Tang Dynasty: A Guide to Avoiding Pitfalls for Li Er at the Start

Chapter 41. Did I remember it wrong?
Wen He was engrossed in carving something when he suddenly heard a voice announce, "The Princess Consort has arrived."

With a tremor, a piece of wood with carved words slipped from his hand.

He didn't bother to pick it up. When he turned around, he saw Empress Zhangsun staring at him with piercing eyes.

"Greetings, Your Highness." Wen He stepped forward with a smile and bowed.

Li Lizhi, who was beside him, had already run towards her mother.

"What are you doing, sir? Has Qingque done something wrong?"

As a mother, she was naturally angry to see outsiders tormenting her child like this.

But thinking that Wen He wouldn't punish Li Tai without reason, she held back and asked gently.

"Your Highness, His Highness Prince Wei has been disrespectful to his elder brother, so I have given him a small punishment."

He didn't need to beat around the bush in front of Empress Zhangsun.

This virtuous and kind empress naturally understood the reasoning behind his words.

As expected, Empress Zhangsun frowned slightly and glared at Li Tai.

Li Taizheng wanted to complain to his mother, but now he was even more afraid that his mother would punish him even more severely.

"Give the order that breakfast need not be prepared for Qingque today."

Empress Zhangsun was not a loving mother either. Everyone in the Prince of Qin's mansion, whether they were born of the principal wife or a concubine, both respected and feared her.

Even Li Ke was keeping his head down, trying his best to avoid her gaze.

"Mother, Qingque was wrong. We can't go without food." Hearing that there would be no food, Li Tai panicked even more.

He already had no meat to eat, and not being able to eat rice would be worse than being killed.

“Your Highness, I have already punished Prince Wei. As the saying goes, rewards and punishments should be measured, so please let him have breakfast.”

Wen He wasn't trying to plead for Li Tai, but rather because boys his age are typically going through a rebellious phase.

If you rush things, it will only make him resentful.

"Yes, yes, the teacher is right. Qingque knows she was wrong. The teacher has already punished her. Mother can't punish her anymore." Li Tai shouted desperately, as if he had grasped a lifeline.

He had just felt resentment towards Wen He, but now he was only grateful.

The gentleman is a good person.

At least they won't starve me.

"Since Young Master Wen has said so, then let's call it quits this time." Changsun Wugou accepted the offer from Wen He without any hesitation.

After glancing at her, Wen He couldn't help but laugh self-deprecatingly.

He was overthinking it. Empress Zhangsun didn't want to punish Li Tai at all; she wanted me to end Li Tai's punishment.

He shook his head helplessly.

The Xuanjia Guards over there untied Li Tai without even waiting for his order.

"A message just came from the front yard that General Jing has woken up. They originally wanted to invite you over, but since I'm here, they thought I'd let you have breakfast before going over."

Empress Zhangsun changed the subject, trying to divert Wen He's attention away from Li Tai.

The latter saw through his meaning and nodded in agreement.

After breakfast, it was already past the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

Wen He wanted to comfort Wenrou, but the little girl had already gone out to play with her friends.

He smiled helplessly, bowed to Empress Zhangsun in farewell, and left the courtyard.

Empress Zhangsun chuckled as she watched his retreating figure, while Li Tai, standing to the side, thought of currying favor and taking the opportunity to badmouth Wen He.

To his surprise, his mother's face turned cold, and she scolded him, "Yesterday you learned the Three Character Classic, which says, 'Rong, at four years old, could share pears. The younger brother should know this first.' Copy it a hundred times!"

"what!"

Li Tai stood there, dumbfounded.

Empress Zhangsun ignored him, took a few steps, and picked up a piece of wood from a rectangular wooden frame on a table.

When she came in, she found Wen He completely focused on carving this thing.

"Are these words on it? Or a seal?"

"Young Wen is quite talented at such a young age, but it's a pity that his handwriting is really ugly."

She couldn't help but chuckle and placed the wooden block into the wooden frame.

She was just curious, but didn't take it to heart.

She walked outside, glancing at the maid beside her out of the corner of her eye.
"Go and check who has been with Qingque these past two days. Did anyone whisper anything in his ear?"

……

The front yard is where Jing Junhong resides.

In the morning, Yan Liben handed the collected alcohol to the medical officers, who then wiped Jing Junhong down as Wen He had instructed the day before.

Before long, Jing Junhong's fever subsided.

In the blink of an eye, only two hours later, Jing Junhong woke up.

The physician exclaimed in amazement upon seeing this.

Even Wen He wondered if the effect was a little too good.
Could it be that I really have the protagonist's halo, allowing even the people I save to recover so quickly?
But in any case, Jing Junhong escaped from the brink of death.

