Living leisurely in Tang Dynasty 161

This time, the students from the Imperial Academy were here for training, but Li Yuanying was here for fun. After seeing the dinosaur fossils, he wasn’t in a hurry to leave, instead choosing to stay at the manor.

The city was bustling, but the weather was a bit stuffy at night. Li Yuanying didn’t mind, but Sizhi and the others couldn’t sleep well. So, Li Yuanying took them out to catch fireflies, and at the same time, asked people to find out what delicious food was available in the surrounding villages. Whatever could be bought was bought, and if it couldn’t be bought, they would invite the cooks to come and make it on the spot. This way, Sizhi and the others wouldn’t have to endure the scorching heat and travel far and wide.

Unexpectedly, Li Yuanying’s nap turned into a major event.

It turned out that there was a tenant farmer at the manor named Wang Tiesheng, a filial son. Two months ago, his mother fell seriously ill, and the manor’s steward personally invited a doctor to treat her, saving her life.

The steward was sent from the Sunflower Garden, one of the orphans Li Yuanying had initially taken in. They had been brainwashed by Dong Xiao’e and the others to believe that Li Yuanying was the best person in the world.

These poor souls, who had no land, no family, and were drifting around, would die without anyone caring for them. Who would give them the opportunity to learn and read, who would allow them to have the fortune they had now? Therefore, they were more tolerant towards the tenant farmers who faced difficulties than ordinary landlords, helping them whenever they could.

Hearing Wang Tiesheng kowtowing with gratitude, the steward helped him up and said that there was no need for such formalities. It was all due to the kindness of the master, otherwise he wouldn’t have dared to act on his own accord.

The steward went on to brainwash Wang Tiesheng, and Wang Tiesheng was immediately filled with gratitude and affection for the unseen Li Yuanying.

When he learned that Li Yuanying had sent the steward to find the huge dragon bones behind the manor, and had even bought the entire barren mountain for this purpose, he felt he could help the master find any missing parts. Every day after finishing his work in the fields, he would roam the mountains, digging here, knocking there, hoping to find other scattered dragon bones.

This day, Wang Tiesheng went into the mountains and didn’t return for a long time, making his mother anxious and worried. She went to the steward to report the matter. Though Wang Tiesheng was a grown man, who knows what could happen in the wild mountains? Maybe there were man-eating beasts in the mountains!

The steward, hearing this, felt that Wang Tiesheng was well-meaning but did a bad thing. He actually caused trouble while their young prince was here!

Human life was paramount, so the steward couldn’t delay and rushed to inform Li Yuanying.

Li Yuanying was playing with Sizhi and the others when he heard that someone had entered the mountains and hadn’t returned. He even borrowed his own guards, asking them to lead the manor’s tenant farmers with torches into the mountains to search.

Li Zhi, thinking that with so many people in the mountains, they should be able to find the person, didn’t call for reinforcements, only dividing a few of his own men to accompany them into the mountains.

Wang Tiesheng’s mother had never seen such a scene, she was stunned. She had only planned to ask a few familiar people to help search and call out for her son, she never imagined these nobles would send so many people into the mountains to find him!

Seeing Wang Tiesheng’s mother unable to react, the steward called his own women to take her back to rest.

Li Yuanying’s men were mostly those who had been to Tubo for training, experienced in survival in the wild. They quickly organized the men into a sizable search team.

Li Yuanying took Sizhi and the others to a nearby hill and looked towards the mountains. They saw the guards leading the people in three teams, marching into the mountains, their torches forming a long dragon, dividing the entire barren mountain into three sections. With these three fire dragons illuminating the night, the darkness didn’t seem so scary!

The search party was divided into three groups, calling out Wang Tiesheng’s name as they walked. Within half an hour, someone heard a weak response from Wang Tiesheng coming from a narrow mountain crevice.

The term “mountain crevice” was accurate. The place was very peculiar, with a narrow entrance. Normally, people would get stuck trying to squeeze in, so it was unclear how Wang Tiesheng had fallen in. However, the inside was very deep, with echoes when someone spoke!

The leader of the guards was well-equipped, carrying a hemp rope. Finding the person was easy, they worked together to pull him up.

