Everyone accompanied Li Zhenru to send off Mrs. Di and returned to the training ground.

"I'll treat you at noon today, and I'll invite you to go to Mingli Restaurant to have a drink!" Li Zhen thanked everyone for giving him face and said that he wanted to treat you.

Everyone said that of course they had to drink wine, but the old lady said it was very pertinent and worthy of their gift.

At this time, Li Zhen heard someone calling him timidly, "Master!"

When Li Zhen turned around, he saw two young men riding horses more than ten steps away, all wearing black and white polo warrior uniforms, and a ball stick was hung on the saddle. They were Li Longji and Gao Lishi, and the person who just called Li Zhen's "Master" was Li Longji.

Frankly speaking, Li Zhen did not take Li Longji's apprenticeship to heart. It was just a whim and not a real apprenticeship. Later, after he was promoted to deputy commander of the inner guard, Li Dan no longer allowed his son to learn riding and shooting with Li Zhen, which actually stopped their teaching relationship.

However, Li Zhen was still very happy to see Li Longji here. He urged him to come forward and smile, "How come you two are here?"

Li Longji pointed to a group of polo players who were practicing in the distance and said, "We are training there, and I have been looking for opportunities to come and greet Master."

Li Zhen nodded to Gao Lishi with a smile, then patted Li Longji on the shoulder, "Just treat me as my brother, no need to call me master anymore, so I can continue to date."

Li Longji understood what Li Zhen meant. If he called him master again, his father would not say anything, and Li Zhen would avoid him. He nodded silently, "I remember."

"That's right, how about you riding and shooting now?"

"Disciple... No! I can draw a stone bow now and shoot a grass man target fifty steps away. By the way, congratulations to my elder brother for winning the top scorer in the martial arts competition."

Gao Lishi also bowed quickly and said, "Congratulations to Brother Li for winning the top martial arts scholar!"

Li Longji took out another long arrow made of gold and handed it to Li Zhen respectfully, "This is a golden arrow I personally created to congratulate my elder brother on winning the championship. Please accept it."

Gao Lishi also took out a dagger and said anxiously: "This is my wish!"

Li Zhen laughed loudly and happily accepted the gifts from the two of them, "Don't be so polite, but I still want to thank you. Do you want to practice football with us?"

At this time, a rider ran from afar and shouted from afar: "Third brother!"

Li Longji hurriedly greeted him, "Brother, I'm talking to Brother Li."

Needless to say, the visitor was Li Longji's eldest brother, Li Chengqi, Prince Shouchun. Like Li Chongrun, Li Chengqi was appointed by his father Prince Li Dan to lead a polo team to participate in this polo competition. The participation was fake, and the attitude of the emperor was true. Therefore, he did not attach much importance to the polo team itself. He temporarily pieced together a team and participated in several warm-up training matches, all ending in a crushing defeat.

These days, Li Chengqi led the polo team to train in the Imperial City almost every day. Of course, training is not the purpose, and attracting the attention of the emperor is their true intention.

Li Chengqi also knew very well that Li Zhen was Shangguan Wan'er's man. Compared to Li Chongrun's straightforwardness, Li Chengqi was more smart and sophisticated and good at grasping the position. He smiled slightly and clasped his fists at Li Zhen and said, "Congratulations to Commander Li for winning the top scholar in the martial arts competition!"

"Thank you, Your Highness, I didn't notice that Your Highness is also training here, Li Zhen is rude."

Li Chengqi smiled and waved his hand, "Chief Li is competing with Qianqi Camp, how can he be distracted? We will train here in the next few days. If we have the chance, we will also have a game."

"It's Li Zhenxing who can play polo with Your Highness."

Li Chengqi smiled and said to Li Longji again: "Let's go! Don't affect Commander Li's training."

Li Longji understood that his brother didn't want to let him have too much contact with Li Zhen. He looked sad and had to nod, bow to Li Zhen, urged his horse to go back, and Gao Lishi also followed him. At this time, Li Zhen smiled at Li Chengqi and said, "Your Highness, we have dinner at Mingli Tavern at noon. Are you interested in coming and gathering?"

Li Longji immediately looked at Li Chengqi with expectation. Li Chengqi hesitated for a moment and shook his head, "This... we have already arranged it at noon, next time! If there is a chance next time, I will invite Commander Li to have a drink."

"Then I have to have to go next time."

Li Zhen smiled and bowed to him with a fist, turned his horse's head and returned to the training ground. At this moment, a eunuch rushed over and ran to Li Chengqi and Li Longji. The eunuch panted and said, "Two Your Highnesses, the Lord summoned you over."

Li Chengqi was overjoyed, and the emperor finally noticed them.

....

As the polo competition approached, Wu Zetian inevitably began to pay attention to the polo competition. However, she was not very interested in polo, just because the polo competition was a grand event in the Tang Dynasty and was conducive to improving her reputation, so she attached it so much.

On the other hand, compared with the fierce confrontation in the polo game, she paid more attention to some subtle details behind the polo game, such as Princess Taiping gave Wu Sansi a letter of war, and two deposed son emperors, Li Xian and Li Dan, formed a polo team to participate, etc.

As noon approached, Wu Zetian was a little tired of handling government affairs, so she asked Shen Nanmiao to massage his head. Shen Nanmiao's massage technique was extremely clever and could greatly relieve Wu Zetian's physical fatigue. This was also one of the reasons why Wu Zetian loved him.

