Chapter 51
The emperor felt he had probably been tricked, but he couldn't bring himself to give up after spending half an hour on 172 questions.
If Xue Jin'an knew what he was thinking, she would definitely tell him that there is a modern term called sunk cost, which is a cost that has already been paid and cannot be recovered. Because of some reason, the total cost of energy, money and other resources invested in the early stage is relatively large. When there is no return, people often find it difficult to make a rational choice and choose to continue to invest more, but the result is mostly unsatisfactory.
The emperor, caught up in the sunk costs, chuckled, "Fine, I'd like to see what these sixteen personality types are all about!"
As he spoke, he picked up a red jade paperweight carved into the shape of the auspicious beast Bai Ze from the table, and said to the voice in his head, "This paperweight is carved from a piece of natural red jade, and its value is considerable. Is this item worth fifty gold pieces to you?"
Xue Jin'an stated that he had agreed to fifty gold coins and refused to initiate any additional pawn services: [Insufficient balance, order payment failed]
[This order will be held for 15 minutes. If payment is not made within 15 minutes, the order will be cancelled by default. Please be aware of this.] As soon as the words were spoken, a red countdown timer appeared on the payment page.
The emperor did not recognize the Arabic numerals, but he was not stupid. Knowing that the initial time was a quarter of an hour, he observed carefully for a while and found the corresponding information. Almost immediately, he realized how much value was hidden behind this simple form of numbers.
Just by using this kind of digital accounting, the thickness of the ledger can be reduced by two-thirds!
The emperor immediately became even more curious about this person who could transmit voices in secret. Before, he was just wary of him and wondered who was behind him. Now, he wanted to find this person and make him work for him.
Therefore, he couldn't afford to miss this opportunity to make contact. Thinking this, the emperor put down the paperweight in his hand and instead reached for the two purses hanging at his waist. However, the emperor was the master of the palace, and everyone else needed to be bribed, except for him.
Therefore, the emperor's purse was purely decorative; one contained a small gold scale, and the other a small jade ruyi, symbolizing that everything would go as desired.
Both of these small items were blessed by the abbot of Wanfu Temple. They are considered to have spiritual power. Regardless of how exquisite the craftsmanship is, these items are engraved with the emperor's name and birth date, so they must never fall into the hands of outsiders.
The emperor then summoned Li Hechun directly.
Li Hechun had been observing the emperor's expression since the beginning. He saw the emperor talking to himself, staring at the paperweight, and finally taking out the purse he hadn't touched in ages... It really seemed like he was possessed.
However, when the emperor called him, Li Hechun quickly realized what was happening. His old eyes darted around as he whispered, "Your Majesty, did you perhaps hear that voice again?"
The emperor nodded reservedly and took the purse. It was bulging and heavy in his hand. He couldn't help but shake it in his hand and gave Li Hechun a half-smile. "Looks like you've earned quite a bit every day."
Li Hechun, with a fawning smile, flattered, "Everything this servant has is given by His Majesty; I am deeply grateful for His Majesty's grace."
"Glib talker." The emperor muttered a sarcastic remark, though he was quite pleased with the words. He opened the purse in his hand and was immediately dazzled by the unique brilliance of the gold and silver jewels inside.
Besides that, there's also a luminous pearl and... a handful of copper coins inside?
Upon seeing the contents of the purse, the emperor knew that it was the purse that Li Hechun usually gave as rewards. His own private purse should be kept in his sleeve pocket, meaning that the copper coins had the same origin.
"Who gave it to me?" The emperor counted it and found only fifty coins. This was the first time in his life that he had used such a small amount of money, which was completely out of place with the rest of his purse.
Li Hechun was quite surprised to see the money. Since becoming the head eunuch of Qianyuan Palace, the lowest reward he had ever received was from other less favored concubines of lower rank in the harem, who wanted him to help them place the concubine's nameplate at the front when the emperor was choosing a concubine. And the minimum reward for that was five taels of silver.
Honestly, Li Hechun hasn't had a single copper coin in his personal pocket for a long time.
