WWC | Chapter 3

Grinding Beside the Emperor

This whole way, he rushed and hurried, and finally made it to the entrance of Zichen Hall before the chime of the bells and drums had completely faded.

Even after changing into dry robes, Su Tingyan’s temples were still slightly damp. A few strands of black hair clung to his jade-white cheek, lending him an added air of disheveled elegance.

Like a spray-drenched orchid, it drew the sideways glances of the officials who had arrived first.

Today’s morning audience was a little unusual. It was not the usual presentation of memorials, but a year-end accounting meeting convened by the Grand Secretariat.

The atmosphere inside the hall was more solemn and heavy than usual.

The Six Ministries and all the provinces had each recorded last year’s expenditures in ledgers and compiled them into vouchers.

Thick account books were stacked in the hands of the ministers and on the desks before them. The air was thick with the smell of old ink and paper.

These accounts would ultimately have to be totaled and verified by the Ministry of Revenue, then sent to the Directorate of Ceremonial for red approval and sealing, before the final balance could be settled and a year’s official business concluded.

The Minister of Revenue, Lu Xuan, who should have been present, had claimed illness today and did not come. He only sent the Vice Minister, Zhang Ying, to report in his place.

Holding the master ledger, Vice Minister Zhang read out last year’s total income and expenditure in an unruffled tone, but the numbers were so enormous they were enough to make anyone’s heart sink.

The chief officials of each ministry listened intently, occasionally flipping through the booklets in their hands to compare figures.

On the surface, Su Tingyan looked as though he was listening earnestly, but in truth his mind was entirely on the side chamber inside the hall.

There, sitting in state, was the supreme ruler of Great Zhao, Emperor Jingwu.

Yet at this very moment, he was absorbed in practicing calligraphy, as if he could not hear the ministers’ arguments and exchanges in the hall at all.

System: [Triggered event option: Grinding Beside the Emperor.]

[Option A: Enter the side chamber and drip the Lan Zhi fragrant essence you use into the emperor’s inkstone to please him.]

[Option B: Enter the side chamber and sit on the emperor’s lap while grinding ink for him.]

[Please choose carefully. This option is meant to win the Dragon Throne’s favor. Failure will deduct 10 charm points!]

Su Tingyan had still been spacing out when he suddenly heard these options, and he had to admit he respected the game developer’s mental state.

Was there even a need to choose???

What the hell, sit on the emperor’s lap and grind ink? That’s not a powerful minister, that’s a filthy flirt!

And what exactly was this developer looking down on, the player’s intelligence or the player’s morals?

Could a normal person choose B?!

Su Tingyan decisively chose A.

He did in fact have Lan Zhi fragrant essence on him. The original owner seemed to have a habit of burning incense, and kept a delicate perfume bottle in his sleeve pocket.

While the attention of everyone in the hall was concentrated on Vice Minister Zhang’s long report, Su Tingyan quietly took half a step back, used the row of beaded curtains as cover, left the main hall, and walked around toward the side chamber.

The side chamber was blocked only by a screen. Two inner attendants stood with their hands lowered at the door. Seeing Su Tingyan approach, they seemed a little surprised, but did not stop him. They only bowed silently.

Su Tingyan gave a slight nod and stepped inside at an unhurried pace.

The room was dimly lit, with only a few threads of daylight filtering in from outside. Dust floated in the air like the last wisps of smoke burned out in an incense burner.

Emperor Jingwu was seated alone at the imperial desk with his back to the doorway, a purple sandalwood table reflecting the hall’s cold light.

His expression was focused. Dressed in plain clothes, he indifferently admired the beautiful palace attendant grinding ink beside him.

The maid’s soft, fair hands held the ink stick. White and black, like jade and twilight, they moved in slow circles, graceful and tranquil.

The system prompt sounded again: [Please execute Option A: drip Lan Zhi fragrant essence into the inkstone.]

Silently, Su Tingyan stepped forward. With a glance, he signaled for the maid to pass the ink stick into his hand, then gripped the stone firmly and continued grinding, slow and steady.

Emperor Jingwu watched his movements quietly, but did not speak up to stop him.

Seeing that the emperor had no reaction, Su Tingyan took out the small porcelain bottle from his sleeve. Its color was like frozen ice, and inside it was Lan Zhi fragrant essence.

