This secret report had just arrived. The Emperor initially didn’t want to work on a public holiday, but with Li Yuanying causing so much commotion, he decided to read it.

The report was straightforward; all about what Zhang Liang and Hou Junji were doing.

Zhang Liang reported Hou Junji once but he did not retaliate nor do nothing. He had spies watching Hou Junji all the time. Hou Junji was dissatisfied and attempted to contact the crown prince through his son-in-law Helan Chushi. His drunken remarks had been reported to the court.

Li Er naturally knew that Li Yuanying had heard their drunken talking and was wondering if he would tell him about it. Unexpectedly, Yuanying came by but he spoke about Zhang Liang instead.

So this secret report that is regularly sent to the Emperor had an additional person added to it.

Zhang Liang raised wizards and adopted sons. Not very different from what Li Yuanying had reported.

These two are among the twenty-four meritorious officials selected by the Emperor personally. As long as they do not make the next move, he will not take action. If they really dare to make a  move, let’s see how many people these two can pull out!

……

At the same time, Li Yuanying returned home dejectedly, accompanied by two guards sent to watch over him.

This is a treatment that he had not had in a long time, and he was made to feel embarrassed and depressed. As soon as he reached home, he smelled a fragrant smell coming from inside.

Yuanying sniffed, and the depression of being grounded disappeared in an instant. He ran in happily to look for Lady Liu.

 “What are we eating today? I smelled it from a distance, it smelled so good.”

“We are going to make crabs, so I warmed up chrysanthemum wine for you.”

Lady Liu open the brewed chrysanthemum wine; a rice wine with chrysanthemums fragrant and is warm and mellow, just right for pairing with autumn crabs.

Lady Liu cautioned: “Don’t eat too much, it will upset your stomach.”

 “Yes, I know.” He is already a big boy but Lady Liu still treats him like a child.

Am I such a greedy person?!

Crabs are best eaten steam and immediately. Lady Liu knew that he was coming home and so made preparations. The nanny told Li Yuanying about  Lady Liu’s good intentions, saying that these crabs had been delivered a long time ago, and that mother had been raising them carefully, waiting for him to come home and taste them.

Crabs are difficult to eat. There are not many people selling them in the market and people in the palace don’t like them. Fortunately, Feng Thai Restaurant had seasonal shrimps, crabs, vegetables and fruits all year round. Lady Liu asked for a batch and prepared to cook them when Li Yuanying came home.

There’s no trouble when there’s food. Li Yuanying forgot all about the task given by His Majesty and watched mother make dipping sauce with great interest. It’s mainly made with orange mud and ginger vinegar. Oranges were also recently in season and they looked round and yellow; very cute.

Li Yuanying volunteered to help peel the oranges. Lady Liu instructed him to dig the flesh out and mash it with fine salt. Beyond that are things that are above Li Yuanying’s capabilities, and he just sat aside and watched mother prepare the dipping sauces. Suddenly, he let out a sigh.

“What’s up?”

“I tried to convince brother to send me to my fiefdom today but he rejected it.”

Yuanying thinks older brother is really weird. Those who want to stay are forced out while those who want to leave are not alllowed to.

“Zhi Nu once said that Teng Perfecture is near the sea so the crabs there must be really tasty. I wonder if oranges there are as good and as fragrant when boiled into dipping sauce!”

Lady Liu dreams about leaving too and she too uttered a sigh. She knows her son’s personality well. If someone were to made him uncomfortable, he is sure to retaliate.

With his personality, it is dangerous to stay in Chang’an. The boy is growing up and soon they cannot use his childishness as an excuse any longer.

But if the Emperor refuses to let them leave, what can mother and son do?

Lady Liu could only softly comfort her child: “Let’s not be hasty. Perhaps His Majesty will reconsider once you’ve graduated from the academy.”

“After this break, the Imperial College will hold an exam that is similar to the autumn exam held outside. If you pass it, you can then participate in the spring exam the following year. I’ll take them and if I passs them, I won’t have to return to school anymore!”

“Are you confident?”

“I’m not aiming to get the best results. I think it wouldn’t be too hard to just pass.”

