Volume 1 Princess Taiping Grows Up Chapter 39: Eastern Capital Ziwei Palace
For the people in Chang'an City, no matter what, they still have to celebrate the New Year well.
This year's Lantern Festival was no different from usual ones. There were still a large number of river lanterns floating down the water, turning the ditches running through Chang'an City into a shining starry sky.
Countless sky lanterns flew into the sky, soaring and flickering in the dark night sky.
Elaborately dressed men and women sang loudly, recited poems and composed couplets in the tavern, and cheers could be heard from time to time as they toasted each other.
Li Zhi still brought the children quietly to the top of the city wall of the imperial city, looking at his prosperous kingdom with a satisfied look on his face.
Li Yuechen was held in his arms and wrapped in a thick fur coat, so she didn't have to worry about being cold at all.
After looking at the night light for a while, Li Zhi smiled and said, "Are you hungry, Chen'er? How about going back home to eat hot pot tonight?"
Before Li Yuechen could say anything, Wu Zetian next to him nodded and agreed.
Now that the Queen had spoken, the children had nothing more to say.
But Li Yuechen was actually a little helpless. Hotpot without spiciness has no soul. If you eat too much, it feels a bit bland.
Although there are ginger slices in it, the spiciness of ginger is different from that of chili pepper after all.
After returning to Yanying Hall, Li Zhi asked people to start the hot pot, lit the fire, and brought the sliced mutton.
Taking advantage of this time, Li Yuechen walked around in the Yanying Palace boredly, listening to Li Zhi and Wu Zetian chatting.
The second brother, Li Xian, crept up from behind her, seemingly trying to scare her.
However, Li Yuechen could already hear his low footsteps, and pretended not to know and continued to take two steps forward.
Then he suddenly turned around and shouted, "Wow!"
"ah!"
Li Xian was startled instead. He took two steps back and bumped into the bookshelf next to him.
With a "clang", the bookshelf swayed and the books on it fell to the ground.
Wu Zetian frowned and turned around to start scolding, but was stopped by Li Zhi: "Xian'er, are you hurt?"
"No, no, thank you for your concern, Grandpa." Li Xian waved his hand and quickly squatted down to pick up the book on the ground.
While picking up the items, he raised his head and whispered, "How did Yuechen know I was coming?"
Li Yuechen also squatted down to help him pick it up, and whispered: "Second brother, do you think I can't hear you if you mop the floor?"
As he spoke, he picked up the book on the ground and glanced at it casually. The title of the book was "Thousand Gold Food Therapy".
"Recipe?"
Li Yuechen muttered to himself as he casually turned a page, but when he saw it, he couldn't help but open his eyes wide.
A few words stand out: "Eat cornel, taste spicy..."
She was no longer in the mood to read the following words.
Holy shit! Besides ginger and wasabi, are there other spicy things in this era?
She didn't know what this thing was, so she stood up, threw the book in her hand to Li Xian, and jumped over with one hand on the table next to her.
He trotted all the way to the palace gate and waved to Zhang Chengxin: "Eunuch Zhang, come here!"
Zhang Chengxin bent down slightly: "What do you want, Your Highness?"
"Do you know this Cornus officinalis?" Li Yuechen asked.
"I know!" Zhang Chengxin nodded, "This is a medicinal ingredient and also a seasoning..."
Li Yuechen's eyes widened instantly: "Is there any in the palace?"
"have!"
"Show it to me!" Li Yuechen looked excited.
Although he didn't know why she was so excited all of a sudden, Zhang Chengxin nodded and said, "Your Highness, please wait a moment. I will send someone to get it right away."
When I returned to Yanying Hall, Li Xian had already packed up his books and walked over: "Why did you suddenly run out just now?"
"Second brother, the hotpot tonight might be even more delicious!" Li Yuechen looked up and smiled, then went straight in.
Li Xian stood there in a daze for a moment, seemingly unable to react to what she meant.
After a while, Eunuch Zhang came to Li Yuechen with a small wooden box and said, "Your Highness, please look, this is it."
Li Yuechen took it and took a look. This thing felt a bit like Sichuan pepper, but it was a little bigger.
I picked up one and put it in my mouth to taste it. It was indeed spicy, but not as pure as chili pepper. Instead, it had a bit of bitterness.
But even so, it was enough to make her feel satisfied!
So he turned around, ran to the hot pot, grabbed a handful and threw it into the white soup that had not yet boiled.
"Chen'er, what is that?"
"Hehe, eat cornel." Li Yuechen smiled and ran to Li Zhi and handed him the box. "The hot pot will taste better if you add this!"
