The capital, the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
Torrential rain poured down as wild thunder roared. The heavens seemed furious, a flash of lightning striking down as if trying to cleave open the oppressive, suffocating palace walls.
The candlelight inside the hall flickered erratically, torn by the draft sweeping through, casting shifting shadows on Emperor Tiansheng's age-spotted face and making his expression all the more obscure.
On the desk lay an open memorial, splattered with mud and wrinkled from being soaked in rainwater.
It was Pei Ji's memorial.
Who was Pei Ji? He was the toughest bone in the Court of Judicature and Revision, a mad dog who recognized only the law and not even his own father.
To be able to soften this tough bone, to make this mad dog write such crazed words in his memorial as "this student has eyes but failed to see, I bow to the Divine Farmer"...
"Interesting."
Emperor Tiansheng let out a low, enigmatic chuckle.
He reached out with a skeletal hand and untied the unassuming coarse cloth sack beside the memorial.
Rustle.
A handful of unpolished rice, still in its husks, spilled onto the imperial desk. Mixed among the red-inked memorials that symbolized supreme imperial power, it looked completely out of place, yet glaringly conspicuous.
Emperor Tiansheng picked up a grain, waved off the old eunuch who stepped forward to test it for poison, and tossed it directly into his mouth.
Crunch.
The raw rice was very hard, jarring his teeth so much that his gums felt a bit sore. But he chewed it very finely, very slowly.
A faint, earthy sweetness spread in his mouth. It was unpolished, unsorted—the most primitive, coarsest taste of grain.
But its plump, grainy texture could not deceive anyone.
"Four shi and three dou..."
Emperor Tiansheng muttered to himself, his cloudy old eyes devoid of any wild joy.
As an emperor who had sat on the dragon throne for decades, his first reaction was never pleasant surprise, but rather—apprehension.
A merchant family reeking of copper coins, in a godforsaken place like Yuzhou, had quietly produced a miraculous crop that yielded four shi per mu.
What was this?
This was holding the rice bowls of the entire world in their own hands!
"Xu Youde, oh Xu Youde. I used to think you were just a greedy, useless fool. I didn't expect you were waiting for me here."
Emperor Tiansheng spat out the rice husk. The mild lethargy in his eyes vanished, leaving only a chilling coldness that made one's heart clench.
He did not believe in auspicious signs falling from heaven, nor did he believe in the reincarnation of the Divine Farmer.
He only believed in the exchange of interests.
This must be a bargaining chip the Xu family had spent generations of effort on, perhaps even secretly colluding with the Third Prince, cultivating it for over a decade.
Why bring it out now?
Because the Third Prince had lost power in the battle for the throne, and the Xu family wanted to buy their lives.
They were telling him: If you want the commoners to have enough to eat, you must keep the heads of the Xu family attached to their necks, and you must leave the Third Prince a way out.
Smack!
Emperor Tiansheng slammed his palm on the table, making the brush rack rattle wildly.
Just as a terrifying clap of thunder exploded outside the hall, the old eunuch in the corner shuddered in fright, prostrating himself on the floor, wishing he could crawl into a crack in the ground.
"Pass down my decree. Summon the Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet to enter the palace immediately."
Emperor Tiansheng's voice pierced through the thunderstorm, devoid of any human warmth. "Even if they have to crawl, they will crawl here to see me!"
...
Half an hour later.
Several Cabinet Ministers, with disheveled clothes and crooked official hats, stood panting in the center of the grand hall.
Looking at the pile of rice on the imperial desk and listening to the eunuch read Pei Ji's memorial aloud, all color drained from their faces. Their expressions made it clear they felt as though they had seen a ghost in broad daylight.
"A yield of... four shi per mu?"
The Chief Grand Secretary's beard trembled. His knees went weak, almost causing him to drop to his knees on the spot. "Your Majesty! Is... is Pei Ji out of his mind? This is sorcerous heresy meant to deceive the masses! This is deceiving the sovereign!"
"Heresy?"
Emperor Tiansheng scoffed coldly, grabbed a handful of rice, and hurled it viciously right at the Chief Grand Secretary's old face.
The rice grains clattered to the floor, stinging the Chief Grand Secretary's cheeks.
"I have tasted it. It is real."
Dead silence.
Aside from the sound of rain outside, not even the sound of breathing could be heard within the hall.
A single thought pierced through everyone's mind: If it is real... then the destiny of the Great Qian Dynasty is about to be rewritten.
