Living leisurely in Tang Dynasty

Chapter 115:

Li Yuanying dares to publicly sell “dragon bone” but Dong Xiaoyi don’t so he only told the world that the creature is called a “dinosaur”. It didn’t matter if the fossil indeed belonged to a dragon; all it needed to do is to make people stare in awe at its bigness.

Not long after, many came visiting after hearing news. Even if there weren’t any dinosaur fossil, it would still be good to visit the town that belonged to a royalty. News spread that there were delicious food and a group of Gaochang people residing there. Since it’s such a fun place, how can it not top the list of the best places to visit during Autumn?

The people in-charge of the Garden quickly became busy and had to record down all the reservations and worked on limiting the numbers of visitors. If you send in your reservation late then too bad, wait in line. Humans like exciting things and when news spread that the queue for Sunflower Garden was half a month, many became curious and send in their reservation.

After all whether you choose to buy anything or spend any money at Sunflower Garden is entirely up to your own prerogative. People can choose to not spend and just sight see, what can Li Yuanying do? Kick them out?

Nonetheless, the young prince had already left and is studying peacefully. Although Zhang Jianzhi does things slowly, he receives information very on time.

“To visit your garden we don’t need to spend anything, aren’t you afraid that the garden will be abused by the crowd?”

“A place will only deteriorate due to poverty from lack of people, if it is crowded it will not be poor. The Sunflower garden is able to attract crowd but whether it can sustain itself will depend entirely on the villagers. Moreover putting together a puzzle model is so much fun, who wouldn’t like that?”

And Li Yuanying was right. After visitors had seen the gigantic dinosaur fossil and then the wooden model at the riverbank, most started to think differently. How can they not bring home such a great item? I need to have the most popular item that everyone else is having!

The replicas for sale were made with wood, so the material cost is manageable. What’s even more special is that it is made up of multiple tiny pieces that are all individually carved delicately and with precision. This is a much better toy than anything else sold outside. Having this item, the whole family can sit together and assemble it. Sure, it might be time consuming but there’s nothing much to do at night anyway, why not spend some time with the kids?

The atrocious thing is that there are only 3 units for sale daily due to the high demand for experienced craftsmanship on this replica. 3 units, nothing more, nothing less!

You can always bring the blueprint and find someone else to replicate it for you. After all we don’t lack in the number of people who are interested in getting their hands on one. This is the way that I want to do business, what can you do about it?

Some indeed tried to commission counterfeit versions of the wooden puzzle. They borrowed blueprint from those who managed to buy a set and requested craftsmen outside to work on an identical copy. Only to find out that if they wanted an exact replica that is delicately done up and do not hurt a kids’ fingers and when put together looks alive, the cost is sky high due to the skills required! As for counterfeit goods, after touching the genuine version, you will not settle for a fake.

So the public had no choice but to stay in line hoping to get lucky the next time.

Even those who do not like Li Yuanying had to be impressed with his ability to make money. A bunch of wood sold at exorbitant price and yet people are fighting to buy them. He even brought in crowds to his ordinary garden and transformed it into a popular tourist destination. A huge amount of people visiting and contributing to his economy. Even If you didn’t get a wooden model, you can still buy local produce like grape wine or corn or peanuts. Everything in the garden is popular and people were willing to spend even if the prices are a little higher.

After Li Yuanying brought life to his garden, he left it behind and move on to newer things.

He is currently super busy.

The reason? He told Li Er that he wanted to take the Imperial Exam in the following year. Big Brother didn’t give him any chances and directly informed Kong Yingda about this news quickly.

Kong Yingda also got to know from the Emperor that Prince Teng’s recommended to send his disciples to the Tibetan Empire.

Under normal circumstances, it was impossible for the royal clan and civil servants to have a close relationship. The royals prides themselves in being of noble birth whilst the civil servants pride themselves on being educated and looks down on the royal clan members who are uneducated and likely to a become parasites to society.

The relationship between Kong Yingda and Li Yuanying was like that in the past. It was impossible to get along well and it would already be good if both parties do not complain about each other.

