YA Ch91: Standee

A half-baked emperor who has yet to marry—how tempting he is. Marrying him means that if Hua Wenyuan wins, it’s a guaranteed position as empress. Even if it’s just to become a concubine, going through hardships together would surely earn deep affection, and once peace is restored, she wouldn’t be mistreated.

Even if Hua Wenyuan doesn’t win in the end, aligning with a powerful rebel guarantees the family a measure of security in the turbulent times.

In every province they’ve conquered, among the prominent families who’ve pledged allegiance, eight out of ten have tried hard to introduce their daughters to Hua Wenyuan. Even the smaller rebel factions he’s absorbed have attempted to send him women. If he didn’t accept, they’d keep sending them, young or old, ugly or beautiful.

Isn’t that attracting romance?

[Hahaha, Hua Wenyuan, all rosy and red, really is attracting romance.]

[That old trickster author didn’t even give our Xiao Yuan a wife by the end. How cruel!]

[Exactly, not accepting even one is so unreasonable. This story is perfect for a harem plot.]

[Get lost, harem fans! This is a no-CP story! It’s about conquering the world, not getting married. Let the solitary king rule the land!]

[Hurry up and finish Hua Wenyuan’s upgrade; I can’t wait to buy it.]

While everyone was busy purchasing the “Assistant Xiao Bai,” they were also eagerly anticipating the release of the “Assistant Hua Hua.”

Hua Wenyuan, unaware of what the high-dimensional beings outside the screen were hoping for, grew annoyed at the sight of his second uncle’s gloating expression. He raised a finger, ready to redirect the trouble towards Lu Yu, but suddenly Shen Ying spoke up:

“Everyone, let’s put the matter of marriage aside for now. The most pressing issue is the division of land.”

At the mention of dividing land, the crowd instantly fell silent.

In various places, prominent families had resisted fiercely. Or rather, whenever prominent families encountered Hua Wenyuan, they would raise armies more fervently than against other rebels. The reason was Hua Wenyuan’s policy of “land for all.”

Whenever he conquered a place, he would divide the large landowners’ estates and distribute the land to the poor farmers who had none. The large families who willingly donated most of their land were allowed to keep their wealth and homes. Those who refused were, at best, exiled, and at worst, exterminated, with their wealth confiscated.

Shen Ying, smiling pleasantly, gestured for the heads of two families to follow him to the front hall. The message was clear: if you want to marry into the general’s family, show some sincerity first.

Hua Wenyuan was thus freed from the predicament, but Shen Ying fell into it instead.

The Shen family didn’t have any intentions of marriage alliances, but when Shen Ying mentioned dividing their land first, Third Uncle was so angry he almost spat blood. “Our family’s land wasn’t gained by bullying or market manipulation; it’s the result of generations of hard work. How can you just give it away?”

Shen Ying looked up at the Confucian-robed Third Uncle. “May I ask, Third Uncle, why has the Great Zhou reached this point?”

Third Uncle frowned. There were many reasons: factional struggles, natural disasters, a foolish emperor, foreign enemies… To explain it thoroughly would take days.

“It’s because the common people have no land while the great families hoard it!” Shen Ying dismissed all other reasons and went straight to the root cause. “The prominent families have many officials and scholars among them, exempting them from taxes. Take this province, for example: good weather year after year, yet the government only collects thirty percent of the taxes. If this continues, with no money for the court and none for the people, how could the empire not fall?”

The Chu, Ping, and three other great families were wealthy beyond imagination, while the government was in shambles, unable to even afford extra laborers. When Hua Wenyuan arrived, the governor could only sit in his crumbling office, waiting for death, begging the great families for help.

The Shen family members were left speechless.

Shen Ying’s father quietly chimed in, “Ying-er, donating land is fine, but wouldn’t donating eighty percent be too much? Without the land, how am I going to afford my wine and flower-bird purchases?”

Shen Ying sighed, “Father, when your son becomes the prime minister, what size of estate won’t I be able to earn? By giving up the land, we can gain the general’s favor, and the family’s children will all have bright futures.”

Third Uncle wasn’t a fool either. Hearing this, he gritted his teeth and said, “Donate.”

With the Shen family taking the lead in cutting away a large portion, the other major families had no choice but to comply and reluctantly offered up their lands for Hua Wenyuan to measure and divide. Hua Wenyuan, in a great mood, submitted a memorial to the emperor, saying that he had punished the great families who refused to pay taxes and ensured that the poor who were dying of hunger and cold could survive the winter, asking the emperor not to worry.

After finishing the memorial, he looked up to see Shen Ying deftly handling government affairs. Hua Wenyuan teased him, “Someone told me you’re ambitious and want to become prime minister.”

