Li Yuanying was in a state of exhilaration all day long. After his new bride was sent into the bridal chamber, he wanted to follow her, but Lu Zhaolin and the others dragged him away to greet the guests. Li Yuanying was very unhappy and muttered, “It’s my wedding, not yours. Why aren’t you guys leaving?”
Lu Zhaolin was speechless.
Di Renjie said, “What’s the rush? You’ve already gotten your wife. You’ll have plenty of time to spend together in the future. Everyone is here to congratulate you. What kind of thing is it to not even show your face?”
Li Yuanying continued to needle Di Renjie: “You don’t have a wife, you wouldn’t understand.”
Di Renjie wanted to throw down his burdens and not do it anymore. He knew you had a princess consort, he knew you were very impressive, but you didn’t have to constantly jab at people’s hearts! What’s wrong with not having a wife? Did it hurt you or offend you? If he wanted to marry, his family would naturally arrange it for him. It was because he said he didn’t want to marry that he hadn’t married yet!
Because his friends strongly resisted, Li Yuanying was still unable to leave a group of guests to go to the bridal chamber. Emperor Li had brought all of his trusted officials with him on this trip to Mount Tai, and the entire hall was filled with important figures from the court. Li Yuanying went and toasted them all before sitting down next to Emperor Li and having someone light the fire trees in front of the gate for everyone to admire.
The fire trees were exquisitely crafted, and when they lit up, they were dazzling. Emperor Li had seen them a few times in the past, and now seeing them again, he felt a bit dazed. He turned to Li Yuanying and asked, “Did Father give this to you back then?” He also remembered that the Taishang Huang had given the fire trees to Li Yuanying. Li Yuanying, taking advantage of his young age, enjoyed all sorts of treasures, sometimes even his emperor brother felt a little jealous.
Li Yuanying said, “No, I had people copy them. I only had two made.” He told Emperor Li about his thoughts on having them copied, and then blatantly flattered him by saying that if he wanted to have them made, he could have had them made long ago, but he was considerate of the common people and didn’t make these things.
Emperor Li was very satisfied with Li Yuanying’s praise.
Taking advantage of the fact that everyone was present, after everyone had eaten, Li Yuanying asked Emperor Li, “Brother Emperor, how was the food?”
The cooks here were carefully chosen from the Fengtai Restaurant, and on the occasion of Li Yuanying’s wedding, they went all out to prepare this feast. Such a banquet, even for someone like Emperor Li who had tasted the delicacies of the entire world, could still get a “not bad” evaluation. Looking at Li Yuanying’s eager eyes, Emperor Li, rarely, said, “It was quite good.”
Li Yuanying was happy and told Emperor Li about the origin of the rice tonight: “This rice is not ordinary rice, it was brought back from Zhanpo.” Seeing some people look puzzled, Li Yuanying explained to them again where Zhanpo was located. Zhanpo was the Lin Yi County of the Han Dynasty, south of Jiaozhou. It had many mountains and forests, many elephants, and a hot climate. The rice there was said to be able to harvest after only two months of planting, three harvests per year, with high yields. The rice seeds were drought-resistant and didn’t care about the soil, they could be planted anywhere. Li Yuanying praised the land of Zhanpo, successfully circling the conversation back to the rice that night, “Two years ago, I sent someone to Zhanpo and brought back a few ships of rice seeds, most of which have already been planted. If this rice is still high-yielding and drought-resistant in the Tang Dynasty, next year we can have some people in water-scarce areas switch to planting this Zhanpo rice!”
Others didn’t have a big reaction to this topic, but Fang Xuanling was so excited that his occupational disease kicked in, and he immediately pulled Li Yuanying aside to discuss how high-yielding was high-yielding, how drought-resistant was drought-resistant, how much more grain could be produced per mu of land? Could it really be planted in water-scarce areas?
Li Yuanying was questioned by Fang Xuanling for a long time, and soon regretted bringing up the matter of Zhanpo rice seeds at this juncture. He had miscalculated! Li Yuanying, with a pained expression, managed to get rid of Old Fang, then had someone pour him a few cups of wine before he could finally escape and go to the bridal chamber to find his princess consort.
Wei Jiu wasn’t surprised at all that she was waiting for a tipsy little drunkard.
Li Yuanying was half drunk and still felt wronged. When he saw Wei Jiu, he immediately embraced her, holding his beloved wife, whom he had so painstakingly married back, in his arms, and started to complain, “Old Fang is such a pain! On our big day, he had to drag me to discuss Zhanpo rice seeds, making me come back so late.” He then held Wei Jiu tighter and asked her if she was hungry and if she had eaten anything.
