Chapter 94 Yu Shiji

Li Jiancheng followed Xiahou Yan into the palace. It seemed that the servants were very respectful to him and did not look like they were despised or suppressed.

When he arrived at the main hall door, a beautiful woman with charming eyes came out to greet him. Her eyes lit up when she saw Li Jiancheng. As soon as Li Jiancheng bowed, he was grabbed and felt his palms being lightly tickled a few times.

My goodness, even Hu Ji from West Market isn’t like this.

Xiahou Yan walked forward with an unpleasant look on his face and pulled Li Jiancheng's hand back. The woman said with a sweet smile, "Yan'er, what are you doing? It's rare for Mr. Li to come to your house. Don't scare him."

Rumor has it that Yu Shiji's wife, Sun, is dissolute and loves luxury and extravagance, which is indeed true.

Yu Shiji happened to come back from outside, and the two greeted each other: "Congratulations, my dear, on your posting. Just now, His Majesty praised you for your loyalty to the emperor and your dedication to the country, and that you are a role model for the court officials."

"I don't deserve it. I just want to do my best for your majesty."

After a while of polite conversation, Li Jiancheng mentioned the matter. Yu Shiji understood and agreed immediately, "It's just a small matter. My lord, just send someone to inform them. Why bother to come here in person?

If you need anything after you take up your post, you can send me a letter and I will handle it immediately. Also, when I returned home just now, I saw the servants of your family unloading gifts, so I ordered people to stop them. This matter is not worth mentioning, and I dare not accept your generous gift. "

Sun was still listening with a smile, but when she saw that no one was accepting the gifts, her expression suddenly changed and she said in a stern voice, "What? Mr. Li gave you this gift out of kindness, so that we can visit each other often, but you refuse to accept it. What on earth does that mean?"

Yu Shiji was frightened but still pretended to be calm and said: "Mr. Li is not an outsider. Our friendship is a gentleman's friendship. There is no need for those vulgar things."

"Mother, I have always admired Mr. Li, and you know that." Xiahou Yan pleaded, "Let it go."

Sun didn't even look at them, she just said to Li Jiancheng: "Don't be afraid of your mockery, my husband, our house is really poor, I haven't even had new clothes for a long time."

"This is Jiancheng's negligence." Li Jiancheng calmly used his eyes to appease the two men, then turned to Sun and said, "I am a minister in the same palace with Yu Shilang, and I hit it off with Brother Xiahou right away. I have a small fortune, so how can I bear to see your family in such a tight spot?

Jiancheng still has three shops in the West Market, including the Silver Shop, the Clothes Shop, and the Silk Shop. I will just give them all to Madam. I can't say it will make you rich, but at least it can help supplement the family expenses. I hope Madam will not refuse it!"

Then he said to Yu Shiji and Xiahou Yan who stood up to dissuade him, "Friends should share money with each other. As men, we don't need to refuse such a small matter."

The shame of this unrelated father and son was very similar. Yu Shiji sighed and said, "My dear, you are so kind. I will not refuse. We should visit each other often in the future.

Sun was even more delighted, and personally brought tea to Li Jiancheng, saying softly: "I am a woman with shallow views, I hope you will not take it to heart with me."

Li Jiancheng stood up and took it solemnly: "Of course not. Managing the house requires expenses everywhere. Without my wife, who is diligent and frugal, how can the house prosper?"

After seeing this, the three men felt better about Li Jiancheng and insisted on inviting him to have dinner with them. Li Jiancheng couldn't refuse, so he stayed and became a proper guest of honor.

After the meal, the father and son escorted him out of the house. Xiahou Yan even wanted to personally escort him back to the Duke of Tang's house, so Li Jiancheng had no choice but to accept. Before arriving at Li's house, facing Xiahou Yan's expectant eyes, Li Jiancheng said, "If you have time tomorrow, please invite Brother Xiahou to the banquet at Canxia Tower. I will introduce some friends to Brother Xiahou then."

Xiahou is a big family name, but Xiahou Yan is obviously not a noble branch of it, otherwise she would not have married into the Yu family with her mother after her father's death. With such an identity, it is naturally difficult for her to integrate into the circle of children of nobles in the capital.

What's more, he had such a greedy and frivolous mother. Even if Yu Shiji was a nobleman, no one would look down on him.

Xiahou Yan burst into tears of gratitude: "I will never forget your kindness in helping me, but if you ask me to do this, I will go through fire and water without hesitation!"

Li Jiancheng believed that Xiahou Yan was truly willing to go through fire and water for him, but he also believed that he would forget his gratitude before long.

In the next few days, Li Jiancheng attended banquets every day, just as Li Jiancheng had previously held banquets to see off his friends who were leaving for new posts. Now it was others' turn to host a farewell banquet for him.

Just before departure, Yu Shiji returned the favor by transferring Chang'an Ling Li Jing to the position of deputy commander of Zhuo County, a fifth-rank post. This surprised Li Jiancheng quite a bit, and he was planning to do so for some time.

In order to wait for Li Jing to pack his luggage, he waited for two more days. During this period, he stayed at home to accompany his family. Needless to say, Li Shimin led his servants to go out of the city for riding and shooting every day. Whenever he had a little free time, he would shamelessly go to Changsun Mansion and almost never went home.

The third child's name is now Xuanba, but he is still sickly and weak, and is the most cared for by his parents. The fourth child, Li Yuanji, is somewhat unloved by his parents. Li Jiancheng has tried to persuade him several times but there is nothing he can do and he can only send more people to take care of him.

Fortunately, the Li family had strict rules and regulations, and no one dared to bully or mistreat the young man. Moreover, although Li Yuanji was young, he was indeed stronger than ordinary people, but his face was not as handsome as his brothers.

As for his younger sister Li Xiuning, she was already a grown-up girl and would be getting married next year. Her husband was chosen by Li Yuan himself, Chai Shao, the eldest son of Chai Shen, the Duke of Julu.

Li Jiancheng and Chai Shao were also quite familiar with each other. When Li Jiancheng was serving as the Prince's Clan Guard of the previous Crown Prince, Chai Shao was the Prince's Qianniu Bei. He was agile and brave, with skills similar to Shen Guang, and had a righteous character and was quite likable.

After two days, he finally set off with nearly a thousand generals and servants. There were so many people coming out of the city to see him off that it was impossible to see the end. Li Jiancheng had no choice but to stand on the roof of the carriage and bow to everyone to say goodbye.

It was a long delay before they were able to set off. When they looked back and could no longer see Chang'an City, Li Jiancheng felt genuinely happy. He could not say that he was no longer bound by constraints, but he had escaped from the tiger's mouth and was able to cheer up.

The elite troops he kept in various places were also gathering in Zhuo County in batches. Although it was a little small, it was at least a territory of his own to manage. Moreover, when the emperor dispatched supplies and food, he would not lack money to maintain the troops.

According to the emperor's character, a million-strong army would be needed to conquer Goguryeo, and the food and fodder for the million-strong army had to be stored in Zhuo County. If he didn't find a way to consume a large number of them, his position as prefect would be in vain.

Moreover, Zhuo County was bordered by the Turks, Xi, Khitans, Wei Dynasty, etc. to the north. Once food and grass were available, they could recruit soldiers. Li Jiancheng also had a considerable number of Turks and Khitans under his command.

Although Li Jiancheng had no previous relationships with the governors of Shanggu County, Anle County, Yuyang County and other counties next to Zhuo County, he was still very confident that he could establish relationships with them. After counting and discussing carefully, he found that they were definitely relatives.

…………

(End of this chapter)