He lifted his wrist and tilted the bottle.

A few drops of fragrant essence fell into the thick ink. At first they did not disperse or dissolve, lying like cold dew凝 on the ink’s surface, and then slowly sank downward, trailing a few faint, smoke-like streaks.

In an instant, the entire side chamber was filled with a clean, crisp fragrance.

Su Tingyan lowered his eyes and watched quietly. The scent climbed along the edge of his sleeve and spread, soaking into his snow-frost robes.

For a moment, it was as if he had slipped away from the tangled affairs of court and fallen into a realm of utter solitude, where no human figure could be seen, only the silent vastness of a thousand peaks.

At last, His Majesty lifted his hand and took up the imperial brush, dipping the tip into the ink pool.

The brush hair, saturated with this fragrant ink, touched the paper and sank in soundlessly.

He wrote the four large characters “Awakening the World Fragrance” in flowing, glossy strokes. Each character seemed to release a clear, cold fragrance.

The brushwork was firm and upright, yet carried a trace of unrestrained ease, just like the man who wrote it, inscrutable and hard to fathom.

Emperor Jingwu set down the brush, but his gaze did not leave those four characters, as if he were still savoring the lingering chill of fragrance between ink and brush.

After a long while, he slowly lifted his eyes and let his gaze fall on Su Tingyan, who stood quietly to the side.

“Su Qing.” His voice was clearer now than it had sounded outside the hall.

“Your servant is here.” Su Tingyan bowed in answer, his posture respectful.

“This fragrance,” Emperor Jingwu said, his fingertips lightly touching beside the still-wet ink, “what is it called?”

Su Tingyan knew this was the key moment, and he had to answer with care. “In reply to Your Majesty, this fragrance has no name. It is a secret recipe I happened upon by chance. Wild white siler root and light liquor are soaked together, then zero-ling incense is added to remove the grassy scent before it is made.”

“Because its scent is clear and awakens the mind, I privately call it Qianshan Ji.”

“Qianshan Ji…” Emperor Jingwu repeated it softly, his eyes shifting slightly as he tasted the meaning of the name.

He looked at Su Tingyan again. “You do have refined taste, Qing. Hearing this fragrance, I actually feel much calmer. Compared with the usual tribute incense, it seems to be there and not there, solitary and unassuming, not flattering at all. Truly worthy of the name Awakening the World Fragrance.”

“These four characters are your reward.”

Su Tingyan dropped to his knees at once. “This minister thanks Your Majesty for your great favor.”

After a pause, the emperor asked as if offhandedly, “The noise in the hall, was it over the shortfall in the Ministry of War’s funds?”

Su Tingyan’s heart tightened. So His Majesty had not completely ignored what happened outside the window.

He chose his words carefully and replied cautiously, “Your Majesty is wise. It is indeed that matter. Vice Minister Zhang has already been reporting the master accounts, but the Ministry of War side… seems to be under considerable pressure.”

Emperor Jingwu gave a soft hmm. “If the accounts are unclear, they should be investigated. But the bellies of the soldiers at the frontier cannot be left empty.”

Su Tingyan was still trying to figure out which side the emperor stood on when the argument in the outer hall suddenly rose several notches, and he could faintly hear Xie Zheng’s suppressed fury, along with some officials’ sophistry and accusations.

Emperor Jingwu frowned, losing interest in savoring the fragrance because of the clamor. He suddenly said, “In your opinion, how should this matter be settled so the accounts are clear and the feelings of the border garrison are not hurt?”

This was a sudden test, and also a trap. No matter how Su Tingyan answered, he could offend one side or the other.

He had only just transmigrated here. He really could not directly make enemies of one faction to death right away, or he would only create too many hostile forces and make his future situation even harder.

The emperor had not told him to rise, so Su Tingyan remained kneeling, his voice steady and even. “This minister has heard that there is no mistake in the Ministry of Revenue’s accounts.”

“But because of the disasters across various regions last year, the tax silver collected was less than expected, and the national treasury is indeed strained.”

“My colleagues in the Ministry of Revenue also exhausted both body and mind. In order to let more soldiers eat their fill and avoid delayed stipends, they had no choice but to slightly lower the grade of military pay distribution while ensuring the total amount remained unchanged.”

