Chapter 70: Gifts from Officials
In a roadside teahouse in the northern suburbs of Qianjing City, an old man sat by the stove, boiling tea with an old iron kettle. There were only two tables here, one of which was occupied by a young man.
There are very few people coming and going here. There may not be a single customer in a day. Instead, only a few woodcutters passing by will ask for a glass of water. Over time, everyone has gotten used to it, and some even call this teahouse the Woodcutter's Teahouse.
After the old man's iron kettle boiled, he wrapped the handle with a towel, brought the boiling hot kettle over, poured a glass of water for the young man and said with a smile: "Sir, tea is here."
The young man nodded, and as he poured the water, he said, “The Ten Thousand Demon King argued with them at first, but was later beaten by the four of them. It was only when Zhou An and Hua Wu Yue arrived that they rescued him.
I didn't expect that their Sun, Moon, Universe and Heavenly Beads combined would be so powerful that the four demons were driven away. It's a pity that they took away the Star Sword, otherwise my Sun, Star and Moon combined power would surely be stronger than his."
The old man frowned, walked back, put the iron kettle on the coal stove, sat on the bench next to it, took out the welding cigarette and started smoking.
The young man also remained silent and drank his tea.
After a while, the old man exhaled a puff of smoke and said, "The King of Ten Thousand Demons and them were once brothers and sisters, and they had a very good relationship. Whenever they come, he will stay with Zhou An. What is their relationship?"
"In this world, the only one who can make the King of Ten Thousand Demons loyal is the Seven Illusions Demon Lord. He fought a great battle with the Zhengyi sect and died in battle. Could it be that Zhou An is the reincarnation of the Seven Illusions Demon Lord?" The young man showed surprise.
“The last time Emperor Taizu fought Zhou An, I sealed his demonic nature. The sudden outbreak of demonic nature is suspicious in itself, but if it is the Spiritual Demon Eye, then it makes sense.
I have seen the Spiritual Demon Pupil before, but his eyes glowed purple, which was not the appearance of the Spiritual Demon Pupil. Moreover, it is impossible for the five major bloodlines of the demon world to appear in humans, which really makes me lose my clue. "The old man said, taking another deep breath of welding smoke.
"If he is the reincarnation of the Seven Illusion Demon Lord, it is impossible for the Black Sky Great Sage, the Green Spirit Demon Sage, the Nine-tailed Fox Fairy, and the Colorful Fairy to take action. There must be another reason. Or is the King of Ten Thousand Demons controlled by Zhou An?" asked the young man.
"You continue to keep an eye on Dongwangzhuang. The time for the battle between good and evil is just around the corner, and there can't be any mistakes there. I will find a way to deal with the emperor's matter." said the old man.
The young man drank the tea in the cup in one gulp, stood up and walked to the big tree next to him, untied the reins, rode away on the chestnut horse.
The old man watched him go away, exhaled a puff of smoke, tapped the smoke at his feet a few times to shake out the ash inside, then began to pack up the tea shop and leave.
A few days later, it was the New Year's Day. Qianjing should have been decorated with lights and colors, preparing for the biggest festival.
However, there have been constant disasters caused by demons in the past few days, and many people have died, causing the entire city to be shrouded in a shadow. They hide in their homes and dare not come out, especially at night. Apart from the patrolling Jinyiwei and demon hunters, there is almost no one on the street.
At this moment, a banquet was being prepared in the Guangming Hall in the imperial palace to entertain all officials to celebrate the New Year together.
The ministers had been waiting in the side hall early. In the past, they would have come only because of the empress dowager. If the emperor had taken the lead, probably only some of the lower-level ministers would have come, let alone come here early to wait.
When all the food and wine were prepared and the bell rang three times, the ministers lined up to enter the hall. All officials in the court arrived, and no one was late.
When Zhou An and Shangguan Rong came out, all the ministers who had just sat down stood up and shouted in unison: "May the Emperor and Empress live long and healthy lives."
This was the first time Zhou An had heard the ministers address him like this in unison in the past six months. He smiled slightly, and after sitting down with the queen, he said, "Take a seat."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." All the ministers bowed in unison once more before sitting down respectfully. They no longer had their previous arrogant attitudes, and all looked terrified.
At this time, a female official shouted loudly: "The banquet begins."
Soon the music started and the dancers began to dance.
Hua Wu Yue didn't like to participate in this kind of festival. To her, this kind of festival was meaningless. It would be better for her to practice. Zhou An didn't force her and let her do as she pleased.
After three rounds of drinking, the leading minister stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I have prepared a small gift to celebrate the New Year."
"Well, good, present it so that everyone can enjoy it and have fun."
Zhou An knew that these people were now trying to please her, and she didn't care much about their gifts at all. They were nothing more than rare treasures in the eyes of mortals, and these gifts were already piled up like mountains in her system space.
Outside the door, a woman in a gorgeous goose yellow dress walked in, holding an exquisite wooden box in her hand.
The woman had a rosy face, fair skin, and excellent temperament. She had affectionate eyes under her eyebrows and thick black hair. She walked slowly towards them, with a look of three parts shyness, three parts lust, and three parts nervousness.
Seeing this, Zhou An and Shangguan Rong looked at each other. Zhou An was helpless, but he did like such a beautiful woman, but it was only a liking for her beauty. Now he was no longer the boy who had just traveled through time. He would not blush, have a pounding heart, and lose his composure because of a beautiful woman.
The woman walked to the front, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, may the Emperor have great blessings and great fortunes."
Zhou An asked calmly, "What did you offer? Open it and let the ministers have a look."
"Yes." The woman held the box in one hand and opened it with the other. Inside was a jade plate placed on golden brocade.
