After their minds were read, the entire court trembled with fear.

Chapter 139 Shen Zhiyi accidentally called out "Old Emperor" today

Seeing that Shen Zhiyi didn't speak, Tan Zhitui impatiently continued to escalate the situation.

"Add another five hundred taels of gold."

There are now two thousand taels of gold.

Shen Zhiyi shamefully fell in love.

"Alright, I'll introduce you to the old emperor, oh no, I mean His Majesty."

[It’s over, it’s over. 】

Oh, my mouth! How could I have so easily blurted out what was on my mind?

Shen Zhiyi closed her eyes and immediately knelt down.

This startled Tan Zhitui, who quickly stepped forward to help Shen Zhiyi up.

"Young Master Shen, I have a favor to ask of you, you absolutely cannot kneel before me."

"I didn't kneel down to you, so get out of the way."

The old emperor pushed Tan Zhitui away, still wearing a seemingly gentle smile on his face.

"She's kneeling before me."

The old emperor looked at Tan Zhitui.

"Two thousand taels of gold, is that right? I will accept it on behalf of Shen Zhiyi."

Tan Zhitui: "Huh?"

I?

The old man just said "朕" (Zhen, the imperial "I")!

Tan Zhitui knelt down next to Shen Zhiyi with a thud.

He said with trepidation, "It is indeed Your Majesty. This humble subject has offended Your Majesty. Please forgive me."

"I wouldn't call it forgiveness. On the contrary, you're quite bold, young man. If you want to enter officialdom, go and take the imperial examination. You can't get by taking shortcuts here."

"Your Majesty may not know, but I am a merchant by birth."

"Are you a merchant?" the old emperor asked in return.

Tan Zhitui shook his head: "I am not a merchant, but my late father, mother, and wife are."

"Didn't you succeed? If you want to become an official, why don't you learn about all the ways to get one? Why do you only think about bribing people with silver and gold?"

The old emperor's words silenced Tan Zhitui completely.

"Young people, taking shortcuts and being opportunistic is not advisable."

The old emperor, with his hands in his pockets, said in a deep voice, "I ask you, do you know when wheat is planted and when it is harvested?"

Tan Zhitui's hands trembled, his lips trembled, and finally, he managed to utter a few words.

"The common people don't know."

The old emperor looked at Shen Zhiyi with great confidence.

"Shen Zhiyi, you tell him when to plant and when to harvest."

Shen Zhiyi, a foolish college student who grew up in the city: ? ? ?

[What are you saying, old emperor?]

The old emperor looked at Shen Zhiyi: "No way, no way, you didn't know?!"

Actually, I know that wheat in the game matures in one minute after planting.

Everyone:...

What kind of technology and ruthless methods did you use to feed your wheat that allowed it to mature in a minute? Aren't you afraid of it being poisoned?

[As for reality, oh dear, my brain... I need to quickly recall my high school geography.]

The monitoring system couldn't stand it anymore and directly showed Shen Zhiyi the surveillance video of the farmers planting wheat.

Shen Zhiyi's eyes lit up.

[Ahhh, damn system, you saved my life!]

"Ahem, Your Majesty, the planting time for wheat is divided into winter wheat and spring wheat. Winter wheat is sown in September and October and harvested in April and May of the following year, while spring wheat is generally sown after the Spring Festival and harvested in August and September of the same year."

The old emperor breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Fortunately, he had that magical artifact; otherwise, he would have been utterly humiliated today.

He composed himself and said to Tan Zhitui, "Shen Lang is merely a lowly court attendant. Her job is simply to record my words and actions, yet even she knows the most basic agricultural knowledge. You think you can achieve great ambitions as an official, but you don't even know this. How can you talk about being an official? Where will you begin to become an official? By stuffing gold into your pocket?"

The old emperor's words were all precious.

Tan Zhitui was extremely ashamed.

"This humble subject has learned a great deal."

"In that case, you must already have a plan in mind for how to proceed."

Later, a poet emerged in Daye who specialized in writing about farming and praising farmers, a style quite different from his earlier poems that indulged in nature and expressed his frustration at not being recognized for his talents.

Shen Zhiyi watched the other person leave.

I don't know why, but the person I only met twice seemed to have a different air about him.

"Shen Zhiyi, you really have boundless energy."

Shen Zhiyi looked at the old emperor awkwardly.

"Your Majesty, if you have no further instructions, my sister and I will return home."

"go Go."

Why did this old emperor have to come here? He ruined all my fun.

The old emperor's lips twitched violently.

He asked Chen Decai, "Is there any empty yard next to Shen Zhiyi?"

"Oh? Isn't that place unsuitable for Your Majesty?"

"Why is it not suitable?"

"The location isn't very good; the yards over there are a mess and it's too dangerous."

"It's alright, I don't go there often, I just visit occasionally."

*

The next morning, Shen Zhiyi noticed that the family next door seemed to be moving.

She wasn't very familiar with her neighbors, but she was quite close to her adoptive parents.

"Hey, Mr. Shen, wait a moment."

"This is for you."

Her neighbor gave her a chicken and asked her to kill it and make soup for her family to help them recover.

Are you leaving?

"Yes, yes, we moved. The other party gave us a lot of money, and my child is taking the imperial examination this year, so it's inconvenient for us to live here."

As he spoke, the other person hurriedly left.

Shen Zhiyi watched the other person's back and couldn't help but marvel.

This woman truly devoted herself to her son, even going so far as to move three times like Mencius' mother did, but your son...

Before Shen Zhiyi could finish speaking, the old emperor, who was staying at the Minister of Personnel's house, grumbled unhappily.

"What happened to her son? Why don't you finish telling me?"

The Minister of Personnel, with a dark expression, reminded him, "Your Majesty, you should go to the morning court session."

Instead of staying at his house and going around gossiping here.

"I know, I know, what's the rush?"

When Shen Zhiyi was about to walk to the palace, she noticed that the Minister of Personnel had changed to a very large carriage.

Holy crap, this stingy guy actually went all out and got such a huge horse-drawn carriage?!

envious.

Hey.

hatred!

"Hmph, I am an honest official, with clean hands and no integrity."

Shen Zhiyi, still furious, bought a few steamed buns and a meat pie on the way, eating them as she hurried toward the palace. Along the way, she even saw the Director of Studies of the Imperial Academy.

The Director of Studies at the Imperial Academy is a sixth-rank official and is exempt from attending this morning court session.

[As you get older, you just need more sleep. Even though you don't have to attend morning court sessions, you still have to get up so early.]

Just as he was about to go to the restaurant to buy some breakfast, the Director of the Imperial Academy stopped in his tracks and hurriedly ran into the building, afraid of running into Shen Zhiyi.

The old man runs quite fast, is he that hungry?

The Director of the Imperial Academy thought with a dark face, "I'm not hungry anymore, but I'm scared of seeing a living Yama."

Knowing that many high-ranking officials would be passing through this road at this hour on their way to the palace for the morning court session, he didn't want to attract Shen Zhiyi's attention and bring her bad luck.

[But it's good that the old man runs fast; that way he'll have more energy when he fights later.]

Director of the Imperial Academy: ? ? ? Shen Zhiyi, what do you mean?

Officials of the fifth rank and above, who were originally in a hurry to attend the morning court session, were all unable to move.