Dad, don't be greedy! My brother climbed into the emperor's bed, and I became famous overn

Late at night.

In the study in the backyard of the Gu family mansion, the candle had burned down to half its original size.

The brother and sister sat behind the desk, holding a mid-term review meeting.

Gu Mingli placed a bowl of mung bean soup in front of Gu Mingyue.

"Have a drink. Are you tired these past few days?"

Gu Mingyue smiled and shook her head, then picked up the mung bean soup and took a sip.

"They're all small-scale operations, not tiring at all."

She patted the round stool next to her.

"Brother, come see the system rewards."

Gu Mingli sat down, and Gu Mingyue raised her hand and swept it across the table, revealing an ice-blue system panel.

[Spending Spree System - Phase 1 Completed]

[Task rewards are being distributed...]

[Reward: View 1 article in "Future Headlines"]

A yellowed newspaper image slowly emerged from the void.

The front page of the newspaper featured a headline printed in bold black font:

Three months later, a severe drought struck the northern border of Dayong, a locust plague ravaged the land, leaving countless dead and widespread warfare.

Severe drought? Locust plague?

The brother and sister exchanged a glance, rested their shoulders together, and continued reading.

The timeline is clearly written.

A month later, the drought in the north worsened, and the locust plague began.

Three months later, the five northern prefectures suffered a complete crop failure, with corpses littering the land and refugees rioting.

The imperial court urgently allocated grain for disaster relief. However, the Cui family had already monopolized all the grain in the market.

The Cui family raised prices arbitrarily, selling a peck of rice for ten taels of silver.

The emperor was enraged and declared war on the Cui family. Tyrant mode was activated, plunging the land into a period of war and turmoil.

[Right Chancellor Gu Debai seized the opportunity to rise in power and join the battle for supremacy.]

At that time, the people will suffer greatly, and the death toll will reach one million.

Holy crap!!

The brother and sister rubbed their eyes in disbelief and exclaimed in unison.

"Is our father planning to start a rebellion?!"

Their fathers are rich and powerful, so why would they rebel?!

Do you want to become the emperor?

The study remained quiet for a long time.

The candle flame flickered in the night breeze seeping in through the cracks in the window.

The system screen slowly disappeared.

Gu Mingli spoke first.

"Little sister, we can't let Father rebel! My system has been bound to Xiao Ye's tyrant mission."

"If he goes into tyrant mode, I'll never be able to complete my task of increasing his favorability."

Gu Mingyue looked at her brother with some sympathy.

What grudge does this system have against her brother?

Who transmigrates and gets bound to a main system, only to be given a side system storyline as a bonus?

"Could it be that Xiao Ye also has a system mission? He's always going on killing sprees?"

Gu Mingli: "..."

Gu Mingyue: "..."

Gu Mingli swallowed hard.

He touched the goosebumps on his arm and quickly waved his hand.

"Hey, hey, no way, no way~~~ It shouldn't be."

"If Huang Jiaojiao really had a system, would she have needed to navigate such a perilous path since childhood, exhausting herself with every step and scheming?"

The two stared at each other for a moment, each seeing a terrifying possibility in the other's eyes.

"Sis, are we in a pre-written script?"

Gu Mingyue frowned, her expression becoming more serious.

"Actually, I also find it strange."

"Looking back at the prompts the system has given us, their ultimate goal is always to help us change the future."

"so……"

She turned to look at her brother.

"Something must have happened in this world, causing a deviation from the original plot. That's why we have this time-travel mission."

Gu Mingli nodded, also finding the mission strange.

"So, what should the original storyline of this world be?"

The brother and sister both fell silent.

Gu Mingli dared not think any further.

He's really pitiful.

One system, two task lines, and a father who wants to rebel.

He turned his head to look at his sister, who was still deep in thought.

Take a deep breath and suppress all your worries.

He's the older brother, so I have to stay calm.

"Leave everything else aside for now and continue advancing our system tasks."

"Um."

Gu Mingyue composed herself and frowned in thought.

"As long as our father doesn't have any deep-seated hatred for the emperor, persuading him not to rebel shouldn't be a big problem."

"Disaster relief isn't a problem either. Our dad has money."

"The problem lies with the Cui family."

