EES - Chapter 23
Chapter 23
In the little girl's explanation, An Lin learned that the white spheres contained a flour mixture, the blue ones held a knockout drug, and the green and black ones were respectively medicinal herb powder and metal powder. They could be used offensively, defensively, and even for healing.
Quite versatile functions. Though An Lin herself might never need them, she could always save them for the Empress Avatar.
An Lin gladly accepted the pile of small spheres. "Thank you. I like them very much."
A very readable expression of joy appeared on the little girl's face.
"Then from now on, Erya will stay in the palace. Fortunately, there are teachers here who can instruct you in reading and writing. You will start by learning alongside them to recognize more characters. Once the new academy We plan to establish is ready, We will send you there to study. Does that sound good?" After considering the girl's future placement, An Lin quickly made a decision and asked for her opinion in a gentle voice.
Erya looked bewildered but obediently nodded.
An Lin could not help but pat her head.
The fluffy texture felt surprisingly nice.
Then, raising her hand, she accidentally passed right through the floating text "Erya" above the girl's head. Her gaze lingered on it for a moment.
It did not matter what others called her, even if the naturally dignified voice of the Chibi Emperor's body called out names like "Erya", "Gou Dan", or "Tie Zhu". But since the girl would be living in the imperial palace from now on, keeping a common name like Erya seemed rather hasty. An Lin suspected Master Sun had not bothered to properly name his granddaughter.
She was a Gold Card after all!
So An Lin thought for a moment and said, "Since you will be studying from now on, Erya can remain your childhood name. You will need a proper formal name. Do you have a name you would like?"
The little girl paused, hesitated. "Cuihua?"
An Lin fell silent, then glanced at her Top Scholar minister, signaling him to come up with a better name to replace Cuihua.
The Top Scholar met her gaze for a moment before looking away, as if he had seen nothing.
"Forget it. I'll come up with one." An Lin sighed, pondered for a moment, and came up with a decent-sounding name. "Let us call you Yang Yu. Yu as in the phrase zhong ling yu xiu, meaning endowed with nature's grace."
An Lin felt quite proud of her naming skills. Whether it was Yang Yu or the palace hall name she had chosen upon arriving, Resting-Crane Hall, both expressed a beautiful blessing.
Knowing that "Yang Yu" spoken aloud would never tell the girl which Yu she had been given, An Lin specifically pulled a sheet of paper from beneath a stack of memorials on her desk and wrote the name down for her to recognize.
"Yang Yu." The little girl murmured it a few times. She found that Cuihua, which she had previously thought sounded quite pleasant, suddenly lost its appeal. She carefully committed the name to memory and nodded. "My name."
The [Erya] floating above her head changed accordingly. The simple strokes gradually faded and were erased, while [Yang Yu] settled into the name slot.
An Lin: It works like that?
She knew stats would change, but she did not expect even names to update?
After arranging the future inventor little girl's future, An Lin had the eunuch waiting outside lead Yang Yu to Resting-Crane Hall to find Ji Wanshuang. She intended to leave Yang Yu's arrangements to Ji Wanshuang from now on.
The Empress Simulator's jurisdiction covered the entire harem. Through it, one could allocate resources among the various factions of the harem and monitor all movements across every wing in real time.
This feature was presumably meant to help the empress manage the other concubines. But An Lin did not need anyone else in the harem. So she planned to repurpose the control over these harem factions later: turning certain halls into Shadow Guard intelligence divisions, others into the Board of Manufactures for crafting items the Ministry of Works could not handle directly, another into an inner administration and finance office, and so on. Essentially, she would set up a miniature Six Ministries within the harem for the Empress Avatar to use, and the female officials could be placed there temporarily.
As for Yang Yu, the future little inventor, she was practically earmarked for the Board of Manufactures. First, she would learn to read and write thoroughly, since many invention inspirations could be drawn from books. Later, An Lin would arrange excellent craftsmen to serve as dedicated mentors for her.
She could also spend more time with Song Ling, exposing her early to futuristic ways of thinking, which should help broaden her mind and boost creativity.
In short, within such a short span of time, An Lin had already laid out a perfectly clear plan for her future little inventor.
Once Yang Yu left the study, the atmosphere in the room returned to serious business.
"Regarding the two hundred twenty-plus mu of Hidden Fields and the four hundred fifty-six Hidden Households, has the magistrate of Linfang made any new arrangements?" An Lin steered the conversation back to the matter.
"Not yet," Yang Sheng replied. "The magistrate's idea is to let the Hidden Households return to their places of residence before being sold. But without land, they have no means of survival. Before long, those four hundred fifty-odd people will likely sell themselves again. Therefore, I suggested returning to the capital to propose first employing those Hidden Households to continue farming the reclaimed Hidden Fields. We can adjust the arrangements once the court issues its official directives."
