Li Er had been rather free lately. There were no major wars or natural disasters. He even had the good news of getting another grandchild. He was in a very good mood.

He hadn’t gone back to the Imperial Academy to visit his younger brother as the heartless kid had overstep the line. He must had over-spoilt him, that’s why he dares to say anything under the sun.

Qing Que is a good child, even if I send him away all he did was cried saying he will miss us. Does he sound like someone with ulterior motives? The only reason he is still in town is because his wife is now pregnant. He was the one who told Qing Que to stay, his child didn’t suggest this.

When Kong Yingda asked to meet the Emperor, he was with Li Tai  and father and son had good chemistry.

Hearing that Chancellor Kong is here, Li Tai took the hint and excused himself to return home to read. His Majesty nodded in agreement and invited Kong Yingda in.

As he had just chit chat with his beloved son, the Emperor was in a fantastic mood and had a smile on his face. He invited Chancellor Kong to sit down.

“Minister Kong, what is it?”

Kong Yingda sat down with a serious expression and show the Emperor a thick book.

“Your Majesty! Please look though this first.”

Li Er didn’t understand but he followed the instructions and red the book. His initial calm expression turned sour. Before he could finish the whole book, he threw it on the ground.

“Minister Kong, where did you get this?”

“Prince Teng gave it to me.” He continued on calmly. “I told my men to find out more and got to know that these rumours had been spreading widely in Chang’an. The songs are widely sung by commoners. Your humble servant thinks that this is not just a coincident. Please have this investigated further.”

The Emperor had a poker face.

He remembers that Chancellor Kong never liked Li Yuanying in the past but now that the kid had only been studying in the Academy for 2 months, his teacher is standing up for him.

“I’ll get people to probe further into this.”

Kong Yingda left after receiving a reply from the Emperor.

Li Er sat alone quietly and finished up the entire book. He look through it again and saw beautifully written words which was vastly different from the ugly handwriting that his brother used to have. Looks like he has improved. The image of Li Yuanying paying full respect to the Emperor flashed in his mind again. Don’t be fooled by the kid’s playful demeanour, he actually has big attitude. If I do not give him justice, I’m afraid he will run away saying he will never return again.  

Who has such big influence to make so many spread such rumors?

Who has such ability to accuse the Crown Prince and Prince Teng under the watchful eyes of the Emperor?

The answer is apparent but the Emperor refuses to think deep. He instructed his men to investigate this and put away the book.

……

The other main character, Li Chengqian had been very busy lately. This is mainly because young uncle gave him a list of tasks before he left back to school. Although he didn’t have to rule on behalf of the Emperor since he is not on vacation, he still had many responsibilities to deal with.

For example, the responsibility of some camels and elephants at the XiangCheng Palace.

Li Chengqian thought that they were just to simply rear some livestock but he realized was too naive when he visited the place.

Li Yuanying encircled the entire area around Xiangcheng Palace and raised all kinds of birds and animals in different enclosures. Just horses alone, he kept many species and on top of that cattle and sheep too. Because the place is big, Yuanying allocated a large area for the horses and got in people to research how best to raise them to get the best quality of  meat and poultry.

Adding on, someone mentioned to the Prince that he was good at raising turtles and so Yuanying dug various ponds to investigate which species of turtle were the best to breed. And then another person said that its good to grow lotus root in the pond, and another said to grow mulberries beside the pond.  As a result multiple ponds were dug up separately.

Li Chengqian walked around and found 30 ponds, which all looked very spectacular. If it weren’t for the abundance of water available, these ponds alone would all drain the water in the surrounding area!

Those following the Crown Prince to check out this new place like  Fang Yizhi were all stunned. Li Yuanying is truly loaded if he can try this and that on other’s simple suggestion. Isn’t he afraid of losing  money?

