Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 204 The Angry Little Princess
Li Ji lagged behind Li Zhong by half a step as they walked along the palace road leading to Chengxiang Palace.

Li Zhong was a very filial man. Every three to five days, he would go to the palace to pay his respects to Liu Chong'e.

So Li Ji and Li Zhong agreed that whenever they entered the palace, they would call him along so that he could also go into the palace to pay his respects to the concubines.

After arriving at Chengxiang Palace, Li Ji paid his respects to Liu Chong'e, sat with her and chatted for a few words, then said goodbye and left, heading towards Xunfeng Palace.

After arriving at Xunfeng Palace, he paid his respects to Concubine Zheng.

Concubine Zheng knew why he came and smiled and said, "Gao An went to play in the Nanhai Pond. You can go find her."

Li Ji responded and left.

Beside the waterside pavilion of the South China Sea Pond, Princess Gao An knelt on the eaves, leaning on the railing with both hands, looking at the water. There was a hint of sadness on her childish face.

When Li Ji came to her side, she was unconscious and stared blankly at the cold water, not knowing what she was thinking.

Li Ji poked her with a branch he had broken off on the road and said with a smile, "Sister, what are you thinking about?"

Princess Gao An then turned around, glared at him, then turned her head away again, pouting her little mouth, looking as if she was very angry.

Li Ji knelt on the eaves like her and said with a smile, "What's wrong? Who made you angry again?"

Princess Gao An snorted, "It's you!"

"When did I offend you? Ah, I see. You blamed me for not bringing you any malt sugar when I last entered the palace, right? Look, I brought it to you this time."

Li Ji took out a small paper bag from his waist bag, and there were indeed a few pieces of malt candy inside.

Princess Gao An glanced at him and pouted, "Brother, you're a big liar. Do you think that if you give me a few pieces of malt sugar, I won't be angry with you anymore?"

Li Ji was stunned: "How did I lie to you?"

Princess Gao An was immediately enraged. She turned her head and asked, "When you entered the palace a few days ago, I asked you if your mother was doing well. You said she was fine. Is this true?"

Xiaoji was startled and glanced around. Seeing that the attendants were standing far away and probably couldn't hear what he had just said, he whispered, "Don't be so loud!"

"Hmph, who told you to lie to me!" Princess Gao An pouted.

Xiaoji whispered, "Did you hear something?"

"Humph, yesterday Madam Wang and Madam Zheng came into the palace to play gambling with Aunt Zheng. They said something big happened to the Xiao family recently, and you didn't even tell me!"

Xiaoji sighed, looked at the water, and said, "I'm just worried that you'll be anxious. Besides, this matter has nothing to do with your mother."

Princess Gao An hurriedly grabbed his arm and said, "Brother, what's going on?"

"Someone sued the Xiao family, saying that in order to seize the land of a village, they sent people to pretend to be rebels and killed the entire village."

Princess Gao An covered her mouth and exclaimed, "Is this true?"

Li Ji said: "The Dali Temple is investigating, but I think it should be true."

Princess Gao An's eyes were slightly red. She said, "How could it be possible? I heard that the Xiao family has been doing good deeds in Jiangnan. How could they do such a cruel thing?"

Li Ji glanced at her and sighed, "Sister, the Xiao family is a very large family. Perhaps there are good people who do good things, and there are also bad people who do bad things. That's why I said that although this matter is related to the Xiao family, it has nothing to do with your mother. You don't have to worry too much."

Princess Gao An worriedly asked, "Isn't there a charge of exterminating nine generations of the family? Brother, will my mother be implicated by those bad people from the Xiao family?"

Li Ji comforted him, "No, only rebellion will result in the extermination of nine clans. It's not that serious."

Princess Gao An nodded, stared at him and said, "Then if anything happens next time, you must tell me, don't hide it from me anymore!"

Li Ji said: "Okay, I understand."

After playing with Princess Gao An for a while, Li Zhong sent someone to inform him that it was time to leave the palace.

Li Ji had no choice but to say goodbye to Princess Gao An and went to Chengxiang Palace to meet Li Zhong and leave the palace together.

When leaving Changle Gate, he suddenly saw a carriage coming from the long palace road outside the gate. Two women got out of the carriage. After seeing the two people, they both bowed and saluted.

Li Ji recognized the two girls as Empress Wu's sisters, and together with Li Zhong, they returned the greeting solemnly.

Wu Shun laughed and said, "Is Your Highness Prince Chen coming to the palace to pay his respects to Lady Chong'e?"

Li Zhongdao: "Yes."

Wu Shun smiled and said, "Your Highness is truly filial." Turning to Li Ji, he said, "Your Highness, Prince Wu, please come visit the Wu residence when you are free. My daughter Minzhi is about the same age as you, so she would be a perfect companion."

Li Ji hurriedly said, "Yes."

Although Wu Shun was a third-rank county lady, she acted like a first-rank state lady and exchanged a few words with the two men as if they were her elders before letting them leave.

Wu Ruyi stood quietly by the side without saying a word.

The two women entered the palace from Changle Gate together and headed towards Lizheng Hall.

Halfway through the journey, Wu Meiniang received the news and sent palace maids to pick them up and bring them to Lizheng Hall.

Ever since Wu Ruyi and Wu Meiniang put aside their past grudges, the relationship between the two sisters has become even better than before. Every time Wu Ruyi enters the palace, Wu Meiniang sends someone to pick her up.

When they arrived at the Lizheng Hall, Wu Meiniang was already waiting inside. There were two tables in the hall, on which were placed the freshest fruits and vegetables.