However, the Emperor’s attitude towards his younger brother had changed significantly in recent years. It seems like he wants this younger brother to be useful and do practical things. Additionally, his Majesty personally asked him if this younger brother of his is still “teachable”.

Since his Majesty asked like this, how can Kong Yingda dare to not teach him well?

After getting to know him better, Kong Yingda changed his mind about Li Yuanying. At the very least, he recognizes him as an official student of the Imperial College. But news are saying that this kid reported everyone who had taught him and recommended them to be sent to the Tibetan Empire on mission! Listening again, this guy also claimed that he can pass the Imperial examination next year!

In a fit of anger, Kong Yingda instructed that the boy be given extremely hard questions so that he understands that “there are always people or things better than you”. The Imperial College exam is not that easy. Do you really think that by just reading a book for a year or two you will be smarter than everyone else in the world?

Kong Yingda gave the order. Although Dr. Ma and others had murmurs in their hearts, they did as instructed and greatly increased the difficulty of Li Yuanying’s homework.

Kong Yingda originally thought that the boy would give up after a few days and go crying to someone. Unexpectedly, he had a stubborn temper. As he was stumped the first day, he went home and kept thinking about the problem until late night. In the middle of the night, he suddenly jumped up: “I got it figured out.”

Early the next morning, Li Yuanying went to morning class energetically. On the contrary, Tang Guan and Tang Xuan both showed up with panda eyes.

And so a few days passed. Whenever Li Yuanying encountered a problem, Tang Guan and the rest study it enthusiastically with him. If they can’t solve the problem, they would find a few more to join in. In short, Li Yuanying is absolutely not allowed to leave his problems until night time, otherwise he will ponder about it all night and no one knows till how late!

He is energetic even without sleep but others need their sleep!

In the end, Li Yuanying didn’t even realize that Kong Yingda was making things difficult for him. He just thought that his teachers were awesome as they thought about such profound difficult questions.

Li Yuanying is a straight forward person who live by the motto “if you have something to say, you say it directly.” When he ran to Dr. Ma to discuss the answers, he sighed with great admiration: “We all have 1 brain but why is yours so good? No matter how hard I try, I can’t think of these wonderful questions!”

Dr. Ma looked at the boy’s shining eyes and felt that he could no longer mess with the child.

He met with Kong Yindga and told him that not only did Li Yuanying not feel that his life was made difficult, he actually enjoyed it. If you can give him a hard time, do it yourself!

Upon hearing this, Kong Yingda twirled two strains of his beards.

There is no airtight wall in the world, the news about Kong Yingda making life difficult for Li Yuanying but failing quickly reached His Majesty’s ears. Although it is not good to gloat over others misfortune, Li Er still ate an extra bowl of rice. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that it was brilliant for him to let his younger brother join the Imperial Academy. Let this bad brother be Kong Yingda’s headache!

Li Yuanying worked hard in the Imperial College until year end and made many friends. Whether they were dorm mate or otherwise, he could always strike up a conversation with others. As the New Year was approaching, it’s time for a major holiday season and students left for home to celebrate the New Year.

Li Yuanying returned to the palace and stayed there for two days. After that, he left for a trip not to play but to visit Ouyang Xun’s house.

Ouyang Xun had passed away last year. Most of his sons had grown up and had official positions except for his youngest who was in his early teens. At present, all the men in the Ouyang family were home and they felt a little surprised that Prince Teng was visiting at  the door.

“His Royal Highness Prince Teng came to meet your father earlier and they had a very pleasant conversation. He even sent a message on behalf of his Highness to invite the eminent monks in the city to gather with him.” (Mrs. Xu, the  mistress of the house)

Everyone knew that Li Yuanying Invited a group of monks to teach scriptures in the Tibetan Empire and to trade tea. Which one is Li Yuanying’s purpose today? That’s up to your imagination!

Since the visitor is already at the door, it is only natural to invite him in. Although everyone in the Ouyang family was confused, they still went out to welcome him.