Chengqian stayed at Xiangcheng Palace for a few days. While it was a hot and dry area, there were many interesting things to explore.  He could ride a different horse for ten days without repetition which is refreshing for him. The same concept applies to food here, after spring everything that flies or walks or swims were well bred.  Harvests from the  trees, mountains, and field were all sweet.

The main mission for Chengqian this time is to open up a branch of Feng Thai Restaurant at Xiangcheng Palace.

The breeding research done here will not show results in the next year or two. To invest big sums here over long period is not sound and so this place should be built to generate income and be self-sustaining. There are plenty of meat, vegetables, fruits  and other local produce here.  If visitors who came here for food found a  horse or a bird that they like, they can then make a purchase. As long as they can attract guests, Xiangcheng Palace will be self-sustaining!

Of course Li Chengqian isn’t here to do business, the officials would stone him. He is just entrusted by his young uncle to follow up on the progress of the renovation at the Palace and he has by the way just invited the children from aristocratic families to join him here for a good time in small batches.

Li Chengqian invited several groups of people one after another, and  had a great time. The groups all had lots of fun as this palace is huge and had many fun things available to do over a few days. Chengqian invited different people every day and those who were invited over once would be waiting to visit again when this place is opened to public.

Getting an invitation from the Crown Prince is a big honor. They would usually return home blowing their horns bragging about how the prince was friendly, how he talked to them, and also praised the scenery and food at Xiangcheng Palace.  Feng Thai restaurant is indeed the exclusive meal provided for the Imperial College, everything is delicious.

After Chengqian had had enough fun, he returned to Chang’an.

As soon as Chengqian left,  Xiangcheng Palace became lively. It was a good weather and the ice melted, it’s the perfect time for an outing. Where should you go? Let’s go to Xiangcheng Palace for a fresh experience!

Only after returning did Chengqian realized that there was rumour being spread across the Capital about him and Li Yuanying together.  He was also informed that it was young uncle who proposed to the Emperor to move Li Tai away and his Majesty took his suggestions. It was only due to Princess Yan’s sudden pregnancy that such a plan was put on hold.

If he found out about this earlier, he would have been quite emotional. But now that things are already like this, his heart remained calm. It’s hasn’t just been a day or two that father favours Li Tai.

Chengqian didn’t travel with ladies in waiting and so the trip back to Chang’an took less time. As soon as he returned, Chengqian visited the Emperor to update him about Xiangcheng Palace.

With much effort from the snake catchers, all the poisonous snakes at  Xiangcheng Palace were turned into soup. Even the snake eggs were roasted. The plight of the aborigines living there previously  were so pitiful that it will make you shed tears! Now the place is filled with many projects and had many activities. When Summer comes, many birds returning north will visit the place and those who are friendly to humans can be brought home as pets!

The last trip to Xiangcheng Palace left bad memories for the Emperor. Hearing all this, Li Er wonders if he should praise his younger brother for his quick thinking. A proper palace became a good place to eat, drink and have fun after he took over!

If Li Yuanying continues to operate it like this, Xiangcheng Palace might become a large amusement park near Luoyang; the kind that one can eat and play for several days at once!

When Chengqian talked about this, his eyes were full of smiles and he was no longer his usual sullen self.  Li Er saw that his eldest son’s eyebrows and eyes were actually somewhat similar to his late mother’s.

Li Er also softened his tone and chatted with Chengqian for a while.

After Chengqian had left,  Li Er thought about all the things that had happened lately.

If no one made a fuss about Li Yuanying’s action these few years, he wouldn’t have noticed that Yuanying included Chengqian in everything he did: When he open a library, Chengqian was the one who officiated it’s opening ceremony; when he started a newsletter he included Chengqian as one of the first feature, he took Chengqian with him to take care of refugees and also entrusted him to renovate Xiangcheng Palace.

In the eyes of others, Li Yuanying is unnervingly standing on Chengqian’s side, paving opportunities for him and gaining a good reputation for himself.

If Chengqian succeeds the throne in the future, he will be a hero!

