Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 480 - 478

Chapter 480: 478

This year was destined to be a turbulent one!

The Minister of the Right and Wen Jie were both beheaded.

Another high-ranking official was demoted, men were conscripted and sent to the frontier, and women became slaves to the government.

It was rare for an emperor to replace both the left and right prime ministers during his reign!

Many officials were dismissed based on the seriousness of their offenses, execution for those who warranted execution, conscription for those who warranted conscription.

Shen Bao’er was locked up in the government’s broker, once she became a slave, her heart was filled with unstoppable resentment towards Xiao’er!

For those like them who became slaves because their families had committed crimes, they would be slaves their whole lives, unable to rid themselves of the slave status.

Even for their descendants, it would take three generations to redeem their slave status!

It must have been that bitch, Shen Xiao’er, who caused this. She knew that nothing good ever came from meeting Xiao’er!

Luckily, Shen Bao’er had sewn a fifty-taels silver banknote and a gold leaf into her shoe pad.

She gave the gold leaf to a young servant at the broker’s. During their regular training, they had some opportunities to use pens, ink, paper, and inkstones. She secretly wrote a letter, asking that young servant to deliver it for her.

Initially, the young servant dared not agree. However, after she said that the letter was just to ask her biological parents to buy her back, the young servant, who could read, checked the contents of the letter and saw the address on it was a small village. He was so greedy for the gold leaf that he finally agreed.

Li Yunning, who was demoted to a slave, harbored just as much, if not more, resentment towards Xiao’er as Shen Bao’er did. Her life was ruined by Shen Xiao’er. After Shen Xiao’er appeared, her life had been filled with disappointments and eventually led to her family’s ruin.

Sometimes she wondered, if she hadn’t listened to Shen Bao’er and plotted against Shangguan Xuanyi, but instead became friends with Shen Xiao’er as she originally planned, would she have fulfilled her wish to marry Shangguan Xuanyi and not ended up in such a miserable situation.

Regardless, it was all because of Shen Xiao’er that she ended up like this. She would never let her get away with it!

Thus, the storms of corruption and assassination were over without too much disturbance.

The Manor of Marquis Zhongyong was still favored by the throne.

Even though none of the officials dared to mention the deposition of the Empress again, the Empress Dowager had to take this opportunity to bring up that throughout history, no emperor’s harem has ever been as empty as that of the current emperor.

The Empress Dowager took strong action and issued an edict to select new concubines after the spring.

Many young women eagerly anticipated the event and began to seriously study the behavior and learnings they had previously been lazy to learn about.

The bells for the New Year rang in the hopes of countless people.

Many places had realized their aspiration of producing nearly 1,000 pounds per mu.

Some households found their granaries to be too small to store all the newly harvested grain.

Some people were even so ecstatic that they slept on piles of grain!

Thanks to the Imperial Court’s regional policies, some villages grew mushrooms, and some impoverished villages specialized in growing soybeans to improve soil quality. Then, the Imperial Court taught them how to make tofu and other soy products. Many people took the soybeans they grew and made them into soy products, carrying their wares into the streets and alleys to sell in various towns and villages, which greatly improved their living conditions.

Some of them even left their county to run this soy product business with relatives in other counties, creating their own little world!

Some other poor counties also grew soybeans, set up workshops, brewed soy sauce, and bean paste. They started by distributing in their own county before gradually expanding to more and more places.

Life was visibly prospering day by day.

Some areas had soil conditions conducive to planting sweet potatoes. The Imperial Court supported their cultivation and gave them a recipe for making glass noodles. Then, the villagers pooled their money to establish a glass noodle factory, started selling glass noodles to grocery shops in each town, dried glass noodles could be stored for a long time and the food made from it was delicious. Gradually it gained popularity among more people. By the second year, the workshop could not keep up with the demand for its glass noodles, and the entire village’s standard of living took a leap forward! County magistrates and villagers from other counties with similar land and climate conditions came to learn and inspect.

...

Observing the taxes collected this year and the numerous memorials on his desk celebrating the successes of the last two years’ farming achievements, the Emperor was genuinely astonished. Many citizens have started living peaceful and prosperous lives because of it.

For counties and towns that have started growing fruit trees, results might not show within a year or two, but the Emperor believes that if the weather is kind, he will have many more reports of a bumper harvest on his desk next year!

His brow relaxed for the first time. A smile returned to his face, and the gloom he felt for days due to those major cases disappeared.

He specially commended the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue. As the initiator, Shen Chengyao received even more substantial rewards.

He was mentioned at the New Year’s Eve dinner, and the emperor ordered the Imperial Dining Room to prepare an extra banquet set to be sent to Marquis Shengping’s Mansion!

The prestige of having the same New Year’s Eve dinner as the Emperor was immense!

Since the founding of the nation, only Marquis Zhongyong’s Mansion has been privileged with such an honor!

This year’s New Year’s Eve dinner was richer for every household compared to previous years, and their smiles were also brighter.

Most families in the south had bowl after bowl of steaming white rice on their dining tables.

Northern families had a large pot of steaming white steamed buns on their tables.

The variety and quantity of meat dishes on the table increased.

There were more children wearing new clothes for New Year than in previous years.

The amount of New Year’s money in the children’s pockets was also more than previous years.

Every face was beaming with joy!

The laughter and chatter in every street and alley were louder than in the past years!

Happiness is simple: peace and prosperity, good weather, and plentiful food are all ordinary citizens dream of in this dynasty.

It is simple and yet so hard.

In the Imperial Palace

In the Chang Guiren’s Changle Palace, Chang Guiren washed her face with tears, "It’s all my fault. I’ve harmed you. If I hadn’t been so impatient, you wouldn’t have been neglected by your father. And because of your house arrest, you couldn’t attend tonight’s New Year’s Eve dinner!"

"It’s just a meal. Even in previous years when we could eat together, didn’t the two of us end up like invisible people, watching them? Isn’t it more intimate for the two of us, mother and son, to have a quiet New Year’s Eve dinner together?" the Third Prince consoled.

The excitement and joy of New Year belonged to the Empress and her sons, and they had nothing.

Chang Guiren sniffled: "Your father has always been partial. You’ve just started working and have been dismissed so soon. What do you have to compete with them? After your father passes away in years to come, I will certainly follow him in death, and they won’t let you off then?"

"Mother, don’t worry, Father is still young; there’s no hurry. I will not let you become one of the deceased. You will surely be the future Empress Dowager."

"I’m worried that your father would treat you like he did the First Prince, first house arrest you, then claim you are bedridden with illness, and a few years later, you might disappear."

"It won’t." How could the First Prince, a bastard, be compared with himself, a true-born prince?

"Mother, stop crying. Tonight is New Year’s Eve, and these dishes are pretty good. Let’s eat."

"Alright, no more crying, let’s eat." Chang Guiren dried her tears.

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