Chapter 66

The summer wind carried a wave of heat, blowing through the scorching Chang'an city. This most magnificent city in the world lay like a giant beast sprawled across the Guanzhong Plain. The glazed tiles on the palace roof shimmered in the sunlight, and the nearly ten-zhang-high city walls surrounded the square city. Straight streets cut through the city, making it look like a neatly arranged vegetable patch, very orderly. This was the glory left by our ancestors, the pride of future generations.

In a small courtyard of the Qin王府, with no servants present, only three children stood quietly, the atmosphere very oppressive.

Li Kuan felt very bitter, not knowing how to comfort the little one. Li Lizhi felt the same way; the usually lively little one suddenly became silent, leaving them at a loss.

"Wei'er is a motherless child, and Wei'er is hated by Second Brother!" Tears streamed down her little face, even her favorite shaved ice no longer attracted her. Her small hands clutched the hem of her clothes, muttering to herself, evoking pity.

Li Kuan came to her side, crouched down gently, and listened to her muttering. Only then did he realize how sensitive the little one was: "Wei'er is the cutest child, no one will hate Wei'er. Second Brother likes Wei'er so much, how could he hate her?" Li Kuan felt very heartbroken listening to the little one's complaints. At just two years old, she should be innocent, yet she was so sensitive. Such words should not come from her mouth; she should only emit clear, joyful laughter.

"Second Brother!" Xiao Nianwei's eyes regained their light, and she softly called out, looking at the person crouching beside her.

"Um, Second Brother will always like Wei'er and always protect Wei'er!" Li Kuan said seriously, looking straight into her big eyes.

"Wow... sniff... sniff..." Xiao Nianwei burst into tears: "Second Brother, don't hate Wei'er. Wei'er will be good and obedient, and never cause trouble again!" She cried bitterly, tears streaming down her face. Her tears soaked Li Kuan's clothes, and she buried her head in his chest, unwilling to lift it.

"Be good, don't cry. Second Brother won't hate Wei'er, never!" Li Kuan gently patted the little one's back, comforting her.

"But, but, Wei'er has no mother!" Li Kuan didn't know where the little one had learned that she had no mother. Logically, she shouldn't understand what it means to have no mother.

"Wei'er still has Second Brother, and Sister Lizhi, and Father and Mother, and Brother Qingque!" Li Kuan didn't know what else to say besides comforting words. He just felt heartbroken.

"Mother and Brother Chenggan said Wei'er is a motherless child!" The little one sobbed, telling her story in Li Kuan's arms.

"That day, Wei'er went to Mother. Mother and Brother Chenggan were talking, and Wei'er overheard. Wei'er didn't know what a motherless child was, so she asked Sister Xiufang." Xiufang was Xiao Nianwei's personal maid. Although Xiao Nianwei was always with Li Lizhi, she still had a maid.

"Is that so? What did Sister Xiufang say?" Li Lizhi crouched on the other side of the little one and asked.

"Sister Xiufang didn't say much, just that the children in the Miscellaneous Courtyard are all motherless. Wei'er doesn't want to go to the Miscellaneous Courtyard; it's smelly and dirty! Wei'er doesn't want to become a mud monkey; Wei'er is white, not black!" The little one's words made Li Kuan and Li Lizhi chuckle. The Miscellaneous Courtyard was a yard even worse than where the servants lived, near the Tonghua Gate, a place set up by Changsun to accommodate refugees. It also housed children without parents, who had either fled due to disasters or wars, all destitute and pitiful. Changsun might have been buying public support or genuinely compassionate, but in any case, these people had a place to stay.

Those children ran around bare-bottomed, dirty like mud monkeys. Xiao Nianwei had peeked at them a few times from a distance, thinking that all motherless children would end up like that, so she was terrified. Every morning, she would carefully examine herself in the bronze mirror to see if she had turned black like those children, and Li Lizhi had teased her for being vain.

Li Lizhi hadn't realized the little one had thought so much. At the time, she had laughed without noticing the depth of the little one's thoughts.

"Sorry! Wei'er, Sister shouldn't have laughed at you!" Li Lizhi apologized.

"Don't worry! Wei'er will always be white, not black, always as beautiful as a little fairy!" Li Kuan reached out and gently pinched her little nose, smiling.

"Sister!" The little one finally smiled, reaching out her small hand to signal Li Lizhi to pick her up.

"Come, Sister will hold you, be good!" Li Lizhi also smiled, her forehead touching the little one's head. The two smiling faces made Li Kuan feel happy too. After a bout of venting and worry, the clouds cleared.

