Li Changan tightened his grip on Cao Yenaji's clothes and shouted tremblingly: "Mother."
Cao Yenaji touched the top of Li Changan's hair.
"Why do you have to say such depressing words?" Concubine Wu Hui was in a good mood.
She glanced at Cao Ye's Naji and said meaningfully: "Twenty-nine mothers are well-behaved and I treat her as my own. Who can drag her down?"
Cao Yenaji stroked Li Changan's hair, and a smile appeared on her face. She seemed to be happy, but also seemed to be sighing: "Thanks to Concubine Hui's care, Changan was not easily bullied by others."
"Chang'an, go thank Concubine Hui." Cao Yenaji gently pushed Li Changan toward Concubine Wu Hui.
Concubine Wu Hui also hugged her, took out the handkerchief from her sleeve and wiped Li Changan's crying face, and said softly: "You must have been worried these past few days, your face has lost a lot of weight. I heard Mingyue say you Want to open a shop? I happen to have a few shops in Pingkangfang. They were originally meant for your sister Xianyi. Now Xianyi has to go to another place with his consort... So I left one for you and will let you know tomorrow. Let me take you to see the shop."
It seems that this Hu girl won't live long. Li Changan will be the princess in her name by then. Concubine Wu Hui doesn't mind giving something in advance to win people's hearts.
There is only one shop on the left and right, and she has hundreds of such shops on hand.
Concubine Wu Hui knew very well that it was necessary to win people's hearts with a little profit. She had done this dozens of times and never failed.
Before leaving, Concubine Wu Hui ordered the palace people to send thousands of kilograms of silver charcoal to the small courtyard. She said that Cao Yenaji was weak and must not catch cold. She had already ordered the palace people not to let the place lack charcoal fire.
"Concubine Wu Hui is a good person." Cao Yenaji pulled Li Changan, the sadness in her brows had disappeared a lot, and there was still joy in her voice.
"Chang'an, look at how much good things she has given us."
Li Changan twitched his lips.
"Yes, he is a good man." Between hiring a famous doctor and sending charcoal, he chose the one that treated the symptoms rather than the root cause.
"Mother, I want to go see the shop Mrs. Wu gave me." Li Changan changed the subject without saying anything else.
Cao Yenaji smiled and said: "It's time to go and have a look. My mother's health has improved. You have had the idea since you were a child that you should do some business of your own. It would be bad if I always delay you. Speaking of which, you can sell some spices. If it comes to identifying fragrances, I have some skills. Which Hu merchant has the best spices? I know more than the people of the Tang Dynasty."
After talking to Concubine Wu Hui, Cao Yenaji seemed to have let go of something on her mind, and the smile on her face became a little wider.
Li Changan knew why.
After exiting Xing'an Gate, Li Changan turned his head and glanced at the towering and majestic palace wall.
The life of the woman who gave birth to her was withering within this towering palace wall, and everyone was waiting for that woman to die.
Li Chang'an was not a popular man before, and a daughter born to a Hu Ji was not liked by the saint. Such a child was worthless. After all, the saint had too many children, thirty sons and twenty-nine daughters. Anyone who wanted a child could just have one.
But things are different now. Li Changan is five years old this year, and no child has been born in the palace for five years. Li Longji is already fifty-two years old, and there are still many women who have no children in the palace, so every one of them has not grown up. All the children have become meat and potatoes.
Li Changan, who is only five years old and whose mother is about to die of illness, is even more popular.
When Li Changan was four and a half years old, she realized this fact for the first time - no matter how unpopular the princess was, she was also a member of the Li Tang royal family. It was better to have a daughter than to die in the palace without a child.
Then Li Changan approached Concubine Wu Hui himself.
Concubine Wu Hui is the most suitable candidate, the most favored concubine, the most powerful concubine Quan, and most importantly, she has no children by her side now. She has a son and a daughter, but King Shou cannot always come to the palace to accompany her. She also has two daughters. Princess Xianyi is already married. As for the other daughter, Princess Taihua... I think of the Princess Taihua in the palace in private. The rumors about the reincarnation of Emperor Xuanzong's first wife, Queen Wang, and the fact that Concubine Wu Hui and Princess Taihua were not close or even lived together, Li Changan felt that the rumors were somewhat true.
In short, Li Changan still clings to Concubine Wu Hui, which is not difficult. Even if she just wants to cause trouble for other young concubines in the harem, Concubine Wu Hui is willing to raise a little girl like Li Changan.
Now we just have to wait for Cao Yenaji to die of illness.
Concubine Wu Hui thought so, and Cao Yenaji herself thought so too.
Li Changan watched the magnificent Daming Palace getting smaller and smaller in her sight, and finally turned into a small dot disappearing on the horizon. She lowered her gaze.
But there was another person who didn't think so.
The shop given to her by Concubine Wu Hui is on the south side of Pingkangfang. This is not the busiest place in Pingkangfang, but the price of the shop is still high.
A two-story building, the roof is paved with tiles, lace tiles dripping with water, the hooks are carved with flower and grass patterns, and there are two fishtail kisses standing on the ridge, symbolizing sea beasts. It is said that it can protect against fire. On the left side of the shop is a similar shop that is not open yet, and on the right side is a shop selling velvet flowers. There is a little girl with velvet flowers in the shop who is looking curiously.
