After Emperor Li intervened, Li Yuanying successfully obtained Wei Zheng’s consent, and he was completely unrestrained. To secure an official post for his wife, he even went to see Li Jing, begging him to recommend her.
This fellow was born with thick skin and wasn’t shy about using backdoor connections. He even drafted a recommendation letter and asked Li Jing to write it.
Li Jing and Li Yuanying were close, being close friends despite their age difference. Naturally, he wouldn’t refuse such a small matter. He wrote a letter filled with praise according to Li Yuanying’s draft. After finishing one, Li Yuanying, with a shameless grin, brought out two more, saying that two birds with one stone was more efficient, so he wanted Li Jing to write recommendations for Wu Mei and Chengyang as well.
Li Jing was helpless, letting Li Yuanying take advantage of him. He wrote recommendations for the three new scholars, following Li Yuanying’s original words. He usually stayed away from such things, but this time, he used up all his recommendation quota at once.
Li Yuanying was deeply moved and, while at it, mooched a meal at Li Jing’s home. Then, he dragged Li Jing’s son, Li Dejian, and his family along with him.
Li Dejian also worked in the Eastern Palace and hadn’t had much experience outside. Li Jing, hearing Li Yuanying say that Emperor Li had granted him permission to build seagoing vessels, agreed to let Li Dejian go if the Crown Prince didn’t have any objections. Although he himself, with his leg ailment, couldn’t handle many affairs, his son was still young, and he hoped he could achieve something rather than live a mediocre life.
After Li Yuanying left, Li Jing called for warmed wine and asked Hongfu to have a drink with him.
Hongfu said, “Now that this kid has gone to his fief, Chang’an will be much quieter.” Li Yuanying’s antics never seemed to end. Since he was allowed to leave the palace, he had caused a stir almost every year. A library, sunflowers, thousand-gold tea, Teng Wang Pavilion in Cuiwei Palace – every year he came up with something new, making things lively.
Li Jing, knowing Li Yuanying better than anyone else, said, “He’ll cause a stir in his fief too, it won’t be quiet.”
Hongfu agreed, but couldn’t help but feel a tinge of sadness. “Even so, it won’t be easy to see him.” Although their family had sons, daughters, and even grandchildren, they rarely encountered someone as lively and talkative as Li Yuanying. Even though Li Yuanying didn’t visit often, his absence would be sorely missed.
Li Jing said, “Anyway, we’re not the ones who miss him the most.”
Hongfu laughed, refilled Li Jing’s wine cup and her own, agreeing to stop after this half cup. Yes, they missed Li Yuanying’s occasional visits and his lively energy, but those who had to deal with his shenanigans every day would surely feel the change even more.
Li Yuanying, not feeling any pangs of parting, zipped around, got things done, and went to the Imperial Academy to check with Kong Yingda if the trainee candidates had registered. They were going to leave soon.
Kong Yingda, seeing Li Yuanying bouncing around like a wild horse, felt that he would run wild in his fief. With a stern face, he gave Li Yuanying a piece of his mind, urging him to be more composed. He was going to be a feudal lord, so he had to act the part!
Li Yuanying, thinking that he wouldn’t be able to hear Kong Yingda’s lectures anymore, was unusually well-behaved. He nodded vigorously, assuring him that he would be good and wouldn’t make any mistakes. He also asked Kong Yingda to exercise and maintain good health, saying that he would finish building the road to Mount Tai in two years, and Kong Yingda would need to be in good shape to join him on a trip there.
Kong Yingda sternly admonished him, “The common people’s lives are not easy, don’t do anything that burdens them and wastes their resources!”
Li Yuanying kept nodding. “Of course, of course. If I do anything bad, Lao Wei wouldn’t let him marry姝妹妹 to me, would he?” After listening to Kong Yingda’s lecture, he formally entrusted him with an important matter. “When I leave, I won’t be able to come back often. My imperial sister-in-law entrusted me to take care of my nephew and niece. Now I’m going to my fief, I can’t protect them. You often go to the Eastern Palace, so please encourage my nephew. My nephew has it tough, he lost his mother at eight or nine and my brother has high expectations for him. He always scolds him with a straight face, he never hears a single word of praise all year. I know you are strict, it’s not easy for you to praise him every day. How about, you praise him once a month for me?”
Kong Yingda was baffled. Where did Li Yuanying get the confidence to say that he was protecting “his nephew”? His nephew was the Crown Prince! Did he need his protection? And praise him once a month? If the Crown Prince didn’t do anything outstanding that month, how could he praise him?
Kong Yingda, with a stern expression, gave Li Yuanying the list and told him to leave quickly, and not to say such impractical things. Asking him to praise the Crown Prince in a roundabout way, wasn’t that being a sycophant?
Li Yuanying, dissatisfied, said, “How is praising Chengqian being a sycophant? I think Chengqian is doing a good job as the Crown Prince.” He did his job well, so what if he had some hobbies? He wasn’t out there stealing, cheating, or defrauding the people!
Kong Yingda wouldn’t discuss this topic with him.
Li Yuanying sighed and left, deciding to invite his nephew and grand-nephew to his fief for a change of scenery, so that they could play and relax, and maybe their mood would improve after the scolding!
