Volume 1 Princess Taiping Grows Up Chapter 38 New Year's Day
Mr. and Mrs. Li Zhi are now enjoying the feeling of being together as a family more and more, because this state is really relaxing.
When I usually have dinner with ministers, I usually have to be polite most of the time. But in front of children, I don’t have to do that and can be much more casual.
As for the children, the two older sisters who were born as illegitimate children were still a little reserved, but they were no longer as stiff as before.
Several of the brothers also let go completely, but no one dared to pounce on Li Zhi or Wu Zetian from time to time like Li Yuechen did.
Although the brothers said on the surface that this was inappropriate, judging from their expressions, they probably wanted to do it too.
It’s just that…except for Li Lun who dared to do something a little excessive, the others didn’t dare to do anything excessive.
But even he didn't dare to do what Li Yuechen did, climbing onto Wu Zetian's back while talking, and hanging on her by her neck.
Even though she was so lawless, Wu Zetian did not scold her, at most she just scolded her a few words.
Li Zhi laughed out loud and praised her for being lively.
…
It is the end of the year now, and all departments are trying to fool the emperor and make him feel better in order to make their reports look better.
In addition, Li Yuechen’s canned food allowed the couple to eat fresh fruits in the cold winter, which naturally made them feel better.
So this joyful atmosphere continued until New Year's Eve.
Because Li Zhi abolished the tradition of entertaining ministers on New Year's Eve, this New Year's Eve was spent in a very relaxing manner.
At Li Yuechen's instigation, Li Zhi and Wu Zetian played "Eagle Catches Chicken" with the children again.
Just like last time, Wu Zetian was still the hen and Li Zhi was the eagle.
Everyone was running out of breath, and Li Zhi, who had finally caught all the chicks, felt a little hot.
He raised his hand to fan himself and sat down, with a look of emotion on his face: "It's so relaxing without the ministers here on New Year's Eve!"
"Yes!" Wu Zetian, who was standing beside him, handed him a cup of hot tea, expressionless, "With Chen'er as a happy little guy, how can we not feel relaxed?"
Li Zhi took the teacup and hugged her close to him, sniffing with a smile: "Ouch, why do I smell a sour smell?"
"go!"
Wu Zetian raised her hand and patted him on the shoulder. He struggled symbolically for a few times but failed to break free.
Li Zhi hugged her shoulders tightly and asked with a smug look on his face, "Is Mei Niang jealous of Chen Er?"
"Your Majesty, don't think too much!" Wu Zetian replied stiffly.
Looking at her like this, Li Zhi seemed to suddenly remember every little thing they had done in the past, and suddenly leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.
Wu Zetian was obviously surprised. She opened her eyes wide and turned her head to look at him in disbelief.
"Chen'er is our daughter, Mei Niang should not think too much about it!" Li Zhi said with a smile.
Emma!
Li Yuechen, who saw this scene nearby, turned his head away and stopped looking down. It was a bit unbearable to see a middle-aged couple showing off their love.
Of course, Wu Zetian was not really jealous of her daughter. After all, women always tend to feel ignored at such times.
Li Zhi, who knew her, expressed his attitude, and her mood naturally improved, and a smile appeared on her face again.
The family spent New Year's Eve in laughter and ushered in the second year of Xianheng.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Li Yuechen was too lazy to listen to the prospects of court officials and the congratulations of foreign envoys. He still got up early according to his habit to practice martial arts, and then went to the Sanqing Temple to chant scriptures.
Now that half of my new teeth have grown out, I don't stutter as much when I speak, and my pronunciation when I recite scriptures is clearer.
After reciting the sutra, Shangguan Wan'er came running over and said, "Today is New Year's Day. Is Your Highness free to play with me this afternoon?"
Li Yuechen took off his Taoist robe and threw it to Fulai beside him, then smiled and shook his head: "I may not be free in the afternoon, but I should be able to do it at night."
Shangguan Wan'er put her hands behind her back and smiled: "Then I will wait for Your Highness here."
Looking at her smiling eyes, Li Yuechen also smiled: "Today is New Year's Day, you should spend the afternoon with your mother."
Shangguan Wan'er nodded, took two steps back and said, "I still feel it's more interesting to be with His Highness."
Li Yuechen nodded: "I know."
Isn't this nonsense? I have invented so many interesting things, and I have a good temper. It would be abnormal if they were not interesting!
Perhaps she did not expect Li Yuechen to answer so straightforwardly, Shangguan Wan'er was stunned for a moment.
He blinked his big eyes, as if thinking about how to respond.
Li Yuechen didn't care about that and waved his hand and said, "Okay, I'm going to Yanying Palace, you can go and accompany your mother."
After saying that, he waved to Fu Lai outside.