Wei Jiu wasn’t someone who would make herself feel wronged, and naturally, she had already eaten. She allowed Li Yuanying to keep her in his arms and talk. In the past, they were just engaged, and Li Yuanying had never acted inappropriately. Even when he kissed her forehead, he would kiss quickly and run away. Now, they could do anything, and no one could make fun of them. Her heart felt sweet, and she softly said, “Si Kong Fang was also excited to hear about the high-yielding rice seeds.”
The Tang Dynasty had only been established for thirty years. The first ten years were spent in the midst of power struggles, with frequent unrest, making it difficult for the people to recuperate. In the following twenty years, Emperor Li ascended the throne, and the court was still poor. Whether in terms of population or finances, the current Tang Dynasty was still far from the Sui Dynasty. How could Fang Xuanling not worry? He dreamed of making the treasury rich and the population large, only with money and people could one talk about a golden age!
Thinking of Fang Xuanling’s old face, which had already been wrinkled with hardship, Li Yuanying reluctantly listened to Wei Jiu’s advice and stopped complaining about Fang Xuanling pulling him away.
His attention had already shifted to the Wei Jiu in his arms. He felt that he was already holding her very naturally, and couldn’t help but lean over and kiss her cheek, then kiss her soft lips.
Wei Jiu’s face was a bit red, but she was still very brave and kissed Li Yuanying back.
Before their wedding, her mother and her married sisters and aunts had told her a lot about the bridal chamber. Outside, one had to be reserved, but when the door was closed, and there were only the two of them, one shouldn’t be too reserved or shy. Being reserved and shy wouldn’t result in children being born.
Wei Jiu wasn’t a reserved or shy person. She was originally bolder than many other girls, and even thought that if Li Yuanying didn’t know what to do, she could take out the fire prevention diagram that her mother had given her and study it with Li Yuanying.
But after kissing for a long time, so long that their breaths seemed to be connected, Li Yuanying suddenly stopped. Li Yuanying said very seriously, “No, we can’t consummate our marriage yet.” He couldn’t talk about such a topic before the wedding, and only now did he tell Wei Jiu his “consummating the marriage means having a child” theory.
Wei Jiu did want children, not for the sake of any lineage concept, but simply because she looked forward to having a child with Li Yuanying. Hearing Li Yuanying say this, Wei Jiu felt a little sad: “Don’t you want a child?”
Seeing Wei Jiu’s low spirits, Li Yuanying immediately panicked and quickly explained to her, “Of course I want a child. Chi Nu keeps showing off his kids to me, it’s so annoying! But I’m not willing to let you give birth so early. Master Sun said that women giving birth are all stepping on the edge of the ghost gate, it’s very dangerous, I think it’s better to wait until you’re older. Giving birth and nursing is so hard, we can wait, okay?”
Every word Li Yuanying said was for her consideration, and after hearing this, Wei Jiu no longer had any unhappiness. To be honest, she hadn’t actually prepared to welcome a new life, and hearing Li Yuanying say this made her realize that she had thought too simply. She nodded and said, “Then we’ll wait.”
The young couple reached an agreement, and Li Yuanying had people prepare hot water and dragged Wei Jiu to take a bath. Wei Jiu washed off all the makeup on her face, and it felt even better to kiss. Li Yuanying, shamelessly, insisted on doing everything with Wei Jiu except consummating their marriage, before he contentedly hugged her and fell asleep.
Early the next morning, Li Yuanying took Wei Jiu to meet the relatives. In fact, there was nothing to meet, Wei Jiu had already met them all, but meeting them allowed them to receive gifts from the elders, so Li Yuanying still excitedly pulled Wei Jiu to meet them one by one, with a “I have a wife” smugness all over his body.
After everyone else left, Liu Baolin stayed behind alone and asked Wei Jiu how the wedding night went. Liu Baolin also wanted someone to teach Li Yuanying, but Li Yuanying insisted on not having anyone, so Liu Baolin couldn’t do anything about it, she could only ask Wei Jiu privately if anything had gone wrong.
Wei Jiu didn’t hide anything and told Liu Baolin about their agreement.
Although Liu Baolin was a bit disappointed, since it was her son and daughter-in-law’s decision, she didn’t interfere much. She patted Wei Jiu’s hand and gently said, “Don’t rush, I also think you two are still like children, it’s better to have children a few years later.”
