Chapter 129: Printing 2/2

The Emperor was in poor health and had poor eyesight, and he hardly read memorials anymore. All memorials were first reviewed by Lu Qingxi, who then selected the important ones to be presented to the Emperor.

Lu Qingxi had slandered Magistrate Zhang in front of the Emperor many times. It was only after his persistent complaints that the Emperor issued a decree to demote Magistrate Zhang and send him to Hexing Prefecture.

However, he never hid anything from the Emperor.

He knew very well that all his power came from the Emperor, and he absolutely couldn’t damage the Emperor’s goodwill towards him. Therefore, whenever there was a memorial that should be shown to the Emperor, he would read it to the Emperor himself and never act without authorization.

It was also because of this that the Emperor trusted him so much, even to the point of sending certain officials he didn’t like outside the capital.

Upon learning that Magistrate Zhang had sent a memorial, Lu Qingxi coldly snorted, saying sarcastically, “Does this guy want the Emperor to exempt taxes again? If Hexing Prefecture, such a wealthy place, is exempt from taxes, what about other places?”

As Lu Qingxi spoke, he opened the memorial that Magistrate Zhang had sent.

At a glance… Lu Qingxi almost jumped out of his seat in excitement.

“My dear Majesty!” Lu Qingxi was pleasantly surprised, and with the memorial in hand, he rushed towards the Emperor’s residence.

He had intentionally sent Magistrate Zhang to Hexing Prefecture, hoping that Magistrate Zhang would cause some trouble for King Jin.

But he didn’t actually hold much hope, and had even given up on the idea.

He had been thinking that when Magistrate Zhang’s term ended, he would send him to a poor place to serve as a magistrate.

As for which poor place… his hometown would be just fine.

That place was really poor, not to mention that occasionally there would be major floods.

When he was eight years old, his hometown experienced a major flood, and their family’s crops were completely ruined… His parents couldn’t survive, so they had to sell him — he was the oldest child in the family, and his younger brother was only four years old, so no one wanted to buy him.

His parents had hoped to send him to a wealthy household to work as a servant, thinking it would ensure he had enough to eat. Who would have thought that he would be bought and sold multiple times, and eventually end up in the palace.

When he gained some power, he wanted to go back and find his family. He even thought about adopting his brother’s son, but unfortunately, he couldn’t find them.

Now in his forties, Lu Qingxi had long given up on the idea of finding his brother. But he still had some sentimental attachment to his hometown.

And because of this, when his hometown experienced a major flood five years ago, he cried in front of the Emperor several times, and the Emperor sent a lot of relief funds, but unfortunately, much of that money was embezzled by people working for King Jin, and he had no evidence!

Lu Qingxi dismissed these scattered thoughts and felt better.

Magistrate Zhang had given him a big surprise! He had actually found evidence of King Jin’s rampant exploitation and oppression of the people in Hexing Prefecture!

At the beginning of the founding of Great Qi, the Emperor had issued an order not to excavate Lihu stones, but King Jin not only excavated them, but also abducted people everywhere to dig, resulting in the deaths of more than a thousand people!

When Lu Qingxi arrived at the Emperor’s sleeping palace, the joyful expression on his face had completely disappeared, replaced only by sorrow. Then, he shouted in a sharp voice, “Your Majesty, King Jin has gone too far!”

The Emperor was in poor health and didn’t like to go out much. Most of the time, he stayed in his sleeping palace.

When Lu Qingxi started shouting, the sudden noise startled him.

Then, he looked helplessly towards the door. “Old Lu, what’s the matter now?”

The Emperor had known Lu Qingxi since childhood, and they had been together for nearly thirty years. Although Lu Qingxi was just a eunuch, he was different in the Emperor’s eyes.

The number of people he was close to had been decreasing.

“Your Majesty, King Jin has done something outrageous in Hexing Prefecture!” Lu Qingxi handed the memorial written by Magistrate Zhang to the Emperor and explained it to him.