"Using the three hundred thousand taels of silver confiscated from the Cai household, along with the deeds to shops, land, and houses, to hire the Hidden Households for farming will place almost no burden on the county office."
"Your arrangement is perfectly fitting!" An Lin said, pleased.
Because Qiancai's idea aligned exactly with hers. Besides, she also planned that when planting season arrived, to dispatch some of the surplus improved seeds cultivated by the Bureau of Agriculture last year to Linfang. They would plant those improved seeds on the two hundred-plus mu of reclaimed land first, and after harvesting the new seeds, distribute them locally to the farmers in Linfang for consumption.
"Perfect. I will let you handle the management of the Hidden Fields and Households seized in Linfang this time. You will coordinate directly with the Assistant Minister and the Minister of Revenue on this matter, bypassing intermediate approval levels. We will write you an imperial edict." This emperor was incredibly convenient; she wrote edicts on a whim. She immediately walked to her desk, pulled out a blank imperial edict, and began writing. Yang Sheng did not even have time to say anything else.
His Majesty's temperament was somewhat peculiar, to say the least.
The young Top Scholar, whose personality could accurately be described as somewhat aloof, felt a slight twinge of worry as he thought about this remark. He felt that after receiving that overly familiar and sappy edict last time, he had once again refreshed his understanding of the emperor. But upon careful reflection, he realized he did not actually mind it.
After all, who could refuse a sovereign's seemingly unconditional trust?
Moreover, Yang Sheng was not so rigid as to believe that newly appointed officials must simply endure seniority accumulation. Those unable to skip levels to complete tasks were merely average; talented people naturally possessed a bit more pride.
Things gradually began to fall into place.
......
A few days later, the young Top Scholar realized how naive he had been.
After returning to Qiong'an, he spent just a few days securing housing and handling family affairs. Naturally, once that was done, he had to resume his duties.
He held two positions: Hanlin Academy Compiler and Deputy Director in the Ministry of Revenue.
The former role was fine enough. He mainly compiled national histories and veritable records, and provided annotations for classical texts. So he generally spent mornings at the Hanlin Academy and afternoons at the Ministry of Revenue.
But when he arrived at the Ministry of Revenue in the afternoon, Yang Sheng noticed things were starting to feel off.
From the moment he sat down until the official dismissal time, the entire Ministry of Revenue operated under an intense, high-pressure work atmosphere. Everyone moved with hurried steps. Even taking care of personal needs was done within half a pot of tea's time. Every desk was piled with paperwork reaching mountain-like heights. As dismissal approached, designated personnel would come to collect the completed documents, usually requiring ten or more people to make two or three trips to move everything.
Even the colleague assigned to orient Yang Sheng to the Ministry barely managed to exchange a few words before handing him a sheet filled with departmental tasks and work schedules.
Often, when Yang Sheng finished a document and took a brief rest, he could see colleagues nearby furiously scribbling away without pause. Some even worked so intensely their expressions grew grimace-stricken.
Yang Sheng could not help but look down at his own workload. After finishing the Linfang affairs assigned by the emperor, he had received additional Ministry of Revenue tasks. His portion was basically already cleared. He assumed this was because he was new to the Ministry, and whoever distributed the workload had intentionally given him less to help him adapt.
So he focused diligently on processing the remaining documents. Once finished, he still had spare energy to analyze the current state of the court and local conditions based on the paperwork. For documents that had been processed layer by layer before reaching him, he reviewed the previous handlers' sections after completing his part, noting down any unsuitable methods and brainstorming better solutions.
Thus, on his very first day at the Ministry of Revenue, Yang Sheng already had a clear grasp of several matters that had passed through his hands.
But when dismissal time arrived, and Yang Sheng, having finished all his work, prepared to stand up and leave, he discovered that his colleagues seemed to show no intention of departing.
Colleague A: The writing sped up; perhaps the strain tightened their facial muscles too, making the grimace even more pronounced.
Colleague B: They had just finished sorting the pile of documents on their desk and carried it inside. A while later, they returned with a fresh batch, smiling faintly.
Colleague C: Dark circles showed under their eyes, and the brush in their hand wavered. They told the document collector, "I am almost done, really! Just a little more, only a few more characters!"
Watching this scene unfold, Yang Sheng suddenly recalled seeing the emperor's desk piled high with memorials during his audience that day, along with a small side table next to it, also overflowing with memorials.
Among all these colleagues, Yang Sheng stood out starkly with his empty desk, standing up and preparing to leave.
"Deputy Director Yang, you have finished your work and are heading back?" A colleague happened to glance up, saw him standing there, and asked casually.
"All handled. Is 5:15 p.m. not the official dismissal time?" Yang Sheng's expression was rarely puzzled as he asked strangely, "What are you all staying behind to do?"
After Yang Sheng spoke, the colleague shook his head disapprovingly, casting a reprimanding look at him. "How could you possibly sleep if you go home at your age?"
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