Living leisurely in Tang Dynasty

Under the watchful eyes of his colleagues, Wei Zheng asked to be excused so that he could take his grandchildren home.

Since Mrs. Pei didn’t come along, his temporary residence felt really empty as he only had a small luggage. Looking at the two quail-like children, Wei Zheng sat down and motioned for them to sit for a talk.

Wei Shu obediently sat down.

Wei Ying was a little afraid of grandfather so he cowardly didn’t dare to speak.

Wei Zheng took one look at his granddaughter he brought up himself and then turned to Wei Ying signalling him to explain how Li Yuanying got them back here.

Wei Ying quietly looked at his younger sister. Seeing that she was sitting quietly pretending to be cute, he suddenly regained his spirits. He told Wei Zheng all about how Prince Teng forcefully blocked their carriage and that he was arrogant and rude. A child from the royal family who bullies others.

Wei Shu twitched her lips but continued to stay quiet.

Wei Zheng listened and look at his granddaughter from time to time. After Wei Ying has finished talking about Li Yuanying’s horrific crimes, Wei Zheng asked: “Then why did your father agree to let you two come to Luoyang?”

Wei Ying was dumbfounded.

This…. He complained a little too much and now doesn’t know how to tie up loose ends. If Li Yuanying was really that bad, why would father agree to let him bring his children back to Luoyang. Wouldn’t that portray his father as someone stupid and easy to fool?

Seeing that Wei Ying had nothing to say, Wei Zheng turned to Wei Shu: “You tell me.”

Wei Shu can’t tell if grandfather was feeling with his usual straight face. If it’s like this, she just had to explain everything honestly.

After hearing the whole story, Wei Zheng sighed.

Li Yuanying figured out his eldest son’s temperament in an instant. With that, he was able to use the right medicine to deal with son and said everything that he agrees with! All this talk about taking care of his elders and sending his son to the Imperial Academy would make much sense to him no matter how you put it.  

More importantly, this damn kid dares to use his NAME to do stuff!

His son is good at most things except having good agility in adapting. It’s not that hard to understand why he was fooled by Li Yuanying.

Wei Zheng simply waved his hands and said: “You guys have been outside for many days, go clean up and rest.”

Wei Ying was impatient: “Grandfather, are you just going to let that arrogant guy go after he abducted my sister?” He didn’t care that he was suppose to be afraid of Wei Zheng and grabbed onto hands sharing all about Li Yuanying’s theory from <<Book of Rites>>.  

“He also said that he learned everything from you. Grandfather, aren’t you angry?”

Angry? Of course I am ANGRY!

Wei Zheng was so angry that his face trembled but he can’t drag Li Yuanying over to settle this score.

After all, Li Yuanying’s words are not nonsense, they are taken from real life principles.

If he, Wei Zheng, only knew how to be upright without judging the situation, and couldn’t give appropriate suggestions according to situational needs, he would have lost his heads several times even if he had ten if them! Is it easy to be an advisor? Since ancient times persuading and advising the monarch has been the worst job on earth.

It’s just that Wei Zheng would never tell this to others. Th Emperor values his “straightness”. How can he teach others to act “crooked”?

Seeing his grandson complaining anxiously, he instantly knew that this grandson hasn’t understood a word. He is just being simple minded in thinking that since he doesn’t like Li Yuanying then everything Li Yuanying said is bad.

Wei Zheng just answered lightly: “I see. You go and rest and study hard. I’ll bring you to meet Kong Yingda another day. Even if you are my grandson, it is still your skills alone that will get you admitted into the Imperial College.Don’t make the Wei family lose face.”

Wei Ying was dumbfounded. Not only is grandfather not striking Li Yuanying for his nonsense but he is also sending him to the Imperial College per the boy’s suggestion! Kong Yingda who manages the  Imperial College is known to be notoriously rigid and tough. If he studies there, he will have a hard life!

Before Wei Ying could counter with anything, Wei Zheng sent them away. He sat in his room seriously thinking if it was a mistake on his part for teaching Li Yuanying about that book.

Fortunately, <<The Analects of Confucius>> was taught by  Xiao Deyan, otherwise he might be even more angry.