As Dai Ting was away, Li Yuanying received news much slower and didn’t find out that Ouyang Xun had passed away until much later. By the time he found out, it was already too late to pay his respects and he could only mourn from a distance. Ouyang Xun lived to be over 80 which is a long time. Therefore, his passing is considered a happy mourning period so no one really looked sad.

Li Yuanying did not come empty-handed. He brought many manuscripts written by the late Ouyang Xun. It sounds a bit weird to give someone his own father’s manuscripts but he heard that the family is trying to buy back the late Ouyang’s works as they wanted their youngest son to practice calligraphy. Yuanying quickly packed up the manuscripts and went visiting the Emperor and his ministers to request for another batch. He gathered three large boxes and asked people to carry them over.

Li Yuanying never liked to talk with empty politenesses, so he put down the big boxes and explained why he is visiting. He and Ouyang Xu had been friends and he has heard that they are recollecting the late Ouyang’s works. Therefore he went around asking people for it and unknowingly he had gathered 3 big boxes. Please excuse him for this really abrupt visitation!

After saying that, he had a cup of tea at Mrs. Xu’s invitation and ran away again. It was obvious that the boy acted on impulse.

Mrs. Xu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Her late husband was only a lowly ranked official and is nothing compared to people in Chang’an City. Since his passing, the family has become more and more desolate. At time like these, the warmth and coldness of human relationships are particularly clear.

Mrs. Xu stepped forward and opened one of the boxes. The contents were neatly packed without any damage. She took out one and unfolded it and then shed tears when she saw the familiar handwriting. She pulled her youngest son Ouyang Tong to her side and said, “Tong’er, you have to learn your father’s calligraphy well.”

Ouyang Tong nodded seriously.

After Li Yuanying finished delivering the manuscript it was still early. He rode his horse for a stroll to Wei Zheng’s house intending to play with his friends.

Unexpectedly, he could smell fragrant chicken soup even before entering the courtyard. Someone is making delicious food at home and anyone else would been embarrassed to go in, but not  Li Yuanying. He tied his horse and ran in happily:  “Sister Shu, I know this soup is made by you just from the smell of it!”

As he spoke, he stepped towards the house. Before he could enter he quickly took another step back, feeling that he might have entered the wrong house. He looked outside and realized that it was Wei Zheng’s house. Then he stepped into the house and was met with six pairs of eyes looking at him fiercely.

The oldest one is Wei Zheng, the little old man is always fierce.

The middle ones were obviously Wei Zheng’s four sons. The eldest son, whom he had met, was Wei Shu’s biological father. The remaining three, with decreasing age were Wei Shu’s three uncles.

The youngest one is an old acquaintance, Wei Ying.

Wei Ying got along quite well with Li Yuanying in the Imperial College, mainly because he felt that instead of letting the young prince abduct his sister to places where he cannot see, it is better to act together with them.

Now that he was not in school and his grandfather, father and uncles were around, Wei Ying felt that this guy who looks for his sister every day was an as*shole. When he heard him yelling before he even entered the door that “I know you made this soup as soon as I smelled it”, Wei Ying became even more angry!

“Why do you ruin other’s reputations like this?” You know as soon as you smell it? Does my sister make soup for you every day? !

All the men in the Wei family stared at Li Yuanying, their faces as stern as Wei Zheng’s and they all looked very scary.

Li Yuanying blinked and stepped back with an innocent face. After retreating to the door, he immediately rubbed oil on the soles of his feet, turned around and ran away!

After being frightened by the Wei family, Li Yuanying lost all thoughts about playing. He felt his beating heart and went back to the palace to complain to Li Er. When he caught His Majesty, he criticized Wei Zheng eloquently: “Last time, I hit Old Wei with a few words and then he had been ignoring me. This time I went to his house to play, and he even called his sons. They all stared at me fiercely, it was so scary. Fortunately, I was smart and ran away fast enough, otherwise he would have asked his sons to beat me up! This old Wei is really unreasonable. He can’t win a verbal fight so he ask his sons to come over. It is clear that he is bullying me for not having any sons! When I have ten or eight sons in the future, I will definitely beat him!”

Notes from the Author:

His Majesty Li Er: I always feel that this guy’s words are not very credible.

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