Li Qishen sat at the table, his legs crossed, elbows on his knees, his palms on his chin, half supporting his cheek, staring at the jar of porridge that had just been taken out of the table. The porridge was good, stewed to be particularly soft and sticky, with a sweet aroma. As soon as he opened the food box, he could hear Changzu swallowing his saliva.
This porridge was also given to him, openly and honestly, as a token of gratitude, but Li Qishen was just unhappy. He always felt resentful in his heart, unable to let it go, and was always fighting with himself.
Xie Wangzhi said that the carefully cooked Eight Treasure Porridge was for "the Seventh Prince of Qingsi Palace". Poor "Changsheng" had to run to her desperately to get a bite of food, and she brought it along because she wanted to eat it herself.
The more Li Qishen thought about it, the more annoyed he became. He had long forgotten the thoughts he had when he first met Xie Wangzhi. At that time, he thought her way of thanking people was boring, and she only knew how to stuff him with food. Now he was annoyed that Xie Wangzhi didn't make food for him separately. After staring at him for a while, Li Qishen reluctantly reconciled with himself, stopped struggling, and took a spoon to drink the porridge.
Before the spoon was put into the porridge, a young man stepped in from outside. He was wearing a neat round-necked robe and looked about the same age as Li Qishen. There was a sense of romanticism between his eyebrows. As soon as the young man entered the hall, he smelled the sweet fragrance of the porridge. He sniffed and followed the smell like a hound, all the way to the table: "Hey, why do you want to drink eight-treasure porridge?"
"It was delivered."
"You don't like sweet food, so why are you so rude?" The boy reached out for the spoon in Li Qishen's hand, "I like it. Come, I'll help you."
Li Qishen would never let him take it. He held the spoon tightly and moved his hand away, clearly protecting the food. He looked up at Cui Shishi, whose eyes were actually a little cold, with gold in his pupils, and his eyebrows were cold: "Cui Leyan."
"Why are you looking at me like that and calling me by my last name?" Li Qishen's expression showed that he was unwilling to share. Cui Shi lifted his skirt and sat down at the table in dismay. He bent his knees like him and put one hand on his knee naturally. "You refused to share even a bowl of porridge. My father forced me into the palace to be your study companion."
"Oh, what did you read?" Li Qishen and Cui Shi had been together for four years, so he had no taboos and directly poked his spine. "I remember that you were not good at martial arts, and your father was afraid that you would be bullied, so he found a place for you as a study partner?"
"You will be disliked if you talk like that." Cui Shi said this, but he didn't think it was a big deal. First, he was close to Li Qishen; second, he was open and honest, and loved literature rather than martial arts. It was just his nature. Even though martial arts were popular in the modern times, he didn't feel ashamed.
Facing Cui Shi's accusatory gaze, Li Qishen slowly swallowed a spoonful of porridge. He usually reduced the sugar by two points when eating snacks, but this porridge had one point more, which made him frown: "What are you doing here?"
Cui Shi coughed as if unintentionally, and looked at Chang Zu beside him: "Private matter."
Chang Zu understood and raised his hand to signal the palace servants in the palace. The palace servants understood and bowed together, leaving the palace swiftly, and even closed the palace door to make room for the two young men.
"Go ahead." Li Qishen stirred the porridge, "Is there anything that cannot be heard by others?"
"It's not that you can't let anyone hear it, but if it gets out, I'm afraid someone will cause trouble for you." Cui Shixin picked up the dried fruits on the plate on the table, making a "rustling" sound. He lowered his voice and said, "Kang Lie has entered the palace."
Li Qishen paused while stirring the porridge, then returned to normal, blinking his long eyelashes as he said nonchalantly, "Wasn't he appointed as the governor of Fanyang in the middle of the year? It's still early for the New Year's Eve banquet, so why is he entering the palace now?"
"If I had known, I wouldn't have come here."
"Then why are you telling me this?"
This was a good question, and Cui Shi was stumped. He had met Kang Lie once, and when he went back and forth between the Daming Palace and Cui's mansion, he pieced together the news he had heard, and a thought had vaguely sprouted in his mind, choking him day and night, making him break into a cold sweat whenever he thought about it. But this thought was too scary, and he was not sure yet whether he could tell Li Qishen the truth.
After a moment of silence, he swallowed back the words that were about to come out of his throat and changed his words casually: "Nothing, I just don't like him. He was born in a humble family, but he caught the eye of Your Majesty and unexpectedly jumped to this position."
"That's right, how can I compare with you?" Li Qishen said, "You are the legitimate son of a legitimate family, from the Cui family of Qinghe."
"Go!" Cui Shi hated it most when people talked about his background, so he picked up a dried fruit and pretended to hit Li Qishen with it.
Before he let go of the fruit, he heard Li Qishen speak. His voice was a little hoarse, and his tone was quite calm: "It's no use telling me. If you can enter the East Palace, maybe you can try to see if the prince has the courage. If you come to me, no matter how many tricks you have, I can't help you."
