The Emperor was kissed by the Regent and cried again

Shen Jingli frowned. He had originally wanted to make some extra money from his followers while killing time, but he didn't expect that the ancient people were so smart and could learn anything once taught. He could only accept his defeat.

Eighteen taels of silver was a huge sum of money, but how could she pay it back? She had no salary and was forced to work for free every day.

The only jade ring he had was pawned, and the five hundred taels he got from it was confiscated by Qin Yejue. He didn’t know if he would have the chance to get it back.

"Shochiku, I've been having a hard time lately and I'm short on money. We can talk about paying you back later."

Shen Jingli handed a plate of lotus cakes on the table to Song Zhu and said cheekily, "This is all interest."

"I've already gotten tired of eating this little one. Your Majesty, please keep it for yourself!"

Song Zhu moved the Furong Su in front of Shen Jingli again, still with his standard toothy smile on his face.

Shen Jingli couldn't help but fall into deep thought. It seemed that he had to make money first before he could live a good life.

Song Zhu was tidying up the table when he saw Shen Jingli slumped in a round pear-shaped chair with a melancholy look on his face. He couldn't help but ask the reason: "Your Majesty, are you worried about something?"

"There is no worry, there is mourning."

Songzhu's hand paused slightly, "Is there...any funeral? I haven't heard of anyone passing away."

"I am commemorating the five hundred taels who died."

Shochiku: "… Losing money is a small matter, but losing life is a big matter… Just think of it as a loss of money to ward off disaster, and don't dwell on it."

The Regent even dared to snatch the dragon robe to wear, and snatching five hundred taels...it's a bit of a drop in the bucket.

"Shochiku, do you know?"

"I don't know, little one."

“It’s not scary to be poor. What’s scary is that you are the one who is poor.”

Song Zhu looked at Shen Jingli in confusion: "Poor? The emperor lives a more comfortable life than most people."

It's just a superficial glitz. No, it's not glitz on the surface or in private. Her life is so difficult that you can't even describe how poor it is. Any maid or eunuch in Qianlu Palace would probably be richer than her.

"Songzhu, you are not unaware of my situation. Not only am I penniless, but I am also heavily in debt."

"Your Majesty, don't you have a lot of private money hidden away? How can you be penniless?"

"Heavily in debt? Are you talking about the eighteen taels of silver you owe? That's because you're stingy and don't want to pay it back."

When Shen Jingli heard the word "private money", he jumped up from his chair excitedly, pointed at the small upturned nose, and said excitedly: "You mean, I have private money?"

Song Zhu was a little stunned when he didn't expect Shen Jingli's reaction to be so intense: "Yes... yes."

"Where is it? I can't remember it for the moment."

Songzhu's face was filled with black lines. How could he forget this? As expected of someone from a wealthy family, even when he was in deep trouble, he still turned a blind eye to money.

"It's in the orchid secret compartment under the dragon bed." Song Zhu pointed casually, and Shen Jingli went forward in the direction he pointed to look for the private money.

"Oh... I remember now. Huh? How did you know?"

Songzhu blinked his eyes and said innocently: "Isn't this an open secret of Qianlu Palace?"

Shen Jingli was too lazy to think about it. She just wanted to know how much savings she had.

He trotted all the way to the dragon bed, squatted on the ground, and opened the secret compartment with an expectant look on his face.

Shen Jingli's eyes lit up, and he looked at Song Zhu in disbelief, "These...are all mine?"

Seeing Shen Jingli's face full of money, so excited that he even changed his address, Song Zhu chuckled and said, "Yes, it's all yours, a full two hundred and fifty taels."

Two hundred and fifty? This number is more or less unlucky, but for someone like her who had to apply for fifty taels from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

These two hundred and fifty are already a huge sum of money.

Shen Jingli admired the original owner a little. How did she save so much money under Qin Yejue's nose?

She was clearly just a puppet emperor with food and drink. She attended court every day, but she did not receive a penny of salary.

"Songzhu, where did this money come from? I've been eating too much tofu pudding lately, and my head is swollen, and I've forgotten a lot of things."

Based on the principle of money making money, Shen Jingli felt that he could not just live off the fat of the land, so he thought it would be a good idea to emulate the original owner's ways of making money.

Song Zhu helped Shen Jingli up. How could an emperor lie on the ground? "Your Majesty, you have lost your mind after you fell on your head. This is your salary."

"What? I asked you a few days ago, didn't you say no?"

Songzhu nodded, "There really isn't any this month. The emperor was late for court a few days ago, so his salary was deducted. If you want to get your salary again, you have to..."

Songzhu thought for a moment and said, "You were late this morning too. Starting from tomorrow, you have to be neither late nor leave early for 30 consecutive days, and you will get a salary of 10 taels."

"If the emperor is late or leaves early during this period, the number of days will be recalculated."

Shen Jingli was shocked when he heard this: "The king of a country only gets ten taels of silver a month? And he has to work full time?"

"Yes, it's the rule set by the Regent, and it has been like this for the past two years."

One hundred and twenty taels for the whole year, what the hell?

A trip to a brothel would cost at least one hundred or eighty taels.

"Isn't this humiliating?"

"That's right! That's too much! I'll go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs tomorrow and tell them that we don't want the money!"

"what?"

"The Prince Regent is really going too far, trying every way to embarrass the Emperor. I can't wait until tomorrow! I'll go to the Imperial Household Department right now!"

Shochiku was indignant and was about to leave, "The Regent deliberately used the ten taels of salary to humiliate you for two years. You shouldn't have accepted this worthless money!"

If you don't want this compensation, then you will get nothing, right?

Shen Jingli quickly grabbed Song Zhu and said, "Actually... it's not a bad idea to humiliate him once a month."

We are all respectable people. We can’t just give up money for the sake of dignity, right?

"...Actually...it's good that you just think it through."

He also knew that the emperor was thrifty, but the regent went too far and embarrassed the emperor in every way.

The Emperor has been on the throne for more than two years. In the past, he always arrived early and never was late.

It seems that the matter...

The emperor was really sad.

Shen Jingli asked casually: "How long did I persist before I was late?"

"There's only one day left, the day you'll be late."

Shen Jingli beat his chest and kowtowed, his heartache written all over his face, "I shouldn't have asked."

Everything was fine before I asked, but after I asked, I felt like I had trouble breathing and a dull pain in my heart.

"Your Majesty, don't be upset. Anyway, you have food, drink and shelter in the palace, and you rarely have the opportunity to spend money."

“That makes a lot of sense…”

She is now in a situation where she only has money coming in but no money going out, and it is only a matter of time before the little things accumulate into a lot.

"…Hey…Your Majesty, you have twenty taels in two months, which is more than eighteen taels…"

Songzhu counted on his fingers and asked knowingly, "I'm not good at math, can you help me calculate?"

When he mentioned eighteen taels, he deliberately turned up the volume, fearing that Shen Jingli would not understand the meaning of paying back the money.

Shen Jingli understood what he meant and handed Songzhu twenty taels of silver: "…I'll give it back to you. We're even now."

"Okay, okay. I just happen to have two taels of silver."

"No need, just keep collecting it."

Songzhu stared at the twenty taels of silver in front of him, and hesitated to accept it. When did the little emperor become so generous? It was simply unbelievable.

"Are you serious?"