But really, does Li Yuanying really cares about the merits of being a hero?

With his younger brother constantly hinting about leaving every day, His Majesty thinks the possibility is not high. The biggest possibility is that someone really dislikes him and wants to get him in trouble. Conveniently that someone also wants the Emperor to become suspicious about Chengqian.

Who would speculate like this?

Who would want to use this method to drive a wedge between him and Chengqian?

Who would think that the Emperor will not tolerate his son and younger brother becoming famous like this?

Li Er closed his eyes.

Since he has instructed his men to thoroughly investigated the rumors, the answer will be known soon. Until then, he will not speculate.

After lunch, His Majesty visited the Imperial College. This time he did not bring anyone with him.

Upon arrival, Li Er sat alone in the quiet room and asked someone to find Li Yuanying.

Yuanying heard that His Majesty was looking for him, so he excused himself.

The brothers haven’t seen each other for days, but after meeting, they had lost the intimacy they used to have.

Li Yuanying sat without saying a word, waiting for His Majesty to speak.

Li Er didn’t speak,  he just kept observing.

In the end, it was Yuanying who couldn’t hold back: “Brother, what do you want from me? If it’s nothing, I’m leaving, I want to read!”

“You have quite an attitude.”

Li Yuanying firmly denied it: “I don’t!”

“No?” He pushed the book that was passed to him through Kong Yingda onto the table, “When you were writing these down, were you also thinking that if I don’t give uphold justice for you, you would just run away and never come back?”

Li Yuanying was taken aback.

How did Brother figure this out?

Li Er held back his expression as he didn’t realize that he had guessed correctly.

“Do you think you can hide your little thoughts from me?”

Yuanying remained silent.

Li Er beckoned him to sit closer.

Yuanying obediently sat next to His Majesty. It was fine when the Emperor didn’t scold him but now that he did the boy’s eyes became red and tears fell down.

These days, he felt wronged. He felt that it would be best for everyone if his fourth nephew leaves so he persuaded the Emperor. But fourth nephew didn’t want to go and he now hates him. Tang Guan and Mei Niang both said that they were both not close relatives. Half-brothers, there are more than a dozen brothers like him, he shouldn’t have tried for it is useless.

He is quite annoying and many people dislike him since young.

But he doesn’t like them either.

But Brother is different.

If Big Brother doesn’t like him anymore, he will leave and never come back to feel sad.

Li Er didn’t expect Yuanying to cry suddenly. He just cried but didn’t say anything. Since he became Emperor, many had to care for his emotions but he rarely had to console others. He didn’t have much experience, so he could only promise bluntly: “You are 12 now, stop crying like a child. I will definitely give you an explanation.”

Li Yuanying raised his head to look at Li Er, his eyes were red, his nose was red, his face wet. He looked embarrassed and pitiful.

He sniffed his nose and choked: “I am just a child.”

 Li Er looked at his brother’s face stained with tears: “At  your age, you can almost get married. So shameless to claim that you’re still a child.”

After crying he felt better. Yuanying wiped away his tears, took Li Er’s hand and said seriously: “I don’t need Brother to give me any explanation, I just want Brother to tell me clearly when he doesn’t want to see me anymore. Tell me. Don’t assume that I am bad, don’t suspect that I’m going to do bad things and don’t say anything. As long as Brother tells me I’m not wanted, I’ll  go as far away as you would let me and never return.”

Li Er met Li Yuanying’s red eyes.

This kid is so daring to utter such things.

Sometimes the Emperor doesn’t trust himself very much. What he likes today he might hate tomorrow. Can he never be suspicious of this younger brother and let him do whatever he wants? If one day he really do become suspicious, will he tell him the truth or cut his wings mercilessly?

Li Er stared at Li Yuanying for a moment and finally promised: “Okay, I promise you.”

Just one younger brother, he can still afford to keep spoiled.

Notes from the author:

Little Prince: Sad, sad, I want hugs t^t