After leaving the west hall, Tang Ji and Hua Yuan'er followed Li Chengyang into a side courtyard in the inner courtyard.
While Li Chengyang went back to his room to change clothes, Tang Ji sat at the stone table in the courtyard and remembered the scenes of the several courtyards he had just passed through in his mind. Although he had been busy for so long without gaining any useful information,
At least we have a route map from the palace gate to the inner courtyard.
The space of this courtyard is not very large, but the layout is well-proportioned and the decoration is exquisite. The vegetation in the flower bed sways gently with the evening breeze, and there are two playing birds on the eaves of the corridor. Everything looks so quiet.
Beautiful, but as time goes by, the sky gradually darkens, and those beautiful scenery are swallowed up by darkness.
Fortunately, not long after, several maids wearing light pink skirts walked out from the end of the corridor. They each held a lantern in their hands and skillfully hung or placed them in fixed positions. There were also two maids responsible for holding the stone lanterns.
Light it up and the yard will soon be lit up again.
Not long after, Li Chengyang jumped out and ran out: "Hey, hey, I'm coming!"
Immediately, Tang Ji and Hua Yuan'er stood up and saluted one after another.
"What are we playing? Father said we can't go to bed too late, so I can still play with you for half an hour." Li Chengyang unconsciously pushed out his big belly and looked at Tang Ji with a playful smile.
Tang Ji concentrated on thinking for a while and then said: "Then let's play hide and seek. His Highness the Crown Prince and I will hide while Master Hua comes to find us."
Li Chengyang didn't understand the meaning of hide-and-seek at first, but after hearing his explanation, he nodded with interest: "Okay, let's play hide-and-seek!"
"Then Master Hua, go and face the wall, remember not to peek." Tang Ji continued.
Hua Yuan'er sneered lightly. These two guys didn't know martial arts. It was not easy for him to find them. He waved his hand and walked straight over.
Then, Tang Ji took Li Chengyang to find a place to hide. He deliberately changed places one after another and walked towards the east gate of the inner courtyard, but was stopped by the servant in gray clothes from before.
"Go back. Your Majesty has an order. His Royal Highness cannot leave this courtyard after dark!" Xiao Yuanfu did not give Tang Ji a good look, and his tone was particularly serious.
Tang Ji pursed his lips. The guards in the Beidu Palace were not very strict. He had just been followed by two people when he went to the toilet. Now it was useless to even move the prince out. It seemed that there was no chance of walking around.
Li Chengyang turned to look at him: "You must listen to your father, let's not go out."
Naturally, Tang Ji would not insist, otherwise his intentions might be exposed. He smiled and touched his head: "It's my first time entering the palace. I didn't expect there to be so many rules. Okay, let's hide where we were just now!"
After saying that, he took Li Chengyang back.
Xiao Yuanfu hummed softly, then leaned against the stone arch and stared at the other person closely.
...
Later, the sky darkened completely, and an irregular disk hung in the night sky, releasing its light to the fullest.
In the main courtyard of Beidu Prince's Palace, a burst of hearty laughter came from a brightly lit room.
"Hahaha, this barbarian marshal can't sit still anymore after all!" Li Wenquan leaned on the square chair with a big belly, staring at the letter in his hand, and smiled again: "If the imperial army's expedition to the west hadn't arrived, I don't think he would have come.
It’s not that easy to agree.”
Liu Qicai, who was standing aside, cupped his hands and said with a smile: "Congratulations, Your Majesty!"
"Now we are waiting for the Western Expedition Army to go deeper. When the time comes to expose our backs to us, I will have more confidence to negotiate with the Jiang people." Li Wenquan folded the letter and put it away, his fingers rhythmic.
He tapped the ground lightly on the table, and then exhaled: "However, I heard that the people have become suspicious of the suppression of bandits, and it is time to take a heavy blow."
Liu Qicai thought for a while and said doubtfully: "Your Majesty, why don't we recruit those bandits? Then you will have an army of 300,000!"
"Recruitment? Those bandits have done so much harm to the people. If I do that, I will lose the support of the people." Li Wenquan replied.
Liu Qicai pursed his lips. In the past ten days or so of the city's closure, the people in Yingzhou City had secretly spurned the prince countless times, so how could they support the people's support? However, he could only say these words in his heart.
He still nodded and replied: "Your Majesty is wise."
Li Wenquan didn't think any more and stood up, holding on to the table: "Let's go, it's getting late. Those bandits have never been patient, so they should be impatient!"
"It's their honor to have dinner with the prince, so why not wait!" Liu Qicai flattered him and quickly walked to the door to open the door for him.
After Li Wenquan walked out of the study, he was about to walk to the front yard, but he heard laughter coming from the yard next door. He couldn't help but look suspicious: "Has Yang'er not rested today? What makes him so happy?"
Liu Qicai was busy entertaining the bandits, so he really didn't pay attention to His Royal Highness, so he couldn't help but shake his head.
After thinking about it, Li Wenquan decided to go see his son first. As soon as he reached the gate of the side courtyard, he found Li Chengyang jumping around with two strange men. He suddenly looked suspicious and looked sideways at Liu Qicai:
"Who are they?"
Liu Qicai took a look at the lights in the courtyard, and then replied: "They came with Fang Wei, the leader of Black Dragon Village, to get the bandits, but why are they here? I will send someone to capture them now!"
Hearing the sound, Xiao Yuanfu, who was about to fall asleep, suddenly woke up. After seeing the person in front of him clearly, he quickly saluted: "See you, Your Majesty."
Li Wenquan raised his hand to stop Liu Qicai and asked him, "What's going on?"
Xiao Yuanfu turned his head and glanced at the scene in the courtyard, and immediately told what happened just now.
After listening, Li Wenquan was slightly surprised and looked up into the courtyard again. Not to mention the purpose of these two people willing to play with Yang'er, but he had indeed not seen Yang'er so happy for a long time. Sometimes,
As a father, he would feel a little disgusted when he saw such a son. He sighed and was about to leave, but was stopped by a voice coming from the courtyard.
"Father!"
Li Chengyang trotted over with his fat body, his forehead was already covered with sweat, and he was breathing heavily while hugging Li Wenquan's thigh.
Li Wenquan wiped his sweat with his sleeve and said with a smile, "What is Yang'er doing?"
"Father, Brother Tang and Master Hua are teaching me how to play shuttlecock. Also, I also learned a nursery rhyme and recited it to my father. Uh... By the way, little white rabbit, white and white, cut
After cutting the arteries and veins, it remains motionless. It’s so cute. Peel off the skin, chop it into pieces, put it in a pot and stir-fry, add some water, cover it, and sprinkle with coriander before serving." Li Chengyang blinked his little eyes and said.
After he finished, he rubbed his belly again: "Father, I'm hungry and want to eat rabbit."
"Okay, okay, it's a bit late today. I'll let someone do it for you tomorrow." Li Wenquan patted his head lovingly.
Just at this time, Tang Ji and Hua Yuan'er also came over, knelt down and saluted one after another: "Common people see you, the King of Beidu."
"Get up!" Li Wenquan replied casually, glanced at the two of them a few more times, and then touched Li Chengyang's head: "It's getting late, Yang'er should go to bed!"
Li Chengyang nodded obediently: "Okay, Yang'er, listen to your father."
After saying this, he said hello to Tang Ji and Hua Yuan'er, and then walked towards the courtyard followed by Xiao Yuanfu.
Tang Ji didn't expect to meet the King of Beidu here, but fortunately his mental quality was pretty good. He smiled and said: "Since His Highness the Crown Prince is going to rest, let's go back to the West Hall first."