There are two old servants waiting in front of the door. Their identities are in the hands of Li Changan. Concubine Wu Hui does her job flawlessly, so there will be no embarrassing situation where the store is given to Li Changan but Li Changan has no one to use it.
The two old servants were a little surprised when they saw Li Changan, but they concealed their surprise after a while and treated him with the same respect as if they were an adult, or even seven points more respectful than they would an adult.
For such a young child to have a shop in Pingkangfang, it must be a gift from an adult in the family. There are only a few families in the entire Tang Dynasty who can give a shop worth thousands of gold in Pingkangfang to their children.
Li Changan also learned part of the origin of this shop from them.
This shop originally belonged to a family named Du. Later, the family named Du gave the shop to a nobleman named Zhang. After that, no one knew that the two of them were originally members of the Du family. The servants were sent back and forth with the shop. In the end, even they themselves didn’t know who their master’s family was.
Li Changan can probably guess what happened next. It is estimated that the shop was sent all the way up, from an official who wanted to ask for an official to the hands of Concubine Wu Hui. Concubine Wu Hui had too much wealth in her name, and the area was not large. She took the title deed of a shop in a poor location and pressed it on the bottom of the box. It was not until a few days ago that she thought of giving her descendants a lucky draw, then she dug out the title deed and the old servant's body deed from the corner and gave them to her.
The shop was now in her hands.
These two old servants are both surnamed Du, one is called Du Zheng and the other is Du Qing. They are both old people who grew up in Chang'an. They are very familiar with Chang'an. They know a little about big and small things. They can also read and calculate accounts. Otherwise, Nor will it be given to noble people as part of the shop.
When Concubine Wu Hui gave her these two people, did she think that "when children are older, they should learn to cultivate their own little power"?
Although Li Changan felt that Concubine Wu Hui might have never noticed that there were two old servants tied to this shop.
"How many years have you been working in this shop?" Li Changan said calmly.
The square-faced old man named Du Zheng raised his hands and said: "Twenty years ago, this shop was originally a property left by Mr. Du to his descendants. I and I were also the shopkeepers taught by Mr. Du. However, our descendants were incompetent and were arrested for fighting in the street. After he was imprisoned, in order to get him out, he had no choice but to give this shop away to smoothen the relationship... The pastry lady in this pastry shop had gone elsewhere, and I was the only one left who was bound here, so I had to guard this shop. Spend your days in vain.”
No wonder Concubine Wu Hui gave herself this shop. It turned out that this shop was originally a pastry shop. It is indeed very appropriate to give a pastry shop to a six-year-old child.
Du Zheng told everything he knew in one breath, and then looked at Li Changan eagerly, the anticipation in his eyes overflowing.
There was no other way. In the past two years after the shop closed down, they didn't even know who the owner of the shop was, let alone come to ask for wages. Although they were slaves who sold themselves, they still needed food and drink on weekdays. In the past two years, the two of them had to do odd jobs secretly to support themselves, which was extremely miserable.
But because of his slave status, he didn't dare to run away, so he could only guard this empty shop here, praying that the master, who had never met before, would one day remember this shop and provide food and accommodation for the two old servants.
"In that case, I will just continue to run a pastry shop in the future. It just so happens that I also like to delve into pastries." Li Changan was not lying.
She doesn't have anything else to do now. She usually just reads, thinks, eats and drinks. She and Cao Yenaji were the only two people living in the small courtyard. The food delivered from the palace dining room was not bad but not very delicious. Occasionally, if he got greedy, Li Changan would make something for himself.
"To reopen the shop, just the two of you are not enough. We have to go to Dongshi and hire a few more people." Li Changan stretched out his fingers and counted, "Two handymen, two errands, and a few more husks." Ji makes cakes and attracts customers.”
"Madam, we already have these people at home, why bother looking for handymen who don't know their background from outside?" The guard who was following Li Changan and responsible for protecting her couldn't help but say something.
Li Changan blinked at him and said with a hint of coquettishness: "This is my first time running a shop, so naturally I should do everything myself. Although there are people in our family, my mother's people are different from those I find myself."
The guard stopped talking. He was originally sent by Concubine Wu Hui to protect Li Changan. His intervention in what happened just now was already overstepping his bounds.
After all, it's just a five-year-old kid playing around. Let the little princess play as she pleases.
Originally, this matter could be left to the old servant, but Li Changan insisted on buying the person himself, as if he was just joining in the fun.
After all, he is still just a child and naturally loves to play.
Although Li Changan's money is not worth mentioning compared to other princes and princesses, it is not small outside the royal family. The dowry brought by Cao Yenaji from Cao Kingdom and the daily rewards from Concubine Wu Hui add up to thousands of dollars. .
She spent a lot of money to buy four young boys and four beautiful orchids.
"Our little big shop doesn't need four orchids to entertain us." Du Zheng was already thinking about saving money for his new owner.
Hu Ji is not cheap, one costs thousands of dollars.
"Just buy it, do I still have some money left?" Li Changan's eyes turned around on the faces of the beauties, as if they were kidding, "Besides, don't you think these beauties are pretty?" Like me?"
"How can I be like you? The only difference is the nose..." Du Zheng rambled.
Li Changan said nothing more.
It's true that she doesn't look very similar to her, but she is more or less similar to Cao Ye Naji, who is now so thin that her beauty is gone. It's no wonder that she searched the entire Dongshi to find these Hu Ji. .
