Chapter 9: Those high officials of the previous dynasty should have had more fat to skim off, right

The threshold of Zhaoyang Palace had practically been worn flat tonight.

Under the Tyrant Dad’s threat of death, the Imperial Guards had unleashed astonishing efficiency.

It had taken less than half an hour.

Everything in the Palace of Gathered Elegance that could reflect light or fetch a decent price had been hauled away by those ravenous Imperial Guards.

One after another, enormous redwood chests were carried into Zhaoyang Palace like water flowing through a channel.

The spacious, empty hall was soon piled high, transformed into a glittering miniature treasury.

“Careful, careful! Set down that three-foot-tall jade Guanyin gently!”

“And those two luminous pearls presented by the Western Regions—put them in a brocade box. Don’t scratch or bump them!”

Su Yaoyao darted through the mountains of gold and silver like an agile little monkey.

Cradling a heavy solid-gold Maitreya Buddha in her arms, she beamed more brightly than the statue itself.

The most luxurious canopy bed in the Great Yuan Kingdom was covered in thick stacks of banknotes and ingots of gold.

Su Yaoyao threw herself onto it and rolled happily through the mountain of money, letting out a satisfied sigh.

Clink, clank.

The gold and silver ingots collided, producing the most delightful, crisp sound in the world.

Su Yaoyao pulled a pure-gold abacus from her robes and began working the beads at lightning speed.

The beads blurred, making a crisp pitter-patter.

“Two coral branches from the Eastern Sea—valued at eighty thousand taels of silver.”

“A pair of top-grade mutton-fat jade ruyi—valued at forty thousand taels.”

“Add these scattered gold leaves, silver ingots, and these several boxes of pearls the size of thumbs...”

The more Su Yaoyao calculated, the brighter her eyes became. Her lovely, almond-shaped eyes practically turned into copper coins.

She was rich!

This time, she was truly rich!

In her previous life, during the interstellar era, she had risked her life every day to obtain materials for military research and development, fighting mutated beasts for territory.

In this life, she had transmigrated into the leader of a black-market syndicate, still spending every day fighting alongside her underlings and racking her brains just to scrape together a modest fortune.

But after arriving at the imperial palace of the Great Yuan Kingdom, everything had changed!

She didn’t need to bleed or sweat, or lift a finger herself.

All she had to do was pretend to be delicate, scatter a handful of colorless, odorless prank powder, and wail a couple of times.

A fortune from heaven had practically grown legs and run straight into her pockets!

Su Yaoyao grabbed a handful of gold leaves and tossed them into the air, watching them fall like golden rain.

【Money from the imperial palace is so easy to earn!】

【It’s so much faster than collecting protection fees and fighting over territory in the black market!】

【And I’ve even got a Tyrant Dad who follows my every command as my backer.】

【A sure-win business with enormous returns!】

Her crisp, cheerful inner voice drifted through the air of Zhaoyang Palace.

Outside the palace’s half-shut, intricately carved window stood Su Zhen, who had been preparing to leave.

His dark dragon robes fluttered in the night breeze.

Upon hearing his daughter’s heartfelt praise, a proud smile appeared on the face of the man who had been an iceberg for ten thousand years.

He couldn’t help raising his chin arrogantly.

Naturally!

He was the emperor of the Great Yuan Kingdom, the most powerful man beneath the heavens!

Now that his daughter had been returned to the imperial family, of course she had to enjoy the finest glory and riches in the world.

What did Noble Consort Jing’s paltry fortune amount to?

If his daughter liked something, what did it matter if he handed her the keys to the imperial treasury?

Su Zhen secretly basked in his own satisfaction, the pride of a father swelling endlessly in his chest.

He felt that the past thirty-some years of his life—spent doing nothing but killing people, reviewing memorials, and suppressing powerful ministers—had all been wasted.

Only today, after hearing his daughter’s inner thoughts, had he experienced the true joy of being emperor.

Wasn’t it all about making money?

The Great Yuan Kingdom might lack many things, but wealthy aristocratic clans and corrupt officials were as numerous as oxen’s hair.

From now on, whoever dared to provoke his precious daughter, he would confiscate their entire household and have all their money hauled to her!

Su Zhen was in an excellent mood, and he couldn’t suppress the smile tugging at his lips.

He glanced at Su Yaoyao, who was still counting her money inside the hall, and decided not to disturb her enjoyment.

The night was already deep. Tomorrow, he still had to attend the morning court and face that troublesome crowd of civil and military officials.

Especially those few censors who prided themselves on being upright scholars and pointed at his nose every day, calling him a tyrant. Just thinking about them gave him a headache.

Su Zhen turned around and lifted his dragon-booted foot, preparing to leave for his own chambers and rest.

However, at the very instant his toes left the ground, Su Yaoyao’s inner voice inside the hall took a sharp one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn.

