There were plenty of gold, silver, and jewels in the cellar, and plenty of heartbroken people aboveground.
Following the principle that everyone who saw the spoils deserved a share, Jiang Yanchuan gave practically everyone several redwood treasure chests. The court officials stood soul-stricken before their allotted chests, looking as though they were silently licking the wounds covering their bodies.
A few of them looked especially aggrieved.
-As the distribution went on, the little girl saw the Gold Mountain she had won for her "beautiful imperial father" dwindling away. Her temper grew increasingly explosive, and the juicy secrets spilling out in her thoughts...
Grew increasingly exhaustive, too.
Things like-
Hanlin Academician Tan Songsong had broken down several times while tutoring his eldest son, burying his face in his hands and sobbing late at night.
Things like-
Yuan Liangping, his thieving ambitions undiminished, had secretly stashed away private funds. After his principal wife, Wei Dairong, discovered them, he had slept in his study for three straight days.
Even something as trivial as Virtue-Returning General Lei Zhixin once letting out a string of loud farts at court, then pinning the blame on Cloud-Brandishing General Zhu Qian, was singled out by the little girl from the vast sea of information, leaving him helplessly exposed to everyone's "posthumous flogging."
The Upright Officials who could hear the little girl's thoughts lost every last scrap of dignity, inside and out. They did not spare their colleagues who could not hear her thoughts, either.
Whenever the little girl exposed news about those people, several Upright Officials would gather and, with an air both mysterious and perfectly unabashed, discuss their gossip.
The court officials gained a profound appreciation for the complicated feeling of pain mingled with pleasure, ignoring the County Magistrate of Quchun beside them, who was left with