"Really..." Li Zhi smiled, "Then wait and see!"
After adding this thing, the soup did not change color. After a while, it began to boil with a "gurgling" sound.
Li Zhi looked at it and saw that it was almost done. He raised his arm and waved: "Okay, let's start the banquet."
The family sat together and officially started eating.
As the emperor, Li Zhi took the lead in picking up a piece of mutton, put it in the sauce, and then put it in his mouth.
Then he suddenly nodded: "Well, it is indeed as Chen Er said, the taste is much better."
After Wu Zetian followed suit, Li Yuechen couldn't wait to pick up a piece of mutton, rinse it and put it into his mouth.
A slightly spicy taste came over her, and she couldn't help but close her eyes.
At the same time, I couldn’t help but sigh in my heart, in the sixth year since I came to this world... I finally tasted spicy food again!
Although it’s not really spicy, it’s spicy after all!
For a moment, Li Yuechen couldn't help but feel moved.
The other brothers and sisters also felt that the dogwood seemed to taste better when combined with the hot pot. Their appetites were opened and they were sweating while eating.
Looking at them like this, Li Yuechen couldn't help but reveal a smug smile. Now you know what a hot pot with soul tastes like, right?
Although this soul is not complete, it still exists.
…
After the Lantern Festival, we had to prepare to pack up and go to Dongdu.
Luoyang is not far from here, but in that era, not only is the road difficult to travel on, the key point is that when the emperor goes on a tour, there are more than a thousand people following him.
The journey was grand and looked very imposing, but in reality the speed was extremely slow.
Li Yuechen, who was sitting in the carriage, couldn't help but lift the curtain to look outside. He felt that the carriage was not running as fast as he could.
More than a thousand years later, if you drive a car and obey the law, it will only take about three or four hours to reach the destination.
According to the current situation...it will probably be the end of the month by then.
During this period, Li Zhi and Wu Zetian stayed in the carriage most of the time, and would get off and take a walk when they were in a good mood.
Li Yuechen also returned to his own carriage and pulled Shangguan Wan'er into his carriage on the grounds that she was still young.
After half a month of bumpy journey, we finally arrived in Dongdu in early February.
Li Yuechen was playing the clapping game with Shangguan Wan'er in the carriage when he heard Fu Lai's voice outside: "Your Highness, we have seen Dingding Gate ."
"Um."
After agreeing, Li Yuechen and Shangguan Wan'er got off the carriage hand in hand.
Mainly Li Yuechen, who wanted to see for himself what this place looked like a thousand years ago.
After getting off the car, I looked up and... couldn't see anything!
All I could see was the tall city wall getting closer, but I couldn't see what was going on inside the wall.
But she couldn't stay outside the carriage all the time. After entering Dingding Gate, she had to go back into the carriage.
If you want to see something, you can only open the curtains.
But you know what, just the wide city wall in front of you is enough to be called magnificent!
There were already fully armed soldiers patrolling back and forth on the city walls, and large flags of various colors and styles were fluttering.
As they got closer to the city gate, Fu Lai reminded them, "Your Highness, it's time to get back to the carriage."
"Um."
Li Yuechen agreed, but was somewhat unwillingly carried to the carriage by Fulai.
Along the way, since there was a military leading the way, there were no merchants or ordinary people coming and going, so it was very boring.
Seeing Li Yuechen standing beside the bed, lifting a corner of the curtain and looking out, Shangguan Wan'er came over to join her out of curiosity.
Xiao He next to him reminded: "Your Highness, it is better not to look outside, just in case..."
"It's okay. We've already entered the city, how could there be any danger?" Li Yuechen simply waved his hand and ignored her.
Xiao He was a little helpless and could only remind her to lower the curtain as much as possible.
As the carriage entered Dingding Gate, the first thing Li Yuechen saw was fully armed soldiers lined up in two neat rows, leaving the middle road completely empty.
This main road is no worse than the Zhuque Street in Chang'an City, and its width is estimated to be over 100 meters!
Behind the two rows of soldiers were civilians coming and going. At this moment, all of them looked solemnly at the carriage that was slowly entering the city gate.
Of course, most people's attention was on the emperor's carriage in front of them, and almost no one looked at Li Yuechen.
This place is just like Zhuque Street in Chang'an City. There are walls on both sides of the road and no shops can be seen at all.
After watching for a while, Li Yuechen felt bored and stopped watching.
Not long after, Xiao He, who was sitting at the door, lifted the curtain to take a look, then turned back to remind him, "Your Highness, please sit tight, we are almost at Tianjin Bridge."
