socalfunplaces Page 469
Page 469
"Ahem, Mr. Li is indeed a genius. I have learned a great deal in Lin'an today."
Li Chang'an said, "I have a few more of my humble works. Since Your Highness has come, please take them back and have a look. If there is anything you don't understand, please come over anytime, and I will answer your questions."
Lin'an had a palace maid take several thread-bound books from Xu Lingyue's hands, and then left the Li residence with a smug look on his face.
Inside the carriage, Lin'an's composed face finally crumbled. "Well, how was my performance today? I'm sure I impressed Li Chang'an!"
The palace maid nodded vigorously, "Your Highness is so wise and insightful today! Mr. Li even presented His Highness with his new work!"
As she spoke, she brought the book over. When Lin'an saw the words "discourse" and "commentary" on the cover, he was immediately overwhelmed.
"I'm not watching anymore! I'm exhausted! I'll take it home and watch it later."
The books that Li Chang'an gave him were not found by Lin'an until half a month later.
Because she found out that Huaiqing had never taken any books out of Li Chang'an's residence, which meant that Lin'an must have some special abilities!
She flipped through several books in succession and suddenly felt enlightened. The books were easy to understand and seemed to make the affairs of the court much clearer.
"Li Chang'an is indeed amazing; he explains things much more clearly than the teachers at the Imperial Academy."
What she didn't know was that Li Chang'an had simply written down some basic knowledge according to the comprehension level of a sixth-grade elementary school student.
However, when Huaiqing→Lin'an turned to the last book, his expression suddenly changed drastically.
She stood up abruptly, her face turning icy cold. "Li Chang'an, how dare you!"
The cover of the book bore the title "The Story of Cui Yingying Awaiting the Moon in the Western Wing." As a female book lover who read a lot of banned books, she could naturally guess the contents of the book.
For nearly two hundred years, the Great Feng Dynasty promoted the idea of preserving heavenly principles and suppressing human desires, and novels about elopement and secret rendezvous were banned.
Li Chang'an is blatantly sending forbidden books to the princess!
Lin'an put her hands on her hips again, her chest heaving, "Li Chang'an, what exactly are you up to!"
Her angry voice immediately attracted the attention of the palace maids, and Lin'an hurriedly said, "You all go out first!"
Then, her gaze fell on the Romance of the Western Chamber again—a book she had never read before!
Does Da Feng even have this book? It's not just some random word written on the cover, is it? If the contents are also a banned book, Li Chang'an, you're dead!
"Hmph! Let me take a good look. If you really send me forbidden books, I'll have your head chopped off!"
Princess Lin'an angrily flipped through the pages of *The Story of the Western Wing*, finding the flowing, vigorous handwriting identical to that of the previous books.
However, the content is indeed a vernacular novel.
"Very well, now I haven't wronged you. Your handwriting is so good, yet you wrote forbidden books. You are truly hopeless and utterly shameless..."
After reading a page, Lin'an would quietly reprimand Li Chang'an to show that he was critically reviewing the text, rather than being engrossed in it.
"What 'incestuous lovemaking'? It's nothing but illicit sex... You, Li Chang'an, the so-called Fifth Great Confucian Scholar, are clearly a shameless scoundrel who steals love and lust..."
However, gradually, the voices from Lin'an grew fainter and fainter, until finally they forgot about stacking armor.
Before anyone knew it, Princess Lin'an had already sat down, resting her chin on her hand, and began to read carefully.
"Thinking of you, neglecting sleep and meals, your beauty fading, flowers blooming and withering... I lie on a cold pillow, my fur coat cold, alone and forlorn... Bah! How shameless!"
Lin'an chuckled softly from time to time, her face slightly flushed, clearly getting into character.
"Azure sky, yellow flowers on the ground, a strong west wind. Wild geese fly south. Who has painted the frost-covered forest at dawn? It is always the tears of those parting..." Li Chang'an is quite talented; these lines are truly beautiful...
However, Lin'an soon discovered a problem: the book was not finished!
"To be continued!!!"
Completely absorbed in the book, Princess Lin'an suddenly felt a void in her heart. "What's wrong with Li Chang'an? He's only halfway through writing a book. What's wrong with him? What happens next?"
She flipped through the book several more times, and when she saw the words "To be continued," she felt as if her soul had been ripped out.
After a long while, she realized that this was a book written by Li Chang'an, and that he had deliberately given it to her!
"What does this mean! What is Li Chang'an trying to do?!"
Then, Lin'an had a bold idea: "Is he flirting with me?!"
"Hmph! Li Chang'an, if I were to hand this book over to my father, you wouldn't have enough heads to go around!"
However, as her gaze swept over the flowing, powerful characters, she suddenly changed her mind.
"That's not right. It's possible it was accidentally placed with other books. I'm not familiar with Li Chang'an. He wouldn't dare to flirt with me even if he had a hundred lives! Do I look like someone you can flirt with at will?"
"Yes, yes, that must be the case!"
