Chapter 120: The Bold Thief!

The building that the Emperor was living in was only a row of connected simple wooden houses. It seemed too crude for the Emperor.

The plants around the building weren’t flowers but cucumber plants and bean plants.

This building wasn’t fancy at all compared to Tai Chi Palace. Some green vines climbed up onto the roof, but they didn’t bloom.

The heatable brick bed was right next to the window, making the Emperor have a hard time concentrating on his work.

Both in Smooth Spring Garden and Royal Palace, the heatable brick bed was the signature of the Emperor’s workplace.

Since the heatable brick bed was next to the window, he could sit on a soft cushion and enjoy the scenery outside.

Without question, this crude place was the heart of Great Sui.

The Emperor would come here to work every summer. This place issued many edicts and received many memorials to the throne.

When Fang Jie came here last time, he only dared to peek once. The stack of memorials to the throne was about a meter tall, and the Emperor had to go through them in one day.

Fang Jie couldn’t even imagine how much work it would be to go through so many memorials to the throne day after day.

Although this was tedious work, the Emperor needed to review all these memorials to the throne to understand the state that Great Sui was in.

Sometimes Fang Jie thought that if half of the memorials to the throne were false information, it would be tough to become a wise emperor regardless of one’s intelligence.

If Fang Jie told the Emperor this, the Emperor would laugh and tell him that out of all the memorials to the throne he had to read daily, probably half of them contained lies.

A qualified emperor would need to identify what was real and what was fake in these memorials to the throne and then see the truth behind the lies.

It wouldn’t be easy to become a wise emperor. Most of the local officials only report the good news and never touched on the bad news, afraid that saying the truth would destroy their future.

However, if enough time was spent, differences could be seen between similar memorials to the throne.

If there was a flood in a county, the county magistrate would try to hide this news, afraid that the central government would blame him for not fixing the dam earlier. Then, he would try to fix the situation and prevent the people affected by the blood from reporting him.

However, this all changed after Heaven-Bless Emperor Yang Yi came into power; he somehow made these local officials not daring to protect each other.

Even though this was the case, there were still lies hidden in the memorials to the throne.

Local officials were different from officials in the central government. The officials in the central government didn’t have real power; they only needed to go to their ministries and departments to work, and they had plenty of free time. If the local officials wanted to manage their regions well, they would still have work to do even if they worked 24 hours a day.

Even the most talented officials would make mistakes when managing a big region.

Therefore, writing more about things that would please the Emperor and less about things that would upset the Emperor in the memorials to the throne wasn’t something that only happened in Great Sui; it happened in every empire.

When Fang Jie got to the wooden building and told the royal guards that the Emperor summoned him. One royal guard went to report, and Su Buwei who was waiting inside the room nodded and went back to the Emperor.

“Let him wait,” the Emperor said without looking up as he wrote something on a memorial to the throne, “We only entered summer, yet the water of Huai River in Yangtze-South isn’t calm. Last year, I sent someone to supervise the construction of a dam, but it still isn’t completed after a year. If this issue isn’t flagged, many people might die. Governor Du Wumei of Huai-Yang State is rare since he never tells lies. Since he said that the situation is dangerous, then we must act. Huai River is more than 500 kilometers long. If it acts up, many people will become homeless.”

Su Buwei replied with his head lowered, “I will ask him to wait outside.”

“Eh.” The Emperor nodded before looking up and issuing another order, “Instantly summon Zhang Chaochong, the Head of the Ministry of Revenue, and Liu Renjing, the Head of the Ministry of Works.”

“As you wish.” Su Buwei walked out of the room and closed the door with his back bent.

After leaving the room, Su Buwei saw the young man standing outside anxiously, and he said with an apologetic smile, “Please wait out here for a moment. His Majesty is dealing with an important governmental matter. There might be a flood down south. After His Majesty talks with the Head of the Ministry of Revenue and the Head of the Ministry of Works, he will see you.”

“Thank you, Eunuch!” Fang Jie cupped his hands and thanked Su Buwei.

Su Buwei nodded with a smile. When he passed by Fang Jie, he stopped and said in a low voice, “You can go and rest in the forest over there, but don’t walk around. After His Majesty is done dealing with this matter, I will go and find you.”

“Thank you.” Fang Jie cupped his hands again and looked at one corner of the yard. He said, “I will go and stand over there. I don’t dare to wander around. There are too many big figures here; it wouldn’t be good if I collide with them.”

Su Buwei looked at Fang Jie with appreciation before quickly walking away.

…

Fang Jie walked to a corner of the yard. After looking around and seeing no one, he dashed behind a man-made mountain and sat down.

He only ate something in the morning, and he was starving now. If he just stood there, his legs might tremble greatly.

As a scout, he was used to not eating for a while. He could handle not eating for a day, but this wasn’t Fangu; he always had to stand straight respectfully when being seen by others.

Now that he could rest here, why wouldn’t he take the chance?

It wasn’t spacious behind the man-made mountain; it was right next to a flower bed.

Fang Jie sat down on a boulder, and he sighed helplessly when his stomach started to growl.

Since the Emperor wouldn’t be summoning him for a while, he decided to close his eyes and rest.

About half an hour later, Fang Jie heard footsteps, and he looked toward the footsteps through the holes in the man-made mountain. He saw Su Buwei leading two people in purple official’s uniforms this way.

Fang Jie saw Su Buwei glancing at his location. Although that glance was casual, Fang Jie felt like he didn’t escape the eyes of that eunuch.

After the three entered the wooden building, Fang Jie leaned against the man-made mountain once more and looked up at the sky.

He sat there in boredom, and Su Buwei still didn’t come to find him when it was nightfall.

