Echoes of My Heart Throughout the Court

Chapter 224: Let Me See—Who’s the Unlucky Fool Chosen This Time? (1 / 2)

The crown prince, crippled in one leg, couldn’t run at all.

The old emperor gripped a thick tree branch in his hand, grinning sinisterly at his exasperating son.

“Gao Xian, I haven’t beaten you in a long time, and now you’re out there playing the tyrant, exploiting the people—am I right?”

“Look at all these jewels—how many households did you loot to gather these?!”

The thunderous voice sent a shiver through the crown prince, who stammered, “Father, I… I don’t know anything about this…”

The old emperor sneered, “Of course you don’t know. You must’ve ordered your servants to do it, didn’t you? You just enjoy the spoils without caring how many families were ruined in the process, do you?”

The crown prince quickly hid behind Prime Minister Dou, peeking out to plead, “Father, please, hear me out! I specifically ordered people to supervise this—how could they exploit the people?”

The old emperor glared at his son, fury storming in his eyes. “I’m sure you did assign someone to watch over it, but look at the results here. The only possibility is that they deceived you during their looting. How many times have I told you? Never act recklessly and never underestimate others’ intelligence!

“Are you going to tell me these pearls and jewels were picked up in rivers or dug out of mountains?!”

A familiar, cheerful voice rang in his ears, momentarily halting the old emperor’s fury.

Xu Yanmiao? Why is he here? Could it be—

The old emperor suddenly understood and narrowed his eyes at the crown prince.

“You sought Xu Yanmiao?”

The crown prince nodded furiously.

“Father, even if you don’t believe me, you should trust Little Baize!”

The old emperor paused, then nodded.

“You’re right.”

“But I still feel like hitting you.”

This time, it was the crown prince’s turn to be stunned.

“Your Highness, are you alright?” Xu Yanmiao asked cautiously.

The crown prince lay stiffly on the bed, his face swollen and one arm wrapped up like a beehive.

“I’m not doing well,” he said flatly. “Do I look like someone who’s doing well?”

If it hadn’t been for Xu Yanmiao’s heartfelt explanations reaching their ears just in time, his father would have assumed he was a tyrant exploiting the common people and would’ve crippled his other leg to keep him from oppressing anyone else.

Xu Yanmiao held a pestle, carefully grinding herbs. He pressed the last bit of the mixture onto a cloth, creating a medicinal bandage, and brought it over to dress the crown prince’s wounds.

His expression was patient, but his inner thoughts quietly grumbled: [I didn’t expect you to skip inspecting the goods and bring the old emperor straight there.]

[What if I had no sense of luxury and thought the emperor wielding a golden hoe was the pinnacle of extravagance?]

The crown prince turned over, looking sheepish.

It wasn’t his fault… He had been too excited to think of checking first.

“By the way, Xu Yanmiao, help me up.”

“Oh, alright. Where is Your Highness planning to go?”

“Dragon Gate Mountain!”

“But, Your Highness, your leg…”

Already hampered by his limp, his injuries only made it harder to move.

With Xu Yanmiao’s support, the crown prince hobbled forward with determined resolve.

“Let’s go!”

When they reached the dazzling, jewel-encrusted house on Dragon Gate Mountain, guarded by imperial soldiers, the crown prince angrily exclaimed, “Xu Lang! My father doesn’t believe me! I swore to him that I absolutely didn’t create some ‘jewel network,’ scouring the nation for rare treasures, but he wouldn’t listen. He even mocked me, saying seeing is believing and asking if these treasures were picked up from the fields!”

“This house was made by Xu Lang.” He turned to Xu Yanmiao, his tone suddenly calm and composed.

“I trust that Xu Lang is no villainous scoundrel. This house must have been crafted through some other means, unrelated to the blood and sweat of the people.”

Xu Yanmiao was deeply moved by the prince’s trust and spoke up immediately: “Your Highness, the walls, floors, and roof are all made of ?ar?ra—crafted from chicken bones and rat bones. The cost was very low… Hmm? What’s that sound?”

Xu Yanmiao turned, noticing the bushes rustling ominously in the darkness. Alarmed, he reached for his firelock.

The prince suddenly became unusually animated, grabbing Xu Yanmiao by the shoulders and turning him back toward him.

“It’s just a fat rat! Ignore it! Xu Lang, did you just say these were made from chicken bones?!”

“And rat bones.”

“Same thing, same thing! Xu Lang, this is crucial. Can you explain in detail how you made them?”

“Of course,” Xu Yanmiao replied and began explaining.

Behind the bushes, four figures crouched in secret: the emperor, leading the group, followed by the Minister of Revenue and others, all peeking through the branches toward Xu Yanmiao.

Though they had already heard Xu Yanmiao admit in his inner thoughts that the dazzling house was made from worthless chicken bones, hearing it spoken aloud made the emperor waver. His upright posture tilted slightly, causing the bushes to shake violently.

Beside him, the Minister of Revenue was holding his breath, his face turning beet red as he struggled not to faint.

A single chicken bone could produce a jewel. If these jewels were sewn into a pearl robe, it could sell for at least 100,000 coins—and the raw materials were just a pile of chicken bones!

The treasury was about to overflow with riches!

Even though gold and silver mines were actively being mined, who could ever have enough money?

The emperor and the Minister of Revenue exchanged a knowing glance, instantly reaching a mutual understanding.

“Seventy-thirty! Seventy percent to the national treasury, thirty to the imperial household!”

“Before others find out these jewels are worthless, sell them to the domestic aristocracy!”

“And then, we’ll export them overseas!”

The two clasped hands tightly, their eyes sparkling with the gleam of wealth, almost blinding the other ministers nearby.

The Minister of Rites decided to join in.

He offered a suggestion: “I’ve heard that the wealthy in India are devout Buddhists. Surely, they would love for their monks to produce ?ar?ra.”

—Thanks to the government’s strict oversight of monasteries, monks in the empire had been forced to practice sincere austerity. Gone were the days of the late dynasty, when temples grew so wealthy that they could annex hundreds or even thousands of acres of farmland.

The emperor: “!!!”

The Minister of Revenue: “!!!”

This idea…

Brilliant!

The three scheming minds exchanged glances, their silent understanding carrying a thousand unspoken plans.

Although the prince’s actions enabled his father to openly utilize the ?ar?ra-making method, he still ended up being beaten.

His father, holding a rolled-up book, tapped the prince’s forehead repeatedly—sometimes lightly, sometimes heavily—almost as if playing a drum.

“Foolish! After all this time, you still haven’t realized that Xu Yanmiao is a double-edged sword. You deserve to get cut,” the emperor remarked coldly.

The crown prince questioned, “But Father, aren’t you still using him? For next year’s Spring Examination in February, you’ve assigned him as the chief examiner. Aren’t you afraid something might go wrong?”

“Afraid of what?” The emperor paused, a faint smile tugging at his lips as he searched for the right words. “Xu Yanmiao excels at operating within the framework of rules and systems. Haven’t you noticed? When he performs the duties of his office, he has never made a mistake.”

The emperor continued, “Your mistake before was failing to clearly define what he should and shouldn’t do. You can’t blame Xu Yanmiao for being overly imaginative.”

“Is that so?”

The crown prince looked at his father with suspicion.

Why did it feel like his father was deluding himself? While it was true that Xu Yanmiao hadn’t caused any issues in his official duties, whether or not any unintended consequences arose seemed entirely dependent on divine mercy toward those around him.