DLWAV CH39

However, the little Milk Dumpling was even angrier than Ao Ruize.

“What is going on?”

“How can pearls possibly have aphrodisiac effects?”

“Did those river clams eat super-fertilizer or something? Did they mutate?”

“No, absolutely not! You are destined to become a wise ruler of your generation, so you cannot continue farming these things.”

“Otherwise, even if you achieve extraordinary feats in the future, when descendants think of you, they’ll only associate you with aphrodisiacs! If you later encounter some inhumane alien dynasty that wants to slander the previous dynasty to consolidate their own rule, they’ll slap the label of ‘The Aphrodisiac Emperor’ right on your head. Then your reputation will be completely ruined…”

The next second, its voice came to an abrupt halt.

Because, as luck would have it, it happened to catch Ao Ruize right at the moment he decided that he couldn’t be accused in vain—so he was preparing to actually use the pearls to swell up Xia Jingyao’s belly.

Milk Dumpling: “…”

Ao Ruize: “…”

Ao Ruize thought that what the Milk Dumpling said seemed to make a bit of sense.

The Milk Dumpling… the Milk Dumpling was completely stupefied.

Then, before it could react, Ao Ruize directly sealed it inside his sea of consciousness.

It wasn’t out of a guilty conscience, but mainly because he felt he shouldn’t corrupt a child.

Milk Dumpling: “…”

Deep in the sea of consciousness, the Milk Dumpling, who took a good long while to process what just happened, let out a “Wah!” and burst into tears.

To be fair, Ao Ruize truly hadn’t known that the pearls produced on his estate had aphrodisiac properties!

Although, it wasn’t hard to guess why the pearls from that estate were potent—it was almost certainly due to the dragon scales. As a creature of pure Yang, supreme Yang and unyielding strength, his scales were naturally powerful. It was perfectly normal for the river clams to mutate under the influence of the Yang energy radiating from his scales.

This could only be considered a strange combination of accidental circumstances.

Originally, he had only intended to alleviate the suffering of the clams and clean up some trash while he was at it.

So, the next morning, after climbing out of Xia Jingyao’s bed and confirming that the male dignity he had “lost” yesterday had been fully reclaimed, he went directly to the estate.

Soon, the truth came to light.

Starting from April of last year, the estate had begun producing pearls intermittently.

Generally speaking, it would take hundreds or even thousands of wild river clams to yield a single large, perfectly round pearl. The vast majority of pearls produced by wild clams were irregular in shape and varied in size.

Although the clams on Ao Ruize’s estate could produce a qualifying large pearl for every seven or eight opened, the majority of the pearls produced were still substandard.

According to custom, such pearls were ground directly into powder and sold to cosmetic shops to make pearl powder.

Of course, the price of pearl powder was very low; often, the price of five catties of powder couldn’t match that of a single average-quality pearl.

The steward of Ao Ruize’s estate had originally followed this practice.

That is, until one day, he got drunk and accidentally ate a mouthful of the pearl powder he had secretly skimmed off to give to his wife and concubines, mistaking it for roasted flour. Then, things spiraled out of control.

Upon discovering that the estate’s pearls had such miraculous effects—and that no one else knew about it—evil grew in the steward’s heart. He concealed the matter, opened a cosmetic shop himself, and sold all the pearl powder produced by the estate to himself at a low price.

Once he had the pearl powder, he found two doctors to process it all into aphrodisiacs and sold them on the market.

Later, as the aphrodisiac sold like hotcakes, and the reproductive speed of the clams in the estate increased, producing more and more pearls—coupled with the fact that Ao Ruize was constantly away from the capital—his courage grew.

Eventually, he didn’t even spare the high-quality pearls. He kept most of the production, grinding it into powder, and only released a small portion to the market to be entered into the ledger and presented to Ao Ruize.

The result was that over the past half-year, while Ao Ruize had earned just over a hundred thousand taels, the steward had pocketed over one million taels.

Ao Ruize laughed out of sheer anger.

First, he hadn’t expected that he, wise through the ages, would stumble over a lowly servant.

He didn’t hesitate. He immediately ordered the steward, who was kneeling on the ground begging for mercy, to be dragged out and strangled. He then sent men to raid the steward’s home and exiled his entire family to Yunzhou to repair official roads.

Second, selling aphrodisiacs seemed… quite profitable.

One had to remember that previously, the Great Yang Dynasty’s annual tax revenue was only seven or eight million taels. Even now, the annual tax revenue was only thirteen million taels.

Yet this aphrodisiac business had made over 1.2 million taels in just half a year.

It was a little tempting!

But after thinking it over, Ao Ruize decided to seal off the estate before the news spread throughout the entire Great Yang.