He couldn't help but recall the origin of the fifty coins, but he only vaguely remembered receiving them on the day of the assassination attempt in the Imperial Study. Could it be that he accepted money he shouldn't have accepted and betrayed information he shouldn't have betrayed? Li Hechun was startled by his own chilling thoughts and immediately felt too guilty to think any further.
"This old servant can't recall it for the moment. It probably wasn't anything important. Perhaps it was some little eunuch's bribe." Li Hechun tried to downplay the matter.
The emperor did not press further, but instead piled up the gold and silver ingots and said, "Shouldn't this be enough?"
[Payment successful!] Xue Jin'an flipped his wrist, and fifty taels of gold appeared out of thin air in his hand. He was very efficient after taking the money and immediately sent the test results over.
The emperor considered many ways the other party might take the money, but he never expected that the money would disappear from his hands out of thin air. The emperor couldn't help but clench his fingers, while Li Hechun stood aside without showing any surprise, as if the way the money had just disappeared was normal.
It was a very strange scene, but the emperor inexplicably couldn't muster the desire to investigate, until the pile of memorials on the table suddenly collapsed.
The memorial at the very top, which Prince Ping had entrusted to Li Hechun to deliver and which had resulted in the latter being severely criticized, was unfolded as if someone were pulling it, with the front, filled with writing, facing down, revealing the blank back.
Then the emperor watched as the neat, lifeless characters appeared out of thin air on the paper, the first four strange symbols of which he had never even seen before.
The emperor stood up abruptly, looking at the memorial that had been filled with writing in an instant with surprise and uncertainty.
"Your Majesty, be careful! Protect the Emperor!" The bizarre scene before him filled Li Hechun with dread, and he immediately spread his arms to protect the Emperor.
The imperial guards rushed in upon hearing the shouts, but before they could even draw their weapons, the emperor waved them away.
The results have been sent to your account. Please check your inbox. If you have any questions, you can consult your personal mentor. You can also wake up by calling out "Xiao X".
Without making a sound, the emperor closed the memorial and held it in his hand. His long sleeves slid down to completely cover his hand, making it seem like nothing was wrong. In fact, the memorial in his hand was switched the moment his hand fell down.
Li Hechun quietly took the replaced memorial out, intending to carefully examine the paper and ink stains to see if they had been treated in any way, as a specific method was needed to reveal them.
Such methods are not uncommon. The Clothing Service occasionally uses them to deliver messages. For example, they write words on paper with sugar water, which disappear when the paper dries. But if they put the paper over a fire, the words will reappear.
The emperor suspected this was an elaborate scheme. He pretended not to notice anything and steadied the voice in his head, "Little...Teacher Cha, what are the sixteen personality types?"
Xue Jin'an naturally noticed their little actions, but he didn't care much. In any case, he hadn't tampered with the memorial, and humans always have self-consistent logic and can find a reasonable explanation.
[The sixteen personality types are...] Xue Jin'an explained the entire background of the test, and then felt that there were too many settings, so he simply sent the characteristics of each of the sixteen personality types to his account so that he could see them himself.
The emperor then noticed that several memorials on the table had been unfolded in a strange and unexpected way, with the blank backs filled with text that appeared out of nowhere.
The emperor could no longer hide the surprise on his face. He loosened his grip, and the memorial fell out of his sleeve, landing on the ground with a "thud".
The emperor didn't care whether the memorial that had fallen to the ground would be discovered to be different from the previous one. He began to quickly flip through the other memorials that contained words, confirming that these memorials came from different people and that they were delivered at different times.
If a single memorial has a problem, it could be attributed to tampering; but if multiple unrelated memorials have the same problem, the possibility of human intervention is greatly reduced.
Perhaps it was wrong from the beginning; the voice that appeared in my mind was not the so-called master's secret transmission of sound.
Of course, it's also possible that it was done by someone. However, when the emperor looked at the recipients of these memorials, he realized that most of them held important positions in the court. If they really controlled so many important officials, he would have already handed over his throne to someone else.
So after eliminating all possibilities, only one possibility remains, and no matter how absurd that possibility may be, it is the correct answer.