"But...but what happened after that? What happened after Cui Yingying and Zhang Sheng secretly pledged their lives to each other..."
"Half a month has passed, Li Chang'an should have finished writing the second half of the book by now..."
Chapter 281 The Murder Case at the Jiaofangsi (Imperial Music Bureau)
Princess Lin'an hadn't slept well for several days, constantly pondering how to politely ask Li Chang'an for the second half of The Romance of the Western Chamber.
But no matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't come up with a proper way, since the fact that she had secretly read forbidden books was something that absolutely could not be known to outsiders.
She wasn't sure whether Li Chang'an had given her the Romance of the Western Chamber intentionally or unintentionally.
Of course, Lin'an could pretend she hadn't seen it and then question Li Chang'an about why there were banned books among the books she received.
But in that case, she might never see the second half of The Romance of the Western Chamber.
If she were to directly ask for the second half of the forbidden book, wouldn't that be incredibly shameless? Where would the princess's dignity and authority be?
"Sigh...this is so difficult."
Just as Princess Lin'an was in a dilemma, a palace maid brought her a message: "Your Highness, Li Chang'an has started selling calligraphy and paintings."
In order to improve his literary and artistic ranking and incidentally make money and accumulate wealth, Li Chang'an started auctioning his calligraphy and paintings again.
Princess Lin'an was disappointed upon hearing this. No matter what kind of paintings or calligraphy Li Chang'an was selling, he would never sell The Romance of the Western Chamber.
"Fine... I'm going all out. This time, I'm determined to get Li Chang'an under my thumb!"
Having made up her mind, Biao Biao once again stepped onto Li Chang'an's door.
This time, she didn't pursue the matter of Li Chang'an not coming to greet her, but instead went straight to Li Chang'an's study.
"Humph!"
Princess Lin'an tossed the Romance of the Western Chamber onto Li Chang'an's desk, her face cold and her expression extremely dignified.
"It's unbelievable that Mr. Li Chang'an, who is famous throughout the capital, would write a banned book."
Ignoring Biao Biao's cold, pretty face, Li Chang'an picked up the book and flipped through it. The book was brand new when it was given away, and no one had ever read it.
However, the book is now clearly worn out; the page about the lovers' tryst is quite worn.
"Um……"
Li Chang'an smiled but didn't laugh out loud, saving face for Biao Biao, after all, young girls are all delicate.
Lin'an blinked her beautiful peach blossom eyes unconsciously and said awkwardly, "Li Chang'an! What are you laughing at? I haven't read this book."
Li Chang'an kept flipping through the book. She was very nervous, but she quickly regained her confidence. As long as she denied it, who would dare to say that she had read it?
"I originally wrote this for Lingyue to pass the time, but I accidentally put it together with the book for the princess. I won't make this mistake again."
Li Chang'an said something with a half-smile, and Princess Lin'an felt inexplicably disappointed, but she still continued her performance according to her pre-arranged plan.
Princess Lin'an put on a righteous and awe-inspiring demeanor, "Mr. Li, you actually wrote forbidden books for your maid. Do you know that this is a violation of etiquette?"
"Is that so? Then it would be better to burn the second half of the book that you just finished writing."
Ignoring Princess Lin'an's astonished expression and fascinating reaction upon hearing this, Li Chang'an called out to the door, "Lingyue, come here for a moment."
After Xu Lingyue came in, Li Chang'an took a brand new book from the bookshelf behind him and handed it to her, saying, "Princess Lin'an has ordered that you can no longer read this book. Take it and burn it immediately."
"Yes, yes, yes! Young master."
Xu Lingyue was extremely nervous, after all, Princess Lin'an's expression was not good when she entered the room. Without hesitation, she took the book and walked out of the study with small, quick steps.
"Hey you! Wait a minute!"
Princess Lin'an panicked and shouted without thinking.
Upon hearing that Lin'an was anxious, Xu Lingyue trembled violently. She turned around, lowered her head, and confessed to Princess Lin'an.
"Your Highness, Lingyue was wrong. Lingyue will never read this kind of book again."
Looking at Xu Lingyue's nervous expression, as if she had committed some terrible crime, Lin'an couldn't help but blush. After all, she had read far more forbidden books than Xu Lingyue.
"Lingyue, right? Put the book on the table first. This is not your fault. It's all Mr. Li's fault for not being strict with the rules. You all go out first, and I'll have a good talk with Mr. Li."
Afterwards, Xu Lingyue and the palace maids left the study, leaving only Princess Lin'an and Li Chang'an in the room.
"Cough cough!"
Princess Lin'an, maintaining her composure, coughed twice, her mind racing, trying to figure out how to successfully bring the book back to the palace.
However, to her surprise, Li Chang'an picked up the book and walked straight up to her.
"Li Chang'an, what are you going to do?"
As Li Chang'an drew closer, Princess Lin'an instinctively tensed up and retreated until she had nowhere left to go and her back pressed against the wall.
The two people faced each other, their breaths audible, their eyes locked.