As his marks often bounced between being the best and the worst, Yuanying gradually figured out some tricks. As long as he kept his tail ^[1]real intentions a secret, he could get away with it.

This was an idea that he came up with at the spur of the moment and he hadn’t discussed it with Wei Shu and the others. The main reason is actually because he had experienced enough fun in school and  no longer felt a need to stay any longer. As for acing the exams, Yuanying just want to pass.  

Yuanying is confident that he could deal with them.

After a quick discussion with Lady Liu, the pair ate freshly steamed autumn crabs together.

The chrysanthemum wine smelled just right, and once it was poured into a cup, the aroma immediately filled the room. The crabs were plump and Yuanying peeled them himself. It was delicious when dipped into the sweet and fragrant orange sauce and tasted fresh without any hint of fishiness.

Yuanying ate one after another with great satisfaction and then his stomach began hurt a little!

Lady Liu was happy that her child was eating well but when she heard that he had a stomachache she hurriedly requested fpr the Imperial physician to visit.

The back and forth of the imperial physician made a commotion. The doctor on duty said helplessly: “He ate too many crabs and is bloated.” He wanted to give Li Yuanying some medicine for digestion but when Yuanying heard that he was merely bloated, he refused them saying that medicine is poisonous in large dosage and he would never take medicine simply!

I have learned medicinal  knowledge from Master Sun, why do I need to see a doctor? It’s a waste of time!

The imperial physician snorted coldly and widely publicized the fact that Li Yuanying ate too much.

Since it is the Mid-Autumn Festival, Sizi and the Royal children accompanied the Emperor for dinner. When they heard that Li Yuanying was too full to join theem, they immediately ran to comfort uncle.

Yuanying looked at the little girls with worried faces and immediately understood what it meant by “good news don’t travel but bad things travel a thousand miles”. Didn’t he just eat a few crabs?!

Yuanying said firmly: “Uncle is fine!”

After a while, Li Xiang and Little Round Ball also came. Li Xiang held his hand: “Yaoyao! Grandpa said you have a stomachache. Don’t eat too much next time!”

Little Round Ball nodded seriously and responded: “No! Yaoyao is not obedient!”

Yuanying had recovered from his illness. Seeing so many gathered, he rolled his eyes and half-lay on the couch, saying that he was weak and needed care. He ordered one to tell him a story, another to pour water and another for a hot towel for his forehead. He played the doctor-patient game with great interest.

A group of little radish heads were in high spirits. Yuanying recovered from his illness quickly and took them to visit Gaoyang to watch the moon.

The tall star-gazing tower is a good place to enjoy moon gazing. Yuanying took a bunch of little radishes up to the tower to look into the distance. It was already night, and a full moon rose in the sky, big and round, bright and lovely. The lights of the entire Chang’an city could not suppress the brilliance of the full moon. The earth was shrouded in a gentle moonlight, which seemed quiet and beautiful.

Li Yuanying held the shortest Little Round Ball so that he could also enjoy the moon.

“Yaoyao, the moon is so big today!”

Li Yuanying nodded.

Little Round Ball hugged Yuanying’s neck and said seriously: “Yaoyao, I’m going to Xiang Prefecture. Papa is there and I want to go too.”

His younger brother is now over a year old and can travel by carriage or boat. Today, grandfather asked if he wanted to find Papa. He couldn’t bear to leave Li Xiang and Yaoyao, but he also missed Papa. He and Papa were a family, and he wanted to go to Papa.

“Well family should be together. I will visit you then.”

Little Round Ball was happy and wanted to make a pinky promise.

Yuanying had a great time with the little radishes. When it was bedtime, he remembered that he hadn’t written his self-reflection piece yet. If he doesn’t do it quickly, he’ll be confined to the palace forever! He quickly sat up, got dressed and ran to his study for a night of study.

When Li Yuanying made a move, the servants had to wake up. The two palace maids lit the lamp swiftly and asked, “Is there something urgent, Your Highness?”

Both palace maids looked familiar. Aren’t they the ones who helped him dig lotus roots?

“Are you twins? Who is older and who’s younger?”

