Chang'an is good

Faced with the dissatisfaction written on the officials' faces, Dai Cong simply turned a blind eye and calmly let someone lead the way to the resettlement site.

The convoy of carriages moved on again in an atmosphere of indignation and dissatisfaction. The Holy Ce Emperor, who had never stepped out of the carriage, sat inside the carriage. Through the half-dropped green bamboo curtain, he nodded slightly to Wei Shuyi, who was standing aside and saluted silently, with no emotion in his eyes.

After the empress's carriage had gone a little further away, Wei Shuyi slowly stood up.

After settling down, a group of court officials tried to look for the Grand Tutor, but heard that he was in the Grand Marshal's Mansion.

The Grand Marshal's Office is Cui Jing's place, so under such circumstances, it is naturally inconvenient for them to go there to meet him.

All the ministers were shocked and angry, and they were more and more certain that the Grand Tutor must have been abducted by Chang Suining. They cursed Chang Suining even more in private.

In the process of being cursed, they gradually became desperate.

If they still maintained a bit of dignity and support in Luoyang, then after coming to Taiyuan, they truly experienced what it felt like to be at the mercy of others, with life and death not being within their control.

This place is more than a thousand miles away from the capital. Looking north, one can see the rugged, desolate and uninhabited border area. The scene brought back memories and they couldn't help but feel sad.

Chang Suining did not restrict their movements, but they were always accompanied by military guards when they went out. They were still wearing official uniforms, which were a symbol of their status after years of hard study and service. However, in front of those armored and sword-wielding men who could be seen everywhere, they seemed vulnerable, and even resistance was doomed to be a joke.

This is not a chaotic and disorderly place. On the contrary, this place is strictly ordered and everything is in order. But the one who shaped the order is Chang Suining... a traitor!
This traitor wanted to pretend to be a descendant of the Li family and steal the Li dynasty. He attempted to distort the supreme etiquette for his own use, trample on the dignity of the royal family, and cover up his shameless ambitions!
An imperial censor named Tu raised his sleeves and pointed outside the door. His voice was not loud but extremely passionate: "She has people outside to monitor and intimidate us. She just wants us to retreat and become timid, so that we can succumb to her lies!"

"However, how could such a shameless traitor understand what moral principles are?"

"Even if I die, I will never be an accomplice to a tiger!"

"..."

This statement made many officials feel sad.

Human nature is to love life, but for many of them, there are things in this world that are more important than survival.

They fled the capital at all costs, wanting to avoid disaster, but also determined not to associate with traitors like Bian Chunliang.

Some of them are guarding the orthodox imperial power, some are guarding the Li dynasty. Now the empress is old and frail, and the prince is like a puddle of mud that even A Dou would have to avoid... With all this happening, and being trapped in Taiyuan, what hope is there for the future?

Staying alive is important, but rather than lingering on in despair and shame, they would rather choose to die with dignity and backbone... At least a hundred years later, they will be able to leave a clean name in the history books!
Many people, led by Censor Tu, were prepared for a bloody ceremony - they would never let this false ceremony of returning to the clan go smoothly, and would never acknowledge the Li identity fabricated by Chang Suining even at death!
After Wei Shuyi finished arranging the affairs of the crown prince and other officials, he returned to the Grand Commandery. When he saw Chang Suining, he sighed, "The envoy refused to come out to meet me, and I, Wei, have been looked down upon."

Those officials all regarded him as an unforgivable and shameless traitor.

After hearing Chang Suining say "Thank you for your hard work, Prime Minister Wei", Wei Shuyi asked, "Does the envoy really not plan to meet them?"

"Why would I see them?" Chang Suining had just finished discussing the ceremony with the Cui clan members. He picked up a cup of tea to quench his thirst and said casually, "Only the guilty fakes need to be intimidated into submission and collusion. I am the real one."

“It really just takes the evidence and the truth, and they just have to watch and listen.”

Wei Shuyi smiled and was about to speak again when Dai Cong came in from outside: "Envoy, the Saint has sent someone to tell you that he wants you to come over for a chat."

Chang Suining put down the teacup without stopping and said without hesitation: "Ask someone to reply. We can discuss the matter between the saint and me after the ceremony is completed."

Dai Cong was already used to her behaving this way, so he said "yes" and walked out.

Soon, more people came in and announced, "Yao Tingwei is here to see the envoy."

"Grand Princess Xuan'an has arrived at the front hall."

"Madam Zheng has arrived."

"..."

Obviously, all of them had just settled down in the city and were eager to see Chang Suining.

Chang Suining stood up and looked at Wei Shuyi: "Please go see Madam Duan first, and tell her for me. I will be there later."

