Royal Gold Magistrate

That smile made Fang Zheng’s heart tremble.

His speech became somewhat disjointed. “As long as Your Highness enjoyed it, I’ll escort you back to your room…”

“Ah?!” Li Miaohan covered her mouth in surprise and took a step back.

The old palace maids beside her glared vigilantly at Fang Zheng.

What are you trying to do?

Fang Zheng awkwardly stretched the corner of his mouth. “Oh! Princess, don’t misunderstand. The inns in Taoyuan County are different from those outside. There are many novel things, so I need to explain them to you to avoid misunderstandings.”

“Or I can take the old maids up first and explain…”

*Cough, cough* “No need, I trust you, Lord Fang… Let’s go up together.”

After going upstairs, Fang Zheng thoroughly introduced the facilities in the room to Li Miaohan. Naturally, the mention of the toilet made the princess endlessly shy.

The old maids beside her had already successfully labeled Fang Zheng as a scoundrel.

But Young Master Fang didn’t care about that at all. He just loved seeing the princess blush!

The princess’s impression was salvaged. As for His Majesty, everything would be settled as soon as the sweet potatoes were dug up tomorrow!

Let’s just pretend this never happened. I, Fang Zheng, remain a paragon of morality!

……….

After settling the princess, Fang Zheng jogged all the way back to the theater entrance.

That bastard Ao Chen was still waiting at the door to show off his accomplishments. As soon as Fang Zheng saw him, he angrily grabbed his collar.

He raged, “Who the hell told you to change Legend of the White Snake into this?!”

Ao Chen was a bit bewildered. “What do you mean, my lord? We just performed it normally according to your instructions. Legend of the White Snake is very popular in the county right now. Did something go wrong?”

“I’m asking you who changed it!!!”

“M-Master Wu changed it!”

Fang Zheng’s brows furrowed. “Master Wu? Is there someone like that in the county? How come I’ve never heard of him?”

“It’s just Wu Sheng!”

“Wu Sheng? That dog became Master Wu in just the few months I was gone?” Fang Zheng was utterly shocked.

“Yes, now he’s supporting half the prostitution business in the county. Many people pay him to write things, but he can’t be bothered… He’s quite famous in the county and got rich early on…”

Upon hearing this, Fang Zheng was so furious his teeth itched. That damn dog actually set me up!

He spoke through gritted teeth, “Adapting stories doesn’t mean you can make stuff up! Rewriting isn’t an excuse for turning things on their head! Did he ask me, the master, before butchering Legend of the White Snake like this? And what about that ridiculous Tale of Ji Gong? Let me guess, he changed that too? This is blatant copyright infringement! Tomorrow, march to his house and slap him with a hefty copyright fee! Take half of everything he’s got!”

“Also, where is that dog hiding now?”

Ao Chen hurriedly replied, “At the research institute. I heard he encountered a bottleneck in his creation, so he went to the institute to find inspiration. He donated three thousand taels of silver to the institute, and the county government arranged an external compilation position for him…”

Fang Zheng’s expression softened. “At least he’s somewhat sensible… I’ll deal with you lot tomorrow!”

He pointed at Ao Chen. “You! Round up all the painters, even if you have to drag them out of bed. Send them to Xueyue Tower. I want portraits of every single person who went there tonight, down to the last detail!”

His eyes flashed with a dangerous glint. “We’ll see if any of those hypocrites dare try to impeach me in the future!”

With that, he spun on his heel and stormed back to the county yamen.

…………….

Early the next morning, after having breakfast, Fang Zheng went straight to the An Inn.

Yesterday was too tiring, so that group of old men probably couldn’t get up that early.

Sure enough, when he arrived, he discovered that Emperor Jing, Guo Tianyang, and Li Yuanzhao had actually gone out to eat at a roadside stall, with only a few guards accompanying them.

It seemed none of the other ministers had gotten up.

After waiting for a long time at the inn, His Majesty still didn’t return. He just saw many servants carrying buckets of water in and out of the inn to replenish the water tower.

Fang Zheng asked the innkeeper in puzzlement, “What? Was the water tower built too small? Why are there so many people carrying water?”

The innkeeper was also perplexed. “That can’t be! It was all designed well originally. Flushing ten or eight times per room shouldn’t be a problem, and our water tanks are kept full every day…”

He scratched his head. “My lord, do the officials from the capital have particularly large appetites?”

Large appetites? They didn’t seem to eat much yesterday. Those little old men couldn’t have that big of an appetite, right?

Just then, Emperor Jing came back with a few people.

Seeing Fang Zheng, he even greeted him with a smile.

Seeing this, Fang Zheng also relaxed. As expected of the emperor, his mental fortitude was impressive.

His worldview had been reconstructed in a single night.

Li Yuanzhao snuck up beside Fang Zheng and nudged him with a wink. “Old Fang! Xueyue Tower was a wild ride!”

“How come you never told this prince earlier that you have some fancy iron spear dance in your county?”

“???”

“What iron spear dance?”

He could understand the monkey prince’s penchant for cosplay, but he had genuinely never heard of any iron spear dance.

Li Yuanzhao grinned lecherously. “You know… an iron spear nailed on a stage, women rolling and twirling around it, dancing… Tsk tsk tsk, oh man, that Bai Suzhen yesterday, the way she moved, truly fitting for a snake spirit. Amazing!”

“I heard it was invented by Wu Sheng. What a talent! We should bring someone like him into the Eastern Palace!”

Fang Zheng blinked.

An iron spear stuck on stage… pole dancing?

Damn it, Wu Sheng again! He’s turned my Taoyuan County upside down!

“Your Highness! It’s best if a talent like him stays in our Taoyuan County. I’m afraid the Eastern Palace won’t be able to handle him!”

“Tch! This prince is going back to bed. I didn’t sleep a wink last night. Call me when it’s time to set off.” Li Yuanzhao yawned and headed upstairs, looking dead on his feet. Who knows what mischief he got up to.

Fang Zheng hurriedly pulled him back. “Hold on, let me ask you, where are the others? Are they still not awake?”

Li Yuanzhao’s eyes lit up with realization, and he grinned from ear to ear. “I almost forgot! If you want to talk about that, I’m wide awake now!”

“Last night was a real spectacle. You won’t believe it – I went around checking on them, room by room. Turns out they all mistook the toilets for wells… Hahaha! The fools!”

“Some even thought it was some kind of mystical well water. They asked the servants for gourds, wanting to take some back to the capital. I nearly died laughing.”

He smirked. “This morning, they all came down with the runs!”

“…………” The image of the court’s most venerated ministers drinking from the same toilet sent a chill down Fang Zheng’s spine.

Damn it all, I knew I forgot something yesterday!