Puppet Emperor 08

"I think so too, see how much of a talent I have for business?" Fang Zhiyi chuckled. He suddenly noticed the few hidden informants staring at them again. "But, um, about me treating you to drinks, will they report this along with everything else to Great General Teng?"

The two deputy generals were taken aback for a moment, then exchanged a glance.

It really was a possibility.

Thinking of the bank notes in his chest pocket that hadn't even warmed up yet, General Wu suddenly stood up.

"Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing? Don't go causing trouble!" Fang Zhiyi grew a little anxious.

General Wu laughed, "I am going to drag them over to drink with us! I am a deputy general, after all. I don't believe they would dare deny me face!"

Ignoring Fang Zhiyi's attempts to stop him, he got up and walked outside.

Then, Fang Zhiyi watched as the two sides broke into an argument. The tipsy General Wu shoved one of the men, and immediately after, someone shouted. A group of men grabbed wooden stools and charged out. Fang Zhiyi's ears were filled with the gasps and screams of other patrons and women.

Fang Zhiyi quickly got up and chased after them.

Relying on their superior numbers, the informants were knocked to the ground in a matter of minutes.

General Wu pointed at one of their noses and cursed, "I give you face and you reject it, huh? Asking you to come have a drink is thinking highly of you. Today I am telling you, my military merits were earned slash by slash on the battlefield. I am not like you useless trash who only know how to hide in the shadows!"

The man on the ground looked at General Wu without a trace of fear in his eyes. "I will report to the Great General that you not only assaulted us, but also embezzled a large sum of silver. The few of us saw it clearly."

"You mother..." General Wu's greatest fear was exactly this. Being punished was a small matter, but the key was that Fang Zhiyi had given them a truly substantial amount. He snatched a wooden stool from a nearby soldier's hands and prepared to smash it down. Fang Zhiyi arrived just in time. Seeing the stool about to strike, he threw himself forward without regard for his own safety.

The scene went dead silent. Fang Zhiyi opened his mouth wide, in so much pain that he couldn't even make a sound.

"This, this." General Wu threw the stool aside. "You, why did you jump in like that?" The others frantically helped Fang Zhiyi up.

The informant also looked at the fallen emperor before him in shock. Did he just take a hit for him? A solid, heavy blow?

Fang Zhiyi waved his hand to indicate he was fine, but his contorted face still made people gasp in sympathy. "We are all brothers here, how could you really hit him?" He smiled at the informant. "It is all my fault. I was thinking about how cold it is, yet you all have to stand guard outside. This afternoon, I saw you squatting by the roadside gnawing on dry rations, and I truly felt bad about it. Just to keep an eye on me..."

He opened his arms and gave a self-deprecating smile. "To keep an eye on an emperor who doesn't even want to be emperor, you have been forced to suffer."

The informants looked at Fang Zhiyi, visibly moved.

"Tell you what." Fang Zhiyi reached into his robes, pulled out a few more bank notes, and without a word, stuffed one into each informant's hand. "It is not much, just a token of my regard. Buy yourselves some decent food while you follow me from now on. In a bit, when we go back inside, I will have someone send two jugs of wine over to warm you up."

The stubborn informant from earlier shook his head. "Your Majesty, it is our duty. We appreciate your kindness, but they..."

"Are you still looking for trouble?" General A could no longer hold back.

"Listen, I will be honest with you. I have no friends. What emperor has friends? Truly, ever since you all arrived, I finally felt like I had friends. No matter what you think, how much of the money I make can I actually spend? It is only good if everyone benefits. In the future, when I no longer sit on that throne, whether I go to your lands or stay here, would you really ignore me?" Fang Zhiyi spoke with absolute sincerity.

The informants were finally moved. The leader pondered for a moment. "Then, we thank Your Majesty. But we cannot accept these bank notes."

Fang Zhiyi's expression turned serious. "Why? Do you not have wives and children to take care of? Or do your parents not need to eat and drink? Is this money for you? It is for your families! It is not like I am trying to bribe you." He laid it all out in the open. "What would I even bribe you to do? Ask you to rebel with me? Are you crazy?"

His absolute frankness caused the others to burst into laughter, and the atmosphere lightened considerably.

General A crouched down and slapped the bank note against the informant's chest. "Kid, even if you don't listen to us, your family still needs money. I remember you have a son and a daughter. What happens if you lose your head on the battlefield one day? Are they supposed to survive on the few taels of silver your life is worth?"

Fang Zhiyi shot General A a surprised glance. This man wasn't as stupid as he appeared. His words seemed like concern, but they were essentially a threat. He actually knew the family background of the Great General's direct subordinate.

The informant hesitated for a moment, then tucked the bank note into his robes and stood up. "Thank you, Your Majesty!" Seeing their boss accept the money, the others also stood up to express their gratitude.

Fang Zhiyi waved his hand and turned to leave. A wave of pain shot across his back; this original body was simply too weak.

"You see, ah, my fault, my fault. Why did you have to go and do that?" General Wu said from the side.

Fang Zhiyi was about to speak when he heard a voice from not too far away.

"What a disgrace!"

He looked up and saw a young boy whose mouth was being covered by his father.

The two deputy generals clearly heard the insult as well. General A frowned. "Who said that? Who?"

The surrounding commoners remained silent, but the looks they gave Fang Zhiyi were full of contempt. They could never have imagined that the dignified Son of Heaven would use his own body to block a stool for an enemy soldier.

Fang Zhiyi laughed. "Let it go! Looking at how things are, I will probably have to live in your Da Mang in the future. Don't pretend you don't know me when the time comes!"

"Look at what you're saying," General Wu laughed. The others crowded around Fang Zhiyi as they walked away.

"They don't understand. Commoners are always like this," Fang Zhiyi's voice drifted back from afar.

Behind him, the commoners' gazes had shifted from contempt to outright disgust. An old man selling candied hawthorns even spat at Fang Zhiyi's retreating back.

This scene was witnessed perfectly by the informants. They exchanged glances and nodded.

"Oh? Fang Zhiyi went drinking again?" Teng Shuchang asked without even lifting his head from his official documents.

The informant replied, "Yes. Some commoners cursed him, and he even said the commoners were ignorant."

"Hahaha, what an absurd emperor. Is there anything else?"

"No, everything else is the same as usual."

Teng Shuchang waved his hand to dismiss the man. His mind was entirely occupied with the ruler's imperial decree, which stated that in consideration of his hard work, a special assistant had been assigned to help him handle government affairs.

"The ruler is afraid of me growing too powerful," Teng Shuchang smiled bitterly. But then again, it wasn't a bad thing. Ever since he forced Fang Zhiyi out of the palace, he had been exhausted beyond human limits.