Traveling through ancient times: starting with live streaming

Chapter 524 A clever name

Before dawn the next day, Zhou Chang had already sat up. After thinking all night, he finally decided to go to the palace today.

Yesterday, when I came out of Wen Qingyan's study and turned a corner, I saw Shouhou waiting not far away. I don't know how much of their conversation I heard.

"Where is Yuan Yun?" Zhou Chang wanted to go back home directly, but he had not forgotten the nominal Princess Yi.

The thin monkey nodded in the direction of the gate: "It's time to get back on the carriage. As for whether to return to the mansion, I am in a hurry to wait for the prince here, so I don't know."

"Okay, let's go too." Zhou Chang gestured to the skinny monkey to lead the way, and then asked, "Did Brother Rong say anything just now?"

"No..." The skinny monkey answered truthfully, "But I think he is very angry. I can see that His Royal Highness Prince Rong doesn't look very happy."

Zhou Chang didn't care so much now: "Oh, it's not good, it's not good. But you, why don't they care about you and leave you here alone?"

The three courtyards of the Wen Mansion were not very big. As they were talking, they had already reached the front yard. The banquet, which originally had not many people, had already been mostly over.

The servants who were originally busy were nowhere to be found.

The skinny monkey chuckled, "There's nothing I can do about it. They don't have enough manpower anyway. But His Royal Highness Prince Rong is tolerant and generous. I'm afraid that what the prince and the top scholar said just now was overheard by others. It's better for me to stay by myself."

Zhou Chang nodded, and the two of them walked to the front yard. She suddenly noticed that a peach tree next to the gate had already grown small hairy peaches, and she couldn't help but think of the three people who had sworn brotherhood in Peach Garden.

I couldn't help but wonder if I had misunderstood Prince Rong.

After all, there was no evidence for what Duke Xu said, so he couldn't help but ask, "Where is Brother Rong? Has he gone back too?"

"Probably..." The thin monkey saw that they had already reached the gate, "His Royal Highness Prince Rong sent the princess back and then turned back. Seeing that the prince and the top scholar did not come out for a while, he led his people away."

Zhou Chang let it go. After all, now was not the time to consider the brotherhood for Prince Yi.

But the skinny monkey who led the way was even more sharp-eyed and quick-handed. He went up and plucked two peaches, bit them with his teeth, and spat on the ground: "Too sour."

"How can I not feel sour? You want to pick everyone's peaches." Zhou Chang felt amused.

As they talked, the two of them walked out the door.

Yuan Yun's carriage did not leave and was waiting outside the door.

When Yuan Yun saw Zhou Chang coming out through the car window, she lifted the car curtain and glared at him.

Zhou Chang ignored him, turned around, took the remaining two green peaches from the skinny monkey and handed them over: "Here you go..."

Yuan Yun was startled, but still looked angry: "What is this?"

"I picked these peaches from Wen Qingyan's house especially for you as a souvenir." Zhou Chang made up a lie.

Yuan Yun got even angrier when she heard this. She snatched it away and threw it back: "Who wants this thing as a souvenir?"

"If you don't want a souvenir, what are you still doing here? Don't tell me you are waiting for me to go back home together?" Zhou Chang really didn't think that Yuan Yun was waiting for her.

"You..." Yuan Yun suddenly pulled down the car curtain, feeling aggrieved and speechless.

"How about I go in again and ask Wen Qingyan for something more personal for you?" Zhou Chang even asked for a beating.

"Who wants his things? I have nothing to do with him. Your Highness, please don't wrongly accuse a good person." Yuan Yun shouted angrily in the carriage.

That’s right, Yuan Yun only wants to be the queen, and as for Wen Qingyan, it is really irrelevant.

At this point, Zhou Chang even admired Yuan Yun for being more persistent than himself, so he turned around to find his carriage: "So, let's all go back home."

Yuan Yun did not agree.

After all the commotion, she knew that she was being used by Zhou Chang, but after listening to the consolation from the two maids around her and explaining the pros and cons, she began to feel a little regretful.

Yuan Yun was spoiled by her family, but she was not stupid. Thinking that Prince Yi might have been testing her feelings for Wen Qingyan, she regretted coming here impulsively.

In this case, he thought that since things had come to this point, he might as well wait for Prince Yi to go back with him. If there was a chance on the way, he could say a few words to ease the situation.

But unexpectedly, Prince Yi still maintained this attitude.

In the end, Zhou Chang found himself in a bad mood. He laughed dryly twice, but felt an indescribable bitterness in his heart.

Afterwards, the two carriages went back to Prince Yi's Palace, one after the other.

Fortunately, after Yuan Yun returned home, she did not cause trouble for Zhou Chang again.

As soon as Zhou Chang returned home, he locked himself in the study and pondered how to solve the Yuan family's predicament.

After much thought, he had to invite Zhong Yu to the study to discuss the matter.

But after much discussion, Zhong Yu simply disagreed with Zhou Chang's idea.

Zhou Chang had no choice but to give up, not giving up on helping Yuan Qi, but giving up on seeking help from Zhong Yuchu.

After a sleepless night, she finally came up with a stopgap plan. Even if no one agreed, she would give it a try to see if it would work.

Therefore, Zhou Chang brought the skinny monkey into the palace early in the morning.

Emperor Lin Fengxun had not yet left the court.

But Zhou Chang no longer had the heart to go to the Council Hall or the Imperial Kitchen to collect things as usual, so he just waited outside the Imperial Study.

It was not until noon that he was finally summoned by Emperor Lin.

"What's wrong with you? You have dark circles under your eyes, just like Peng Qing." Emperor Lin asked, staring at Zhou Chang's dark circles.

Zhou Chang was unhappy that the Emperor compared her to the pretty boy from the Peng faction, so she said, "Father, please don't compare me with Lord Peng. He is a 'time management master', and I can't compare with him."

"Master of time management?" When Emperor Lin heard the new term, it was impossible for him not to be curious.

Zhou Chang thought of something important and bowed, "Father, I spent the whole night thinking about this and came up with a good idea to make some money to fill the treasury. I can't wait to report this to you."

"Oh? What is that?" Emperor Lin didn't seem to believe it, but since silver was mentioned, he had to listen.

"As the head of the Prime Minister's Office and in charge of the Jin Cao Division, I should also make some contributions to the court." Zhou Chang patted his chest and spoke out the opening remarks he had prepared in advance. "The market tax, grain exchange tax, window tax, city gate and horse tax introduced by the court before are all small amounts of money. The emperor must have felt this way, so I am thinking about establishing some new tax to help him."

The taxes Zhou Chang mentioned were indeed a drop in the bucket for the emperor, but they were also what the Jin Caosi came up with after scratching their heads in order to get the job done. It was better than nothing, so it was always enforced.

When Emperor Lin heard this, his eyes lit up and he became even more interested: "Tell me quickly, how can you help me relieve my worries?"

The construction of the imperial mausoleum was nearing completion, and we thought we could finally save some money. However, a large amount of money was taken away by Mansudae and the dam, and we were worried that we would not have enough money to make up for it.

"Water tax, export tax, and transfer tax." These were the "three unethical taxes" that she had thought of all night. Zhou Chang raised three fingers, as if swearing, "I will establish these three taxes, and I am willing to bring people to supervise and enforce them personally."