"Really? You are the emperor, a man of your word. You can’t go back on your words. Uncle Six, you be our witness.”
Wiping his tears at random, Yan Xiaoming withdrew his usual mature and steady side and grabbed Zeng Shaoqing on the side. He’d let him have no place to regret.
"You little thing, where did you learn to be so witty?”
Hearing him, instead of blaming him, Yan Shengzhi laughed instead. Finally in his eyes there was the affection of a father to his son. That was his son, the prince of the Qing Kingdom!
"Cousin, little Seven is quite smart. Not long before, I heard that he even went to work in the field. According to the time, the rice he grows would be ripe in the middle of next month.”
"Really? Then I have to let Nine to get me some to have a taste.”
Upon hearing that, Yan Shengzhi was even happier. Zeng Shaoqing secretly gave Chu Yunhan an eye, then the latter moved forward smilingly, “Your Majesty, what we grow is late rice. You should know that in Cangzhou it can only grow on season. When I worked as a tutor in the village, I met a tongsheng called Ling Jingxuan. He is also a man of misfortune, people in the village all don’t like him and threw him at the foot of the mountain. When he has time, he’d study all kinds of agricultural knowledge. It is he who brought up growing late rice. When we left, the seedlings had grown quite tall. The harvest isn’t a thing. Whether more or less, at least it could alleviate the civilians’ poverty, right? If he really succeeds, Your Majesty has to reward him, and the issues the decree to encourage the civilians to grow two seasons. Besides, these years, I have been following him to study the inner sea wasteland. Not long ago, he borrowed money to buy a lot of wasteland others don’t want and plan to expand the planting. If he succeeds, it’d be a huge contribution to the agriculture to our kingdom. But Your Majesty, it’s just a test. Although the magistrate of Qingyang County has exempted him of three years’ taxes, no one knows what’d happen after that. The thing is he has the heart. Your Majesty can’t maltreat him.”
Ling Jingxuan had helped him so much, he would repay him. Although he couldn’t expose his identity, he would fight for a glory for him. In the countryside, with the imperial decree, no matter whether with or without a reward, no one would ever have the balls to bully them again, including those unbelievable relatives.
"That is a good thing, a tongsheng can have this courage, I will certainly reward him. Oh right, is the Qingyang County you said that Qingyang County where a plague nearly broke out?”
As long as it was something about the kingdom, Yan Shengzhi showed strong interest. Maybe even he himself didn’t notice he already called his name like before. Chu Yunhan’s eyes glittered. Although feeling gross in the heart, he still had to press it down, for he knew this was a good thing to him.
"Hmm, it is there. This time, the magistrate Hu Lizhi of Qingyang County is also among the team who sent me back. Would you like to see him, Your Majesty?”
Hu Lizhi could be called a good official. So he didn’t mind speaking some nice words before His Majesty for him. He meant to tell His Majesty that it was also Ling Jingxuan who had solved the plague thing, but in case he might generate suspicious, he decided to let Hu Lizhi to tell him about it. Sometimes, other’s words were more useful than when those words came out of an abolished empress.
"Of course. Yunhan, have you been living in the village all these years?"
A plague was a huge thing to any kingdoms. The magistrate of Qingyang County successfully took the plague under control and stopped it from spreading out, of course a big reward was a must. But, now he only cared about Yunhan’s thing. Before having married him, he was the only legitimate son of Chu family. And after marrying him, he was the noble crown princess, even though he had abolished him as the empress, he never let him suffer. So it was really hard for him to imagine how he had lived in the countryside. Gotta be hard, right?
"No, the village people are all unsophisticated, far less intrigues against each other like in the palace. So I lived quite well there.”
Withdrawing his smile, Chu Yunhan moved his eyes away. After having experienced those things, whatever he did, he’d have no feelings. In the future, they’d only be a nominal couple.
"Yunhan..."
Yan Shengzhi was not stupid, how could he not understand the underlying meaning of his words? But, instead of blaming him, he felt sorrier for him. He was the empress who always tried to hold himself aloof from the world and was only close to him, why had they gotten estranged finally like total strangers?
He may never know, when he had to consider the whole court, balance the harem, and try to be a good emperor, he had lost Chu Yunhan for good. No, to be more exact, maybe he had never gotten him from the beginning.
"Father empress, haven’t you worked out the method of how to solve the problems of the inner sea corrosion in our kingdom? That’s your gift for father emperor. Tell him about it.”
Moving his eyes between them, Yan Xiaoming quietly moved forward to lean on Chu Yunhan while secretly holding his hand. He knew he was sad in the heart, but they had to keep acting. Although they didn’t understand why His Majesty didn’t punish them, even no harsh words, they shouldn’t let down their guard. They got to seize the chance to conquer his heart.
"Solving the problem of the inner sea? Yunhan, you?”
pαndα`noνɐ1~сoМ Hearing that, casting aside his sorry feeling for Chu Yunhan, Yan Shengzhi popped out his eyes excitedly. The agriculture of Qing Kingdom was quite weak, plus years of wars, the taxes were getting heavier year by year, and civilians all suffered unspeakably. If the problems of the inner sea could really be solved, a large number of wasteland could be used, which was a huge good thing for both the kingdom and its civilians.
"Hmm, on the way back, I sorted out all the specific methods of solving the problem. Your Majesty, inner sea treatment would be a huge project, something that couldn’t be finished in a short time. So you must nominate someone to be in charge of the whole thing.”
Speaking of which, Chu Yunhan felt out the memorial he had written down from memory and handed it over. Yan Shengzhi received with huge excitement. He unfolded it with his trembling hand. Seeing that, Zeng Shaoqing threw Chu Yunhan an eye and moved forward, “Cousin, maybe you should check it later. You know, my sister-in-law and little Seven have taken a long journey and are tired now. They need some rest.”
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