Joy of Life: The melon-eating prince sees through Fan Xian's fake death

Chapter 22 Shocking words, peerless words!

Yannian Hall.

After Li Chengqian returned to the palace, what happened today was still lingering in his mind.

Two insignificant yamen runners, whose official uniforms brought them very little power, dared to take advantage of their power to oppress the people and disregard the laws of the country.

Even the lowest-level officials are like this.

If we count further back, how many corrupt officials who steal power and take bribes are there in the court of Qing Kingdom, and how many innocent and pitiful people like that old man have they harmed?

Li Chengqian was feeling depressed and wanted to talk to Qingzhu about it:

"Qingzhu, what do you think about what happened today?"

"Your Highness is right."

Qingzhu thought for a moment and thought that the Crown Prince wanted to ask her about her knowledge of Miss Ruoruo:
"Miss Ruoruo is extremely beautiful, and she is the most beautiful woman in the whole capital. But what is even more outstanding than her beauty is her talent and wisdom. She is so beautiful, but she is known as a talented woman in Kyoto. Only such a woman is worthy of you, Your Highness, and only she is worthy of being the Crown Princess."

Li Chengqian: "."

He had noticed something was wrong with Qingzhu a long time ago.

Whenever he traveled, the servant who served him most actively was Qingzhu.

Sometimes she had to stand at the front of the accompanying maids, acting like a female official.

But today, when he was dating Fan Ruoruo, Qingzhu hid quietly and even stood behind the maid who accompanied them.

It seems that she doesn't want to see His Highness talking about love with other women, nor does she want His Highness to see her expression.
Li Chengqian sighed that no matter what their status was, women were really jealous creatures, and quickly changed the subject:
"I'm talking about that old man who was oppressed and kept silent. If it weren't for us."

Li Chengqian paused, "I'm afraid he will be beaten to death."

There was a trace of compassion in Qingzhu's eyes, and he said indifferently:
"Your Highness, the people are used to it."

Li Chengqian frowned.

Qingzhu was terrified, her legs softened, and she fell to her knees, "I said the wrong thing!"

Li Chengqian shook his head:
"You are not wrong, get up and continue."

Qingzhu still refused to stand up, and knelt before the prince with his head lowered:
"I only got a glimpse of what happened today, and I don't know the full picture of the lives of the people in Kyoto. But in our Jiangnan, there are many such things. There are countless vendors like that old man who have no choice but to come out to make a living. They are just fat meat to be slaughtered in the eyes of the officers and soldiers."

"Even a small-scale merchant like my Yuan family can only make a living with difficulty. When shipping goods from the sea, not only do we have to guard against pirates, but we also have to pay silver to officials when passing through the gates. Even if we do business on the ground, we still have to pay various taxes."

"I have been studying since I was young and have a basic knowledge of the law. Some of the tax items were compiled by local officials themselves."

Qingzhu finished speaking tremblingly, not daring to look up at the Crown Prince's reaction.

Li Chengqian couldn't even breathe, his heart was so blocked. In order to relieve the depression, he had to do something, he had to say something for His Majesty, the court, and the people, otherwise he would suffocate to death sooner or later!

"Qingzhu, get some paper and pen."

".yes."

Qingzhu was a little puzzled, but she swiftly took out the imperial paper used in the palace, which was of high quality. However, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince asked her to change it and use the most ordinary and common paper that can be bought on the market. She obediently did as he asked and prepared the pen, ink, paper and inkstone.

Li Chengqian originally planned to write it himself, but after thinking about it, he decided not to do so. One reason was that his handwriting was ugly, and the other was that he did not want to reveal his identity:

"Qingzhu, write a poem for me. I said, you write it."

Although Qingzhu is a girl, her handwriting is very good. This is because she has been reading scriptures since she was a child, and is especially good at poetry. Qingzhu picked up the pen and was curious about what important poem the Crown Prince wanted her to write that took it so seriously?
"Your Highness, please speak."

Li Chengqian took a deep breath and said:
"You eat your salary, which is the blood and sweat of the people."

This was a poem she had never heard of before. It must have been created by His Highness, but the content was so strange that Qingzhu's eyelashes trembled slightly. She held her breath, expectantly waiting for the second half of the poem. "It is easy to abuse the people, but it is hard to deceive God!"

The brush in Qingzhu's hand suddenly slipped, and she widened her beautiful eyes and looked at the Crown Prince in great surprise. With her talent, she would not fail to recognize the high level of the word. She was shocked. Li Chengqian smiled and caressed her stunned face, saying softly:

"Put pen to paper. When you're done, secretly send it to the Censorate. It'll be quicker."

"This slave knows"

······
Metropolitan Procuratorate.

Wang Qinian came to visit with Master Fan's calligraphy.

This was because Eunuch Hou had just approached Fan Xian on behalf of the Emperor, and informed him that the people in the Censorate, headed by Lai Yushi, detested his blatant bribery, and that a mountain of memorials had been sent to His Majesty, all of which cursed Fan Xian and wanted to impeach him.

Eunuch Hou tried to persuade Fan Xian again and again, but Fan Xian still didn't agree.

Finally, he wrote a letter to defend himself, explaining what crime the treacherous ministers in power had committed.

He also gave Wang Qinian a piece of calligraphy and asked him to deliver it to the censors of the Metropolitan Censorate:

"I am here to deliver this letter to you, the Censorate, on the orders of Lord Fan, the Supervisor of the Censorate. Please open it after I am far away!"

Wang Qinian performed his Qinggong skill and ran away. After he had escaped far away, the imperial censors opened the scroll and saw four big characters written on it:

Barking!

The defense of the imperial censors was broken: ******
Swearing very dirty words.

What’s happening in the Censorate?

This attracted Censor Lai to come and restore order:
"As censors of the Metropolitan Censorate, why are you making such a fuss? Have you finished your work?"

When the censors saw the person in charge coming, they came forward to complain, holding the words Fan Xian had used to insult them. He was calling them dogs!
"Fan Xian is so audacious and lawless!"

"It was clearly him who took bribes, but he turned around and called us dogs. It really pissed me off!"

"This is intolerable! If I were to meet him in the court, I would definitely give him a bloody beating!"

"quiet!"

Censor Lai, who was old but very energetic, shouted to his subordinates to be quiet.

But when he saw the four words "Ya Yao Yau", he was still angry and snorted: "Arrogant!"

"The court is in such a mess because there are too many people like Fan Xian who are partial to their own interests and pervert the law. They dare to embezzle and accept bribes in front of everyone. The money they have collected in private must be piled up like a mountain. If all officials are like this, when will Daqing be able to return to a peaceful and prosperous world?"

After Censor Lai finished speaking, he felt secretly sad.

He wasn't angry just because Fan Xian scolded him.

But there are countless Fan Xians in the entire court, who are corrupt, accepting bribes and bullying the people all the time.

Censor Lai had seen too many suffering people and had long been ashamed to associate with those officials. Now Fan Xian's provocation had completely ignited his dissatisfaction with the corrupt officials in the court. He had already sworn in his heart that even if he died, he would report to the ministers and make a last-ditch admonition to His Majesty to clean up the dirt!

"Censor Lai, another scroll has been delivered. It was handed to me by a newspaper boy."

Censor Lai took the red axe handed over by his subordinate and found that there was no name or surname on it, so he didn't know who sent it.

Could it be that it is that little Fan Xian who comes here to provoke us?
Censor Lai was prepared mentally. He opened it and saw a short line of words. Just sixteen words shocked him. His old hands holding the red axe were shaking:

"Shocking words, peerless words!"

(End of this chapter)