Everyone in my harem is talented

Chapter 548 His Majesty's Thoughts

Snow flakes fell on the window like salt powder, and the heating in the warm room was burning brightly.

Qin Zhi leaned on the couch, watching Zhang Deli using a silver skewer to stir the roasted chestnuts in the black gold charcoal basin, the sweet aroma lingering at the tip of his nose.

"I have people preaching every year, but why are there still people being poisoned by charcoal fires every year? It's been twenty years since the people switched to cheaper and safer honeycomb briquettes, and some people still can't afford such a cheap thing."

"Your Majesty..." Zhang Deli put the chestnuts he picked up on a jade plate and thought of words of comfort in his heart.

"I can't eat enough, I can't wear enough. I can't wear enough. I've been on the throne for over twenty years, and yet the people are still so poor?"

"At the end of this year, the Minister of Revenue reported to Your Majesty the number of households and people. I also heard that the number of people has doubled compared to twenty years ago. The people of Dayong are increasing in number. The population is increasing too fast, and it is not Your Majesty's fault that the food and supplies cannot keep up. The people of Dayong are living much better now than they did in the past. If Your Majesty blames yourself for this and is hurt, the people outside will cry to death if they know about it."

"When you go out with me, we'll just be around the capital. Just because the people there live well doesn't mean other people live well too. I treat the people well because they belong to me. They miss me, and I'm willing to miss them too."

"The slaves must not have the people in their hearts."

"You are really honest." Qin Zhi looked at him expressionlessly.

Zhang Deli was not afraid either. After washing his hands, he started peeling chestnuts.

A small bowl in the shape of a white jade lotus cup was filled with a few finely peeled chestnuts with golden and shiny kernels, and the Guzhu purple bamboo shoots cooked in spiritual spring water in a small silver pot were bubbling.

Zhang Deli immediately wiped the shell crumbs off his hands, opened the lid of the pot, and white mist spread over his white wrists.

Qin Zhi ate the shelled chestnut kernels, his eyes following the rising white mist to look at Zhang Deli's wrist, and then to his pale, beardless face.

"Zhang Deli, you're already in your forties, almost fifty, right? You look like you're in your early thirties."

Zhang Deli smiled ingratiatingly.

"It is all thanks to your majesty that you grant me a cup of spiritual spring water to drink every day. The spiritual spring water of Lu Shanggong must not be an ordinary spiritual thing. How many emperors have pursued immortality, but were deceived by swindlers and left behind a reputation of being foolish. Your majesty did not deliberately pursue it, but immortality came to you on its own. Your majesty..."

Qin Zhi directly interrupted his flattery.

"Come on, stop flattering me. I don't need immortality. People have their own way of living, and gods have their own way of living. I'm a mortal, and living to eighty or ninety is enough. Any more than that would be meaningless."

"How can the spiritual spring water really make people immortal? The mice I asked you to raise only have a lifespan of three years. Two years less, three years more, and they will be too old to walk." Qin Zhi said slowly.

Zhang Deli smiled awkwardly.

"When I or Lady Lu arrive, you go get her spiritual jade and have someone throw it into the source of the river. Wouldn't spiritual water flow out of that jade when placed in ordinary water? Perfect, let the people of Dayong soak in its spiritual energy."

Qin Zhi raised his eyebrows, "What's that expression on your face?"

"I'm narrow-minded, thinking only of burial companions." Zhang Deli muttered softly, "Such spiritual objects should not be brought into the imperial mausoleum..."

"No need, I don't need such a piece of jade."

"Your Majesty, your heart is so kind and benevolent, who can match it? But you must not let anyone know, otherwise the powerful will surely use the lives of the people to fill the river to retrieve the spiritual jade and keep it for themselves."

"If the history books recorded that Your Majesty abandoned Yuhe, future generations would probably not believe it." Zhang Deli's voice was steady, but when he listened carefully, he could hear a hint of sob in it.

His Majesty, such a good Majesty, only he knows.

"No, my achievements are not in these small favors. Even if I die today, I will be recorded in history books as an eternally wise emperor."

Qin Zhi's eyes were full of pride.

Qin Zhi took the Guzhu purple bamboo shoots served by Zhang Deli and was about to drink them when he suddenly thought, "When spring comes, Xiao Shi and the other two will marry the prince's consorts. The affairs of the Kong family don't need to affect the tenth prince's consort."

"Your Majesty, the Crown Prince is young, what if..."

"What if? Yeah, if he messes things up, I will definitely take action. I just appointed him as the Crown Prince, I can't be thinking of deposing him so early."

"Then shall I go and give some advice to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?"

"Go ahead and tell him directly to find some time to go to Qufu and cry for Confucius, and cry all the damned people to death."

"Yes, Your Majesty."