Volume 1 Princess Taiping Grows Up Chapter 3: My Sister's Death
However, he only dared to think about such things in his heart and certainly did not dare to say them out loud, let alone in front of Wu Zetian, the future true empress.
People of this era tend to believe in mysterious things like gods and ghosts. If you really say this, even if it’s nothing now, Wu Zetian might remember it in the future and kill you directly.
The royal family has many taboos, and they don’t care about your innocent words.
But having said that, Li Yuechen couldn't help laughing for a moment when he saw the ministers below happily raising their glasses and chatting with Li Zhi.
The Tang Dynasty was indeed an era that outshined other dynasties in history. The atmosphere of relaxed chatting among the ministers was really hard to imagine that this was a feudal era.
This kind of scene where the emperor and his subjects can joke with each other seems to have only appeared in the play "Iron Teeth and Bronze Teeth Ji Xiaolan" that I watched when I was a child.
Before coming to this era, it was really hard to imagine that the relationship between the monarch and his subjects could be so relaxed.
Thinking of this, a smile appeared on Li Yuechen's face. Now it seems that this era might not be bad.
However, he was surprised by much more than that. After they had eaten and drunk their fill, the ministers actually began to dance to the music.
Although the dance seemed a bit ugly to Li Yuechen, and a bit like the movements before Mongolian wrestling, it did not affect the ministers from dancing with each other.
If the lanterns around were not flickering and the music was not loud enough, you would probably think you were in a disco.
Not only the military generals, but even the civil officials began to dance together.
After seeing this scene, Li Yuechen realized that in this era, the difference between civil officials and military generals should not be particularly obvious.
When the dance was almost over, Li Zhi ordered people to bring pens, ink, paper and inkstone, and he actually started reciting poems on the spot.
The ministers all asked Li Zhi to take the lead.
The emperor seemed happy today. He did not refuse and went straight down to the stage to start writing.
After he finished writing, an unknown minister next to him immediately began to recite: "The Dragon Tower is shining at dawn, and the Lu pipe opens the court door. The bright sun casts a heavy shadow, and the low stars shine brightly..."
After a poem was finished, the ministers nearby praised it and then came up one by one to write poems.
Li Yuechen discovered that it was not only the civil officials who wrote poems, but the military generals also followed suit.
Although he, who is poor at liberal arts, cannot appreciate how well it is written, this is enough to show that in this era, there seems to be no such thing as valuing literature over martial arts.
Because their attitude towards each other can prove this, and the ministers writing poems feels more like it is because of Li Zhi.
After all, there was an emperor who loved to show off his literary talent, so the ministers would naturally work hard in this regard .
I remember reading a post online that said cricket fighting was popular in the imperial palace during the Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty, which was most likely influenced by the emperor.
Of course, loving to play does not affect one's governance of the country.
The same principle seems to apply to this era. Li Zhi is fond of literature and his ministers will naturally work hard in this area.
Li Yuechen was terrible at liberal arts and had no idea about poetry. The only poems he could remember were the few he memorized before the exams from the textbooks. He had no idea about the rest.
I only remember the name of "Spring River Moonlight Night"; I only remember one line of Su Shi's "Jiang Cheng Zi" - "Ten years of life and death are both vague"; I also only remember the first line of Du Fu's "Climbing the High Mountain" and Bai Juyi's "Song of Everlasting Sorrow"...
Not to mention the later Li Qingzhao and Xin Qiji, I can't remember anything except their names...
Thinking of this, looking at Li Zhi and his ministers reciting poems and writing couplets below, Li Yuechen, who had finally finished a piece of cake, covered his face with his hands, and sighed in his heart that he was not suitable for traveling through time...
However, the look of him covering his face with his hands seemed very cute to Li Zhi and the ministers below. They all laughed and burst into praise.
No one knew what time it was after the dinner ended. Li Yuechen didn't know how to judge the time by the moon. She just raised her little hand, which was still stained with some pastry crumbs, and rubbed her eyes, indicating that she was sleepy.
Mother Wu Zetian was also very happy. She hugged Li Yuechen and said that they wanted to sleep together today.
To be honest, Li Yuechen really had no such plan. After all, he had an adult soul, and it would be awkward for three people to sleep in one bed.
Even if the emperor's bed was big enough, she would still feel crowded, but she obviously had no right to choose.
At night, taking advantage of the dim candlelight, Li Yuechen looked at Li Zhi who was sleeping soundly on his left, and then at Wu Zetian who was sleeping gently on her right side facing him. Li Yuechen, who was lying in the middle, couldn't fall asleep.