As soon as he said this, Cui Shi knew that Li Qishen understood at least half of it. But what Li Qishen said was also true. He turned 15 years old, and it was time for him to leave the palace and set up his own government, but Li Chengjing did not reveal any intention of making him a king. Not making him a king meant not giving up power, so Li Qishen was still trapped in the palace without even a fiefdom.
Cui Shi sighed and continued, "And An Guangxing, he's also coming along."
"He is just relying on An's influence. If he could really stir up some trouble, I would respect him as a hero. It's a pity that he has only relied on his ability to please others to get to where he is today." Li Qishen moved the spoon in the porridge bowl. "Someone is stepping on him. Don't worry about it for now."
Speaking of An Guangxing, Cui Shi also felt that he was a genius. If Kang Lie was born in the countryside, An Guangxing was really born in a humble family. He was just a tenant farmer outside the city of Chang'an. It happened that his aunt An was the emperor's wet nurse. By chance, he won the emperor's favor and entered the court.
An Guangxing was already over 30 years old when he entered the court. He only knew how to farm in the first half of his life. He didn't have much time to learn literature and martial arts. He still couldn't recognize all the characters. He still relied on pleasing the emperor in the court. However, when it comes to pleasing people, An Guangxing is really an expert. He can come up with new ways every time, making the emperor and Concubine Xiao laugh continuously. This skill cannot be learned by others.
"He didn't come to the palace empty-handed this time. He brought two Taoists with him." Cui Shi pondered for a moment, "I guess he wants to give advice on alchemy."
"It's okay. At this age, it's time to think about seeking help from gods and medicine. Anyway, it's not my turn to taste it." Li Qishen didn't believe in gods or Buddhas, but he wanted to watch the fun. He stirred the porridge slowly and actually smiled.
"… Forget it, let's not talk about this." Cui Shi became more and more annoyed the more he thought about it, so he changed the subject, "I heard earlier that you helped the palace servants in the Imperial Food Bureau? Why are you suddenly thinking of doing good?"
"Why, do you still care about this?"
This reaction was not right. Cui Shi thought for a moment and slammed the table: "Are you attracted to a palace maid? This won't do. The young lady will definitely not like you."
Li Qishen resisted the urge to beat Cui Shi violently, drank some porridge, and didn't bother to pay attention to him.
He didn't respond. Cui Shi thought more and more that something was wrong. He looked at Li Qishen, then at the porridge, with a look of horror on his face: "This porridge... Could this porridge be sent by that palace maid? I don't think this is okay. She doesn't even know that you don't like sweets. Won't you end up fighting in the future?"
"... I find that you are thinking too far ahead." Li Qishen didn't mean that, and said casually, "She is the daughter of Xie family in Chang'an. She was harassed by the people of the Ministry of Supply for no reason. After all, we are related, so I have to help her."
Cui Shi breathed a sigh of relief, but then he thought something was wrong: "Wait, Chang'an Xie Clan...what's your relationship with them?"
"Emperor Zhaoxuan's grandmother was from the Xie family of Chang'an."
"... No, this is too far away, isn't it?" Cui Shi was convinced, "So, Queen Cui is my cousin, and I am still your legitimate uncle."
Li Qishen suddenly raised his head: "Don't move."
He was rarely so serious. He looked cold, and his eyebrows were cold when he was not smiling, let alone when he was serious. Cui Shi was reflected in his pupils, and his lips were pursed. Cui Shi saw himself in those light amber eyes, his heart skipped a beat, and he became nervous instantly, thinking that something serious had happened to him.
He was sweating coldly: "Don't scare me..."
Li Qishen raised his hand, touched Cui Shi's face with his fingertips, touched it twice, then picked up Cui Shi's face with two fingers and rubbed it with his fingertips.
Cui Shi was really confused by these sudden attacks: "What are you doing?"
"Let me feel how thick your skin is." Li Qishen withdrew his hand and looked serious.
Cui Shi: “…”
He was silent for a moment: "If I hadn't learned martial arts, I would definitely beat you up."
"Come." Li Qishen opened his arms, but was glared at by Cui Shi. He smiled and said, "It's a pity that Queen Cui passed away early, so the legitimate uncle is of no use. But I really want to know, you are the legitimate cousin of the prince, why don't you go to him, but come to me instead?"
"Prince..." Cui Shi closed his eyes, "If he and I could get along well, I would naturally look for him, but there is too much difference between him and me, it's too difficult. Moreover, what happened four years ago..."
He didn't want to recall this matter. It was a mess, involving too many people. Time had passed, and Cui Shi was too lazy to think about it. He shook his head and said, "Instead of talking to him, I might as well talk to you."
"You have a clear mind then."
"Nonsense, if I don't learn martial arts and my brain doesn't work well, what's the point of living?"
"… That's fine." Li Qishen said, "Then why don't you know that my cousin's surname is not Cui, but Xiao?"
This statement was beyond the pale, but Cui Shi was not annoyed. Instead, he laughed and said, "I don't think so. The Xiao family members can be your cousins, but they can't be called legitimate."
Li Qishen glanced at Cui Shi and suddenly laughed out loud.