Duke of Zhenguan

The shop is located on the south side of the east entrance of the West Market, a very good location, making it perfect for opening a noodle shop.

But Lin Chuan didn't want to open a typical eatery in the West Market; instead, he planned to open a modern noodle shop.

Mrs. Li had no objection to this. The shop belonged to her family, and she and her daughter could work there without hiring anyone. No matter what business they did, they wouldn't lose money.

After reaching a consensus, Lin Chuan began preparations for opening the store.

The first thing is the decoration and various furniture.

My cousins ​​Lin Jiu and Lin Shier are carpenters. In the dead of winter, when there was no work at the docks outside the city, Lin Chuan went to ask them for help. They agreed to help without even asking for wages.

The decoration is relatively simple; the focus is on the furniture.

At this time, furniture mainly consisted of small tables and stools. Chairs were not yet popular, and most restaurants did not even have stools; they only had a few small tables and straw mats for customers to sit and eat.

Lin Chuan had the square table and benches made in advance.

After the first set of square tables and benches was made, Lin Jiu and Lin Shier praised it highly.

Lin Jiu and Lin Shier were busy making furniture, while Lin Chuan went to ask someone to set up a stove behind the shop and specially made two iron pots.

Besides these large items, there are many other things to prepare, such as bowls, chopsticks, and spoons for meals, which all need to be custom-made.

In addition, there is firewood for starting a fire. Wood is too expensive and doesn't burn for long, so Lin Chuan is preparing coal.

Then he busied himself finding someone to make molds for honeycomb briquettes. Fearing that the fire might not be strong enough sometimes, Lin Chuan even asked Lin Jiu to make a simple bellows.

After being busy for more than half a month, time quietly entered the first month of the lunar calendar.

As the prototype of the Spring Festival, New Year's Day had already become one of the most important festivals in the lives of ordinary people in the Tang Dynasty.

Prepare a sumptuous dinner, hang peach wood charms, set off firecrackers, and pray to the ancestors for blessings...

By evening, after everything was ready, Lin Chuan, as the head of the family, knelt before the ancestral tablet in the main room under Li's guidance, bowing three times and kowtowing nine times, completing the last procedure before the New Year's Day meal.

During the meal, Li poured herself half a bowl of wine with a smile, but as she ate, tears suddenly streamed down her face, and she whispered:

"My dear husband, Dalang has become more sensible..."

Lin Chuan felt as if his heart had been struck by a heavy hammer. Looking at the tearful Li Shi, he realized that he had unknowingly come to regard this emaciated woman as a true family member.

He picked up the wine jar and poured half a bowl of wine for Li, saying with a smile:

"Mother, your son has become sensible, shouldn't you be happy...?"

"Yes, we should be happy, we should be happy..."

Li hurriedly wiped away her tears and said repeatedly.

……

While the Lin family of three was eating around the fire, Li Shimin was hosting a banquet for his ministers and envoys from various countries in the Xiande Hall.

Li Shimin sat upright at the front of the main hall, facing south. Below the steps of the throne in front of him, civil and military officials stood on either side.

In the open space in the center of the main hall, a group of court dancers were dancing gracefully to the music.

Li Yuan, dressed in casual clothes, sat upright to the left of Li Shimin.

In order to uphold the legitimacy of Li Shimin's throne, the retired Emperor Li Yuan, who lived in seclusion in the Taiji Palace, rarely made an appearance at the grand court assembly.

However, the relationship between the father and son remained strained. Apart from the necessary formalities, Li Yuan continued to ignore Li Shimin.

Looking at his son, dressed in imperial robes and exuding heroic spirit, Li Yuan sighed inwardly and stood up.

Li Shimin was startled, instinctively thinking that Li Yuan was about to say something embarrassing to him again, and awkwardly stood up to ask:

"Father, what's wrong?"

"I'm tired!"

Li Yuan said it casually.

Seeing that Li Yuan's attitude was showing signs of softening, Li Shimin was overjoyed and quickly said:

"Your Majesty, I will escort you back to the palace immediately!"

"All the officials and foreign envoys are here, yet you, the emperor, have left. What kind of decorum is this?" Li Yuan snorted coldly and turned to walk outside.

Li Shimin cursed himself for being foolish, beckoned to the eunuch, and instructed him:

"Quickly, go and ask the Empress to escort Father Emperor back to the palace!"