"This is one of the pieces of the Jade and Silk Heavenly Book. It records the location of a fairy palace. The You family accidentally found this treasure at an auction. Thinking that the emperor already has innate great power, they presented it to the emperor."
The woman's voice was soft and her words were beautiful, very pleasant to the ear. Many ministers around were distracted by her words and lowered their heads, not daring to look directly at the woman.
The Queen smiled and asked, "Did Lord You present the Jade and Silk Book or this beauty?"
Lord You immediately stood up and bowed, saying, "This girl is You Yunzhi, the fifth daughter of the You family. If she can be favored by the emperor, it will be a blessing for her and the You family."
Zhou An frowned. These ministers really thought of themselves as the original emperors who were fond of beautiful women.
At this time, offering a girl was either to arrange a spy or to imitate Shangguan Rong to win favor. Now he likes the stability of the harem. Although this girl is indeed a rare beauty and it is no exaggeration to say that she is stunningly beautiful, he will not lose his rationality when he sees a woman.
He was about to refuse when Shangguan Rong suddenly said, "You Yunzhi, who is ranked fourth on the Qianjing Flower List, is not only talented and beautiful, but is also said to be a disciple of the elder of the Qixia Sect. Is Lord You willing to let her enter the palace as a concubine?"
"It is her blessing to be favored by the Emperor and the Empress. The You family is overjoyed. Besides, her master also agreed this time." Lord You said.
Zhou An looked at Shangguan Rong, not understanding what she wanted to do. This woman must have other purposes.
Shangguan Rong smiled and said, "Your Majesty, since the last harem rebellion, the concubines in the palaces have died or been dismissed. Now there are only a few concubines left in the palace, including me, Lady Baihua, Zi Yan, Zi Qiong, and Zi Xuan. It just so happens that you gentlemen are willing to add concubines to the harem this time, so that people in the world will not laugh at the palace for being worse than a wealthy man in a small town."
Zhou An didn't know what the queen's purpose was, but with her character, she wouldn't do anything rash, so he didn't ask any more questions on the spot. He nodded and said, "The queen said so, then stay."
"Thank you, Your Majesty, Your Majesty." You Yunzhi bowed and handed the wooden box in her hand to the female official who came over and gave it to the emperor.
"Today is New Year's Day, let's celebrate together. Please take a seat." The queen said, and the palace maids immediately brought a table and chairs and placed them next to the queen.
After You Yunzhi took her seat, the Queen glanced at the other ministers and said, "Those who are still offering gifts, please come up at once, so that the Emperor can see the treasures collected by the major families of the Qianyuan Empire."
The adults present looked at each other and asked the people outside to bring up the gifts.
As expected, nearly half of the families sent rare beauties. The beauties sent this time were completely different from the ones when Zhou An was still a puppet in the hands of the Queen Mother.
These women in front of them can be said to be half-cultivators, and are all core trainees of their families. This time, for the future of the family, they also want to learn from the great benefits brought by the Shangguan family sending Shangguan Rong, and send the best in their families.
Otherwise, if we only choose those with beautiful appearance, it will definitely be difficult for the emperor to please him, and the families behind these ministers will have to go to great lengths to please him.
Zhou An allowed Shangguan Rong to manage the government, which made these big families think that even though Zhou An had great power, he still liked beauty. He allowed Shangguan Rong to be an empress and he was willing to support her behind the scenes. Everyone wanted to get a piece of this benefit.
Zhou An also noticed this, but he wondered why Shangguan Rong wanted to accept these people. No matter how you look at it, this would be disadvantageous to Shangguan Rong.
Half of the ministers really couldn't find a woman comparable to Shangguan Rong, so they could only start with items. The gifts they gave were treasures used by cultivators, some were materials for refining weapons, and some were elixirs used by cultivators.
Seeing the large amount of treasures in front of him, Zhou An truly lamented that although there were few cultivators in the major families, they were, after all, large families that dominated a region and had a lot of resources in their hands. Even most of the immortal cultivation sects were far inferior to these large families in terms of resources.
After all, the business talents of these people are far beyond the reach of monks, and the speed of collecting materials through commercial means is beyond the reach of monks relying on their own resources to search.
Even Zhou An was excited by these things. Many medicinal materials could be refined by Baihua Palace to make very good pills. There were even things handed down from ancient times. Everyone knew that they were good things, but no one could crack them.
Zhou An took away these treasures, and Shangguan Rong ordered the women who were sent to the harem to be taken to the harem to be settled first, and arrangements would be made tomorrow.
After all these people were arranged, the banquet continued. When the ministers saw that the emperor accepted it, they were all secretly happy and hoped that one day their women would have the same rights as Shangguan Rong.
At this time, an inconspicuous minister stood up, walked to the middle and said arrogantly: "Your Majesty, other ministers sent beauties and treasures, but I don't have their financial resources. I can only send a message."
Everybody was puzzled. Everyone knew this minister. He was a low-ranking official who didn't talk much and worked diligently. Of course, this was compared with the high-ranking officials in the court. Compared with the whole country, his position was not small either.
Shangguan Rong was surprised. The man seemed to be called Mei Zimo. He was an honest man who worked seriously and almost never spoke in the court. How could he be so courageous this time to send a message as a gift to the emperor?
As everyone was curious, Mei Zimo took out a mirror from his sleeve and projected a light curtain in front of him, and a picture appeared.
In a spring of underground fire, there were two swords inserted, and above the swords hung a woman, who was tied up with a demon-sealing chain. The formation was using it to extract the demonic energy and essence from her, and sending them into the swords.
Everyone was surprised to see this, but Zhou An could tell at a glance that this woman was Madam Taohua, Hua Wu Yue's master.
(End of this chapter)
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