Living leisurely in Tang Dynasty

Chapter 120:

It was Li Er and Li Chengqian. The Emperor had to visit the Wei family personally after hearing about the tragic update that Wei Zheng’s health was in tatters and up to fate to decide. Given that Wei Zheng was also the Crown Prince’s teacher, Chengqian naturally had to visit. Therefore, father and son arrive at the Wei Family home early in the morning.

Unexpectedly, they found Wei Zheng looking healthy as he drank a bowl of porridge looking normal. Does this mean the doctors gave a wrong diagnosis?

Li Er was quite bothered but sat down. Upon further probing, he found out that a certain younger brother drop by to visit yesterday, got Doctor Sun to visit and dispense some medicine and by night the old man could get down from his sick bed. Since morning, Wei Zheng didn’t want to stay in bed and walked around much before agreeing to sit down for a bowl of porridge.

Since Wei Zheng is feeling better, the Emperor kept his words of consolation.

“That brat came so fast, even earlier than me.”

Hearing this Wei Zheng had a bad expression. The brat even made him angry by saying “If you don’t wake up I will bring your granddaughter away to play”. Wei Ying also shared with grandfather that when his precious granddaughter was crying, he consoled her by giving her a hug! Even though they were still kids, this is not right.

Wei Zheng tried his best to share the story to the Emperor with a straight face.

Li Er didn’t see a problem with it and defended his younger brother. “Yuanying must be worried about you and said those words to make you angry hoping to wake you up. Let’s not snoop to the boy’s level.”

What can Wei Zheng say further but to accept with silence.

Although Wei Zheng is now better, the Emperor still told him about a decision he made yesterday. “Dear minister Wei, you just work on getting better. Once you’re healthy, I will engage Princess Hengshan with your son.”

Wei Zheng was left stunned.

Wei Ying who was listening to their conversation quietly couldn’t hold back and uttered: “Then what about sister?!”

Although Wei Ying didn’t see eye to eye with Li Yuanying and thinks everything he does is not right; this is more because Yuanying was always trying to steal his sister away. In reality, Wei Ying thinks that Yuanying is great when compared to boys his age and treats his sister well too. If not for this, he would have kicked the boy out from his house yesterday!

Now that the Emperor wants to promise Princess Hengshan to the Wei Family, isn’t that spoiling the plan?

It didn’t matter who Princess Hengshan will marry but that would mean Wei Shu and  Yuanying cannot be a pair anymore?!

Wei Zheng turn to glare at Wei Ying who is talking nonsense.

Wei Ying shut his mouth but still had an unsettling look on his face.

If Li Er couldn’t see through this, it’s a waste for him to be King. He looked eye to eye with Chengqian and thought back about what Wei Zheng said about his younger brother wanting to kidnap his granddaughter.

The Emperor looked like he was in deep thoughts.

The Tang Empire was a progressive state, it was not a big deal for unmarried people to like another. After all marriage is for a lifetime so it’s good not to get married too simply. But the royal children’s marriage had to be arranged by the Emperor, there is no way they will get away with marrying without his consent.

Although Li Yuanying is not his son, he brought up that kid himself as his late father passed him the responsibility of taking care of his younger brother. Therefore, his marriage must be the Emperor’s problem. Great, now this kid had gone ahead and harassed someone’s granddaughter and did everything he was not supposed to and said all kinds of things he was not supposed to. Now everyone thinks there’s something between the pair!

There is nothing wrong in making Li Yuanying and Wei Zheng’s granddaughter a pair, but HE must be the one who make that decision.

The air became tense.

Right on the dot, Li Yuanying’s men came in with precious medicinal herbs.

Yuanying was shocked when he stepped into the house, why is brother and nephew here too? Why is the atmosphere so weird!

The last time Yuanying ran away and Wei Zheng gave him the cold shoulder for many days. This time he knows better and stay put. He dragged a pillow and sat next to the Emperor.

“Brother, Chengqian, you’re here to visit Old man Wei.”

After making that comment he went closer to Wei Zheng. Seeing that he is in good shape, he happily exclaimed: “Old man Wei you’re better! I went looking in my warehouse and found many good herbs. You follow the doctors instructions and make potions to heal your body with them.”

Hearing “Old Man Wei” the Emperor’s expression soften. This horrible brat is unaware about kidnapping someone’s granddaughter.