Gu Mingli crossed his arms over his chest, his brows furrowing slightly.

"The severe drought in the north couldn't have suddenly broken out. I estimate that the news hasn't reached Beijing yet; it's likely that the Cui family has been suppressing it."

"They took advantage of the time gap while Kyoto was preparing for the Cuju tournament to secretly buy up all the grain that could be bought on the market."

"Once the drought can no longer be concealed and grain prices skyrocket, the Cui family will be the only seller."

The brother and sister exchanged a glance.

Even if the news were told to the emperor now, it would be too late to catch up with the Cui family in harvesting the grain.

Valve gates are really difficult to deal with!

Gu Mingli ground down his molars.

"The Cui family is clearly trying to force Huang Jiaojiao to compromise."

"I'm not good at business warfare, do you have any good ideas?"

Gu Mingyue turned around, the candlelight illuminating half of her face, her expression serene.

"Brother, open your map and take a look."

Gu Mingli raised his hand and wiped it on the table.

The holographic map unfolds on the desktop.

Gu Mingyue glanced at it.

"Switch to agricultural division mode."

next second.

On the entire map of Dayong, the southern region was bathed in a deep green light.

That's a rice-harvesting area.

In the north, from Jizhou to Youzhou, and then westward to Liaozhou, the entire area was a dark red.

Drought, no harvest.

The dividing line between the two colors is roughly in the Bian River area.

Gu Mingli zoomed in on the map to the southern region.

"There is enough grain in Jiangnan for disaster relief. The problem is that we can't buy it or transport it out."

"Yes. I heard from Huang Jiaojiao that the Cui family owns thirty-two grain stores in the six prefectures of Jiangnan. They control the entire supply chain, from purchasing grain from the fields to storing it in warehouses and then transporting it north via the Grand Canal."

Gu Mingyue tapped her fingertips lightly on the table, pondering for a moment.

"Tomorrow is the registration day for the competition, and participating teams and VIP spectators from all over the country are arriving in Beijing one after another."

"Brother," she turned to look at Gu Mingli.

"We need to split up and plan ahead for one thing."

……

The next day.

Registration day for the competition.

As dawn broke, long queues had already formed outside the gates of Kyoto.

Horse-drawn carriages, oxcarts, and mule carts stretched along the official road to the horizon.

The vehicle was decorated with flags of various Cuju (ancient Chinese football) teams, each embroidered with different patterns.

There are delicate lotus patterns from the water towns of Jiangnan, rugged eagle and falcon flags from the north, and exquisite brocade banners from Western Sichuan.

The drivers shouted for them to make way, and the vendors took the opportunity to squeeze into the gaps in the queue to sell dry food and water bags.

Yan Xiaoliu, dressed in a brand-new indigo blue short-sleeved shirt, stood under a temporary shed erected outside the city gate.

A long wooden sign next to the shed reads "Competition Guidance Area".

Behind him stood thirty men dressed in the same clothes.

Each person held a stack of booklets and a travel permit.

"Come on, everyone! Participating teams and spectators from all states, please register here!"

Yan Xiaoliu shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Tour leaders, please proceed to window number one! Individual travelers, please proceed to window number three!"

He shouted as he called for his men to get into position.

Some people were responsible for guiding the queue, some for handing out documents, and some for leading the way.

Everything is proceeding smoothly.

On the distant official road, a carriage was slowly approaching.

The carriage curtain was half-rolled up, revealing the profile of a young man inside.

He was in his early twenties, with handsome features, wearing a moon-white brocade robe, and a jade pendant tied around his waist.

This is a friend that Pei Yu invited.

Shen Yanqing, the eldest son of the Shen family of Lingzhou.

He wasn't actually very good at Cuju (ancient Chinese football), but Pei Yu mentioned in his letter to him:

[Kyoto holds unpredictable changes and a great opportunity! Seize it quickly!]

The Shen family was originally one of the leading grain merchants in Jiangnan.

However, over the years, the Cui family has relied on the power of the imperial court to seize wealth by force and maliciously cut off their financial resources.

This put the Shen family in a difficult position, almost to the point of collapse, and they were on the verge of becoming a second-rate family.

Even if it's just a straw to grasp at, the Shen family won't let go of any opportunity to revive their family business.