Volume 1 Princess Taiping Grows Up Chapter 44: Mahjong and Tricycle
Looking at Li Yuechen holding the scroll in front of them, Princess Xuancheng and Princess Yiyang both had incredible expressions on their faces.
"Did grandpa order us to read this book?" Princess Yi Yang asked.
Li Yuechen nodded: "Anyway, Eunuch Zhang said that all of children need to see it, so why not see it together, just in case there is a checkup someday."
Princess Xuancheng still couldn't believe it, and her expression was clearly hesitant: "But this..."
"No problem!" Li Yuechen waved his hand nonchalantly, "I've read it all. It's just a summary of the late emperor's life experience. There's nothing extraordinary in it."
The two sisters looked at each other and reached out to take it.
It was not for any other reason, but just because this sister rescued them from the Ye Ting Palace, they still trusted Li Yuechen's words very much.
…
The next day, Li Yuechen asked Xiao He to deliver the mahjong pattern she had drawn to the craftsman supervisor, and then she planned to go out for a walk.
Originally, I should have opened my canned food store in Chang'an, but now that I'm in the Eastern Capital, I might as well open it here.
Li Yuechen secretly brought Shangguan Wan'er to the outside of Anfu Palace: "Wan'er, let's go, I'll take you outside the palace."
"Outside the palace?" Shangguan Wan'er's eyes lit up and she immediately became interested.
After calling Xiao He, the three of them went out of Jingyun Gate and were about to get on the carriage.
Seeing the nearly thirty Jinwu Guards Xiao He had called over, Li Yuechen waved his hand and said, "You all go change into casual clothes. When you go to the South City today, don't scare the people."
"Yes!" the leading captain agreed, "Please wait a moment, Your Highness!"
After saying that, he immediately took the other team members back to change into casual clothes.
Xiao He was a little worried and wanted to remind her of something, but Li Yuechen seemed to know what she was going to say and interrupted her directly: "Nothing, I just don't want to scare the people."
After all, there was a group of Jinwu Guards around, and ordinary people would just stay away from them when they saw them, and they couldn't really feel the atmosphere.
It’s different if they change into casual clothes. Common people will think that it’s a wealthy family traveling and will just give them some leeway instead of being scared and running away.
In Luoyang City, the South City is the most prosperous, so today Li Yuechen plans to go and see if there are any suitable shops.
Not long after, the Jinwu Guards, who had changed into casual clothes, came over. Although they had taken off their armor, each of them still held a sword in his hand.
"Set off!"
Li Yuechen waved his hand and took Shangguan Wan'er and Xiaohe to the carriage. The captain of the Jinwu Guard sat on the carriage and rode forward.
In the carriage, Xiao He said to Li Yuechen: "When we arrive at South City, Your Highness cannot get off the carriage casually!"
"Okay, you go, okay?" Li Yuechen waved his hand to indicate that it didn't matter, as long as he could come out and take a look.
There's nothing I can do about it. After all, she is a princess.
You know what, as soon as you cross Tianjin Bridge, it immediately feels lively.
There was a constant stream of people on the surrounding roads. When they saw a carriage coming, they just hid to the side and did not show any fear.
It’s just a pity that all I can see are the city walls, and I can’t see the whole city at a glance.
But even so, Li Yuechen felt a lot more relaxed. It turned out that people can't stay at home all the time. They should go out more often.
Even if all you see are the walls of the neighborhood, at least looking at the Luo River and the various aspects of life of the people along the way can make you feel much better.
The carriage went east along the bank of Luo River, arrived in front of Anzhongfang, and then turned into the street.
Although the streets here are slightly narrower, they are still nearly forty meters wide.
In fact, the architectural style of the Tang Dynasty feels a little bit monotonous. It’s like, many men’s aesthetic standards are short, tight and transparent!
Many architectural styles of the Tang Dynasty are big, wide and broad!
Li Yuechen and Shangguan Wan'er huddled their little heads together, watching the people coming and going outside through the small window of the carriage.
"It's so lively!" Shangguan Wan'er exclaimed.
"Of course it's much more lively than the palace." Li Yuechen smiled, "Xiao He, come and take a look!"
Xiao He shook her head: "I don't need to, Your Highness, just read it."
Before entering the South Market, you can hear the hawking and various other noises mixed together.
When the carriage came in, Li Yuechen and Shangguan Wan'er, who were squeezed in front of the window, couldn't help but open their eyes wide.
It’s so lively!
There are simply too many people here, and there are all kinds of shops along the street, with shops selling all kinds of goods one after another.
It’s like one of those hypermarkets of the future, it’s so overwhelming.
Seeing bodyguards holding swords rushing towards a carriage, the people around made way for it.
