Chapter 6 006 The Beggar: I was just afraid of losing His Highness...
Yun Tianqi's mood was ruined by the old charlatan, and he lost interest in continuing to stroll through the market. However, he was unwilling to go straight back to the palace, so the four of them found a teahouse to drink tea and listen to opera.
Inside the teahouse, two people shared a small table. Yun Tianqi and Shen Hengzhen sat at one table, while Yun Tianjiao and Zhiwei sat at the next table.
The actors on stage sang in a melodious voice, performing the well-worn play "Slaying the Heavenly Pillar," which tells the story of the heavenly pillar of the divine realm hundreds of years ago before it was broken.
Legend has it that in the past, gods did not need to rely on incense offerings from mortals to survive. Their divine power came from the Heavenly Pillar. However, later, a deity, for some unknown reason, severed the Heavenly Pillar, and from then on, the continuous flow of divine power ceased to exist. Only then did the gods have to curry favor with worshippers in order to prolong their lives.
The audience was packed, applauding and cheering from time to time, banging on the table and stomping their feet, making the whole teahouse tremble.
Yun Tianqi frowned. "There's nothing much to see here, why are you shouting so loudly? And these fruits aren't very fresh either." He sniffed and quickly covered his nose with a handkerchief. "Tsk, there's a smell of spoiled tofu in this room."
Shen Hengzhen stared blankly at the stage, but spoke to the young emperor beside him: "A high-class teahouse would be much more comfortable. Didn't you refuse to go, young master? In such a cheap teahouse, it's already a miracle if they serve some fruit; how could they care about freshness? Besides, the people who come here are all laborers and lowly people who do manual labor. The 'stale tofu smell' you mentioned, young master, is probably just the stench of sweat."
Yun Tianqi gagged, almost vomiting.
"Alright, alright, stop talking." The emperor muttered under his breath, "What's the difference between a private room in a top-class teahouse and the palace? I just wanted to try it out, with lots of people crammed together to watch a play, but who knew it would turn out like this..."
Suddenly, the person on stage did a backflip, which drew another round of thunderous applause. Taking advantage of the chaos and noise, a group of beggars rushed in.
"Get out of here! There's nothing for you here!"
Sitting at the next table to the four people was a greasy butcher. A thin little beggar came to his table to beg for food, but was violently knocked over with a slap.
The little beggar bumped into Yun Tianqi and Shen Hengzhen's tea table, and with a crash, all the cups and plates on the table shattered on the floor.
"Young Master, be careful." Shen Hengzhen immediately stood up and protected Yun Tianqi.
The little beggar plopped down on the ground, his elbow resting on a shard of broken porcelain, drawing blood.
At this moment, the teahouse owner rushed out in a panic. Seeing this scene, he was afraid of taking responsibility and ruining his business, so he grabbed a broom and chased the teahouse out like ducks.
"Let's go, let's go! If you want food, go to those upscale teahouses. What can you get here!"
To avoid the broom, the little beggar rolled to the side, only to worsen the injury to his elbow. Just then, someone pulled him up. He looked up, stunned, thinking he was seeing a fairy princess.
Yun Tianjiao was somewhat surprised when he saw the little beggar's face.
The boy looked to be about the same age as Yun Tianqi, at most fourteen or fifteen years old. He was very handsome, but unfortunately, a long scar ran diagonally across his face, disfiguring him.
"Get up first, don't hurt yourself again." She casually took out a silk handkerchief, wrapped a silver ingot in it, and stuffed it into the little beggar's hand. "Go find a doctor to take a look quickly."
Seeing that Yun Tianjiao and his companions were dressed in fine clothes, the teahouse owner was afraid of offending them and hurriedly shooed the little beggar away.
The little beggar had clearly rarely received such kindness before. When he reached the entrance of the teahouse, he even turned back to look in the direction of Yun Tianjiao and the others.
All the beggars in the teahouse were driven away, and soon the opera started playing again. But Yun Tianqi couldn't stay any longer and pulled everyone away.
