The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 566 - 555 Too Many Heads

Chapter 566: Chapter 555 Too Many Heads

The next day, Manbao and the others got up early and stretched their bodies in the courtyard before picking up their books to study their morning lessons.

After Zhou SiLang returned from buying breakfast, and they finished eating, they entered the studyroom, with some reading, others copying books, and yet others being tutored.

Manbao had not yet finished copying "Etiquette and Ceremonial," so she copied three pages first. Feeling tired, she put it down and picked up the "Book of Han" to read.

Bai Shanbao didn’t have time to read the "Book of Han" just yet since he needed to focus on the books for the academy’s examination. He had Mr. Zhuang explain in detail anything that he did not understand.

Not to mention Bai Erlang, his studies were even further behind Manbao’s and Bai Shanbao’s, and he required a lot of Mr. Zhuang’s time.

Manbao took out a sheet of white paper and began listing names from the "Book of Han" as she read.

She had decided to read through the "Book of Han" once, making note of the surnames of those who were executed in the process. Afterwards, she would read it again more carefully, listing the reasons for their executions, the timelines, and who was responsible for their deaths. On the third pass, she would then gather questions to ask her teacher.

Eventually, she would need to consult other books, and Manbao estimated she would have to visit the bookstore more than once.

It was impossible to buy all the books; at most, she would buy one out of every three she read, and she would read the remaining two at the bookstore.

As a result, she would have to go out frequently.

Manbao sneaked a glance at the courtyard’s surrounding walls and her large eyes moved nimbly.

Mr. Zhuang, as if he had eyes on the back of his head, slowly turned around holding his book and lightly patted her head, saying, "Focus."

Manbao immediately lowered her head and began writing on the paper, starting with one name—Xiang Yu!

Although she hadn’t seen it yet, since this was the Annals of Emperor Gaozu, Xiang Yu would surely be among the deceased.

For two consecutive days, Manbao and the others studiously remained within the courtyard, with the only diversion being escaping the alley to fetch lunch themselves, at most taking half an hour before returning to continue studying. They were exceptionally well-behaved.

Meanwhile, Ms. Liu had already received the ledgers that Daji had been asked to send back and had personally made a copy.

Ms. Liu placed the copied ledger in a box and hid it well before placing the original in another box. She then summoned Nanny Liu’s son, Liu Gui, and handed it to him, saying, "Take my note and personally deliver this to Lord Wei in the capital. Don’t return without his acknowledgement."

Liu Gui acknowledged the order, took the items, and left.

Nanny Liu watched him leave before turning to pour tea for the Old Madam, asking, "Old Madam, will this succeed?"

Ms. Liu shook her head, "Not enough. The ledger only shows some instances of embezzlement. The court already pardoned officials for the Yizhou floods once and executed quite a few, and the Prince of Yizhou had two counties taken from him, so this evidence isn’t useful for the moment."

Ms. Liu’s eyes lowered as she continued, "What I want are the ledgers from the first to the second year of the Dazhen era. Remember, the new emperor ascended to the throne and to curb the floods throughout the realm, nearly half of the treasury’s silver was allocated for water conservancy projects. To this end, the palace tightened its belt for three years, releasing a large number of palace maids. If the emperor knew that the money took a roundabout path to mostly end up in the Prince of Yizhou’s pockets, he might be inclined to enforce strict penalties regardless of the Dowager Empress’s position."

"But Old Madam, the so-called ledgers are merely rumors. We have no idea what actually happened back then. Dalang died on the way, and where his ledgers are is anyone’s guess," Nanny Liu pointed out.

Ms. Liu didn’t speak, her gaze deeply fixed through the window toward the distant mountains. She knew those things must be hidden in the mountains; they just hadn’t found them yet.

But she believed that fate wouldn’t be so unreasonable, one day those items would surface.

Ms. Liu’s gaze fell again as she instructed, "Go call someone for me, I will write a letter to Shanbao and have it delivered to him. He’s grown so much yet still causes trouble like a child. This time we were lucky Daji was with him, otherwise there could have been a disaster."

Nanny Liu said yes and turned to fetch someone.

The continuous spring rain made travel difficult, stretching what should have been a day’s journey into a day and a half, and with the city gates to consider, the messenger would have to spend the night just outside the city.

This persistent spring rain was exactly what the farmers had been hoping for, but for travelers and those not engaged in agriculture, these days of steady rainfall were quite an inconvenience.

Manbao did not particularly like this rain because she found that the washed clothes just wouldn’t dry. Moreover, how do you handle the desire to sleep with the sound of rain while sitting inside to read?

She recalled past springs with rain, when she simply joined her family in happiness, never finding the spring rain bothersome. Now, however, her mood was different.

Zhou SiLang himself wished for the rain to grace his home but leave their current location dry.

Upon hearing this, Bai Shanbao said speechlessly, "You might as well wish for it to rain only in the fields and nowhere else."

"Eh?" Zhou SiLang exclaimed with delight. "That’s a great idea."

And so he made his wish to the heavens once more.

Everyone: ...

Manbao turned her head away, ignoring her fourth brother, and handed Bai Shanbao the stack of paper she had filled with notes, saying, "Here, these are the notes I’ve made these past days. Take a look."

After flipping through them, Bai Shanbao exclaimed in shock, "How can so many people die in just one ’Book of Han’?"

"Yes, I haven’t even finished yet. This is only from ’the twelve annals’, ’eight tables’, ’ten treatises’, and ’ten biographies’. There are sixty more biographies left," Manbao explained. "I suspect there will be even more deaths, there are just too many people to note down, so I thought I’d stop here and clarify the first half before moving on to the latter half."

"Besides ’Book of Han’, there’s also ’Book of the Later Han,’" Bai Shanbao reminded her.

"Exactly, being an official is dangerous," Manbao looked at Bai Shanbao, "do you want to reconsider, maybe it’s better not to be an official."

After a moment of thought, Bai Shanbao said, "I might not necessarily get beheaded, right? Don’t worry too much."

Bai Er chimed in, "You two are overthinking it. Whether you can even become an official isn’t certain, and if you don’t do anything wrong, even if you end up dying, that’s still a death that will leave your name in history for ages to come. Don’t be afraid."

Bai Shanbao was reassured by this and promptly puffed out his chest, stating, "I’m not afraid of death."

Compromising, Manbao replied, "Alright then, I’ll look it up in the bookstore later and try to write down their lives in detail. Later on, you can see why they died, and you can try to avoid the same fate when you become an official."

Bai Shanbao thanked her, "Thanks. By the way, have you finished copying ’Etiquette and Ceremonial’?"

"Not yet, a little left."

Bai Shanbao then offered very brotherly, "I need to practice my handwriting, do you want me to help you copy it?"

"Your handwriting doesn’t look like mine. If the teacher finds out..."

Bai Shanbao suggested, "I’ve been practicing copying other people’s writing recently. Let me try, if it’s usable, we’ll use it; if not, no harm done."

Manbao refused, "No way, I only have a few pages left. I can finish in just over an hour. I’d rather not wait for you to slowly imitate it and risk being discovered by the teacher. I’m not that foolish."

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