klisemfg Chapter 19 Is the Old Emperor a God of Wealth?
Chapter 19 Is the Old Emperor a God of Wealth?
The old emperor's eyebrows twitched, a sense of foreboding creeping over him.
Shen Zhiyi squinted, suppressing a laugh, and picked up her pen to think about how to describe the old emperor's expression later.
The old emperor pulled over Zhang Sheren, who was as quiet as a quail.
He whispered in his ear, "Teach him properly when you have time."
"The minister obeys the order."
The old emperor certainly never imagined that the first person to beat the Dengwen Drum in Daye would do so for a pig.
The old emperor: ……
No, he doesn't believe it!
How can something so serious be discussed over a pig!
"Sister below, do not be afraid. If you have any grievances, just tell me."
Seeing that the old emperor was now approachable, the old woman straightened her neck again, which she had previously shrunk back.
"I... I'm missing!"
"I don't know which damned bastard stole the pig from my house."
"Your Honor, you must do me justice."
There was silence.
The Minister of Justice took a deep breath, thinking it was some kind of murder case, and he came running over excitedly.
The surrounding ministers: You're not the only one who came.
As soon as someone heard the Dengwen Drum being sounded, people from the three departments of Zhongshu Menxia Shangshu rushed over, so the Meridian Gate was crowded with people.
The old emperor was speechless for a moment, then gave the old woman some money, said some high-sounding words, and sent her away.
Wow, this actually works?!
Looking at the silver coins, Shen Zhiyi couldn't help but start daydreaming.
[The old woman's pig was actually secretly slaughtered by her son and fed to his mistress. He even sold it for some money. It was something her own son did. He went to the old emperor and even took a lot of silver back. That silver might end up in her precious son's hands soon.]
[His son got both the pig and the silver! The real culprits are this old woman and the old emperor!]
The old emperor slightly extended Er Kang's hand, but then, remembering that he was now the emperor, he withdrew it.
As an emperor, one must be mindful of one's status. If this were in the past, he would definitely have tried to snatch the silver back.
But if he were to seize it now, I wonder what the two people next to him would say.
The old emperor's outstretched hand then turned into a wave.
The old woman, having received the silver, exclaimed that the old emperor was a good man, a living bodhisattva.
After returning home, she spread the story far and wide. She's a gossip, and if someone tells ten stories, she tells a hundred.
People outside now say that the old emperor was a good emperor, a blessing and a good thing for the people.
The old emperor shook his head smugly.
He didn't even need to look through the daily records; he knew just by listening to Shen Zhiyi's thoughts.
When future generations read and examine his work, they will surely recognize him as a wise and benevolent ruler throughout the ages.
However, the old emperor's ambitions went beyond that.
If I can't be the greatest emperor of all time, I'll strive to be the second greatest emperor of all time.
The old emperor, in a great mood, has been walking with a swagger lately.
[On the fifth day of the tenth month of the twentieth year of Emperor Taizong's reign—uh, no, no, it was the fifth day of the tenth month, at the hour of Mao (5-7 AM)—wait, what did Zhang Sheren say back then?]
Shen Zhiyi scratched her hat and craned her neck to try and see how Zhang Sheren next to her had written it.
Yesterday, Zhang Sheren said that the format of the daily records has changed, and that when writing it, one should not add any emotional coloring, but simply record the facts as they are. He also emphasized that one should not have personal opinions or write down speculations.
She... I don't think she did either.
Old Emperor: Look me in the eye, and if you've got the guts, say that sentence again!
[It's so painful! I only got a score in the thirties on my college entrance exam Chinese essay. I want to cry.]
Those time travelers who are even more powerful than the ancients must be figments of the author's daydreams.
The people standing in the Hall of Supreme Harmony all wrote characters that looked like they were printed, except for the Crown Prince.
Shen Zhiyi glanced guiltily at her handwriting, took a deep breath, and slowed down her writing this time.
[Emperor Taizong, oh no, it seems Zhang Sheren said that in the twentieth year of Emperor Taizong's reign, in the tenth month, it was only necessary to write once a month, and then simply record, "On the fifth day, Jia Chen, the Emperor presided over a lecture in the Yan Ying Hall."]
The old emperor and Zhang Sheren exchanged a glance, almost bursting into tears of joy.
Yes, yes, I finally got it right.
Zhang Sheren, in particular, was so eager that he wanted to kneel down and kowtow a few times on the spot, so that the historians would no longer have to watch his writings every day.
Because Shen Zhiyi's writing was so poor, the historians only revised it once and then refused to continue, as the project was too large. So they complained to the old emperor.
The result was predictable: the old emperor blew on his beard and said three words: "So what?"
Afterwards, the things Shen Zhiyi wrote were read by historians to look at the gossip, and what was written into the official history was all his writing.
He could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
It is said that the left side of the historical record records words and the right side records deeds, so he finally doesn't have to write until his hands cramp every day.
I cried tears of joy!
[His great-uncle's second uncle's third uncle's uncle's red underwear—this traditional Chinese character is so hard to write! Am I going to have to write traditional Chinese explanations every day from now on?]
Shen Zhiyi's vision went black. She wanted to thank every ancestor who had fought to promote simplified Chinese characters.
What a good person! He's such a good person!
[Oh, our old emperor was actually a good man after all; someone's come to bang the petition drum again.]
Zhang Sheren: Actually, I'm a good person to you too, Shen Lang!
The Dengwen Drum, which had been silent for decades, was struck again just a few days later.
The old emperor, still full of enthusiasm, led a group of ministers to the Meridian Gate.
The man who beat the drum to appeal was a fisherman.
[Hahaha, what a bizarre reason for beating the petition drum!]
The old emperor turning a deaf ear can't be any more bizarre than a pig disappearing, can it?
"Who are your disciples, and what grievances have they suffered?"
The fisherman knelt down and tearfully pleaded with the old emperor, as if he had suffered a great injustice.
"Your Majesty, I live in a nearby village and make a living by fishing. But recently, the fish I catch have disappeared. This is cutting off my source of income. Your Majesty, you must do me justice!"
The old emperor choked on his water; it was such a trivial matter.
[Don't you realize your fish are missing? You fed them to the cats yourself. There are dozens of cats; the fish you caught weren't enough for them to eat.]
Shen Zhiyi quickly grasped another meaning.
[Could this fisherman have heard from the old woman that he could get silver from the old emperor, and then come here to beat the petition drum?]
Shen Zhiyi immediately opened her monitoring system and quickly located the events that had happened to the old woman in the past few days. By searching for keywords, she directly located the conversation between the old woman and the fisherman.
After reading it, Shen Zhiyi felt an urge to burst into laughter right then and there.
[Hahaha, the old emperor probably doesn't know that in the eyes of the people he's about to become the God of Wealth. That old woman tells everyone that if anything goes missing from your home, just go and knock on the Dengwen Drum, and the God of Wealth will give you silver.]
The old emperor, who appeared to be a god of wealth but was actually incredibly stingy, suddenly darkened his face.
The surrounding officials were so frightened that they all knelt down.
The fisherman was puzzled, looking left and right, wondering what these people meant.
I seriously suspect that the fisherman thought we were all there to rob him of the silver.
The old emperor crushed the walnut in his hand.
Don't even think about getting a single penny out of him.