Wei Zheng sat alone and sulked while Li Yuanying successfully passed the test of Li Er and had ran back to meet his friends.

Li Zhi had to study during daytime so he was okay but GaoYang and Sizi were very depressed. Without Li Yuanying, no one would take them around playing!

Yuanying has his way in keeping the little lolis happy.  He bought along all the small gifts he bought on the way and distributed it to the girls one by one. After that he started sharing about all the bad things – Dominant father and brother and poor sister Shu. Sharing that if he did not rush over, we will never see sister Shu again!

After hearing this, the children were pacified and less angry. They instead wanted to know how young uncle snatched Wei Shu back from the hands of the Wei family. He shared all the ups and downs and the girls listened intensely, sometimes filled with righteous indignation and sometimes happiness over the accomplishments.

In the end, everyone felt that it was the right thing for Li Yuanying to snatch Wei Shu back. Otherwise everyone would never be able to play together again!

Hearing the whole thing, Li Zhi just wanted to say that it was right for the Wei  father and brother  to be wary of Li Yuanying. Anyone who becomes aware that a guy like you has eyes on his  daughter will definitely be very worried!

Of course, having years of experience in dealing with Li Yuanying  taught Li Zhi that somethings should just be kept in the heart  and never said out casually!

Otherwise, Li Yuanying will teach you what it means by being too late to regret.

After coaxing the girls, Li Yuanying returned to his happy days of being the leader of playtime. He tried twice cautiously and found that Wei Zheng didn’t intend to kick him when he come looking for Wei Shu. He soon returned to his usual manner and drops by inviting Wei Shu to play like usual.

Knowing that Wei Zheng really wanted to send Wei Ying to the Imperial College, he enthusiastically decided to help Wei Ying through the back door. He went to Kong Yingda and started praising Wei Ying.

“Brother Wei is the elder brother of sister Shu who is extremely smart. If the sister is so smart, how can her brother be stupid? You should just keep your standards high like with Tang Xuan, he will definitely do well. I think Brother Wei will definitely build his name in the Imperial College.”

Kong Yingda snorted coldly: “You really are shameless in speaking out”

Yuanying was being quite protective of Wei Ying and said responsibly: “I came here to tell you all this on my own. Old Kong! Don’t think that Brother Wei made me do it.”

After speaking, he handed a long scroll to Kong Yingda.

“I tap onto old scholar Xiao’s past teachings and drew up a book list for Brother Wei. Can you take a look at this? If you think its okay, I’ll pass this to brother Wei to follow.”

Kong Yingda look at the list  and found that they were all good Confucian classics. Although there were some works of other schools mixed in, they were still among those that should be read. He handed it back to Yuanying, stroked his beard and said, “Not bad, you can give it to him.”

“I’ll bring this to Brother Wei right away! He is smart so you can just follow this list when you want to test him.”

After speaking, Li Yuanying asked quite considerately, “Do you want me to make a copy of the same list for you to keep?.”

Kong Yingda nodded in agreement: “Yes.”

Li Yuanying left contentedly with a list of books. After walking for a while, he told Dai Ting in a smiling manner to send Kong Yingda the book list which he had much earlier made several copies. This older brother of Sister Shu, while he had a good heart, is too free. That’s why he goes around nosing into his sister’s business and then complaining to the adults!

So let’s find a way to keep him busy!

Right after, the boy didn’t delay and hurriedly ran to give the book list to Wei Zheng for his grandson.

Wei Zheng raised his eyebrows and looked at him.

Li Yuanying actively lobbied to Wei Zheng: “I have read all these and they are useful. Please remember to ask Brother Wei read them. Old Kong mentioned that when he test Brother Wei, he will follow accordingly to this book list. Being the grandfather, you have to urge him to study. He has to be a capable older brother so that my younger sister Shu can rely on him in the future!”

Wei Zheng said helplessly: “Okay, I will prepare them according to this list.”

After bullying Wei Ying, the boy took away Wei Shu who was brewing tea.

Wei Ying has been busy studying . While he hears Li Yuanying dropping by to look for Wei Shu, he refuses to meet him. After noticing that the boy has left, he came out to ask grandfather: “What is he doing here again? Did he come to look for sister again?”