Shen Ying didn’t even look up. “What did the general reply?”

Hua Wenyuan stroked his chin. “I said, with the current six-ministry cabinet system, how could you become prime minister? I had the informant beaten up.”

Shen Ying’s brush paused, and he looked up, his youthful face still quite tender, though with dark circles under his eyes, making him look somewhat haggard. “General, you don’t understand. My lifelong ambition is to be prime minister. Once you conquer the world, I’ll petition the emperor to change the system.”

Hua Wenyuan laughed, “And if I don’t?”

Shen Ying sighed, “Then I’ll have no choice but to become a eunuch and serve as an internal minister.”

“Hahahaha…” Hua Wenyuan burst into laughter. “Rest assured, sir. I’ll give your suggestion some serious thought.”

Shen Ying laughed too, but as he did, he suddenly began coughing, startling Hua Wenyuan. Shen Ying waved him off, indicating it was nothing serious—he had just been too busy and caught a bit of a cold.

The governance under Hua Wenyuan was extremely complex. Because he was dividing land for every household, the management had to be meticulous, down to the smallest unit. Governing a single province this way was more exhausting than ruling an entire country under normal circumstances.

They had gradually gathered some officials and scholars, so there were enough people, but Shen Ying had to oversee all major and minor matters, leaving him thoroughly exhausted.

Soldier B stood watching from a distance, grumbling indignantly, “You leave all the government work to Shen Ying, while Hua Wenyuan just sits around eating sunflower seeds and making snide comments. Why don’t you have Hua Wenyuan exhaust himself?”

Lu Yu, who was eating sunflower seeds, choked a little and shrugged. “Because I don’t know how to write.”

Writing about government affairs is very tedious. Since Lu Yu had never been an emperor or an official, the details would always come out wrong. This was his usual lazy trick—leave the complicated stuff to a supporting character. That way, from the protagonist’s perspective, everything would seem easy, just focusing on fighting and leveling up.

The livestream comments exploded with laughter.

[Hahaha, how can you justify laziness so confidently?!]

[I want a secretary like that too, who does all the work while I just play games and kill enemies.]

[Winning the world by eating sunflower seeds and shooting arrows—hurry up and give our Zixia a prime minister’s position!]

After the stream, the top fan was still stuck in the sorrow of Shen Ying’s illness. Out of respect for avoiding spoilers, he hadn’t said anything on the stream, but since Shen Ying’s coughing was a hint at his early demise, he asked, “You’re really not planning to change the plot? Hua Wenyuan’s character has already developed so much. If you go through with this, you’ll traumatize him!”

“I’m ruthless,” Lu Yu remained unmoved as he bent down to unbuckle Ming Yan’s seatbelt. “The reason Shen Ying is so memorable is because he dies. Only his death will make the audience unwilling to let go, accumulating enough popularity for Shen Ying to pass the smart assistant proposal. Why feel sad about losing one Shen Ying? Invest more, and you can have as many Shen Yings as you want.”

The top fan was left bewildered. “Why does that sound so familiar?”

Ming Yan stifled a laugh, recalling that Shen Ying had just used the same argument to convince his family.

Lu Yu and Yan exchanged a knowing look, then Lu Yu cleared his throat and asked Hong Wuyang, “By the way, what were you saying earlier? Why were you delayed this morning?”

“Oh right, my brother dragged me to a meeting with Hongxiao,” the top fan’s face turned sour as he recalled his unfortunate morning.

That guy, Zheng Wuqiong, overjoyed, spread the news everywhere about the Lu family losing its admission rights to the AI Data Alliance. The folks at Hongxiao Capital got wind of it, and by Sunday they had already worked overtime to do a new evaluation. First thing in the morning, they had a meeting and passed the investment proposal.

“My brother wants you to go  to Hongxiao Capital tomorrow to discuss the next steps,” Hong Wuyang tilted his chin slightly, as if asking for credit, “It’s a done deal—ninety-nine percent settled. Shouldn’t I get some reward?”

Like maybe… sparing Shen Ying?

Lu Yu, impressed by Hongxiao’s efficiency, fished a palm-sized item out of Ming Yan’s pocket and slapped it into Wuyang’s hand. “You’re amazing, Big Brother! This is a new piece of merchandise just printed this morning. Please accept it as your medal of honor.”

Hong Wuyang grinned as he accepted the “bribe from the investment target” and took a closer look at the item. It was a set of acrylic character stands, intricately designed with fine craftsmanship and stunning art. However, the stand depicted a classic scene—Shen Ying’s death.

Top fan: “…Is this even human?”