Chapter 690: Cooling off
June 21st is the anniversary of Empress Changsun's death.

Three days in advance, Su Mingzhe started staying in Ganlu Temple to fast and bathe, with only a young master and two little kids accompanying him.

That kid Li Zhi has been driven out of the palace by Su Mingzhe.

Now there are only two little kids, Li Mingda and Li Yanran, in Ganlu Palace.

Without Li Zhi's instigation, these two girls would be truly caring and sweet.

During the fasting period, Su Mingzhe also took his two children to copy the Diamond Sutra.

On the day of his death, Su Mingzhe had copied five copies by himself.

Seeing that the time for the sacrifice was approaching, Li Yanran immediately ran to Su Mingzhe, staring at him with those cute big eyes, and said in a baby voice:
"Father, you copied all these scriptures. Will my mother blame me?"

"No, your mother loves you the most and won't blame you."

Su Mingzhe looked at the little girl and felt endless pity in his heart.

Not long after the little guy was born, Empress Changsun passed away.

Now two years have passed, and Li Yanran has long forgotten what Empress Changsun looked like.

Her current memories of Empress Changsun basically came from the words and deeds of Li Zhi and Li Mingda.

Su Mingzhe handed the scripture in his hand to the little girl, and then looked at Li Mingda next to him:

"Sizi, are you almost done with your copy? Do you want your father to help you write it?"

"Father, there is only one last thing left."

Li Mingda was very well-behaved and sensible, and also extremely filial. He held the brush in his little hands and copied the scriptures stroke by stroke.

Although the speed is slow, the handwriting is neat.

The young master next to him was accompanying him, beating the wooden fish and chanting scriptures.

Su Mingzhe reached out and pushed her, indicating that she should go outside to ask the eunuch for some food.

It’s okay if I don’t eat, but the two little kids still need to eat.

Fadeng has been in the palace for more than two months, but he still wears a loose black monk's robe and shaves his head every five days.

Su Mingzhe had asked her to grow her hair long several times, so she should stop deceiving herself.

However, the young master Fadeng insisted on being a nun for three years before returning to secular life.

Su Mingzhe tried to persuade her several times, but seeing that she was determined not to listen, he just let her do as she pleased.

Anyway, the bald little beauty is quite interesting.

I just don’t know, if her belly gets big one day, will she still be so stubborn?

By the time Wang De brought people to deliver the sacrificial offerings, Li Mingda had finally finished copying her copy of the scriptures.

According to custom, Su Mingzhe brought the two little kids to worship Empress Changsun, burn incense and pray.

After the prayer, the three of them started to eat lunch.

After lunch, Su Mingzhe told stories to his two daughters again.

The story that Su Mingzhe tells is naturally not "Snow White and Prince Charming", let alone "Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf".

Chinese people have their own fables.

Like adding legs to a snake, seeing a snake in the cup, Ye Gong loves dragons more than he actually loves, the fox borrows the tiger's might, covering one's ears and stealing the bell, pulling up the seedlings to help them grow, etc., all have practical educational significance.

Su Mingzhe spent the entire afternoon with his two children.

When it was dark, the three of them had dinner again.

Li Yanran was the first one to feel sleepy. She was held in Su Mingzhe's arms and fell asleep while listening to a story.

Li Mingda was older, and he tried hard to keep his eyes open. He listened to the story of the Twelve Ancestral Witches fighting the Emperor of Heaven and the Emperor of the East, and then went to bed.

"You go back first. I want to watch over the two of them tonight."

Although Su Mingzhe came from a time travel, he integrated Li Shimin's memories, so his feelings for Empress Changsun remained unchanged.

Today is the anniversary of Empress Changsun's death, so Su Mingzhe would naturally not "do anything wrong".

"Your Majesty, I am the lady-in-charge of the bedroom. If Your Majesty doesn't sleep, I can't sleep either."

Fadeng is really stubborn and he refuses to leave despite Su Mingzhe's persuasion.

However, she did not disturb the man. Instead, she sat cross-legged beside him, holding the rosary in both hands and chanting silently.

The next day came in a blink of an eye.

Su Mingzhe went to Hanyuan Hall to get busy.

After school at Hongwenguan, Li Zhi went to the palace to visit his two sisters.

When Fadeng saw Li Zhi coming, he went to the main hall of Ganlu Temple to rest.

Wait until noon.

Su Mingzhe came back, but Li Zhi hadn't left yet.

"Father!"

When Li Zhi saw Su Mingzhe, he seemed to have done something wrong. He avoided her gaze and did not dare to look directly at his biological father.

"Ah."

The family of four had lunch together, and then Li Zhi returned to Hongwenguan for class.

Li Yanran had forgotten her sadness and dragged her sister Li Mingda to play in the Imperial Garden. After the two little kids left, Su Mingzhe returned to the bedroom and called Fadeng, who had woken up and still had a hazy look in his eyes, to his side.

Today I will continue to teach her the 36 techniques of playing various musical instruments and singing.

As the fifth daughter of old man Xiao Yu, Fadeng has never known the hardships of life since childhood.

