Queen Jiang

"We can..."

At his words, the two artisans trembled, pressing their heads firmly against the ground as they answered in quavering voices.

"Good... very good..." Di Xin nodded in satisfaction. Seeing how nervous they were, he gave them a kindly smile and patted their shoulders. "Don't be so nervous. I don't eat people. I merely intend to give you two drawings and have you make a few things I want..."

"Spare our lives, Your Majesty! We have fifty-year-old mothers and three-year-old children at home..."

Had Di Xin said nothing, things would have been fine. The instant those words left his mouth, however, the two artisans began knocking their heads frantically against the ground, bobbing like pestles pounding garlic.

It looks like my reputation as a tyrant has already spread far and wide. The more kindly I speak, the more these people think they've angered me, and the more terrified they become!

Di Xin froze at the sight, then found himself utterly speechless. He gave each artisan a kick, fetched a stone slab, and used a charcoal pencil to sketch the rough outlines of two objects on it. Tossing it before them, he said, "Follow these drawings. Start now, and make them for me within three days! Otherwise, I'll kill your entire families!"

"As you command. Thank you for sparing our lives, Your Majesty."

Only upon hearing this did the two artisans feel a weight lift from their shoulders. Though their heads still bobbed like pestles pounding garlic, they had clearly breathed a great sigh of relief.

Tyrant! Tyrant! As expected, all that pleasantness was an act. At heart, he is a brutal ruler through and through! Our Great Shang is in peril...

Watching this scene, Bi Gan was sick at heart. He longed to run to the Ancestral Temple and shed a handful of his old man's tears before the ancestors.

[Negative emotion points from Bi Gan: +250...]

Di Xin caught the data in the background and immediately looked toward Bi Gan with a broad smile. "Chancellor, do you know how to forge iron?"

"I do not, Your Majesty." Bi Gan shook his head and answered honestly.

"If you don't, what are you still doing here? Waiting for me to invite you to dinner? Get out!"

Di Xin glared at him and delivered the icy rebuke one word at a time.

[Negative emotion points from Bi Gan: +500. Accumulated total: +8230...]

The moment he finished speaking, the background data changed, and a piping-hot, freshly minted batch of negative emotion points flowed smoothly into Di Xin's system.

"Your Majesty, those people... how should the Abandoned People be dealt with? They are all slaves gathered from various households. Now that they have lost their eligibility to be sacrificed to the gods, those households fear that taking them back will invite disaster and dare not accept them. Even if we allocate wasteland to them now, they won't make it in time for spring sowing or last until the autumn harvest. What are we to do?!"

Suppressing his anger, Bi Gan stared into the tyrant's eyes and demanded an answer in a loud voice.

"Since no one wants them, they belong to me now. Feed them with grain from the state treasury for the time being! As for spring sowing, I will have a solution in three days!"

Di Xin sneered, mocking the ignorance and foolishness of Bi Gan and his ilk as he spoke with complete confidence.

"Then I shall wait three days and see how you handle it, Your Majesty."

Bi Gan cupped his hands and spoke with deep resentment.

"What? If I can't solve it in three days, do you intend to drive me off the throne, Chancellor?!"

Di Xin raised his eyebrows and replied with playful mockery.

"I would not dare."

Bi Gan hastily lowered his head as he answered.

Yet the additional 100 negative emotion points he gave Di Xin revealed that this was precisely what he had in mind.

"If I cannot solve it in three days, then from that day onward, you shall have the final say in everything, Chancellor..."

Seeing that Bi Gan's words belied his thoughts, Di Xin gave two cold chuckles and spoke mildly.

"I would not dare..." Bi Gan shook his head repeatedly at those words, but his eyes suddenly lit up.

"However, if I resolve this matter, then from now on, whatever I say, you must obediently do it, regardless of what you think in your heart. How about that?!"

Di Xin gave the insincere Bi Gan a contemptuous glance and continued.

"Then I shall abide by your words, Your Majesty." Bi Gan's gaze shifted, and he immediately nodded emphatically.

He did not believe this tyrant could successfully resolve something as important as spring sowing!

