Living leisurely in Tang Dynasty

It has never once crossed Li Yuanying’s mind to invite the Emperor and his ministers. After all, today isn’t a holiday so they should be busy with daily governmental affairs so why would they come and join in the fun?! The oldest person in his guest list was Li Chengqian.  He did this because of their promise to roast a whole cow together.

It’s a pity that all cattle are registered and accounted for in the government office and they cannot simply be slaughtered casually. Doing so is considered a crime and the owner must be held accountable. But Li Chengqian told him that spring’s ploughing will begin in a few days and there’s always bound to be an accident with livestock. He’s already requested his men to be on full alert and once they have the opportunity they can go towards the secret base to roasted a whole cow!

Yuanying has not tasted the roast beef yet but he already thinks that Chengqian is a good nephew. He gave an invitation to him in advance to attend the opening of the library together. He also wanted to know if Chengqian has the ability to secure his leave of absence to play! The Crown Prince is here but has unfortunately lost in the game of rock-paper-scissors and so had no part in the revealing ceremony.

As soon as Yuanying heard the auspicious time he brought Sizi out. The crowd had filled the streets to the brim and were only being limited by the size of the street itself. Otherwise the crowd outside would be even more spectacular.

“Look, there are at least a few thousand people here right? Are you afraid? If you’re afraid I can help you with the task!”

Sizi’s eyes were bright and her voice clear: “Not afraid.”

When the crowd saw that it was youngsters who came out from the building and the oldest person being only in his early twenties, they were a little dazed.

Dong Xiaoyi is a street smart kid and quickly introduce the princes and princesses to the crowd. The first person was Li Chengqian, the crown prince. Although Yuanying has always insisted that he’s the more senior person and always casually addresses his nephew as “Chengqian”, he’s still willing to give his nephew the limelight and help him at critical moment.

The people were supportive. When Dong Xiaoyi mentioned about the crown prince, the people exclaimed in unison: “His Royal Highness!” In such a crowded situation, it wasn’t mandatory to pay the royal family personal respect but  the  crowd did so again and again and finally the whole street was filled with cries of “His Royal Highness”. Those behind who couldn’t see the situation became anxious due to the noise and started wondering what was happening.

His Majesty’s party was late so they couldn’t squeeze in. They found a place to drink and went up to the second floor to observe the commotion from a distance.

Dong Xiaoyi then introduced Li Yuanying, saying that he’s the owner of the library and the youngest brother of the Emperor. The people started shouting “Prince of Teng” repeatedly. Yuanying had no stage fright and so was quite proud to hear so many people shouting his title. He proudly stood upright accepting the attention from the crowd.

 Behind them were several princesses and Wei Shu.

After Dong Xiaoyi’s introduction, the news that the Crown Prince officiated the opening in person spread out causing more people to come towards the Western City. Due to the massive crowd, people were unable to enter or leave and they all looked like ducks with elongated necks looking in towards the commotion. The Jingzhao prefecture had already called for officers to standby along the street to maintain order as they were afraid that an accident would happen and cause them to lose their head!

Seeing this grand scene,  Yuanying looked back at his library that was created from two large shops and felt that it was still too small. Lord Brother is right, there are tens of millions of citizens in Tang Empire which makes it difficult to even feed everyone, let alone make them all read books! He bent down to pick up Sizi: “Come on, it’s time for the library to open.”

The group retreated to the sides to allow people view the inside of the library. Right inside the main entrance there were two desks for identity registration and further inside are rows of bookshelves. There were no additional decorations or carved textures, only the light fragrance of books and ink drifts in the air.

Books. All books. Nothing else. But it’s precisely because of this sea of books that the noisy crowd quieted down. In such a place, everyone felt that making loud noises was a form of blasphemy.

Some of the poor students couldn’t control their tears and choked in low voices from the understanding or curious stares of other onlookers.

Dong Xiaoyi then dropped another bombshell: The plaque of this library is written by the Emperor himself!

Everyone’s eyes turned to the plaque covered by red silk.

Sizi wasn’t tall enough, so Yuanying lifted her up a little to reach the hanging red silk. She pulled forcefully and the red silk slowly fell revealing five characters “Tang Empire Library” written by His Majesty. When the people saw the handwriting, they burst into tears and someone shouted “Long live my Emperor” which resonated along the streets.

Li Er stood by the window on the second floor and watch his subjects sing praises over five simple characters. He stood with his hands behind his back for a long time and sighed emotionally to Fang Xuanling beside him.  

“Xuanling, I think we haven’t done enough. Not good enough. Otherwise why would my subjects be so excited over a simple library.”

“Aren’t we still working hard?” (Fang Xuanling )

After hearing  this his Majesty felt less guilty.

“I can’t believe this kid ask Sizi to uncover the red silk. He really does dote on Sizi.”