I don't know how long I stared at the ceiling before I fell asleep...
As time passed, the war at the front became more intense, and Wu Zetian and Li Zhi were busy every day.
Basically, he started receiving ministers from the moment he woke up in the morning and had breakfast, and he was busy until after the sun went down, and he still had to review memorials under the bright candlelight.
Although Li Zhi had poor eyesight, he would often sit by Wu Zetian's side with a cup of tea and listen while she was reviewing memorials, and they would not rest together until she finished.
Li Yuechen finally had a lot of free time during this period, and Eunuch Fu and a group of palace maids were responsible for taking care of her.
Because the princess lived in the harem and no man was allowed to enter without permission, the task of teaching Li Yuechen to read and write was given to Eunuch Fu.
Eunuch Fu was literate and began to slowly teach Li Yuechen how to read.
After starting to learn to read, apart from pretending to study every day, Li Yuechen just kept looking for different books to read.
Not to mention that he himself does not understand history. Even if he does, the history of a thousand years later and the history clearly recorded decades ago are two different concepts.
We don’t really need things that are too old, but we should always learn about history from the founding of the Tang Dynasty to the present.
Since we have come to the Tang Dynasty, we should forget about the path to immortality and think carefully about how to survive.
After all, according to legend, his mother, Wu Zetian, was a ruthless person who could actually harm her own flesh and blood.
Especially the line in the movie: "If you want to achieve great things, you can kill even your closest relatives!"
Li Yuechen couldn't help but get goosebumps just thinking about it.
In the eyes of Li Zhi and Wu Zetian, this enthusiasm for reading every day was a sign of natural intelligence. Basically, every night when they came back, they would play with her for a while before going to bed.
But this is probably because she is the only princess now, the only little cotton-padded jacket, so she has some BUFF bonuses.
Time passed day by day, from July to November.
The weather was getting colder, and Li Yuechen put on layer after layer of clothes.
In addition, charcoal braziers have been set up in the palace. They are copper basins with red-hot charcoal in them. This thing is OK for heating, but it is a bit choking.
Although the books nowadays are all in classical Chinese and read from right to left, which is a very uncomfortable way to get used to, Li Yuechen still patiently read through them bit by bit in the absence of the Internet or other forms of entertainment.
He basically just casually looked at the events during the founding period and the Zhenguan period, and the most important thing was what happened after his cheap father Li Zhi came to power.
Other things were not very important to Li Yuechen, but one thing she cared about was her elder sister who died before she was even a month old.
I saw on the Internet before that it was his mother who killed him personally in order to get to the throne, and then put the blame on Queen Wang.
However, the books I read now only say that Princess Anding died suddenly.
Of course, even if she really killed him, it would be impossible for her to let a historian watch.
But this doesn't make logical sense.
Queen Wang was deposed more than a year after her sister's death. If she really did it, how could such a heinous case of murdering a member of the royal family drag on for nearly two years?
What's more, Li Yuechen learned through these records that Queen Wang was from the Wang family of Taiyuan and had an incredibly powerful background. It was no joke when she said that she didn't even take the royal family seriously.
Then, by acting cute and stupid, Li Yuechen also found out a lot of things from Eunuch Fu.
The Wang family of Taiyuan is truly a thousand-year-old family. They are not just the second or third generation of officials. Their ancestors have been officials for eighteen generations!
So at that time, Queen Wang was basically very arrogant. She often refused to attend important national activities such as spring ploughing or ancestor worship, and did not take Li Zhi seriously at all.
And according to the records, Zhangsun Wuji was still alive at that time, and he was a supporter of Queen Wang.
Assuming that she really killed the princess, she could completely escape punishment with her powerful background and Zhangsun Wuji's tremendous power.
In this situation, his mother Wu Zetian was not the queen yet, so it was simply impossible to put the blame on her.
Carrying the serious crime of murdering a member of the royal family, once the three courts hold a joint trial, this matter will not be able to withstand investigation.
But if that's the case...
Thinking of this, Li Yuechen put down the book and wondered in his heart, how did his sister die?
No useful information could be obtained from Eunuch Fu. We only knew that Princess Anding died in a snowy winter.
Maybe there was some genetic disease or something. After all, although his mother Wu Zetian was in good health, his stepfather Li Zhi was in poor health.
And I don’t know if it’s because of genetic reasons, but my eldest brother, Crown Prince Li Hong, is not in good health and has to take a lot of medicine almost every year.
