Wei Yu is a person with no big ambitions, a lazybones.
He doesn’t want to stir up trouble; he just wants to live off his identity, lounging around, waiting to age into retirent.
With the imperial power of Great Wei being stable and his father firmly sitting on the throne, his naturally high status ensures he will live a life of wealth and honor forever.
So, Wei Yu can be said to be indifferent to worldly desires.
Does he not know what will happen after the rent reduction?
Of course, he knows!
If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have only reduced it by 20%, he would have slashed it to only 30%!
In this agrarian society, land is everyone’s lifeblood. The high-ranking officials don’t farm themselves but rely on tenants to do so, collecting rent to exploit the common people and earn profits.
The tenants live hard lives, relying on working for others to earn just enough food to survive.
When the harvest is good, it’s manageable, but when the harvest is bad, or if a disaster strikes, they are just waiting to die.
Wei Yu reduced the rent by 20%, seemingly out of consideration for his tenants, with no concern for others. However, if word gets out, surrounding tenants will inevitably start to get restless!
They will want to go work on the Wise King’s estate, regardless of whether the estate is hiring or not. For the sake of their own livelihood, they will certainly inquire.
If they are accepted, fine; if not, they will just stay with their old landlords.
But these actions are forced. As ti goes on, the tenants with high rents will see how much better the lives of the tenants under Wei Yu are, and they will inevitably feel resentful. They will complain that their own landlords didn’t reduce rent and will eventually take a series of “rebellious” actions…
It’s actually a case of fearing inequality, not poverty.
Wei Yu isn’t afraid of the issue escalating. If soone wants to impeach him, so be it. After all, he is a prince, and when he goes out, he has guards protecting him. He’s not stupid enough to give others an opportunity to harm him.
Moreover, if soone reports it to the old man, even better!
He can conveniently take the opportunity to be dismissed, sent to the frontier to avoid the lilight, and live leisurely away from court!
Wei Yu was secretly pleased, standing with his hands behind his back on the embanknt, his face full of confidence.
Behind him, Steward He, watching his back, had concocted an image of the Wise King in his mind, one who was benevolent, kind, and towering in virtue!
The way he looked at Wei Yu was filled with deep emotion and guilt.
“Your Highness is right. It was my narrow-mindedness,” Steward He muttered, feeling deeply ashad of his previous timidity.
Wei Yu turned around, patting his shoulder with a serious tone, “Steward He, you ant well for . I understand your intentions.”
Steward He looked up, eyes full of gratitude, “Your Highness!”
“Don’t worry, it’s all a small matter.”
The prince’s tolerant attitude made Steward He feel even more guilty. He deeply despised his forr self and made a resolution in his heart.
Steward He said earnestly, “Your Highness, the estate is under my watch. You can rest assured, I will keep a close eye on everyone and make sure the news of the rent reduction doesn’t leak out. I will ensure no trouble cos to Your Highness!”
Wei Yu: …?
He froze for a mont.
Is Steward He trying to repay kindness with harm?
Is he angry because he was intimidated earlier?!
They had already discussed the rent reduction and building the school with Steward He, and they could revisit the rules later. So, Wei Yu finally had ti to rest.
His rest consisted of lying in bed watching ani.
In fact, Wei Yu didn’t intend to be this lazy, really!
He had planned to do so farming, hiking, or fishing before coming here, but who could’ve expected that the “Two Hes” would interfere with his plans?
Can he be blad for that?
Clearly, it’s not his fault!
They ruined his mood for leisure and forced him to lie in bed watching ani…
–
Wei Yu lazed around until evening.
The oil lamp was lit, and he lay in bed with his legs crossed, watching an important scene when a voice suddenly sounded from outside the door.
“Your Highness, the account books have been organized. Do you wish to review them now?”
The words “account books” made Wei Yu bolt upright in bed.
The ntion of account books was as terrifying as a deadline, and it made him jump up in shock.
“Damn, I almost forgot about the account books!”
Realizing that he had to go back tomorrow and check the books, Wei Yu cursed and hamred the bed in frustration.
He got out of bed, put on his shoes, and shouted outside, “Bring the books over, and by the way, call the people who wrote the accounts too!”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Fang Sheng left, and Wei Yu put on his shoes, tidied his clothes, and sat at the desk by the window to wait.
When Fang Sheng and the guards entered, Wei Yu saw their dark circles under the candlelight.
Wei Yu: “…You haven’t slept at all, have you?”
That question shouldn’t have been asked.
The guards, with their dark circles and expressionless faces, all stared straight ahead, not answering. But Fang Sheng replied.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Wei Yu glanced at him sideways, “You’re quite aggressive.”
Fang Sheng: ?
He didn’t understand.
The guards hadn’t slept since they began organizing the account books, but the final result was actually quite impressive.
Wei Yu flipped through the eight volus of account books, nodding as he went through them. “Not bad, this is well-written. Very clear. But the handwriting could use so improvent.”
He flipped through the first four volus, then when he reached the fifth one, he realized it was identical to the previous volu, except the Arabic numbers were replaced with words.
Wei Yu raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised, and looked up at the guards, asking, “Whose idea was it to replace the numbers with words and rewrite it?”
The guards didn’t speak but all pointed at one person.
What a perfectly coordinated bunch of poker-faced mutes.
Wei Yu sighed and looked at the person they pointed to—a young man with thick eyebrows and big eyes.
Wei Yu asked him, “Why did you think of doing this? Isn’t it troubleso and ti-consuming?”
The young man replied seriously, “Your Highness, numbers are easy to make mistakes with and can easily be tampered with. We need a duplicate book for comparison.”
“Smart! Very clever! You’re a promising young man! I really admire you!”
Wei Yu smiled, asking, “What’s your ranking?”
“Ding Si.”
Wei Yu thought about it for a mont, feeling that this ranking wasn’t very nice. It didn’t sound as good as Yi Shisan.
It sounded a bit like Zhang San, Li Si, Wang Ermazi.
He thought for a while and asked Ding Si, “Do you want to change your na? How about I give you one?”
Ding Si’s eyes lit up, and before a na was given, he thanked him imdiately. “I thank Your Highness!”
“Hmm…”
Wei Yu lowered his head and thought for two seconds before suddenly brightening up. “How about Ding Facai? This na is full of fortune and prosperity, you’ll definitely beco wealthy and successful with it!”
Ding Si’s eyes sparkled as he nodded without hesitation.
“Yes, from now on, I’ll be Ding Facai!”
Fang Sheng: …
This is worse than Xiao Shisanlang.
Fang Sheng silently turned his head and took a deep breath.
When they return, he’ll have to warn the brothers in the Wise King’s residence not to expect any nas from the prince.
This is going to be hard to deal with.
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