And he truly changed history.

"This is Wen He, young man Wen." Yan Liben led Wen He to the side of the folding chair and introduced him to Jing Junhong.

Jing Junhong, who had just woken up, was still very weak. He opened his mouth slightly and thanked Wen He.

"Thank you for saving me, young man. I owe you my life from now on."

Wen He hadn't expected him to be so direct. She shook her head with a smile and said, "General, please don't be like that. I was just making a small suggestion. This is all thanks to those two physicians and that coroner named A Gui."

Jing Junhong, however, thought he was being modest and was extremely grateful.

"Young sir, you saved my life without seeking any credit. You are truly a kind person. Once I recover, I will definitely have a good drink with you."

He laughed loudly, but accidentally aggravated his wound, causing him to wince in pain.

Upon seeing this, the surrounding crowd quickly stepped forward.

Wen He and Yan Liben were also pushed out.

"General Jing, please rest well. We will take our leave now."

Wen He decided not to go in anymore. Given Jing Junhong's current condition, he should be able to get out of bed in ten days to two weeks at most.

Yan Liben happened to be there; he had other matters to discuss with him.

"May I ask if Yan Kuzhi is in charge of the craftsmen of the Prince of Qin's residence?"

"I wouldn't say I'm in charge; I'm just fortunate to have His Highness's trust and manage things to some extent," he said with a modest smile.

Wen He was speechless.

Did the ancients have to do things this way?

Isn't it better to be open and honest?

They insist on this kind of modesty.

"I have a few things I'd like to ask Yan Zhiku for help with. Is that alright?"

Before he could finish speaking, Yan Liben nodded hastily, not waiting for him to say what help he could offer.

"Does Wen Xiaolang have some brilliant ideas this time?"

The previous stills had already broadened his horizons.

Wen He's sudden request for his help must mean something new and interesting.

"It's not exactly a brilliant idea, but I want to ask Yan Kuzhi to do two things for me. One is to hire some literate craftsmen, and the other is to ask Yan Kuzhi to write some characters for me."

"Ok?"

Yan Liben looked at him with a puzzled expression.

Wen He didn't mince words and went straight to the point: "Nowadays, most books are copied. If we could carve the text onto a stone or wooden board, then apply ink, and then attach paper, wouldn't it be much easier to copy a text?"

Wen He initially wanted to directly use movable type printing, and that's what he told Li Shimin.

But when he tried it himself, he found it to be quite inconvenient.

The process is too complicated, and a lot of manual work is required for typesetting.

Given the current literacy rate in the Tang Dynasty, it would be quite time-consuming and laborious to hire so many people to operate this system.

No wonder that even after movable type appeared in the Song Dynasty, woodblock printing remained the mainstream.

Yan Liben pursed his lips, his eyes staring straight ahead.

Seeing that he didn't speak, Wen He thought she had said something wrong.

"Although woodblock printing appeared in the early Tang Dynasty, it certainly didn't exist at that time."

Wen He hesitated.

However, he remembered that the Tang Dynasty document "Hongjianlu" recorded the speculation that "Nüze" was printed in the tenth year of Zhenguan, but there was no historical evidence to support this.

The only corroborating evidence is the Diamond Sutra unearthed in Dunhuang two hundred years later, dating back to the ninth year of the Xiantong era, which is 868 AD.

Did I remember it wrong?
Just as he was wondering, Yan Liben suddenly grabbed his arm.

"Let's go, we'll go see His Highness immediately!"

Half a day later, Wen He came to Xuanwu Gate once again.

In just one night, the bloodstains inside and outside the city gates were completely washed away.

It's as if nothing ever happened here yesterday.

The menacing aura of the soldiers on the city wall caused those who were terrified to lower their heads unconsciously as they entered the palace gates.

"Isn't this Young Master Wen? Are you going to the palace today?"

Chang He was still at Xuanwu Gate today. He recognized Wen He at a glance and came to pay his respects in person.

Wen He and Yan Liben, one a commoner and the other a minor official of the fifth rank, were even more juniors in front of this Lord Lei Ze.

Naturally, he dared not accept it and quickly moved away.

Yan Liben told him the reason for entering the palace, and when he learned that he was not summoned by the King of Qin, Chang He was somewhat troubled.

"To be honest with you two, today is really not a good day to talk to His Highness about anything else. You don't know, but just now, Pharmacist Li arrived."

Thank you to Reimu Hakurei, book friend 20220925103642208, and Xiaoxiaoyeyu for the monthly tickets.

Special thanks to the clever little husky.

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(End of this chapter)