Chapter 421 - Separate Dimension? (1/2)

“Brother, do you think a seventh-level official is small? That’s the same level as the county magistrate ah. That being said, the Yu Family has close ties with Royal Prince Yang. On the royal prince’s feudal lands, even the prefectural magistrate has to give them some leeway! Right now, the Yu Family has a lot of clout in Tanggu Town!” Farmer Zhang expressed his feelings of envy and jealousy. How come such a good thing didn’t fall onto him ah?

The younger man was about to say something when suddenly a skinny youth ran into the teahouse. The young man immediately stood up and welcomed the youth as he asked urgently, “Is there news already?”

The skinny youth picked up a cup from the table and guzzled it down. He used his sleeve to wipe his mouth and then started talking, “Obviously ah! Starting at noon today, Imperial Prince Jing’s eighteen grain shops will all be selling corn seeds and will close after five days!”

“What about the seeds for wheat then? Are they being sold? I didn’t bring a lot of money with me, so I don’t know if I have enough…” Farmer Zhang started scrambling frantically as he didn’t know what he should do next.

The skinny youth glanced at him and knew that this famer was with his older brother-in-law and hurriedly said, “They will only start selling winter wheat after the autumn harvest. Right now they’re only selling corn seeds and the price is so low that it’s unbelievable. One catty is only five copper coins!”

The younger man pulled at his arm and said, “One of the prince’s grain shops is on this street. Let’s get there before the news gets out. That way we can get a place in line.”

The other peasant farmers who were in the teahouse eavesdropping also followed these two men after settling their bills. They all jogged in the direction of the imperial prince’s grain shop. By the time they got there, they discovered that there was already a line with a dozen or so people in it at the front.

It didn’t need to be said just how popular the imperial prince’s grain shops were right now. Every single one had a winding line in front of it. Yu Xiaocao, who had just been given the title of a sixth rank official, was still lost in wonder! In her past life, she hadn’t even acted as the class monitor. The highest position she got was when she was in the factories working and had been appointed a small group leader. Now, she suddenly became an official that was two levels higher than the county magistrate. Although she was only an official in the Ministry of Revenue in charge of farming affairs, it was still a ranked position.

Today, the official uniform that had been personally tailored for her——a small sized sixth level official’s robe that was green-blue in color and had an embroidered heron in the front——had arrived. She changed into it while she was in her rooms and proudly walked back and forth with it on. While she was joking along with her maidservants, the palace sent down a decree for her to enter.

Good timing! She didn’t even need to change clothing. What was the point of having official clothing? Obviously, when the emperor called her in, she needed to wear it right? Like this, she had the maidservants arrange her hair into a neat bun that was fastened with a jade hairpin and then boldly entered the Imperial Palace.

In the imperial study, only the emperor was there with his head lowered, reading documents. When Yu Xiaocao saw this, she immediately relaxed. If there were other court officials there who saw her wearing official’s clothing, they absolutely would find her to be an eyesore. Since it was only the emperor seeing her, it absolutely couldn’t be a big issue. At most, he would only want to talk about some farming affairs. She was very familiar with this stuff so there was nothing for her to be afraid of!

However, she would have never expected that the emperor’s first words would scare her silly, “I’ll say...old friend ah, when will you ever spill the beans to me eh?”

Apparently, as soon as Yu Xiaocao entered the imperial study, Zhu Junfan had immediately noticed her. At first, the little lass’s every movement was quite cautious and she stayed obediently behind Su Ran like a little bird with her head tucked down. However, once she noticed that it was only him in the room, she suddenly straightened her back and became much more lively.

He pretended to be engrossed in the documents in front of him. The little lass was becoming more and more bold. She was looking around the imperial study as if she was on a tour. She craned her neck to look at the books on the bookshelves and then secretly touched a few items that were on the treasure shelf. She even bent down to take a whiff of the incense censer that was burning ambergris. ‘Little girl, do you think the imperial study is like your own backyard ah? Just watch as I scare you a bit, you bold little thing.’

Yu Xiaocao felt her heart skip a beat and cold sweat immediately poured out of her pores. She stuttered, “What...old friend? Your Imperial Majesty, is your ancestral home in Tanggu Town?”

“Pretending, always pretending!! Are you still going to pretend that you don’t know what I’m talking about? Peking roasted duck, braised food, Buddha jumps over the wall, and those large watermelons as well as the early ripening vegetables...even an idiot would know that you are from the same place as I am!” Zhu Junfan propped his chin up in an unruffled manner and watched as the little lass revealed expressions of unease and fright.

“That uh...this subject, no, this official had found an old cookbook that was damaged…” Yu Xiaocao still attempted to defend herself but her excuse seemed quite pathetic at this moment.

“Beloved Official Yu, deceiving the monarch is a crime worthy of death!” Zhu Junfan revealed an emperor’s presence and stared at her fixedly like a tiger staring at its prey. It made Yu Xiaocao feel as if she was under a lot of pressure.

Yu Xiaocao lowered her head and slumped her shoulders. She had always known that once her old transmigrator friend, the emperor, had suspicions towards her, she would be pulled out of the dark by the tail. Struggling to death was of no use, so she could only brace herself as she answered, “Whatever Your Imperial Majesty says will do…”

Zhu Junfan saw that the little lass was now acting like a depressed little bunny and had an expression that showed she had accepted her fate. He grinned, “Why do you need to act all down and depressed ah? I’m not a tiger that will eat you, right?”