The girls were lively and quickly introduced themselves. One was called Huangying and the other Huangli; both named after birds that sings. They were identical twins but Huangying was left-handed and Huangli was not. You could identify them by looking at their dominant hand.

The two maids chattered and talked with the excitement of several people. Yuanying thought their names were appropriate.

“I want to write something so you can take a break outside. I will call you if I need anything.”

Huang Ying Huang Li made tea for him, prepared the ink, and left.

Yuanying wrote what he thought was a perfect defense speech overnight and sent it to the Emperor. Li Er only glanced at it and mercilessly sent it back.

Yuanying felt that Li Er was deliberately making things difficult and angrily took his “reflection” article to Wei Zheng for comments and to know if  the Emperor is intentionally confiding him to the palace?

When Wei Zheng heard that Emperor Li Er made him write a self-reflecting piece, his face eased a little, and he read it.

After reading two paragraphs, Wei Zheng threw it back and told the boy to get out.

Yuanying left dejected, sighing that his hard worked was not accepted.  He did some modifications already, why is everyone kicking him out?

Yuanying pondered but couldn’t figure out the reason. He went towards Hongwen Pavilion in the East Palace to look for Xiao Deyan.

When working on things like this, it is the most important to understand the thoughts of the person who gave the question. Yuanying couldn’t figure out what kind of article the Emperor wanted. If he really did write a good article will the Imperial Censor stop hating him?

Yuanying personally made tea for Xiao Deyan.

The East Palace is more informed than the outside world, and Xiao Deyan had heard all about Li Yuanying’s action.

“Your Highness, do you have anything to ask?”

Yuanying was putting tea leaves in boiling water. When he heard the question, he paused and said sullenly, “I haven’t thought about what to ask yet.”

In the past, he didn’t want to do anything other than to eat and drink well and he lived a happy life. In the past two years, he has seen a lot, thought a lot, wanted to do a lot, and tried a lot. He felt that something was trapping him.

That thing was invisible and shapeless, but extremely hateful, and followed him everywhere. He wanted to break free, but didn’t know where to start, because he realized that even the Emperor couldn’t be truly free. On the contrary, his royal brother was trapped more tightly than anyone!

He didn’t like this feeling and he didn’t want to play with these people anymore. He just want to leave and be a free prince.

But inexplicably, he felt that he might not achieve his wish even if he went to the fiefdom.

Yuanying thought about it, but still couldn’t figure it out. He drank a cup of tea with Xiao Deyan and told him about his inexplicable feeling of being trapped.

Xiao Deyan wasn’t expecting him to bring up such a topic.

He went silent for a moment before replying: “When people live in this world, they gain some and lose some. You can’t have everything.”

Xiao Deyan continued slowly, “Not many in this world have the luxury of indulging. They were  carefully taught by their parents and teachers what they should do and what they should say and what their lives should be like.”

Yuanying didn’t give a reply.

When he wrote an article proposing that girls should be given the same rights to take the national exams, Dr. Ma said something about “things being the way it is since ancient times.”

“You’re different. You were not restricted before so now that there are expectations, you feel it deeply.”

“Like the ones they put on cows?”

Xiao Deyan nodded.

“Yuanying was quiet but he’s slowly grasping the concept.

He had seen people taming ox in Hu County. When they were working on the fields, people would stuff bamboo or hemp ropes into their mouths to prevent them from chewing grass. They would also have a hole in their nose and wear a nose ring. It is said that oxen are most afraid of pain on their noses. If they are disobedient, the rope will be pulled and they will work obediently and dare not disobey orders!

It is the same for ox as for humans.

Everyone has a rope on them. When others sees something different, they will use their values to judge te other person. They will do it until the other person obeys and then the world will be peaceful.

“I don’t like it.”

Xiao Deyan looked at him warmly, “No one likes it.”

But not many can change things.

It is easy to change a person’s mind, but difficult to change everyone’s mind.

Yuanying felt that this was really sad. “Anyway, I don’t like it.”

No one should dare make him conform into a circle!  

Notes from the Author:

Little Prince: Today I ponder seriously about life.