Even in October last year, when she was sent to Ganye Temple by Old Man Xiao to become a nun, she did not realize the dangers of social life because she had two older sisters to take care of her.

Her heart, when it comes to men and women, is like a blank sheet of paper, allowing men to paint on it as they please.

Faced with Su Mingzhe's words and deeds, Fadeng felt like he had entered another world and was gradually lost in it.

In a blink of an eye, an hour passed.

Although Fa Deng's spirit and soul had returned to reality from the clouds, he still kept his eyes closed, savoring the wonderful taste.

Su Mingzhe didn't disturb her. He packed up and went out to Hanyuan Hall.

Under the guidance of Empress Changsun, the concubines in the harem basically did things in a proper manner. Even when serving men at night, they would not play any special tricks with the men.

Compared with the concubines in the harem, Fadeng almost always meets all the requests of men.

It was also because Fadeng was so well-behaved and obedient that Su Mingzhe looked at her differently and kept her in Ganlu Palace as a lady-in-charge.

Return to Hanyuan Hall.

Su Mingzhe continued to check the memorials.

It is summer now, and various prefectures and cities in the Tang Dynasty have experienced droughts and floods to varying degrees.

Similar situations have occurred in previous years, where some officials would go to the riverside, Dragon King Temple and other places to pray for rain, or divert rivers for irrigation.

There were also some officials who simply wrote a memorial to the court and then let the situation develop.

When the disaster situation becomes obvious, those officials will go to the princes and dukes who have just been sent to their fiefdoms and ask them to help submit memorials requesting the court to reduce local taxes.

If it were Li Shimin, he would definitely send a patrol envoy to inspect the disaster situation first, and then make a choice.

Su Mingzhe only needs to send an avatar to fly over the sky of the Tang Dynasty to find out the specific disaster situation in various places.

Therefore, in response to these memorials, Su Mingzhe either directly approved tax reductions or exemptions, or provided guidance on how to increase revenue and reduce expenditure and strive to save themselves.

There were also some false disaster reports, which Su Mingzhe directly denounced.

There are still some places suffering from drought, and Su Mingzhe tries his best to help "pray for rain".

With such efficient approval, although disasters occurred frequently across the country, they did not turn into natural disasters or man-made disasters.

The instructions and approvals issued by Su Mingzhe also made the princes and dukes respect the court.

As the saying goes: The sky is high and the emperor is far away.

These princes and dukes who arrived at their own fiefdoms regarded themselves as local emperors.

For example, Li Yin, the King of Shu, hunted regardless of the season and trampled on farmland at will.

There were other princes, all of whom committed various evil deeds to a greater or lesser degree.

This time, Su Mingzhe's accurate reply to the memorials made these princes and dukes become frightened quails. They hid in their own palaces and trembled for a long time.

Afterwards, these princes, dukes, and others became suspicious and looked at people around them with suspicion.

Su Mingzhe didn't know yet that the memorial he approved would have such an effect when it was distributed.

Fast forward to July.

Heat waves come one after another.

When it’s hot, you can go out for a cruise.

When it’s cold, you can go out for a cruise.

Places like Luoyang, the Holy Capital, and Huaqing Hot Spring in Mount Li are all holiday resorts.

Every time the concubines in the harem served the emperor, they would ask where the emperor would go on tour and vacation this year and when he would go out.

The concubines in the harem had such a hard time, and the court officials working in the three provinces and six ministries of the previous dynasty had it even harder.

Fortunately, there are ice cellars in the palace and among the dignitaries, some ice cubes are made every day so that everyone can enjoy the coolness.

However, as the weather gets hotter, the ice in the ice cellar is being consumed at a rate visible to the naked eye.

That day, when Su Mingzhe heard that there was less than ten days' supply of ice in the ice cellar, he sent Zhang Ananda to ask Li Chengqian for ice.

After such a long period of preparation, Li Chengqian must have collected a lot of saltpeter.

The secret of making ice with saltpeter is recorded in "The Exploitation of the Works of Nature".

When Su Mingzhe and Li Chengqian discussed the application of technology, they said that when summer comes, they need to quickly collect saltpeter to prepare for the heat.

"We already have 500 cubic meters of saltpeter ice. If Father is in a hurry to use it, we can send it to the palace at night."

When Li Chengqian learned that Zhang Ananda came to ask for ice, he gave it all to him without any reservation.

Anyway, he had plenty of saltpeter and could use it whenever he wanted.

"Your Majesty doesn't use it very often. It's mainly used by the ladies in the harem and ministers of the previous dynasty."

Zhang Ananda breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that Li Chengqian had more than 500 cubes of ice.

The palace now uses about 15 to 20 cubic meters of ice every day. These 500 cubic meters of ice plus the remaining ice in the palace's ice cellar can last for at least a month.

At this point, Zhang Ananda's tone became a little lower, and he began to explain the reason why the palace had insufficient ice storage:
"Your Highness, originally the amount of ice we had calculated when we stored it was enough, but this year His Majesty favored more concubines, so the amount used was more. Also, last month, two old men passed away, and during the 28 days of the funeral, His Majesty gave several cubes of ice every day."

(End of this chapter)