At this moment, the carriage suddenly stopped. Shangguan Wan'er lost her balance, her body tilted, and her head hit Li Yuechen.
"Ouch!"
Shangguan Wan'er cried out, raised her hands to cover her head, and quickly asked Li Yuechen, "Is Your Highness okay?"
"No problem, no problem..." Li Yuechen waved his hand, then came to the door and knocked on the pillar, "What's going on?"
The Jinwu Guard who was in charge of driving the car outside approached the curtain and lowered his voice and said, "Your Highness, a child suddenly rushed out, and I was afraid of hitting him, so I stopped urgently!"
Li Yuechen was slightly startled: "What? Is the child okay?"
"Don't worry, Your Highness, we didn't hit him!"
"Well, that's good. Drive carefully and don't hit pedestrians!"
“Yes!”
After a while, the carriage continued to move forward.
Shangguan Wan'er suddenly pointed out the window and said, "Your Highness, look, there is a Buddhist temple here."
Li Yuechen looked in the direction she pointed, then grinned: "I never thought there would be a Buddhist temple in the market."
It was not until several years after she came to this era that she realized that although Taoism had the status of a state religion in the Tang Dynasty, Buddhism seemed to have a larger audience among the people.
Moreover, his mother Wu Zetian and grandmother Lady Rongguo both seemed to be more devout Buddhists.
But it is normal. On the one hand, in this era, there is a lack of entertainment, so religion is a kind of spiritual pursuit.
Secondly, because the ancients had a low level of cultural literacy, they liked to attribute many inexplicable things to the gods and ghosts.
Li Yuechen has never had much interest in religion. Even though she is now a Taoist priest, that is just for her to pretend to be a good kid.
So she just took a quick glance and focused her attention elsewhere.
Nanshi is a commercial area, and there are all kinds of people here, both locals and foreigners.
In particular, many blond-haired and blue-eyed Hu people spoke fluent Tang Dynasty dialect while selling their goods.
The street food stalls also have a variety of flavors mixed together. Whether it is the staple food such as steamed buns and Hu bing, or other mutton dishes and various pastries, they all exude tempting colors and flavors.
Li Yuechen looked at it and shook his head slightly, thinking that it would be summer soon and he could open a barbecue stall here, which would definitely make a lot of money!
On the busy streets, there are patrolling police walking back and forth, and they also perform the duties of urban management.
Especially those stalls outside shops, if anyone violates the rules and gets too close to the wall, they will be whipped.
While looking at the prosperous streets in ancient times, Li Yuechen also paid attention to the shops along the street to see if there were any suitable for opening a canned food store.
The key is the shops here. Even if you like something, whether they want to sell it to you is another question.
As a princess, Li Yuechen did not intend to force the sale. Firstly, she came from a civilized society and did not want to do so.
Secondly, for a princess to run out to do business was something that was completely inconsistent with the concepts of that era. If she did such a thing, she would probably be criticized to death by the Censorate.
Not to mention that those who can open shops in such places must have someone with influence in the court behind them, and their background must be not small.
On the streets, you can see some guys who are obviously playboys, chatting and laughing with each other while choosing the products they like in front of various shops.
The bodyguard next to him also looked around from time to time, looking very stylish.
Perhaps it was just a coincidence that among these playboys, one happened to be Liu Rengui’s grandson Liu Huang.
He accidentally saw Li Yuechen in the carriage and immediately trotted over: "Have you met..."
"Shh!"
Li Yuechen, who was behind the car window, raised his finger and made a gesture to silence her: "I just came out to take a look today, don't make a sound!"
Liu Huang nodded in understanding: "Yes!"
Then he ran back and continued to hang out and play with his brothers. They seemed to be talking and laughing about something. A few of them turned their heads curiously to look at him, but were scolded by Liu Huang.
After strolling around Nanshi and experiencing the local customs and culture, Li Yuechen planned to go back.
The carriage swayed as it went back, and when it was almost at Shangshanfang, it stopped again.
"Why stop?" asked Li Yuechen in the carriage.
"Your Highness, there is a group of playboys fighting in front." The Jinwu Guard replied in a low voice.
"Someone's fighting?"
When Li Yuechen heard this, she felt that something exciting was going to happen, so she immediately crawled to the door, opened the curtain and prepared to get out of the car.
"Your Highness, please don't go down. If someone is blind, he might get hurt..."
"No problem, I won't go over there!"
As he spoke, Li Yuechen directly lifted the curtain and came out of the carriage, and Shangguan Wan'er followed him out.
