"I dare not." Yue Shen's casual and familiar tone almost made Qiu Shuzhi's brush stroke unsteady. How could the ruler of a country encourage officials to be corrupt?
At this moment, Yu Zhi was not in the imperial study. He had been sent away by Yue Shen on some pretext, and without this spy, Yue Shen spoke without restraint.
"In today's Da Qi, corruption is rampant, the officialdom is dark, and the people can barely make a living. The money they send you, which one of them hasn't embezzled it? Rather than letting them squander this money, it's better to give it to you." When Yue Shen said this, her tone was sincere, her bright eyes black and shining: "How can you maintain the dignity of an official in the capital with just that meager salary from the court? You should keep this money."
Qiu Shuzhi still refused, her slightly stubborn gaze as clear and transparent as a cold pool.
Yue Shen smiled. The more aloof Qiu Shuzhi was, the more she liked her in her heart.
Since ancient times, no monarch has disliked a loyal and uncorrupted minister. Her refusal, in Yue Shen's eyes, was not defiance of imperial favor, but a pure and lofty scholar who had accidentally fallen into the mortal world under the fluttering snow of winter, a noble person destined to assist her imperial fate.
Since she was a noble person who had descended to the mortal world, how could she be allowed to live in poverty?
Yue Shen's tone was slightly forceful, her delicate and childish face also unyielding: "This is the emperor's order."
Qiu Shuzhi felt helpless at the young emperor's childishness. Since ancient times, when has there ever been corruption by imperial decree? But since Yue Shen had said so, she couldn't disobey her anymore.
When corruption becomes the norm, integrity becomes a sin. If she wanted to go far in her official career, she couldn't maintain complete integrity, she needed to deal with various factions in the court.
In the end, Qiu Shuzhi compromised: "I can accept the gifts, but these are originally the property of the empire. I will definitely return them in full in the future."
Yue Shen's eyes froze for a moment, then she burst into laughter. This was the first time in her more than ten years that she had laughed so heartily.
She was originally an unpopular princess in the palace, with a father of humble origins, always at the mercy of others. After the struggle for succession, the Qin family used her as a puppet to control the government. She was just a piece of meat to be slaughtered at will.
Only Qiu Shuzhi truly respected her.
Coming out of the imperial study, Qiu Shuzhi prepared to walk slowly back to the Hanlin Academy. A procession of people came marching towards her, wearing richly embroidered official robes, with embroidered spring swords at their waists, carrying a sedan chair behind them. The curtains of the sedan chair were thick and opaque. The procession of people passing through the palace gate was like a dark cloud pressing down, their aura intimidating.
Qiu Shuzhi consciously retreated to the wall, preparing to make way for these imperial guards.
Chang'an, who was leading, had sharp eyes and saw her. He quickly ordered the procession to stop and ran to the sedan chair to say something.
The heavy curtain was lifted by a pair of slender white hands, revealing an extremely beautiful but pale face.
He quickly walked to Qiu Shuzhi and made a deep bow: "Greetings to Official Qiu."
Qiu Shuzhi was flattered: "Your Highness is too kind to this lowly official."
She looked at the official robe on Yue Guanyi's body. He seemed to have been very busy recently, his figure was much thinner than a few days ago, and his hands were still wrapped in gauze.
"How is the wound on Your Highness's hand recovering?" she asked.
Yue Guanyi kept his head bowed extremely low, his hand that Qiu Shuzhi asked about unconsciously clenched: "It's better."
His answer was dry, without any vitality. After these three words, the air stagnated for a moment.
Qiu Shuzhi felt a bit awkward, but Yue Guanyi showed no sign of leaving, so she had to make small talk: "Your Highness works so hard for Da Qi, you've lost a lot of weight. You must take good care of your health."
Yue Guanyi lowered his head even more, the pearls on his hair ornament shaking slightly, hiding his excited and uncontrollable emotions at this moment.
She was concerned about him, she was paying attention to him. Amidst the chaos in his heart, a warm and sweet feeling welled up because of Qiu Shuzhi's polite concern.
He made an almost imperceptible sound of agreement, afraid that if his voice was even slightly louder, it would reveal his excited emotions.
Since reuniting with Qiu Shuzhi, he had been desperately trying to hide his dirty thoughts, but it was simply impossible. Years of love hidden in his heart, even if he didn't say it out loud, every move, even a finger, even a glance could reveal his love.
He didn't dare to say more than a word to Qiu Shuzhi, afraid that his worthless tongue would say something thoughtless and offend the untainted her.
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