Chapter 2: The Prince's Life, A Different Kind of Prosperity

  Li Ke finished scolding, staring straight at Li Rou, hoping to find a hint of guilt on his face, but he was disappointed. He only saw Li Rou looking stupid, as if he was in a daze or thinking about something.

  Li Yu is now out of time to be idle, he is thinking about how to respond to the current situation, in a twinkling of an eye became the sixth prince Li Yu, the sudden change in identity made him somewhat unprepared, his thoughts were racing, but soon he was relieved, as a 21st-century man, he was just an unemployed single otaku, while here he is a 100% pure prince, if given the choice, he would rather be this prince, and with the ring and ancient well time-space tunnel, he can occasionally return to modern society, taking advantage of the different advantages of two worlds to make a profit...

  "Heh heh...... Heh heh......" Thinking of this, Li You sat on the bed with a sly smile, his saliva flowing like the Yellow River, unstoppable.

  Previously, he had a stupid expression, now with a foolish smile and drooling, an ominous premonition rose in Li Ke's heart. His face turned gloomy as he turned to the imperial physician who was treating Li Yan: "What's going on! Didn't you say there was no serious problem?"

  Li Ke originally being the prince, spoke with some authority, the imperial physician's heart chilled, immediately knelt down and stuttered: "Reporting to Your Highness, the Sixth Prince's body is fine, only...the Sixth Highness fell into the well and hit his head...if by any chance..." The imperial physician dared not continue speaking, but the meaning was already very clear.

  In the Tang Dynasty, horse polo was very popular, and accidents often occurred where people fell off their horses. Among those who were injured in the head, many had problems with their heads and became foolish people, so many people understood this meaning.

  Li Ke saw Li Yu's appearance and had already thought of this possibility. The imperial physician's words made his heart even cooler. This younger brother, who was born to the same mother, was stubborn and unruly, but Li Ke had always been very fond of him. Seeing him in this state now, tears fell from his eyes again.

  "Third brother, nothing's wrong with me, don't be sad!" At this time, Li Yu spoke up, he who had planned to live here had initially adapted to his identity, only he still didn't have any feelings for Li Ke, but the show must go on!

  Li Yu's words made Li Ke turn from sorrow to joy, he tightly grasped Li Yu's shoulders with both hands and patted them forcefully, saying: "You scared the life out of me! From now on, you can't do such stupid things again!"

  Playing the whole set, Li Yu immediately showed a regretful look and said: "In the past, it was all my fault. Today, I was scolded by Father Emperor, and I have suddenly woken up. Third brother, rest assured, I will not add trouble to you and Mother Empress in the future."

  "Sixth Brother..." Li Yu's current mood could no longer be described in words. A prodigal son returning was still forgivable, let alone a prince. Previously, the troubles caused by Li Yu made it impossible for him and Yang Fei to hold their heads up among the many princes, princesses, and consorts. Did Li Yu finally understand their hardships now?

  Li Yu is now not only healthy, but also has a repentant heart. Li Ke's mood is great, and he chatted with Li Yu for a while, rewarded the imperial physician, and left the Prince of Liang's mansion. He now has his own palace and official duties in Chang'an, and cannot stay here for too long.

  After Li Ke left, Li Yu jumped down from the bed like a hungry tiger pouncing on its prey and rushed straight towards a blue porcelain vase placed in the corner of the room.

  In the Tang Dynasty, porcelain had a saying of "Southern Green and Northern White". The Southern Green referred to the green porcelain of Yue Kiln, while the Northern White referred to the white porcelain of Xing Kiln in the north. Among them, the green porcelain was slightly more precious than the white porcelain.

  This celadon vase is about half a meter high, with a uniform pale green glaze that is bright and translucent. Li Yu didn't know much about appreciation, but he also thought the workmanship of this vase was not bad.

  After playing for a while, Li Yu again admired several other decorative items in the room, including golden toads, jade pigs, and crystal auspicious ornaments, all of which were luxurious items of the imperial family at that time.

  "We've struck it rich! These are all genuine Tang dynasty pieces, no need to worry about them being fakes!" Li Yu picked up a white porcelain teapot, muttering to himself, his eyes gleaming with a wolf-like light. The ring's function had two states: protection and non-protection. Li Yu had forgotten to activate the protection mode, which was why the temporal flow effect had destroyed his physical body. But once activated, it would ignore the effects of temporal flow, meaning that Li Yu could place these antiques outside the protected area, so when they returned to modern times, they would still be genuine antiques and not be considered high-quality replicas.

  "Your Highness, are you tired of these old decorations? I'll have the servants change them for you!" Jin Dajian, who was still in the bedroom and hadn't left yet, saw Li You frowning and examining the decorative items one by one, and promptly followed up with a flattering remark.

  "Oh, no need, you go ahead and busy yourself, I'm just taking a casual look around, it's been two years since I've been back, getting familiar with the environment again!" After saying that, she stepped out of the doorway and walked into the courtyard.

  During the Tang Dynasty, Chang'an was divided into three major areas: the palace city where the emperor and his concubines lived, the imperial city where officials worked, and the outer city where government offices and residential areas were concentrated. Among the three areas, the outer city had the largest area, with East Market and West Market located in the east and west respectively. Li Yu's Liang Wang Fu was also located in the outer city.

