit her very often, but he always comes once every three to five days.
Her second brother Li Xian, the Prince of Pei, often came to see her with her third brother Li Xian, the Prince of Ying, and often played with her and taught her to speak.
Although Lao Li could understand most of what was said at this time, he still said nothing.
As for the fourth brother Li Xulun, although he often comes here, he speaks less and seems a little introverted.
Old Li himself didn't think there was anything wrong, but at this time Li Zhi and Wu Zetian were a little anxious.
After all, the child is two years old and still can't speak, and is not lively at all. He doesn't say a word, doesn't cry or make a fuss all day long, which feels a bit scary.
The imperial physician was consulted and was told that the princess was in good health and had no problems.
Then he also asked the Grand Historian to take a look. Although he didn't know what kind of position this was, he seemed to call himself "Poor Taoist." Old Li sighed in his heart, it was indeed difficult to understand the thinking of the ancients. They asked a Taoist priest to come and see. Could it be that he thought he was possessed by some evil spirit?
Thinking of this, Lao Li couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth and reveal a smile.
However, this smile was seen by the Taoist priest. He leaned over and stared at Lao Li with his bright eyes.
Old Li felt a little uncomfortable being stared at, so he turned his head and ignored him.
Then I heard: "Saint and Queen, please rest assured, the princess is definitely not possessed by evil spirits, she is just a little shy and doesn't like to communicate, she will be fine in the future."
Although he had his back to him, Old Li couldn't help but get goosebumps when he heard these words!
Did this Taoist see something? Or did he say that metaphysics really existed in the world?
Li Zhi and Wu Zetian both breathed a sigh of relief after hearing these words. After sending the Grand Historian away, the two of them teased him again.
To be honest, Lao Li still likes this couple very much.
After all, for an orphan, family affection is something he longs for very much.
But she was also a little afraid, afraid that when Wu Zetian came to power in the future she would be killed too!
In the following days, Old Li was mostly watched by a group of eunuchs and palace maids. Both his step-father Li Zhi and his mother Wu Zetian were basically busy every day.
Occasionally, I could hear the eunuchs and palace maids around me chatting. It seemed that they were recently fighting with Goguryeo and were very concerned about the things happening on the front line.
There is no need to worry about Lao Li's safety. In the harem, there are eunuchs and palace maids who are always with him.
As long as you leave the harem, there will be at least twenty Jinwu Guards following closely by your side, so you don't have to worry about anything.
Mr. Li, who has learned to walk, goes out for a walk every day when he has nothing to do, because he always feels bored staying in the room.
When she felt tired, she would just grab the hand of the eunuch next to her and he would carry her on his back and serve her carefully.
Old Li, who had never felt such treatment before, couldn't help but sigh in his heart that he was fortunately born in an imperial family. If he were from an ordinary family, he would never have received such treatment.
In the blink of an eye, another year has passed. Three-year-old Lao Li can already fully understand what people around her say, and she feels that it is almost time for her to speak.
Although she had said nothing in front of outsiders over the years, she would still practice quietly when she was alone. Now, it was almost time.
In the blink of an eye, it was July. The weather was hot and the sun was scorching during the day. Old Li didn't want to go out and stayed in the palace.
The palace maids and eunuchs beside her were afraid that she would feel too hot, so they changed people back and forth, constantly fanning her with palm-leaf fans.
When the sun was about to set, Lao Li planned to go out for a walk, as it would be almost time for dinner.
There is a large platform on the second floor of the Linde Hall, and it is close to the Taiye Lake, so you can go there to enjoy the evening breeze.
Along the way, the palace maids and eunuchs they met on the road would bow and greet them. Lao Li did not say anything, but just waved his hand to greet them.
But there were so many palace maids and eunuchs along the way that basically everyone had to bow and salute when they passed by within ten meters.
She felt her arms a little sore just from waving her hands along the way. In fact, she didn't need to care about their etiquette, she could just walk over.
But after all, it comes from an era where everyone is equal, and I always feel uncomfortable if I don't respond to the courtesy of the servants.
Looking at the setting sun, Lao Li sighed as usual, expressing his dissatisfaction with coming to ancient times.
Looking at the sparkling water and feeling the evening breeze, Lao Li felt that the time was almost right.
After licking his lips, Lao Li turned his head and said, "Eunuch Fu, water!"
Even though she tried her best to appear a little calmer, she was still a three-year-old girl after all, and her voice was cute as a baby's as soon as she opened her mouth.
After hearing this, the fat white eunuch and several palace maids nearby were all stunned.
After a few seconds of silence, the chubby eunuch Fu slapped his thigh and said, "Oh! The princess has spoken! We must report this to the Saint!!!"
After he finished speaking, he directly instructed the Jinwu Guards beside him: "You guys stay here to watch over the princess. I will go and report to the Saint!"
After saying that, he turned around and ran away!
Old Li was stunned in place, unable to react for a moment, but then he smiled slightly, stretched out his hand to the palace maid next to him, and continued in a cute little voice: "Water!"
The maid next to her reacted and quickly picked up the teapot, poured a cup of water and blew it gently. Then she squatted beside Lao Li and slowly fed him: "Princess, be careful of the heat."