Li Er look towards Wei Ying.

Wei Ying broke into cold sweat.

He realized that his accidental blabber might have left a bad impression of his sister in the Emperor’s eyes. Although Li Yuanying is a horrible brat creating all kinds of trouble, the Emperor favour him. What if in the Emperor’s eyes Li Yuanying is blameless and it is his sister that is trying to seduce him, then she will be finished.

Yuanying didn’t know that he is the root-cause of this tense situation. He saw Wei Ying with a white face and consoled: “Brother Wei, why do you look so pale? Are you sick too? When Master Sun is here later, I’ll ask him to take a look at you too!”

Wei Ying’s face became red seeing Yuanying so clueless. “I’m not sick!”

“The why do you look so weird? It isn’t chilly!”

Yuanying look towards Li Er and Li Chengqian and realized that everyone was looking at him. He wasn’t happy with this and started throwing guesses. “You guys were talking bad about me behind my back? Talking behind someone’s back, you guys are horrible!”

Li Er answered calmly: “I’m promising Hengshan’s hand in marriage to the Wei Family. What do you think?”

“No way!” Li Yuanying objected immediately.

Everyone’s attention was on him.

Li Er looked at the boy without expressio.n.

“Whoever it is that you want to engage Hengshan to in the Wei family is not right. Hengshan is only 9! Sister Shu’s uncles were so much older, who is suitable? Lord Brother don’t simply match-make people!

Yuanying looked towards Wei Ying, thought hard and then shook his head. “Brother Wei is not suitable too. He doesn’t know how to take care of others, he doesn’t even know when he has offended or make others sad!”

Wei Zheng’s expression blacken. How dare you judge someone’s family so harshly? Moreover how dare you say the Emperor is randomly match-making, if this was said by someone else that person would have been punished for insulting the King!

But Li Er had no intention of looping off his shameless brother’s head. With  raised eyebrows, he asked: “That’s it?”

The boy blinked and asked strangely: “What else?”

Seeing his younger brother with a clueless and innocent expression, the Emperor replied calmly: “Alright, I’ll call this off.”

This was met with criticism by the boy: “Lord brother, how can you be like this? How can you inform old man Wei when you have not made concrete plans. He is still not fully recovered yet! What if this statement gets known by the public, it’s bad for both Hengshan and Wei’s reputation!”

Wei Zheng decided to play mute and not join in the conversation between siblings.

Li Er became agitated because of Li Yuanying.

Who is the source of things not being concrete?

“Minister Wei has contributed greatly to the country. If I do not marry the Princess into the Wei Family, how about you marry sister Shu?”

Li Yuanying was left speechless. Why did the ball fall into his court.

Do you arrange marriages just because someone greatly contributed to the country?  Li Yuanying thought hard… indeed Fang, Du, Tang Jian and Zhangsun Wuji and so many more did get engage to princesses or have their daughters married into the royal family.

Looks like that’s how Li Er roll, if you contribute greatly you become part of the extended family.

Yuanying had always thought that he was still young. Although he has thought about his future children, he has never imagine what his future bride will look like. Just last year he thought that Li Zhi’s act of marrying the daughter of the Wang family was lame. Now that it’s his turn, he didn’t know how to react.

Seeing his younger brother in a state of shock, Li Er nudge: “Why? Are you unwilling?”

Li Yuanying came to his senses and happily replied: “Of cause I am willing but I’m not sure if Sister Shu will be willing to? If she really agrees to be my Princess then I can really bring her to the Tibetan Empire for a fun trip!” If she really is married to him, who needs to be scared about Old man Wei or the others, they can go wherever they want! Li Yuanying excitedly asked the Emperor: “So, when am I getting married to Sister Shu?”

Wei Zheng face turned green.

Seriously how shameless can this pair of sibling be?!

The Emperor became worried that Yuanying would piss off Wei Zheng so badly that he would fall ill again quickly put up a serious expression: “Shut up! Serious matters like marriage shouldn’t be child’s play. If all you are thinking about is playtime, who would dare marry their precious daughter to you?”

Li Yuanying obediently kept quiet but he was feeling super excited. Yay, I’m going to have a future princess soon. Mother would be overjoyed! He was becoming restless and look around; no sight of Sister Shu.