Wei Zheng who knew Li Yuanying much better speculated that the biggest possibility was because he lost in a game. If his granddaughter Wei Shu won, then it would be her who will reveal the red silk!

His Majesty glanced at Wei Zheng and then at Wei Shu who was standing by the corridor with Yuanying and smiled: “It seems that my Sizi had better luck this time compared to your granddaughter.”

All the other ministers looked towards Wei Zheng with envy for he has a granddaughter who is within Yuanying’s circle of friends. Except for the prince and princesses, Wei Zheng’s granddaughter was the only other commoner being introduced; just because Wei Shu and Yuanying are good friends.

Wei Zheng was silent.

Concurrently the first batch of bamboo cards were distributed and those with one entered the venue. Many who didn’t secure one were unwilling to leave and stayed at the door hoping to wait for tokens that were being returned early. There were also a group of volunteers managing the borrowing of books and some who were answering questions. A large number of people have poured in but there was order and no chaos.  

After the first wave, Yuanying and Chengqian came inside together. Many were lingering in front of bookshelves browsing  books with bright eyes while others went to the reading area. Yuanying liked this atmosphere and felt that this was the kind of energy a student in Tang should have.

Of course there were also those who were illiterate and just  grabbed a bamboo card out of curiosity. They walked around and found that there were only books, so they left right away.

No one deliberately stole the bamboo cards nor the collection of books and everything went on in an orderly manner. Given that there were volunteers in the hall,  guards brought by royalty guarding the entrance and officers standing outside, no one dares to mess around.

Yuanying estimated that after a few days, fewer people would come here due to curiosity. Those who visit will be people who really wanted to read. Volunteer guidance is needed at first but the library should be able to spontaneously maintain order by itself. If this continues in good momentum, the library can be regarded as successful!

After the lively opening ceremony, Yuanying and his friends were planning to leave. However, Wei Shu wanted to stay behind and so Yuanying gave her a golden plate, saying that she was a lifetime member and could visit at any time!

Wei Shu saw the golden plate and accepted it. She thinks that she’ll just be keeping it and will never sell it!  

Yuanying and Chengqian walked out of the library into the crowded streets. Passerby seeing them automatically made way for them to leave.

Chengqian often gets the same reaction when he leaves the palace on weekdays; in which people will make way for him on the streets. But this time he felt that the secret gaze on him was very different from usual. Instead of sensing it as disrespectful,  he felt an unspeakable enthusiasm from the public.

Yuanying who was walking by Chengqian’s side were unfazed by the gazes and didn’t feel anything. He just felt that these people had vision as they insisted on waiting outside for a bamboo token! He pretended to be a scholar and gave his salutation to people around him with his hands. He didn’t give off any sort of arrogant air of being a little prince. Instead, he joked and smiled: “Come earlier next time or else you won’t be able to grab an entrance card again.”

At first, everyone was in awe of these children from the royal family. Seeing Yuanying’s appearance as a lovable little adult, they all relaxed and agreed: “I will definitely, next time I will come early!”

Yuanying babbled all the way, and finally reached the intersection. Without the crowds, the street looks much brighter!

Seeing that it was still early, Yuanying suggested to his friends that they should go for another outing! This proposal was obviously well received. unfortunately before they could set off, the people sent by the Emperor stopped them and politely invited them to a private room in a restaurant.

Yuanying was upset but Li Er was Chengqian and the other children’s father, so he had to go upstairs together.

When he arrived at the private room, Yuanying was startled. Not only was the Emperor present but also Wei Zheng, Fang Xuanling, Kong Yingda, and Zhangsun Wuji. These bunch who had government affairs to attend to has snuck out for a drink! The younger children were intimidated by the atmosphere and quietly came forward to pay respect to the elders like obedient quails.

But Li Yuanying is no coward and he’s not afraid to speak directly to his brother.

“Brother, why are you neglecting your duties by coming here to watch the commotion?! The people of this land looks towards you for their prosperity!”

The group of ministers: “…………..”

Li Er couldn’t hold back and accidentally raised his hand to knock his brother on the forehead.

Li Yuanying covering his head, felt that his brother was oversensitive and can’t handle the truth!

However, since His Majesty and his ministers have all skipped work together, Yuanying had a new brilliant idea: “Lord Brother, since you are already here why don’t we all go out to the city to play?! It’s more efficient to combine work and rest together. It’s impossible to handle it if you just work and not play. Lord Brother, let me tell you, Chengqian has a good place to go. He can roast a whole cow and a whole sheep. There’s so many of us, the number is just right for this!”

Everyone looked at Li Chengqian in unison.

Li Chengqian: “……..”

He should have gone and quickly cover Li Yuanying’s mouth when he heard the first “Chengqian” being uttered from it.