"Your Majesty!" The Minister of Revenue was the fastest to react. The old fox's eyes darted around, and he immediately threw himself onto the floor in excitement, weeping loudly with acting skills that rivaled a star opera performer. "Heaven blesses Great Qian! This is the unshakable foundation for ten thousand generations! The Xu family... the Xu family has achieved a monumental, unparalleled merit in supporting the state! I implore Your Majesty to reward them heavily! They must be heavily rewarded!"
"Reward?"
Emperor Tiansheng leaned back against the dragon throne. A smile tugged at the corners of his lips—a smile that was playful, yet laced with cruelty.
"They should be rewarded."
"They emptied their entire family fortune to pave the way for my Great Qian and to feed my people. If I do not reward such living bodhisattvas, wouldn't I chill the hearts of the world?"
The ministers exchanged glances, a chill running down their spines. Why did those words... sound like they were made of knives?
"Draft a decree."
Emperor Tiansheng's voice became brisk, even carrying a sense of relief as if he were tossing away a heavy burden.
"Xu Qinghuan, the merchant daughter of Yuzhou, cares deeply for the state and has rendered great merit by offering grain. She is a Yao and Shun among women. I hereby bestow upon her an imperial golden plaque, inscribed with the words: 'The Number One Righteous Merchant of Great Qian'."
That was it?
The ministers were all stunned.
Such heaven-shaking merit, and all she got was a wooden plaque? This was too... too stingy, wasn't it? Not even a noble title?
This was practically daylight robbery!
"Hold on, I am not finished."
Emperor Tiansheng lifted his eyelids, his gaze passing over the ministers to land on the massive map hanging on the wall.
His stare felt almost tangible, brimming with venom, stabbing straight at the red border line in the north.
That was where the iron cavalry of Northern Cang constantly breached the borders year-round.
That was a bottomless pit that swallowed five million taels of silver from the Great Qian's treasury every year, yet could never be filled.
"Since the Xu family's wealth rivals the nation, and since Xu Qinghuan has the means to turn decay into magic..."
Emperor Tiansheng slowly stood up, pointing his finger from afar at the scarlet region on the map, his voice dripping with a hellish chill.
"Then let her share my burdens."
"I no longer wish to look at the hole in the Ministry of Revenue's treasury; it is too aggravating," Emperor Tiansheng turned his head, staring at the pale-faced Minister of Revenue, enunciating every word.
Immediately after, Emperor Tiansheng dictated a decree.
The content was not long, just a few short words.
But as soon as those words were spoken, the hall fell into dead silence. Shock surfaced on the ministers' faces, as if they had heard something more terrifying than the thunder rumbling outside.
The Chief Grand Secretary raised his head, his face full of disbelief, his lips trembling. "Your Majesty! Over there... if you let her..."
Emperor Tiansheng cast a sidelong glance at the Chief Grand Secretary and said indifferently, "It is decided. Go."
Emperor Tiansheng turned his back to them, looking out at the violent rainy night, his tone faint and distant.
...
Meanwhile, in Taoyuan County.
Late at night.
Xu Qinghuan was having a sweet dream.
In her dream, she had finally squandered away her family fortune, and the system had judged her mission complete. A time portal glowing with white light slowly opened before her.
Wearing ripped jeans and holding a cold cola in her hand, she was just about to take that thrilling step to return to the embrace of modern society.
At the very moment she was about to step forward, a sudden, inexplicable chill shot up from the soles of her feet straight to the top of her skull.
It felt as if she were being eyed by some primordial beast. More than that, it felt like a massive, invisible pot of blame, riding on the fierce winds of an eight-hundred-mile express dispatch, was howling through the air to smash right into her forehead.
"Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!!!"
Xu Qinghuan jolted upright in bed and let out three earth-shattering sneezes in a row, the force of them shaking the bed curtains.
Rubbing her reddened nose, she stared blankly at the pitch-black night outside her window.
"What the hell..."
Pulling the blanket tightly around herself, Xu Qinghuan felt a creeping sense of unease. That ominous feeling was growing stronger by the second.
"Who is it? Which peasant is plotting against mama behind her back?"
Sniffling, she cast a paranoid glance around the empty room.
"Some peasant is always plotting against the throne..."
She muttered to herself, rolling over and burying herself back under the covers to try and pick up where her sweet dream had left off.
