Li Yuanying had a realization that their internship program was delayed by a few days because he had to work on the portrait for older brother. With that realization, he quickly packed up and led his group towards their internship destination.

Since he is not staying in the Imperial College, Yuanying brought people to serve him in a grand manner and formed a small convoy to head to his destination: Hu County.

Hu County is located to the west of Chang’an, on the edge of flood waters. It is a place with good economy and good natural resources. Yuanying had never been there before so he was excited. He was accompanied by 4 girls and Di Renjie from the Academy.

There’s no working around this, Wu Mei and Wei Shu would definitely want to follow him and he cannot leave Chengyang behind. Jing Shenman also signed up and so Dr Ma threw them all into the same group. Initially 5 people for an internship group is sufficient but 4 girls and 1 boy looks rather imbalance and so Di Renjie was threw into the mix.

Hu County is not far from Chang’an and is at a distance similar to Li Mountain, taking half a day to get there. When the internship location was finalized, Dong Xiaoyi made preparations by securing a yard not too far from the government office. When the party arrived they moved their luggage directly there.

Although Hu County is nearby the Capital, it was naturally not as wealthy as Chang’an and the houses not as big. This is the first time Li Yuanying and his friends were living independently outside so he excitedly led Wei Shu to choose a room. Everyone unanimously left the main house to Li Yuanying and chose where they wanted to live according to their preferences. The servants who had been waiting nearby quickly helped them move their luggage.

After settling in, the group wanted to travel to meet the County magistrate but was instead informed that he is already here. The current magistrate Xu Jingzong was demoted into this rank and he is plotting to return to activities in the center of power.

Being an opportunist who has been networking for long, Xu Jingzong was well-informed and knew that Li Yuanying is not an ordinary student but the most beloved brother of the Emperor. His Majesty’s favouritism towards Li Yuanying astonishes everyone and is said to even win over Prince of Wei Li Tai!

Hearing that he was coming to Hu County for some kind of internship, Xu Jingzong had much earlier ask people to keep an eye on him and planned a timely visit. The last thing you should care about when climbing the corporate ladder is your dignity. After wasting so much time on his career, Xu Jingzong has already put his dignity aside!

As soon as he saw Li Yuanying, Xu Jingzong squinted his eyes and greeted him with a smile: “Your Highness, why didn’t you tell me earlier that you were coming today? If you had told me earlier, I would have waited at the city to greet you!”

Xu Jingzong’s face was slightly rounded, his eyes small and smile a little cunning. Yuanying is not someone who judge based on appearance but Xu Jingzong’s attentiveness made him a little wary.

Although he was wary, he mirrored Xu Jingzong and smiled: “We are here to work, Magistrate Xu does not need to be so polite.”

Xu Jingzong looked at the “interns” brought by Li Yuanying and muttered in his heart: These are either young boys or delicate little ladies. What can they do? You’re here for sightseeing right?

Of course, Xu Jingzong is not stupid enough to express his inner thoughts. He said with a smile: “Since we are here to work, the next step is to work together. I’ve prepared a reception banquet to introduce the staffs in the county government to you.”

“That great.”

Xu Jingzong also asked if there was anything he needed help with and whether he had enough manpower. If there was anything he wanted, just say so and he would ask someone to prepare ahead.

“I’ve asked people to come over in advance to take care of everything. There’s nothing missing.”

Now that they have met, Xu Jingzong did not stay long and wisely left.

Li Yuanying asked for tea and sat with his friends to talk.

“This County Magistrate Xu came just in time. He likely have been keeping an eye on this house. I don’t think this Magistrate Xu is worth getting along with.” (Di Renjie)

Wu Mei nodded and agreed.

Firstly, Xu Jingzong asked people to keep an eye on when they would arrive as he obviously liked to take advantage of others; secondly, he is too attentive to Li Yuanying and only followed him around. Such a person does not look like he wants to be a good official!

“We don’t want to have friendship with him, so there is no need to think about this.” (Li Yuanying)

“We shouldn’t put things like this, after all we need to work under him so it’s best we find out more about his background.”  After Wei Shu finished speaking, she paused and added: “It is said that it’s better to offend a gentleman than a villain, since we feel that this person is not suitable for close friendship then these words cannot reach his ears. Be more careful when speaking.”

Li Yuanying didn’t care: “It doesn’t matter, will he dare to attack us? No way!”

Wu Mei patiently shared her analysis to Yuanying: “If we think about this from a long term perspective, in the future we will leave for the fiefdom while he will return to Chang’an. One is faraway and the other is close. No one knows how situation will change so it is always right to be careful.”

