After a while, two carriages stopped at the gate of Qin Mansion.
When Lao Zhang, the concierge of Qin Mansion, saw the people getting off the car, he quickly sent his servants to report to Butler Xiao.
He himself led Li Shimin and his party into the front hall of the Qin Mansion.
Not long after everyone sat down, Xiao Changxi and Xiao Qingwan came to the front hall. They already knew the identities of Li Shimin and his party, so naturally they did not dare to neglect them.
When the two women entered the hall, they saluted everyone in the room and said:
"I've met Mr. Li, Mrs. Li, Mr. Fang and all the ladies."
Li Shimin and his party came here with their identities hidden. After hearing this, they all responded:
"Hello, Butler Xiao, and Madam Xiao."
When Li Shimin saw that the visitors were Xiao Changxi, the housekeeper of the Qin Mansion, and Xiao Qingwan, Qin Ming's personal maid, he couldn't help but be confused and asked:
"Isn't Qin Ming at home? Why don't you see others?"
Xiao Changxi thought for a while after hearing this, and finally answered truthfully:
"My young master is still giving lectures in the academy at the moment. He should be back in about half an hour. The slave family will send someone to inform the young master. Mr. Li, why don't you drink tea here for a while and wait for a while."
Li Shimin couldn't help but curiously asked:
"Academy? Is there an academy near here?"
Xiao Changxi replied:
"Well, it's the academy built by the Young Master. It's on Zhuangzi."
Fang Xuanling was also very interested in this matter. He asked from the side:
"I wonder if it would be convenient for Butler Xiao to take me to the academy to see it. I am quite interested in it."
Li Shimin had never heard his father mention the academy that Zhuangzi attended before. Now that he knew it, he naturally wanted to see what the academy Qin Ming created looked like.
So he echoed:
"Butler Xiao, if you don't mind, can you take us for a tour?"
When Xiao Changxi heard this, she thought of Qin Ming's previous analysis. It was very likely that Li Shimin had arranged an informant in the mansion and Zhuangzi, and he probably couldn't hide the affairs of the academy from him. If he stopped them from going at this time, it would be meaningless. It can be off-putting.
So he smiled and said:
"Mr. Li and Mr. Fang are both distinguished guests in the mansion. If you want to visit the academy, you can naturally do so."
Li Shimin stood up after hearing this and was about to go to the academy to have a look.
Princess Changle saw her father getting up, so she quickly stood up and said:
"Father...Father, Li Zhi also wants to go to the academy with you."
Upon hearing this, Yu Zhang also jumped off his chair and said:
"I want to go too."
When Li Shimin heard this, he looked at his two daughters and then at Empress Changsun who was getting up. He hesitated and said:
"Okay, let's go take a look together."
....
In the end, Li Shimin and his party, except for Princess Li Lixian of Chengyang and Princess Li Mingda of Jinyang, who followed Xiao Qingwan to the study because they were hungry, everyone else followed Xiao Changxi out of the Qin Mansion.
After a while, Li Shimin and his party arrived at the entrance of Qingbei Academy.
As soon as they arrived at the entrance of the academy, Li Shimin and his party were attracted by the couplets posted on the door.
Everyone looked at the couplet and couldn't help but recite:
"There is a road to the mountain of books, and hard work is the path, and there is no limit to the sea of learning. There is no end to learning."
Fang Xuanling stroked his short beard and said with a smile:
"A good person has a mountain of books and hard work as a path, and a sea of learning is endless. A good person has no end to learning. This couplet is the best couplet I have ever seen to encourage students. Whether it is hung in the academy or in the school, it is extremely appropriate. , it seems that my nephew is very attentive to this academy."
Li Shimin nodded slightly when he heard this. He also agreed with this very much. He had even planned to make two identical couplets when he returned to Chang'an and send them to the Imperial College and the Imperial Palace respectively for the purpose of encouraging students to learn.
Xiao Changxi smiled and said:
"Thank you for the compliment, Mr. Fang. My young master will definitely be very happy if he knows that you commented on his couplet like this."
Empress Changsun smiled and said to Xiao Changxi:
"Steward Xiao, I am becoming more and more curious about my nephew's academy. Why don't you take us inside to have a look first?"
Xiao Changxi nodded after hearing this and led everyone towards the inside of the academy.
The two princesses followed the crowd at the back. At this time, Princess Yuzhang Li Xiyao took Princess Changle and whispered:
"Fifth sister, when we see Qin Ming later, why don't we ask him to write a poem too?"
Princess Changle's face turned red when she heard this. She glanced secretly at the people in front of her, and when she saw that no one was paying attention, she breathed a sigh of relief. She looked at Princess Yuzhang with some annoyance and said:
"Are you still thinking about that matter? Didn't Chuntao already find out clearly? Brother Qin Ming only wrote poetry for the sake of the Cheng Chumo brothers. Why should we compete with a brothel girl because of this?"
Princess Yuzhang lowered her head when she heard this, pouted her mouth and retorted:
"But recently there are rumors in Chang'an that he was in love with the courtesan, so he wrote it specifically for her. And he is also our future husband, and his literary talent is so good that no one in Chang'an knows about it. I don’t know. If he hasn’t written poems for us, what will the people in Chang’an City think? Don’t they think that our majestic Princess of the Tang Dynasty is not even as good as a brothel girl?”
Upon hearing this, Princess Changle reached out and knocked Princess Yuzhang on the head and said:
"Don't talk nonsense. Could it be that Sixth Sister has forgotten her mother's usual teachings? A woman should obey her father at home and her husband when she marries. If one day she really enters the Qin family, she should consider everything for brother Qin Ming and help him manage everything. The inner court is the business. Besides, as a wife, you must be generous and not get jealous over trivial matters. That will only make you bored. If brother Qin Ming really likes that brothel girl, then we will redeem her body and bring her back to the house. Just let her be a concubine. And Fifth Sister believes that as long as we do well, brother Qin Ming will naturally write poems for us. If he doesn't write for us, it's because we haven't done well enough."
When Princess Yuzhang heard this, her head drooped even lower, like a defeated rooster. She murmured softly:
"Fifth sister is too poisoned. If she enters the door after this, I'm afraid she will be bullied to death by him. No, I have to protect this silly sister from now on, and I can't let her suffer."
Princess Yuzhang's voice was so soft that Princess Changle could only hear a few words clearly: "Too deep, bullying, stupid." So she pulled Princess Yuzhang's sleeve and asked:
"What are you mumbling about?"
Upon hearing this, Princess Yuzhang immediately raised her head, showed a flattering smile to Princess Changle, and said:
"It's nothing. The little girl just felt that what the fifth sister said was so right. She is worthy of being the legitimate daughter of my royal family. The little girl admires her very much, hehe."
Upon seeing this, Princess Changle nodded with satisfaction, thinking to herself
"Sixth sister's temperament is still a little out of control. I have to set a good example in the future, and I can't let sixth sister go astray."
While Princess Changle was thinking this, Xiao Changxi had already led everyone into the academy.
...
