Volume 1 Princess Taiping Grows Up Chapter 6: Lao Li's Test
Li Yuechen looked at him inquiringly, and Eunuch Fu nodded to indicate that it was correct.
Then Li Yuechen raised his leg and walked over.
When Princess Xuancheng and Princess Yiyang saw Li Yuechen coming over, they were a little confused for a moment, after all, they had never seen her before.
But seeing that Eunuch Fu and Lady Liu behind her both looked respectful, one could probably guess her identity.
The two of them immediately bowed and saluted: "Greetings, Her Royal Highness the Princess!"
Li Yuechen stepped forward quickly and supported each of them with one hand: "Two sisters, please stand up quickly. There is no need to do this."
Princess Xuancheng said quickly: "Your Highness is not worthy of this..."
"It's just like this, how can I not deserve it?" Li Yuechen shook her head. Only then could she take a closer look at the two sisters.
The two sisters looked to be in their twenties, but they looked haggard. It seemed that they did not eat well and seemed a little malnourished.
But even so, you can still see her once beautiful face.
Beauty lies in the bones, not in the skin. After all, with the genes of a beautiful mother, she must not be ugly.
There were no visible scars on their bodies, so it seemed that there hadn't been any obvious acts of violence or bullying.
Li Yuechen turned around and said, "Liu Shanggong, I want to talk to the two sisters alone. Is it convenient?"
"Yes!" Liu Shanggong agreed, bowed, and turned to leave.
Then Li Yuechen said, "Eunuch Fu, find a place for me and my two sisters to sit down and chat."
Eunuch Fu agreed and took them into a room and sat on a mat.
Xuancheng and Yiyang seemed a little nervous about the arrival of this younger sister. They sat down without saying a word, appearing very reserved.
Li Yuechen smiled slightly and said, "My two sisters, Yuechen has no other intention in coming here. We are both grandpa's daughters, so we should be close to each other."
Xuancheng and Yiyang looked at each other and nodded, "Yes."
"There's no need to be so formal between us." Li Yuechen showed a cute smile.
She knew that her two sisters must have overthought it. After all, she came here suddenly, and maybe Wu Zetian was the one behind it, so it was inevitable that they were nervous.
"Yuechen doesn't know about other things. I just happened to know that there are two sisters here today, so I came to visit them."
Looking at Li Yuechen's sincere eyes, Xuancheng and Yiyang nodded silently, indicating that they understood what she meant.
Li Yuechen smiled, then pretended to be relaxed and started chatting with them.
She didn't start asking them questions right away, but just chatted with them about how they were living here.
After all, she is just a three-year-old girl. She can be a little more mature, but not too much.
About a quarter of an hour later, Li Yuechen said, "I am very happy to know that I have two older sisters. I will come to visit them often in the future!"
Then she stretched out her little hand, grabbed Princess Xuancheng's right hand, which was already covered with a layer of calluses, and placed two strings of copper coins in it.
"Yuechen knows that there are a lot of troubles here, and I hope that the two sisters take good care of themselves."
"No, this won't do..." Xuancheng didn't seem to expect that she would suddenly give him money, and instinctively wanted to refuse.
"No need to say more, sister," Li Yuechen held her hands with her own two small hands, with a smile on her face, "We are sisters, blood is thicker than water!"
Xuancheng was a little dazed and seemed to not know what to say for a moment.
Li Yuechen didn't say much and told Eunuch Fu to prepare to leave.
As he walked out of the room, Lady Liu came to see him off.
Li Yuechen, who had barely taken two steps, raised her head and said, "I hope that Lady Liu can take care of my two sisters in the future. Yuechen will be very grateful."
"Your Highness, I am sorry to bother you." Liu Shanggong hurriedly bowed, "Your Highness, I will do whatever you ask!"
Li Yuechen nodded, without saying anything more, and turned away with Eunuch Fu.
Next, as long as mother Wu Zetian doesn't say anything, this Lady Liu should obey her orders.
A princess is a princess after all. As long as she is still favored, what she says is the highest order for these servants.
Li Yuechen walked back without saying a word after leaving the Ye Ting Palace on the snow. Next, let's see what the subsequent reaction will be.
Part of the reason I came here today is because as an orphan, I couldn't bear to see my two sisters suffer here.
But there is one biggest reason, which is to test Li Zhi and Wu Zetian.
Through this incident, I can test what my position is in their hearts and what changes will occur in their attitude towards me in the future .
In this era, the sky is big, the earth is big, and the emperor is the biggest!