It doesn't make sense. Even if there really was some congenital heart disease or something like that, there should have been some signs before death. How could so many palace maids and eunuchs who were taking care of the princess not discover it?
Li Yuechen put down the book in his hand and rubbed his head. He felt that unless he went to ask the palace maid of that year, he would probably never know the answer.
Wait, winter?
Li Yuechen suddenly turned his head and looked at the charcoal brazier beside him.
The charcoal in the copper basin is no longer as red as it was at the beginning, and the smoke is slightly larger than before.
Li Yuechen, who was sitting there, remained still for a few seconds, then narrowed his eyes.
Yes, charcoal braziers were burned in the palace in winter, so it was very likely carbon monoxide poisoning!
It seems that I should find an opportunity to ask my mother, Wu Zetian, in the future whether her face turned pink when she discovered Princess Anding's death. If so, this is most likely the case.
Thinking of this, Li Yuechen waved his hand: "Eunuch Fu, the charcoal fire is not hot anymore, change it to a new one!"
"Yes, Your Highness!" Eunuch Fu agreed, immediately walked over, picked up the charcoal brazier and went out.
Li Yuechen pulled the sheepskin cloak he was wearing onto his shoulders, stood up and walked to the palace gate.
Looking at the heavy snow falling outside, Li Yuechen fell into deep thought.
Princess Anding's death was undoubtedly a tragedy. Not to mention poisoning, in this age without antibiotics, even a cold could kill people.
She didn't study pharmacy and didn't know how to make medicine, not to mention that Li Zhi's family was likely to have a genetic disease.
The only way Li Yuechen can think of to keep herself healthy is...
It’s decided! Exercise! This princess wants to learn martial arts!
Li Yuechen clenched his little fist, and a determined look appeared on his cute little face!
As an extreme athlete in his previous life, Li Yuechen knows the importance of physical exercise.
After a while, Eunuch Fu came back with a new charcoal brazier and said, "Your Highness, it's cold outside. You should go back inside."
Li Yuechen raised his head: "Where are Grandpa and Mom now?"
Eunuch Fu said, "Your Highness, the Saint and the Queen are both in the Purple Palace."
Li Yuechen raised his leg and walked out: "Take me there!"
Eunuch Fu instinctively wanted to stop them, but when he saw that Li Yuechen had already walked out, he quickly put down the charcoal brazier and followed.
The snow fell heavily this year, and it made a "crunching" sound when you stepped on it. Many eunuchs were holding brooms to sweep the snow on both sides of the road.
When they saw Li Yuechen coming, they bowed and saluted. Li Yuechen waved his hand and told them not to be polite. They followed Eunuch Fu all the way to the Zichen Palace.
The chief eunuch Zhang Chengxin, who was standing at the door, saw the princess coming from afar and immediately went in to report.
When Li Yuechen arrived at the entrance of the Purple Palace, Zhang Chengxin smiled and said, "Your Highness, the Saint said that Your Highness can just go in!"
"Thank you, Manager Zhang." Li Yuechen nodded and walked in.
Zhang Chengxin bowed and stretched out his hand to make a gesture of invitation: "No, no, Your Highness, please excuse me."
After watching Li Yuechen go in, Zhang Chengxin looked at her back with a smile and sighed in his heart.
Although he is already the chief eunuch, he is always polite to everyone he meets, but one can tell at a glance that it is all fake.
After all, as the chief eunuch, what things in the palace could be hidden from him?
Only this little princess never put on airs towards the eunuchs or palace maids. There was even an illusion that this princess really treated them, the servants, as human beings. Therefore, the eunuchs and palace maids in the palace all liked this little princess very much, and Zhang Chengxin was no exception.
When he entered the hall, he saw his mother Wu Zetian sitting behind the table reviewing memorials, and Li Zhi was beside her, pouring her some tea.
Seeing Li Yuechen coming in, Li Zhi put down the teapot: "Chen'er is here, come here quickly!"
In order not to look like a monster, Li Yuechen could only act cute, ran towards him with open arms, and threw herself into his arms.
His head hit his chest right on top of his head. With a "bang", Li Zhi staggered and grinned, "Oh, what a strong force!"
Then she picked him up, squeezing her facial features together to make an expression that she thought was funny but was actually extremely ugly: "Why did Chen'er come here on his own initiative today?"
Li Yuechen grinned, revealing a mouthful of newly grown teeth: "I came to see my brother and mother."
