kvmb Chapter 91: Revealing My Identity!
Chapter 91: Revealing My Identity!
Oh right, I almost forgot to check on the situation with the Vice Minister of Agriculture?
Vice Minister of Agriculture: You breathed a sigh of relief too soon. Shen Zhiyi's polymath syndrome has come full circle again!
It's okay, it's okay, as long as he denies it.
[My situation is a bit different. I thought the Vice Minister of Agriculture was taking the imperial examination in place of his brother, but it turns out they switched places three years ago.]
three years ago?
Although the old emperor was old, his memory was still quite good.
He remembered that the Vice Minister of Agriculture had been transferred from the provinces to the capital three years ago.
The substitution of officials is a serious matter, and the old emperor is already preparing to have the Ministry of Justice thoroughly investigate the matter.
Three years ago, the real Vice Minister of Agriculture, who is also the elder brother of the man before me, stopped by his hometown to visit his family on his way back to the capital to take up his new post.
[His parents, knowing their family was destined for high office, had been eagerly awaiting his return. But when he came home, he surprisingly said he wanted to resign and retire.]
This is unacceptable!
The parents of the Vice Minister of Agriculture spent three days and three nights trying to persuade his elder brother, their lips even becoming blistered from talking, but they couldn't dissuade him from resigning. He was determined to quit.
The elder brother of the Vice Minister of Agriculture felt that the pressure of being an official was too great, that he lived like a beast of burden every day, and that when he received his monthly salary, he felt like the sky was falling. He firmly believed that being an official was a high-investment, low-return endeavor, meaningless, and made him lose himself, as if he were bound. Therefore, he was determined to resign.
At this moment, some officials who were eavesdropping outside the hall scoffed at this.
The reason people become officials is because they have the ambition to care for the country and its people. However, the position of Vice Minister of Agriculture is really not respectable, and it is a blessing for the people that they do not hold this position.
They've narrowed their horizons, focusing only on a few meager gains.
However, Shen Zhiyi quietly nodded firmly from the side.
Among the ministers in the hall: Shen Lang made no attempt to hide his narrow-mindedness.
[I totally empathize. Who can disagree? Even my supervisor never exploited me like that. This old emperor made me work 18 hours a day, sometimes even 24 hours. I had absolutely no time for myself.]
Old Emperor: You don't have time for yourself, so what are you doing right now?
You know, if anyone else dared to slack off like that, he would definitely exile them to some remote area.
Hmph, Shen Zhiyi really doesn't know how lucky she is.
However, what does "the real Vice Minister of Agriculture" mean?
The old emperor was very displeased.
Was he so unwilling to become an official in Da Ye?
If you're unwilling, then resign. What kind of skill is it to let your younger brother take the blame?
Just wait until he confiscates their property and beheads them. He remembers that the Vice Minister of Agriculture still has some assets that can replenish the national treasury.
The Vice Minister of Agriculture felt a chill run down his spine.
He wondered if he should say something.
[The parents of the Vice Minister of Agriculture are really something. He doesn't want to be an official, and seeing they couldn't persuade him otherwise, they actually locked up their own child and sent his younger brother to the capital to take up his post in his place.]
[Wow, that's awesome! They must be tired of having their heads on their necks and want to cut them off for some relief.]
Thinking of this, Shen Zhiyi touched her neck with lingering fear and shrank back slightly.
I need to cover myself up properly; mine seems even more outrageous than the Vice Minister of Agriculture's.
The old emperor was taken aback and glanced at the Vice Minister of Agriculture, who was already trembling with fear.
Forget it, I won't behead him.
Confiscating property and exiling people is not so bad.
After making a decision in his mind, the old emperor looked at the ministers in front of him.
The people at the Ministry of Agriculture were quite embarrassed.
"This this……"
The old emperor waited for a long time, only to find that not a single person from the Ministry of Agriculture stepped forward.
Normally, if Shen Zhiyi does something, there are plenty of people vying to claim credit. Why are they all silent today?
The Vice Minister of Agriculture was so moved he almost shed tears, and in the end he simply...
"Your Majesty, I have something to report."
The old emperor looked at the other person suspiciously: "Speak."
"Your Majesty."
The Vice Minister of Agriculture lifted his robe and knelt down.
"I must impeach myself for the crime of deceiving the emperor."
[Wow! Revealing his true identity! What a brave soul!]
The old emperor was so shocked that he plucked out one of his own beard hairs.
The people from the Ministry of Agriculture had complicated expressions.
Ignoring the expressions of the others, the Vice Minister of Agriculture recounted the process that everyone already knew.
"Your Majesty, please punish me, but please spare my family in consideration of my hard work over the years, even if I have not made any great contributions."
[Wow, what you did wasn't just hard work, it was a huge achievement! I never imagined that the vast majority of the food in that show I watched the other day, "Food in Ye," was provided by the Vice Minister of Agriculture.]
[Si Nong Shaoqing has been interested in food since childhood, wanting to try everything he's never seen before, and has been poisoned countless times as a result. He's practically the Da Ye version of Shennong tasting hundreds of herbs.]
The old emperor: This is indeed a great achievement.
He had also read the book "Food in Da Ye," which listed many things that ordinary people dared not eat but were actually edible, and even clearly described how to cook them. Some things only needed special cooking, and even poisonous things could be eaten.
When it comes to things that benefit the people, the old emperor always gives them a second glance.
He pondered for a moment, then said in a deep voice, "I have a memory of you. Considering your contribution to compiling 'Food in Da Ye,' I will not kill you, but exile you to Lingnan West Circuit."
[It's Lingnan again. Is Lingnan still undeveloped?]
You know, in my area, the eastern part of that area is home to very wealthy people.
The old emperor was very dismissive of this. He said that the place was just one mountain after another, and some places were even rife with miasma. What kind of place could there be to make money?
Shen Zhiyi also switched the surveillance video to the Lingnan area and took a look at the emperor's fake son.
[Prince Cheng is moving so slowly! At this rate, it'll be ages before he even reaches Lingnan. But why didn't the old emperor send anyone to kill him?]
Uh, he's dead.
The officials inside and outside the hall immediately covered their ears.
They didn't hear anything!
The old emperor frowned.
That's not right. The people he arranged were in Lingnan, not somewhere along the way.
If King Cheng dies midway, then the people he arranged will have one less thing to do.
If King Cheng had made it to Lingnan alive, he wouldn't have survived for long.
But how long has it been since King Cheng left the capital? What's the difference between this and dying at the starting line?
That's such a waste of money.
So how did King Cheng die?
Consort Zhang, please don't think he did it!
He is innocent now!
The old emperor subtly tilted his head towards Shen Zhiyi, waiting for what was to come.
【Yo yo yo, I've arrived in Lingnan.】
"Uh, this place isn't quite what I remember, but if it's developed properly, it has a really bright future. Perhaps the old emperor should consider it?"
[It's good that Prince Cheng, with his delicate skin, didn't go; may you die soon and be reborn.]
King Cheng, who had just died: You think you're so great? You're just standing there making sarcastic remarks.
Everyone: So how did King Cheng die?