"Your Highness, what do you want me to do for you?" Fu Lai walked over and asked.
Li Yuechen waved his hand, asking him to move his head closer, and whispered, "I should be in Yanying Palace this afternoon, so you don't have to follow me. Open a few cans, one for each of you, Xiaohe, Zheng, and Wan'er. Be careful not to let others see!"
"Yes!" Fu Lai bowed his head and agreed, "Thank you, Your Highness!"
"Go get me two more!"
“Yes!”
Fu Lai agreed, went to get two cans and handed them to Li Yuechen.
After receiving it, Li Yuechen went directly to Yanying Palace. When he arrived outside the palace, he saw Zhang Chengxin guarding the door.
Seeing Li Yuechen coming over, he bowed slightly: "Your Highness, Happy New Year!"
"Eunuch Zhang, Happy New Year!" Li Yuechen looked around and then handed over the two cans in his hand.
Zhang Chengxin thought it was for Li Zhi and his wife, so he took it and followed them in.
"Eunuch Zhang, this is for you!"
"For me?" Zhang Chengxin was stunned, then immediately shook his head: "No, this..."
Li Yuechen smiled sweetly: "Just take it, Eunuch Zhang. You have worked hard in taking care of Grandpa over the years."
"This... How can I do this..." Zhang Chengxin's eyes turned red, and his voice choked up, "This is my job..."
"Alright!" Li Yuechen interrupted him, "I'm a princess! Just take what I give you!"
After saying that, he didn't waste any more words with him and turned around and ran into the Yanying Palace.
Zhang Chengxin, who was outside the door, saw her go in, then sniffed, raised his hand to wipe his tears with his sleeve, and carefully put away the two cans in his hand.
…
As soon as Li Yuechen entered the hall, he heard the sound of a piano coming from inside.
When I walked in, I saw that it was not the musicians from the Jiaofang, but Li Zhi himself sitting at the table, burning incense and playing the piano.
What the hell? Isn't it said that only Emperor Minghuang of Tang was into music? When did Li Zhi also like this?
Seeing Li Yuechen standing at the door in bewilderment, Li Zhi, who was playing the piano, raised his head and said, "Chen'er, why are you standing there in a daze? Come in!"
Li Yuechen walked in with a complicated expression: "It's just that I didn't expect Grandpa to be able to play the piano."
"Hahaha..." Li Zhi suddenly laughed, "Come to think of it, I have indeed never played the zither in front of Chen'er."
Wu Zetian put down the teacup in her hand and said: "Your Majesty has been busy with state affairs for many years. It has been a long time since you played the zither."
"Indeed." Li Zhi nodded with a little emotion, "Now, I feel like my hands are unfamiliar."
Li Yuechen trotted forward two steps, supported the table with one hand and jumped over, sitting cross-legged beside Wu Zetian: "Then Grandpa should play the piano more often in the future, and a good mood will make you healthy!"
This time, Wu Zetian did not lecture her, but nodded in agreement: "That makes sense. Your Majesty should really think more about yourself."
Hearing this, Li Yuechen immediately stood up to show his favor and kissed her lightly on the face: "Hehe, it's rare that mother approves of me so much."
"You stupid girl, you're doing this again!" Wu Zetian pretended to be disgusted and pushed her away, "Sit down! Listen carefully !"
"Yes!" Li Yuechen sat down with a smile, but his body leaned limply on her legs.
Wu Zetian lowered her head and glared at her, but in the end said nothing.
Li Zhi seemed to be in a good mood. He laughed, closed his eyes, and gathered his emotions for a while. Then he began to play.
The sound of the piano echoed in the Yanying Palace, and Li Yuechen listened quietly and attentively.
Although she herself has no artistic talent, her ability to appreciate music is only at the average level.
But this song is very exciting and has a very strong rhythm, so it can arouse her emotions.
She knew this piece of music, it was called "The Qin King's Battle Music" or "The Qin King's Battle Dance".
Its status is equivalent to that of the national anthem or military song of the Tang Dynasty.
During the annual large-scale sacrificial activities, almost all the Jiaofang would come out to perform, forming a large song and dance troupe of nearly a thousand people.
This is essentially a large-scale symphony with multiple instruments, performed in conjunction with a large-scale dance.
At this time, with only one guitar playing as a solo, the music is actually much simpler, but its sense of rhythm is still quite obvious.
It is said that the dance moves were choreographed by Emperor Taizong himself. Li Yuechen couldn't help but sigh that the emperors of the Tang Dynasty were indeed multi-talented people.
Li Yuechen was a woman after all, and had rarely participated in large-scale sacrificial activities, but the sound of hundreds of musical instruments playing together could almost be heard by half of Chang'an City.
Watching Li Zhi's solo now gives me a special feeling. It's not so noisy, just like lying in bed with headphones and listening to music.
