Chapter 127 Just Ask Yourself: Are You Afraid of Death? Father listens to Mother in everything, and if his own father can't be relied upon, then Young Master Yi won't be either. \r……

Ama listens to Mama in everything, and if Ama can't be relied upon, then Yi Xiaoye won't be relied upon either.

Yi'an, who had just turned seven, won his first horse, Red Hare, with a score of two and a half.

As you can tell from the name, this is a reddish-brown horse. Why is it called Red Hare, a name that sounds nice but is also very common throughout history? Of course, it's because Yi Xiaoye started listening to the story of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

I heard that Shen Wanqing and Yulang picked up the hobby of storytelling when they took their child to a banquet at the residence of the Director of the Yunnan Provincial Department of Revenue.

The host family loved listening to storytelling, so that day they hired three groups of storytellers in the front and back yards. They told stories ranging from the Three Kingdoms to romance and legends. The guests could go to whichever yard they wanted to listen to, making it look just like a theater in later times. The only thing missing was a vendor selling melon seeds, peanuts, and edamame at the entrance to make it truly complete.

That day was a rare day off for Yi'an. He listened to the stories told in the three storytelling courtyards one by one, and only when the guests had almost all left by dusk did the boy reluctantly follow his father back.

Then, that very night, he was struck by a nightmare. The native young master Yi was actually afraid of ghosts. He was sleeping alone in his room when he was so frightened that he couldn't stand it anymore. He slipped on his cloth shoes barefoot and ran towards Shen Wanqing.

The sudden, forceful push of the door nearly startled Yulang so much that he jumped out of bed. After regaining his composure and recognizing that it was his own son, he lay back down.

Shen Wanqing sets the same rules for all her children: after the age of three, they will sleep in separate beds and rooms; before the age of three, they can sleep with their parents as long as they want.

Yi'an hadn't slept with his father and mother for several years. Standing at the door, his eyes were fixed on his younger sister sleeping between the two of them. He was a little envious, but he was too embarrassed to say it.

"Your own son," Shen Wanqing knew what Yi An was thinking with just a glance. "Take him to sleep on the daybed for one night."

Shen Wanqing didn't ask what was wrong with her son. Whether it was because he was afraid of the dark, wet the bed, or whatever the reason, she was already here. Why should she send him back to sleep alone?

However, it was unnecessary to squeeze a family of four into one bed. She gently kicked Yu Lang under the covers with her toes, and Lord Yu had no choice but to get out of bed and take his chubby son to sleep on the cot in the side room.

Sui Ning, who was half asleep from the noise of the group, fell asleep again. The house and the surroundings became quiet again, and Shen Wanqing could roughly hear what the father and son were saying outside.

The little kid was too young to understand the stories of talented men and beautiful women. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms was nice to listen to, but when we arrived, it was already halfway through. It wasn't supposed to start from the beginning anyway, and he didn't quite understand what was going on with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.

The only thing I remember about foxes is that they eat people, and not only that, they also take out people's hearts to eat. I've forgotten why they eat hearts, but I remember the part about eating, and then that night I dreamed that a fox was coming to eat my heart.

Children's thinking is simple yet difficult to change. In a couple of days, they'll forget it, and if you ask them again, they'll definitely not remember. But right now, tonight, this heart-devouring fox has taken root in their hearts, and it's hard to stop them from thinking about it.

Fortunately, some hobbies are inherited, and Master Yu also loved listening to storytelling when he was young. For two years before he got married, this gentleman spent so much money listening to storytelling in teahouses and taverns that it could pile up into a small mountain.

They're picky; they don't listen to drums or folk songs, they only want to hear old masters with solid basic skills.

Not only did they listen, but they also had to ponder carefully. They would listen to a story several times over, and sometimes they would even point out the slightest mistake the old master made. If it weren't for the generous young master Yu's generosity back then, he would have been beaten countless times.

Now, when his son said he was frightened by the storyteller, he didn't argue with him about whether the fox spirit was real or fake. Instead, he asked if his son remembered what the story of the Three Kingdoms was about.

Yi An mumbled two names and two place names, and Yu Lang knew that he had heard about Guan Yu warming wine to kill Hua Xiong. Lord Yu immediately picked up on the story that Yi An hadn't understood that afternoon.

Shen Wanqing had no idea that Yulang had this ability. Sometimes, the relationships between people are just that strange. Some people become boring after three days of getting to know each other. Looking at the other person is like looking at a puddle you can see the bottom of; even looking at them for a second feels superfluous.

Some people can discover strengths they didn't know they had even after ten years of marriage. At this moment, Shen Wanqing felt that Yulang's hobby was particularly good.

She relaxed her shoulders, closed her eyes, and slowly adjusted her breathing to match the rhythm of Cijian Yulang's storytelling. She didn't know when she fell asleep completely.

Whether it was a fox or not, Yi'an completely forgot about it the next day. The little man, who could already ride a horse and trot on his own, now loved listening to his father tell stories of the Three Kingdoms every night.

