Section 36: The mouse that crossed the street

He was not allowed to return home, even though Yun Ye really wanted to go home to see how the locusts were doing. Li Er did not let him go home, but kept him in the palace and cut him off from all contact, for some reason.

Li Chengqian sat next to him on the stone steps, staring out at the world beyond the high walls. He, too, was under house arrest.

From time to time, locusts flew in and landed on the ground. They didn’t seem to like the tung trees planted in the courtyard, and kept on digging into the garden. A dozen eunuchs kept on chasing them away with brooms, and some greedy ones used nets to catch them.

Li Chengqian now feels nauseous at the sight of locusts. It’s a conditioned reflex.

Feeling Li Chengqian’s depression, the prince did not have much freedom. There was always a large group of people around him, no matter when or where, and there was also a personal secretary who recorded his whereabouts and conversations throughout the day.

Now there are some irrelevant people who come and accuse the two of sitting in an indecent manner. They should sit on a stool, with their hands folded on their knees, and their expressions should be natural, generous, and noble. This is the proper sitting posture for a prince. If there were a painter, he would draw a standard nobleman enjoying locusts. As for the Marquis of Lantian, he was just teaching by the way. After all, he was used to being rude, not to mention that he had peed his pants yesterday. He was a scum among the nobles and a vermin of the elegant life.

After sitting like that for only a short while, the Prince of Lantian began scratching his head and shaking his body. The etiquette teacher scolded him severely, tied his legs with a rope, and fixed him on a stool. He also hit him with a board, and the noble Prince of Lantian completely exploded.

He untied the rope from his legs, snatched the bamboo board from his hands, and beat him mercilessly: “You eunuch, how dare you hit me and tie me up with a rope? You’re looking for death.” After beating him with the bamboo board, he was still not satisfied, and he stopped only after kicking him several times.

Li Chengqian watched with fascination, his face agitated but his posture upright. If there were a painter, he would surely paint a masterpiece of the devil and the angel.

The eunuch was still arrogant: “Fine, you don’t know etiquette and you beat up the teacher. See how you will explain to the empress.”

No, this guy was actually sent by the eldest grandson. This is bad. The thing that gives Yun Ye the most headaches in the palace is the empress. Li Er was a great leader of his generation. He had no psychological burden for deceiving him, and he was a little proud. He was not yet capable of deceiving the eldest grandson.

This woman has a super sixth sense. She judges things not by reason or right and wrong, but by her own feelings. Reason is useless in front of her. She can often guess Yun Ye’s thoughts by relying on her strange feelings.

Yun Ye felt that he was living a small life. The more smoothly his mind and body fit together, the younger his psychological age became. He enjoyed the care of people who were older than him in every way, like a pervert.

This is a grammatically incorrect statement, but if I don’t say it, I won’t be able to explain myself clearly. In theory, all the people in the Great Tang are older than me, even a baby is 1,400 years older than Yun Ye, and in the Great Tang, I am qualified to act young with all of them.

No, the punishment of the eldest grandson is not new at all. It is just standing in the corner, which is not difficult for him. He was trained by his teacher when he was young, and standing for two hours is no big deal. The main thing is that he feels weak when he sees the eldest grandson’s eyes, which is much more difficult than standing in the corner.

He thought that he was the only one with this problem, but when he asked Cheng Qian and Li Tai, they told him that the person they were most afraid of was not Li Er, but Chang Sun. This shows how remarkable the empress’s authority was.

Hurry up and help the eunuch up, and carefully dust off the dust on his body.

The guy had blood running from his nose, but he held his head high and said, “Your servant dares not trouble the Marquis.” He didn’t seem to want to hide at all.

The palace is full of perverts. After being beaten, he is still diligent in teaching.

This time, Yun Ye sat on the stool obediently, allowing the perverted eunuch to do as he pleased.

From a distance, a young royal in a purple robe was chatting with a young nobleman wearing a golden crown under a tree, quiet and warm.

“Cheng Qian, I have the urge to kill the eunuch’s entire family.”

“Ye Zi, he doesn’t have a family. He grew up in the palace since he was a child. If he had a family, I would have killed them long ago. It’s not your turn yet.”

“My legs have no feeling. How are yours?”

“I don’t have any legs now.”

“You are the crown prince, you will sit in front of the people in the future, why should I?”

“Isn’t your dream to establish a monolithic Confucianism? A teacher of all ages who jumps around like a monkey? Even if you are to be sculpted in the future, do you think they will sculpt you as a spoiled brat?”

The empress is here. Yun Ye and Cheng Qian are tied to a stool and can’t get up. Hurry up and tell the eunuch to untie them.

“No need, it’s rare to have a human appearance, it’s good like this.”

A few days ago, when she was wearing a loose robe with wide sleeves, I couldn’t tell her figure. Today, when she was wearing her usual clothes, Yun Ye noticed at a glance that her waist had grown a lot thicker, and she had gained a lot of weight. Was she pregnant? The one in her belly should be the inner sage and outer king, Li Zhi, who expanded the Tang Empire to its limits. If it weren’t for a formidable woman, he would definitely be a character of the “Emperor Fan” type.

“Congratulations, Your Majesty.” Yun Ye quickly offered a big ass-kiss.

“Spit!”

I was spat on.

“Why didn’t you consider the child in my womb the other day? You forced me to eat locusts against my will. Poor Ruyang and Lanling, they still vomit everything they eat. Kexi is even more pitiful, vomiting so much that she can’t even get out of bed. The only concubine in the palace with a title is Yang, and she can only help with palace affairs. It’s all your fault.”

As expected, neither Li Er nor his wife were good people. They were guilty of forcing concubines, princesses, and princes to eat locusts. They were to blame for not allowing themselves to leave the palace. Once they were out, there would be no way to survive.

The bigwigs in the palace, the bigwigs in the army, and the dozen or so kings living on the edge of the palace are probably waiting for him to get out so they can clean up. Yun Ye now desperately wants to return to Yushan and hide in the academy and never come out again.

“It’s good to think it through. Otherwise, I’ll send you out of the palace now. I heard that the Prince of Hejian is waiting for you and preparing to welcome you back. The scene will be grand, and at least half of the courtiers will be there. You’re a big shot, Yun Hou.”

“Your Majesty, I have no intention of leaving the palace. It’s not bad to die in the palace, so as to avoid being abused to death by the ministers outside.” Yun Ye had no choice but to resort to this desperate measure.

“Good, since His Majesty likes you, why don’t you become the head of the palace eunuchs? You can serve His Majesty every day?”

Swallowing his saliva, Yun Ye shook his head in difficulty. It’s okay to hide in the palace for a while, but to live as a eunuch for a lifetime? It’s better to go back to the creek and go home.