Rule the Roost in the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 16: malachite

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The sound of hawking sounded again in the palace, and the hawking sound became longer and longer, which meant that the items for sale were becoming more and more abundant. From the previous word "popsicle...", it has become today's ice cream, popsicle, melon seeds, and toffee.

Every day, Li Hong would prepare big bamboo baskets filled with ice cream and other four kinds of food for the four miserable-faced maids and the four eunuchs who were about to cry early in the morning, and sell them in the harem, and asked them to go to the harem. He, Li Hong, finished hawking when school was over at noon.

Ever since Wu Mei slapped Li Hong, the irritated shouting could be heard in the harem the next day, but it would become very quiet when she arrived at her palace. She has been busy preparing for the queen's coronation ceremony these days, and studying There are all kinds of etiquettes that a queen should have, so there is no time to settle accounts with that little skin monkey for the time being.

The harem of the palace is obviously not a place where Xiaoxue, Xiaohan and others dare to openly hawk. Except for the fact that they did not dare to be near the queen, they were also cautious in other places. However, in order to complete the personal performance mentioned by the king, they were forced to choose other places to help profiteers sell these items.

Their main hawking places are the Yeting Palace and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. They even bribed His Majesty's personal eunuch Yang Wu to hawk near the Taiji Gate in front of the palace, because they don't need to shout loudly here, and there will naturally be thousands of people. The leader of the cattle guard came and bought a large basket, and then distributed it to the soldiers as a reward for a hard day's work.

Naturally, if Qianniuwei all bought these foods, then other places in the palace would be free to sell them.

Therefore, the first job of the eight people every day was to deliver a large basket of ice cream to the three provinces, six ministries and other departments, then Qianniuwei, and then the eight people each carried a basket to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Internal Affairs, etc. Ye Ting Palace peddles.

Wu Mei in the harem is turning a blind eye. She has nothing to do with this little monkey now. She can only hope that this little monkey will grow up quickly and be able to understand things on her own and be able to take care of herself. Some royal faces.

No one was in charge of the harem. Every place in the palace where His Majesty discussed politics with the courtiers. Naturally, because of Li Zhi's turning a blind eye, Dai Wang's food could flow unimpeded throughout the Tai Chi Palace. Li Zhi's laissez-faire allowed King Dai's business to grow bigger and bigger in Tai Chi Palace. But then again, he was the only one who dared to shamelessly sell his sweets in the palace without caring about the royal family's face.

Wu Mei caressed her growing belly, while Li Xian was held in the arms of the palace maid and was crying, crying and shouting to find his brother, because this little guy also knew that his royal brother had sweets and some delicious.

Wu Mei sighed, that little skinned monkey is simply the nemesis of women, no, the nemesis of the palace. Whether it is his ice cream, melon seeds, or especially the toffee, it has almost become a must-have food in the pocket of everyone in the palace. .

No, while coaxing Li Xian, the palace maid took out a toffee from her sleeve pocket, peeled off the white paper outside, and stuffed it into Li Xian's mouth. Immediately, Li Xian, who was originally crying, stopped crying, burst into laughter, and began to feel satisfied with the toffee in his mouth.

Looking at this scene, Wu Mei could only shake her head helplessly. The shaking of her head at this moment was not because of Li Xian's crying, nor was it because of the helplessness of the sweets made by Li Hong. But she is now gradually discovering that compared to Li Xian, Li Hong did not behave as annoyingly as Li Xian when he was Li Xian's age? No, childish? No, is it fragile

In short, compared to Li Xian, everything Li Hong did back then seemed so reasonable and yet so unreasonable. I have never had a problem with bedwetting or crying unreasonably. I eat when I am allowed to eat, and I do not eat when I am not allowed to. She is always well-behaved, cute, and smart around her, making people fall in love with her. Often a single action can make you smile and feel at ease.

Now that I think about it carefully, compared with Li Xian, Li Hong at that time simply didn't look like a baby, he was a little too sensible.

Just when Wu Mei was in a daze thinking about how her eldest son was different from ordinary people, and didn't know whether to be happy or worried. The unique eldest son was also thoughtfully preparing gifts for her for the queen's coronation ceremony.

Li Hong, who was studying, had an appointment with Li Yifu, who had just left the court. Seeing that the courtiers were about to go to court, their lovely husband Shangguan Yi was still explaining the book of sages to them tirelessly and happily, without saying a word of rest. It means to rest.

"Ouch..." Li Hong covered his stomach and lay on the table in pain, groaning in pain.

Shangguan Yi glanced at him, looked up at a 45-degree angle and sighed: "What's wrong? Did you eat too much ice cream today and your stomach hurts?" His tone was full of helplessness.

"No, sir, this time it's a headache. It's probably because the student caught a cold last night."

"Why are you covering your stomach when you have a headache?" Shangguan Yi's beard almost stood up in anger.

I even feel the cold occasionally! The occasional cold was a common excuse used by ministers when they could not go to court, but this boy actually used it when he was studying.

"Uh... I guess my stomach and head hurt." Li Hong hurriedly held his head with his other hand and groaned in pain. If he doesn't let him out of Hongwen Hall, he will die in this case.

"Oh... let's go. Forget it, let's go to school." Shangguan Yi threw the books in his hand on the table to express his disappointment and dissatisfaction with the king.

