Living leisurely in Tang Dynasty

Li Yuanying found out about the drama after meeting Gao Yang. The Princess ran straight for Hu County after the incident. This is an arrange marriage that no one is happy about. Gao Yang doesn’t understand why she had to marry Fang Jun. Yes he has a bright future but what does that have to do with her!

Although she had never ran away from home before, Gao Yang wasn’t afraid to travel to Hu County because many of her servants followed her.

Upon meeting young uncle, she spilled the whole story pitifully. It seems that although Fang Jun didn’t manage to seduce Su Qiniang previously, he hit it off with another lady. Since he had to travel to the Tibetan Empire, this incident wasn’t brought up but now that he is back, the lady had been writing him letters saying that she was sick. Again his soul has been seduced by her.

When Gao Yang heard about this incident, she warned Fang Jun to not be so shameless but instead of repenting, he visited the lady more frequently. Gao Yang will not swallow this misconduct quietly and so she visited him in person to give him another warning!

“Young uncle, I will not marry him!” Gao Yang was so angry that her eyes turned red.  

Seeing her with red eyes, Yuanying thinks the guy is unforgivable too. Even if you wanted to have fun, you need to find someone who is worthy. This is not about Li Yuanying looking down on women in the entertainment industry.People like Su Erniang and Su Qiniang came from similar background but he respects them fully. He looks down on women who uses trick to cling on to someone.

“Okay. I’ll tell brother to cancel this marriage.”

Yuanying made some arrangement and gave Gao Yang a bowl of watermelon smoothie. He then asked her to share more about the latest happenings in Chang’an.

As Yuanying welcome Gao Yang, the Emperor received news that his daughter is missing.

Hearing about the whole incident, Li Er wasn’t sure if he should be angry at Gao Yang or Fang Jun. Anyway Fang Xuanling already visited to admit his guilt in not bringing up his son right causing him to create such drama.

It is indeed dramatic and the whole town is talking about it. Some gossip that Fang Jun being the Emperor’s prospective son-in-law is commendable for actually going to Pingkang square while others think that Gao Yang was overly aggressive and arrogant as she dared to block his path at Pingkang Square as a woman, whoever marries her is the courageous one!

In short, everyone is watching this joke and drama of the Royal family with the Fang clan. If their backgrounds were not so prominent, people might just overlook it and forget about it!

The courageous Fang Jun was punished by his father and now lay in bed whining non-stop. When his mom Lu came by, he burst into tears.

“Mom, I don’t want to marry her. Not even if I have to die!”

This is the second time her son was beaten because of Princess Gaoyang. Mrs. Lu felt extremely distressed. If this is happening before the wedding, how will they get along after getting married? She  sat down and comforted her son: “Your father is back, mother will speak to him!”

Only then did Fang Jun stop crying.

Others say that it is good to aspire to climb upwards but their family is not lacking. Why should I marry a fierce woman? Fang Jun prefers someone who is gentle and pleasant, NOT someone like Gao Yang!

Mother and son made a plan. Fang Jun were to rest while she would wait for Fang Xuanling to return home.

At this same time, His Majesty sent people to Hu County to pick up Gao Yang and told Li Yuanying that it was time for him to complete his task and return to the Capital as other students who left for internship are all coming back to the Academy already.

Li Yuanying didn’t have any objections. He is almost done playing at Hu County anyway and had already made plans to visit Li Zhi at Taiyuan. He didn’t allow the Emperor’s men to escort Princess Gao Yang home but instead told them to deliver a letter to the emperor. They will all return to Chang’an together in a few days after handing over matters at hand.

Although Li Er was angry at Gao Yang, he agreed to Li Yuanying’s terms and did not send more guards to pursue Gao Yang.

Yuanying handed over all important matters to Wu Mei and Di Renjie while he took the princesses around for playtime. He also asked Gao Yang for her opinion on who she would rather marry if not Fang Jun. She is almost the same age as Yuanying and her older sister Changle had already been a married woman for 3 years when she was at this age. Therefore if she is unwilling to marry Fang Jun, she needs to have a back up candidate.

Gao Yang thought for awhile and hummed: “I don’t want to get married!”

“Why? Once you’re married you can move to your own quarters, isn’t that better than staying in the Palace?”

“But I don’t like anyone. If I don’t like anyone why do I have to get married?” She held onto Yuanying’s hand and shake it. “Young Uncle, you need to help me think of a plan!”

Gao Yang made sense. “Well it’s not that I don’t have a plan. You can become a monk first then I will bring you to my fiefdom. Then you can do whatever you want.”

Gao Yang rounded her eyes: “You want me to be a monk?”

“Not really, you can be a female Taoist priest.”

Li Yuanying has loved listening to stories since he was a child. His favorite stories are undoubtedly related to Buddhism and Taoism.

