"You're the new attendant beside my elder brother? I've never seen you before." Li Jingyun looked at the young eunuch several times but couldn't recall who he was.
"I'm Shi An. Greetings, Princess. I was assigned by the Empress Dowager to serve the King of Qi just a few days ago."
Shi An stepped forward and bowed respectfully.
"You're so pretty." As Li Jingyun spoke, her eyes suddenly fell on Dami behind her. "As pretty as Big Dami!"
It seemed that all the eunuchs in the palace were good - looking. Just like Shi An, Chenxin beside her eldest brother, and even Eunuch Feng beside herself. They were all delicate - featured, spoke softly, and were gentle and considerate. At first glance, it was hard to tell whether they were men or women.
As for Big Dami, it was really beautiful when it first came to the villa. But now that it had raised its lambs, it looked messy.
"Thank you, Princess."
Shi An smiled gently and bowed again.
It seemed that Princess Chengyang had a good impression of him? Everyone knew how much she loved these sheep.
For people like them, if someone said they were a good dog, they would have to happily accept it.
Wasn't it the Emperor and the Empress Dowager's intention to send him to the side of the King of Qi so that he could do things for the King of Qi and improve the relationship between the King of Qi and other princes and princesses?
"Princess, you can't compare people with animals." Duan Jia advised.
Originally, seeing that the princess was so happy talking and Shi An also responded to her, she didn't want to advise. But these details were something the princess should pay attention to from a young age.
Li Jingyun was unhappy. "Dami is not an animal. Dami is my family!"
These words left Duan Jia speechless. She had underestimated the status of these sheep in the princess's heart.
Seeing them chatting happily, Li You felt bored. He was calculating in his mind how to get rid of Shi An more justifiably. He might as well go back. "I'll go back first."
"Brother, it's getting late. I have to go back too. Can I go with you?" Li Jingyun grabbed Li You's hand again and looked up at him. There was only Li You's figure in her pair of black eyes.
"Sure."
Looking at his younger sister, Li You instantly softened.
After agreeing, he cursed himself secretly in his heart. Why did he agree? He still wanted to visit his uncle's house. He had just heard that his uncle had newly acquired several dancing girls who were both talented and beautiful.
He couldn't go today!
Just after the first watch, Li You brought Li Jingyun back to the imperial city. He sent her to Taihe Hall and happened to meet Li Chengqian who was reviewing memorials.
On Li Chengqian's table was the paperweight he had sent.
"Elder brother, I've brought our younger sister back. I have to go and see my mother. I'll take my leave first."
"Okay, go ahead."
Li Chengqian took Li Jingyun's hand. After seeing Li You walking away, he asked, "Hongxuan, how was it being with your fifth brother today?"
Li Jingyun looked proud. "Fifth brother bought me cherry - filled pastries. They were so delicious!"
"That's good, that's good."
He didn't know if their father and mother's plan would succeed. It was a good thing to ease the relationship between the fifth brother and the other siblings, but to start from Hongxuan. Hongxuan was just a child. What if she said something wrong? Wouldn't all their efforts be in vain?
By now, all he could do was offer a stick of incense to the Supreme Lord and ask for his blessing.
"Where's Father?" Li Jingyun looked around. "Did he go to find Mother again?"
"Yes. Isn't he just pushing the court affairs onto me?" Li Chengqian smiled helplessly. He was just his father's substitute. When his father was too lazy to deal with the political affairs, he had to step in.
"Elder brother, I have a question."
Li Jingyun said seriously.
"Go ahead."
"Su Gui doesn't want the money I gave him, nor the official position in the Princess Mansion. How should I reward him?" Li Jingyun scratched her head. The things she could think of to reward people seemed to be only these.
"He doesn't even want an official position in the Princess Mansion? What rank and what position did you offer him?"
"I don't even know what official positions there are in my Princess Mansion. I originally wanted him to choose. If he chose a high - ranking position, I would go and ask Father. Who knew he didn't even want to choose." Li Jingyun said truthfully.
Hearing this, Li Chengqian understood. Generally, a princess was not allowed to have her own mansion. Hongxuan had this honor because of the contributions she had made before and her deep affection from the Li Tang royal family. No one was so stupid as to get entangled in this.
A princess with her own mansion enjoyed the same treatment as a prince. The chief clerk in the Princess Mansion was even an official of the fourth rank. This was already a very high - ranking official position in the Tang Dynasty.
In addition, there were also the deputy governor of the fourth rank, the chief official of the sixth rank, the registrar of the sixth rank, the military advisor, and so on.
"Your sister - in - law once told me that Su Gui is very intelligent and has high aspirations. He also said that he would participate in the spring imperial examination next year. He probably wants to become an official after passing the imperial examination." Li Chengqian said. "It doesn't matter. He's only nine years old. He may agree in the future even if he doesn't now."
At nine years old, participating in the spring imperial examination was quite shocking in any dynasty.
"Yeah! Brother is right!"
Fortunately, Li Jingyun didn't understand the rules of the spring imperial examination and didn't think too much about it. She just thought her elder brother's words made sense.
Suddenly, Chenxin brought up a memorial. Since he had served Li Chengqian since childhood and had a good relationship with him, he directly handed the memorial to Li Chengqian and said, "Prince, please take a look quickly. Those Tubo people are getting more and more insolent."
"They can't be quiet for a single day."
Li Chengqian resignedly checked the memorial and felt his head ache.
"Hongxuan, the Tubo people also take a fancy to the sweaters you made. They want to trade with the Tang Dynasty. They even shamelessly said that for the friendly exchanges between the two countries and to show the grandeur of a great country, we should sell them at half price."
Li Chengqian skimmed through the memorial and summarized Lu Dongzan's words before relaying them to Li Jingyun.
This was really hard to judge.
The current output of sweaters was not high. It could barely meet the sales for the opening three days later, and that was only on the condition that the common people didn't rush to buy and the profiteers didn't buy in bulk and hoard them.
There weren't enough for their own country, so how could they talk about selling to Tubo? Wasn't this going too far?
But should they just directly refuse?
Father had said that they should buy wool from the Turks, make sweaters, and then sell them to the Turks. Since they treated the Turks like this, should they also treat the Tubo equally?
"Half price! Isn't that a pure loss?" Li Jingyun was shocked by this.
In order to make the sweaters affordable for the common people of the Tang Dynasty, she had kept the price very low, barely enough to maintain the operation of the new villa.
Just buying that shop from Wu Meiniang had cost 70,000 coins. She would have to sell thousands or even tens of thousands of sweaters to get the capital back.
Not to mention that transporting the sweaters from Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty to Tubo would cost so many lives, cover such a long distance, and cost so much money to deliver.
"The Tubo people just keep thinking that a pancake will fall from the sky and hit their heads. If it doesn't, they'll even scold people." Chenxin brought two bowls of longevity porridge and joked. "This was just cooked by the Crown Princess. She ordered me to bring it."
"Delicious! Delicious! Sister - in - law's cooking is so good!"
Li Jingyun blew on it twice and took a big mouthful of the porridge. It was sweet and fragrant.
Li Chengqian looked at his younger sister with a smile. In the past few months, she had grown up too fast. Although she still called him elder brother obediently like before and worried about some small things, her thoughts on some matters had matured a lot. He was even a bit slow to react.
He even worried that premature wisdom might do some harm to his younger sister. Now it seemed that he had worried too much.