"Sir, thank you for your hard work today. I'll say goodbye, student." The little man who had been dying just now no longer hurt anywhere, and suddenly became lively and lively. He said without caring about the feelings of Mr. Shangguan Yi.

He stood up and moved his little arms and legs, and said to Gao An: "Gao An, please help me pack all these away." Li Hong pointed to the four treasures of the study and books scattered on the desk.

"It's me again." Gao An pursed his lips and said dissatisfiedly.

Shangguan Yi stood in the middle and could only helplessly shake his head again and again. There was really nothing he could do about this acting king! People just didn't learn well, and they even invented "movable type printing" for their literati! It provides better printing and promotion channels for all those precious orphan books, and also prevents those books from being destroyed due to time.

In particular, this movable type printing made all those bamboo slip books, which are more precious and longer than paper, able to be printed into books in a short time. Originally, I wanted to read a book that I couldn't finish without flipping through dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of kilograms of bamboo slips. It became a regular book that I could hold in my hand and read at will! This is a great thing for literati who love books.

Li Hong didn't want to pay attention to Shangguan Yi, who was in a daze at the moment. He still had important things to do. His mother would be crowned queen in a few days, so he should give her a big gift.

She also ignored Princess Gao'an who glared at him angrily and was reluctant to help him clean up his case. She clapped her little hands and walked out of the Hongwen Pavilion in a cool and relaxed manner.

When he came to the place where he often met Li Yifu, Li Yifu was already waiting for him there. This place is very close to Menxia Province, and you can go straight to Li Yi Mansion after going to court.

The sunlight stretched the shadow of the tall and thin Li Yifu obliquely, and Li Hong stood in the shadow of Li Yifu to hide from the sun.

"Yifu has met King Dai." Li Yifu respectfully saluted Li Hong.

"Okay, we're old acquaintances, no need to be polite, and no outsiders are here. How's it going? Did you find what I asked you to find?" Li Hongming looked at Li Yifu with clear eyes.

"I found it and have made it according to your wishes," Li Yifu replied.

"Have you not found that big natural malachite? It is more ornamental, it looks like..." Li Hong asked anxiously.

Li Yifu smiled, feeling very satisfied with the performance of Li Hong, who had anxiety written all over his face at this moment. This should be the reaction of a child. He would not believe how mature a child less than four years old could be. The purpose of my reply was to be vague just now, just to see if this acting king really has a palace that does not match his age.

"King, don't be anxious. I will tell you slowly. I found three pieces. As expected, this first piece of malachite is simply a treasure in the world. There is no need to trim or polish it. It is just one piece on a base. An extremely rare, beautiful and gorgeous ornamental stone, it is simply priceless." Li Yifu said in admiration.

Li Hong didn't speak and stood in his shadow and continued to listen sideways. He also liked Li Yifu's weakness of being clever in everything.

Li Yifu continued: "One of the pieces is indeed as you said. This piece is slightly less hard and cannot be carved or carved on a large area. According to your ideas, I have ordered craftsmen to make various jewelry for that piece. As for the third piece, I thought it was not as elegant and elegant as the first one, so I made my own decision and transformed it into a screen of suitable size according to the appearance of malachite, which is also very beautiful when placed on the table."

Li Hong nodded thoughtfully, yes, Li Yifu is the best at handling this kind of thing, and it is commendable to find such three exquisite pieces of malachite in such a short time.

"By the way, how much it will cost then, just deduct it from your ice cream and sweets. If it's not enough, tell me and I will make up the rest for you." Li Hong thought for a moment and said.

"The king is so polite. How dare I ask you for money? Besides, the things you ordered me to do are my own affairs. Naturally, I will go through fire and water without hesitation. As long as I can complete the instructions given by the king, I will let you do it." If the king is satisfied, I will be willing to spend any amount of money.”

"That won't work. It's one thing after another. It's one thing to ask you for help, but it's another thing to ask you to spend money. What's more, your current salary is probably difficult to cover in addition to family expenses. "How much does this piece of malachite cost?" Li Hong raised his head and stared into Li Yifu's eyes.

Li Yifu's expression was stunned for a moment, but he returned to normal in an instant. His face quickly changed to a gentle smile, and he said: "On behalf of the king, I am wise. I would rather obey my orders than to be respectful. After you get the three pieces of malachite, you can Just give me money. But... I have been unclear about something, and I hope you can enlighten me on behalf of the king. "

Li Yifu knew that if he refused Li Hong's money, he would appear to be petty and petty, and it would also make Li Hong feel disgusted with him. Especially since Li Hong was still a child, as a royal prince, he naturally did not want anyone to disobey him, so he just went with the flow and did not refuse money matters from Li Hong.

"What's the matter?" Li Hong asked in confusion.

"I...I don't know how the king knew about this malachite. I asked all over Chang'an and Luoyang but couldn't find this malachite. In the end, I followed your instructions and found the malachite in Lingnan Road, Shannan Road, and Jiangnan Road. I have found a piece, and I am curious about your erudition and talent, why such a priceless thing has never appeared..."

Li Hong chuckled mischievously before Li Yifu finished speaking. Li Yifu was a little baffled by the laughter and didn't know why the king was laughing.

(End of chapter)