Chapter 1608 IF Scenario: What if Shen Tang woke up earlier (Twenty-two)
"...Alas, it's lonely at the top."
Shen Tang's ideas are out of step with the current mainstream.
She proposed restoring the forest vegetation, both to provide a way for animals to survive and to provide local residents with a sustainable source of income. The significant overlap between human settlements and the habitats of wild animals inevitably leads to bloodshed.
Ordinary people have little ability to fight back against wild beasts.
In a one-on-one situation, they're basically doomed and lose.
Courageous warriors can turn the tables and kill their opponents, but unless the beasts are driven to extinction, they will still be forced to invade human settlements due to a lack of resources. The world does not belong to humans alone.
What she considered perfectly reasonable was seen by those around her as utter heresy, utter idiocy, and complete foolishness. The truth is, these mountains and rivers now belong to powerful and influential families in various regions.
All the profits generated above belong to other people's assets.
If commoners trespassed and were caught, they would be beaten half to death at best, and killed outright and buried on the spot at worst. This is why so many people freeze to death as soon as winter arrives, and why two families had their children freeze to death because they couldn't afford to heat their kang (heated brick bed). Firewood and charcoal for heating were too precious. Commoners were not allowed to enter mountains that were owned to cut firewood; they could only walk to remote, uninhabited mountains to gather firewood, a journey that could take ten days or half a month.
During this period, they would face hunger, cold, and attacks from wild animals.
How much firewood can one person bring back on one trip with just two legs?
It's perfectly understandable that they couldn't bear to burn it.
Under such circumstances, Shen Tang did not fence off all the mountains that had changed hands, nor did he block the river, nor did he order people to patrol and catch petty thieves who were stealing, cutting, or fishing. Instead, he suggested that people go and do some greening on the nearby mountains and add fish fry to the river.
Next spring, ordinary people will be allowed to enter the mountains to make a living.
They even considered the survival of those animals.
He seems completely mentally unstable.
However, due to her great strength and the fact that the nearly two thousand elite members of the Gongxi clan were her mindless loyalists, the rest were either outsiders (specifically referring to the short-term laborers hired from Ji Sunyin's side) or prisoners whose lives and fortunes were in Shen Tang's hands.
Shen Tang didn't need to care about their opinions at all.
To put it bluntly—
"Hey, why are you worrying about other people's money?" Qin You patted his colleague on the shoulder. "They're a wealthy family. Let alone being a spendthrift and stuffing money into people's pockets, even if they just throw money into the water and let it make a splash, that's their business. We can just secretly hide in the water and pick up some."
You can't say someone isn't smart just because they didn't get all the benefits.
If someone isn't smart, then what kind of person is someone who fails to snatch something from a fool? Wouldn't they be even worse than a fool?
His colleague brushed his hand away.
He said irritably, "What do you take me for?"
Qin You neither made a fuss nor got angry; instead, he burst into laughter.
Relying on the fact that no one was of higher seniority than her and that she had no legitimate strategist by her side, Shen Tang acted recklessly—excluding Wei Lou, her friend who had been favored and then kidnapped by her before, since he wasn't properly recruited and the process was wrong, his salary couldn't be too high—and the Gongxi clan, who were always saying yes, yes, yes, good, good, Your Highness, just give the orders, Your Highness is right...
It would be a miracle if anyone could control her.
I still feel a little lonely sometimes.
"...Alas, it's lonely at the top."
The first snow of winter came later than usual, and the snowfall was quite heavy. When I woke up early in the morning, the world was covered in a blanket of white. The snow scene was beautiful, but too much of a good thing can be bad. She was also worried that the snow might accumulate too thickly and cause accidents, so she sent people out to clear the snow and called on the common people to actively shovel snow.
She had just finished her remark when a cloak was draped over her shoulders.
Gong Xifeng stretched out her not-so-long arms, trying her best to wrap Shen Tang up. When Shen Tang looked at her, she blinked: "That way, Mom won't be cold. If you're still cold, just put on more clothes. If it's cold up high, Mom can come down with me to warm up by the fire."
Since it's lonely at the top, let's climb down the stairs.
Shen Tang pinched her cheeks, which finally had a bit of plumpness.
Who taught you that?
Shen Tang considered herself still in the prime of her youth, but on a whim, she picked up a chubby little girl—well, not chubby now, but she'd get quite plump eventually—so she should have been uncomfortable, but the opposite was true. She found the word "Mom" quite pleasant to hear.
No wonder she picked up her chubby daughter; she has a sweet tongue.
"Mr. Wei said that children should care more about their mothers."
She didn't know how much concern counted; she just heard her mother say she was cold, and in her understanding, if it was cold, she should put on more clothes to keep warm.
Shen Tangxin gently patted the top of her head, then pulled the child into her arms as if holding a big doll: "My sweet little cotton-padded jacket."