Only by knowing how important your position is in the hearts of Li Zhi and Wu Zetian can you understand what you can and cannot do in the future.
This limit must not be crossed, otherwise, there will be no return!
In winter, breathing becomes particularly obvious. Li Yuechen walked in the snow-covered Daming Palace, thinking about his future in his small body.
When we come to this world, the first thing we think about is naturally to survive.
When life was guaranteed, Li Yuechen couldn't help but wonder why she came to this era?
Li Yuechen’s current idea is not to change history, but to witness history as a bystander.
But... Li Yuechen stopped and turned back to look at the Ye Ting Palace wrapped in snowflakes.
From the moment I came here to visit my two sisters, the butterfly effect should have occurred, right?
…
A bright crescent moon hung high in the sky, and the candlelight in the palace flickered from time to time.
Wu Zetian put down the memorial in her hand, closed her eyes and pinched her nose bridge, hoping to relieve the fatigue of the day.
Li Zhi beside her seemed to be sleepy, but he still poured her a cup of warm tea: "Mei Niang, it's getting late, you should rest."
"Yes." Wu Zetian nodded in agreement, then reached out to help him sit next to her, "Your Majesty is not feeling well, so let them do these things."
"No problem." Li Zhi smiled and held her hand. "It's good to move around occasionally."
At this time, the chief steward Zhang Chengxin came in and said, "Your Majesty, Xiaofu wants to see you."
"Send him in."
“Yes.”
Xiaofu entered the hall, but before he could salute, Wu Zetian interrupted him: "No thanks, where's Chen'er?"
"Your Majesty, His Highness has fallen asleep." Xiaofu replied.
Li Zhi casually asked, "How has Chen'er been doing these days?"
"Your Majesty, Your Highness studies hard every day and is extremely self-disciplined." At this point, he suddenly revealed a troubled expression, "However, today Your Highness saw the records about the two princesses Xuancheng and Yiyang, and went to the Ye Ting Palace to visit them."
It’s not that he wanted to tell tales, but it’s impossible not to tell the truth.
"Um?"
Hearing this, Wu Zetian immediately frowned and raised her head: "Tell me in detail!"
The queen is the queen. When she frowned, an aura of majesty without even being angry instantly burst out from her body.
Xiaofu quickly recounted what had happened today in detail, not daring to leave out anything or add any exaggeration.
After listening to him, Wu Zetian waved her hand and asked him to leave first, then turned around and asked, "What do you think, Your Majesty?"
Of course, Wu Zetian did not like these two princesses, but Concubine Xiao Shufei was already dead, so it was not easy for her to express any opinions about her two daughters .
So he directly passed the ball to Li Zhi, wanting to hear his opinion.
"Blood is thicker than water... Well said!" Li Zhi sighed, "No matter what, she is still my daughter!"
Wu Zetian didn't say anything. She knew Li Zhi.
In fact, at the beginning, what Li Zhi hated was not Queen Wang and Concubine Xiao themselves, but the aristocratic families they represented!
However, Queen Wang was too arrogant and relied on the strength of her family to join forces with Zhangsun Wuji to control the court, and her attitude was extremely arrogant.
Not only did he promote his family members and uncle, but they never performed formalities when entering the palace, showing no regard for Emperor Li Zhi at all!
It can be said that Queen Wang’s only goal was to give birth to a son. With the power of her family as a guarantee, as long as she could give birth to a son, he would definitely be the crown prince!
Then you can just eat and wait for death, waiting for Li Zhi to pass away.
…
Although Queen Wang and Concubine Xiao are now dead, Li Zhi still gets very angry when he thinks about them.
But then again, the two daughters were imprisoned in the Ye Ting Palace purely because of Concubine Xiao Shufei's involvement, and Li Zhi just wanted to give an explanation to Wu Zetian.
Of course, Wu Zetian was aware of this, but she did not expect that her daughter would go to see them today.
And judging from Eunuch Fu's report, he had no other purpose, he just wanted to play with his sister.
Because Li Yuechen has always been kind and filial since she was born, this did not make her doubt.
Thinking of this, she smiled softly: "Chen'er is kind and filial, this is a good thing."
Li Zhi turned his head, with a hint of surprise in his eyes.
Seeing his look, Wu Zetian gently rubbed the back of his hand: "I know that Your Majesty is concerned about my feelings, but Chen'er is right. Blood is thicker than water. After all, she is Your Majesty's daughter, the princess of the Tang Dynasty! Otherwise..."