He cleverly swapped the concept of “embezzlement” for “lowering the grade,” turning subjective malice into the objective helplessness of the “best available choice.”

Hearing it this way, the Ministry of Revenue not only had no fault, but instead became meritorious, putting the overall situation first and working with painstaking care. It was only that the method was not quite proper, and the frontier troops were made to feel a little wronged.

At this, Emperor Jingwu did not speak immediately. The side chamber fell into a subtle silence, with only the faint sound of the argument from the outer hall as background.

“Lowering the grade?” After a moment, the emperor slowly repeated those two words. “How was it lowered? And by how much?”

Su Tingyan still knelt upright, his voice calm and unhurried. “As far as this minister knows, for example, polished rice was replaced with old rice, new winter robes were filled with old cotton, and the oil used for maintaining weapons was also reduced, and so on. After calculation, it amounts to about twenty percent lower than the customary amount in previous years. However, the silver paid out from the Ministry of Revenue’s accounts does match the amount requested by the Ministry of War, not a single coin off.”

His words were half true and half false.

In fact, this kind of lowering the grade was indeed common in embezzlement. What was false was that this was absolutely not a helpless decision by the Ministry of Revenue, but a deliberate corruption tactic, and the actual amount embezzled was certainly far more than twenty percent.

But saying it like this gave the emperor an excellent way to step down, and gave this matter an explanation that seemed understandable.

A trace of faint amusement flashed through Emperor Jingwu’s eyes.

How could he not know the hidden mechanics of it?

But this Su Tingyan was truly sharp and impeccable, leaving no room for leaks. This explanation preserved Lu Xuan’s faction’s face, pointed out that Xie Zheng had indeed suffered a grievance, and even produced a seemingly specific but actually vague figure of twenty percent, leaving room for maneuver.

“So that is how it is.” Emperor Jingwu pretended to suddenly understand, giving a light nod. “Then the Ministry of Revenue really has had a hard time with all this effort.”

Only he and Su Tingyan himself would probably understand the sarcasm hidden in those words.

The argument in the outer hall had already reached a fever pitch. Only Xie Zheng could be heard shouting angrily, “…How can rotten grain be eaten! How can inferior arrowheads kill the enemy!”

“Su Qing.”

“Your servant is here.”

“Then according to what you say, should this matter just be let go?” He tossed the question back again, but this time his tone was clearly already leaning in one direction, only waiting for a suitable execution plan.

Su Tingyan caught on immediately and said, “This minister dares to suggest that, although the Ministry of Revenue has an understandable reason, the suffering of the frontier troops is also a fact. Perhaps Your Majesty could issue a decree ordering the Ministry of Revenue to immediately raise the funds and make up the full twenty percent shortfall from this lowered grade, then send it urgently to the border to reassure the soldiers.”

“Since this is the year-end settlement now, if punishment is to be meted out, it would inevitably take time and energy. As for the future…”

He paused slightly. Seeing that the emperor’s expression did not change, he continued, “This minister requests to separately establish an audit office, selecting personnel well-versed in accounting and upright in conduct from the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War, and the Censorate to form it together with me. It would not be under the jurisdiction of any one ministry, and would report directly to Your Majesty.”

“It could both verify the old accounts from previous years and focus on supervising the specific flow of future state treasury allocations. In this way, it can effectively prevent embezzlement and also avoid, to the greatest extent, implicating the innocent, while demonstrating Your Majesty’s fairness and sage judgment.”

His words made it clear that he did not agree with what had been done this time, yet he did not favor either side.

He only designed a targeted solution for the future, turning any possible factional struggle into a technical auditing issue, and in the end he skillfully returned both the credit and the decision-making power to the emperor.

After hearing him out, the corner of Emperor Jingwu’s mouth seemed to curl a little, then quickly returned to normal.

“Su Qing has the confidence to do this?”

Su Tingyan straightened his back. “This minister has complete confidence!”

His heart was clear, his pride unbent, and even while kneeling he stood like a cold pine in the wind.

Emperor Jingwu glanced at him lightly and said one word, “Granted.”

Then he raised his voice. “Someone.”

An inner attendant entered at once in response.

“Pass on my oral decree.”