Gong Xifeng: "..."
Shen Tang: "...But it's not like you won't feel cold if you add more clothes."
Some of her emotions, she herself wasn't quite sure where they came from, but Gong Xifeng's interruption dispelled them completely.
"Lingde, I'll take you skiing."
"...Who is Lingde?"
Shen Tang paused for a moment: "Lingde is... um, the courtesy name I gave you in advance. Lord Jun said you have great potential and good aptitude, so becoming a literary scholar in the future is a sure thing. Even if you can't, you can learn to cultivate divine power from the High Priest and the others."
There's always a way out.
Shen Tang didn't know who Ling De was either.
However, after saying the name, she realized it was quite suitable as a courtesy name for Gong Xifeng, so it was good that she gave it to him in advance. If she didn't smooth things over this way, the little girl would think she had other daughters.
Gong Xifeng blinked, unable to pinpoint what was wrong.
but--
She has writing now.
Wei Jun told her that all scholars had courtesy names, usually given by their parents or teachers, and that these names were used even more frequently than their formal names. Gong Xifeng thought he would give her one, but Wei Jun said instead: "Your courtesy name should be decided by Xianjun. Even among parents and children bound by blood, there are very few who are truly loving, let alone since you and Xianjun are only mother and daughter formed later in life. The more attention she pays to you, the more she cares for you, and the more time you spend together, the deeper your relationship will become. However, given her personality, you only need to be sincere with her."
In fact, Wei Lou also thought Shen Tang was an oddball.
A unique and extraordinary flower.
Those past schemes have probably backfired.
It's better to be more honest.
Wei Lou didn't intend to instill too many schemes in Gong Xifeng. Her future might be to become the supreme ruler of the world. A second-generation monarch with a stable position only needs to know how to use both kindness and power, how to appoint people based on merit, and how to use open strategies. There is no need to learn those underhanded schemes.
What if I accidentally teach it wrong...
He won't let himself off the hook.
Shen Tang was naturally unaware of Wei Lou's thoughts; all she knew was that Wei Lou cared deeply about Gong Xifeng's academic progress. Previously, when she had the audacity to secretly observe his teaching, Shen Tang had harbored suspicions—could Gong Xifeng's biological father be this old man? He provided free one-on-one tutoring, patiently and meticulously feeding her chubby daughter bite by bite, speaking softly and gently.
Hehe, Wei Lou was always sarcastic and sarcastic towards me.
Shen Tang observed secretly for several days.
Excluding the possibilities that Lao Deng is Gong Xifeng's biological father or that Lao Deng has LTP, Shen Tang is certain that Wei Lou simply has a connection with Gong Xifeng. Every time the latter studies diligently, his gaze towards her is full of admiration for his meticulously crafted masterpiece.
Old Deng's thoughts are really hard to understand.
Shen Tang said she didn't want to know.
Her attention was now entirely focused on teaching her chubby daughter to ski: "Lingde, do you know why skiing is such a magical sport?"
Gong Xifeng shook his head honestly.
She disliked snow at all, and hated snowdrifts even more. Once the snow melted, the already cold weather became even colder, which is how she got chilblains all over her hands. For ordinary people without warm clothes, going out in winter is torture. Staying in a drafty house could be endured a little. Going out to play in the snow? That was self-torture.
Shen Tang said, "Because you made someone jump from a height of more than ten feet, that person might not dare to seek death, but if you tie two pieces of wood to his feet, he would dare to jump off a cliff, let alone jump off a building."
Gong Xifeng's small face was serious and earnest: "I dare not."
Shen Tang chuckled: "Hold on tight, Mom will take you flying!"
With that, she leaped off the snow-capped mountain. The intense feeling of weightlessness and the biting wind made Gong Xifeng's heart nearly give out. She slid forward, her soul chasing after her. It took her a while to recover. She opened her eyes a crack in the wind, the scenery rushing past her. Her heart pounded, faster and faster, and instead of fear, she felt a secret thrill and excitement.
"Adrenaline surge!"
"Yo-ho!"
Wei Lou and his friend frowned as they went over the accounts.
It's hard to tell whether to marvel at the Gongxi clan's profound wealth, inspiring envy and resentment, or to marvel at the wise ruler's incredible ability to squander money. In just six months, she'd covered the expenses of other smaller factions for four or five years, and this was merely the tip of the iceberg for the Gongxi clan!
My friend said in a strange tone, "I talked to Congjun this morning about whether we should be more frugal, and guess what she said? The clan isn't bankrupt, why should we cut back on the lord's allowance?"
Wei Lou: "...Damn it."
My friend nodded: "Yes, damn it."
He also wanted to say something so hateful one day.
After a while—
"Which monkey came down the mountain?"