“Brother, let me ask Sister Shu if she is willing!” After uttering this sentence, he did not wait for the Emperor’s response but left the room for Wei Zheng’s study.

Wei Shu and Mrs Pei left the room after paying their respect to the Emperor but Wei Shu listened to their conversation from the study room.

Hearing Wei Ying say “What about my sister?”, Wei Shu’s heart suddenly rose to her throat. Although she was still young and didn’t quite understand everything, she knew that marriage was something that elders would arrange. The more prestigious a family is, the more it will be so and no one can go against the elder’s wishes.

She and Li Yuanying’s friendship is pure and they have nothing to hide. But then again, who knows how the Emperor sees it?

Hearing that Li Yuanying is coming over, she became even more worried. She is anxious that Yuanying will agitate the Emperor and they will never be allowed to hang out again. It is only at this moment that she realized how much she cherish the freedom she currently has.

Just thinking about not being able to freely do the things she like made her sad and her nose became stuffy to the point that she wasn’t able to pay attention to the conversation outside.

When Li Yuanying came looking for her, Wei Shu was facing the wall sobbing quietly. She has had too many sad incidences in the past 2 days, it’s as if all her tears has been shed in this short 2 days.

Yuanying seeing her shoulder moving got anxious and quickly asked: “Sister, why are you crying again? Don’t cry! Old — Your grandfather is now well, please stop crying.” Seeing his future princess crying, Yuanying’s heart felt like it was being crushed into pieces. He quickly pat her back trying to comfort her: “Please stop crying. Lord brother said that if you are willing, he will make you my princess  and I can take you travelling to the Tibetan Empire!”

Wei Shu was surprised and the she lift her head to look at Yuanying.

He saw that her tears had stopped and happily held her hands. “Lord Brother said it with his own mouth, there’s no lie to this. How about it? Are you willing? Will you be my Princess?”

Wei Shu felt that this matter was completely inconsistent to be seeking her opinion. “The Emperor is outside, why are you asking for my opinion here?”

“Of course I need to ask you directly, if not when should I do it?”  Yuanying then became slightly nervous: “I’ve agreed to it just now, Sister Shu are you not in favour to this?”

Of course Wei Shu was in favour. Compared to being married off to a stranger, they know each other well and spent many happy days together. It’s just that Li Yuanying does things uniquely, things that people will not think about.

Wei Shu stopped crying but she also did not become shy like other girls would. If she is willing, she is willing, there is no need to be secretive. She look straight at Yuanying and nodded: “I’m in favour too.”

Yuanying saw Wei Shu’s shining eyes that still had residue of tears making them shine. He happily agreed: “Then things are settled. I will let brother know quickly so that he can’t change his mind.” Li Yuanying lowered his voice and spoke ill of Li Er to Wei Shu: “You don’t know brother well, he is the most capricious person.”

The Emperor is waiting outside and Wei Shu didn’t dare discuss about him. She hurriedly asked the boy to leave.

Li Yuanying suddenly became big-headed: “You also want to marry me fast, right? I’ll go right away!”

Without waiting for Wei Shu’s reaction he ran out with his tail raised and shouted to His Majesty: “Brother, Sister Shu is willing!”

Thinking that he was about to have a princess, he excitedly pulled Li Er’s hand.

“Brother, please arrange our marriage when we get back. Let Xiao Li choose an auspicious date, he is the best at choosing dates. But let’s not be too hasty. I still have to prepare the betrothal gifts and Sister Shu needs to prepare her dowry. How about this, let’s agree on the marriage first and we can choose the wedding date slowly!”

Li Er and Wei Zheng’s expression don’t look too good.

After the boy had finished talking, the Emperor and his minister exchanged glances and decided unanimously: Let him have his way.

Is there anyone in this world who can control this b*stard?

Notes from the author:

Little Prince: I’m going to have a princess!!!!!

Note:The marriage of HengShan to Wei Zheng’s son has reference to history. That year, Wei Zheng fell ill and His Majesty promised his daughter to the Wei family. After Wei Zheng passed away, Li Er personally wrote an inscription for him. But in the same year, Chengqian rebelled and the Emperor had a bad impression of Wei Zheng. He destroyed the inscription he had personally written and called off the wedding. It was such a complicated year!

The little prince, this little butterfly, flaps his little wings every day!