After the celebration has ended, Yuanying had to return to school. He didn’t stop his nonsense after going back to class and asked the cafeteria to prepare wedding pastries for everyone at school; shamelessly announcing his and Wei Shu’s relationship to the whole world.

Soon it was February and time for Li Zhi to start his marriage preparations. Li Zhi is 2 years older but only 15 years old. If they were commoners, he wouldn’t be considered fully grown yet but bench-marking against his royal brothers, he is already late in getting married. Li Zhi remained calm, leaving everything to his father’s men to make preparations.

Yuanying thinks that the way Li Zhi is getting married is quite confusing but to each their own and he kept his advises to himself. Not long after, the court send forth bad news:  Prince of Qi, Li You has formed a team and is preparing to rebel.

Li Er only had a few peaceful days before receiving such bad news. He was furious and immediately ordered Li Ji, the Minister of War to arrest the traitor! Li Yuanying only found out when he took a day of leave to attend Li Zhi’s wedding banquet. Everyone was suppressing the matter and not many knew about this incident for the time being. It was only when the Emperor executed Prince Li You’s birth mother that news spread in the palace.

One son got married and another one rebelled. Yuanying thinks Li Er is having a hard time being a father. After the wedding banquet was over, he quietly went to His Majesty to comfort him who had been stabbed by his own son.

Li Er looked neither happy nor angry and did not chase Li Yuanying away. He asked someone to brew tea and let Li Yuanying talk.

Yuanying naturally comforted him telling him not to be angry and to take care of his body. If a child disobeys, he will become honest after a few beatings.

Yuanying had not met Li You and didn’t know what kind of person he was so he didn’t comment on his rebellion. He only muttered in confusion: “The imperial army is strong, it’s unreasonable for him to do this. What is he after?”

His Majesty didn’t say anything so Yuanying kept talking.

Yuanying got tired of speaking but the Emperor still had the same expression: “Hey brother, don’t be too sad. I think Chengqian and Zhi Nu are filial and third nephew too!”

Li Yuanying’s attentiveness greatly benefited Li Er. During this challenging period, many came to discuss punishment for the traitors involve and some came to send relevant evidence but no one came to comfort him endlessly like his younger brother did. It really gave him a feeling of “My son is disobedient, I’m really sad.”

Li Er has many children but he has only visited a few of them personally. He didn’t have deep affection for Li You. Li Tai’s incident reminded him that since he is the Emperor, he could not also play the role of a kind father, son, filial and a respectful brother.

This time Li You hit nail on the coffin and the Emperor wanted to instill fear in his citizens to remind them that a coup is a serious crime. Even his own son will die if he rebels!

His Majesty had no intention of telling Li Yuanying these plans.

With Li Yuanying’s lazy and indulgent character, he would never think of rebelling.

 Li Er glanced at Yuanying, “Okay, go back and rest.”

Yuanying felt like he had wasted time talking and Li Er looked less cheerful than at the beginning. He remembered what was said in <<Han Zi>> that if a king’s happiness and anger is easily known to others, the country might be destroyed. It seems that His Majesty must have secretly read the same book so no matter if he was happy or sad, he will not let others see it.

Yuanying didn’t want to stay long and ran away. After returning, he did not tell Lady Liu about his visit to comfort His Majesty. Instead, he told her interesting stories about Li Zhi’s wedding.

There has been some unrest in the palace recently and Lady Liu was in a state of uneasiness. As soon as Yuanying came back, she had nothing to worry about. After mother and son shared updates since their separation, they both rested in good mood.

Before Li Zhi’s wedding has passed a full month, Li You was arrested back to Chang’an. It is rumored that the rebel group he led was entirely a grassroots team. Before Li Ji could arrive in Qizhou, someone had already defected and arrested Li You. As Li Ji arrive his task was easy. He caught, arrested and executed those who rebelled. Those who had successfully helped in this operation were reported. A rebellion with little thunder and rain came to an end.

As Li Ji escorted Li You back to the capital, news of Prince Qi’s rebellion spread like wildfire. Everything was good for him, why did he choose such a path? Look at Li Ke, he didn’t rebel even when Tian’er was reprimanded. You are given a rich place like Qizhou, with mountain and sea, what are you dissatisfied about?

Everyone had just observed the wedding of Prince Jin and now they all wanted to know how would the Emperor of Tang deal with a rebelling son. Li Er did not disappoint, all involved were beheaded including Li You’s party and his uncle’s family.

Just as Spring started,the city of Chang’an is stained with blood. Everyone who witnessed this felt horrified.

As for Li You, he died a rather honorable death. He was given a cup of poisonous wine and passed away in one piece.

Since the Emperor executed his own son, the atmosphere at court was gloomy. His Majesty still did what he had to do and fully demonstrated his ruthless side. All of a sudden, all princes both adults and minors got the news in a special newsletter so that they have a good look at the consequences of staging a rebellion.

No matter whose blood is flowing in your body, if you dare to dream about things you shouldn’t, that’s the end for you!

Li Tai who had settled in Xiangzhou for a year also received a copy of the newspaper. Simultaneously he also received news about the birth of his new son. Mother and son are safe. His Majesty sent someone to visit upon this good news. Although the letters he wrote to father did not get replies, at least the Emperor still acknowledges him and had not completely forgotten about his son.