As soon as Li Yuan left, the atmosphere at the banquet immediately became more relaxed.

During the grand court assembly held during the day, Fang Xuanling, the newly appointed Grand Chancellor, publicly read out the Zhenguan era name agreed upon by Li Shimin and his senior ministers. From then on, the last trace of the retired Emperor Li Yuan in the court was erased.

The people in the court were all shrewd; they knew that Li Yuan's departure, seemingly a slap in the face to Li Shimin, was actually a way of avoiding putting the officials in a difficult position.

Time passed slowly, and as jar after jar of wine was poured down his throat, Yuchi Gong, who had been playing drinking games with Qin Qiong, Cheng Yaojin, and others, suddenly stood up, bowed to Li Shimin, and said:

"Your Majesty, these women dance so slowly and leisurely, it's not beautiful at all! How about I dance for you?"

"Haha, approved! Duke Xue sent me some fine wine yesterday, just in time to entertain Jingde. Guards, bring the wine!" Li Shimin said with a smile.

Yesterday, Changsun Shunde went to the palace to see Li Shimin, saying that he had obtained a batch of fine wines and spirits and specially sent them to the palace for Li Shimin to taste.

As emperor, Li Shimin did not take Changsun Shunde's words to heart. After the wine was brought in, he casually instructed the eunuchs to add it to the list of rewards and placed it in the side hall.

The eunuch brought wine, poured a full cup, and presented it to Yuchi Gong with both hands.

Yuchi Gong didn't look closely; he took the wine cup, tilted his head back, and poured it into his mouth.

These liquors are high-proof spirits distilled by Chen Qi of Qunfang Pavilion according to the method given by Lin Chuan. To make the liquor even stronger, Chen Qi specially had it distilled twice, resulting in a strength of at least 40 degrees.

Three ounces of strong liquor poured down his throat. Yuchi Gong, who had never drunk such strong liquor before, felt his throat on fire. If he hadn't trusted Li Shimin enough, he would have thought that Li Shimin had sent him poisoned liquor!

He forcefully suppressed the burning sensation in his stomach, and after a while, the rich aroma of wine filled his mouth, and a warm current spread from his chest and abdomen to his limbs.

Yuchi Gong let out a burp, and with a satisfied look on his face, shouted loudly:

"Excellent wine!"

After shouting, he shamelessly asked Li Shimin:

"Your Majesty, may I have another cup?"

Emperor Taizong of Tang (Li Shimin) was always kind and lenient towards his subordinates. Instead of scolding Yuchi Gong for his actions, he smiled and waved to the eunuch.

"Give it to him! Give it to him!"

The eunuch quickly brought another cup, and Yuchi Gong eagerly picked up the cup and drank it all in one gulp.

Having already been half-drunk, Yuchi Gong then downed two more cups of strong liquor, making him at least seven or eight-tenths drunk. Fueled by the alcohol, he began to writhe like a madman in the main hall.

Yuchi Gong's dance suddenly made the banquet strange.

Because Cheng Yaojin, Hou Junji, Li Daliang and others who smelled the aroma of wine also got up and used the excuse of performing a dance to ask Li Shimin for wine.

In the past, it was common for Li Shimin to dance shirtless with Yuchi Gong, Cheng Zhijie, and others at banquets held at the Prince of Qin's residence.

Now that he was emperor, Li Shimin felt it was inappropriate to dance with his ministers anymore, but watching them dance was also a kind of fun, so he smiled and ordered the palace servants to pour them wine.

Cheng Yaojin and his companions became increasingly addicted to the drink, and their dancing grew more and more frenzied. Before long, the main hall was transformed into a chaotic scene of demons dancing wildly.

Li Shimin, who had been sitting on the throne, found it increasingly strange. Although these trusted generals were usually unrestrained, why did they seem to be drinking his wine today?

Out of curiosity, he instructed the eunuch:

"Pour me a cup too!"

After downing a cup, Li Shimin couldn't help but shout:

"Good wine! Pour some more!"

After a while, Li Shimin, who had drunk two cups, staggered down from his throne and started dancing with Cheng Yaojin and the others in the hall.

The officials from the Ministry of Rites on the left looked at each other, and without prior arrangement, pretended not to see anything.