So when Agudu kept his promise and took him to choose a horse, even though it was a very docile mare, Yi'an still fell in love with it at first sight because it was the only one with a very pure reddish-brown color.

And he named it Red Hare. Even though this horse was too docile and rarely ran fast, the only time it could run was when Yi An brought it fresh carrots. In Yi An's heart, this horse was Red Hare.

Yi An earned the horse himself; no one pleaded for him or went easy on him throughout the process. So even though the stable boy and Agudu both thought the horse wasn't that good, Yi An had chosen it, and it was his.

Without needing to explain any principles, the idea that "you have to put in the effort and thought to earn what you want" was thus planted in Yi An's mind.

Later, Shen Wanqing stopped holding the reins tightly and watching her son. Instead, she gradually loosened the rope in her hand, letting him arrange his own studies, riding, archery, and daily life.

Time flies, especially since the aftereffects of some things can only gradually surface over time.

The unusual events during the few days in Suzhou during Kangxi's southern tour in the thirty-eighth year of his reign seem to have been forgotten, but once they happened, they were destined to take root in the hearts of everyone who experienced them.

Emperor Kangxi displayed his extreme suspicion and distrust to his sons and ministers, who in turn responded with the most submissive manner and attitude, telling him that they were all obedient and that he was the Emperor and that they would listen to him in everything.

For several years in a row, things went exceptionally smoothly in the court. There were no wars on the borders and no factions among the court officials. Apart from the Yellow River, which was still subject to annual flooding despite efforts to manage it, the whole country seemed to be extremely peaceful, and there was nothing else to worry about.

Until the forty-second year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign, the gears of fate began to turn again with a thunderous roar.

Just after the New Year, Emperor Kangxi led his entourage on a southern inspection tour. The main purpose of this tour was to review the progress of river management and, incidentally, to see the achievements of officials in Jiangnan over the past few years.

The starting point was good, and the river management wasn't entirely without results. However, comparing the money spent with the achievements in river management, it's hard to say exactly how much of that money actually went to the riverbanks and how much ended up in the pockets of officials.

In addition, before setting off from the capital, Kangxi said that this southern tour should be kept simple and not disturb the people. However, the amount of money that officials along the way spent to welcome the emperor still impressed the accompanying officials.

Especially in Jiangnan, in recent years, the officials, princes and nobles in the capital have been keeping their necks hunched and tails between their legs, doing as little as possible. With the higher-ups loosening their grip, the local officials and salt and iron merchants have become even more unrestrained.

The emperor said that all supplies should not be extravagant, so they found another way. On the surface, it looked simple and plain, but everything they ate was the best.

In addition, the several beauties sent to the emperor made Kangxi both admonish the officials in Jiangnan to be honest and love the people, and he also took the beauties back to the capital. The officials in Jiangnan felt even more that the emperor was benevolent and that everyone was living a good life.

The Crown Prince did not accompany the Emperor on this southern tour, so Emperor Kangxi had no choice but to leave his son in the capital to oversee the country.

The accumulation of experience in recent years has been an extremely good thing for the Crown Prince. In fact, when it comes to the Crown Prince's faction in the court today, apart from Yu Lang and the Shi family, only the Fourth Prince and the Seventh Prince can be considered. The court officials below them can hardly be called the Crown Prince's faction.

However, because the Crown Prince had given the most appropriate answers and attitudes in dealing with the Emperor's difficulties or suspicions on several occasions, he was now considered the heir apparent by the court officials and members of the imperial clan. He didn't need to win anyone over; everyone was already prepared to use him.

The Emperor was well aware that the Crown Prince's prestige was no longer something he could easily depose, but he had his own ways of consolidating his imperial power. He was past the age of expanding the territory and striving for good governance; now he simply wanted to be a benevolent ruler.

He had previously expressed some interest in having the Crown Prince take the lead and instruct Yu Lang, Yin Zhen, and others to do things that would offend people, such as the embezzlement case of that year.

In recent years, even Kangxi has been reluctant to do this kind of work. Firstly, he has already dealt with most of the princes and ministers in charge of state affairs. When he was not dealing with them, he was wary of those powerful princes of the imperial clan. After dealing with them, he felt that they were all family members and there was no need to exterminate them.

As for the officials below who embezzled and accepted bribes, thanks to the confrontation between the Khalkha Mongols and the Dzungars and their own internal strife, the trade routes in the northern Mongolian region remained open and prosperous year by year. In addition, there was no need to prepare for a third attack on Galdan, so the national treasury had a very good amount of silver.

With the national treasury full and no war at the moment, it's understandable that Emperor Kangxi wanted to be a benevolent ruler with harmonious relations between himself and his ministers, and didn't want to be harsh or demanding towards his officials.

But he wasn't going to have such a good life. Just ten days after the Emperor returned to the capital, Yinzhen and Yulang submitted a memorial detailing the Ministry of Revenue's accounts for the past ten years, as well as the specific amounts of silver owed to the Ministry of Revenue and the national treasury by members of the imperial family and officials.