As Li Tai felt happier, Quan Wanji came over with news and read to Li Tai about what happened to Li You.

Quan Wanji’s attitude was straightforward: Look at the consequences of rebellion. Not only did he not get any results but everyone close to him was ruined. If you have any intentions, just take a rest and don’t seek death upon yourself!

Li Tai’s complexion was green and white.

This Quan Wanji is simply a bully!

But Quan Wanji didn’t feel that he was going too far. He had to shoulder the responsibility of Chang Shi to advise Li Tai well, lest Li Tai tried to stage a rebellion. We can’t blame Quan Wanji for being wary, because His Majesty originally intended for him to serve Prince Qi but was made to serve Li Tai at the very last minute!

Why did Li Tai leave the capital? Isn’t it because of a fight with the Crown Prince?

Therefore Quan Wanji came with newsletter in hand. He doesn’t want to give up his head just for serving as the Prince’s advisor!

He gave Li Tai a good lecture and didn’t care about giving him any “face”. Once he was done, he quickly left.

Li Tai sat idly watching the sunset. After a long time he asked for alcohol and drank lots of it. As night approaches he was  drunk and feel asleep.

Since news had travelled to Xiangzhou, news naturally would also reach the Imperial Academy. Li Yuanying was surprised, the last time he met brother he didn’t mention anything about executing Li You.

Although Li You staged a coup, he only had few soldiers so he will not be able to achieve much.

Yuanying initially thought that the Emperor would spare Li You or at least his family’s life. After all he is the Emperor’s biological son. Unexpectedly, the Emperor was steadfast in getting rid of them from the root.

The boy had trouble sleeping that night. He knows that to stay by the Emperor side is liken to staying next to a tiger. He also knows that the Royal family had no love. But brother had been really good to him these few years and tolerated much of his nonsense even when he overstep the line.

Li Yuanying flip his body and faced the dark ceiling. He will never want to aim for the throne, for that would mean to kill your own brother or sons and things like your children’s marriages are strategic  chess pieces.

But even when he will never have such intentions, will Lord Brother believe him forever? He has mother, sister Shu and many friends. He hopes that everyone lives a good long life but he didn’t have any idea how to put that into action.

Even if you are born into an ordinary family, there will be brothers fighting, sisters-in-law falling out, and everything will never go as planned.

Li Yuanying couldn’t sleep so he got up walked outside and looked at the moonlight shining making the ground white with frost.

Tang Guan and Tang Xuan both woke up. Seeing that Yuanying had not come back, they sat up and looked at each other. They then walked out quietly to the left and right of Li Yuanying.

When Li Yuanying heard the noise, he looked at them and blinked his eyes. “Did I wake you up?”

“Not your first time, I’m used to it” (Tang Guan)

Yuanying felt that Tang Guan had a sharp-tongued but a soft heart. He laughed, looked at the round moon and said: “The moon is really round today.”

Tang Guan and Tang Xuan looked at each other again and it was Tang Xuan’s turn to speak: “Are you thinking about Prince Qi?” Everyone knew what had happened and could all guess why Li Yuanying can’t fall asleep.

Yuanying listened to the question and thought for a while.

“Yes, and no.”

He retracted his gaze at the moon and expressed his thoughts:  “I was just thinking that I should have a hard thought about what I should and should not do in the future.”

If it was just him, he can continue being the little demon king. But he was about to marry a princess, and he couldn’t make his mother and her sad. He has to be a shield for them, a person who can withstand wind and rain. He can no longer mess around and make people worry like before.

A rare occasion where Li Yuanying is reflecting,  both boys cheered him on.

Receiving such support, Yuanying was happy and slept through the night.

Tang Guan and Tang Xuan felt that Yuanying would quieten down for the next few days and slept well too. But then Li Yuanying, Wei Shu and the others came up with an internship plan and submitted it to Kong Yingda. They suggest going to various county offices in the Province for internships. Anyway, there’s nothing too important in the county. Let them practice so that when they really become an official in the future, they will not be totally clueless. The ministries of the Imperial court dealt with important matters, so it is not recommended for internship positions!

This matter had been brought to Zhangsun Wuji and a few other minister’s attention before. When Yuanying wrote the plan, he naturally wrote their names saying that he had consulted them previously with good feedback. We strongly recommended Kong Yingda to consider this suggestion carefully.

It’s impossible that Kong Yingda didn’t know about Prince Qi’s rebellion. Seeing that Li Yuanying dared to show off at such a critical moment, he really wanted to open up Li Yuanying’s head and see what was inside! Is this kid not afraid of trouble at all? Who gave him such courage? Haven’t you seen all the clan members with their tail between their legs these days?

Kong Yingda accepted the suggestion but did not make a decision.

Seeing no progress, Yuanying visited Kong Yingda everyday and earnestly told him to submit the plan to His Majesty.

“Didn’t you often meet the Emperor in the past? Why can’t you meet him now? Does brother not want you in your official position anymore?” Li Yuanying actively lobbied. “The more things are like this, the harder you have to work. If you hand over this note, maybe the Emperor will look at you differently again!”

Kong Yingda felt that he was possessed for worrying about Li Yuanying, fearing that he would hit a critical point!

Kong Yingda snorted coldly: “Okay, I’ll hand it over for you today!”

Notes from the author:

Principal Kong: This student is hopeless!