With several thousand slaves and two mu of land per person, that meant two thousand mu. Most of them were elderly people, women, and children, but even if they had all been strong young men, this was not something that could be handled overnight.

If they failed to plant grain during spring sowing, they could forget about an autumn or summer harvest. When the time came, even if these slaves did not die as sacrifices to Heaven, they would starve for lack of food to fill their bellies.

"I won't keep you for dinner, Chancellor. Go."

Di Xin chuckled coldly twice and waved at Bi Gan as though shooing away a fly. After accepting the 150 negative emotion points Bi Gan left him with heartfelt sincerity, he drove him out.

"Get ready to build the furnaces. Begin!"

Once Bi Gan left, Di Xin looked at the two artisans and spoke in a low, firm voice.

Trembling, the two artisans immediately nodded their assent. They obediently began shaping clay bricks, building furnaces, lighting fires, and smelting ore in the palace. Then they made crude prototypes according to Di Xin's drawings, which he inspected before having them improved.

Not only that, while the two blacksmiths began working, Di Xin summoned two carpenters as well. He likewise drew plans for them and had them make implements according to the drawings.

Two of the three days passed in a flash. Throughout those two days, Di Xin spent all his time among the artisans and did not even attend court. Naturally, he had no time for Daji either.

Outside the palace, the ministers showered him with abuse. Every one of them declared that Di Xin was keeping company with lowly artisans, losing his ambition in idle diversions, and behaving like a muddleheaded fool.

They even urged Bi Gan to go to the central palace and ask Queen Jiang to remonstrate with Di Xin.

Because of the wager, Bi Gan had not wanted to approach Queen Jiang, but he could not withstand the ministers' urging and had to hold his nose and go. Fortunately, he also knew that Di Xin rarely listened to Queen Jiang, so it should not upset the overall situation.

Queen Jiang was virtuous and understood the greater good. After hearing Bi Gan out, she took her son Yin Hong by the hand and went to the palace where Di Xin resided.

"Yes, just like that! Each man handles one task. Hammer it hard! Do a good job, and I'll reward you handsomely!"

Queen Jiang had only just reached the palace entrance when she heard Di Xin's repeated shouts from within, making her slender, willow-leaf brows draw together slightly.

"This is..."

When she pushed open the gates and saw the scene inside, Queen Jiang could not help falling into a daze.

Yin Hong, on the other hand, darted his large eyes this way and that, looking here and peering there, his face full of curiosity and eagerness to try.

All the rare treasures in the courtyard had been dismantled. In their place stood several newly built blast furnaces, billowing waves of scorching air.

Beside two of the furnaces stood a row of blacksmiths. Some were dedicated to tending the fires and smelting iron, while others handled the forging. Each had his own task, their movements linking together like flowing water.

At the blacksmiths' feet lay a pile of triangular but hollow metal objects. They were gleaming white all over, with dazzling cold light flashing along their sharp edges. They looked strange, but one thing was certain: they were nothing like toys.

Elsewhere, a group of carpenters was also hard at work, assembling several wooden poles. The result vaguely resembled a chair, yet not quite, and seemed meant for someone to stand behind and hold.

There was also another group of artisans weaving ropes from rattan and threading them through holes drilled in the wooden poles, apparently making some sort of harness.

As for Di Xin, he stood bare-chested in the middle of the crowd, his trouser legs rolled up, barking orders as though he knew every detail of the work by heart.

The sight left Queen Jiang momentarily dazed.

As far as she knew, Di Xin had been born into royalty and knew nothing of farming or craftsmanship. How was he so familiar with all this now?!

Yet beads of sweat covered Di Xin's bare upper body, making the firm contours of his muscles gleam in the sunlight as though coated in honey. Queen Jiang's vision swam, and a faint blush rose to her cheeks.

"Your Majesty, Her Majesty the Queen is here."

At that moment, the young palace maid beside Di Xin, who was fanning him and wiping away his sweat, saw Queen Jiang. Her pretty face paled, and she hurriedly spoke to him in a low voice.

Queen Jiang!

At those words, Di Xin's brow furrowed, and he let out a silent cry of dismay.

For the past few days, he had been avoiding this ready-made wife who had fallen into his lap from the heavens. Yet now, she had still come knocking at his door!