Chapter 96 The more beautiful a woman is, the more likely she is to lie

Li Xiang was right. This kind of attack on personal lifestyle has been going on since the time of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.

And our great sage teacher Confucius... Confucius, when he executed Shao Zhengmao, also focused on attacking Shao Zhengmao's personal style in advance.

It even listed five types of human sins: "a rebellious and treacherous heart", "evil and stubborn behavior", "false words and argumentativeness", "a broad memory of ugly things" and "following the wrong and being generous", and at the same time declared that Shao Zhengmao possessed all five vices, and was a villain among villains, who must be killed in order to appease the public anger.

You see, even Confucius played this way. So as Xuanfu’s later disciples, it’s reasonable for us to learn from the great sage, right?

Can you still not believe in the wisdom of our ancestors?

"Attacking someone's character? Hiss..." Li Chengqian looked at Du He, then at Zhao Jie: "Isn't this a bad idea?"

"How did Confucius angrily rebuke Shao Zhengmao when he executed him?" Li Xiang asked a question.

Of course Li Chengqian had heard this story before. It was Li Gang who told it to him when he entered school.

Yes, that’s the legendary prince killer.

According to history, Li Gang was the man who accomplished three kills of the crown prince, a man who was unprecedented and unrivaled.

"You mean..." Li Chengqian understood it all at once, and he said "Oh" in sudden realization.

"Oh...ah! I see!"

It is true that as soon as the thought of faith arises, the world becomes wider in an instant.

What's more, this is what Confucius did in the past. Even if you don't believe in other disciples, can't you believe in Confucius?
"That makes sense, that makes sense!" Li Chengqian stood up, paced back and forth, looked at Du He and Zhao Jie and said, "Brother-in-law, cousin, I want you two to help me collect some information about the life stories of the censors and several Huangmen assistant ministers of the Five Surnames and Seven Families in the court, especially focusing on those who are easily criticized!"

The two of them immediately stood up and said, "Yes!"

After the two left, Li Chengqian felt unsure and called out, "Send Hegan Chengji and Zhang Sizheng over!"

After a while, two people came over.

After Li Chengqian gave a few instructions, the two of them left Mingde Hall.

"If Xiang'er hadn't been here, I would have been really stumped by this problem!" Li Chengqian said with emotion.

Big Li now looks like he is completely content with having a son. Anyway, his external brain is super developed and can completely drive him to success.

Aye, fly without worry, the elephant will be with you forever.

"Father, please wait here for a while. I will go to Lizheng Palace." Li Xiang said with a smile.

Li Chengqian asked in confusion: "What are you doing in Lizheng Hall?"

He seemed to have forgotten what he wanted Li Xiang to do in Lizheng Hall. He was single-core and single-threaded. As long as he thought about how to attack the Five Surnames and Seven Families and the Imperial Censors, he left Yu Zhining's matter aside.

But then again, although Li Chengqian is single-core and single-threaded, he still handles things very quickly.

"Of course it was slander... Of course it was to make Grandfather change his mind and no longer let Yu Zhining serve as the Crown Prince's Secretary."

Li Xiang almost blurted out the truth by accident.

What do you mean by slander? We are clearly going to restore order!
Li Chengqian then remembered what he had just said in the first place, so he smiled and said, "Then Xiang'er, go quickly, but you must make your grandfather change his mind——"

"Don't worry, Aye!" Li Xiang jumped out of Mingde Hall.

However, when he arrived at the Lizheng Hall, he found nothing.

Li Shimin was not in the Lizheng Hall, but was discussing something with someone in the Liangyi Hall.

Li Xiang didn't care. Since he was not there, he just waited. Li Shimin would come back in the evening anyway.

So he tiptoed to the side hall, ready to see what Li Mingda was doing.

My aunt was sitting on a stool, looking intently at something on the table in front of her.

Li Xiang walked over gently, just as he came gently. He waved his sleeves——

"Guess who I am!" Li Xiang said in a hoarse voice and covered Li Mingda's eyes with his hands.

"Ah!" Li Mingda exclaimed, as if he was startled.

Then she snorted, "It's the little elephant, right? You little bastard, you scared your aunt to death!"

Li Xiang chuckled and put down his hands.

"I didn't even trick my aunt..."

"Hmph." Li Mingda picked up the round fan on the table and tapped Li Xiang lightly on the head.

Li Xiang covered his head and said aggrievedly: "Aunt, please stop knocking. If you keep knocking, I'll become stupid!"

"It's better to be a little dumber, so you don't have to do mischief every day." Li Mingda raised the corner of his lips, pointed at the stool beside him and said, "Sit down."

