Royal Gold Magistrate

Xie Xian closed his notebook and sighed.

“Master, is it necessary for us to be so cautious? Didn’t you say you have a good relationship with His Majesty and the Crown Prince?”

Fang Zheng chuckled, “Yes, it’s good, but what do you know? This is the way of officialdom.”

“I can’t let this official robe get dirty.”

Otherwise, how could he hold the princess’s hand if he didn’t do well in his career?

“There’s no small matter in people’s livelihood. We’re not fooling around, this is called striving for perfection!”

“Make the entry ceremony grand! Announce to everyone with great fanfare that His Majesty is coming!”

“On that day, I’ll gather all the wealthy merchants and gentry, bring them over, and bring their children too.”

“While His Majesty is here, use his name to get those merchants to increase their investments and raise the living standards in the city.”

“I’ll have to leave sooner or later. If His Majesty intends to make me a Regional Governor, it means I won’t be able to stay for too long.”

“Get everything in Jianjiang settled and nailed down, so I won’t have to worry about it.”

“Go and get it done.”

Xie Xian inwardly clicked his tongue. Good grief, the master was using the emperor as a tool.

He’s not afraid of overdoing it.

………

A few days later, a minor official came to report that the Emperor and his entourage were heading towards Jianjiang City in grand fashion.

At this time, Fang Zheng was dozing off in the Fenghua Tower.

Li Yuanzhao rushed over and shook him awake: “Old Fang! Old Fang! My Imperial Father is really coming, what should we do, what should we do?!”

Fang Zheng was still groggy, but when he heard His Majesty was coming, he rubbed his eyes, got up and said, “Don’t panic!”

“Your Highness, look at how well we’ve done. His Majesty will be delighted when he sees it.”

“You’ve achieved great merit! He might even reward you!”

Then he shouted to the minor official standing at the door, “Come here, quick! Go and call those wealthy gentry, merchants, and children, bring them all here!”

“And someone go notify Xie Xian to make preparations.”

“Check the people going out of the city to welcome His Majesty twice more. Anyone with weapons should throw them away quickly to avoid being mistaken for a threat by the guards.”

The minor officials received their orders and hurried out.

This shouting had cleared his head quite a bit. He stood up, drank half a pot of tea, and said to Li Yuanzhao, “Your Highness, quickly change into new clothes. Let’s go out of the city to welcome His Majesty.”

“Alright!” Li Yuanzhao, reassured by his explanation, was no longer so panicked and immediately ran out to change clothes.

Seeing that no one was around, Fang Zheng took his official robe, crumpled it into a ball, and rubbed it vigorously for a while.

Then he slowly put it on, with wrinkles all over.

He rubbed his eyes hard again, didn’t wash his face, and strolled out of the Fenghua Tower.

When everyone gathered at the entrance of the Fenghua Tower, Li Yuanzhao was shocked to see Fang Zheng walking out of the building wearing a wrinkled official robe.

He couldn’t help but exclaim, “Old Fang! How did your clothes end up like this?”

“Aiya! This is the only one I have, there’s no time to change. Let’s just go with this.”

Fang Zheng said as he walked towards the entrance.

At the threshold, he wasn’t paying attention and tripped over it.

He immediately fell to the ground, rolled once, and ended up covered in dust.

“Oh no! Master Fang has fallen!!”

Everyone rushed to help Fang Zheng up, constantly patting the dust off his body.

Fang Zheng tried to fend them off, saying urgently, “Alright, alright! Let’s hurry! I’ll just be dirty, His Majesty is more important! Quickly, let’s go out of the city to welcome him!”

Damn, they almost cleaned me up!

A large group of people set off towards the city gate in grand fashion.

Xie Xian, having received the news earliest, had already made thorough arrangements.

Wu Sheng was in the middle of the road, with the band on both sides, holding their instruments at the ready.

When Fang Zheng arrived, Wu Sheng immediately went up to greet him.

He smiled and said, “Old… uh….”

Fang Zheng glared at him, “What? Speak up.”

Wu Sheng leaned close to his ear and whispered, “Master, it’s too much! The robe is too wrinkled!”

As he spoke, he quietly tried to smooth out Fang Zheng’s official robe and wiped off some dust.

Fang Zheng was amused, “Ah! Old Wu, you’ve got some skills!”

Wu Sheng smiled awkwardly, “We’re all the same… all the same….”

I’ve also been an official and seen the emperor. Before I was demoted to commoner status last time, I put in quite some effort to look haggard.

It’s just basic operation, no big deal.

A large crowd stood outside the city, with Fang Zheng and Li Yuanzhao at the front.

From afar, they could see Emperor Jing’s imperial carriage slowly approaching.

It got closer… and closer…

Finally, the imperial carriage officially stopped in front of the crowd.

Emperor Jing slowly walked out, and the first thing he saw was Li Yuanzhao grinning at him.

Two fierce glares were directed at Li Yuanzhao without hesitation.

Then Emperor Jing looked at Fang Zheng, examining him up and down.

His eyes were bloodshot, and he looked travel-worn. It seems he really had suffered… but why did he look fatter?

“Your subject, Fang Zheng, pays respects to Your Majesty!”

Led by Fang Zheng, everyone bowed in greeting.

“No need for formalities!” Emperor Jing waved his hand, not even looking at Li Yuanzhao as he walked up to Fang Zheng.

He looked closely and said with emotion, “Minister Fang… you’ve worked hard. How did you know I was coming?”

Fang Zheng shook his head and said, “Your subject is not tired, it’s all thanks to the Crown Prince’s hard work.”

“Your subject heard from the people below that they saw Your Majesty’s imperial carriage in Jianjiang, so we knew in advance that Your Majesty was coming.”

“Thinking that Your Majesty would be gracing us with your presence, your subject has been worried about making mistakes these past few days, unable to eat or sleep properly.”

“So… I’m bloated! Your subject is ashamed to meet Your Majesty in this state!”

As he spoke, Fang Zheng turned his head away in “shame”.

The accompanying ministers watched with discomfort, especially Du Shun, who had never met Fang Zheng before.

He had thought the person who beheaded Liu Xun would be some upright and fierce warrior.

This doesn’t match up at all?! He seems more like a bootlicker!

Emperor Jing suddenly understood.

So that’s it… he’s bloated, I thought he had gotten fat.

“Your Majesty! Please come with your subject, many people are waiting to welcome you.”

Emperor Jing glanced indifferently at Li Yuanzhao, who was shrinking to one side.

Then he smiled at Fang Zheng and said, “Oh? There are people in the city who want to see me?”

Fang Zheng nodded, then walked to the front of the line.

After a few steps, he reached Wu Sheng and said in a low voice, “Do it well!”

Then he stepped back and shouted loudly, “Play the music!!”

Suddenly, the band on both sides made a huge sound, and all the guards unconsciously put their hands on their swords.

Emperor Jing, however, calmly watched the band, curiosity in his eyes.

Then a group of children dressed like colorful flowers, round and plump, ran out from behind the adults.

The smile on Emperor Jing’s face immediately disappeared.

Three black lines appeared on the foreheads of Guo Tianyang, Zheng Qiao, and others.

Many people had the same thought.

Again!!? Are you doing an encore here?

Following the rhythm of the music, the group of children began to dance gracefully.

This novel form of music actually made Emperor Jing and the others quite appreciative. The cooperation between instruments could be so diverse!

As they danced, the children gradually formed a semicircle around Emperor Jing.

Their young voices rang out in unison.

“Listen to me say thank you, because of you, you’ve warmed the four seasons. Thank you, thanks to you, the world is more beautiful. I want to thank you because of you, love is always…”