Da Tang: Father, can I resign?

Chapter 9 New Goals

Li Ming sat there like a stone, feeling that the world was full of darkness.

Little money, gone!

Who did it?
What will I eat next?
"What's wrong with him? He looks like this when he wakes up this morning."

"The meat bun was stuffed under his nose and he didn't react."

"Is he sick?"

The little bully didn't make a big fuss today, which made everyone confused. Even the sisters and aunts who usually ignored him were a little worried.

"Eat!" Yang gave him a slap on the head.

"Oh." Li Ming opened his mouth mechanically and chewed.

Yang drank millet porridge and, like a parent sending her child to school on the first day, she kept on talking:

"Since you have chosen Mr. Fang as your teacher, you must respect him and serve him carefully, just like you would treat your father.

"Mr. Fang is not Mr. Kong. He is very cunning. Even if you anger him, he won't show any reaction. By the time you realize his ill intentions, you may have already been beheaded..."

Based on her own experience, Yang gave her son some sound advice.

"Oh." Li Ming was absent-minded.

"Mr. Fang is the prime minister of a country. You must prepare gifts to ask him for assistance. Mr. Kong retired because of your anger, so he must also prepare gifts to apologize. Mother has already arranged it for you, you don't have to worry."

"Oh." Li Ming was a walking corpse.

"The emperor's grace for bathing in Lide Palace is not much, and apart from daily expenses, we are quite tight. So I used some of the utensils you hid under the bed to buy gifts."

“Oh…oh oh oh???”

Li Ming came back to life all of a sudden.

"You call that a little? You gave all my savings to those two old men???"

Yang gave him another slap on the face.

"This is all for your own good. I raised you. The boxes where you keep your money are all used by me to store your clothes. When you become a king after learning everything, what will these few valuable things mean to you?"

No matter what era, the excuses parents give for confiscating New Year’s money are always similar.

Li Ming's heart was bleeding.

The boss lady is so generous. Her family eats millet and rice every day, and you just give her hundreds of them as tips.

It's true that a mother sells her child without any regret.

"I know you have been saving money, but I didn't expect you to be so frugal that you even saved the copper coins from the one-year-old celebration." Even Yang, who always lived within her means, had to admire him.

Could the child be a hamster?

Li Ming felt like crying but had no tears after hearing this.

It turned out that he had been targeted for a long time, just waiting to be fattened up and killed.

He now had another reason to escape from the palace.

If you don't jump out of this Five Finger Mountain, your every move will be controlled by others!
"Where is Li Ling?" He suddenly thought of his elder sister who had always been competing with him.

Could it be that she dug out the private money?

Where is she?
Fleeing for fear of crime?
Yang: "She went to the Taiji Hall early in the morning."

Li Ming: "Oh, you got promoted?"

Yang: “Yes.”

Li Ming: "Ah? I was just kidding."

Yang glanced at him and said slowly:
"Last night, His Majesty conferred the title of Princess of Xinye County on Li Ling, and the conferring ceremony will be held today."

Li Ming was instantly sweating profusely.

Li Ling had been waiting for this enthronement for fourteen years!
No wonder the other sisters looked at me with a much kinder attitude.

I didn’t expect the aftermath of yesterday’s incident to be so huge that even an unrelated elder sister was given a title.

Then, I am at the center of the storm, isn't it...

"What about... me?" He swallowed nervously.

Yang rolled her eyes at him and said, "Your Majesty, not beating your butt in court yesterday was already a great reward."

so far so good.

Your Majesty still doesn't love himself.

Yang said softly:

"Don't blame me, mother. The fact that Lide Hall can once again enjoy the grace of the Emperor and that you were able to return safely yesterday was all thanks to Mr. Fang. Therefore, you should not be stingy in thanking him."

"Him?" Li Ming was stunned.

Hasn’t the old house always been a background board? When did it become the Fourteenth Party?
Well, this old guy hid it pretty well.

It turned out that my grand plan was ruined by him!
Doesn't he know that his goose is in my hands?

On the way to school, a thousand little thoughts flashed through Li Ming's mind.

"Wait, calm down. I just got stabbed, and I can't be expelled from the palace for the time being. Otherwise, I'll be dead but my money will be gone, and that will be a tragedy.

"There is still a long way to go. Don't rush to die. Recover your health first..."

After many twists and turns, we are back to the eternal mystery:
How to make money?

It's all Fang Xuanling's fault...

…………

"A-choo!" Fang Xuanling has been sneezing non-stop since he started eating breakfast.

Is it because of the spring pollen?

The eldest son Fang Yizhi hesitated several times before finally summoning up the courage to ask:
"Father, do you really want to assist 'that' His Highness?"