This was not the work of humankind, but divine power! He had been blessed by the gods! The emperor's eyes suddenly lit up with light, and he felt ecstatic.
Yes, yes! This so-called expert Feng Yi Chu searched the entire Qian Yuan Palace but couldn't find it. There was such an obvious loophole, yet he never suspected it. This is the effect of divine power!
The gods were unwilling to reveal their identities or their existence, so they made them ignore the anomalies. Perhaps his voice sounded so young not because he was pretending, but because he was actually still young and just a child of a god.
It is precisely because they are young and their minds are not yet settled that they speak without restraint... In this way, everything makes sense!
However, since the divine child did not want to expose himself, he still had to pretend not to know and play along.
The emperor felt he had seen through the truth. He suppressed his excitement and trembling hands, wanting to have a good talk with the divine child.
The dynasty and emperor, blessed by the gods, seemed to have already seen a bright and radiant future.
The emperor carefully considered how to speak with the divine son and cultivate a good relationship, subtly trying to glean information that would benefit him.
However, Xue Jin'an had no interest in chatting with the emperor; he had already seen Zhou Yushu appear on camera.
However, since he had already received the money, Xue Jin'an thought about it and decided to bring out the intelligent voice assistant.
I modified some of its code, integrated all the data from psychological tests, and also imported big data analysis and learning capabilities to make it look more intelligent. At least it won't make humans immediately curse the artificial intelligence as stupid when chatting.
Xue Jin'an changed its wake word to "Teacher Xiao X", and a new professional planning mentor appeared.
While he was doing all this, the emperor met with Zhou Yushu.
The emperor initially did not want to see Zhou Yushu. He thought that Zhou Yushu, like the others, had come to demand severe punishment for Bao Ning. However, Zhou Yushu sent Li Hechun in with a message that he had come to confess his crimes.
"Confess? Did he really say that?" While maintaining a good relationship with the Divine Child is important, handling political affairs is even more important.
The emperor reluctantly shut down his mental chat with the divine child, and said, "Summon Chu Wenjing in."
Zhou Yushu had indeed come to apologize. He knelt on the ground as soon as they met, his eyes red and brimming with tears. Xue Jin'an noticed that his facial muscles were twitching slightly and his eyes were blinking frequently, with tears streaming down his face uncontrollably.
Xue Jin'an could tell at a glance that this was because too much ginger had been applied accidentally.
Regardless of Xue Jin'an's thoughts, Zhou Yushu was diligently performing his role. He kowtowed three times on the ground, then lay prostrate on the ground as if deeply shaken. He spoke in a choked voice, saying directly, "This sinful subject has failed in his duty to educate his sister, causing Your Majesty to be ashamed... This sinful subject has no face to face the spirits of his ancestors, therefore I request that the title of Earl of Yongyi of the Chu family be abolished!"
Although the emperor intended to strip the title of Duke Ningguo, he originally planned to start with him. Now that the Duke Ningguo had completely offended the Empress Dowager, and with the Xiao Shu incident preceding him, it was the perfect time to deal with him.
With the Ningguo Mansion falling, how far behind will other families with titles be?
He just didn't expect that while he was still fabricating charges, Chu Wenjing actually came and asked to have his title revoked.
As expected, he was a person favored by the gods, and his heart's desires were bound to come true! The emperor was full of ambition for a moment. He clearly wanted to agree but still held back, and he went through a classic "three refusals and three concessions" with Chu Wenjing before finally agreeing with a pained and serious expression.
The Chu family's already precarious Earldom of Yongyi was completely gone. However, after sacrificing this worthless title, the emperor trusted and befriended Chu Wenjing even more.
Zhou Yushu hadn't forgotten his goal of leaving Consort Zhen all alone, and spoke again, "Fourth Prince—"
"The matter of Xiao Si has already been settled, there's no need to discuss it further." The emperor then added a warning, "As long as the Chu family behaves themselves, doesn't ask what they shouldn't ask, doesn't look at what they shouldn't look at, and fulfills their duties as subjects, there will naturally be no major problems."