His stomach growled louder and louder, and Fang Jie couldn’t help but sigh, not knowing how much longer it would take.

There was light in the room, and the Emperor’s shadow was cast on the window.

Fang Jie couldn’t help but sigh. The Emperor had sat there for about five hours and didn’t move; it must be tiring.

After looking around and seeing that no royal guard was looking his way, Fang Jie hesitated for a moment and reached out his hands, pulling down a cucumber from its vine.

Then, Fang Jie wiped it with his clothes and started to eat it while trying not to make noises.

After eating one cucumber, Fang Jie grew even hungrier.

He poked out his body and picked three cucumbers with the help of the moonlight.

Just as he was about to eat them, he suddenly heard footsteps again. Startled, he quickly put those few cucumbers into his clothes before hearing Su Buwei’s voice.

“Fang Jie, His Majesty is asking you to enter the room.”

Fang Jie quickly swallowed the cucumber in his mouth, straightened his attire, and jumped out from behind the man-made mountain.

He said to Su Buwei apologetically, “I fell asleep; please don’t mind me.”

Su Buwei looked at Fang Jie with a strange smile, and Fang Jie didn’t know the meaning behind it even though he saw no ill-intention.

Fang Jie walked behind Su Buwei. When he reached the door, he knelt and said, “Greetings, Your Majesty. Corporal Fang Jie is here.”

“Please get up. I was busy working and asked you to wait for too long. Come here; I have something to ask you.”

Fang Jie got up and walked into the room. He bowed toward the two big officials who hadn’t left the room, and he saw that these two big officials’ legs were shaking a little when he lowered his head.

“They are also extremely hungry!” Fang Jie laughed in his mind, “But you don’t have cucumbers to eat.”

The Emperor picked up a piece of paper from the table and passed it to Fang Jie. “This is one of the questions on the math test, and I got it from Principal Zhou. How would you solve it?”

“So, the Emperor still wants to test me,” Fang Jie thought as he grabbed the piece of paper and read it by the light.

[There are ten candles at night. First lit a candle. After the first candle burns out, lit the second candle. After the second candle burns out, lit three candles. After that, lit all other candles. As soon as the rest of the candles are lit, a wind blows by, and only one candle remained lit. How many candles are left when the morning comes?]

Seeing the frown on Fang Jie’s face, the Emperor smiled and thought, “Not many big officials got the right answer when we were in the Martial Arts Academy today. Most people think too much, and the people who think too little would be taken on the wrong path by the wording.”

“Four.” Fang Jie answered as soon as the Emperor smiled.

“Huh?” The two big officials not far away looked at Fang Jie at the same time, and the Emperor nodded with a smile. “It seems like giving you excellent ratings in these five written tests isn’t a far-fetched result. I’m surprised that you got the answer so fast.”

Fang Jie thought to himself, “This world seems boring without brain teasers.”

At this moment, the stomach of Liu Renjing, the Head of the Ministry of Works, suddenly growled.

This big official who was just reprimanded by the Emperor looked down to hide the embarrassment on his face.

When the Emperor questioned him why the dam on Huai River that took one year to build couldn’t stop the flood, he was too scared and forgot about his hunger. Now, he couldn’t control it anymore since his stomach was empty.

“What was that?” the Emperor asked.

“It was… my stomach,” Liu Renjing replied with a blush.

The Emperor froze for a moment and laughed, “I totally forgot. You guys came here around noon, and you probably didn’t eat lunch just like me. After hearing your stomach growl, I feel hungry as well. Su Buwei, order people to get some snacks for them. Also, make a bowl of porridge for me.”

“The porridge is already made, and it is steaming hot. Your Majesty, if you want to eat it now, I will ask people to bring it over.”

“Alright,” the Emperor said with a smile, “Get a few more bowls of porridge for them as well; don’t let them call me stingy. Fang Jie, eat some as well. I have things to ask you afterward.”

“There is no need. I’m not hungry.” Fang Jie waved his hands, but the cucumbers in his clothes all fell onto the ground.

The room instantly became quiet.

The Emperor’s eyes opened wide, and he pointed at the green cucumbers and asked, “What… what are these?”

Fang Jie took a deep breath and replied while bowing, “Your Majesty, these are… cucumbers.”

The Emperor froze for a moment. Before the surprise could fade away in his eyes, Fang Jie quickly picked up the cucumbers and quickly placed them back into his clothes.

“It is my fault. Please punish me.” While saying that, Fang Jie quickly thought about how he should handle this.

“How bold!” the Emperor suddenly shouted, scaring Fang Jie. Just when he was about to tell the truth and confess, the Emperor pointed at his nose and said with slight anger, “You dared to put my cucumbers that you took back into your pocket? How bold! Let me ask you this… do they taste good?”

“They are crisp and refreshing… They taste great,” Fang Jie replied with his head lowered, and his voice trembled slightly.

“Taste great? Then why aren’t you taking them out and letting us have a taste?”

Fang Jie froze a little when he heard this, and he subconsciously took out the cucumbers and carefully placed them on the desk before going back to his spot.

The Emperor grabbed one, took out a white handkerchief, and wiped it. Then, he bit onto it directly.

“I planted these myself. They are indeed crispy and refreshing! Come! You two can each take one; there isn’t one left for Fang Jie.”

The Emperor pointed at the other two cucumbers on the desk generously, but the two big officials were stunned.

Su Buwei smiled and thought, “This little guy and His Majesty hit it right off.”

Then, he walked over and gave these two heads of ministries each a cucumber.

The two big officials looked at each other and saw the shock in their eyes.

They never thought that they would eat cucumbers together with His Majesty.

Munch.

Munch.

The crisp chewing noises floated out of the room and seemed to be carried to a faraway place by the wind.