Emperor Jingwu’s voice regained the chill and majesty of an emperor. “Starting today, establish the Audit and Clear-Officials Directorate. Let Su Zhao temporarily take charge as its head. Together with personnel selected from the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War, and the Censorate, you will be responsible for verification and oversight of the specific flow of future special allocations from the state treasury, especially in matters concerning military pay and provisions.”

“All verification results are to be presented directly to Me. I hope you will not fail My expectations!”

“Your servant accepts the decree and thanks Your Majesty!”

With the matter settled, the emperor finally stopped keeping a stern face and asked with a smile, “Su Qing, do you usually use that fragrance called Qianshan Ji just now?”

Su Tingyan said, “Your Majesty truly has an extraordinary sense of smell!”

“Hahahaha, no wonder. I always feel that Su Qing is like the fresh cold of an early dawn, walking through the lonely fences of a mountain retreat. So it turns out that a person is like his fragrance.”

“This minister is terrified!”

“Su Qing, this kneeling of yours only makes Your robe seem even more like spring clouds brushing past and lingering. It truly is a fine fragrance.”

“This fragrance awakens well.”

Those words carried a deeper meaning, as if they were not only speaking of fragrance, but also a faint trace of ambiguity.

What emperor praises a minister by saying, “My dear official, you smell nice”?!

How was that any different from saying, “Brother, you smell nice”?!

Su Tingyan’s temple was jumping wildly as he hurriedly asked the system in secret, “Don’t tell me this old emperor also wants to screw me??? Is he a capture target? He has to be at least fifty, right!?”

Fortunately, the system quickly dispelled his worry: [Oh, no, not at all. Player, you can rest assured. The developer is absolutely obsessed with looks. Anyone old or ugly can never be your capture target.]

Su Tingyan: “…………” Please thank her for me.

That was good, that was good. If there really were a capture target this outrageous, then there would be no point in playing at all. That would really be, if the ruler wants to screw a minister, how could the minister dare not obey!

It seemed this old emperor was just joking around with him.

Emperor Jingwu returned to the desk and said nothing more. He only said, “Enough. Rise.”

“Take My calligraphy with you and go out to make them all quiet down. Whatever should be done, go do it.”

“Yes.” Su Tingyan respectfully took the piece of ink writing, still carrying a faint chill, with the words “Awakening the World Fragrance” already dry. He carefully rolled it up, bowed again, and withdrew from the side chamber.

System: [Congratulations, player, on completing the event option: Grinding Beside the Emperor! And successfully handling the plot event: Emperor’s Test! You have earned the achievement [Witty in the Imperial Presence]!]

System: [Result evaluation: The Dragon Throne is greatly pleased! Charm +500! After deducting the advance charm value for medicinal bloodwort, current charm value: 400.5!]

When Su Tingyan heard that, holy shit!!!!!!!! 500!!!!!!

That was way more cost-effective than getting screwed down there!!!!

System: [Current charm value can unlock the skill: Beauty’s Gift, Fire Trees and Silver Flowers All Night Long.]

Su Tingyan did not understand. “What skill?”

System: [It means you can now begin bestowing items on others. After gifting them, there is a certain chance of increasing charm value.]

Su Tingyan: “Can I bestow anything?”

System: [Of course.]

A few thoughts suddenly formed in Su Tingyan’s mind.

Author’s Note:

———————-

Emperor Jingwu: Let the one with proper views of the world be my minister, and the one with proper looks be my wife.

Emperor Jingwu: Su Qing, which one are you?

Su Tingyan: If possible, this minister only wants to be your son.

Hahahaha, a little gag scene for fun. There are four capture targets, and the emperor is not one of them. His age is too high, he’s got the smell of an old man.

Ranyan’s current charm value: 400.5 (homecoming progress 0.04%)

For any babies who might not fully get the background, here’s a tiny explanation:

Lu Xuan is the biggest corrupt official in Great Zhao. He serves as both a Military Cabinet minister and the Minister of Revenue, and the power of his faction is known as the Lu faction.

General Xie Zheng belongs to the clean government faction, so the two sides are political enemies.

Right now, our Ranyan has just transmigrated and has not yet taken a side, but later he will stand with Xie Zheng and become an opposing faction to Lu Xuan.