"Tomorrow, we'll go to Yushan, okay?" Li Kuan said again.

"Um, Wei'er wants to go, Wei'er wants to go boating!" The little one's sadness came and went quickly, now reaching out her small hand to indicate she wanted to go boating.

"You little rascal, you want to catch those fish, don't you!" Li Kuan knew exactly what the little one was thinking. The last time they went was in spring, when the weather had just started to warm up. The whole family of the Qin王府 went on a spring outing, and while boating, the little one discovered the fish in the water and had been thinking about it ever since.

The fish were not afraid of people, perhaps because few people caught them in this era, or because the Li family had a taboo about eating carp. The river called Dongyang in Yushan was full of carp, their red tails swaying in the water. The little one leaned over the boat and reached her small hand into the water to catch them, and the unafraid carp would bite her fingers, pulling them onto the boat.

After calming the little one, Li Kuan taught Li Lizhi some horse stances for a while, then sent the two of them out of the courtyard. That day, Li Kuan didn't practice boxing but instead lay in a reclining chair, slowly swaying to sleep. In his dream, Li Kuan saw himself grown up, no longer a little kid. He rode a red rabbit horse, held a halberd, wore a brocade robe, a sash with a beast head, a helmet with wings, and boots that moved like the wind. He led a group of fierce soldiers, sweeping across the land, crushing any who dared to resist.

With the flowers blooming in two branches, let's talk about Li Lizhi and Xiao Nianwei, who returned to the main hall of the Qin王府, where Changsun was waiting.

"Your child greets Mother!" Li Lizhi bowed.

"Wei'er greets Mother!" Xiao Nianwei also bowed, imitating her sister, but her imitation was so poor that Changsun found it amusing. However, seeing Li Lizhi bow properly, Changsun couldn't laugh.

"Alright, come and sit!" Changsun said no more. The children were growing up and becoming sensible, but why did she feel this wasn't what she wanted to see?

"Thank you, Mother!" Li Lizhi led her sister over and sat down beside Changsun, the little one being lifted onto a chair, her short legs dangling in the air.

"Lizhi, did you go to see Kuan'er?" Changsun didn't need to ask where the two little ones had gone. Her ten-year-old son had recently become less stable, always thinking he was Li Lizhi's real brother and wondering why Li Lizhi liked to be with the second son, Li Kuan.

So he had gone to Changsun, and during their conversation about why Li Lizhi and Xiao Wei'er liked Li Kuan, Li Chenggan had let slip something about a motherless child, leading to today's incident.

"Yes, Lizhi went to see Second Brother to learn boxing from him." Li Lizhi answered.

"Why did you decide to learn boxing? Didn't you refuse when Second Brother offered to teach you before?" Changsun asked, puzzled.

"I want to be like Aunt, to become a female general in the future!" Li Lizhi explained. Half a month ago, Li Xiuning had returned from Luoyang to visit Li Yuan, bringing a group of female soldiers. Li Lizhi had gone with her aunt to watch the impressive training of the female soldiers, finding it very impressive, and thus the idea was born.

"Again, this Xiuning! Why do good girls like to go to battle? Fighting and killing are men's business, what do women have to do with it!" Changsun complained about her younger sister-in-law, who had taught her daughter such things. The battlefield was full of danger, and two years ago, she had barely escaped death. Why hadn't she learned her lesson?

"Mother, the world is peaceful now. I just want to experience wearing armor and riding a big horse, not to go to battle!" Li Lizhi took Changsun's hand, pleading.

"You! Always like this. Learning boxing is fine, anyway, you have Second Brother!" Changsun didn't bother to manage it anymore. The two girls had been spoiled by their second brother, seeing all sorts of strange things. Now they didn't even want to listen to her teachings on needlework. Fortunately, Li Kuan taught them interesting things and didn't corrupt them, so Changsun let them be.

"Thank you, Mother!" Li Lizhi happily thanked Changsun.

"By the way, Mother, Second Brother seems a bit off today. He said a lot of strange things!" Li Lizhi was still worried about Li Kuan. Although she felt it wasn't right to tell Changsun these things, in this family, only Changsun could make decisions, and Li Er was still on his way back to Chang'an.

"Oh! What's wrong with him?" Changsun, though not interfering with Li Kuan, had not relaxed her vigilance. However, in the past two years, she had received little information about him. The mysterious scientist had not shown up, but the steady stream of strange things from Li Kuan proved their existence.

"Second Brother said..." Li Lizhi repeated the strange words she had heard in Li Kuan's courtyard.