Chapter 33 — Yang Jian: “Li Yuan, come over and see whether your cousin is cute.”
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To be fair, Li Yuan certainly knew how to father sons. With Li Shimin’s glorious achievements, any man would laugh in his sleep if such a person were his son.
No matter how hard he tried, he could not understand how Li Yuan had managed to play such an excellent hand into complete ruin!
Moreover, judging from what the heavenly screen had said, his future successor did not seem particularly capable.
He now had a bold idea. If he adopted Li Yuan’s son as his own… then perhaps Great Sui could simply… rise to greatness?
He, the Sage Khan, and his son, the Heavenly Khan—wouldn’t that make Great Sui invincible?
The more he thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed!
At the height of his excitement, he could not help clapping his hands in delight.
“Someone go fetch Li Yuan from the prison and bring him before me. While you are at it, go to his residence and bring me his newborn son!”
The guards at the door accepted the order and hurried off.
Before long, Li Yuan was brought in. He looked rather disheveled, having already prepared himself to meet his death.
Yang Jian looked at Li Yuan’s resolute expression and gave a cold laugh.
“Li Yuan, your second son really is a heaven-bestowed genius!”
“‘Heavenly Khan’? Listen to that! What an overbearing title! It almost rivals my own title of Sage Khan!”
Li Yuan’s face was as pale as paper. He put on a miserable expression and said, “Your Majesty… I have nothing to say. For the sake of our family relationship, please show mercy and spare my entire household!”
Yang Jian shook his head with a smile.
“Oh dear… You seem to have misunderstood. I am your maternal uncle. How could I possibly kill you?”
Li Yuan was completely baffled by Yang Jian’s false smile and insincere manner.
What was going on? Could he actually survive?
Yang Jian continued, “Li Yuan, I hear that my nephew’s wife has given birth to another plump baby boy.”
“If I am not mistaken… that child is Shimin, is he not?”
The moment Li Yuan heard this, grief and outrage surged through his heart. Yang Jian wanted him to commit the monstrous act of a tiger devouring its own cub!
For the sake of his entire family, Li Yuan had no choice. It was simply a pity that his child, born with the bearing of a great emperor, would have to suffer.
“Your Majesty… I know what I must do!”
Yang Jian nodded in satisfaction. Speaking with an intelligent man was truly comfortable.
“Good. As long as you understand!”
Li Yuan’s eyes were bloodshot as he continued, “I shall go back and strangle the boy to death. I take my leave.”
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With that, he staggered toward the entrance of the great hall.
Yang Jian was dumbfounded.
What on earth? Strangle him?
As Li Yuan was about to leave the hall, Yang Jian’s face filled with exasperation. So this was what he had understood?
“Come back! Who told you to strangle him?”
At Yang Jian’s words, Li Yuan stiffened. Slowly, he turned around, his face filled with astonishment and confusion.
He asked in a trembling voice, “Your Majesty, then what do you mean?”
Yang Jian let out a helpless sigh.
“Fine! I will put it plainly!”
“I want you to give the child to me as my adopted son. I will raise him. From this day forward, he will be my son. Do you understand?”
Li Yuan’s eyes widened. He could hardly believe his ears.
Give him to His Majesty as an adopted son?
Then what would that make their relationship?
Wouldn’t the generations become completely muddled?
His own son would suddenly become his cousin?
This… this…
Seeing Li Yuan standing there in a daze, Yang Jian assumed that he was unwilling. His expression immediately darkened.
“What is it? You refuse?”
“Li Yuan, let me tell you: I am doing this entirely out of consideration for the fact that your mother and the Empress are sisters. I hope you will not be so ungrateful!”
Li Yuan came back to himself and hurriedly knelt, kowtowing as he said, “Your Majesty is wise. I shall obey your decree. I only ask that Your Majesty treat Shimin kindly in the years to come.”
Yang Jian waved his hand.
“Rest assured. Since I have taken the child, I will naturally treat him as my own.”
“You know the strength of Great Sui today. In the future, this child will be the Crown Prince of Great Sui!”
“My being the Sage Khan and giving birth to the Heavenly Khan—that is perfectly reasonable, is it not?”
At that moment, a guard approached, carrying the still-swaddled infant Shimin, who was bawling loudly.
Yang Jian instantly revealed an auntie’s delighted smile. He took little Shimin into his arms and began teasing him.
Before long, he had the baby giggling nonstop.
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Li Yuan’s feelings at that moment were impossible to describe.
Was this his son or Yang Jian’s?
Why did Yang Jian seem even closer to him than Li Yuan himself?
Looking at the exquisitely beautiful baby in his swaddling clothes, Yang Jian burst into laughter and called to Li Yuan, “Come here, nephew! Come and see whether your little cousin is adorable!”
Those words struck Li Yuan like a devastating blow. His face twisted as though he had just swallowed something foul.
Li Yuan stepped forward and watched his son giggling without end. After steeling his heart, he said, “Your Majesty… my cousin… is indeed… indeed adorable! But what about the Empress…”
Yang Jian’s expression turned displeased. He handed little Shimin to the wet nurse beside him.
With a stern face, he said, “There is no need to worry about the Empress. With me here, I am still an emperor, after all.”
“At worst… I… I will run away from home with Shimin!”
…
The Kaiyuan era of the Great Tang.
Li Longji had his daughter-in-law, Yang Yuhuan, tucked against his left side while holding fine wine in his right hand.
As he watched the scene of his ancestor, Li Er, being named the Heavenly Khan, he could not help thinking of the glorious Kaiyuan era before him.
The prosperity of the present age could be called the most flourishing golden age since the founding of Tang.
Compared with the spectacles of every nation coming to pay tribute during his reign, the scenes on the heavenly screen were nothing more than small fry!
Li Longji set down his wine cup and asked Yang Yuhuan smugly, “My beloved, what do you think of my Kaiyuan golden age? Compared with the Taizong era’s Rule of Zhenguan shown on the heavenly screen, how does it measure up?”
Yang Yuhuan gave a delicate laugh and nestled against him.
“Your Majesty’s Kaiyuan golden age is unprecedented. The spectacle of all nations coming to pay tribute far surpasses anything seen before. Even Taizong would probably fall short.”
Hearing this, Li Longji threw back his head and laughed. He reached out and slapped Yang Yuhuan’s thigh, drawing a series of soft cries from her.
“Ha ha… Well said, my beloved! If that can make it onto the heavenly screen, then I can make it onto the screen too!”
…