Wei Zheng took one look at his grandson and felt that it was not wrong for this grandson to be bullied and squashed. Li Yuanying thought that his grandson was an eyesore and so he thought of a way to get rid of him. But look at this grandson, all he could do was to avoid him!

It seems like he should really keep his eldest grandson by his side. Otherwise when the title Duke of reaches his son and grandson, it might deteriorate from one generation to the other.

“I’ll ask men to pack some books back. Make sure you read them carefully. When you’re tested during the admission session, you’ll be tested based on these books.”

Hearing that there were more books,  Wei Ying’s face turned bitter.

“Why more? Didn’t you say that after reading the book you gave previously, I will be done?”

“Before today that statement was true but not after today.”

Wei Ying finally got smart: “Did that guy do something just now?!”

Wei Zheng scoured his face and scold: “Both him and Shu’er are younger than you but they have read many more books than you. You should be reflecting instead of blaming others!”

As soon as Wei Zheng became fierce, Wei Ying didn’t dare to say anything else. He secretly groaned in his heart. If he had known this, he shouldn’t have provoked Li Yuanying at all from the start. Although father was strict, he was far less scary than grandfather. Grandfather’s sullen face is too scary!

Wei Ying was like an eggplant beaten twice. He went back limply and buried himself in his studies.

Li Yuanying had no care for Wei Ying’s emotions. After getting rid of this sister-stalking monster, he was in a good mood. He gave Wei Shu a copy of list.

“See if there’s any books on this list that you haven’t read.  When your brother goes for the assessment, you go along and provoke him at the side. Let him realized that there are people beyond people and skies beyond skies ^[1]meaning there’s always someone better out there. Let him broaden his horizons, and not only know how to bully his sister all day.”

“This can’t count as bullying. He was born like this.”

Wei Shu wasn’t very angry with Wei Ying. Firstly, they spend too little time together so the siblings are not familiar with each other. There will  inevitably be times when they cannot understand each other. Secondly, Wei Ying is already being tormented to death by Li Yuanying. Even if she was angry before, she would have been satisfied long ago.

“No such thing as born like this. As long as a person is willing to change, they can definitely change.”

He thought for awhile and still felt that he wasn’t cruel enough to Wei Ying. He shared that he will write to Tang Xuan and Di Renjie so that they can coordinate an attack that is both internal and external. He will ask Tang Xuan to get a few classmates to come watch from the sidelines. Di Renjie will take his admission test during this same timing.

Halfway planning, he felt that this was fun.  

“Remember to find out the date your brother will report to the Imperial College. I will bring you along  and we can both try out the entrance exam together. Let’s make sure he scores last!”

“Are you planning to study at the Imperial College too?” (Wei Shu)

“Nope. I just want to try the exam. I didn’t say I’m going in after the exam.” He promised firmly. “I’m close to Old Kong, it is not an issue to ask him to prepare a few more test paper.”

Anyway, the plan is to spare no room in messing with Wei Ying, a brother who doesn’t behave like a brother so that he would never have time to bother Wei Shu!

Li Yuanying took Wei Shu to meet with his other friends and told them about his grand “bad brother transformation plan”. He then asked  if they wanted to join him.

Gao Yang didn’t like reading, so she chose to abstain.

Sizi and Hengshan found that there were too many books on the list that they hadn’t read, so they chose to abstain.

Cheng Yang has always been introverted and quiet. Li Yuanying thought that she wouldn’t want to participate but Cheng Yang raised her hand: “I want to go.”

Li Yuanying immediately agreed: “No problem!”

He then asked Li Zhi, who was the only one who hadn’t commented yet. “How about you, will you join us?”

Li Zhi had no stance, so when Li Yuanying asked him he just agreed.

That was how the meet up for the little radishes went from playing wildly to reading together. Regardless of whether they planned to participate in Li Yuanying’s plan, they all studied seriously with aspirations. Since this is not the first reading for Li Yuanying, he took time to explain when any of the children couldn’t understand a topic. With that, everyone was motivated to study hard.

Notes from the author:

Little Prince: I don’t want to play, I just want to bring Brother Wei onto the right path! Hey, this seems to be very fun, I will call my friends too!

Wei Ying:! ! ! ! !

References

↑1meaning there’s always someone better out there