"Okay." Li Xiang responded and sat down on the stool obediently.

Li Mingda closed the sheet of music in front of him, pushed it aside, looked at Li Xiang with a smile and asked, "I don't usually see you coming here at night. Could it be that you have encountered some difficulties?"

As he spoke, he winked at the Forsythia suspensa and the Green ivy beside him.

When the two maids saw Li Mingda's eyes, they immediately retreated and closed the door.

"Hmm..." Li Xiang thought about it and decided not to hide it from Li Mingda.

Since you have such a good relationship with your aunt, there is no need to hide everything from her. Just tell her if there is anything.

Besides, given Aung's daughter-loving personality, some things might be more effectively said by his aunt.

So he told the truth: "Isn't it that the old man wanted to appoint Yu Zhining as the crown prince's secretary? I think this person... is not very capable, so I want to persuade the old man to change his mind."

"It's not easy. I heard that Yu Zhining is a famous gentleman of morality." Li Mingda pondered for a moment and said to Li Xiang, "Aye thinks highly of him and thinks he can correct my brother's mistakes."

Li Xiang sighed and said, "Aunt, you also know my father's temper. He is a donkey that will not tolerate any hardship but will yield to softness. And Yu Zhining... you see he wrote those twenty articles of "Remonstrance Garden". Does it seem like he was aiming to correct my father's gains and losses?"

After hearing this, Li Mingda thought about it and felt that it made sense.

In fact, even if it is unreasonable, Li Mingda will stand on Li Xiang's side.

"You..." Li Mingda laughed, stretched out his hands and rubbed Li Xiang's face: "Tell me, what do you need from your aunt?"

"Is there no need for this, aunt?" Li Xiang felt a little embarrassed. Was he really going to trouble his aunt for help with such a small matter?
"It's not appropriate for you to say such small talk." Li Mingda smiled and said, "You will be the crown prince in the future, how can you let such things affect your reputation? Let me, your aunt, say such small talk."

"aunt……"

Li Xiang's eyes were moist.

"Silly Xiang." Li Mingda rubbed Li Xiang's little face again and asked softly, "You are not the kind of person who does not do anything without preparation. You must have caught Yu Zhining's sore spot, right?" Li Xiang nodded and said, "Yes, Yu Zhining's son is engaged to the daughter of Zheng from Xingyang."

Hearing this, Li Mingda nodded and said, "I understand."

"Green ivy, Forsythia suspensa." Li Mingda called the two maids.

Two maids came in, and Li Mingda smiled and ordered, "Luluo, go get the tangerines that Lingnan has sent as tribute, and bring some back for Xiang'er to taste."

Luoluo took the order and left. Soon, she came back with a bunch of oranges in her arms.

Li Xiang took an orange and peeled it very skillfully. He broke off a slice of the orange and fed it to Li Mingda first.

"Hmm, very sweet." Li Mingda tasted the tangerine with a faint smile.

Li Xiang laughed and said, "Oh, good, it turns out this orange is not sour..."

"Okay, so you were using my aunt as a test orange!" Li Mingda sneered, but his hands did not move.

"Hey, let me try it too."

As Li Xiang spoke, he broke off a slice of orange and put it in his mouth.

Damn, so sour?!
Li Xiang's little face was so sour that it turned into a mask of pain. When he looked up at Li Mingda, he found that Li Mingda had already spit out the orange slice from his mouth - it was actually a complete slice.

"You little rascal, there is still a green spot on the orange." Li Mingda said, pointing at the intact orange peel.

"..."

Li Xiang discovered that what Zhang Wuji’s mother said was true, the more beautiful a woman is, the more likely she is to lie!
By the time Li Shimin returned to the Lizheng Hall, Li Xiang had already returned to the Eastern Palace with a handful of oranges.

Seeing half an orange on his precious daughter's desk, Mr. Li walked over and, without thinking much, took it and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Why is it so sour!" Old Li was so sour that he put on the same painful mask as Li Xiang.

Li Mingda covered his mouth and chuckled, "Otherwise, do you think this orange will still be left on the table?"

"That's true." Based on the principle of not wasting anything, Li Shimin swallowed half of the sour orange.

"Still looking at the music score?" He saw the music score in front of Li Mingda.

Li Mingda nodded and said, "Well, when Sister Gao Yang came to visit me this afternoon, we exchanged some ideas about music theory, and I just gained some insights and completed some of the parts."

"Gao Yang is here?" Li Shimin raised his eyebrows and asked, "This girl, she came to the palace without even visiting me, her father..."

