Eunuch Qian quickly suppressed the urge to yawn. While the yawn was stifled, tears of the same variety welled up in his eyes, making him look quite pitiful!
"Little Pearl, do you think Eunuch Qian didn't sleep well last night? He's so tired tears are coming out!"
Qian Gui: Why are these two ancestors bringing him up again? Last time because of this, His Majesty even specially granted him a day off.
If they do it again this time, might His Majesty think he's old and no longer useful? He's only thirty-five this year, strong and healthy, and can still serve His Majesty for many years!
[Old Qian probably couldn't sleep well because he was too happy his nephew came to see him.]
"His nephew has arrived in the capital? It's quite a distance from Eunuch Qian's hometown. Did he come to deliver New Year's gifts during the festival?"
[New Year's gifts? Master, it would be good if they asked him for less silver to spend each year! Giving him gifts? How could that be possible!]
"Ah... Eunuch Qian's family still relies on him for support?"
[Exactly! Look, Eunuch Qian serves by the emperor's side, so his treatment should be quite good, right? After all these years, guess how much savings he has in his pockets now?]
Yue Fuguang knew that if the system asked this way, the amount must be small. But he was such a high-ranking eunuch, surely he had at least tens of thousands of taels, right? So she guessed, "Ten thousand taels of silver?"
[Less than one thousand taels!]
"Ah... that little? He's been in the palace for many years, how has he not saved any money?"
Emperor Mingxi was also surprised. Eunuch Qian had been serving by his side since he was young, rising from a little eunuch to the Chief Eunuch he is now.
This man served attentively and was loyal. Not counting his monthly allowance, just the rewards from him, the Empress Dowager, the Empress, and the various palace consorts should have amounted to at least tens of thousands of taels over the years.
Moreover, as the emperor's top eunuch, discerning officials wouldn't have missed giving him their 'respects' either. How could he not even have one thousand taels?
[So you see, the emperor is poor, and his personal chief eunuch isn't wealthy either. They are truly a pair of poor master and servant!]
The poor master, Emperor Mingxi: Just you say it one more time. But I will soon become wealthy. Those corrupt officials have all been arrested, the silver mine has been located, and as for the gold mine... it will be found!
My state treasury and private coffers will soon have silver flowing in like water!
The poor servant, Qian Gui: It is this servant's fault that His Majesty is being teased by the Divine Artifact again.
As for the silver... with my nephew's visit this time, even this less-than-one-thousand taels probably won't be safe!
"Where did Eunuch Qian spend all his money? Among the eunuchs in the palace, probably no one is poorer than him!"
[Exactly. Eunuch Fu by the Empress's side and Eunuch Wei by the Empress Dowager's side are both wealthier than Old Qian by a mile.
His money wasn't spent on himself. He's poor because all his silver was taken by those so-called relatives back in his hometown.]
"I didn't realize Eunuch Qian was supporting a family of vampires?"
What kind of ghost was a 'vampire'? The officials of Dayan didn't know, but they could guess the general meaning from the context.
They hadn't expected that Eunuch Qian, such a favored figure by the emperor, was also such a devoted and righteous person to his family.
[That family is precisely a bunch of vampires! It's just a pity for Old Qian. He spent good, hard-earned silver raising a pack of hungry wolves.
They ate his, drank his, and in the end, almost got him killed!]
"You mean Eunuch Qian's family will harm him? Little Pearl, explain quickly. Eunuch Qian prepares my food and drinks very diligently every day. Let's see if we can help him."
Upon hearing the Divine Artifact's words, Qian Gui's heart first sank. He didn't doubt the truth of those words; the Divine Artifact had never been wrong.
What chilled him was the thought that the relatives he had treated with utmost sincerity and genuine care actually wanted to harm him!
This was somewhat unacceptable to Qian Gui, who valued family ties immensely.
Then, hearing the Little Immortal Lord's words warmed his heart again. The relatives he had sincerely treated for years wanted to harm him, while the Little Immortal Lord he had only recently met and was merely dutifully taking care of, wanted to save him because of that care!
[Master, the fall of the Dayan Dynasty wasn't just due to foreign invasion.]
Yue Fuguang had learned to answer ahead of time. She said, "I know. It was also because of internal problems, like economic factors such as land annexation;
political factors, like incompetent rulers, factional strife;
social factors, like natural disasters in the dynasty's final years, and also military weakness.
But what does this have to do with Eunuch Qian's family harming him? Could they possibly affect the fate of the Dayan state?"
Qian Gui listened, a vein throbbing on his forehead. If it weren't for the inappropriate setting, regardless of whether it was true or not, he would have already knelt to beg the emperor for punishment.
Emperor Mingxi and the assembled court officials, however, pricked up their ears to listen carefully. They knew the fall of Dayan was due to being jointly destroyed by the surrounding barbarian tribes.
They also knew the nation's decline and the opportunity seized by foreigners were inseparable from their own internal major problems. The land issue was one.
The loss of seventy percent of the elite army was another. The later constant peasant uprisings could be grouped with the land issue.
The emperor who came after their current majesty's demise was incompetent, and they... they were busy fighting for power and profit—that was another. What else was there?
The Dayan court now was like a gravely ill person waiting for death. They urgently needed to find all the root causes of the illness to treat them one by one.
[It actually does have a little connection. Before answering this question, let me ask you one, Master.
Guess, if the Dayan state falls, what will happen to the Xie family in the future?]
Hearing this, the second, third, fifth, and sixth princes immediately perked up their ears, listening nervously to what their future fate might be. A chill ran down their backs; they had a feeling it wouldn't be good.
As for Crown Prince Xie Zhiyan, well, he died early and never suffered that hardship!
Yue Fuguang thought for a moment and said, "For the imperial family, the loss of the state also means the loss of their home. Their status would plummet from the clouds into the mortal world, even into hell.
What they could do is nothing more than rally a group under the banner of restoration for a final desperate struggle, or be either killed or kept under house arrest by the new ruler.
Failing that, they could flee, change their identities, adopt new names, forge household registrations, and escape to new regions far from the political center.
Live a low-profile, survivalist life, never mentioning their origins, burying the family secret deep in their hearts, passing it down orally from generation to generation, or simply forgetting it completely.
But again, what does this have to do with Eunuch Qian and the Qian family?"
[Master, the previous dynasty's imperial family did all these things you mentioned. Many descendants of the previous dynasty's Tong family still live within Dayan.
And among them, some have not forgotten their former imperial status and hope to one day restore their dynasty.
Guess what the Qian family's original surname was?]
"Tong? The previous dynasty's imperial family? Eunuch Qian?"
Eunuch Qian stared in disbelief. He, Qian Gui, his ancestors were once the previous dynasty's imperial family?
His family was so poor they fled as refugees to the south, and later, unable to afford to raise him, sent him into the palace. What kind of imperial family could fall so low? His parents?
If his family truly were the previous dynasty's imperial family, even if they were genuinely poor, they wouldn't send their own child into the palace to serve the successor who overthrew their dynasty, would they?
