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

Gu Mingli opened his system panel.

Pink heart-shaped bubbles are popping out, bui~bui~bui~.

[Current Palace Intrigue Mission: Personally prepare a birthday gift for the Emperor]

[Remaining time for the mission: 3 days]

The problem is coming.

What should I give as a gift?

Gu Mingyue thought for a moment, then turned to look at Yi Wu and Yi Shi.

"You two have spent a lot of time in the Prince's residence, so tell me, what does the Emperor like?"

Yi Wu: (¬_¬)

He turned his head and spoke reluctantly.

"Your Majesty lacks nothing."

Yi Shi was quite eager, moving forward with bright eyes.

"Miss, I know! The Prince often sends paintings to His Majesty!"

Gu Mingyue raised an eyebrow.

"Painting? The emperor likes calligraphy and painting?"

Yi Shi nodded vigorously.

"Yes! Every time His Majesty receives a painting from the Prince, he spends several days looking at it! Sometimes he wanders around the Imperial Study with the painting in his hand, so engrossed in looking at it that he even forgets to approve the memorials!"

Yi Wu snorted and made a gesture to Yi Shi.

Are geomantic maps and defense maps considered drawings?

Gu Mingli suddenly understood.

His eyes lit up, and he slapped the table as he stood up.

"Drawing? I can do that!"

Gu Mingyue looked up at him in astonishment.

"Can you paint?"

"Of course!"

Gu Mingli stood tall and straight, exuding an air of confidence.

"I've even won an award! A rising star!"

Gu Mingyue stared at her brother's confident face, frantically searching her mind for any memory of the award.

"Uh... how come I didn't know you won this award?"

Gu Mingli's expression remained unchanged as he waved his hand.

"You weren't even born then."

Gu Mingyue was silent for two seconds.

"Brother, this award of yours..."

"From kindergarten!"

Gu Mingyue: "..."

"Alright, alright, you don't need to worry about this."

Gu Mingli stood up and straightened his clothes.

"Painting is my forte, it comes naturally to me. You should go wash up and go to bed, we're heading back to Beijing tomorrow."

Having said that, he strode out the door.

Gu Mingyue looked at her brother's super confident back and comforted herself.

It's alright! Anyway, his brother is just an insignificant seventh-rank editor.

Even if you send your paintings, they'll just end up buried among a pile of birthday gifts, gathering dust.

The emperor won't read it.

The emperor won't read it!

Amitabha!

As night deepened, the lights in Gu Mingli's room remained bright.

Yi Shi pulled a thin sheet of paper, as thin as a cicada's wing, from his pocket. Squatting by the window, in the moonlight, he wrote down, stroke by stroke, in tiny characters the size of a fingernail:

The editor was burning the midnight oil, preparing a painting to present to His Majesty as a birthday gift. How heartbroken he would be if he knew His Majesty would never even look at it.

After finishing writing, he blew on the ink with satisfaction, rolled up the paper, and stuffed it into the bamboo tube on the pigeon's leg.

The carrier pigeons fluttered into the night sky.

……

The next day, it was already dusk when the carriage entered the gates of Kyoto.

The setting sun dyed the cracks in the bricks of the city wall a deep orange.

The vendor selling roasted chestnuts was packing up, and the last few chestnuts in the copper pot were still crackling.

Gu Mingyue leaned against the carriage wall, closing her eyes to rest for the entire journey.

The carriage was only awakened by a burst of firecrackers when it turned into the alley of Yongningfang.

She lifted the curtain.

Four large red lanterns hung at the main gate of the Gu residence, and a row of silk flowers were tied to the lintel.

Two servants were climbing a ladder and pasting gilded couplets onto the doorposts, making a mess of paste everywhere.

Gu Mingyue blinked.

"Who got married?"

Peach branch peeked out and was stunned.

"Isn't this...our residence?"

Gong Huo parked the carriage outside the second gate.

Before Gu Mingyue even got out of the carriage, she saw a chubby figure trotting out from behind the screen wall, his official boots making a "thump-thump-thump" sound on the bluestone slabs.