"That person" naturally refers to Li Ming.

Because the reputation is so strong, people can't help but talk about it in a fragrant way, but due to their status, they can't do so, so they just use pronouns instead.

Even though Mingge is not in the court, his legends are everywhere in the court.

"Your Majesty's order, and you want me to disobey it?" Fang Xuanling didn't even look at him, and concentrated on drinking the meat porridge.

"How dare I, it's just..." Fang Yizheng hesitated and was interrupted by his second brother Fang Yiai.

"Others can be the Prince's Grand Tutor or the Eastern Palace's left and right concubines, but my father can only be the Chief Clerk of the Royal Palace, and he is still that brat Prince Cao. I feel so sorry for my father!"

The opportunity to express filial piety was snatched away by Hengdao, Fang Yizheng frowned and glanced at his brother.

Fang Yiai didn't care.

He has been domineering since he was young, so what's the big deal about snatching a word of praise from his father?
Fang Xuanling said nothing, put down the half-empty bowl of porridge, rinsed his mouth with tea, stood up and left.

Fang Yiai was completely confused: "Father, is there something urgent?"

Fang Xuanling glanced at him and said leisurely:
"The mouth is the source of trouble. I'm afraid your blood will splash all over me."

Fang Yiai's face suddenly turned pale.

Fang Xuanling ignored him, walked to the door, turned around and asked:

"Where is your third brother?"

Fang Yizhi said with a sad face:
"He'll have to stay in bed for a few days. He got beaten up pretty badly yesterday."

"Oh." Fang Xuanling nodded expressionlessly and took a car into the palace.

When a person got into the carriage, he sighed helplessly.

Not to mention his two sons with mediocre talents, even he himself was puzzled by His Majesty's will.

Who is Fang Xuanling? He was a loyal minister of Li Shimin, the de facto head of the administrative center Shangshu Province (Shangshu Zuo Pushe), Duke of Liang, and the Grand Marshal together with Zhangsun Wuji.

It is no exaggeration to say that under the emperor and above the court, he and Changsun Wuji were the two most powerful people.

But why could Changsun Wuji become the Prince's Grand Tutor, while he could only assist Li Ming?
Li Ming hasn't even been officially crowned king yet!
Even if he was named King of Cao, there would still be a huge difference between him and the Crown Prince.

This almost means that the Fang family has been squeezed out of the power center of the next generation.

Fang Xuanling couldn't understand why he had ended up on the wrong side.

Just because I was the first one to propose making Li Ming a king at yesterday's court meeting?

But he was just following the convention and had no intention of siding with Li Ming.

Later, when Li Ming caused a big disturbance in Liangyi Palace, he was attacked by his political enemy Xiao Yu.

In order to protect himself, he advised His Majesty to try Kong Yingda's "rebellion" case first, which gave Di Renjie the opportunity to plead for Li Ming.

Regardless of his subjective intentions, judging from the objective results, Fang Xuanling was indeed an important part of Li Ming's turnaround.

As a result, Fang Xuanling was labeled as one of the "Fourteen Parties".

And Li Shimin must have also contributed to this.

Your Majesty has used Li Ming to punish Zhangsun Wuji. For the sake of the balance of the court, he naturally has to punish him as well.

"Because of an unintentional remark, I fell deeper and deeper into trouble...

"Misfortune comes from the mouth."

When they arrived at the palace gate, Fang Xuanling got off the car leisurely and walked inside at a neither fast nor slow pace.

Li Ming had not yet established his own government, and the Lide Hall was not convenient for outsiders to enter, so his classroom was temporarily set up in the Wenxue Hall of the inner court.

The eunuch opened the door.

There was not a soul in the study.

Fang Xuanling laughed at himself.

What am I expecting? Is His Highness Li Ming studying hard?

The old eunuch was very embarrassed: "Huh? His Highness was here just now, why don't I go back and ask Madam..."

"It's okay, just take a day off today and make up for the homework later."

Fang Xuanling turned and left.

He didn't want to get too involved with Li Ming.

He didn't want to tie his political future to this prince with no future.

I will obey your majesty's orders, but your highness has run away, what can I do?

He walked out of the palace gate with brisk steps and bumped into the flustered Fang Yizhizi.

"It's hard to achieve great things without a calm mind." Fang Xuanling said in a low voice, "Straighten your tongue and speak properly. What happened?"

Fang Yizhi said anxiously:
"It's the third brother, the third brother is missing!"

"Legacy?!"

Fang Xuanling was in a trance for a moment, and for the first time an expression of anger appeared on his calm face.

"Li Ming..."

(End of this chapter)