"I just don't understand. There are so many ways to make money in this world. You can drive your own carriage out to pick up passengers, you can study and pass the imperial examinations, you can even pick the vegetables and flowers in your yard and sell them for money! Why do you have to be a beggar and be chased around like this..."
Yun Tianjiao and Zhiwei walked ahead, while Yun Tianqi could be heard complaining incessantly to Shen Hengzhen.
Shen Hengzhen lowered his eyes and remained silent, letting the emperor continue to drag him along to comment on the beggars.
"Those people who just came in begging for food, many of them were young and strong, with hands and feet. Don't they have any shame? They were chased out like dogs..."
Yun Tianjiao frowned upon hearing this and turned around, intending to tell Yun Tianqi to shut up.
But at this moment, the silent Lord Shen could no longer contain himself and erupted.
"What you're saying, young master, is no different from asking 'Why don't they eat meat porridge?' Where do you think those people came from?"
Yun Tianqi was stunned by the shout and blinked innocently.
After suppressing his emotions for half a day, Shen Hengzhen finally gave in and let loose.
"The southwest has suffered from severe drought for years, and this year it has been hit by wildfires that have burned for three months. The fires have affected hundreds of villages and towns, and the autumn harvest has been completely destroyed. Those are all refugees who fled from the disaster-stricken areas! They have neither land nor houses, nor travel permits or household registration. Tell me, young master, how are they supposed to survive if they don't become beggars?"
Yun Tianqi struggled to recall, only vaguely remembering the mention of the southwestern mountain fires in the mountain of memorials. He stammered, "Mountain, mountain fire...didn't the imperial court already provide disaster relief...?"
"Disaster relief?" Shen Hengzhen scoffed. "With that meager disaster relief funds, after layers of embezzlement, what will the victims have left? Two months ago, I submitted a memorial regarding the embezzlement of disaster relief funds, but it went unanswered. Just three days ago, I wrote another memorial about the influx of refugees into the city, proposing to arrange for special personnel to assist in settling them and issuing temporary household registrations, but there has been no response yet..."
Yun Tianqi touched his nose and suddenly remembered that there were too many memorials in the past few days. He felt sorry for his elder sister's hard work and did not want to bother her, so he casually picked out half of them and threw them into the fire to burn. He didn't know if Shen Hengzhen's memorial was among them.
"Hey, you're not an outsider, you can just tell me what's on your mind, why do you have to write a report..."
As Yun Tianqi spoke, he glanced at the corner of the street. The beggar who had just barged into the teahouse to beg for food was now sitting there, surrounded by the injured little beggar.
Yun Tianqi pulled a gold bean from his pocket, walked over and casually tossed it into a beggar's broken bowl, then ran back to Shen Hengzhen and said, "Is this alright? It's rare for us to come out and have fun, don't be sullen."
"..."
Shen Hengzhen looked completely bewildered and stormed off.
Yun Tianqi stared blankly at his friend's back, then helplessly turned back to look at Yun Tianjiao.
"Elder sister, what's wrong with Shen Hengzhen? It's just a small matter, why is she so angry?"
The siblings stood facing each other on the bustling streets of the imperial city, just a few steps apart. Yun Tianjiao was at a loss for words and felt a deep sense of powerlessness.
When Yun Tianqi ascended the throne, he was only eight years old. She felt sorry for him because he lost the protection of his parents at a young age, so she always did her best to shield him from all the storms.
Seven years have passed, and he remains as innocent and naive as a child, while she no longer has the time to accompany him as he grows up and becomes a capable emperor.
"Tianqi, haven't you considered that if Shen Hengzhen can bypass the formal court process and speak to you privately about everything, eventually the court officials will know that reporting to Shen Hengzhen first will get a faster response and a greater chance of obtaining the emperor's approval than submitting a formal report? Once this door is opened, what will become of imperial power? What will become of the court's authority?"
Yun Tianqi was stunned, his face turning pale.
"Your Majesty, Hengzhen isn't that kind of person. I believe him..."
"He is so angry precisely because he has no ill intentions towards you and considers you a friend."
Yun Tianqi lowered his eyes and remained silent.
