Chapter 104: Women Would Only Slow Down My Drawing of the Sword
Chapter 104: Women Would Only Slow Down My Drawing of the Sword
Seven days passed in the blink of an eye.
The cement had dried!
In fact, it had dried after five days, but out of caution, Li Daoxuan still waited a full seven days before allowing the little people to step onto this brand-new cement road.
On the first day the “Deity’s Path” opened, the villagers put down their work and all crowded beside this new road.
The adults were cautious, first extending one foot onto the cement road and tapping it. “Ah, this road is so hard,” they said.
“It’s hard as stone,” they said.
After discovering this, the villagers dared to step onto it boldly, standing with both feet on the cement surface, under which they felt very stable and secure.
“This road is so flat, with no bumps at all,” they said.
“Over there, it slopes a bit, we can play there,” said the children as they ran to a slope on the road, sat at the top, and slid down with a whoosh.
The adults were startled and rushed over to pull the children away. “What nonsense is this? Is the Deity’s Path for your play?”
“Make way, make way, the racing car is coming,” Gao Chuwu and Zheng Daniu drove the Solar Vehicle No. 2 along the cement road, running smoothly in a way far more comfortable than on the yellow earth official road. It was truly level and steady, requiring no effort to run.
Previously, when they carried a cart full of villagers, they didn’t dare to go fast, covering six li at forty kilometers per hour, arguing forty-eight times before arriving. But now with the good road, they dared to speed up to eighty kilometers. From Gaojia Village to Zhengjia Village, they only argued twenty-four times, finishing in half the time.
However, after building one road, Li Daoxuan had grown tired of the “cement artisan” job. For future road construction, he wouldn’t make it by hand. He scooped a small pile of cement for Thirty-Two, printed him a page of instructions, and left it to the little people to handle road construction from then on.
…
Why did time fly by like lightning? The box entered a peaceful period. The new County Magistrate Liang Shixian visited the “Li Family” every so often to request relief grain for disaster relief, distributing congee around to save people. The common folk of Chengcheng County enjoyed rare resting time.
Cheng Xu kept his head too. He thought the new county magistrate, being of the Donglin Party, would kill him right after taking office, but Liang Shixian spent all day busy distributing congee here and there, not bothering to say even half a word to Cheng Xu.
The two officials of administration and military temporarily coexisted peacefully.
Meanwhile, in the capital’s imperial palace, Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youjian, newly installed on the throne, sat in the Imperial Study reviewing memorials. At sixteen, an age that should have been vibrant and spirited, Zhu Youjian’s face showed none of the youthful energy one would expect.
He turned the memorials slowly because his moon-white undergarment, beneath the dragon robe, had several patches. If he moved too broadly and lifted the outer robe, exposing those patches, he would be deeply ashamed as emperor.
After flipping through the memorials, he came across one sent by Chengcheng County Magistrate Liang Shixian of Shaanxi, which caught the young emperor’s attention.
“Consider the immense disaster in Shaanxi, as it concerns the empire gravely. I urge the Ministry of Revenue to review and exempt the back taxes from Year Seven of Tianqi along with the current year’s surtaxes for military funds immediately. Furthermore, reduce this year’s tax by half and ease the military pay and clan stipends. Otherwise, forcing the starved to pay with their lives under the rod serves no good. Moreover, may Your Majesty order the ministry to recall cases of severe famine throughout Shaanxi in the eleventh and thirteenth years of Wanli. Release private funds generously for official relief, to save victims and stabilize the region. Future state taxes may yet come. Should you say the private funds are exhausted and all funds delayed, to deny exemption and relief entirely, if chaos erupts and the realm shakes, do not accuse me of silence now.”
Zhu Youjian’s eyes widened in anger. “How bold! This fellow dares threaten me by demanding I use private funds for disaster relief? Saying the realm will shake otherwise, blaming me if he spoke no warning? Utterly outrageous!”
He felt like flipping the desk to curse and summon someone to arrest and behead this minor official, but he noticed thick stacks of memorials below, all on this issue. Flipping through them, they were all from civil officials discussing this Shaanxi affair, each urging him to use the private funds to save the disaster victims.
Zhu Youjian’s fury flared even higher.
When one person made him angry, he could have them executed. When a hundred people made him angry, though his rage multiplied a hundredfold, he couldn’t kill them.
Zhu Youjian tossed the thick stacks of memorials aside, leaving them unaddressed without agreeing to tax exemption, nor offering his private funds for relief, nor sending tax collectors for the tax silver. He would ignore them: if he didn’t see it, it felt like it didn’t exist. The world was vast—what did skipping one glance at little Chengcheng County matter?
He dared not offend the civil ministerial group now, needing their help to remove Wei Zhongxian and regain the power belonging to the emperor. If Wei Zhongxian’s arrogance persisted unchecked, his throne might not even be secure.
…
As for Li Daoxuan, he too enjoyed rare rest time.
With peace in the box, he didn’t have to stare at it daily. Every morning after getting up, he casually tossed in some food to secure the little people’s basic lives, then turned on the medical nebulizer for a drizzle. After that, he could manage his own life.
“Dad, I’ve earned a small amount of money recently and want to buy you and mom a new house.”
“Whoa, Daoxuan, what did you do to make so much money? Did you design some world-class blueprint?”
“Haha, I’ve been running a TikTok video channel, earning through traffic.”
“What? Traffic? Traffic can make money?”
“Don’t worry if you don’t get it! Just know I made money. I’ve transferred two million yuan to your bank card. Go pick a new house with mom.”
“This… we can’t use your money. We have a house already and pensions. Save your own money to spend, like marrying a wife first.”
“I’m just over twenty—why marry? Look at that fat guy next door, Lan Xingyang. He married at thirty-five.”
“Even if now’s not the time, save the money for when you marry someday. Your mom and I won’t use your money—keep it. I’ll wire it back to you later.”
Dad fiercely hung up the phone.
Fine, Li Daoxuan inwardly chuckled: You can’t wire it back—your bank card doesn’t allow large transfers, and opening that is too complicated. You and mom couldn’t handle it, hahahaha.
He had plenty of money left, earned from micro-sculpting and toy sales. Since he rarely went out, he had no place to spend it. Should he really get a wife to spend it for him?
Forget it!
Women would only slow down his drawing of the sword; he wasn’t considering it for now.
He went out to eat well, watched a movie alone, wandered Hongyadong alone, visited the 1949 theater alone, attended Gelehui alone…
The feeling of freedom was wonderful and long overdue.
…
In the original memorial, it was Shaanxi Inspector Li Yingqi who submitted it, not Liang Shixian. For the story’s interest, it was altered here to Liang Shixian. This is noted for clarity.