Don't be a Kept Man

Chapter 47: Who's Going to be Doing Who

The night was dark and the drums that signalled for the streets to be cleared off had already rang within the capital. The lanterns were slowly dimming and the market that had been bustling in the day was slowly being entrenched in silence and devoid of humans. Only the bright moon was still hanging high up in the sky, shining upon the Imperial City.

The lanterns inside Cheng Ming Palace had not been extinguished however, as the servants standing outside the long hallway held in their breaths, scared of making any mistakes that could be used as an excuse for them to be beheaded.

Since the Emperor ascended to his throne, it has been a great many years since he had an outburst of this kind. Although those ministers were certainly made of flappy, loose muscles, their mouths were still in the running for the competition of who can be more vicious. The Emperor had been so mad from the morning court assembly that he had not yet even eaten anything for the entire day.

On top of a desk lay a sheet of papers. Under the shine of the bright candlelight, those characters looked even more sloppy and twisted. But the Emperor had been staring at those sheets of paper for more than half a Shi Chen now. Flipping them over and over to look and to read them in depth again and again. And the only words he could say was a very emotionless "Is this what Chen Miao Ping wrote?".

Liu Gong-gong who was holding a hossu1 in his arms bowed at his waist and said,

"To respond Your Majesty, this servant watched him write this with this servant's very own eyes. It seems that the Flower Seeker had hurt his hand beforehand, so these characters may seem a little scrawly."

Although Chen Miao Ping had the original host's memories, the original body's writing style was not something that could be copied at a moment's notice. So he had purposefully used a paperknife to injure himself on the palm so that he had some leeway to excuse his different handwriting style.

The Emperor nodded his head in acknowledgement and then returned his eyes to the sheets of paper. The terrible handwriting and the overly blunt statements were not the main point. The words that made him contemplate over and over again were only these three sentences:

Use brass as a mirror, could then straighten up clothes; Use history as a mirror, could then avoid repetition; use humans as mirror, could then learn from mistakes......

The ruler is the boat, the citizens are the water. Water can hold up a boat, and it can overthrow the boat......

...grasps the hearts of the citizens, one rules the world.....

The Emperor sat on his throne for a very long time, overcome by his thoughts. He suddenly chuckled out softly and then made a joke, sprinkled in a half truth and a half lie,

"This Chen Miao Ping is such a well rounded individual. Every word is written with such meaning. It is rare for someone as young as him to have such an understanding and the knowledge. If he had put these words on the Imperial Court Examination, Zhen might have given him the position of Primus2..... but that's over and done with. He has already missed his chance."

As soon as he finished talking, he immediately copied all three sentences in its entirety himself and ordered Liu Gong-gong to hang it up on the wall above the front of his bed, shocking the latter internally to his core.

Since its inception, the role of the Emperor has never been an easy job. Especially with such a recent scandal happening on top of all his normal concerns. He ordered a servant to take away Chen Miao Ping's papers and focused his attention back to his regular documents. But that caused another batch of worries.

Elder Princess Chang Ning's3 precious only son had galloped on his horse through the streets without any control. Multiple stands were stepped on and crashed into, and many people were injured as a result. He was then caught red-handed by the City Warden Inspector, and not even speaking about the fact that he wouldn't admit to his crime, he had whipped the inspector straight in the face, causing parts of his teeth to fall out. Now, that man was handing in documents that were crying and begging for the Emperor to release him from his position and let him return to his hometown.