Are you kidding me? You dare to hurt me? You don't want to live anymore? You are still a playboy... In Luoyang, in the whole Tang Dynasty, is there anyone more playboy than me? Do you know what the second generation of the emperor is?
Although he had this thought, Li Yuechen still did not jump off the carriage. Instead, he came outside and stood behind the Jinwu Guard on the carriage frame and looked forward.
I saw about ten people fighting in the street in front. None of them used weapons, just their fists.
One of them happened to be Liu Huang whom I had just met, who was currently being beaten by two opponents.
The person opposite was also dressed in gorgeous clothes, perhaps he was the son of a high-ranking official in the court.
The bodyguards were also fighting with each other, but it looked like they were just pushing each other, just trying to cooperate and make themselves look busy.
Many military marquises were standing by and watching. After all, it was a fight between two playboys, and they didn't dare to just rush in to intervene. They could only watch and try not to kill anyone.
Li Yuechen almost laughed out loud when she saw this scene. She didn't expect that these bodyguards acted so professionally.
Shangguan Wan'er, who was standing next to him, came over quietly and asked, "Your Highness, why are they fighting here?"
"Hey, man, there are so many reasons to fight!"
As he spoke, Li Yuechen patted the shoulder of the captain of the Jinwu Guard next to him and said, "My dear, I bet you ten cents that Liu Huang will win!"
“…”
The captain didn't seem to react. What does that mean? Is Your Highness the Princess going to make a bet with me?
"Do you want to bet? " Li Yuechen asked again.
"Okay, I'll make the bet!" The captain nodded.
At the same time, I couldn't help but wonder why this prince suddenly wanted to gamble?
Li Yuechen really had money to gamble with him. She had not spent any of the Kaiyuan Tongbao coins that Mrs. Rongguo had given her before, and had saved them all.
Shangguan Wan'er was curious and leaned over to ask quietly, "How can your highness be sure that he can win?"
Li Yuechen smiled gently, turned his head and leaned forward.
Perhaps because she didn't expect her to suddenly come over, Shangguan Wan'er subconsciously wanted to step back, but she leaned against the doorpost of the carriage and had nowhere to retreat.
Li Yuechen's head had already moved closer, less than ten centimeters away from her face.
"Your Highness..."
"I don't know either!" Li Yuechen didn't hear her mosquito-like voice and answered with a smile, "It's just that he is the grandson of the master, so I have to support him anyway!"
After saying that, Li Yuechen stepped back and stood beside the captain to continue watching the battle in front.
After a while, the winner was decided, and all the people on Liu Huang's side were knocked to the ground.
Li Yuechen smiled and took out ten Kaiyuan Tongbao coins and slapped them on the captain's hand: "Return to the palace!"
“Yes!”
The carriage began to move slowly again, but on the way back, Shangguan Wan'er kept her head down and said nothing.
Li Yuechen was a little curious, so he leaned over and asked, "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
"I'm fine..." Shangguan Wan'er shook her head in a low voice.
Seeing that her face seemed a little red, Li Yuechen was suddenly stunned. Could it be because I was flirting with her just now?
But then he threw this idea out of his head. How could a seven-year-old child like Shangguan Wan'er think about these things?
Probably there were some other reasons, so Li Yuechen didn't ask any more questions.
…
About seven or eight days later, someone from the Chief Craftsman came to inform that the mahjong and tricycle that Li Yuechen had requested were ready and had been delivered outside the palace.
Li Yuechen asked Xiaohe to take two palace maids to get it back.
Let’s not talk about the tricycle for now. The first thing he did was to open the box, take out the mahjong and start looking at it.
Well, you know what, it's worthy of being a craftsman supervisor that has gathered together skilled craftsmen. Even though this mahjong is just carved out of wood, the workmanship is extremely fine and looks quite high-end.
Not only is the surface polished very finely, but it also seems to be coated with a layer of wax or something, so it doesn't feel rough at all.
Li Yuechen was very satisfied with this set of mahjong. After nodding, he began to check the tricycle again.
The frame is made of iron. In order to reduce weight, the tires also adopt the structure of later generations and are supported by iron rods.
It’s a pity that there was no rubber in that era, so it was impossible to make wheels like those in later generations.
However, after pressing the pedal twice, judging from the movement of the car body, there was no problem at all.
And you can put some things on the shelf under your butt, such as the mahjong set.
Seeing Shangguan Wan'er looking at him in surprise, Li Yuechen got out of the car and waved to her: "Come and try!"
Shangguan Wan'er shook her head: "This thing belongs to His Highness..."
"Okay, I'll let you play!" Li Yuechen waved his hand, "It's a good opportunity for me to check it out as well."
After hearing this, Shangguan Wan'er bowed and said, "Thank you, Your Highness!"