On the day of the return visit, Grandmother Pei and Wei Jiu’s mother naturally asked a bunch of questions. Wei Jiu had already tied up her hair in the style of a married woman, and because she had already discussed it with Liu Baolin, she didn’t feel embarrassed talking to her mother and grandmother, openly telling them about their decision to not have children for now.
As for whether Li Yuanying understood how to consummate the marriage, Wei Jiu felt that it was best not to bring it up, bringing it up would only make people blush. Li Yuanying could already make so much fuss without consummating the marriage, if they really consummated it, Li Yuanying would be off the rails!
If Li Yuanying was someone who didn’t understand, then there was probably no one else in the world who understood.
Seeing the constant smile in Wei Jiu’s eyes as she spoke, Pei and the others felt reassured.
Although Li Yuanying’s plan sounded ridiculous, even they were touched by it. And to be born into royalty but not indulge in frivolous affairs, not even having a concubine, a husband like this was impossible to find even with a lantern!
After the return visit, the bustling wedding finally came to an end.
Emperor Li had been staying in Tengzhou for several days, and it was time for him to return to the capital. Over the past few days, Emperor Li and Changsun Wuji had taken a leisurely stroll around Tengzhou, taking in the changes.
It couldn’t be said that Tengzhou had become more prosperous in just a few years, only that it had become different from the Tengzhou they remembered. This small Tengzhou was bursting with vitality beyond imagination. The city was bustling with tourists, and there was hardly any wasteland outside the city, everywhere there were farmers working hard.
If Li Yuanying was given a few more years, he could truly achieve the goal of no poor households in the entire state, with everyone studying. But creating another Tengzhou wouldn’t be easy, after all, it took Li Yuanying a lot of talents and countless money to make Tengzhou what it is today. Could other feudal lords afford to attract so many people and invest so much money?
Tengzhou like this, there could only be one.
…
Before the imperial carriage returned to the capital, Li Yuanying and Emperor Li had a few drinks in a separate palace.
Li Yuanying told Emperor Li about Dai Ting’s experiences in Zhanpo, firmly stating that Dai Ting really didn’t plan to stir up trouble this time. It was completely the fault of the situation itself. The Queen of Zhanpo insisted on making Zhanpo the breeding base for the Tang Dynasty, how could they be so embarrassed if they insisted on not agreeing?
The conditions there were really good, with three harvests of rice per year. Other places needed three years of cross-breeding to select good varieties, but there, it could be done in one year, greatly shortening the breeding cycle! Moreover, a weak woman was begging them, how could they, as mighty men, not help? It is said that “if Heaven gives something, do not take it, it will be a guilt; if the time is right but you do not act, it will be a calamity”. They were truly forced to take action.
Emperor Li glanced at him and let him talk non-stop.
If the people of Zhanpo heard these words, they would probably want to beat this kid to death. Emperor Li understood Li Yuanying’s intentions in running over to say these things. It was simply to tell him that Dai Ting had made contributions to the country, and that the Tang Dynasty couldn’t wrong a meritorious official. This wasn’t something they actively did, so they shouldn’t be blamed for taking action against Zhanpo again. They were truly law-abiding!
Li Yuanying talked for a long time, but Emperor Li didn’t say anything, and he sheepishly shut up.
Emperor Li said, “You’re not going to say anymore?”
Li Yuanying ignored him.
Emperor Li said, “Since this Dai Ting has contributed to the country, how about letting him return to the capital to take up a post?”
Li Yuanying was stunned, he didn’t expect Emperor Li to give such a response.
If Dai Ting could enter the court and represent the court in missions to various places, it didn’t seem bad. Having a proper official status would also be a good thing for his ancestors. But if Dai Ting entered the court, he probably wouldn’t be able to act as freely as he did now, and he didn’t know if Dai Ting wanted this kind of favor.
Li Yuanying thought for a moment and said, “I have to ask him first.”
Emperor Li looked at Li Yuanying with sharp eyes, and said disapprovingly, “He’s your close attendant, his stay or leave is naturally up to you, do you need to listen to him?” He said flatly, “I’m going to give him an official post, could he dare to refuse?”
Li Yuanying was unhappy, he didn’t say anything anymore, just sat there sulking.
He knew he shouldn’t have let Dai Ting come back.
Emperor Li had someone summon Dai Ting.
**Author’s Note:**
Little Prince: Baby is angry, baby doesn’t want to talk to Big Brother anymore.
Update!
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