Da Tang Si Zi: My Six Super Rich Little Nuggets!

Chapter 226 The Scorching Pain of Burning the Inscription: Like the Burning of the First Inscription

As the cold stars adorned the sky, Sanlang Zi'an, wearing bright yellow suede boots, stepped into the palace teahouse. The bronze talismans of the Twenty-Eight Mansions resounded in unison. He looked up and saw that the stars hanging from the eaves were arranged in the shape of the Purple Palace Enclosure star map.

“Third Master, your arrival is perfectly timed.” Little Si emerged from behind the screen, holding a gilded armillary sphere, its bronze beast head emitting clouds of mist in her palm. “Tonight at midnight, the celestial orbits will converge—”

Before the words were finished, the parrot's piercing cry tore through the night. A purple hem swept across the threshold, and Lu Xiangxian stepped in, carrying a gilded bird stand. On the stand, a colorful parrot was frantically pecking at the crossbeam with its bright yellow beak: "The locust wood should be burned! The locust wood should be burned!"

The armillary sphere suddenly burst forth with golden light. Sanlang Zi'an felt a dizzying sensation as the world spun around him, and when he opened his eyes again, he found himself before the Chengtian Tower. He saw himself decades ago—then Sanlang Longji, the Prince of Linzi, reciting the roster he had painstakingly obtained, striding towards him, the torches of the imperial guards illuminating the palace and the waning moon behind him!

"What? Lu Xiangxian! You burned it? You burned it all?!" The young emperor's eyebrows shot up, and his Longquan sword was drawn three inches from its sheath with a clang.

Lu Xiangxian, his wide sleeves billowing in the wind, threw the last page of the name card into the brazier. The flickering firelight reflected on his gaunt face: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, rushing to the aid of your sovereign in times of crisis is a tremendous display of loyalty! Although the name on the list is that of the former sovereign, you have always ruled with virtue, shining like the sun across the land. How can you harm someone who acts righteously? This time, I disobeyed your orders, disregarding my breach of faith with the sovereign, burning the card first and reporting later. Can you understand that this was a helpless act? It was entirely to help stabilize the country. Think about it, those who are disloyal and suspicious are like ants on a hot pan, probably thinking of the worst-case scenario. By burning it, won't I put them at ease and stop them from recklessly causing trouble?"

Saburo understood that he had just gained power and didn't want any more pressure, so he suppressed his anger and didn't pursue the matter further.

The ashes in front of the small furnace swirled in the wind, condensing into the shape of the Big Dipper in her palm. "That night, the stars were inauspicious, but suddenly an auxiliary star appeared next to the Purple Star—" The illusion shattered abruptly.

At this moment, Sanlang Zian sat on a rattan cushion in the tea room of the Imperial Observatory, a fragment of locust wood appearing in his palm at some unknown time.

Sanlang Zian stroked the parrot's crest and chuckled, "Minister Lu did a good job burning it back then, but my foundation wasn't solid at the time. Now, as Lord Song said—you've used the name of leniency to excessively indulge bad people?!"

The Twenty-Eight Mansions talismans fell to the ground, forming a complete map of the palace on the blue brick floor.

Xiao Si suddenly lifted the screen, revealing a wall full of calligraphy copies that were spontaneously combusting, the flames strangely condensing into the shape of a lotus flower.

"What a brilliant two-birds-with-one-stone strategy!" Sanlang Zi'an clapped his hands and laughed, inhaling the fragrant scent of burning locust wood. "Using celestial phenomena to burn the petition and reassure people is a ruse; the real purpose is to burn the locust wood to protect the forces that seek his help—Prime Minister Lu, what a clever tactic!"

The parrot broke free of its gold chain, picked up the burning name card, and flew onto the roof.

Little Si looked up and saw the flames outlining a line of poetry in the night sky: "To harm others for personal gain is inhuman; how can a gentleman forgive such a heart?" Little Si copied it down with vigorous strokes, and saw wisps of ambergris incense rising from the sandalwood table. Suddenly, the snow-feathered parrot perched on the vermilion pillar flapped its wings, rattling its golden cage.

Sanlang Zian came to comfort him, feeding him rice from the Imperial Fields, his smile concealing a deeper meaning: "I only saw him sawing down the century-old locust tree, but I didn't know that the spirit of that tree had been reborn in Yizhou, and this spring equinox it has sprouted new branches."

Once again, I see the government office in Yizhou, with the shadows of locust trees swaying through the window lattices.

Sima Wei, holding the penal code, stepped forward: "Your Excellency always believes that spring sunshine can melt snow, but I fear the ice will harden again. The people of Shu are known for their fierce and courageous nature; without swift and decisive measures... I fear..."

Before he could finish speaking, Lu Xiangxian put down his celadon teacup, the crisp sound of the bottom of the cup touching the sandalwood startling the dust that had accumulated on the beams.

"Has Sima Wei ever carefully examined the Shu brocade?" Lu Xiangxian's fingertips traced across the table. "The weave has its own rules; why force it with an iron ruler?! Severe punishment is like sharp scissors; it may trim the edges, but it damages the weave, ultimately resulting in more harm than good. Do you understand?"

Puzhou City reappears, autumn rain falls incessantly, and the iron locks of the torture chamber feel cold.

The clerks, carrying their rods, hurried after him, shouting, "Lord Lu! How dare you obstruct me?! According to the Tang law..." Their voices startled the cats scattering in the corridor.

"You all copy laws and regulations every day, but have you truly internalized them?" Lu Xiangxian snatched the rod and hurled it to the ground, the sound of heavy wood striking stone shattering the rain. "If punishment could teach people reason, I should be beating this entire shelf of documents to pieces right now!"

The clerks staggered backward; behind this leniency lay the logic of "we're all just working, why get carried away?"

The lingering rain tapped on the blue bricks, and Xiao Si's small regular script characters "庸人自扰" (meaning "a fool troubles himself") left ink marks on the bluestone slab.

Sanlang Zian sneered: "This officialdom is like an iron-cast alchemy furnace, relentlessly turning living people into clay figures. Is this locust tree trying to emulate Fan Zhongyan of the Northern Song Dynasty, who worried before enjoying himself? Could it be that by rolling 'Don't trouble yourself with trivial matters' three times in the furnace, this patriotic and compassionate heart will be boiled down to mere self-preservation wax?!"

Xiao Si then added a small note next to "Mediocre people trouble themselves": "The diligent are like firewood, burning fiercely but accumulating ashes; the wicked are like scholars, holding the stove but feigning divine power. The laws of the world are like an upside-down situation; the virtuous are naturally purified, but the wicked are falsely accused!"

Sanlang Zian lightly waved his folding fan, then suddenly clapped his hands and sighed deeply: "This locust tree, I fear, will burn itself out like scorched wood under the stove, better to steal a moment of leisure and quietly become an immortal by the hearth. Honesty may not bring tattoos, but cunning and treachery will surely bring imperial edicts!"

Upon hearing Lord Song recite the Xiangxian Sutra, Sanlang Zian suddenly slammed his teacup down like a gavel.

A Beijing-accented, rhythmic voice burst forth: "What kind of good job is that, the Governor of Henan? Let him go!"