Chapter 32: Father, Lend Me Some Money to Spend
Inside the imperial palace.
After Qin Bei left the Jinluan Palace, he headed straight to the Nurturing Residence.
The first reason for offending so many people at court was, of course, just as Emperor Xia thought.
After all, possessing a Pay-to-Win system meant there would definitely be more opportunities to spend money in the future, and wasteful spending might become a reality.
If he was going to be picked on every time he spent money, that would be quite uncomfortable for him.
Thus, it was important for these ministers to recognize his vengeful nature, making them think twice before reporting anything in the future.
However, Qin Bei had another reason for his actions: making money.
When Emperor Xia heard that Qin Bei wanted to see him, he was momentarily unsure what kind of trouble Qin Bei was cooking up this time.
“Your son greets you, Father!”
As soon as Qin Bei entered, he bowed deeply to Emperor Xia.
Emperor Xia frowned. On ordinary occasions, there was no need for such a deep bow when greeting. Qin Bei’s sudden grand gesture made Emperor Xia uneasy.
“Get up, my son. Tell me, what brings you here?”
Qin Bei stood up, wearing a cheerful smile on his face, trying hard to appear well-behaved.
Little did he know, the more he tried to look obedient, the more uneasy Emperor Xia became.
“My son, today you’ve offended quite a few people. But, don’t worry; I won’t let them target you easily.”
Finally, Emperor Xia couldn’t hold back any longer.
“Father, you’ve misunderstood! I’m not at all afraid of offending these people. I’m here to borrow some spirit stones from you!”
At first, upon hearing the first part of Qin Bei’s words, Emperor Xia thought this prince was quite admirable — fearless of power and unafraid of offending others.
But upon hearing what followed, Emperor Xia was left bewildered.
“What did you just say?”
Emperor Xia asked in disbelief.
“Father! I’ve helped you resolve the issue of extravagance. For the next few years, I doubt many will dare to spend hundreds of thousands of spirit stones on useless items.”
“However, my sacrifices to help you clear this trend have been significant. Not only have I offended half the royal family, but I’ve also ticked off numerous ministers and lost my royal allocation! My estate can barely sustain itself now, so I have no choice but to borrow some spirit stones from you, Father.”
Emperor Xia: …
So that’s why this kid is grinning from ear to ear.
But to be fair, Qin Bei does have a point. He hasn’t even ventured out for training yet and now his allocation has been cut, making it difficult to manage the palace.
“Wait! Didn’t you sell that map to the Beast Taming Sect for ten times the price? How could you possibly be out of money?”
Emperor Xia almost fell for Qin Bei’s antics but realized that Qin Bei was indeed an expert at making enemies.
Selling a junk map for three million spirit stones? Only Qin Bei would dare do that.
“Hey~ Let’s be fair. That money was made through Zhaoxue’s dowry, so the profits belong to her, of course.”
Qin Bei said with a perfectly serious expression.
Emperor Xia: …
He wanted to expose this pathetically thin excuse, but reflecting on how Qin Bei did help him, he thought twice. If he didn’t grant any benefits, how long would this kid hold a grudge? Who knows what kind of surprises that could lead to.
“Speak, how much do you want?”
“Not much, just 10% of the savings for the national treasury will do.”
Qin Bei smiled brightly.
The 10% he mentioned naturally came from cutting off twenty years of salaries for those officials, reducing the harem’s shares by half, and deductions from the princes and princesses.
Even if an official’s yearly salary were only 100,000 spirit stones, a prince’s would be 50,000, and a concubine’s would also be 100,000. Halving that still left 50,000 spirit stones.
With Qin Bei’s ruckus, thousands of officials would face the music. Even in just a year, this could save the national treasury hundreds of millions of spirit stones.
And this was merely the first year. Thinking of twenty years’ worth of cuts for officials, and the princes and princesses losing everything, who knows when the harem reductions would take effect?
Conservatively estimating, Qin Bei could save 2 billion spirit stones for the treasury this time; a mere 10% of that would amount to a whopping 200 million.
Just thinking about it got Qin Bei a bit excited.
“You! Brat! You’re not implying you offended all those people just for this, are you?”
Emperor Xia couldn’t hold back his anger anymore.
This prince really was a handful.
“How can you say that, Father? Your son would never think of such calculations! It’s all just coincidence.”
Qin Bei replied innocently.
“Oh, you’re really quite clever, huh? On the surface, you’re the worst off, offending so many people. Who knows who might take revenge on you? And you’re forfeiting your allocation, sounding truly tragic! But in reality?”
“Everyone will be more cautious toward you because of your title as Prince Bei; they have to look at my face before making a move. You might not have an allocation, but you’re trying to grab over a billion spirit stones all at once from me! You’re simply…”
Emperor Xia stopped here. After all, he was still his own child and couldn’t just lay down the law haphazardly; that would be akin to berating himself.
“If Father doesn’t wish to give, so be it. After all, you are His Majesty; it’s all up to you…”
“What do you mean? Are you suggesting I’m unreasonable? Dictatorial?”
“I didn’t say that… You were the one who said it yourself…”
Qin Bei muttered quietly.
Emperor Xia: (╬◣д◢)
Over the years, every other prince had always shown him respect. Who dared to utter such treasonous words?
But this wasn’t the first time Qin Bei had upped the ante like this. The tricky part was that he had a point… It was quite awkward indeed…
The two stared at each other, neither willing to back down.
Qin Bei had already figured it out. There was no way he’d receive 200 million, but if he could get 2 million, that’d still be something!
So they played the waiting game. He didn’t believe Emperor Xia would be so shameless as to give him nothing.
And just like that, the Nurturing Residence fell silent.
Eunuch Wang, who had been waiting at the side, didn’t dare to breathe.
Having served Emperor Xia for over a thousand years, this was the first time he encountered such a bold prince.
“Your Majesty, the Langya Pavilion’s ranking list has been updated. Should we take a look? Prince Bei should definitely be on the list this time.”
Suddenly, Eunuch Wang thought of the Langya Pavilion list and figured this might ease the current tension.
“Indeed. How about I make a bet with you? If you can make it into the top five, I’ll promise to grant you 200 million spirit stones paid in ten years. What do you say?”
Emperor Xia said with a sly smile, narrowing his eyes.
“That sounds great! Father is truly generous.”
Qin Bei was absolutely confident in making it into the top five on the Cangzhou Continent rankings.
Looking at the grinning Qin Bei, Emperor Xia suddenly teased, “I’m talking about the top five in the cultivation world. I didn’t say it’s just for the Cangzhou Continent.”
“Father, that’s simply not in the spirit of martial ethics!”
“You already agreed. Now, quick, get the jade slip from Langya Pavilion.”
Emperor Xia decisively finalized the matter.
“And don’t say I’m being unreasonable. If you don’t make the cut, I’ll still give you 200,000 spirit stones as a consolation prize.”
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