For the next two weeks, Sun Miaoqing was forced to serve at the Hall of Mental Cultivation every day. It wasn't just grinding ink; when Da Pang Ju was in a good mood, he would chat with her about matters of the previous dynasty.
When he was in a bad mood, Sun Miaoqing could often see his unpleasant expression.
Sometimes you can hear the suppressed roar of the big, fat orange cat, and hear folded paper flying everywhere like snowflakes.
Whenever this happens, Sun Miaoqing can't help but think that even a hardcore worker, when faced with a difficult situation in their career, is not much different from a corporate slave.
It's just that for the other people in the palace, the danger is a little bit greater...
For example, right now, as she's grinding ink on the side, she's hunching her shoulders, listening to the furious voice of the chubby orange cat beside her...
“Each family owned hundreds or thousands of acres of fertile land, countless estates and shops, and numerous servants and tenant farmers.”
"They spend money like water in normal times, but when it comes to paying taxes, they all cry poverty to me. First they hid their land, and now they are inciting a popular uprising and storming the governor's office."
"What is Fahai good for? He can't even suppress a few troublemakers, allowing the situation to escalate and hindering the implementation of tax reform!"
Tong Jia Fahai?
Sun Miaoqing vaguely remembered hearing about this before: the "equalization of land tax and poll tax" essentially meant that those with more land would bear more taxes, while those with less land would bear less.
This would greatly reduce the tax burden on ordinary people, making taxation fairer. It would also help curb land consolidation and ease tensions.
But in this day and age, the largest landholdings belong to powerful families and wealthy households in the area. The first decree issued by the Great Fat Orange after ascending the throne was to order a nationwide survey of all land.
This has caused heavy losses to many people who concealed their land holdings and refused to pay taxes. Under the guise of investigating the "eighth and ninth" officials, a wave of those who caused trouble have already been killed.
It hasn't been long, less than two years, and yet someone has jumped out again.
Driven by greed, Tong Jia Fahai was genuinely incompetent, which is why he couldn't suppress the popular uprising. Or was he feigning incompetence, coldly observing or even fueling the unrest? Sun Miaoqing was unaware of this.
However, judging from Da Pang Ju's angry expression, Tong Jia Fahai probably won't have an easy time for a long time.
Speaking of the Tongjia clan, they were major customers of her Honey Shop, spending a large sum of money on it every month.
Big Fat Orange was still not satisfied after cursing for a while, and then he saw Sun Miaoqing standing to the side.
The ink was so thick it was almost congealed, and they still wouldn't add water. They just kept moving mechanically there, without even coming over to comfort him, which made him even more dissatisfied.
"Consort Cheng, after practicing for so long, you've only become like this? It seems that two hours in Yangxin Palace is not enough; we'll have to continue back at Chuxiu Palace."
!! !! !!
Sun Miaoqing was startled, and unconsciously tightened her wrist. The little ink left in the inkstone struck the chubby orange head-on.
Most of it splashed onto his face; although there were only a few drops, they just grazed his big, chubby orange eyes.
At first glance, you might mistake it for a cosplay of a pirate captain.
Sun Miaoqing was about to laugh, but when she saw his cold and sharp eyes, she suddenly realized that she might have attacked the emperor.
[Fat Orange's face is terrifying. My legs feel like they won't obey me. Is he thinking about how to chop me into eight pieces?]
"No, please! My life is incredibly valuable! Should I kneel down and beg for forgiveness?"
My knees buckled and I thought about kneeling down and begging for mercy, but I immediately forced myself to stand up straight.
[Forget it. If I kneel down and beg for forgiveness now, wouldn't that just remind him to take out his anger over the Fahai incident on me?]
Sun Miaoqing mustered her courage, hurriedly twisted her waist and stepped forward, taking a silk handkerchief to wipe the ink off Da Pangju's face.
"How come there's ink on Your Majesty's face? Let me wipe it off for you. It really breaks my heart."
"Fortunately, it was only a few drops. But even if more had gotten on you, it wouldn't have affected Your Majesty's handsomeness or your wisdom and might in my heart."
"Such a handsome, extraordinary, wise, and powerful emperor, who holds the reins of power, surely wouldn't bear to blame a kind, timid woman like me, whose heart and eyes are only for him?"
The chubby orange cat, seething with anger, suddenly wilted. It couldn't vent its frustration, nor could it swallow its anger; it was filled with a confused and aggrieved feeling.
This fairy has a special move; she always manages to jump around and cause trouble when he's angry.
The chubby orange sighed, "Since you've said all that, how could I bear to blame you?"
"Enough, enough. I don't expect you to change your temper. It's my good fortune that I haven't been driven to death by you."
Sun Miaoqing said aggrievedly, "Your Majesty always puts accusations on me. I am too busy caring for you to be angry with you."
"If you feel that I am not as gentle as the other sisters, you can send someone with a better temper to serve you with your writing materials."
"It's as if I really enjoy grinding ink!"
Sun Miaoqing angrily threw the silk handkerchief into the arms of the chubby orange cat, turned around, and faced away from him. She kept glancing back furtively, clearly waiting for the chubby orange cat to give in.
Big Fat Orange felt incredibly tired, more tired than reviewing a whole basket of official documents. Whenever she wanted to please someone, she always managed to win everyone's favor.
But when they get restless, they're even more talkative than the birds in the aviary, and they'll jump around and hop about...
Wait a minute, Big Fat Orange suddenly remembered that this fairy only ever bothered him and never offended anyone else.
Even if the person opposite her was a lowly concubine or even a lady-in-waiting, she was always very polite to her!
"I was just saying it casually, but you're making a big deal out of it."
"The previous dynasty was in constant turmoil, with one or two people causing trouble for me and trying to scheme against me. But when I returned to the inner palace, you gave me attitude and made my life miserable!"
As he spoke, Big Fat Orange slammed the folded document in his hand onto the table with a loud thud, startling Sun Miaoqing so much that her heart trembled at the sound.
She quickly turned around and whispered, "Then I didn't do it on purpose. Even if there is some responsibility, Your Majesty should take the lion's share. After all, you are the Emperor, how can you hold a lowly woman like me accountable?"
"Please calm down. It's just the scheme of those with ulterior motives. They don't dare to openly oppose you and the court, so they hide behind the scenes and incite the people to cause trouble."
"The common people have limited knowledge and are easily instigated and manipulated. Even if a few farmers own a lot of land and have to pay more taxes, the benefit is for all the people."
"Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it. These people jumping around now are just splashes of water as the ship moves forward. You can easily wipe them out with a wave of your hand."
"If you get angry over these things, and something bad happens, wouldn't that be playing into the hands of those petty people!"
The chubby orange didn't speak, so Sun Miaoqing stood behind him and massaged his shoulders. For a moment, the hall was silent.
After a long while, the chubby orange-haired man finally spoke, "This memorial was submitted by Li Wei. Do you think Fahai is really that useless?"
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