Li Yuanjing was taken aback and answered without thinking, "Of course I love your mother."
Li Chengtai didn't understand and puffed up his cheeks in frustration. "Sister Le You is afraid of mice, so Grandmother sent Nanny Qian to fetch two cats. The cats ate all the mice inside and outside Cining Palace. But when someone harms Mother, you don't even punish the villain!"
Li Yuanjing let out a long sigh.
He crouched down to meet his son's gaze at eye level. "Eradicating mice is easy," he said. "Eradicating human threats is far harder."
Li Chengtai fell silent.
Li Yuanjing patted his son's head and spoke earnestly. "Imagine you own a vast grassland where a few old oxen graze. These oxen are strong and greedy—they monopolize the richest patches of grass, leaving the younger calves with nothing to eat."
Li Chengtai looked up in confusion. "Then just drive the old oxen away or kill them! That way, the young calves will have grass."
