plumnovel Chapter 6 Empress Zhangsun
Chapter 6 Empress Zhangsun
Li Shimin glanced at Princess Chang Le, a hint of suspicion in his eyes.
"Chang Le, what you said makes sense. But, is that really all you want to do?"
Chang Le lowered her head slightly, not answering directly, but instead offering a very compelling and irrefutable reason:
"Si Zi was shy and stubborn since childhood, but she could stay in a stranger's house for most of the day, eating and playing, and when she came back she kept talking about going there the next day."
The daughter thought—at least this person couldn't be a bad person.
Li Shimin glanced at Empress Zhangsun again.
Empress Zhangsun nodded slightly and said softly, "Does Your Majesty feel that something is amiss?"
Chang Le has always acted with prudence. This time, she is both sharing the emperor's burdens and paving the way for her younger sister. I think it's a good idea to let her go."
"I didn't say she couldn't go." Li Shimin put down the bamboo dragonfly in his hand. "Let her go tomorrow. Take two guards with her, keep a low profile, don't make a fuss, just treat her like an ordinary girl visiting relatives."
Chang Le respectfully accepted.
Just then, Si Zi suddenly appeared out of nowhere, hopping and skipping.
She had already been sent back to her bedroom to sleep, but she probably couldn't fall asleep. She secretly hid behind the curtain to listen, and as soon as she heard that her sister Chang Le was going to the farm, she immediately ran out.
"Big sister is going to see handsome guy!" Her shrill voice almost made the candlelight in the entire Rissei Hall flicker. "Handsome guy will definitely like big sister! Big sister is the most beautiful person in the world! Just as beautiful as handsome guy."
Empress Zhangsun pulled her over and wiped her mouth with her sleeve—the crumbs from the snack she had just stolen hadn't been wiped clean yet.
"What are you yelling about, kid? Why do you call me 'Pretty Potato'?"
"Because Guoguo is very pretty!" Sizi looked at her mother with an innocent expression, her big eyes watery and blinking. She saw that her mother didn't say anything.
Then, with a serious expression, he said:
"Mommy, Mommy! That handsome potty's cooking is even better than—"
She suddenly stopped, remembering what she had let slip last time.
"Compare what? Hmm?"
"Better...better..." Si Zi hesitated for a long time, her little face turning bright red, "better than Si Zi's."
Upon hearing this, Li Shimin couldn't help but chuckle. Empress Zhangsun also smiled.
Everyone knew that the little girl was talking nonsense and wouldn't tell the truth, but no one really took it seriously.
Chang Le bent down, looked at her younger sister at eye level, and asked earnestly, "Si Zi, can you tell me in detail what kind of person this 'Guo Guo' is?"
Sizi tilted her little head and thought hard for a long time.
"Not a pot, but a beautiful pot of Sizi - the pot is very beautiful, especially beautiful."
He wiped Sizi's face and fed Sizi a delicious meal, sweet and sour, even better than the food at home.
He also made a bamboo dragonfly for Sizi. Pretty Guoguo said that this was only for Sizi to play with, and not for the neighbor's Gou Dan to play with.
Besides, the handsome guy washes all the dishes himself!
She pronounced the words "I washed them myself" very loudly and forcefully, as if it were the most remarkable thing she had ever seen in her life.
Chang Le didn't ask any further questions. She gently patted Si Zi's head, then straightened up.
His expression remained calm, but there seemed to be something else in his clear eyes.
"Father, I will make this trip first thing tomorrow morning."
Outside Chang'an city, the night was as dark as ink.
Wang Zhi was sitting in his yard, reheating the leftover scrambled eggs with tomatoes from lunch, and slowly finishing it with the remaining half of a hard steamed bun.
On the windowsill, another bamboo dragonfly rested quietly, slowly turning in the night breeze.
The merit system panel silently unfolded before his eyes. Merit points balance: 5940. A little more than in the morning.
During the day, he checked the soil for Old Zhang, took in the lost little girl, and Commander Chen came to pick her up—these three records combined increased by more than a hundred points.
We are still far from our goal of 30,000.
But today's events gave him a bit of inspiration—the merit points he earned from taking in a lost child were equivalent to what he could earn from spending most of the day painstakingly figuring things out in the fields.
Of course, he didn't plan to sit at the door every day, waiting to pick up lost children.
This made him realize that it seemed to be faster to gain merit points by connecting with powerful and wealthy families and establishing good relationships than by simply teaching tenants how to improve the land and increase production and income.
The young girl's clothing, demeanor, speech, and even the extremely anxious, almost murderous expression on Commander Chen's face when he dismounted—
All of this indicates that this family in Chang'an is no ordinary household; they must have some influence or importance.
He couldn't guess exactly how much it weighed.
They might be a powerful official, or they might come from a prominent family. In any case, they're not an ordinary family.
However, to his utter surprise, this little girl was actually a princess, and not just any princess, but Princess Jinyang, who was the most beloved daughter of Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin.
Of course, no normal person would think of it in the context of royalty.
Who would have thought that a princess of noble birth would run away from the capital alone to chase butterflies?
This matter is so absurd and illogical that normal people's thinking would never stray in that direction.
In most people's minds, when a princess leaves the palace, she should be surrounded by a large entourage, with a grand procession clearing the way and bystanders making way for her.
A little girl, about three or four years old, with her face covered in tears like a cat, was squatting at the entrance of a farmhouse, sobbing. This scene was by no means associated with the noble word "princess".
So it's no wonder he judged that it was a powerful family with strict rules and many guards, but their status wasn't so unattainable.
He stood up and took the dishes into the kitchen. As he passed the windowsill, his finger paused briefly on the bamboo dragonfly.
If the bamboo strips are left to dry tomorrow, they will be even drier and fly more steadily and higher.
That little girl promised to come again tomorrow.
She also said she wanted to bring her sister along.
Before she left yesterday, she called out to him more than once, until Commander Chen's face scrunched up.
Her older sister, presumably the eldest daughter of that family, came to check on the stranger who had taken in her younger sister, to see what his intentions were—whether he was sincere or had ulterior motives.
He wasn't particularly nervous. They were just two young girls. He should just keep to his farm and his cooking, and take it easy.
The rice paddies in Champa need to be irrigated for the second time tomorrow. Old Zhang's daughter-in-law is due to give birth in the next few days, so we need to keep an eye on her. These are the things that really matter right now.
The sparse shadows of the jujube trees spread across the ground under the cool moonlight.
In the distance, unidentified insects chirped, one after another, making the night seem even more silent.
Spring of the ninth year of the Zhenguan era has just begun. Tomorrow, that courtyard gate will be pushed open once again.
And the person who pushes open the door, besides the little girl who got lost chasing butterflies, will be another person.