【But... even though this money is easy to earn, I can’t keep milking these few sheep in the harem forever, can I?】

【No matter how wealthy the imperial consorts are, their fortunes mostly consist of jewelry and cosmetics. They can’t make me truly rich.】

【If I really want serious money to build my heavy-weapons arsenal, I’ll have to set my sights farther ahead.】

Su Yaoyao sat cross-legged atop a pile of banknotes, stroking her chin. Her little face wore an unusually solemn, thoughtful expression.

【Those high officials in the outer court should have much more money to squeeze out of them.】

【Let me think... Tomorrow is the day of morning court, isn’t it?】

Outside the window, Su Zhen raised an eyebrow.

【What was the name of that old man who points at my dad’s nose and calls him a tyrant every day in court?】

【Oh, right—the Left Censor-in-Chief! The Chief Censor!】

【That old bastard wears patched court robes every day, showing off how incorruptible he is. He claims he’s lived on plain porridge for three years.】

【Whenever my dad spends any money, he threatens to kill himself by smashing his head against a pillar, shouting that Dad is squandering the people’s wealth.】

At this, Su Zhen’s expression darkened.

That’s right. The damn Left Censor-in-Chief!

That old bastard relied on his seniority and reputation as a model for scholars across the realm to make life difficult for him in court.

His reputation for integrity was simply too great. Killing him would easily stir up unrest among scholars throughout the realm, but leaving him alive was infuriating.

Every time Su Zhen went to court and saw that righteous, orange-peel-like old face, he wanted nothing more than to draw his sword and hack it off.

【But...】

Su Yaoyao’s inner voice rose an entire octave.

【That old bastard looks so poor on the surface, presenting himself as a good official devoted to the nation and its people.】

【But in reality, he’s filthy rich—a corrupt official rotten to the bone!】

What?!

Outside the window, Su Zhen’s eyes widened, and his heart shook violently.

The Left Censor-in-Chief? A corrupt official?

Wasn’t the old bastard supposed to be the most incorruptible official in the entire Great Yuan Kingdom?

Even the carriage at his home leaked air!

He was embezzling money? How was that possible?

Su Zhen’s breathing stopped. He pricked up his ears.

Inside the hall, Su Yaoyao snatched up the gold abacus in front of her and slammed it hard against the bed.

【He certainly puts on a convincing act.】

【But I know exactly what color underwear he’s wearing!】

【In the rear courtyard of his home, there’s a dried-up well that’s been abandoned for more than a decade.】

【The mouth of the well is covered by an enormous slab of bluestone, with moss growing all over it. It looks completely innocuous.】

【But who would have thought that at the very bottom of that dried-up well, he had dug out a secret chamber?】

Su Yaoyao grew more excited as she spoke and couldn’t help standing up on the bed.

【There are dozens of huge iron chests stacked inside!】

【They’re filled with all the silver he’s embezzled over the years by abusing his authority, bribing officials above and below him, and lining his own pockets!】

【There’s also the relief silver the imperial court allocated during the Jiangnan floods three years ago!】

【At the bottom of that dried-up well, he’s hidden a full three hundred thousand taels of silver!】

Three hundred thousand taels!!!

The enormous figure exploded in Su Zhen’s mind.

The sheer magnitude of this unexpected windfall nearly blew the top off his skull!

The Great Abyss Kingdom’s entire annual tax revenue amounted to no more than two million taels of silver.

That old bastard had embezzled nearly one-sixth of the national treasury’s yearly income all by himself!

And there was the disaster-relief silver allocated to Jiangnan, too!

The evidence was ironclad. As long as they could dig the silver bearing the official seal out of that dry well, that old bastard’s carefully cultivated reputation as a virtuous, incorruptible official would be torn to shreds!

When that time came, His Majesty could behead the old dog openly and silence the grumbling of the masses.

He could also justifiably and legitimately deposit those three hundred thousand taels of silver into the national treasury!

No!

Into his precious daughter’s private treasury!

Outside the window.

Su Zhen, who had been about to leave, stopped in his tracks.

Su Zhen’s mighty frame shuddered, and his entire aura underwent a earth-shaking transformation.

He turned around and peered through the gaps in the window lattice at the grand canopied bed piled high with gold and silver inside the hall.

In the darkness of night, the emperor’s imposing, fathomless eyes were no longer touched by the slightest trace of sleep.

Instead, they blazed with bloodthirsty greed.

A cruel, eager smile curled up the corners of Su Zhen’s mouth.

His slender fingers tightened around the hilt of the Longquan Sword at his waist, the veins on the back of his hand bulging.

Well, well.

What a windfall!

He had been worrying about having to listen to those civil officials squawk and grumble again at tomorrow’s morning court.

But now, it seemed tomorrow’s court session was going to be very interesting indeed.

Just you wait, old bastard!