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Home/ There’s A Beauty / Chapter 82 (Part 1)

Lord Yama seemed to be free today and stayed with You Shu all day long to check the accounts, watching him quickly tick out the problematic items with red marker and make annotations. 

Unlike several other officials, You Shu always had an abacus at hand, looking at it and fiddling with it again and again at a slow pace. He almost didn’t have to think about it. Lord Yama saw him making several red crosses at a glance. It was very refreshing. 

After checking one box, he opened another box. His workload of half an hour was equivalent to the other people’s workload of several days.

Seeing that the corners of his eyes were slightly red, Lord Yama comforted him with heartache, “Check slowly, don’t rush it too much, or you may damage your eyes.”

You Shu used his mental strength to reply, “You don’t understand. The master has imprisoned all the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs. These people have deep roots in the government, and they must have someone to mediate for them. Even worse, they will try to erase the evidence of their crimes and bite back. If we are a little late, they will be a step faster, many inside stories will never be found out, and the master will have to bear greater pressure.”

Lord Yama stared at him for a while and sighed, “In the end, you are still thinking about Emperor Xuanguang. Don’t worry, he is the true son of heaven, and those powerful figures in the court can’t do anything to him.”

“No matter how powerful he is, he is still alone. I can help him a little bit.” You Shu shook his head.

“How can he be alone? He is the emperor, and the whole world belongs to him.” Lord Yama’s tone was rather disdainful, but his eyes flickered slightly.

“How could it be? The emperor is the loneliest person in the world. Because he stands too high, he is farther away from the people around him. I dare not say that I will fight alongside him, but I can always stand at the place closest to him and wait. You are also a leader, so you should know how lonely it is at the top.” You Shu said seriously.

Lord Yama was silent for a long time before suddenly pulling the person into his arms and rubbing him twice fiercely. If it weren’t for the wrong occasion, he really wanted to pry open the gap between his teeth and taste the lips and tongue to see if it was also as sweet and warm as his words.

Ou Tai sat aside, seemingly in a daze, but in fact he was listening attentively to the conversation between the two of them, admiring Lord Zhao’s unconscious ability to please others. Look how moved the master is, tears are almost about to come out, right?

However, in the eyes of ordinary people, the situation was like this: Lord Zhao had an attack again. After checking the accounts, he started shaking his head wildly, messing up his official hat and a few strands of his hair, looking even more like a madman. If you go crazy three times a day, your head will start to smoke if you continue like this, right? Are you sure you don’t need to see a doctor?

Thinking of this, one person tried to say, “Lord Zhao, I think you don’t look good. Should we call an imperial physician to take a look at you?”

“I’m fine.” You Shu fiercely glared at Lord Yama, then waved to his colleagues and picked up an account book to read.  

As he flipped through the account books, he also complained to Lord Yama about the corruption in the Ministry of Household Affairs that was rotten to the core. At the same time, he also boasted about his wise and powerful master, saying that he was the savior of the people and the messenger of justice.

Lord Yama suppressed a smile and said, “No matter how powerful he is, without this king’s rectification of the underworld, he wouldn’t have been able to save Dayong. The tragedy of the mortal world ultimately stemmed from the chaos of the six paths of reincarnation.”

You Shu also understood this truth and nodded seriously, “Yes, you are also very powerful, both of you are powerful.” Then a thought suddenly came to his mind: Lord Yama’s method of rectifying the underworld seems to be exactly the same as the master’s method of rectifying the court?

Upon seeing the suspicious look on his face, Lord Yama immediately changed the subject, “There are many ways to embezzle money, but there is one that is the most bizarre. Do you want to know?”

You Shu nodded while checking the accounts, and Lord Yama continued, “The National Treasury is guarded by the treasury guards, and these positions are often hereditary. If the treasury guards have children, at the age of five or six, they will stuff eggs smeared with sesame oil into their backyard to expand their capacity. They practice day and night, and when they reach adulthood, that place is enough to hold about eighty taels of silver ingots.”

He continued, “Every shift, the treasury soldiers will each take a sufficient amount of treasury silver and stuff it into their bodies to take it out. Over time, this has become an unwritten law. Everyone is like this, so they don’t shy away from it. Every time I get off work and take a look in the warehouse, all I see are white buttocks. Each person takes eighty taels per day, and with a total of around thousands of guards. How much silver will be stolen over the years?”

You Shu made a rough estimate and came up with an astronomical figure, looking horrified.

Lord Yama touched his head and sighed, “A thousand-mile embankment collapsed due to the ant’s nest, so it is often not the so-called elites who can erode a country, but the inconspicuous petty officials. Emperor Xuanguang has revised the law and intends to exterminate the entire household, which is understandable.”

He was afraid that You Shu would resent his ruthless behaviour, which is why he said this now.

How could You Shu question his master’s decisions? Naturally, he still kept praising the master for being wise. One person and one soul reviewed the accounts while chatting, unaware that it was already evening. 

Upon hearing the beating of the drums of Youshi(5-7 pm), Ou Tai raised his hands and said, “Okay, it’s time to get off work. Please summarize the accounts you have checked and submit them to Lord Zhao for review. If there are no problems, let’s disperse.”

Lord Yama said that something was going on in the underworld, and then disappeared. You Shu tried to persuade him to stay, but only caught empty air. He felt empty in his heart when he saw his master slowly walking into the side hall with a rather cold expression.

“How many have you checked?” He walked straight to the main seat and sat down.