With everyone assembled, Li Yuanying arranged for carriages, horses, and boats to take the trainees on a grand journey to Taiyuan.
Li Yuanying had previously sent dragon bone experts to Li Zhi’s entourage. After a year or so, good news came: they found dragon bones in Taiyuan!
The dragon bones in Taiyuan were smaller, only a few meters long, but the largest ones were twenty meters long. Their bone structure differed significantly from the dragon in Kuiyuan – in short, they could create new dragon bone models. These large bones were too difficult to transport back to Kuiyuan, so they could only buy a manor in Taiyuan to house them and wait for Li Yuanying to come and see them.
Li Yuanying had already let the system announce in his personal library that two types of dragon bones had been unearthed, although not complete skeletons, they had all the key parts, which should be quite valuable for research.
This announcement function was the first time Li Yuanying used it. The system had told him how to use it, saying that it was equivalent to releasing a task, and if the number of reservations reached a certain threshold, they could get rewards, such as double points.
Most of the basic functions of the library consumed points, and in critical moments, he might rely on points to save his life. Of course, Li Yuanying followed the system’s instructions and released reservation activities.
After several rounds of squabbling and fanning the flames, Li Yuanying’s library visitors were basically stable. They would come from time to time to casually check in, to see if any new content had been released. As soon as the reservation activity for the new dinosaur fossils went online, experts from various fields flocked to the site, eagerly looking forward to the dinosaur fossils in Taiyuan.
Li Yuanying generously paid for everyone’s travel expenses, and they went along the way, sightseeing and taking breaks, finally reaching Taiyuan in mid-July.
Along the way, Wu Mei and the others would sometimes ride horses for a while, getting used to “showing their faces” in public.
Li Zhi, upon receiving news of Li Yuanying’s arrival, went out of the city early to greet him. Clearly, he was eagerly awaiting his arrival. After a long absence, the uncle and nephew handed their horses to others to hold and entered the city side by side.
Li Yuanying, seeing all the way, thought that Taiyuan was very prosperous and quite good. He first asked Li Zhi to arrange accommodation for the trainees, as they had agreed upon this beforehand. Li Zhi was prepared and sent people to guide the trainees, handling everything perfectly.
Li Yuanying thought that Li Zhi had matured a lot since becoming a father. He followed Li Zhi back to Jin Wang Fu, and along the way, he said to Li Zhi, “Your princess is so young, yet she gave you a child. You must treat her well, don’t let her suffer from fatigue or grievances.”
Li Zhi replied, “Naturally.” Not only was he not a heartless man, even if he was, he couldn’t do that. Taiyuan was his princess’s home, and she belonged to a prominent family, one of great prestige in the local area, how could he do anything so heartless?
Li Yuanying followed Li Zhi to see his chubby son. When they saw him, Li Yuanying whispered to Li Zhi, “Where is he chubby? He’s so skinny. Little round balls are cute, children should have more flesh.”
Li Zhi was speechless. He found his son quite handsome, but Li Yuanying, after two glances, started picking on him for not being plump enough.
Li Zhi said, “Didn’t you say yourself that being too fat is bad, you’re prone to all sorts of illnesses?” He thought his son was very handsome, but Li Yuanying, after a couple of looks, started picking on him for not being plump enough.
Li Yuanying also realized that while chubby was cute, thin also had its advantages. Last year, he had already held Li Xiaoyuanqiu’s younger brother, who was born not long ago. Seeing such a tiny little one, he became interested and reached out to have the child passed to him. He carefully held him and examined him, and gradually, he found him quite cute. He was just about to praise him when he felt a warmth on his hand!
The little guy had peed!
He wasn’t wearing much in the summer, the crotch was open, and he peed directly onto Li Yuanying’s hand, warm and wet, dripping down Li Yuanying’s clothes!
The little rascal was happy to have peed, and he gave Li Yuanying a toothless, eyeless smile.
Li Yuanying: “…”
Boys are just mischievous!
Li Zhi chuckled, “My son knows how to pick his target. He didn’t pee earlier or later, but only peed when he was with you.”
Li Yuanying quickly handed his grand-nephew back and followed someone to change clothes.
Dinner time arrived, and Li Zhi ordered people to prepare a lot of Taiyuan delicacies for Li Yuanying to taste. Li Yuanying ate his fill, and in the evening, he dragged Li Zhi up to a high floor, wanting to see the night view of Taiyuan and discuss his grand future plans with him.
Learning about Li Yuanying’s many ambitious plans, Li Zhi couldn’t help but worry about his money.
Li Yuanying wasn’t worried at all, if money was short, he would just earn more! Thinking about all his plans, Li Yuanying couldn’t sit still. The next morning, he eagerly joined the people who had previously arrived in Taiyuan to search for dragon bones, going to scan the dragon bones they had discovered in Taiyuan.
After the system’s identification and restoration, Li Yuanying soon got the results: they had discovered not two, but three types of dinosaur fossils!
Li Yuanying didn’t care about all that, he simply opened the viewing rights for the three dinosaur fossils, and exchanged three dragon bone model blueprints. He planned to release them in Kuiyuan to earn some money! Everyone who wanted to buy the previous dragon bone models had bought them, it was time to give tourists some new experiences!
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