Before she could finish her words, Li Zhi raised his hand to interrupt her: "No need, let Chen'er come to tell her about this matter in person, Mei Niang, you can't remind her!"
Even though they have been husband and wife for so many years, the love between them has not diminished at all.
Wu Zetian was concerned about Li Zhi's guilt and wanted to take the initiative to propose releasing Xuancheng and Yiyang.
Li Zhi also took into consideration that Wu Zetian had accompanied him step by step to the present, so he decided to wait for Li Yuechen to come in person to plead for mercy before going ahead with the plan.
The two of them had already established a tacit understanding, and suddenly they smiled at each other, as if everything was explained without words.
Wu Zetian supported Li Zhi's arm, and they both stood up: "It's getting late, let's rest."
"Yeah." Li Zhi nodded with a smile, put his arm around her shoulders, and they walked side by side towards the back hall.
…
The next day, Li Zhi called Eunuch Fu and rewarded him with some money. He also asked a palace maid to bring out a tray of silver and money.
"Take this. If Chen'er wants to do something, give it to her. But don't say it's my order!"
“Yes!”
Eunuch Fu agreed, and after leaving the hall, he almost jumped up with joy.
Now the emperor's attitude is very clear. As long as he can continue to stay with Her Royal Highness the Princess, he will naturally rise to higher positions.
After returning, he saw that Li Yuechen had already gotten up. After washing up, he was sitting in front of the bronze mirror and asking Xiaohe to help him comb his hair.
I have to say that in this era, the hairstyle of royal princesses is really troublesome.
Li Yuechen couldn't do it by herself, so she had to ask Xiaohe for help. She had to fiddle with it for more than ten minutes every day.
This is because I am young and my hair is not very long.
My own mother, Wu Zetian, would spend half an hour just doing her hair every day, which was very troublesome.
Xiao He, who was helping Li Yuechen with her hair, saw Eunuch Fu's smiling face and knew that yesterday's matter was settled, and her mood immediately became better.
…
Time passed day by day, and soon it was the end of the first year of the Zongzhang period, December.
After the fall of Goguryeo, the army returned to the capital. Upon receiving the news, Li Zhi wanted to personally welcome them.
On the fifth day of December, Li Yuechen was woken up early by Xiaohe because Li Zhi promised her yesterday that she could secretly watch the ceremony of the army's return to the court in Hanyuan Hall.
The person in charge of leading the team this time was Li Ji, who was later called the God of War, and his deputy was his future master Liu Rengui.
When the sun rose from the horizon and gradually illuminated the sky, Li Yuechen and Eunuch Fu climbed up to the Xiangluan Pavilion on the side of the Hanyuan Hall early.
She squatted down and looked down through the gap between the railings.
A team of several hundred people entered the tall Danfeng Gate in the center of the Daming Palace and walked in in an orderly manner.
The three people in the front rode tall horses and moved slowly towards the palace at a constant speed.
Li Yuechen knew that this must be an order from Li Zhi. Under normal circumstances, anyone who dared to ride a horse into the palace would be hacked to death.
There is a huge square with a length of nearly 700 meters between Hanyuan Hall and Danfeng Gate, which makes the people walking in it seem much smaller.
At their speed, it would take about five minutes to cross the square.
The floor of Hanyuan Hall is nearly fifteen meters higher than the square below and is located on a three-level platform.
Standing in the square and looking over here, the huge palace seems to be floating in the air, and you can feel the supremacy of imperial power!
The three people at the front of the team came to the bottom of the palace, jumped off their horses, straightened their clothes, and then stepped onto the wide Dragon Tail Road.
When you arrive at the entrance of the hall, there will be special Jinwu Guards responsible for checking one by one to see if anyone is carrying any contraband such as weapons.
Li Yuechen also came down from Xiangluan Pavilion, entered the hall from the back door, came behind the screen in the side passage, waited for a while for them to enter the hall, and observed from close range.
At this time, inside the hall, Li Zhi, Wu Zetian and other ministers had gathered together and were waiting.
Today, Li Zhi was not wearing the usual round-necked dragon robe, but a very grand crown.
The top is black and the bottom is bright red, and the clothes and hem are embroidered with various patterns such as dragons, phoenixes, mountains, and fire in gold thread.
The usual round-collared robe has narrow sleeves, but the sleeves of this robe are so long that they reach the knees.
The crown on her head was hung with twelve gilded belts with jade beads of different colors hanging down, which was extremely gorgeous.