Unlike Xue Huaiyi who often stays in public and Wu Zetian, Shen Nanmiao adheres to the way of the ruler and his subjects in public and will never surpass etiquette. This respects Wu Zetian's emperor's majesty to a certain extent. Perhaps Wu Zetian didn't like it very much in the past few years, but as she was tired of Xue Huaiyi's wildness in the past two years, she was able to have a male favorite like Shen Nanmiao who knew etiquette and righteousness, which also touched the unique female gentleness in her heart.

Wu Zetian closed her eyes and enjoyed Shen Nanmu's massage, but smiled softly and said to Shangguan Wan'er beside her: "Wan'er, how are your polo team ready?"

Shangguan Wan'er was sitting aside and drafting an order for Wu Zetian. When she heard the question, she put down her pen and said, "Report to Your Majesty, Wan'er talked about the polo team with Li Zhen yesterday. He said that because the formation time was a little short, they did not cooperate with each other well enough, so they could only try their best to enter the top 16."

"It's great to be able to make the top 16."

Wu Zetian opened his phoenix eyes slightly, glanced at Shangguan Wan'er, then closed his eyes and smiled faintly: "I have always not understood why you insisted on renameing the polo team to the inner guard polo team? Isn't it good to call Shangguan polo team?"

Shangguan Wan'er whispered after a while: "The emperor's favor, Wan'er is grateful, but Wan'er is low-key by nature and doesn't want to be too ostentatious."

"This is indeed your personality. In fact, I also like your personality very much, low-key and restrained, but it seems that it is not true to call the inner guard polo team. As far as I know, the polo team is not all inner guards, there are Qianniu Guards and Yulin Army—"

Speaking of this, Wu Zetian patted Chen Nanmu's hand again and said with a smile: "It seems that you said that your apprentice is among them too!"

Chen Nanmiao smiled bitterly and said, "I hope he will not participate in any polo competitions, concentrate on being an imperial physician and treating palace servants."

"There is no need. Who said that the imperial doctor cannot play polo? The palace maid even rides a donkey to play polo!"

As he was speaking, an eunuch reported outside the door: "Report to Your Majesty, the Prince of Shouchun and the Prince of Linzi have arrived."

"My two grandchildren are here."

Wu Zetian sat up, held Chen Nanmu's hand and said softly: "Let me massage my body tonight!"

"I obey the order!"

Chen Nanmiao bowed and slowly retreated. After a moment, Li Chengqi and Li Longji brothers walked into the imperial study room. The two knelt down to worship, "The grandson greeted the emperor's grandmother, wishing the emperor's grandmother a peaceful and prosperous dragon body and a long life!"

Although Wu Zetian demoted Li Chengqi and Li Longji from prince to prince after abolishing Li Dan's position, it was just a ritual system. In fact, she liked these two grandchildren very much in love, especially Li Longji, who was her favorite grandson. She waved her hand and smiled: "You brothers should all get up!"

Both emperor grandsons stood up and stood with their hands hanging down. Seeing that the two of them looked rosy and sweat was vaguely visible to their temples, she smiled and said, "I heard that you are training polo in the imperial city. Will both of you brothers come on the court this year?"

Li Chengqi said carefully: "Reporting to the emperor's grandmother, the third brother is still young and cannot participate in this fierce confrontation. Only the grandson wants to participate in the competition."

"This is right!"

Wu Zetian smiled at Li Longji, who wanted to refute, and said, "It's just a participant to watch the game! Why do you have to play? Besides, polo games are not a matter of one person. Does Sanlang have outstanding football skills?"

Li Long basically wanted to use his grandmother's words to make himself play, but his grandmother clearly supported his brother. He lowered his head in a little frustrated and whispered: "The grandson's skills are not as good as others, so he will play in the game in the future."

"That's right. Practice more now and prepare more, and you will have the chance to play in the future. Dalang, what is your father doing now?" Wu Zetian's eyes turned to Li Chengqi again.

Li Chengqi's heart was thrilled and he hurriedly said, "My father followed the will of the emperor and grandmother, and kept facing the wall in the mansion and thinking about his mistakes, and never took a step out."

Then Wu Zetian remembered that she had issued an order to ask her son to face the wall in the mansion to think about it for a year. It was half a year ago. She nodded and said to Li Chengqi: "Go back and tell your father that as long as you know your mistakes in your heart, you can go out for a walk by chance, meet old friends, and for example, watch this polo competition."

Li Chengqi was overjoyed. This was equivalent to lifting the punishment for his father. He hurriedly pulled his brother down and bowed: "The emperor's grandmother's kindness is so grateful to the grandson!"

Shangguan Wan'er next to her was secretly surprised. She knew that the emperor was not saying this casually, and that she called her two grandsons over, in fact, just to say this. This was her well-thought-out decision.

Especially the "meet old friends" among them, isn't this the relaxation of restrictions on Li Dan and allowing him to contact all officials?

In addition, Li Xian's wife Wei contacted local powerful people in Fangzhou, but did not receive any punishment. This is also a hint of relaxing constraints. Did the emperor really decide to pass the throne to one of his two sons?

With years of understanding of Wu Zetian, Shangguan Wan'er knew that the emperor's mind would never be that simple, and there must be deeper intentions in it, but she couldn't see clearly for a while.
Chapter completed!