Pampered Consort of the Fragrant Orchard

Du Xiaoli followed Eunuch Shan into the imperial palace. Currently, she didn’t feel as suppressed as the first time she entered the imperial palace. Perhaps it was because she had been here many times now, so she was more familiar with the place.

Upon reaching the imperial study, she found that the emperor was not the only one there. Du Yunhan, her father, and Han Mingyi, as well as a few other older male members of the imperial family, were also present.

“This lowly official pays respect to Your Majesty,” Du Xiaoli greeted with a bow.

“You’re excused. Imperial Physician Du, do you know why we’ve summoned you here?” Han Mingze asked.

“This lowly official does not know. Is someone ill?” Du Xiaoli spoke politely and modestly in response. However, she was inwardly slandering the emperor. Just what was Han Mingze planning this time?! If he was going to make her do something again, she would fake an illness and avoid doing it!

“Haha, no one’s ill. Everyone’s in a very good mood due to our Feng Ming opening up the gates of Northern Yuan. So, no one is ill!” Han Mingze said, laughing heartily.

“Then this lowly official is unable to guess the reason why,” Du Xiaoli said.

“We’ve summoned you here this time because we’re evaluating the merits and giving out rewards associated with the academy’s competition. It was all thanks to your great service that the competition was able to progress so smoothly, so I naturally can’t leave you out!” Han Mingze said.

“Thank you, Your Majesty, for rewarding me!” Du Xiaoli expressed her gratitude by bowing at the waist.

All right. It seemed that this Han Mingze did indeed still have an advanced way of thinking. At least, she sensed that he did not have a discriminatory attitude toward females. Otherwise, she would not be rewarded for her merits today.

Moreover, she could tell from her past interactions with him that his way of thinking did not align very much with the ideology that a woman’s virtue was to have no talent. This meant he was much better than that guy, Ji Liufeng.

Upon seeing Du Xiaoli’s reaction, everyone smiled.

“Imperial Physician Du, I haven’t even said how we’ll reward you, yet you’ve already given your thanks. What if I just randomly give you some small reward?” Han Mingze said with a laugh.

“Your Majesty is a true son of the heavens. To me, such a reward would be the greatest reward! Du Xiaoli replied.

“Haha, Imperial Physician Du truly speaks eloquently. It’s no wonder that Grandmother praises you endlessly!”

“Thank you, Your Majesty, for the praise!” Du Xiaoli expressed her thanks with a bow.

“All right. We’ll bestow you with a thousand taels of gold, a pair of Night Pearls from the southern state, and a set of Hotan Jades

. Everyone in Sui Yuan Club will be bestowed with a hundred taels of silver as a reward for Sui Yuan Club holding the competition,” Han Mingze said.

“This lowly official thanks Your Majesty on the behalf of everyone in Sui Yuan Club,” Du Xiaoli replied.

Actually, these rewards were not much in comparison to the expenses of building the competition stages from scratch.

“Additionally, we’ll bestow Sui Yuan Club with a signboard that has an inscription I’ve handwritten personally. Eunuch Shan.”

Eunuch Shan walked over to one of the study's walls, where a board was resting against it. He pulled off the red silk cloth that covered it and revealed the true identity of the board. Written on the board bordered with a pure gold frame were the words: ‘The Number One Club Under the Heavens’.

“Thank you, Your Majesty, for bestowing us this inscription.”

Du Xiaoli liked this reward more than the previous ones. Although this board could only be looked at and not used as money for expenses, it was the greatest honor a club could receive. Sui Yuan Club was not lacking funds, but they did not have honor they were just bestowed. With this board that had the emperor’s personally handwritten inscription, Sui Yuan Club would immediately become a much more high-end, elegant, and classy club.

“Yesterday, Prime Minister Du presented to me a method for making persimmon cakes. I assume it was also you who told him about it? Why don’t you use this recipe to make money instead? Liufeng said you really love money.” Han Mingze was in a pretty good mood, so he decided to play around with Du Xiaoli.

“Your Majesty, that is just one small way of preserving the persimmons for a long time when there are leftovers. Those who grow persimmons can also sell the persimmon cakes to those who don’t grow them. It can be considered as a way for them to increase their profits. This lowly official thinks that this method is beneficial to the common people. If Your Majesty can distribute this recipe to everyone, it would definitely make them support Your Majesty even more,” Du Xiaoli replied like an official.

Upon hearing this reply, Han Mingze became very happy and said, “Imperial Physician Du is very thoughtful. It would be good if all the government officials could be this considerate of the common people and myself.”

“It’s just an insignificant method. Even if it’s beneficial to the common people, what of it? They’re just bottom feeders

,” a voice rang out, sowing discord.

Du Xiaoli knew that these people were all supporters of the emperor, but some of them would inevitably still be obstinate with their conservative ideology, for example like Grand Prince He

who just spoke.

Grand Prince He was the emperor’s uncle—in other words, the previous emperor’s younger brother. Although he supported the current imperial power, he could not change his arrogant and antiquated way of thinking.

“Your Highness Grand Prince He, there’s an error in what you’ve said,“ Du Xiaoli said, bowing slightly. “This is the situation in the proverb, ‘Water may keep the boat afloat, but it may also sink it

’. The people being the water, and the ruler being the boat. The strength of the common people cannot be ignored.”

“Pfft, the imperial power reigns supreme. Official Du means to say that His Majesty should curry favor with the lowly common people?” Grand Prince He spoke to Du Xiaoli with contempt

.

“This is not a question of whether His Majesty should curry favor with the common people. Rather, it’s that if those in power would be more considerate of the common people, the common people would, in turn, be more supportive of His Majesty,” Du Xiaoli said. “A country is like a house. With a noble status, the country’s ruler and its officials would be at the top of the house. With a low status, the multitudes of common people would be at the bottom, serving as the foundations of the house. The importance of the foundations in keeping the house firm and steady cannot be undermined.”

“This analogy is totally inappropriate. With us at the top controlling things, how could those bottom feeders possibly stir up any trouble?! If anyone refuses to comply with our control, just kill one of them to warn the others!”

Du Xiaoli truly could not find a way to like this Grand Prince He. ‘Even if you look down on the common people, you can’t keep yelling that they’re bottom feeders!’

References 1. — Nephrites 2. — 贱民 - literally: rabble; social pariahs. The people at the bottom of the social classes. 3. — I’m not sure if this is the correct title for this character as the title used is one that can be used for princes as well as noblemen in general. Couldn’t really find an English equivalent for this specific royal relation… If you know a more suitable title, please suggest it! 4. — Figuratively: the people can support a regime or overturn it 5. — Turning up one’s nose MoonWhisperer, TWIP's Thoughts

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