It was their adoptive father, Gu Debai.

Gu Debai was beaming with joy.

He grabbed Gu Mingli, who had just gotten off the car, with one hand, and reached out to hold Gu Mingyue's hand with the other, his mouth stretching to his ears in a wide grin.

"Moon, Li'er, you're back! Come inside quickly! Dad has been waiting for you all day!"

A banquet was set up in the main hall.

This wasn't a casual family dinner with just a few dishes; it was a proper welcome banquet.

The meal consisted of sixteen main dishes, including four cold and eight hot dishes, plus an opened jar of thirty-year-old Shaoxing wine.

The large round table was filled with bowls and plates, the chopsticks were newly replaced with ivory chopsticks, and even the tablecloth was covered with a layer of gold-embroidered satin.

"Sit down, sit down! Don't stand!"

Gu Debai personally poured a cup of wine for his son and a cup of osmanthus wine for his daughter, his eyes narrowing into slits with a smile.

"Mingli, you did a great job in Jiangzhou this time!"

"That's been the talk of the court these past few days."

Gu Debai picked up a piece of braised pork knuckle and carefully placed it into his son's bowl.

"Those old foxes in the Ministry of Works, who usually look down on everyone, have to admit this time, saying, 'The eldest son of the Gu family is indeed quite capable.'"

He picked up another piece of steamed sea bass with his chopsticks and put it into his daughter's bowl.

"And the progress schedule of your flood control project has even been reviewed by His Majesty. What did His Majesty say again? 'The supervisor has been dutifully fulfilling his duties, and I am very pleased.'"

Gu Mingli was pleased by his father's praise, and the father and son raised their glasses, clinked them together, and drank them down in one gulp.

Gu Mingyue remained silent, lowering her head to slowly eat the fish.

After several rounds of drinks...

Gu Debai's face was flushed red to the roots of his neck, but his eyes remained clear.

He put down his wine glass and waved away the servants who were serving him in the hall.

Then he took out two stacks of silver notes from his sleeve and stuffed them into his son's and daughter's hands respectively.

"Here you go. Twenty thousand each."

Gu Mingyue looked down at the silver note in her hand.

These are large-denomination notes from the Kyoto Tongbao Money Shop, one note for one thousand taels, twenty notes in total.

Something's not right.

"Dad, where did the money come from?"

Gu Debai, holding a wine glass, his face flushed, chuckled twice.

"The gifts from my subordinates recently totaled fifty thousand taels."

Gu Mingyue looked up at her father's smug face, her temples throbbing.

Her father received another 50,000 taels.

The Censorate's spies are everywhere in Kyoto. Whether the Emperor wants Gu Jia's head depends solely on his mood.

Meanwhile, her own father was enthusiastically putting a rope around his own neck.

Gu Mingyue took a deep breath, somewhat speechless.

"father."

"Um?"

"Don't accept this money again."

Gu Debai didn't seem to care much and continued to add food to the two children's bowls.

"What's wrong?"

Gu Mingyue opened her mouth, about to continue speaking,

A piercing alarm suddenly exploded in my mind.

[WARNING! The host must not disclose the details of this system mission to anyone! Violation will result in mission failure and the execution of the entire family!]

Gu Mingyue slammed on the brakes and quickly shut up.

Gu Debai thought his daughter was still worried about home, so he put down his wine glass and patted the back of her hand.

"Moon, are you worried about the safety of the house again? Let me tell you, with me here, the sky won't fall down."

Gu Mingyue adopted a gentle expression.

"Father, when I was in Jiangzhou, I passed by an ancient temple and drew a fortune stick."

"Hmm?" Gu Debai's interest was piqued. "What kind of fortune slip?"

"The old abbot of the temple personally interpreted your fortune. He said that this year... you will have too much wealth, which will be detrimental to your health and longevity."

She paused, looking into her father's eyes.

"Father, your health is more important than anything else."

"Therefore, you should keep all your new money with me for safekeeping."

Gu Debai: "..."