After all, for him, earning money was easy.

But reputation? Once that had a blemish, it was very hard to fix.

In short, he cared about his face.

When the news reached the court:

The civil and military officials: “…”

Emperor Yuanxi: “…”

The First Prince: “…”

The officials thought: The Prince An, who cares so much about saving face, suddenly seems much more approachable.

Emperor Yuanxi thought: I’ve been Emperor for decades, and my private treasury only has a little over a million taels. Yet Prince An casually makes over a million taels just like that… it’s impossible not to feel a little sour.

The faces of the Fourth Prince’s faction, however, were uglier than a sewer.

Because of this incident, they had lost so much manpower. In the end, not only did they fail to bring down Prince An, but they also helped him root out a parasite by his side and gain over a million taels in extra income.

However, the expressions of the First Prince and his group weren’t much better.

They realized something immediately.

Holding such a profitable industry, why hadn’t Prince An told the First Prince about it before?

And now, without even discussing it with them, he simply closed the estate down.

Did he close the estate because the industry was too violently profitable and would attract envy, so he planned to move it underground? Or was it really just purely for the sake of face?

If it was the former, what did he intend to do by keeping such a lucrative business?

If it was the latter… he is just a prince; why does he need such a pristine reputation?

Is his reputation more important than fully supporting the First Prince’s succession?

Suddenly, many people, including the First Prince, furrowed their brows.

Just then, as if realizing something, an official from the Fourth Prince’s faction immediately spoke up: “Even if the source of the money in Prince An’s hands is legitimate, his repeated bribery of court officials shows his intention to form cliques for personal gain is clear as day…”

The first time, he gave those scholars five hundred taels, fine.

But the second time, he gave those officials three hundred taels each.

One must know that a Third-Rank Vice Minister of the Six Ministries only receives about three hundred taels a year when combining their base salary with allowances for vegetables, charcoal, and stationery. Prince An’s single handout equaled a year’s worth, or even several years’ worth, of their income. If this wasn’t bribery, what was it?

Hearing this, the first reaction of the First Prince’s faction was to defend Prince An.

But a second later, thinking about how Prince An had concealed the matter of the South Pearls, the First Prince suddenly hesitated.

He subconsciously signaled his people to hold their tongues for now.

At this precise moment, Emperor Yuanxi spoke up again, interrupting the Fourth Prince’s faction: “Oh, half a month ago, Prince An submitted a memorial to Us. He stated that the Great Yang treasury is now much more ample, and there is no need to be frugal anymore. Therefore, official salaries can be appropriately increased by fifty percent to double. After all, you work diligently for the country and the people, yet your lives are even tighter than the common folk…”

“We feel this proposal is excellent. What do you say?”

Fifty percent to double?

The ‘pure stream’ officials who were about to echo the Fourth Prince’s faction instantly shut their mouths and silently retreated.

There was no helping it; Prince An simply gave too much.

They were upright officials, yes, but upright officials still needed to eat, drink, and sleep. They couldn’t do something like eating from the bowl and then cursing the cook!

Not only because Prince An proposed this, but also because the treasury was only ample enough to support this thanks to Prince An’s contributions.

Most importantly, if Emperor Yuanxi didn’t care about Prince An forming cliques, what use was it for them to meddle?

Wait—

Emperor Yuanxi had absolutely no qualms about Prince An openly forming cliques?

Thinking of this, the expressions of many officials changed.

Some officials looked at the First Prince with even more fervor.

Others’ expressions turned peculiar.

Seeing this scene, the Fourth Prince and his group nearly ground their teeth to dust.

They never expected Emperor Yuanxi to be lenient towards the First Prince and Prince An to this extent.

But to make them accept their fate? Absolutely not—

Did they really have no choice but to take that path?

But just then, an official rushed in, gasping for breath: “Your Majesty! Your Majesty, bad news—”

The man entered and knelt directly on the floor, unable to even catch his breath: “Your Majesty, while Prince An was escorting the Eldest Princess and others back to the capital, they encountered the Oirat (Wala) envoys coming to pay tribute. Because the Oirat Prince spoke disrespectfully to the Fifth Princess, Prince An ordered him to be seized and beaten with thirty heavy strokes.”

“The result… early this morning, the Oirat Prince suddenly vomited blood and died…”

What?

Hearing this, Emperor Yuanxi abruptly stood up from the dragon throne.

The faces of the First Prince and his group changed drastically.

The Fourth Prince and his faction, upon realizing what this meant, were ecstatic.

When the mountains and rivers seem to end and there is no road, willow trees make shade, flowers give light, and another village appears.

Now that Prince An had committed such a catastrophic error, there was no need to worry about not being able to pull him—and even the First Prince—off their high horses!

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