This Official is so Weak

Chapter 3

Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief.

Then Ning Rushen added, "Now, start cursing at me."

...Immediately, the courtyard was filled with people dropping to their knees in disbelief!

Outside the unnoticed courtyard walls, the figure crouched there trembled slightly.

"I-I dare not!" they whispered.

Ning Rushen rubbed his temples. "Get up, all of you."

He glanced at the shivering group and after a moment's thought, he spoke again, "Cuss once, and earn a silver or two."

Several faces hesitantly lifted.

With practiced hands, Ning Rushen began peeling a small walnut. "The first one to speak up gets ten silvers."

But before anyone could utter a word, the steward's voice boomed like a thunderclap, "Are you a starving ghost reincarnated, my lord?"

(T/N I think this means restless spirit)

Ning Rushen froze, speechless.

Ning Rushen spent the entire afternoon doling out silver in exchange for insults.

From eager inquiries at the outset to numb indifference by the end.

——It was all just a jumble of trivial matters, thinly veiled criticisms mixed with false praises, the tone becoming increasingly skewed. Towards the end, even a blushing maid dared to scold:

"Your robe is so open, it's downright, downright indecent."

Ning Rushen's head spun with ringing ears.

What kind of chaotic mess was this?

After talking for so long, he hadn't gleaned anything useful. He couldn't identify any enemies, nor did he know where he had offended the new emperor.

"That's enough."

He wearily waved his hand, instructing Yan Min to distribute the reward silver, while he himself walked back to the main house. "I'm going to rest for a while. Wake me up before the banquet."

Yan Min, clutching the gleaming silver, nodded reverently. "Yes, my lord."

...

In the palace, inside the imperial study.

A figure knelt silently before Li Wuting — it was Shi Yi, the embroidered guard dispatched to spy on Ning Rushen.

The room had long been cleared of any onlookers.

Li Wuting gazed at the dark figure kneeling before him. "Speak."

The Jin YiWei bowed deeply and recounted in detail to the new emperor the events following Ning Rushen's return to his mansion.

When Li Wuting heard that Ning Rushen demanded praise from his servants, he let out a soft chuckle.

But soon after, he heard the report from the Jin YiWei:

"After receiving praise, Lord Ning then commands: 'Insult me.'"

"Each insult earns a silver or two."

Li Wuting's expression briefly turned peculiar.

The Jin YiWei, with great animation, mimicked Yan Min's demeanor, his voice booming, "Then the steward of the mansion asks—'My lord! Are you a starving ghost reincarnated?'"

(a Jin YiWei is secret police)

Li Wuting choked on his tea.

Unfazed, the JinYi Wei continued his report with precision, "Another maid pouted—'My lord's robes are so loose, it's simply indecent!'"