Three days later, Li Kuan happily went to the Prince's Mansion in the East Palace. The East Palace is located on the east side of the imperial city, next to the Taiji Palace, meaning that the Prince of the East Palace is the future emperor and inherits the throne. When Li Kuan accepted the invitation from Wang Huai, he agreed to come. The content of the invitation was extremely simple. It basically said that the East Palace held a literary competition and invited Li Kuan to come and give some advice.
Li Kuan is not interested in this kind of literary competition, but he wants to go to the East Palace and see what the famous East Palace is. Leng Feng was the only guard brought during the trip. He arrived in front of the main gate of the East Palace in a carriage. Leng Feng got off the carriage and handed the invitation to the guards of the East Palace.
After the inspection, they were allowed to enter, and the imperial city was considered familiar, but the Prince's Mansion had never been there. Entering the mansion, there are hundreds of servants and others in the huge mansion, and there are thousands of guards, making this prince's mansion look very luxurious.
The Prince's Mansion is completely incomparable to the Prince's Mansion. One is in the sky and the other is on the ground. It is not only the floor area of the mansion, but also the staff arrangement and ostentation of the mansion. When they entered it, someone came to lead the way to Mingde Hall.
After passing through the three gates and passing through two other courtyards, they arrived at Mingde Hall. The subordinates bowed and retreated. Li Kuan and Leng Feng took big steps and crossed the high threshold to enter the hall. Li Kuan looked up and saw Prince Li Chengqian sitting cross-legged, with low tables on either side, but no one came.
"The minister pays homage to His Royal Highness!" The prince is the prince, and Li Kuan pays a salute to show respect. Leng Feng also bows and salutes. Li Chengqian sees Li Kuan coming and said: "The king of Chu does not need to see outside, he is in my house. You don’t have to salute, just do whatever you want.
Having said that, Li Kuan didn't dare to take it seriously. After all, Li Chengqian is the prince, so he can't lose courtesy in front of others. Seeing that Li Kuan didn't take his words to heart, Li Chengqian said pretentiously and sternly: "What? Does the King of Chu look down on me, the prince?"
Li Kuan was stunned for a moment, and said, "The minister dare not!"
"If you dare not, why don't you want to listen to my prince?" Li Chengqian sneered, and Li Kuan had to bite the bullet and let himself relax. After a while, Li Kuan was no longer restrained, and Li Chengqian did not delve into it.
"You follow the king of Chu, there are no outsiders here, and there are many places for you to choose to sit down!" Leng Feng suddenly felt Li Chengqian's gaze, then looked at Li Kuan and saw that he nodded in agreement, and also brazenly searched for one. Sit down.
Originally, he didn't have the qualification to sit on the table, but Li Chengqian didn't play cards according to common sense, and there were more vacant positions, so Leng Feng did not refuse. Li Chengqian nodded contentedly after seeing the two of them sitting down, and said, "Is King Chu curious why I invited you to the mansion?" Li Kuan did not answer, but listened to Li Chengqian's own answer with all his attention, "In fact, it's nothing. I just want to see if you have this courage! Facts have proved that you are really courageous."
"The crown prince is absurd!" Li Kuan still didn't understand Li Chengqian's intention in inviting him. Just to try his courage, there is no need to make an invitation. Just send someone to pass a message. Why is it so formal? This makes Li Kuan. Monk Zhang Er couldn't figure it out.
"Do you know how many people I invited in total?" Li Chengqian asked again suddenly, and Li Kuan didn't know how to answer for a while, "Twenty people! Only you among the twenty dare to come, or you are the only one willing to come. Come!"
Li Kuan asked incomprehensibly: "Does the Prince's invitation say that there is a literary competition in the house?"
"That's just an excuse!" Li Chengqian said bluntly, "Twenty people are all brothers and sisters, and they are considered brothers to gather together again. However, everyone gave different reasons, as if they had been discussed. It's like a unified caliber."
Li Kuan remained silent about this. He really didn't know how to continue. The Li Chengqian in front of him was very different from what he knew.
"I think you know a lot about my prince's mansion!" The unwillingness in Li Chengqian's eyes flashed away, and he smiled bitterly: "What happened now will spread to the entire palace in the next moment. Even various palaces."
Li Kuan was silent. Li Chengqian was right about this. He seemed to be standing on the cusp of a storm, and there was an abyss forward, and there was no way to retreat backward. Li Kuan didn't know much about what happened in the Prince's Mansion, which does not mean that some important things were ignorant.
Even if he denied it, it changed Li Chengqian's current thinking, and simply being silent is the best way to answer.
"The prince seems to be under one person and above ten thousand people, but he is a lonely person." Li Chengqian has a bitter expression on his face. He has already drunk most of the wine in his hand. When he thinks of the sadness in his heart, Li Chengqian has mixed feelings, but he can only be violent. The wine made him forget those worries for a while.
Li Kuan didn't know what to do, so he had to have a drink with Li Chengqian. Li Chengqian continued: "If I had a choice, I would rather be an idle prince than a prince. What is good about the prince, but you can't get what you want, and someone will send you what you don't want. It's really annoying."
Li Kuan knew the pain in Li Chengqian's heart. He was the crown prince, but his words and deeds were all spent under surveillance. Even ordinary things would be exaggerated. The final result was a reprimand and a long backlog. The emotion finally reached a critical point, so that the gap between him and Li Shimin grew deeper and deeper.
Li Shimin's eagerness to hope for his son Jackie Chan can be understood. The question is whether it is suitable for Li Chengqian. Li Shimin has never considered this. He hopes that Li Chengqian will grow up and become a talent. Things backfired, and the extremely awkward relationship between the father and son made Li Kuan not know what to do. Because his relationship with Li Shimin is not very good, he can't give advice on falling.
"King Chu, I want to know why you dare to compete with them in front of everyone?" The greatest pain in Li Chengqian's heart was the veteran personally selected by Emperor Li Shimin, so that he did not have the slightest freedom to speak, and he did not criticize all the words. For himself, this made Li Chengqian lose face, and even fell out of favor in front of Li Shimin, and lose face in front of other brothers.
Li Kuan knew the pain in Li Chengqian's heart, and he meditated for a while and replied: "As the future prince of Datang, why are the princes afraid of them? If the prince forbears and retreats, they must be able to gain an inch, and there is no need to bear it!
"Unbearable, no need to bear!" Li Chengqian lowered his head thoughtfully. He had always given in in exchange for not understanding, but intensified criticism, and even let his favored too often be put to death, all because of him Cowardice and patience.
Today, Li Chengqian invited Li Kuan on the pretext of an in-house literary competition. The real purpose was to know how Li Kuan would do if he changed positions, so that Li Chengqian bowed his head and said nothing. (End of this chapter)