Chapter 8: Initial Effects of Cultivation

  The next morning, he woke up feeling earlier than usual and still in high spirits. Li Jiancheng knew this was due to his cultivation of the Longevity Technique. When he went out, he casually asked a guard and only then did he know that it was now the fourth watch. Alas! To know the time, he had to ask someone, how troublesome. Right, first get himself a sundial.

  A sundial is a device that measures time by the shadow of the sun, corresponding to the scale on the dial plate. The sundial is also an instrument for measuring time by observing the shadow of the sun, mainly based on the position of the shadow to determine the current hour or moment; the main components of the sundial are composed of a gnomon and a dial plate with scales, as the sun moves in the sky, the projection of the gnomon moves on the dial plate like the hands of a clock, indicating the time.

  I thought of it and did it, casually finding some materials, in his yard, I found a place where the sun shines easily, then set up the sundial, looking at the direction of the pointer, pointing directly below the disk, that is to say, now it's only 6 o'clock. It seems it's still early, in the yard, I practiced Tai Chi like those old men and women in the park, returned to my room to continue practicing my "Long Life Secret", this is the fundamental way to save my life in the future. After finishing my practice, I went out to check the time, it was only 7 o'clock, haha! Having a way to tell time is good, but soon he became depressed again. What if it's a rainy day? Forget it, don't care about it, just use it for now, and think of a way to get a more advanced one later. I came to the hall and saw my father and mother eating. In ancient times, working hours were from 7-9 am, but you can go at any time during this period, however, you must work until 5 pm before returning home, in between, it's not allowed to return, otherwise, it would be considered dereliction of duty.

  "Huh? Cheng Er, why are you up so early today? I usually see you three brothers sleeping in late." Mother asked curiously, still holding Li Xiu Ning and feeding her congee. In this era, there was no milk powder, of course, and they didn't have to worry about "melamine" either.

  "Oh! I probably went to bed early last night, so I got up early." Li Jiancheng couldn't say that he had practiced an extraordinary divine skill, so his spirit was good. You know he's only 7 years old now, and in the eyes of adults, he can barely recognize a few characters, how could he possibly understand the things written on the martial arts secret book? So he decided not to mention last night's events, otherwise, it would be hard to explain later, he could only wait for an opportunity to talk about it properly later. For now, he had to think of a way to let the boys practice their inner energy, and Mother couldn't do it, she wasn't suitable for practicing.

  "By the way, Cheng, did you notice any strangers last night? I went to your place and knocked on the door but you didn't respond." His father asked while eating his mantou. Li Jiancheng almost bit his own tongue when he heard this, and looked up to see his father's expression, seemingly unaware of anything.

  "No! I went to bed early last night, what's going on?" Li Jiancheng asked foolishly, and it turned out that his father had indeed come knocking on the door last night, not him dreaming.

  "Yesterday, someone broke into the palace to assassinate the emperor but failed, so Daxing is under martial law today. If you go out today, be careful, got it?" Li Yuan said while eating his mantou. At this time, Li Jiancheng was filled with happiness, feeling good that someone cared about him.

  "By the way, Father. Do you know where there is a place that makes glass?" Li Jiancheng asked.

  "Glass? What thing." Father asked strangely.

  "Ah, I forgot that in this era, glass is not called 'glass', but rather 'yao yu'. It's called yao yu because the process of making glass is similar to brewing medicine, and it resembles jade. It wasn't until the Yuan Dynasty that it came to be known as 'gu yu'."

  "Oh! Medicine Jade, just say it directly, what's the point of saying glass?" Looking at Li Yuan still wanting to continue, Li Jiancheng abruptly interrupted him, "You child, father speaks casually and interrupts. The Medicine Jade is in the north of the city, some merchants from outside the domain have made it there." Although he was a bit dissatisfied with Li Jiancheng interrupting him, perhaps due to habit, he simply told Li Jiancheng where the glass was.

  "Hehe! Thanks Dad, I'm full, see you later." Li Jiancheng said and ran back to his room in a flash.

  "You've spoiled this child." Dou Xian said with a smile as she saw Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin like that.

  "It's better this way! A family should look like a family, you see how Shimin and Yuanyi talk to me with trepidation, afraid of being scolded by me! Does a family need to be like that?" Li Yuan sighed.

  "Yes! This child is really grown up, speaking like an adult, haha." Duan Xian smiled, not knowing that her words were already close to the truth. After finishing, she continued to feed Li Xiuning.

  ……

  Li Jiancheng returned to his room, dug up a few bricks from the floor near the bed, and clearly saw a small box inside. He carefully took out the box, which contained things he had hidden for a long time. Inside were some gold, silver, and jewels that his parents had given him during holidays, and now was finally the time to use them. He took out the few ingots of gold and silver, put the jewels back, and then also put in "The Secret to Long Life". After covering it with bricks again, Li Jiancheng patted his hands, ready to go out.

  "Big brother, you're up too. Time to go eat?" Li Shimin happened to be walking out of his room and overheard Li Jiancheng ask.

  Of course, Li Jiancheng couldn't say he had eaten and was going out. So Li Jiancheng nodded "en" and then walked towards the main hall, while Li Shimin followed behind Li Jiancheng, as for Li Yuanji, he was probably still sleeping.

  "Father, mother, good morning!" Seeing Li Yuan and Dou Yi eating, Li Shimin went forward and greeted them, also sitting down to prepare for breakfast. Then he turned his head to look at Li Jiancheng, but the more he looked, the stranger it seemed, why was his older brother walking towards the front door?

  "Mother, why didn't older brother have breakfast?" Li Shimin asked in puzzlement.

  "Oh! Cheng Er has finished eating, I think he's going out." Dou Xian said while feeding Li Xiuning.

  "What! Big brother, you're cheating me again." Li Shimin said indignantly, and immediately put down the chopsticks in his hand, ready to follow him out.

  "Come back, you haven't even finished your meal, where are you planning to run off to? And you're still young, don't go running around alone, got it?" Duan Xin said fiercely.

  "But, big brother... " Li Shimin said with a sense of injustice, if big brother can run out, why can't I?

  "Your elder brother is much more sensible than you, in the future without your elder brother to bring you out, don't go running outside. Wanting to go out is okay, wait until you're a bit older." Duan Yin continued to scold.

  "Oh! I get it." Li Shimin responded, while secretly cursing in his heart: Big brother is so bad, he ran off by himself and didn't take me to have fun, leaving me bored at home all alone.

  "Haha, finally no one is following me today." Li Jiancheng ran outside and laughed loudly, thinking of the future Taizong's wronged expression, he couldn't help but laugh.

  "Now, let's first settle on the tools for making wine, then go find a house to open a hotel." Li Jiancheng thought and walked towards the north of the city.