Li Yuechen agreed verbally, but climbed directly to the car door, secretly lifted the curtain and looked forward.
The first thing that came into view was the huge Yingtian Gate, and Li Yuechen immediately opened his eyes wide.
too big!
This Yingtian Gate is even bigger than the Danfeng Gate in the Daming Palace!
On both sides are three pavilions that fly out like wings, and the whole forms an "concave" shape with three huge doorways.
The length of the east and west sides is estimated to be more than 100 meters, and the height is as high as more than ten stories.
Li Yuechen couldn't help but slightly opened his mouth and shouted: "Fuck!"
It is really hard to imagine how people of this era built such a huge and magnificent building.
Although the Danfeng Gate was enough to surprise her, she didn't expect that the Ziwei Palace would bring an even greater shock!
Like the Daming Palace, Yingtian Gate still has red walls and green tiles.
But maybe because it's been a long time, the tiles have a tendency to turn black and dark green.
Below, a foundation made of gray-white wall bricks rose from the ground, pushing a two-story gatehouse to a height of several dozen meters!
The carriage had not yet entered the bridge, but her sight had already passed through the imperial road in the middle, passed through the Qianyuan Gate inside, and fell on the Qianyuan Hall behind.
This was the second time that Li Yuechen felt the magic of this era since he was born in Daming Palace.
Faced with such a magnificent ancient building, Li Yuechen could only say in his heart, how grand!
Outside Yingtian Gate is the Luo River that runs across Luoyang City. It seems to have been called Luoshui in this era.
A stone bridge with a width of more than 50 meters spans the Luo River, connecting the two sides of the river like an oversized turtle shell.
The neat stone bricks in the middle of the bridge are the same width as the imperial road in the middle of Yingtian Gate, extending straight into the imperial city.
There are two multi-story buildings more than ten meters high on each side of the stone bridge, which contrast with the three pavilions on both sides of Yingtian Gate and look extremely harmonious.
The carriage slowly moved onto the stone bridge. Since they were here with the emperor today, the entire team could enter through the imperial road in the middle.
When you pass through the wide Yingtian Gate, you will see a huge square, and directly opposite it is the Qianyuan Gate.
Arriving here, they had already entered the palace. Li Zhi ordered the car to stop and got out of the car with Wu Zetian.
Seeing their father coming down the car, Li Yuechen and several other children also got off the car and came to pay their respects to Li Zhi and Wu Zetian.
Li Zhi wrinkled his nose, stretched his shoulders hard, and stretched himself lazily without leaving any trace, which relieved his stiff body that was huddled in the car.
Then he picked up Li Yuechen and laughed: "Come on, follow me in!"
Li Zhi put her down only after they entered the Qianyuan Gate and arrived outside the Qianyuan Hall.
The ministers were already waiting in the hall, and it would be a bit awkward to just carry his daughter in his arms.
Li Yuechen was actually born here, but he was still in swaddling clothes at that time and had almost never left the palace, let alone have any clear memories.
Now that I'm back again, I plan to go in for a walk.
"Grandpa, can I have a look around?" Li Yuechen asked.
Li Zhi nodded very domineeringly: "Chen'er, feel free to go around. If you want to stay in any inner hall, tell me!"
Wu Zetian, who was standing next to him, couldn't help but ask, "How can your majesty favor her so much?"
"No problem, no problem!" Li Zhi, who had become a daughter slave, waved his hands nonchalantly, "Chen'er, look at it as you like!"
Li Yuechen raised his fists with both hands: "Grandpa is mighty!"
After saying that, he turned around and ran away to see if there was an inner hall he would like to live in.
As for the brothers... you're overthinking it! How could a man live in the harem? Not even the emperor's sons!
Her two sisters would definitely live with her anyway, so it didn't matter either.
Seeing Li Yuechen quickly running away, Wu Zetian shook her head and said, "Your Majesty, are you really not afraid of spoiling her?"
Li Zhi turned his head and grinned: "Over the years, Chen'er has become more lively, but Mei Niang feels that she has no signs of being spoiled."
"this……"
Wu Zetian thought about it carefully and it seemed to be true. Apart from being a little unruly, Li Yuechen didn't seem to have any bad habits.
Seeing her bowing her head in deep thought, Li Zhi chuckled and took her hand: "Don't worry, Chen'er is more sensible than Mei Niang! Let's go, follow me into the palace!"
Having said that, he took her hand and walked into the hall to be welcomed by the ministers.
