Princess Menglang is hard to change, the whole capital is embarrassed for her

Regardless of face or not, the old prime minister could not bear it any longer after just two days.

He followed Fang Yao to the general's mansion and walked in without caring whether he was welcome or not.

Anyway, he is the old prime minister. No matter how bad Fang Yao is, he can't let the servants in the mansion kick him out. As for Fang Yao himself, he is too lazy to kick him out.

As soon as the old prime minister entered the Fang family study, he was surprised to see that there were already several people sitting inside. When they saw him coming, they hurriedly stood up and offered him seats. After some politeness, everyone returned to their seats and read the books in their hands with relish.

Some people even took out paper and pen to take notes. The old prime minister hurriedly sat down under the guidance of the Fang Mansion's housekeeper and also took a book to read.

I watched this for the whole morning and before I knew it, it was lunch time.

Then, the old prime minister saw someone stand up to eat.

"The general's family actually provides meals?" he asked an official who passed by him.

The official said, "No, no, these are all sent by our own family. The general is not that good-tempered. He even provides food? It's good enough that we can come in."

The Prime Minister hummed.

Fang Yao is a rough guy with a thoughtful mind. When officials from the court came to his house to read, he specially set aside a place to make it into a study, so that no matter how many people came, they could sit down.

This would easily lead to people accusing him of forming a clique with court officials, but he turned around and decided not to care about food. Whoever wanted to eat could ask their family to bring it to them, and he would consider it a courtesy if he could ask the kitchen to help heat it up.

Treat everyone equally.

In this way, no one can take advantage of the opportunity to get close to him or throw dirty water on him.

"Prime Minister, are you unaware of the rules set by the General? Didn't you bring any food today? If you don't mind, will you please have some of what I sent you?"

"No thanks, I'll just go back home and have dinner and come back later."

"I advise the Prime Minister not to go back."

"Oh? Why?"

"Because the books in the general's house are rare, there's only one copy of each type, and there are so many people waiting to read them, the general doesn't allow anyone to take them home. If you go back for lunch and come back, the book you read that morning might have been taken by someone else. So no one likes to leave, and anything they need is handled here."

It has become a small court set up separately?

The old prime minister went to find Fang Yao.

Explain your own reasoning.

Fang Yao replied with one word on the spot, "Bullshit."

The angry old prime minister went to find the emperor, and he did it in front of Fang Yao.

He said that Fang Yao was not careful enough to let so many officials study in his home. If something happened, he would be easily framed and accused of forming a clique for personal gain. What if?

He also said to the emperor, "I kindly reminded the general, but the general did not say that he would reflect on himself and improve himself to prevent future troubles, and opposed my rude words. Your Majesty, please judge the matter for me. You must give him a severe reprimand."

The emperor watched the old prime minister grow angrier and angrier as he spoke, and couldn't help but burst out laughing.

The old prime minister was stunned. "Your Majesty, are you still laughing? I am doing this for the good of the court and the general."

Why don’t these two people appreciate his kindness?

Fang Yao didn't care about anything else and simply bowed to the emperor, saying, "Your Majesty, you have heard it too. I told you not to let them come to my house to read books, but you insisted that I clean up the largest water pavilion in my house as a study so that they could read there. You also said that Li'er's books cover a wide range of topics, are rich in knowledge, and are all excellent. You asked me to make those books public for the officials to read for the sake of the court."

"I wanted to charge you, but you refused. After much persuasion, I finally shared some of the cost of renovating the water pavilion. But what happened? I knew someone would accuse me of trying to win over court officials with ulterior motives, and that's exactly what happened."

After saying this, he glanced at the old prime minister meaningfully, raised his face in displeasure, and said, "Your Majesty, I must charge a fee. Those books are not ordinary books, they are all rare copies. I can't let everyone read them for free. No, no, some people not only read them, but also copy them. Such good books, how can I let them get them for free? I must charge a fee, and use the money to buy wine for the soldiers, and also to keep them warm in the winter."

The old prime minister was dumbfounded.

It turned out that Fang Yao didn't want the officials to go to his house to read books, but the emperor forced him to agree.

Looking at the current situation, not only can he not stop it, but he also has to quickly find a way to let Fang Yao continue to open the study.

"Uh......"

The old prime minister was at a loss for words.

One moment they were against it, and the next moment they wanted to support it. This was a huge change in stance, and it got stuck.

The emperor picked up the ruler on the imperial desk and was about to throw it at Fang Yao. Fang Yao jumped behind the old prime minister and said to the emperor, "Please be careful. The ruler is very valuable. If you break it, you can't ask me to compensate you."

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, calm down," the old prime minister hurriedly reached out to mediate, his words already prepared in his mind. "If I had known that Your Majesty supported this, I would have gone to the general's residence with open arms. There would have been no need to act like I had to beg the general for help. Humph."

The usually serious old man was influenced by Fang Yao and the emperor and began to speak in a different tone.

"I have an idea about this matter."

The emperor and Fang Yao both looked at him.

Fang Yao said warily, "I'm telling you, if you let the Emperor force me to feed them again, I'll really kick them all out. Then I'll say it was you who went to the Emperor to accuse me of forming a clique for personal gain. From now on, they won't be able to read books anymore, so let them curse your ancestors."

"No, no," the old prime minister said. "Your Majesty, I suggest setting up a royal library in the capital, exclusively for the use of court officials and scholars. A nominal fee can be charged, not too much, just enough to ensure the care of the books and the maintenance of the library. As for those who wish to eat in the library, a small restaurant can be set up in the library courtyard, providing simple meals, and individuals are responsible for their own expenses. Of course, there are certainly other areas that need improvement. When the time comes, I can ask someone to think it over in detail and write a memorial to your Majesty. Do you think this idea is feasible?"

Before the emperor could say anything, Fang Yao spoke first, "Alright, that's great. Get those people out of my house quickly, Your Majesty. I need to keep secrets sometimes. When these people go there, I have to find someone to watch them to prevent them from wandering around in places they shouldn't be. Even my parents don't dare to wander around the yard anymore, for fear that they'll have to greet people and not know who they are."

You can tell from his expression that he has been eager to kick those people out.

The emperor glanced at him and snorted, "Who can you blame for this? It's because your books are too precious. You heard what the old prime minister said just now. What are you going to do? Donate those books? Or..."

"No," Fang Yao said firmly, "I won't donate. Counting back several generations, these books are the most valuable in my family. If the library wants them, you can buy them. But I know that Your Majesty is stingy, so I have a suggestion. You can ask the ministers in the court to donate together."

"Either have them bring out rare books from their collections, or spend money to buy books from me. Everyone has to donate the same amount. If I donate enough and then take books away, I will charge for reading. In my heart, the soldiers' good life is much more important than the officials' education. I will use the money I collect for reading to improve their living expenses."

He turned and said to the old prime minister, "When you ask them to work out the rules, remember to mention that there will be a fee for the Fang family's books, whether they want to read them or not. If they have any objections to this, I'll say that it was you who filed a complaint against me in front of the emperor."

The emperor put his hand on the ruler and really wanted to hit him.

The old prime minister was also cursing him in his heart: a scoundrel, a rogue, and a scoundrel.