Wang Tiesheng was stunned at first, seeing so many people. When he learned that the master had sent his own men to find him, he was overwhelmed with emotion. He briefly recounted how he had been chased by a wild boar and fell into the mountain crevice.

The wild boar was big, and Wang Tiesheng, malnourished, was as thin as a bamboo pole, naturally he couldn’t win, he could only run. Fortunately, he was thin, and when he fell, the wild boar couldn’t squeeze in, so he wasn’t injured.

But Wang Tiesheng was still a bit unlucky, he waited until nightfall, no one passed by, he couldn’t get out of the mountain crevice!

After Wang Tiesheng finished his story, everyone felt it was a close call and told him not to wander around the mountains anymore.

But Wang Tiesheng didn’t just tell them that. He excitedly told the leading guard something important, “There’s iron ore in this mountain! You can’t see it from above, but you can see it if you go down. There’s a large area exposed, and there must be more hidden!”

It was iron!

They, who farmed the land, how difficult it was to buy a piece of iron!

He was anxious waiting at the bottom, unconsciously tapping the mountain wall with his tools, and then, he hit iron! This iron ore was so shallow, it was easy to mine, just open a hole and you could dig out iron!

Normally, if someone discovered iron ore, it would be normal to secretly take some home before others found out, because iron was so expensive, who wouldn’t want to make a few things for themselves?

But the master had sent so many people to rescue him, Wang Tiesheng felt that he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he did something like that, so he told the leading guard about this important matter as soon as he was rescued.

The guard, hearing this, didn’t hurry to go back, he sent a message to the other two teams and then, tied with a hemp rope, agilely jumped into the mountain crevice to investigate. Upon going down, the guard realized that Wang Tiesheng wasn’t lying. The torch illuminated the walls, which were full of ore!

The Taiyuan region was known for its mineral resources, but this mountain had been abandoned for many years. It was said that when the steward wanted to buy it, the other party was asking for a low price. Unexpectedly, this mountain, which seemed to have nothing good about it, actually hid a seemingly sizable iron ore mine!

The guard asked someone to pull him up, and the rescue team returned in a grand procession. When Wang Tiesheng and his mother met, she cried and beat him, then pulled him to thank Li Yuanying.

Li Yuanying said, “It was just letting them walk a few steps in the mountains, nothing important, the person is fine.”

The guard told Li Yuanying about Wang Tiesheng discovering the iron ore.

Li Yuanying had already known Wang Tiesheng’s name, hearing this, he said in surprise, “You’re called Tiesheng, right? It seems you really have a connection with iron!”

Wang Tiesheng smiled sheepishly, not knowing how to respond, he could only kowtow a few times to Li Yuanying as his mother wished, before leaving.

As for this iron ore, Li Yuanying didn’t have any thoughts about it. Salt and iron were monopolized by the court, according to the system, it meant that the court held a monopoly, others couldn’t touch it. It was impossible to mine iron ore on your own, unless you wanted to rebel!

Li Yuanying joined forces with Li Zhi and sent a report to Emperor Li, asking him to send people to investigate whether there was truly a large mine and how to mine it if there was. If it was a barren mountain, it would be fine to turn it over to the court, but there were tenant farmers on the manor who relied on this land to make a living, if it had an impact, would the court provide some resettlement funds?

This major event was naturally sent to Chang’an by express, the messenger directly rode several horses to exhaustion before finally delivering the news of the iron ore discovery to Emperor Li in the shortest time!

Li Yuanying casually circling a barren mountain and ending up with iron ore stunned many people, what kind of luck did this kid have?

Even though they didn’t know the size of the iron ore yet, Emperor Li immediately sent experts to conduct an on-site investigation, if there was truly a large mine, it had to be controlled.

Li Yuanying sent the message and didn’t worry about it anymore, he took his group of friends to eat, drink, and have fun in Taiyuan, visiting the entire area before heading back. On the way back, he also had a few drinks with Li Zhi, putting on a senior’s air and gave him a long lecture, telling him to be a good feudal lord and a good father!

Li Zhi, slightly tipsy, returned to his room. Wang Shi was waiting for his return, seeing the scent of alcohol on him, she asked someone to make some tea for him to sober up, then turned to ask what he had talked about with Li Yuanying.