Wei Shu nodded, that’s what she meant.

“Based on his current attitude towards uncle, the possibility of us having conflict with him should be low.” (Chengyang)

This is Jin Shengman’s first time travelling out of Chang’an so she had no opinions. She drank hot tea and listened to the others analyzing the situation.

They decided on an action plan of getting along with the man: as long as they don’t find any criminal activities, they would exist harmoniously with him. At the same time use his attentive attitude to find useful things to do .

In the afternoon, Xu Jingzong came over again and invited them to a banquet to meet officials in the county government.

There were many staffs and the county magistrate controls everything; all matters big and small, must pass through his hands. In total, there were nearly a hundred people all under government payroll.

As soon as Li Yuanying arrived, everyone stood up to greet him. It didn’t feel like he was here for internship  but rather like he was parachuted in to take over Hu County. Having many chances to meet with people, Yuanying was a bit more approachable than other royalty. He didn’t have the air of privilege and he smiled to everyone and greeted everyone being introduced to him.

County chancellor and the chief registrar assist in clerical education work while the county lieutenant is responsible for public security. These are people that they may have to have frequent contact with in the future, so Yuanying tried recognizing everyone’s faces with a good temper.

Due to Li Yuanying’s natural ability, the reception banquet quickly became lively. When the feast was coming to an end, someone from the capital on a fast horse called out. Judging by their clothes, they were palace guards.

The imperial guard recognized Li Yuanying and said, “Apologies for disturbing your Highness.” Then he  handed him a letter from the Emperor.

Yuanying was a little puzzled as to what kind of medicine his brother was selling in his gourd ^[1]what is brother’s real intention. However, since brother is far away in the capital, there is no hurry to read the letter. He invited the guards to sit down and have some wine. Anyway, the palace door would be locked due to curfew and there was no use rushing. Let him read and prepare a reply to be delivered the next day.

The guard sat down as instructed.

Everyone saw this and felt that Yuanying was valued by the Emperor.  He had just arrived in Hu County and already someone is here to deliver a letter in a hurry. It looks like an elder brother being worried.

After the reception banquet, Yuanying declined the follow-up “entertainment activities” arranged by Xu Jingzong and returned home with letter in hand. Others thought that His Majesty wrote the letter because he was worried about his younger brother but Li Yuanying with his rich experience that there is nothing good waiting for him in this letter!

Sure enough, Yuanying asked someone to light a lamp and open the letter. The letter was full of curse words directed at him.

Wei Shu asked Yuanying curiously: “What did His Majesty write in the letter?”

He snickered, passed her the letter and continued to sulk in front of the lamp.

Wei Shu read the letter that was filled with angry sentences. First it pointed out his mistake of leaving without informing the Emperor. How daring, who allowed you to run away on your own? Second point, how dare he draw such a rubbish portrait of Li Jing, he drew him too young and then included animals into it. What utter nonsense? Those that don’t know will think Li Jing is going hunting. There’s 23 portraits for him to reference from, how can he still draw like this?

Wei Shu finally found out that the Emperor is really good at scolding people.

She felt bad for Li Yuanying: “His Majesty is a little overboard in this.” She thinks that the portrait is done nicely, it’s not utter rubbish like how the Emperor puts it.

“I’m going to ignore him forever!” (Li Yuanying)

Wei Shu gave Wu Mei a look asking for help.

“If you don’t reply, aren’t you giving him an upper hand to scream at you for nothing.” (Wu Mei)

Yuanying thought for awhile and thinks it make sense. He asked for pen and paper, ready to write an equally nasty reply.

Li Yuanying is angry and Li Er is also angry at Chang’an. After seeing the portrait with his ministers, the Emperor didn’t know whether to be angry or to praise, he also thinks that Yuanying painting was beyond his expectation. If there weren’t 23 portraits prior to this, his work can be featured in the Pavilion. But the previous 23 took months to complete work!

Li Er thought hard for a very long time and then summon for Li Yuanying to show him his great work. Didn’t he first saw the 23 portraits so that he can duplicate something similar? Now things are great, it is not duplication but totally standing out, making all the other painting dull in comparison. But the replied the Emperor got was that Prince Teng has left town for internship.

How unreasonable!

Did he allow him to leave Chang’an without permission? Even if he nodded and agreed to the internship, shouldn’t his younger brother visit the palace to inform about his departure date?  

Notes from the Author:

Young Prince: What a critical moment!