Scholars with a refined mind may not have the same hearing as martial artists, but they are still better than ordinary people, especially when they are focused on their work and the surroundings are quiet, making even the slightest movement stand out. My friend was already having trouble calculating, and now being interrupted made him even more agitated.
He got up and gave instructions to the people outside.
"Find someone to get rid of that annoying monkey."
If it weren't for the fact that his lord's kindness extended even to animals, he wouldn't have ordered the monkeys to be driven away, but rather to be killed. The guard who received the order took a few steps outside, then hesitated and returned after a while. He said, "So fast?"
But the monkey was still squeaking and yelling.
The guard said awkwardly, "Sir, it's not a monkey."
"You're saying it's not a monkey? If it's not a monkey, then it can be a person?"
Then--
Watching the mother and daughter skiing past the city's high-rise buildings, and noticing that noisy, squeaking monkey—who was probably his boss—he fell silent. Silently observing the people soaring and leaping through the air like parabolas, he uttered a profound question.
"Are you sure our lord is mentally sound?"
Normal people shouldn't be able to do such abstract things.
Wei Lou: "...I don't know."
At this moment, Wei Lou was filled with remorse for her previous stubbornness. How could she have been so bewitched, believing the other party to be a harmful evil god? Look at what she had done now; calling her an evil god was an insult to all evil gods. From time to time, strange cries like "Wuhu!" and "Take off!" could be heard from the sky, and the two of them weren't the only ones who had peeked out from below after hearing the noise.
Wei Lou: "..."
The thought of commoners craning their necks to watch the spectacle wherever Shen Tang went made his brain throb and gave him a headache.
Friend: "You never used to have headaches."
Wei Lou sneered: "Shouldn't we thank the wise ruler for his miraculous healing?"
Yes, I learned this word from Shen Tang.
At first, I was trying to figure out where this word came from, as it sounded unfamiliar. Only after asking did I learn that it was the opposite of "miraculous cure".
Wei Lou was so angry he laughed.
Who taught her to use words like that?
Her teachers and instructors should all commit suicide as an atonement.
Shen Tang and Gong Xifeng had a blast skiing together. Forget about being emo, they were in high spirits. That night, with nowhere to vent their energy, Shen Tang grabbed a broom and swept half the snow off the city: "I'm going to show this body who's in charge!"
Another group of furtive scouts was discovered on the outskirts of the city.
I just brought it back without thinking.
Wei Lou: "...You mean, you casually discovered this group of scouts with the intention of launching a sneak attack from a hundred miles outside the city?"
Shen Tang said, "I can't sleep."
When she was tossing and turning and couldn't sleep, her first thought was to see if the Marquis was asleep, but considering the old man's bad temper, she didn't provoke him by jeopardizing his blood pressure.
Unexpectedly, shoveling snow uncovered a newly infiltrated spy.
They then followed the traitor to find the enemy hiding deep in the mountains.
What does this prove?
This proves that she has incredible luck.
Shen Tang gestured and said, "You have no idea how I outwitted them last night. These people are shrewd; they actually hid in an artificial tunnel in the back of the mountain, with the entrance in an extremely well-hidden location. It's a real pity they don't use their counter-surveillance skills for tunnel warfare."
A natural-born warrior with a divine body.
"Tunnel warfare?"
Wei Lou sat quietly listening to her animatedly and exaggeratedly recount her experiences from the previous night, only occasionally offering a response.
He didn't speak until he heard this novel word.
Shen Tang: "Tunnel warfare utilizes underground tunnels and trenches for combat. Whether it's ambushing the enemy from behind or playing hide-and-seek to wear them down, it's a good tactic. Speaking of which, martial artists are practically walking excavators; doing these things is a piece of cake for them. Strike unexpectedly and catch them off guard!"
Wei Lou nodded, noting it down in his mind: "And then?"
"And then? And then I..."
Then came another long, rambling speech.
Wei Lou sighed more and more as he listened, but he couldn't bear to interrupt her. He just estimated that it was about time and handed her a glass of water to quench her thirst.
When she had nothing more to say, Wei Lou casually informed Shen Tang.
"Lingde developed a high fever in the middle of the night last night."
Shen Tang: "..."
Wei Lou: "Do you know why you have a high fever?"
Shen Tang sat up even more upright.
Wei Lou said, "Anything in excess is as bad as too little."
You can play, but don't play too wildly.
Wei Lou dared not even imagine how much awe-inspiring power the wise ruler still held in the hearts of the common people after yesterday's spectacle of monkeys descending the mountain. Seeing her guilty conscience, Wei Lou sighed for the umpteenth time, then changed the subject, but this time it wasn't the sarcastic tone Shen Tang was familiar with. His tone was similar to his tone towards Gong Xifeng: "Does the wise ruler find this world boring?"
(σ)σ:*☆
(End of this chapter)
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