Li Zhi didn’t hide anything, telling Wang Shi everything, saying that his “Yu Shu” was always like this, young in age but with a set of principles.

Wang Shi smiled, “You just enjoy this set of his.” After they left for their fiefdom, Li Zhi would occasionally mention “Yu Shu said,” sometimes with a hint of obvious loneliness, showing that he missed the days in Chang’an.

The couple chatted softly, then rested together after nightfall.

Li Yuanying, seeing that Li Zhi and his wife were still harmonious and their nephew was chubby and cute, set his mind at ease and led his people back to Chang’an. However, he didn’t take the original route back, instead, he took a detour to Xiangzhou to fulfill his promise to play with Li Xiaoyuanqiu.

Xiangzhou wasn’t too far from Taiyuan, Li Yuanying and his group traveled south for a few days and arrived. He had sent a message to Li Tai in advance saying that he would go to see his nephew, and Li Tai replied with gritted teeth that he could come if he wanted. Li Yuanying took it as a warm welcome and shamelessly went to visit.

Li Tai had never seen someone as brazen as Li Yuanying.

Emperor Li was still good to Li Tai, at least the Wei Wang Fu was built grandly, far more reliable than the Xiangcheng Palace he had built for himself to escape the summer heat. Li Yuanying brought his group of friends straight to the mansion, and met Li Tai after a long time.

Li Tai had matured a lot since leaving the capital, and he had lost a bit of weight, his expression looked a bit gloomy, clearly not very welcoming to Li Yuanying. But since they were already here, Li Tai couldn’t kick them out, after all, his two biological sisters were also part of the group.

How could their father let Li Yuanying take Sizhi and the others around?

Li Xiaoyuanqiu was the happiest, he held onto Li Yuanying all the way, telling Li Yuanying about the interesting things he encountered in Xiangzhou. Although he didn’t go out often, he learned a trick from Li Yuanying, asking people around him to go out and collect interesting stories to tell him, and he also trained his eloquence to a good level, speaking eloquently.

Li Yuanying, seeing Li Xiaoyuanqiu full of energy, felt relieved, and let him lead him around Xiangzhou to find delicious food and fun things, enjoying himself thoroughly.

Emperor Li only learned about Li Yuanying’s trip to Xiangzhou after he arrived at the Wei Wang Fu. Upon hearing this news, his brows furrowed.

On the one hand, he had a son he had favored for so many years, on the other hand, he had a brother he had raised for so many years, both were precious to him. Naturally, Emperor Li was willing to see them get along well. But was that possible?

The two had already fallen out before, and Li Yuanying was still going to Li Tai, he really didn’t know what he was thinking!

Li Tai didn’t know what Li Yuanying was thinking either. At first, he thought Li Yuanying was coming to show off, and had been waiting for him to make a move. But Li Yuanying only met him face-to-face once in the beginning, and didn’t show up again afterwards, spending his days eating, drinking, and having fun with his group!

Li Tai couldn’t wait any longer and took the initiative to host a banquet for Li Yuanying and his group. Li Yuanying ate and drank, but still didn’t do anything. Until the day they left, Li Tai finally realized: This guy was simply here to see his son!

It was his son, not Li Yuanying’s son, why was Li Yuanying so concerned?

Li Tai, holding back his anger, sent Li Yuanying and his group off, his mood incredibly gloomy. But then Quan Wanji had to come and pick on him, saying that Li Zhi accompanied him the whole time, how united and loving they were as a family, how come you didn’t properly entertain your uncle and sisters. Li Tai was about to explode!

He wasn’t even competing with Li Chengqian anymore, Li Yuanying was still haunting him! Who wants to be united and loving with him as a family!

It was infuriating!

**Author’s Note:**

Even away from Chang’an, the fourth nephew was still blown up like a pufferfish!

Update!

I haven’t been feeling well lately! My usual routine suddenly went haywire!

But the six thousand readers are still struggling to survive!

There will be a second update today, just a little late, qaq. If you have any nutrient solution that hasn’t been poured, you can pour some for the second update, help it out, qaq.

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