Chapter Twenty-Five: Li Kong’s Frustration

The sun rose and set, and set and rose again. Just like that, twenty-four hours slipped by in a lazy haze.

Li Kong lounged leisurely on the swing, listening to the crackling and scraping sounds drifting from the back courtyard, and felt an unbridled sense of satisfaction. Now the tables, chairs, and benches were all finished, with several sets made. Besides those kept for his own use and the ones sent to Li Shimin, there were five sets left. Li Kong had set the price for each set at ten strings of cash.

Given the purchasing power of the time, this price was astronomical—equivalent to about a hundred thousand per set in his previous life. Outrageous. But Li Kong’s target was the upper echelons of nobility. Who among them didn’t have a few thousand strings of cash lying around? Ten strings was a mere drop in the ocean for them.

Still, there was nothing particularly technical about these items. With the skills of modern craftsmen, as long as they had a sample, they could easily reproduce them. So Li Kong never intended to make this a long-term business; at most, it was just a way to accumulate some capital.

But soon, Li Kong’s anticipation and leisure turned into frustration and bewilderment. Even after his period of house arrest ended, not a single customer came to inquire about his products.

Did Li Shimin not display the furniture? Or did he, the miser, hide away the set Li Kong had presented to him so that no one else could see it? But that didn’t make sense. Even if it was hidden in the inner palace, with Changsun Wuji’s connections, he should have seen it. Why was there not a whisper of interest?

“Young master, the wood is running low—there’s not enough left to make another set,” Laifu came running just as Li Kong was brooding, reporting in a low voice.

“Stop production for now. Let the craftsmen go home, and make sure their wages are settled. Also, tell them that without my permission, no one is to make these things outside. Otherwise…”

“I understand, young master. I’ll see to it at once!”

The craftsmen departed, taking with them the wages Li Kong had given. But Li Kong was even more at a loss afterward, because their household’s remaining funds for the month amounted to less than five hundred coins. Yet, they needed to cover the next month’s expenses, and there were still seven days to go. Nine people, seven days, five hundred coins—unless they lived on air, they wouldn’t last even three days.

“Am I not the most pathetic second-generation official in all of Great Tang?” Li Kong smacked his lips, looking at the more than thirty sets of furniture in front of him, and sighed heavily.

Because there was no money, lunch was just plain boiled noodles, tasteless to the point that Li Kong nearly gagged. After lunch, fed up with such a life, he marched straight to Taiji Palace. He was going to demand an explanation from Li Shimin; otherwise, he’d starve to death for sure.

The thought of possibly being the first time-traveling soul to die of hunger made him break out in a cold sweat.

Taiji Palace.

Recently, Li Shimin’s mind had been restless. Ever since hearing that Empress Zhangsun was pregnant, his thoughts kept drifting back to the birth of Li Tai, especially at night, when he often dreamed of the empress’s agony and perilous brush with death.

This era did have abortifacients, but they were extremely damaging—one misstep and both lives could be lost. So, pregnancy almost always meant the child had to be carried to term. In Empress Zhangsun’s case, she was already on medication to nourish her lungs; even the imperial physicians dared not prescribe abortifacients.

Because of the pregnancy, the lung-nourishing medicines had to be stopped for fear of harming the fetus, making things even riskier.

So Li Shimin changed the court’s assembly schedule to once every five days. Apart from handling matters the ministers couldn’t resolve, he spent all his time accompanying the empress.

As for promoting Li Kong’s furniture? In a word: no time, and no inclination.

At this moment, Li Shimin was personally feeding Empress Zhangsun lotus seed porridge—the only thing that could clear the lungs without harming the fetus. The empress had been drinking it for half a month. Without Li Shimin there, she wouldn’t have touched a drop; she was already sick of it. The thought of drinking it for another nine months left her resigned.

But there was a reason she was hailed as the most virtuous of empresses. She didn’t want to trouble Li Shimin or disturb the harmony of the inner palace. No matter how hard it was, she never complained to him. While Li Shimin fed her, her face always bore a gentle smile.

Beside them, Li Chengqian, Li Tai, and Li Lizhi sat with proper decorum. All three were just seven or eight years old, still children with little understanding of relations between men and women. But seeing the affection between their parents, they couldn’t help but feel a touch of envy.

For now, there was no thought of rivalry for the throne among them; brotherly harmony and familial joy reigned.

“I’ve had enough, Er Lang. Let’s leave the rest for later,” Empress Zhangsun said quickly as Li Shimin reached to serve another bowl.

Li Shimin looked at her with concern, sighing, “Guanyin, I know you’re already sick of this every day, but… I can’t bear for you to face what happened last time again. It’s too dangerous, and I just can’t rest easy.”

A shadow passed over the empress’s face. “It’s nothing. For your sake, I’ll do my best to survive—just an illness, nothing new.”

Li Shimin opened his mouth. Against anyone else, his tongue never lost; even the most pedantic scholars he could argue down. But in front of Empress Zhangsun, he could only swallow his words.

Seeing the smile on her face, he exhaled deeply and said, “Yes, just an illness. I believe you can get through this.”

At last, the empress smiled warmly, then turned to the three children. “There’s no break at the Academy today. Tai and Changle, what are you doing here instead of attending class?”

Li Chengqian, now the crown prince, was educated by his own tutor and didn’t need to attend the Academy, but Li Tai and Li Lizhi did—their studies were what the empress valued most.

Li Tai and Li Lizhi exchanged a glance, then stood up under their mother’s stern gaze, bowed, and walked out.

Next, the empress turned her gaze to Li Chengqian. He quickly said, “Mother, don’t worry. I finished all my lessons before coming here. The rest I can do later. I just want to stay and keep you company for a while.”

The empress nodded, then looked at Li Shimin. But just as she was about to speak, an attendant hurried in. “Your Majesty, Your Grace, Li Kong is here again!”

At the mention of that name, both Li Shimin and the empress were taken aback. Only Li Chengqian seemed surprised, lost in recollection—after all, Li Kong had left the Prince of Qin’s mansion more than two years ago. He wondered if his elder brother had changed.

Li Shimin was about to order the attendant to send Li Kong away, but the empress interjected, “Let him in. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen him in over two years.”

“Well, all right then!” Li Shimin stood, turned, and said, “Go, let that rascal in. Let him see his aunt!”