  Out of the bedroom, Li Yu walked along a stone arch bridge over a pond full of goldfish to the corridor on the other side. Most Tang Dynasty buildings were made of wood, supplemented by bricks and tiles, and Li Yu's Liang Wang Fu was no exception. The buildings were mostly brick and stone bases at the bottom, wooden structures in the middle, and green tiles on the roof. However, it must be said that these simple structures combined to give each building a unique beauty. Walking here, Li Yu truly felt the beauty of the garden.

  After circling around, Li Yu used about half an hour, he roughly estimated that the Liang Wang Fu covers an area of at least 10,000 square meters, which is considered a luxurious mansion compared to the 21st century.

  Just as Li Yu was lamenting the luxurious life of the Tang Dynasty nobility, Jin Dajian, the general manager of the Wang Mansion, rushed over in a hurry, with a pale face and virtual sweat, shouting: "Your Highness, it's not good, Your Highness..." almost crying out.

  "What's wrong? What happened?" Li Yu asked in surprise, wondering if that Emperor father of his had come up with another idea to deal with him. Apart from him, no one else in Chang'an City dared to mess with him.

  "Your Highness, the eunuchs from the Imperial Household Department have arrived. This month, they only gave us five taels of silver as our monthly allowance for the Liang King's Manor, which is a full forty-five taels short! The manor can barely make ends meet!"

  "What!" When it came to money, Li Yu immediately became sensitive. This cheap old man was going to thoroughly restrict his freedom! Without pocket money, he wouldn't be able to indulge in drinking and pleasure with his friends in Chang'an City.

  Li Yu's brain started working, Chang'an is now eight cents for a dou of rice, one dou of rice is ten liters, and one liter of rice is two kilograms. Calculating that way, one wen coin is equivalent to three yuan in modern times, five guan coins are five thousand wen coins, which means the monthly salary of the Wang Fu is equivalent to 15,000 yuan.

  15,000 yuan a month is definitely enough for Li Yu to use, but the Liang Wang Fu still has a large number of servants, these people are paid wages, otherwise who will work for you for nothing.

  "How many servants does the Wang estate have left now?" Li Yu asked.

  Jin Dajian was able to become the head manager, apart from having a good flattery skill, his brain was also not stupid. He immediately understood Li You's meaning and said: "The Wang Fu currently has four servant girls, eight house slaves, one accountant, and then there is me! Is your lordship's intention to cut down on these underlings?"

  "So how much is the total monthly salary?" Li Yu did not answer and asked another question.

  "Servants get 300 coins a month, houseboys get 200 coins a month. The accountant and I get a bit more, 600 coins and one guan."

  After calculating, Li Yu finally understood why Jin Dajian said that the Wang Fu was about to run out of food, after deducting the monthly salary of these people, only 600 coins were left for the Wang Fu's expenses, barely enough to keep from starving.

  "What to do? Your Highness!" Jin Dajian understood that the Wang Fu had no remaining grain, and the previous Li Ye was a pure moonlight clan, without leaving any savings.

  If it were the old Li Yu, he would have been destined to be anxious and even cut down by others, honestly accepting punishment. But now it's different, 21st-century otaku Li Yu has a belly full of money-making ideas in this dynasty.

  Li Yu sent away Jin Dajian, who was still in a daze, with the two words "as usual". After returning to her bedroom, Li Yu took out the ring and pressed a few buttons. The artwork in the room immediately decreased by several pieces.

  Then Li Yu swaggered to the ancient well under the back hall, this time he remembered to turn on the protection function, and when he opened his eyes again, he returned to the old house's backyard ancient well.

  Back in the familiar room, if it weren't for the Tang Dynasty clothes he was wearing, he would have thought it was all just a dream. He pressed another button, and a celadon vase, a jade qilin, and a glass Buddha statue fell out of the ring. This time, he had specially set up a protective range, and these antiques were absolutely genuine.

  Li Yu was really shocked, in his grandfather's world, the space ring was actually a common household item, and the ring left to him by his grandfather had an enormous space of several tens of thousands of square meters.

  He changed back into a set of modern casual clothes, Li Yu stood in front of the mirror and examined himself carefully. The mirror reflected a thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy. Seeing the boy's appearance, he was taken aback, hastily found his ID card, saw the photo on the ID card, Li Yu looked at himself again, and his appearance was basically the same. "This is too coincidental, having the same name is one thing, but how can their appearances be so similar!" Li Yu muttered to himself. However, this alleviated a layer of worry for him, he didn't have to become an unregistered resident after all, and could still use his original identity to handle things.

  "Still quite handsome?" He took another look, then Li You scratched his butt and shifted his attention to the antique he had brought back, it was time to get down to business.

  The antique business is a violent industry, and antique dealers roam the country to collect antiques. As long as they find an antique worth a city, it's not hard to get rich overnight.

  Li Yu would certainly not go find these amateur antique dealers. In a big city like SH, an auction house for antiques is a relatively good choice.

  He took a taxi and Li Yu brought three antiques directly to a relatively well-known antique auction house in SH City, and explained the purpose.

  "Sir, please wait a moment, our appraiser will come over to assess it for you. If it's genuine and you plan to sell it at our auction house, we can waive the appraisal fee. However, if it's counterfeit, you'll need to pay an appraisal fee." The receptionist in black uniform said politely.

  Li Yu had 100% confidence in his antique and said: "No problem!"

  After a while, an old man wearing a Tang suit walked towards the hall. Li Yu had seen him before, he was an expert in cultural relics who often appeared on the national treasure appraisal program, and now he felt more at ease...