The Emperor’s eyesight wasn’t good, but he wasn’t completely blind.

After looking at the memorial, he knew that it was indeed written by Magistrate Zhang. Hearing Lu Qingxi’s words, he also felt a bit unhappy, and he sympathized more with the people who had been harmed.

Lu Qingxi noticed the Emperor’s mood.

The only fault of his Majesty was being too soft-hearted.

“If it weren’t for His Majesty’s soft-heartedness, the King of Jin and that woman who harmed His Majesty wouldn’t have been living so well all this time.”

“Your Majesty, those commoners are suffering too much. I, as a poor man from humble origins, cannot bear to see the people suffer,” Lu Qingxi kept applying eye medicine for the King of Jin while fake crying.

“The King of Jin indeed went too far and deserves some punishment,” the Emperor said, then glanced helplessly at Lu Qingxi and said, “Stop pretending to cry.” He could tell immediately that Lu Qingxi’s tears were fake, and the sound was giving him a headache.

Lu Qingxi stopped crying and asked the Emperor how to deal with the King of Jin.

The Emperor said, “It should be because his subordinates didn’t handle things properly… Let him reflect in seclusion and impose a fine.”

Lu Qingxi felt dissatisfied, thinking the punishment was too lenient.

But he also knew the Emperor intended for the King of Jin to succeed, so he always showed leniency towards the King of Jin’s subordinates.

However, if he managed this matter well, he could always diminish the King of Jin’s prestige!

He really didn’t want the King of Jin to succeed. It would be best if they could select a child from the imperial family, so he would still be a powerful regent in the future.

The Emperor indeed showed leniency towards the King of Jin’s subordinates.

He was a sentimental person, not just towards Lu Qingxi, but also towards his concubines in the harem and his two daughters.

His empress was already gone, but he still had several concubines who had been with him for many years, especially the noble concubine… She had been a palace maid serving him since childhood, two years older than him, and was no longer young.

He wanted to promote her to empress, but the courtiers consistently opposed it, citing her lack of offspring…

If when he died, his noble concubine still hadn’t become empress, would the next emperor mistreat her?

The Emperor sighed and decided to go see the noble concubine.

Lu Qingxi came out from the Emperor’s quarters and immediately passed a message to the noble concubine.

She was on his side and didn’t like the King of Jin either!

As for why she didn’t like the King of Jin… When His Majesty ascended to the throne, the old King of Jin held all the political power, and they suffered a lot!

Li Qingzhi knew nothing about the happenings in the capital.

He kept writing books every day, and once finished, he had Chang Zhan send them to Chang Duan.

Chang Zhan and Chang Duan were both amazed.

Li Qingzhi was writing books too fast!

There were three people on their side responsible for typesetting, but they couldn’t keep up!

They also didn’t dare to ask for help from others…

“Is Li Qingzhi’s health still okay?” Chang Duan asked Chang Zhan.

Li Qingzhi wrote so many words every day, could he endure it? He felt it would take him a whole day just to copy so many words.

“He seems fine physically, but… he looks like he’s lost some weight again,” Chang Zhan said. Li Qingzhi ate a lot every day, but perhaps due to excessive consumption, he seemed thinner instead of gaining weight.

“Sigh… It’s a pity we can’t keep up. We’ll have to transcribe the rest of what he wrote during my journey to the capital and see if there’s anyone there who can help with printing,” Chang Duan said.

Li Qingzhi soon learned about the problem Chang Zhan and Chang Duan faced.

He thought for a moment, then told Jin Xiaoye, and during the day, he went to the new pier to write books.

In addition to writing books, he also helped with typesetting.

With his photographic memory, he could quickly find the type he needed and never made mistakes… His speed in typesetting alone surpassed that of the other three combined.

Chang Duan and Chang Zhan: “…” How could Li Qingzhi be so amazing? Is he really human?