Before the song was over, other brothers and sisters came over. Seeing Li Zhi playing the piano, they did not dare to disturb him.
After a silent salute, he remained in the same position.
Li Zhi seemed to be immersed in the music with all his emotions. He closed his eyes, as if he didn't see them at all.
It was Wu Zetian who silently waved her hand to tell them not to formalize, and then they sat down.
Wisps of green smoke slowly rose from the mouth of the Suanni sitting on the incense burner, and gradually dissipated in sync with the rhythm of the piano music.
It didn't last long, only about ten minutes. When the song ended, Li Yuechen was the first one to start clapping.
The others also started to applaud, and for a moment, the Yanying Hall was filled with applause.
Li Zhi seemed to feel a little embarrassed in front of his family. He raised his hands and pressed them down slightly to indicate that it was okay.
"Everyone is here. Today is New Year's Day. Let's have tea together!" Li Zhi asked everyone to start making tea.
Of course, there is not only tea, but also various pastries that Li Yuechen cannot name. Not to mention, they all look beautiful, each one looks like a flower.
As for the taste...it depends on personal opinion. Anyway, for someone who has tasted all kinds of delicacies from around the world more than a thousand years later, it's really not that good.
But the most important thing when being with family is to relax and be happy, at least these two points have been achieved at this time.
The taste of snacks doesn’t seem to be that important anymore.
…
In the evening, Li Yuechen had just returned to Chengxiang Palace. Before he had time to take off his shoes, Shangguan Wan'er had already trotted over to him.
"Your Highness, shall we play shuttlecock ?"
Li Yuechen looked up at the sun that had already set and shook his head: "Don't play those games at night. It's not good for your eyes."
"Then what else is there to play with?" Shangguan Wan'er asked.
"Hmm..." Li Yuechen thought for a moment, "How about playing Tousuo?"
The so-called "rope skipping" refers to rope skipping, which is considered one of the low-cost games in this era.
Shangguan Wan'er seemed a little confused: "Your Highness, do you want to compete with me?"
"It's just a game, why do we have to compete with each other? Can't we play together?" Li Yuechen smiled, then waved his hand and asked Fu Lai to go find a skipping rope.
"How can we play together?" Shangguan Wan'er didn't quite understand.
Rope skipping during this period was limited to individual skipping and had not yet developed into the diversity that it later became.
Li Yuechen smiled mysteriously and did not answer.
After a while, Fulai had brought the rope. The skipping rope in the palace was much better than the ones outside, at least it had handles on both sides.
Li Yuechen tried it and felt that the length was OK, so he waved to Shangguan Wan'er: "Come here!"
Although she was confused, Shangguan Wan'er still walked up to her when she saw her waving.
Looking at the puzzled expression on her face, Li Yuechen smiled and said, "Closer!"
Shangguan Wan'er took another step forward.
Li Yuechen had no choice but to take two steps forward, grab her hand and pull her towards him.
Shangguan Wan'er seemed a little uncomfortable being pulled so close to Li Yuechen all of a sudden, and subconsciously wanted to step back.
"Don't move!" Li Yuechen reminded her, and she stopped retreating.
At this time, the two were only a few fists apart, and even at night, one could almost see the number of eyebrows.
Li Yuechen was slightly taller than her. Seeing that she was a little overwhelmed, he smiled and patted her head: "I will swing the rope, and you and I will jump together. Understand?"
Shangguan Wan'er looked up at her and nodded hurriedly: "Understood!"
"Ready... Jump!"
As he spoke, Li Yuechen swung his arms and swung the skipping rope.
Perhaps Shangguan Wan'er didn't react in time and was a step slow, so she got stuck.
"Your Highness, please forgive me, I..." She tried to explain in panic.
"It's okay, try again!" Li Yuechen interrupted her directly and continued to swing the rope.
This time it was much better, Shangguan Wan'er jumped at the same time as her and skipped one, but she forgot about the second one and got stuck again.
"Not bad!" Li Yuechen praised, "You have to jump continuously this time!"
"yes!"
As the rope swung, the two began to dance to the rhythm.
This time it was much better, I obviously found the rhythm and it didn't stop.
"Great! That's it!" Li Yuechen praised, "We need to speed up!"
Slowly increasing the speed of swinging the rope, Shangguan Wan'er was still able to keep up and completely got into the rhythm.
Shangguan Wan'er was obviously becoming more and more excited. She soon forgot her recent panic and a smile appeared on her face again.
After a while, the two of them were sweating profusely and their faces were red, and then they sat down on the steps together to rest.
Shangguan Wan'er turned her head slightly and looked at Li Yuechen beside her. Her bright eyes seemed to be glowing silver in the moonlight.