“This is something that has happened since ancient times. For example, during the Jin Dynasty, there was a lady called Nanyue who was a female Taoist priest.  I’ll help you find a reason to become a Nu Guan. You won’t need to shave your hair or be vegetarian. You’ll just need to change your clothes for a few days. When you find someone you really like in the future, it won’t be too late to return to secular life and marry him.” Li Yuanying was confident about this because Sun Simiao and Li Chunfeng are both Taoist priests, so it should be no problem asking them to help pull strings.

Gao Yang was moved by Yuanying’s plan but when she thought of father’s temper, she was a little worried: “Will Father agree?”

“Whether he agrees with it or not, let’s try it out first before deciding. Don’t give up without trying.”

Gao Yang nodded seriously. Although she was not fully mature yet, she was sure that she did not want to marry Fang Jun.

After understanding further, Yuanying knew what he was doing. He packed his bags and made preparations to return to the Capital. The same amount of luggage travelling here and the same amount travelling back home. He didn’t take anything more except for a few new land deeds.

The group had not gone very far from the official residence when citizens came one after another to say goodbye. Knowing that Yuanying doesn’t lack anything, the people didn’t give him much except for a bulging rice sack from the representative.

Yuanying had no shame of looking shabby and asked curiously: “Are you guys afraid that I will be hungry?”

The representative was a well-spoken man, and immediately clarified his doubts: “We know Your Highness doesn’t like to accept things from us, so we prepared this. This is not made by one family, but is put together by everyone here with one scoop of rice from every household. If you still want to eat rice produced in Hu County, come back anytime.”

In this way, this may be called “rice from a hundred home” – or even “rice from a thousands home”!

This gift suited Yuanying very much. “Great!”

The man added: “In a few months, Chang Chu will be ready, but you haven’t tasted it yet!”

Chang Chu grows in the Zhongnan Mountain area. It looks ugly and hairy on the outside, but it is quite beautiful when cut into pieces. The flesh is green and the fruit tastes sour sweet. Although it is not a rare item, it wins by being fresh. (Basically it’s a plant mentioned in Book of Songs, uncertainly identified as carambola or star fruit (Averrhoa carambola); kiwi fruit)

“Then I’ll come over and taste them. If I’m busy, I’ll ask someone to come over and pick some back!”

That’s enough. Saying more may bring tears. Li Yuanying got on his horse, happily waved goodbye and set off for the Capital.

Wu Mei sat inside the carriage and raised the curtains to look out. She saw the eyes of the people following their carriage even after they have travelled some distance. She lowered the curtain and said to Wei Shu and the others: “Next time, I want to ride a horse too”. There was no need for curtain or cover, she wanted to sit straight and receive everyone’s attention, just as she did in Hu County – upright and calm.

Wei Shu was stunned for a moment but replied: “Even if you wanted to ride a horse now, you can.”

Wu Mei raised the curtains again, only to see Li Yuanying still waving to the people. He felt that just waving is not enough. Seeing Di Renjie being a little dull, Yuanying nudge him to behave. Since he came in a lively manner, he should go back in a lively manner!

Wu Mei looked at Li Yuanying, who was holding Di Renjie and waving to the people and her eyes were filled with smiles. She replied softly: “Yes, we can do whatever we want.”

Although the farewell took longer than expected, the group returned to Chang’an as originally planned. Hu County is not a big place, but Li Yuanying has traveled on most of it and feels at ease no matter which piece of land he steps on.

Now looking at the crowded Chang’an City, Yuanying felt strange in his heart.

Actually since a long time ago, he has already felt that Chang’an was not the place that he will stay long. Like other brothers, he would be arranged to leave when he is 12 or 13 along with his mother to move to his fiefdom for a good life.

However, many things have changed unconsciously.

Li Yuanying’s pause caught Di Renjie’s attention, and he stopped to ask: “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I just thought of something.” Humans have such greed, once you know you can do one thing, you want more.

He didn’t have much confident to pull off his plan for Gao Yang but he is willing to try it out. If he gave up without trying then he deserve to leave a timid boring life forever!

“Renjie help me to send Wu Mei and Man Man back to the Academy. I’ll send Wei Shu and the Princesses back to the palace.”

Renjie nodded in agreement.

The group split into 2. Very quickly they reached Wei Shu’s place and Yuanying naturally ask for tea for him and his nieces and they told exciting stories to Mrs Pei before  leaving.

At this very second, Li Er has become impatient from waiting.

Li Yuanying had already written a letter saying that he would leave today morning and will be travelling back. News about him departing and of the people sending him off and of the party reaching Chang’an were being updated but the group was no where to be seen. The Emperor asked for and update and was informed that: Li Yuanying went to Wei Zheng’s house for tea!

Li Er was already angry because of Gao Yang’s incident. When he heard that Yuanying had returned but did not return immediately because of tea, he was furious.

“Later when he is here, do not allow him in!”  

The people serving responded meekly, not daring to interrupt or annoy the furious Emperor.

Notes from the Author:

His Majesty Li Er: How unreasonable to go to see someone else first!

The young prince:?