I am Li Shen and Li Shimin, the free kings of the Tang Dynasty

Li Chengqian and Li Shen arrived at the gate of the inner palace, and Li Shen bowed:

"Brother, if there's nothing else, I'll take my leave now."

If you encounter any trouble in the future, elder brother, don't hesitate to go to Father. I'm sure Father will do everything in his power to help you.

"Then thank you very much, Ten..."

Upon hearing Li Shen's words, Li Chengqian reflexively returned the greeting and expressed his gratitude, but then sensed something was amiss.

"Tenth Brother, you just said... looking for Father?" Li Chengqian asked uncertainly, thinking he had misheard.

"Yes, what else? Father is your biological father, and you are his son. It's only natural for you to ask Father for help when you have difficulties. There's nothing to be ashamed of."

Li Shen acted as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“Then you…” Li Chengqian felt very awkward and looked at Li Shen, about to speak.

"Don't come to me. I have no power or influence and can't help you with anything. Besides, I'm extremely busy every day, with countless affairs to attend to."

I'm afraid I can't help with matters of the court.

Don't even bother asking me for money. I'm so poor I'm practically begging for food, so I definitely won't give it to you.

Unless... it's a transaction involving mutual benefits.

Before Li Chengqian could finish speaking, Li Shen had already cut off all of Li Chengqian's words.

Why are you coming to me instead of your father?

Li Chengqian was completely speechless after hearing Li Shen's words.

"Tenth brother, your words have deeply saddened me. We are brothers, and we should help and benefit each other."

Father is getting old; how can we, as his children, let him suffer?

"Hehe." Li Shen chuckled twice after hearing this.

"Brother, we are indeed brothers, close friends and family, so you have to pay extra."

Do you know how much money I can earn in a day?

Every quarter of an hour, I earn tens of thousands of strings of cash. In the short time I've spent attending court today, I've already missed out on earning hundreds of thousands of strings of cash.

Even close brothers should keep clear accounts. Brother, you can't always take without giving anything in return.

After Li Shen finished speaking, he even showed a mocking expression, which made Li Chengqian blush slightly and retort:

"How could I not have done anything? Haven't I helped you?"

"What did you do to help me? Brother, you might as well tell me so that I can know." Li Shenyi pouted.

“You don’t know Xizhou…” Li Chengqian said, pausing for a moment.

"Xizhou what?" Li Shen asked immediately. He noticed that Li Chengqian's expression changed briefly before returning to normal.

"I helped you cover up your extortion of officials in Xizhou Prefecture."

"After recovering," Li Chengqian said.

Li Shen looked at Li Chengqian and felt that Li Chengqian was not talking about this matter, but since Li Chengqian was unwilling to talk about it, he did not ask.

Li Shen certainly has no connection to the Crown Prince's case regarding Wang Wencheng, because he has no motive for it.

Did the Crown Prince discover some clue?

"Tenth brother, does this count as me helping you out?"

As Li Shen was pondering this, Li Chengqian asked.

Li Shen nodded:

"Let's do the math. But didn't I give you money? Three hundred and fifty thousand strings of cash, and you think it's not enough for such a small thing?"

"You did this for me, didn't I pay you?" Li Shen thought disdainfully to himself. He hadn't asked you for help for nothing; he had paid you.

What you did was at best a paid service, and the quality of the service was particularly poor, resulting in you getting beaten up.

"You still dare to say that? I didn't even get the money." Just mentioning the money made Li Chengqian's heart bleed. He was on the verge of getting rich and living a comfortable life, but it was all gone.

Wealth is within reach, yet remains out of reach.

"Then how can you blame me? If it weren't for you, would this have happened? You even got me beaten up, and it still hurts."

Li Shen also lost his temper and shouted loudly.

"Then you deserve it. Even without me, you would still be subject to family discipline."

Don't forget what you did in Xizhou Prefecture. It's already a mercy that Father didn't chase you all the way to Xizhou to beat you up.

"If it were me, I would ride as fast as I could to Xizhou to carry out the family discipline." Li Chengqian was equally defiant, saying that any one of the things Li Shen had done was enough to warrant punishment.

"Hey, you still have the nerve to talk back? I'll fight you to the death!" Li Shen was so angry that he got into a fighting stance and was about to go up and fight Li Chengqian.

First came the Xuanwu Gate, now comes the Zhu Ming Gate. Li Shen felt a surge of anger, sensing that the gears of fate were turning.

"Your Highness, Your Highness, please calm down!" Shi Tou, standing behind Li Shen, quickly stepped forward and pulled him back. He whispered in Li Shen's ear:

"Your Highness, you'll suffer if you're not a match for them."

Stone had to remind his master to avoid being beaten up again and suffering physical pain.

The Crown Prince started learning martial arts at the age of eight and has been practicing for over twenty years. How could he possibly be compared to Prince Ji, who is weak and powerless?

Haven't you learned your lesson from getting beaten up a couple of days ago?

Sure enough, Li Shen's expression froze when he heard Shi Tou's words. He then flung Shi Tou away, shook his clothes, and tidied his appearance.

Then Li Shen snorted:

"Hmph, you are the Crown Prince, I will not argue with you, lest I be criticized for being insubordinate and disrespectful to my elders."

Let’s go.”

After saying that, Li Shen turned to leave.

Li Chengqian was both amused and exasperated by Li Shen's actions, and he even wanted to take the opportunity to beat Li Shen up.

"Tenth Brother, are you leaving already? Won't you chat a little longer?" he deliberately provoked Li Shen from behind.

Li Shen stopped and turned around, his expression serious.

"I am not a warlike man. Confucius said, 'In applying propriety, harmony is of utmost importance.' I am a person who upholds propriety, how can I resort to violence? It would be terrible if I hurt you."

The Great Way is for all, that is called Great Harmony. I advocate peaceful coexistence.

Li Shen spoke with a straight face, but fortunately he had studied the Analects of Confucius when he was young, so he still had some knowledge.

"Hehe, Tenth Brother, have you forgotten that you once said that only by strengthening ourselves can we be qualified to talk about peace?"

You also said that in the past only the weak desired peace because they were weak and unable to win.

Li Chengqian chuckled twice. Since he had nothing else to do, it would be quite fun to tease this younger brother.

Li Chengqian's words hit Li Shen's sore spot. He really couldn't beat him. He never expected that the few words he taught Li Chengqian would now come true for him.

At this moment, Li Shen was burning with anger and extremely frustrated. He couldn't beat them in a fight and was left speechless by their retorts.

Enraged, Li Shen searched around for any weapons, but unfortunately he hadn't brought a knife with him today, otherwise he could have staged a coup at Zhu Ming Gate.

"Where's my token?" Li Shen asked angrily, touching his waist.

"What token, Your Highness?" Shi Tou asked, looking at the token on Prince Ji's waist with a puzzled expression.

“My father’s token,” Li Shen said.

"Your Highness has forgotten, didn't you return it to His Majesty that day?" Shi Tou reminded him. Was their prince's memory really that bad these days?

Li Shen then remembered that his imperial token had been taken back; he had even intended to use the token to kill Li Chengqian.

Helpless, Li Shen pointed a finger at Li Chengqian, his finger trembling with anger, and after a long while, he finally said:

"Fine, you win. You just wait."