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

Chapter 128 Shen Zhiyi: I have no experience in pursuing girls.

[Damn it, it's actually the old emperor! Hahaha, the old emperor secretly opened a free Purple Aura Study.]

Your Majesty?!

The general couldn't control his expression and suddenly looked up at Shen Zhiyi.

Shen Zhiyi couldn't help but take a step back.

Why is this lieutenant general giving me that cannibalistic look? I like women, not men, thank you.

The general's lips twitched.

Thanks for the invitation. He also likes women, not men.

He silently took a step back, put away the portrait given to him by the old emperor, and already had a plan in mind.

"Has the Lieutenant General been chosen?"

"It's not up to me to choose; it depends on whether the girl wants me or not."

He would never do something that others were unwilling to do.

[Hmm, the General of the Central Army is alright, just a bit too straightforward and lacking in romance. I wonder which girl could resist him.]

Upon hearing this, the general asked somewhat awkwardly, "Shen Lang, do you have any way to help me pursue a girl?"

Shen Zhiyi's eyes widened.

"This...so fast?"

Once you've set your sights on a goal, you should do everything in your power.

"Haha, this, this..."

How can I help? I have no experience in pursuing girls.

Everyone fainted. You're a girl! Who needs your experience in pursuing girls? What we need is your understanding of girls!

Let me think about how the people who pursued me before did it.

Shen Zhiyi thought for a moment, and a row of black lines slid down her forehead.

[I remember someone once wrote me love letters every day, which was incredibly annoying. I treated it like sending harassing letters to the police. So, sending too many love letters is not a good idea; girls usually find it off-putting.]

The general thought about it carefully.

Sending a love letter must mean writing a love poem?

Writing a love letter before even meeting the other person is extremely presumptuous and inappropriate.

[During my freshman year, someone set up flowers and candles downstairs at my dorm and played a guitar—it was incredibly tacky. Not only was it tacky, but they also tried to morally blackmail me by using the crowd watching. Ha! I wasn't going to fall for that. I pretended to be my brother, but it turned out he was also in the crowd watching. When he realized it was me, he beat the person up, and eventually the police were called. I should have called the police from the start!]

Shen Zhiyi sighed.

The general was completely confused.

What is all this about? Anyway, he realized something: he shouldn't do anything that would embarrass a girl.

So how should he pursue the daughter of the Minister of Rites?

[However, it seems the General of the Central Army has fallen in love at first sight with the daughter of the Minister of Rites. That's easy to handle. Big Yellow Girl usually likes things to be direct. In fact, when the Minister of Rites' daughter wrote about the General of the Central Army, she was projecting herself onto him. What do you call that? You call it an ancient version of a dream girl.]

Upon hearing this, the Minister of Rites on the other side felt his vision go black.

Minister Chen of the Ministry of Rites immediately flattered him, saying, "Don't be angry, don't be angry. Look on the bright side; the two of them are in love with each other."

"What mutual affection? This will make me unable to hold my head up in front of the General in the future. That brat has made me lose all face today!"

"That Ziqi Study is really something, how can they sell this kind of stuff? Humph."

"Shhhhhhh."

A chorus of "hiss" erupted from the surrounding crowd.

The Minister of Rites was so engrossed in disciplining his daughter that he missed Shen Zhiyi's words.

"Why are you all shushing me? I have no desire to relieve myself."

All I feel is the urge to hit someone.

Vice Minister Chen of the Ministry of Rites quickly whispered something in the ear of the Minister of Rites.

Minister of Rites: ? ? ? ! ! !

At this moment, the general was so shocked that he could not speak.

He stood there dumbfounded, holding the portrait.

Shen Zhiyi felt like she was standing there like a fool, so she prepared to go back to Yanying Hall to report the situation to the old emperor.

On the way, he didn't forget about the Purple Qi Study he had just seen.

That lieutenant general is really something. If he wants to chase someone, he should go chase them himself. He's ruining my entertainment.

The owner of Ziqi Study was the old emperor, but he entrusted the business to Chen Decai, asking him to find someone to oversee it.

The old emperor's main strategy of offering free education to all scholars was clearly not going to make money, which worried Chen Decai.

Upon seeing this, Shen Zhiyi couldn't help but criticize the old emperor.

[What an unscrupulous leader! All he does is talk and talk, he only cares about results and never considers the hardships of the workers.]

Chen Decai silently wiped away his tears.

Shen Lang understands him.

The old emperor silently turned his head and stared at Chen Decai.

Chen Decai quickly composed himself.

Just when Chen Decai was at a loss, one of his adopted sons stepped forward, saying he had a way to bring income to the study.

[Haha, this method involves selling unofficial histories, fire-avoidance diagrams, storybooks, and the like. The storybooks contain things that shouldn't be written, and they sell incredibly well.]

Seeing that a bookstore that offered free books could generate so much revenue each year, the old emperor became curious and asked Chen Decai about it. Chen Decai then took the opportunity to bring his godson to the bookstore.

[Chen Decai's godson said that the main profits of his bookstore came from travelogues and storybooks, which, although not respectable, were extremely popular.]

Shen Zhiyi suppressed a laugh. The old emperor certainly hadn't expected there to be something even more shameful.

After the old emperor learned how the money was made, he rewarded Chen Decai's godson. Tsk tsk, Chen Decai treated his godson quite well; he could have easily explained the matter to the old emperor himself, but instead, he brought his godson before the emperor.

【such a pity. 】

What's a pity?

Now it was Chen Decai's turn to be on tenterhooks.

Many ministers in the palace are betrayed by their descendants, but he is a eunuch, so how come he gets to suffer such a fate?

Chen Decai's godson would take a cut of the profits from the study every year.

The old emperor immediately turned his head to look at Chen Decai.

He squinted slightly, and Chen Decai immediately performed a vigorous kneeling gesture.

"I, I, Your Majesty, this, this servant does not know."

"This servant checks the accounts every year, and there are no problems."

[Haha, the great scholar must be wondering why he hasn't noticed anything wrong since he reviews the accounts every year. Of course you wouldn't have noticed. What I showed the great scholar was the publicly available account book. Actually, there's another account book too. Tsk tsk tsk, let me see that account book.]

Shen Zhiyi excitedly flipped through it.

The ledger given to Chen Decai by his godson didn't record who bought anything, but the real ledger was meticulously detailed by Chen Decai's godson. That guy was petty and liked to treat people differently based on their status, so the same fire-avoidance diagram sold for different prices.

"what?"

Someone outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony exclaimed in surprise.

All eyes immediately fell on the minor official.

Hey bro, looks like you bought it.