After their minds were read, the entire court trembled with fear.

Chapter 14 The Emperor, Diarrhea

There's a meat pie shop in the East Market that makes the best ones.

Shen Zhiyi touched the grease on the corner of her mouth, and couldn't resist buying another one, which she put in her pocket.

"Is Shen Lang buying breakfast?"

A familiar voice came from behind.

Shen Zhiyi turned around and saw that it was actually Zhang Sheren.

"Good morning, Mr. Zhang. The meat pies at this shop are delicious. They have plenty of filling, and the crust is both crispy and soft. When you take a bite, the juice bursts in your mouth. They are truly delicious."

These words immediately whetted Zhang Sheren's appetite, and he tossed out a few copper coins to buy a ticket.

It smells absolutely wonderful.

[It's really delicious, and most importantly, it's cheap. I might have to eat this for the rest of the month. That damned old emperor, he didn't even bother to provide me with food and lodging. The palace isn't for humans.]

Zhang Sheren was curious. The salary of a sixth-rank official wasn't much, but everyone in the court knew that Shen Zhiyi only had one person in her family, so the salary was just right.

No matter what, it's not to the point where I need to eat meat pies every day.

[Sigh, I counted the money last night, and I think I can donate about fifty taels of silver. I hope the people in the disaster area can overcome their difficulties soon.]

Zhang Sheren's eyes widened in an instant, forming a round statistical chart.

The emotions in his eyes were divided into several parts: three parts shock, five parts shame, and two parts regret.

Finally, he sighed inwardly, realizing that he was no match for Shen Zhiyi.

[Hehe, when the old emperor woke up, he said to Chen Decai, "Today I'm going to give those ministers a good dressing down. I'll slip some silver to the talented scholar first, so the old emperor won't rip me out of my shreds."]

The people in the disaster area have it tough, but her life must go on.

Donating fifty taels was a matter of her conscience; she still needed the money she kept to make ends meet.

Beijing is a big city, and everything is expensive. I used to think that as long as I earned tens of thousands a month, everything would be fine, and I could just enjoy life.

As it turned out, the people of Beijing were not easy for her, an outsider; everything was ridiculously expensive.

Now the old emperor has discovered that he is not as wealthy as his ministers or the merchants of Da Ye, and who knows if he will go mad later.

Zhang Sheren took a deep breath.

He quickly stuffed the meat pie into his mouth and said, "Shen Lang, I think I left something at home, I'll be going now."

Shen Zhiyi looked at the other person pitifully and nodded knowingly: "Go quickly, time waits for no one."

Zhang Sheren disappeared in a flash.

Strangely, he wasn't the only one who disappeared from the street in a flash.

so amazing!

……

In the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the old emperor had not yet arrived; the time for court had long passed.

The ministers stood in their positions, chatting with their colleagues nearby.

As they chatted, they realized that the old emperor hadn't arrived yet!

The old emperor was always very punctual, and had not missed a single day in the past twenty years; he was quite dedicated.

"Pfft."

Huh? Who's laughing?

It was actually Shen Zhiyi!

Shen Zhiyi always keeps her presence low-key and rarely loses her composure, so what did she see?

Shen Zhiyi quickly covered her mouth and looked around at the people around her like a thief.

Seeing that no one was paying attention, he finally felt relieved and put his hand down.

All the officials: Ahhhhh, we didn't see anything! Tell us quickly, what did you see that made you laugh like that!

They all looked down, but they actually wished they could put their ears right next to Shen Zhiyi.

[Haha ...

Everyone: Your laughter is disturbing my ears.

[Zhang Sheren, oh Zhang Sheren, if I had known your son would have a fever, I should have been the one to go to work last night! Damn it, I missed such a good show!]

[What a pity! If I had been working last night, I could have confidently included it in the daily records. This kind of thing deserves to be remembered for eternity!]

[Haha ...

Damn it, stop laughing and tell me what happened last night!

If you don't tell us about this juicy gossip, you'll never get to eat meat pies without crust or filling, and they'll be dry and tasteless!

The old emperor, despite his advanced age, still had a craving for food. He ate too much and felt unwell, so he whined and complained to the empress. The empress, annoyed by the old emperor and finding the imperial physicians too slow, simply resorted to her own folk remedy.

It must be said that the old emperor trusted the empress implicitly, drinking the soup she gave him without the slightest suspicion. And that one sip had unforeseen consequences.

Hahahaha!

Shen Zhiyi's shoulders trembled, and tears welled up in her eyes.

[The Empress's folk remedy is truly astonishing! It's actually, hahaha, a laxative! Hahahaha!]

[After the old emperor spent the whole night running to the outhouse, our dear Empress finally got some peace and quiet.]

Just thinking about how the old emperor was running to the outhouse last night, sending people to keep an eye on raising money, and also keeping an eye on the fundraising situation at the Eastern Palace—he was so busy—made Shen Zhiyi's stomach ache from laughing.

[Everyone probably doesn't know why the old emperor hasn't come to court. It's because after spending the whole night in the outhouse, he thought he was better, but before he could even take a step, the urge returned, and now he's having a terrible time.]

With this in mind, Shen Zhiyi felt relieved and took the meat pie out of her sleeve pocket; it was still warm.

She quickly stuffed the food into her mouth in a few bites, and even with oil stains on her fingers, she slurped them up without any hesitation.

[Hopefully, the old emperor will have diarrhea every day from now on.]

The old emperor, who had just entered the Hall of Supreme Harmony with a full belly, heard Shen Zhiyi's thoughts. He pointed at her with a trembling finger, then seemed to remember something, took a deep breath, and suppressed his anger.

When the old emperor is in a bad mood, all his ministers will suffer.

At this time, he was the newly appointed Minister of Personnel, having previously served as the Vice Minister of Personnel.

Thanks to Shen Zhiyi, the former Minister of Personnel has retired from the national stage, and now it is his turn to take the stage.

"Your Majesty, I did not sleep last night, my heart was with the disaster-stricken areas in Jiangnan. The people of Jiangnan are now starving and displaced. If the disaster relief funds are not distributed quickly, I fear it will endanger the stability of the country. I am willing to do my part and donate one thousand taels of silver."

Wow, a thousand taels!

The newly appointed Minister of Personnel smiled with satisfaction.

[How stingy! Your house is practically covered in gold bricks, and you only donated a thousand taels.]

The newly appointed Minister of Personnel broke out in a cold sweat: "I have just thought about it, and one thousand taels of silver is a bit too little. I am willing to donate three thousand taels of silver."

[Still being stingy, oh wait, no, donating is about kindness, it doesn't matter how much money. How could I morally blackmail someone? It's such a sin, thankfully it was just a thought.]

The newly appointed Minister of Personnel was about to cry when he knelt down with a thud: "Your subject is willing to donate five thousand taels of silver."

There really aren't any more.

【well……】

The newly appointed Minister of Personnel began kowtowing frantically: "Eight thousand taels, eight thousand taels, that's the most I can give."