Currently, officials' salaries are very low. To put it bluntly, officials either have a wealthy family background or are ruthless enough to embezzle funds. Otherwise, their annual salary wouldn't even be enough for them to make two more sets of court robes.

But they couldn't just starve to death like that, so it became a common practice for members of the imperial family and ministers to borrow silver from the Ministry of Revenue and the national treasury, for local officials to collect fire loss silver, and for the Imperial Household Department to embezzle silver from the Ministry of Revenue in the name of the imperial family.

The eighth, ninth, and tenth princes left the palace to establish their own residences. In addition to the settlement funds provided by the palace, each of them borrowed 100,000 taels of silver from the Ministry of Revenue. The twelfth and thirteenth princes will also leave the palace next year, and I heard that they have already discussed how much they want to get from the Ministry of Revenue.

Yu Lang's attitude was, "Take it, take it! It's only natural for a son to take from his father. But the money doesn't just belong to your father; it will have to be returned later if they try to collect it."

Yinzhen's attitude towards this was simply, "Give it all back!" This man seemed to be born with such an iron-fisted nature. Perhaps in the original historical timeline, he had to succeed in seizing the throne first, so he endured for a few years, managing to suppress this inherent drive to some extent.

Now that Yinreng is firmly seated in the position of Crown Prince, it has allowed the Fourth Prince, who is in charge of the Ministry of Revenue, to run wild. If it weren't for Yulang intermittently intervening and advising him, the memorials submitted by this prince would be even more detailed, and Kangxi would have even more of a headache reading them.

The memorial contained three main points: First, to recover outstanding debts. Second, to investigate the rampant corruption cases in Jiangnan in recent years. Third, to regulate the collection of fire tax levies and bring them under the control of the imperial court, preventing local officials from arbitrarily imposing them.

Actually, there's a backup plan. Even if officials aren't forced to pay the levies, they still have to find a way to survive. The collected fire loss tax can be distributed as salaries, but the amount is fixed. It can no longer be like before, where lower-level officials would demand the collection of fire loss tax and drive the people to their deaths.

Yinreng had already discussed these matters privately with Yulang and Yinzhen, and now he was just testing the Emperor's intentions by bringing these three people out.

After all, investigating corruption and recovering debts are the most basic and fundamental tasks. If feasible, we should implement the first two measures first. Once we have thoroughly implemented the first two measures, we can then gradually implement the others.

If the Emperor is unwilling to accept the first two points, then there's no need to bring up the changes to the fire tax and the subsequent matters now. If the Emperor is to be a benevolent ruler, he won't let these officials suffer; after all, the law doesn't punish the masses.

The memorial was submitted, but as expected, there was no reply. Kangxi did not fly into a rage; he simply acted as if the matter had never happened.

I know what you're all planning, and I know what those officials are like, but I just don't want to do anything about it. We can deal with things after the Crown Prince ascends the throne.

The memorial was submitted but received no response. Yinzhen wanted to submit it again, but Yulang stopped him. "There are some things the Emperor doesn't want," Yulang explained. "If you submit another memorial, you're just being disrespectful."

Fourth Prince, you're not just Fourth Prince anymore; the Crown Prince is standing behind you. You have to wait; there's no other way. The common people understand this best: circumstances are stronger than people. A minister like Yulang understands this better than a prince like Yinzhen.

Emperor Kangxi, who originally didn't need to understand or hadn't experienced the meaning of this phrase for many years, immediately began to understand it anew.

In April, news came to the palace from the Imperial Clan Court that Prince Yu was seriously ill. The Emperor even made a special trip to Prince Yu's residence to visit him, but unfortunately, the visit could not prevent his death, and Prince Yu passed away in June.

Because of this incident, Emperor Kangxi fell ill. Over the years, Prince Yu, Fuquan, had developed a very deep relationship with the emperor as his own brother.

The sudden departure of a brother with whom he had lived a harmonious life was not only a blow to Kangxi, who was only one year younger than Fuquan, but also a sign that he was getting old.

This incident had already made everyone afraid to even breathe loudly in front of Emperor Kangxi, but less than two months later, news came from the palace in August that the Empress Dowager was seriously ill.

The Empress Dowager is the Emperor's legal mother. Over the years, she has lived quietly in the palace, and she doesn't care about anything except matters related to the Fifth Prince, Yinqi.

Shen Wanqing could see the old lady on her southern tour and every year when she entered the palace for the New Year. She didn't know when the old lady was supposed to have died in history.

Upon hearing this news, Shen Wanqing's expression turned grave. She looked up at Yulang, whose expression was also not good. If the Empress Dowager had truly passed away, she feared the Emperor would be traumatized by it.

It's not that I'm afraid of anything else, it's just that at this age, it's really easy to have a drastic change in temperament after being stimulated. Just like some people's personalities become more and more eccentric, more and more stubborn and unreasonable as they get older, they may not be unaware that they are being unreasonable.

However, their ever-dwindling vitality and ever-approaching death made them increasingly anxious, leading to what others described as a drastic change in temperament.