Then he told the messenger: "First take Yao Tingwei to see the Grand Tutor, and tell Yao Tingwei that the Grand Tutor's words are my words."

Then he walked out: "I'm going to see Her Royal Highness the Grand Princess."

Everyone bowed and watched Chang Suining leave.

Chang Suining invited Princess Xuan'an to the study to talk and dismissed all the servants.

"Ningning, let me ask you a question, are you really the youngest daughter of my royal brother?" The eldest princess asked straight to the point, staring at the young girl in front of her.

Chang Suining has not officially announced her identity yet, but news about her being the late emperor's youngest daughter has spread like wildfire.

The two of them sat side by side across a tea table. Chang Suining leaned slightly to meet the Grand Princess' eyes and said, "Aunt, I am, and I am not."

This calm and familiar voice of "Aunt", which seemed as if she had called it many times, made Li Rong's eyes tremble slightly, and her right hand, which was placed horizontally on the coffee table, tightened slightly.

She asked word by word: "Why... yes and no?"

The answer she heard next was completely beyond Li Rong's expectations, and even exceeded her common sense and understanding -

"Aunt, I am not my father's youngest daughter, but his fourth daughter."

Li Rongxian's eyebrows twitched slightly, the fourth daughter...what does this mean?
The emperor's fourth daughter...is obviously Chongyue!

So what kind of lame bullshit is this?

Li Rong thought this statement was ridiculous. She couldn't even understand how a girl who was always calm and intelligent could say such a thing. However, those unusually clear and calm eyes caught Li Rong off guard and made her fall into great confusion.

All the doubts were stuck in her throat, and she even lost the ability to organize her words for a short time: "...You mean, Chongyue, A Shang? How old are you this year? Do you know that she has already..."

Chang Suining looked at her: "Aunt, it's me."

Perhaps it was indeed too ridiculous. Li Rong turned his head away for a moment, laughed randomly for some unknown reason, and when he turned back, he asked seriously, "Do you know what you are talking about..."

Chang Suining's eyes were still clear and calm, with a faint smile on her lips: "Aunt, do you still remember that when you returned to Beijing from Xuanzhou on the occasion of my grandmother's 70th birthday, after the banquet, you said something to me when we came out of the Cining Palace together--"

Li Rong was confused and subconsciously followed the guidance of this sentence to search his memory.

On her mother's seventieth birthday, she did return to Beijing...

But she didn't remember meeting Chongyue.

Chongyue was frail and seldom attended banquets, so the number of times she had seen her niece could be counted on one hand.

The person who came out of the Cining Palace with her that night was clearly the Crown Prince Xiao. The reason why she could easily recall this incident was very simple. She had always liked beautiful women, and her nephew Li Xiao was quite beautiful, a kind of beauty that was difficult to distinguish between male and female, and his temperament was even better.

She had very few opportunities to see her nephew. That night, after drinking some wine, she couldn't help pinching her nephew's pretty face and said something like -

[Today, my aunt heard that an official secretly cursed that my romantic days would come to an end. I don’t think that’s necessarily the case… With such an outstanding son, our Li family has no reason to worry about not prospering. Are you still worried that I, Li Rong, will not have a happy life? ]

This old joke, which had become blurred in memory and could not have been heard by a third person in its entirety, was now being repeated in its entirety by the young girl in blue before him.

In an instant, Li Rong stood up suddenly, feeling dizzy, and reached out to hold on to the coffee table.

In this dizziness, she seemed to have returned to that night outside the Cining Palace, and the face of the boy who was pinched by her suddenly overlapped with the vivid face in front of her.

Soon, Li Rong found that she could not remember what Li Xiao originally looked like. It seemed that the Li Xiao in her memory looked like the person in front of her.

but……

how come? !

The fourth daughter of the late emperor... Chongyue, Crown Prince Xiao... what does that mean?
Recalling many old things, Li Rong seemed to understand something, but he was still more incredulous.

She looked again, and saw the girl picked up the teapot and poured her a cup of tea. She said slowly, "I was not very close to my aunt before. Now I will tell my story to my aunt."

When the girl put down the teapot, she pushed the cup with her finger, raised her head and smiled: "Don't worry, aunt, I am not an evil ghost, I will not hurt you easily."

Looking at the cup of tea being pushed towards him, Li Rong, with a mixed feeling in his mind, slowly sat back.

Li Rong spent a cup of tea listening to a story spanning many years.

After that, Li Rong remained silent for another cup of tea.

After leaving the Grand Marshal's Mansion and getting on the carriage, Li Rong was still in a daze.

Seeing her expression, the maid in the carriage asked anxiously: "Your Highness, what's wrong with you..."