"Go back to the palace and review the memorials properly. If I find out you've secretly burned any more memorials, you'll have to kneel before your father and mother's memorial tablets."
Yun Tianjiao gave the order, and the guards who had been hiding in the shadows to protect him appeared.
Yun Tianqi looked pitiful as he was escorted back to the palace, turning back every few steps, while Yun Tianjiao walked in the opposite direction from the palace.
"Zhiwei, can you help me find someone?"
"Does Your Highness wish to see that old fortune teller from earlier?"
Yun Tianjiao nodded. "So, with your divine power, can you do it?"
"In Your Highness's eyes, is this humble god so useless?" Zhi smiled and extended a hand to her.
Yun Tianjiao placed his hand on it, and it was immediately gripped tightly.
These hands are so cold.
"Your Highness, hold on tight to me, don't let go."
The hand holding the umbrella tilted slightly, the gauze canopy pressing down, letting in a warm, hazy sunlight to shield the long street and the flow of people. Yun Tianjiao could only see the person in front of him, his smiling peach blossom eyes, his slightly upturned thin lips, and the pale pink peach blossoms embroidered on the corner of the umbrella.
Whether it was psychological or not, Yun Tianjiao felt as if he could faintly smell the fragrance of peach blossoms.
Why do you like peach blossoms so much...?
When Zhiwei raised the umbrella again, Yun Tianjiao realized that they had left the main street and arrived at a secluded alley.
"Is your umbrella some kind of magical artifact that can shrink the earth to an inch?" Yun Tianjiao was very curious. She had come into contact with gods many times, but this was the first time she had been taken to experience teleportation magic.
"It's just an ordinary umbrella."
"Hmm, I thought you deliberately used the umbrella to cover us because it had some kind of magical power."
Yun Tianjiao was a little disappointed. She was thinking that if the umbrella itself had the function of teleportation, she would exchange incense for it to play with for a few days.
Zhiwei explained, "I just feel that walking under the umbrella will leave Your Highness with more beautiful memories."
Yun Tianjiao: "..."
"I hope that all of Your Highness's memories of me will please Your Highness."
The man's voice was as melodious as the gentle tapping of a bone disc, making Yun Tianjiao's heart flutter for a moment, and he became somewhat addicted.
Her gaze shifted to their clasped hands.
Zhiwei then gently released her, closed the umbrella, and looked back at the temple in front of them.
Yun Tianjiao looked up and saw three characters written on the temple plaque: Gongxin Hall.
This is the temple of Gongxin, one of the three existing deities. However, it is clear that this temple is located in a remote area and is far less bustling than the temples on other main streets of the imperial city.
"How did we get here?" Yun Tianjiao muttered to himself, then suddenly realized, "You mean, that old man was hiding here?"
The temple was very small, only a few square meters in size, and completely empty.
Zhiwei walked straight in and came to the statue of the god Gongxin. She tapped it with the closed umbrella in her hand and said, "Come out, stop hiding."
Yun Tianjiao was very surprised.
The initial rank of a celestial being is Venerable, followed by Immortal Lord, Immortal Venerable, Divine Venerable, and Heavenly Venerable. There is only one Heavenly Venerable, who governs all the gods in the divine realm, so the newly appointed Divine Venerable is second only to the Heavenly Venerable.
The little Venerable One, Zhiwei, showed no reverence for the deity whatsoever, and actually struck the statue with his umbrella. It was unclear whether this was due to ignorance or a strong belief that he had latched onto her as a powerful patron, resulting in an overconfident outlook on his future.
After a series of rustling sounds like mice grinding their teeth, a small door opened on the altar beneath the Gongxin statue, and a disheveled old man with gray hair crawled out.
When the old man saw Yun Tianjiao, he was so frightened that he tried to crawl back inside, but Zhiwei sealed the entrance to the cave.
"My dear young lady, please be magnanimous and forgive me for talking nonsense! I have an eighty-year-old mother and a three-year-old child at home..."
Yun Tianjiao was too lazy to listen to the old man's nonsense. "I'm asking you, you said today that I will never live past nineteen in any of my lifetimes. Is there any way to break this?"
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