Since Princess Gaoyang's mother died early, she was raised by Empress Changsun herself and had a good relationship with several of Empress Changsun's daughters, such as Chengyang and Xincheng. She was also the one that Li the Great loved the most, apart from the several daughters born to Empress Changsun.

"Aye has been in Liangyi Palace and has not come back. Now the sun has set. Sister Gaoyang will eventually return home." Li Mingda said with a chuckle.

"That's true, alas..." Li Shimin said with emotion: "After all, Gao Yang is already married..."

"Yes." Li Mingda smiled sweetly.

"Gao Yang must have told you a lot of interesting things outside the palace when she came here, right?" Li Shimin said with a smile, "That girl has been a lively person since she was young. It's good to have her to entertain you."

Li Mingda picked out a few interesting ones and told them to Li Shimin, and then said: "Sister Gaoyang also told me that she heard from her mother-in-law that the Zheng family of Xingyang seemed to be planning to form an alliance with the Yu family of Henan, and seemed to want to marry their daughter to a man named... Yu Lizheng."

"Yeah, isn't it said that the Five Surnames and Seven Families value family background the most? Why would they marry their daughters to the Xianbei family?" Li Mingda asked in a daze.

Hearing this, Li Shimin's heart skipped a beat.

Of course he knew Yu Lizheng. Wasn't he the eldest son of Yu Zhining, who was to be reappointed as the Prince's Secretary?

The Crown Prince's Secretary wants to form an alliance with the Five Families and Seven Nobles who are against the Crown Prince...

This made Li Shimin think more.

Especially, the women of the five surnames were almost all absorbed by the five surnames and seven families. Even if they married out, they would be concubines. Although Yu Zhining was from an old family in Guanlong, the Shandong gentry had never looked down upon them.

Will there be any problem with this?
The most important thing is that this matter was said by Li Mingda, and he heard it from Princess Gaoyang.

Princess Gaoyang's mother-in-law was Fang Xuanling's wife, a woman from the Fanyang Lu family.

Since she said this, it can basically be confirmed.

"What you don't know, Si Zi, is that Yu Lizheng's father is the Prince's Secretary Yu Zhining." Li Shimin explained to Li Mingda with a twinkling eye.

Li Mingda seemed to understand something and said, "Oh... I heard that Yu Zhanshi is upright and honest, and he often speaks out against the emperor. He is a famous gentleman of morality."

"It's no surprise that such a person is valued by the Shandong gentry."

After that, Li Mingda added, "Yeah, yeah, I remember Xiang'er said that Yu Zhanshi wrote a total of twenty articles of "Remonstrance Garden", recording his deeds of remonstrating with his elder brother?"

"It is true." Li Shimin was now suspicious. He was not a suspicious person by nature, but since it involved the Shandong gentry, whom he had always disliked, and his eldest son, he could not help but be suspicious.

Li Mingda's eyes flashed, seemingly unintentionally, but he revealed the most heart-wrenching killing move.

"My daughter is thinking, fortunately Duke Zheng has no similar works circulated in the world..."

Halfway through his words, Li Mingda deliberately "realized that he had spoken out of turn", covered his mouth and stopped talking.

The rest is up to Aye to do.
I am!

Li Shimin suddenly felt enlightened.

He didn't think that the record of the process of admonition and the emphasis on belittling the monarch was a big deal when it happened to his son, and he even thought that the other party was doing his job conscientiously and responsibly.

But once it happens to me, it’s a little hard to accept.

According to history, a few years later, Wei Zheng's monument to merit was torn down by Li Shimin because of a similar incident. Although it was rebuilt again, it can be seen that Li Shimin could not tolerate such things.

After Li Mingda's explanation, Li Shimin suddenly understood some of the key points.

He even had strong suspicions about Zhining. Was it because he took advantage of his position to tip off the Shandong gentry and revealed the news about the Crown Prince's Eastern Palace that led to such a marriage?
Doubt grows like weeds and there is no way to stop it.

If Li Xiang had said this, perhaps Li Shimin would have just laughed it off.

But this was said by Li Mingda...

This made Old Li think carefully and feel terrified.

When we think about the group of people around the prince, from Zhang Xuansu, Li Yuanchang to Helan Chushi, none of them are on the same page with him.

So, Yu Zhining, are you really that clean?
The seeds of doubt had been deeply planted. Under the "slander" of his good daughter, Old Li had to be extremely cautious to deal with the possibility that Zhining was in cahoots with the Shandong gentry.

(Three more updates delivered!)
(End of this chapter)