Chapter 29 Trap
The two juniors consciously stood behind Yang Xuangan and listened to everyone's suggestions and advice. The crown prince was about to fall, and no one wanted to fall behind.

Li Jiancheng was a very honest person. He had already gotten what he wanted, and all he had to do from then on was to follow orders. Unless there were special circumstances, he would not take the initiative to show his ability. In fact, if he wanted to make achievements at this time, it would be tantamount to snatching meat from his colleagues' mouths.

After discussing for a while, Yang Su took the initiative and said, "I will go to see Your Majesty tomorrow."

Yang Guang said happily: "Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Yang."

Yuwen Shu looked a little unhappy, but there was nothing he could do. He had never been respectable in front of the emperor, and the emperor, with his increasingly bad temper, trusted fewer and fewer people.

Yang Su seemed to remember something and said, "It would be best if Jiancheng could accompany me. The Empress should also make an effort to ensure everything goes well."

Everyone's eyes fell on Li Jiancheng. Yang Guang smiled and said, "Great! Lord Yang has the trust of the emperor, and Jiancheng has the trust of the queen mother. If the two work together, they will surely accomplish this."

As Yang Guang started to make adjustments, no matter what everyone thought in their hearts, they all started to praise Yang Su and Li Jiancheng. Their words to Yang Su were nothing more than those same words, but their words to Li Jiancheng were a bit like praising him to death.

The reputations of Li Jia Qilin, Wuchuan Guizi, talented in both civil and military affairs, virtuous and talented, clear-minded and beautiful, and Xie Ting Lanyu are all coming to him.

This is also the reason why he has been behaving himself recently, his fame is overwhelming.

Apart from other things, some of his peers such as Yang Jishan and Yuan Shibin have begun to become cold and distant towards him, and sometimes there are hints of sarcasm in their words, which shows that even if they know the inside story, they still can't stand it.

Li Jiancheng stepped forward with a smile on his face and agreed loudly, enjoying the praises of others. He also vaguely heard Yang Jishan snort coldly behind him.

…………

When leaving Prince Jin's mansion, everyone was talking in groups of two or three, but he was alone, mounting his horse and returning home.

Yang Xuangan stood with his brother, looking at Li Jiancheng's back and whispered, "With such a great reputation, I wonder if he will be crushed to death."

Yang Jishan sneered, "Brother, don't you know who Li Jiancheng is? He's been getting cocky lately, looking down on us. He's obviously the youngest, but now he wants to act like the eldest brother."

Yang Xuan sighed, "It's better to crush him to death. King Jin admires him very much. The Li family finally fell, and it won't benefit anyone if they rise again."

Li Jiancheng relaxed a little after returning home and rubbed his eyes tiredly. Three people can make a tiger, and gossip can melt gold. Although fame can be depressing, as long as you are not crushed to death, it is real fame. When things change drastically in the future, the situations of having fame and not having fame will be very different.

When he arrived at the bedroom in the back house, Dou was waiting for him to have dinner together. Seeing her son coming, she looked at him with pity and said, "Your father has stayed in a guest house outside the city today. He will bring your grandmother back home tomorrow."

Li Jiancheng's mood, which was already not very good, became even worse. He already had a lot of troubles, and now he had to deal with his own father, and that was his unlucky father who was reprimanded and recalled to the capital by imperial decree.

In retrospect, most of those who impeached Li Yuan were the Prince of Jin's men, and they probably wanted to gain some other use from Li Yuan.

The forces under Yang Guang's command were somewhat mixed, including the long-declined Jiangnan gentry, a few scattered Shandong gentry, and a relatively large number of Guanlong nobles, especially Yang Su and Yuwen Shu.

Yang Guang, who had already gained the upper hand in the fight for the throne, was somewhat worried. The Jiangnan gentry had been the foundation of his many years of construction, and they had no one to rely on except him. Although they had no military power, they were needed to govern the world.

Shandong gentry had been suppressed by Guanlong nobles, with prestige but no real power. Guanlong was extremely xenophobic. He probably wanted to use the Li family to check and balance. At least, he definitely didn't want to give Yang Su the military power of guarding the Chang'an Palace. Yang Su's power had already made Yang Guang a little disappointed after this incident. How could he dare to put his safety in his hands? It would not be easy to let Yuwen Shu take charge of Yang Su. Only someone with little power but within the control range could be accepted by everyone.

Dou had the dishes served and said to her son, "A calf fell to its death on the farm. I asked the chef to make you a beef head dish to heal you."

Mutton, pork, chicken, duck and fish are commonly eaten, but beef is rare. Li Jiancheng became gluttonous when he heard it.

The so-called Niutoubao uses a calf's head with smooth skin and tender meat. First, it is burned over fire to remove the hair, then washed with boiling water to remove all the hair roots. Put wine, fermented black beans, onions and ginger into the pot, cook the ox head, peel off the meat and cut it into palm-sized pieces, season it with ghee, pepper, sour orange, etc., stuff it into a bottle or jar, and seal the mouth of the jar with mud.

Finally, bury the meat jar in the fire pit and slowly heat it with a weak fire to bake out the flavor. The meat is loose and tender and tastes so delicious that you want to swallow your tongue along with it.

I ate three full bowls of rice and only put down my chopsticks when my forehead was slightly sweaty.

"Mother, has Wang Fuxian been sent away?"

"Well, I'll have him sent to a villa in Yangzhou, and I'll let him go free when the Prince of Jin becomes the Crown Prince."

Dou said with some worry, "These past few days, when I was meeting with the ladies of several families I know well, I heard a lot of people praising you, and some even deliberately made up anecdotes and stories about you. This..."

Li Jiancheng consoled him: "I have already found a way to let His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin know that this was done by Yang Su."

Dou was silent for a moment and said, "We can't just watch like this. Yang Su also has a son, and Yang Xuangan is also famous. Let's support them together."

Li Jiancheng did not object. This was indeed a solution, but the momentum that the Li family could create now was not great.

.........

On the second day, after learning that the emperor and empress were talking in Yong'an Palace, Li Jiancheng paid a visit to them on the pretext of presenting them a tiger-skin rug, while Yang Su waited for a while before sending someone to report the visit.

After entering the palace, Yang Su reported some news about the Turks, and then deliberately turned the topic to the prince. Although Yang Jian had heard about the prince's absurdities, he had never heard them in such detail.

The more he listened, the angrier he became, so he ordered Yang Su to go and reprimand Yang Yong. Dugu Jialuo had already sensed some conspiracy, but she only wanted to support Yang Guang to take the throne as soon as possible, and didn't care about anything else, so she ordered Li Jiancheng to accompany him as well.

After receiving the order, the two men went straight to the East Palace and sent people to inform with great fanfare that the emperor had ordered people to come and question the prince. Naturally, when the prince received the news, he hurriedly packed up, changed into his usual clothes and waited.

However, Yang Su and Li Jiancheng did not rush in, but wandered around outside the East Palace, making Yang Yong and others sweat profusely but seeing no one.

Yang Yong was a simple-minded man who showed his emotions on his face. No one knew what he was thinking about, but his face was already filled with anger. He ripped open his collar, threw off his crown, and paced back and forth in the yard anxiously.

…………

(End of this chapter)