It’s hard to break a phoenix’s destiny

Chapter 493: The wise and powerful cooing

"The New Year's Eve banquet is coming up soon. The first day of the New Year should be lively. Why not build a cockfighting arena and let everyone have fun?" Ma Shizhong suggested. He also secretly looked at Sima Chi's face and found that he was very interested in this proposal, and his eyes were even shining. So, he boldly said: "Then we can also let the ladies in the palace come out and have fun together."

The meaning was obvious. The palace was in a prosperous period, so the Tianyuan Palace had to open its doors, and Queen Hui had to come out to see the excitement. By then, Sima Chi would have a legitimate reason to sit with Yang Xianrong, and he would definitely be in a happier mood.

Sima Chi was already grinning from ear to ear. Even being an emperor can be uncomfortable sometimes. Now someone actually proposed such a legitimate reason to satisfy his love and thoughts. However, he still coughed twice, put on a straight face, and said very seriously: "This matter still needs to be discussed with the people in the Ministry of Rites. After all, this is the first New Year's Day since I took office, so of course we must be frugal."

"Yes, yes, it must be." Ma Shizhong nodded immediately, "Your Majesty is always thinking about the people, and he will definitely be a great and wise ruler in the future. Your new policies have already produced results, and the people are very praiseworthy."

Du Jian immediately added: "It's more than just praise. When I was at the cockfight, I heard many people saying that the current emperor is extremely smart and must be a great sage. He will definitely make the Great Jin prosperous and everyone can live a good life."

The eunuchs and palace maids beside them also knelt down quickly and shouted in unison: "Your Majesty is wise and powerful! It is a blessing for the Great Jin Dynasty!"

Sima Chi straightened up a lot as he heard these words. A smile was hidden in his eyes, but he still said, "There is still a long time to go. Take your time."

"Your Majesty is wise!" Du Jian kowtowed while holding the fighting cock.

At this time, the fighting cock was surprisingly obedient. It stopped struggling and started to cuckoo at Sima Chi.

You know, fighting cocks usually don't crow, they just peck at each other fiercely. This further proves that even fighting cocks are subject to Sima Chi's imperial power.

Du Jian kowtowed repeatedly, tears of excitement streaming down his face.

"Okay, let's go talk to the Ministry of Rites." Sima Chi kicked Du Jian and said with a smile, "Are you serious? Stop crying! Hurry up and prepare for the cockfight. Let's go and see if the chickens in my house are okay? Then I'll compare them with your red phoenix."

"Ah! Okay, okay." Du Jian kowtowed again, this time more sincerely.

Sima Chi finally laughed out loud and promised solemnly: "As long as the competition is lively and Queen Hui and I are happy, there will be a huge reward!"

"Yes, yes, I will do my best." Du Jian had already prostrated himself on the ground and kowtowed to express his gratitude.

The palace hasn't held any large-scale events in these years. This time, Du Jian was in charge, and the money he made was incalculable. If he made up some excuses, he would definitely make a fortune. It was simply a flood of wealth falling on him.

The snow was falling again, Sima Chi could not stand the cold anymore, and went to the Pear Blossom Garden to watch the singing girls sing and dance. Du Jian held the fighting cock and sent the emperor off, but Ma Shizhong walked a few steps slower and fell behind. He looked at the red phoenix in Du Jian's hand and asked, "Is this chicken so powerful?"

"Does Minister Ma look down on our chicken?" Du Jian was still a little arrogant, and pouted, "I'll put it on the ground and walk a few steps, you can take a good look at it."

"Okay." Minister Ma was waiting with great interest.

Since the emperor had already gone far away, Du Jian put the red phoenix on the ground. But as soon as the chicken left Du Jian's arms, it immediately spread its wings and ran towards the pile of dry grass with high morale.

Du Jian and Ma Shizhong had no choice but to chase after him and enter the pile of dry grass.

Everyone followed Sima Zhong away, and no one paid attention to the two men's actions. After they all squatted in the dry grass, Du Jian took out a large bag of silver from his arms and handed it to Ma Shizhong, saying with a smile: "Ma Shizhong can really speak to the emperor's heart."

"That's not as good as Master Du, who knows the emperor's preferences." Minister Ma was not polite at all and put the silver into his arms.

"Hehe, a little brother who worked with me before served this master. At that time, he was still a down-and-out man who had no ambitions. He fought cocks all day and lost a lot of money." Du Jian laughed happily, "This master is also strange. The more he loses, the more he plays. If Sima Yue hadn't liked his qualities, I'm afraid he wouldn't have let him become the emperor."

"Well, you better keep your voice down, don't let others hear you. This... is the emperor now." Ma Shizhong lowered his voice, "You have to be careful."

"Isn't he still just a puppet? How much better can he be than the previous one?" Du Jian's face was full of disdain. "With Sima Yue gone, the Liang family's people have escaped again. No one knows who owns this country anymore."

"Hush, be quiet! This matter is not for you and me to discuss." Ma Shizhong said solemnly, "Let's just talk about this cockfighting matter. Since I have taken your money, I will naturally help you. However, you should also know that before, when the late emperor was alive, there were also several cockfights, but the ministers did not dare to beat the emperor, so the scene was extremely boring. This time, if you also perfunctorily deal with the emperor and only lose but not win, there will be only one outcome, your head will be snapped. However, if you let the emperor lose, the emperor will definitely be unhappy, and the result will still be you who will be snapped, do you understand?"

"Yes, yes, I know this." Du Jian picked up the red phoenix again, "Look at this chicken of mine, it looks very good. Don't worry, it will definitely win, and it will win very beautifully."

"These are all beasts, how can you control them?" Ma Shizhong didn't want to be so close to the fighting cocks because he almost got pecked just now.

"I have already thought of a countermeasure. Best of five games, the first four games will be played like this, evenly matched. The last game should be thrilling, and the emperor should win by a narrow margin, so that he will be satisfied. Anyway, as long as the scene is exciting and the victory is thrilling, our emperor will be very happy. In the future, he will promote me to the position of Director Yang."

"Haha, so that's what you think." Ma Shizhong understood, "However, there should be many people eyeing this position. After all, the previous Zhang Du served in front of the late emperor... and he also held great power..."

"Manager Yang has a short life. It will eventually be my turn to inherit this tremendous wealth, right?" Du Jian's eyes narrowed with smile.