"Minister Chu, you are my trusted advisor and an indispensable pillar of the Great Qi Dynasty. I believe in you." The emperor patted Chu Wenjing's hand, making an expression of complete trust in him.
Seeing that there was no way to win him over, Zhou Yushu wisely refrained from saying anything more. Instead, he put on a touching expression and met the emperor's tearful eyes, creating a scene of perfect harmony between the ruler and his subject.
Xue Jin'an's perspective was focused on Zhou Yushu, ignoring the emperor. After watching Zhou Yushu leave Qianyuan Palace, he paused slightly, gazing intently westward for a long time—in the direction of Zhaoyang Palace.
Sure enough, he murmured something silently, and Xue Jin read his lips. He said, "Sister, you raised a good son, much better than me."
With that, he left the palace.
Xue Jin'an's current magical power is enough to reliably access live streams from the capital. After Zhou Yushu left the palace, Xue Jin'an began frequently refreshing and switching between live streams without hesitation, using them as surveillance to capture Zhou Yushu's presence.
Of course, Xue Jin'an didn't switch blindly. He calculated Zhou Yushu's walking speed and direction, figured out his route, and precisely switched between live streaming rooms. He also improved the map of Beijing.
Zhou Yushu went to the blacksmith shop to order a knife, and then returned to his residence. As the Minister of Justice, a first-rank official, he had his own residence, which was a mansion bestowed by the emperor, and did not live with the Chu family.
A carriage was parked outside the Minister's residence, bearing the insignia of the Marquis of Yongyi. Zhou Yushu paused, looking at the steward who came out to greet him. The steward wiped his sweat and said, "Sir, it's the old master."
The old man refers to Old Master Chu.
Zhou Yushu nodded, seemingly unsurprised, and before going inside, he said, "Don't call me 'Uncle' anymore."
Xue Jin'an didn't know what happened after that. Zhou Yushu's residence was quite clean, and since there weren't many people there, it was naturally impossible for any spies to infiltrate.
There's plenty of time ahead. Xue Jin'an's stalking of him was merely to further confirm his identity and, incidentally, to find out how far Zhou Yushu's revenge plan had progressed and whether he had uncovered the power group behind Consort Zhen.
Xue Jin'an was just giving it a try; he didn't really have any hope of succeeding.
He turned off the live stream. He had been too focused on switching between live streams, and now that his attention was back on track, he immediately noticed something was wrong. There seemed to be something stuffed in his sleeve, something heavy.
When Xue Jin'an took it out, he found that it contained several gold ingots, a solid 50 gold coins.
Xue Jin'an glanced at the fifty gold coins on the table, then at the extra fifty gold coins in his hand, and slowly typed a question mark.
It turned out that after the emperor saw Chu Wenjing off, he couldn't wait to call out to Teacher Xiao X in his heart.
[I'm here.] Teacher Xiao X appeared. [I'm your personal future planning mentor. Do you have any questions?]
The emperor wanted to continue the previous topic, but Teacher Xiao X said: [The software has detected an abnormal exit; related data has been lost, and the conversation cannot be synchronized. Please test again.]
Teacher Xiao X then sent him 172 new questions.
emperor:"……"
Upon learning the truth, Xue Jin'an was speechless.
Xue Jin'an thought that was about the end of the matter, but when he woke up the next day, he found a pile of gold and silver jewelry on his bed, and even a purse containing a luminous pearl and fifty copper coins.
Xue Jin'an silently opened the background of the voice assistant and accessed the history of conversations.
It all started with a test, and then it spiraled out of control: tests to find out your ABO attributes, what your pheromones smell like, whether you have a people-pleasing personality...
After a bunch of test questions, the style started to change, and it became a test to predict your fortune for the year, with horoscopes, tarot cards... By the end, there were 648 card draws for good luck, electronic wooden fish... It can be said to be a crime scene of middle-aged and elderly people being scammed by AI.
Unbeknownst to the morally bankrupt Xue Jin'an, something was amiss in the upgrade of the intelligent voice assistant.
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