Li Rong came to her senses and realized that her limbs had almost lost feeling. Her eye sockets were stinging with pain. She raised her hand to touch the corners of her eyes and found that they were wet with tears.

Li Rong did not sleep that night.

At dawn, she sat up, looked out the misty blue window, and murmured, "I thought we first met in Xuanzhou, why do I feel so familiar with you..."

It turned out that he was really a member of her Li family, and he was a child of the Li family that she had met before.

Such an outstanding and yet pitiful child, but he doesn’t feel sorry for himself.

Li Rong felt a pang in his heart, he threw off the quilt and got out of bed, his mind gradually filled with dissatisfaction.

Her indifferent brother was actually acting like a father in this way? She absolutely did not believe that her brother could not tell the difference between his son and daughter!

And as a mother, how could she watch a child like this marry the Northern Di?
And that guy Chang Kuo, such a big thing, such a huge thing... he actually hid it from her like that!

Li Rong was so angry that she paced back and forth in the room. It took her a long time before she stopped. She opened the window and looked at the gradually whitening sky. After a while, she frowned and sighed deeply, and the last conversation between the aunt and nephew yesterday echoed in her mind.

She asked: [Why did you say it? ]

The child answered very frankly: "I wanted to convince my aunt to help me, so I told a lie and told the truth, so that I would look more credible."

The sky gradually brightened, but it was still gloomy.

The day before the return ceremony, there was a heavy rain in Taiyuan city.

Those court officials regarded this as a sign of dissatisfaction from the ancestors of the Li family. Some of them wrote poems out of sorrow, while others even ran into the rain and cried.

Chang Suining was not annoyed but relieved after hearing this: "How can I blame someone so loyal to me, Li?"

As he spoke, he looked at the rain outside the hall and said, "Cui Ling'an, if my ancestors are still alive, will the rain stop tomorrow?"

Cui Jing stood half a step behind her and looked out into the rain with her: "Don't worry, Your Highness. An auspicious day will bring auspicious signs."

"The auspicious day has been carefully chosen." Chang Suining turned and walked into the hall: "It depends on whether the ancestors are willing to give me this face."

Her tone was relaxed, but Cui Jing somehow heard a hint of treason in her voice: "If you don't give me this face, the incense and offerings in the future will be reduced by half."

Just this one thought reversed the priorities, and Cui Jing even wanted to advise the Li ancestors to wish themselves good luck.

The next morning, the rain had not stopped yet, but the return ceremony was held as scheduled.

The grand ceremony was held in Jin Temple in Taiyuan.

Taiyuan was the birthplace of the Li family. Emperor Taizong of the Great Sheng Dynasty once proposed to build the Imperial Ancestral Temple in Taiyuan, but this was opposed by Confucian officials who believed that the Imperial Ancestral Temple should only be located in the capital area and that building it elsewhere was against the etiquette.

Although the Taimiao was not completed, Emperor Taizong ordered the expansion of the Jin Temple in Taiyuan City, which was worshipped by generations of emperors. He also wrote an inscription in his own handwriting and enshrined the ancestral tablets in the newly expanded hall.

There is a rumor among the people that the origin of the dragon vein is hidden under the Jin Temple, and dragon energy lingers there all year round.

Chang Suining originally planned to hold the ancestral return ceremony in Luoyang, but ultimately chose Taiyuan due to the circumstances. However, in Wu Jue's opinion, there must be some divine guidance behind this.

In the main hall dedicated to the ancestors of the Li family, the sacrificial utensils had already been prepared, and people had arrived one after another and stood in the hall.

The empress with gray hair stands on the front right, wearing a wide, floor-length robe, leaning on a dragon-headed cane in one hand and supported by a eunuch on the other side. Following her are the crown prince, Princess Xuan'an and court officials, including Yao Yi.

Standing on the other side were Taiyuan officials headed by Dai Cong, as well as Cui clan members such as Cui Lang.

Wei Shuyi stood beside the altar. Today he was the accompanying official, so naturally he attracted many scornful glances like knives.

There were heavy guards outside the palace, all of them were from Xuan Ce Mansion and Chang Suining.

The rain had not yet stopped, and the atmosphere in the hall was solemn and depressing because of the expressions of the court officials. Only the low voices of some officials talking could be heard.

At this time, there was a slightly noisy sound of saluting outside the hall. Following a loud singing announcement, everyone in the hall turned their heads to look.

The woman in the green skirt lifted her skirt slightly and walked up the stairs calmly. The young man in the black robe beside her held an umbrella for her all the way.

The woman walked to the front of the hall, put down her hands that were holding up her skirt, and with a greeting, she stepped over the threshold, walked into the hall, and walked into the countless sights. (End of this chapter)