You Shu immediately forgot about the little emptiness in his heart and cupped his hands, “Reporting to His Majesty that I’ve checked two boxes. The old accounts from twenty years ago of the Yuanguang era can probably be checked within three days.”

The other officials looked ashamed and said in a low voice, “Your Majesty, our ability is limited and we only managed to review twenty-two books.”

This is the speed of a normal person, but compared with Lord Zhao, it is really not good enough. 

You Shu couldn’t help but puff out his chest, showing a proud look. He has always been extremely confident in his intelligence and is not afraid of losing to anyone. Compared to others, the master will definitely value himself more.

Emperor Xuanguang pressed his fist against his lips and coughed slightly before waving to Lord Zhao, who looked like a proud little rooster, “Bring over the account books with problems and let me take a look.”

You Shu pointed at the two large boxes beside his desk, “Reporting to His Majesty, all the account books that have been reviewed have problems, and they are extremely serious.”

Emperor Xuanguang wasn’t surprised. He ordered Wei Chen to move the two boxes to his bedroom, and then looked at the other people. Everyone understood and immediately said that there was nothing wrong with those twenty-two account books they’ve checked. 

However You Shu expressed doubts about the abilities of these mortals. When they half-knelt down to reply, he had already flipped through five or six books reviewed by these people and furrowed his brows tightly.

“How could there be no problem? How on earth did you check and not even notice such a big mistake?” You Shu wasn’t trying to show off, but he simply felt that these people had betrayed the master’s trust. 

He took a few steps forward and pointed at one of the account books, “This is the grain purchase account for the 21st year of the Yuanguang era. It is clear that 480,000 taels were stolen by the Ministry of Household Affairs. Why hasn’t it been marked?”

The official responsible for reviewing the account book turned pale. He took it over and looked at it again, but still couldn’t find any problems.

You Shu hated the fact that iron cannot be made into steel. He took out the county newspapers from the 21st year of Yuanguang’s reign from the bookshelf and said, “I have read the local newspapers of Lishui Prefecture over the years, which left a deep impression on me. In the 21st year of the Yuanguang era, there were no disasters in Lishui and nearby prefectures, but the Ministry of Household Affairs paid a disaster relief fund of 200,000 taels, and later spent 280,000 taels for grain purchases. I was in charge of Lishui government affairs at that time, and I know that Lishui didn’t receive these two sums of money.”

He continued, “In other words, this is a fake entry made by the Ministry of Household Affairs for the sake of embezzling silver. Take a look at this again, in a single year, 21 out of 34 prefectures in Dayong reported natural disasters. Is it possible that local officials and the officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs colluded to falsely report disasters and jointly embezzle the relief funds? The audit is not just about checking the balance of the books, but also about taking the actual situation into account.”

He spoke effortlessly, but never thought about where others had extraordinary brains like him, even remembering what had happened in a certain year and place, and integrating it into the accounts. As he spoke, he read through the remaining few books and pointed out many mistakes and omissions, especially in the salary account books, which were simply fabricated and a mess.

“Reporting to His Majesty, this account book is even more problematic. This minister remembers that ten years ago, more than half of the Tiger Army was either eliminated or wounded. However, the Ministry of Household Affairs did not remove the military status of the deceased soldiers, but paid them military pay as usual. This army is your private army, did your soldiers receive this military pay? If not, whose pocket did it go into? This matter needs to be thoroughly investigated.”

In just a quarter of an hour, he had already pointed out several major corruption cases that could overturn the Ministry of Household Affairs and shake up the entire court, causing all his colleagues to sweat profusely. Lord Zhao is indeed a madman. Don’t you think that the matter is already big enough? Why must you insist on poking a hole in the sky?

However, even if the sky falls, there will naturally be a tall man to hold him up, and what that person loves the most is his loyal and upright appearance. 

Emperor Xuanguang took the account book and said nothing for a long time.

Just when everyone thought he would be furious, he stood up, walked to Lord Zhao, and rubbed his head hard, praising, “You are really good, worthy of being my wise minister and the pillar of the country!”

Did the master just praise me? Touched my head? The master said that I am his wise minister? You Shu staggered and almost fell to the ground, but there was a silly smile on his face.

Emperor Xuanguang still wanted to rub him a bit more, but because of the presence of others, he had to give up, “You all should learn from Lord Zhao and collect relevant information in detail before checking the accounts, so as not to be fooled by false accounts. It’s getting late, let’s disperse for now.”

Everyone looked ashamed and quickly accepted the orders. After stepping out of the hall, they looked at the flaming clouds on the horizon and suddenly felt a wave of heart palpitations. This is a sign that a fishy wind is about to rise and a bloody rain is about to fall.

Only You Shu had something on his mind. After walking a few steps, he turned back and arched his hands at Emperor Xuanguang on the steps, “Your Majesty, are you going to spend the whole night checking the account books we have reviewed? How can your body tolerate being constantly busy during the day and staying up all night? All the accounts that have been checked by those officials have been recorded in my mind. If you trust this official, I will compile all the problems and present them to you for review. That will save you a lot of time and won’t burden you.”

Both his expression and words were sincere, which showed that he was not just trying to flatter others, but actually putting the emperor’s health first, which was extremely comfortable to hear. There was a faint smile in Emperor Xuanguang’s eyes, but there was no expression on his face, and he just responded indifferently.

You Shu only thought of doing his best for his master and didn’t need much in return. He glanced at the other party eagerly and greedily before bowing and leaving.

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