After the Wu sisters finished their greetings, they each took their seats. Wu Ruyi, a simple-minded woman who couldn't keep secrets, stated her purpose without saying a word.

"Sister, do you know about the Xiao family's affairs?"

The corner of Wu Meiniang's eye twitched, and she said calmly, "I heard about it."

Wu Ruyi said, "This morning, Xiao Siye came to visit the mansion and told us about Xiao Shu's situation. He said it was a misunderstanding and someone was deliberately targeting the Xiao family."

Wu Meiniang stared at Wu Ruyi for a while and shook her head secretly.

It seems that this silly girl didn't know that the person behind the scenes was herself, and was actually instigated by Xiao Siye to come find herself.

Xiao Siye must have known that she was targeting the Xiao family, so he came to visit Wu Mansion, hoping that the matter could be resolved peacefully.

However, now that things have come to this, Wu Meiniang will never stop.

She had separated Xiao Siye and Xiao Shi very early on. She was not planning to deal with Xiao Siye, but she was determined to deal with Xiao Shi.

"Little sister, this case is being handled personally by Di Renjie of the Dali Temple. You should have heard of his abilities. He will find out the truth."

Wu Ruyi frowned and said, "But my husband said that Di Renjie has a lot of grievances with several major families in Chang'an. I'm afraid he will take this opportunity to take revenge."

"If he really dares to do so, I will definitely remind His Majesty. However, we cannot rule out the possibility that this was done by the Xiao family. What do you think, Big Sister?"

Wu Shun was eating the tangerines offered as tribute by Kuizhou. Upon hearing this, he looked up and smiled, "That's true. Even though the Xiao family is wealthy and powerful, there's no guarantee that there won't be a few unfilial descendants!"

Wu Ruyi sighed, "If this is true, it's not just unfilial. A whole village of people was killed. How cruel it must be."

Wu Meiniang said slowly, "Little sister, I heard about the Xiao family's illegal activities a long time ago. I know your husband has a relationship with Xiao Siye, but one thing is one thing, don't get involved."

Wu Ruyi whispered, "Sister, remember this."

The two sisters sat with Wu Meiniang for more than an hour. Before leaving, Wu Shun packed up some Kuizhou oranges and took them away.

After Wu Meiniang ordered Jiang Shanggong to send the two sisters away, she got up and went to the inner room, picked up the jade brush, and began to practice Feibai calligraphy.

"What's the situation at the Dali Temple?" She glanced at Zhang Duohai who followed in.

Just when the three sisters were talking, Zhang Da Hai came back, but she was not able to talk.

Zhang Duohai helped Wu Meiniang grind the ink while smiling and said, "Your Highness, Di Renjie is indeed resourceful. He used that letter to trick Xiao Shu into opening his mouth. This matter should be settled."

At the beginning, Xiao Shu bribed a group of thieves to pretend to be Chen Shuozhen's subordinates and attack Shijiazhuang.

Afterwards, Xiao Shu helped the government to wipe out the gang of thieves, leaving no evidence to prove their wrongdoing.

However, the leader of the bandits had a letter exchanged with the Xiao family in his hand, and he gave the letter to a woman he loved in Suzhou.

Eventually, the letter fell into the hands of Chang Qiutai, who then found Shi Ming, a survivor from Shijiazhuang.

Wu Meiniang felt that the time was not ripe, so she asked Zhang Duohai to take care of Shi Ming in case of emergency.

In fact, Shi Ming and the letter alone were not enough to convict Xiao Shu. Now that Di Renjie had tricked Xiao Shu into speaking, Xiao had no way to deny it.

Wu Meiniang asked, "Does Xiao know that Xiao Shu has spoken?"

Zhang Duohai said, "The Dali Temple has many people under General Xin Mao. General Xin Mao has a good relationship with Xiao Siye. We should tell him."

Wu Meiniang paused for a moment, then said, "No wonder Xiao Siye came to the Wu Mansion. What was Xiao Rui's reaction?"

"He was very strange. He didn't react at all and didn't go looking for anyone."

Wu Meiniang said coldly, "Logically speaking, he should be more anxious than Xiao Siye. Why is he showing no reaction right now?"

Zhang Dahai narrowed his eyes and said, "This person has always been bold and reckless. I'm afraid he will do something radical."

Wu Meiniang curled up the corners of her mouth into a touching smile and said, "I'm just worried that they won't be radical enough. Are you prepared?"

Zhang Duohai smiled and said, "Don't worry, we are ready. No matter if they attack Di Renjie, Shi Ming or Xiao Shu, they won't stand a chance."

"Is there any reaction from the Imperial Household?" Wu Meiniang suddenly asked.

Zhang Duohai laughed and said, "They are busy dividing Subi and Luoshui in Tubo. How can they care about the affairs of Chang'an?"

"Where is Wang Fusheng?" Wu Meiniang asked again.

Zhang Dahai laughed and said, "He accompanied the Saint to the Hot Spring Palace, so he probably didn't know."

Wu Meiniang tilted her head slightly and glanced towards the east, thinking to herself, "Jiulang suddenly went to stay at the Hot Spring Palace. It seemed like he was deliberately avoiding this matter. I wonder if I am being too suspicious."

"Your Highness, is there anything else you are worried about?" Zhang Dahai asked.

Wu Meiniang shook her head and said, "Nothing, just protect Di Renjie. He is the emperor's favorite minister. Don't let him get hurt."

Zhang Duohai hurriedly said: "Your Highness, don't worry. Di Renjie is surrounded by many of our people to protect him."

Wu Meiniang said no more and waved her hand.

Zhang Da Hai retreated quietly.

(End of this chapter)