Chapter Forty-Five: Eating Walnuts
Until noon.
It was almost time for lunch.
Yet the council meeting had not yet ended.
Li Zhi, feeling bored, asked the old eunuch for a handful of walnuts. He sat on the floor and began cracking them, one by one, using the scabbard of a nearby Imperial Guard. The sharp, crisp sounds echoed, piercingly loud.
The old eunuch quickly admonished, “Your Highness, please keep it down! Don’t disturb His Majesty!”
“But I’m hungry… I want to eat these walnuts!”
“This—!” The old eunuch was at a loss. He thought about fetching something from the imperial kitchens, but feared that this clever, mischievous boy might take the opportunity to sneak into the imperial study. He had no choice but to let Li Zhi continue making his racket.
After a while—
The council meeting finally ended.
Li Zhi clutched his pile of walnuts and dashed into the imperial study.
“Father!”
“What brings you here, Zhi’er? Have you finished the task I set for you?” Li Shimin asked.
“What task?”
“Reciting the legal codes. I heard you’ve been studying diligently in your study these days. Your father knows. You should be about done, yes?”
Li Shimin had been keeping a close eye. He often consulted Empress Zhangsun to check on Li Zhi’s progress.
Li Zhi smiled sweetly. “Father, test me as you please!”
“Oh? You sound quite confident!” Li Shimin was delighted. He pulled Li Zhi onto his lap and said, “Today, your father will give you a proper test. If you fail, you’ll have to go back and continue your punishment!”
“Yes, Father!”
The legal codes amounted to nearly a hundred thousand words.
Over the past few days,
Li Zhi had read them countless times.
He couldn’t claim to have memorized them all, but he wasn’t afraid of any random test from Li Shimin.
Just this morning, he had read through them twice again. Everything was still fresh in his mind, thanks to his intelligence score of 119, which had given him more than enough brainpower.
Li Shimin, without holding back, pulled out several obscure chapters.
He deliberately chose the most arcane and rarely referenced statutes!
Some were so obscure that even the ministers themselves might not know them.
He assumed that Li Zhi would stumble.
Little did he know, Li Zhi was most fascinated by these obscure laws. He had read them over and over, even analyzing them deeply!
“Father, you just asked me: if the Son of Heaven breaks the law, how should he be punished? The legal code makes no mention of it! I think that’s hypocritical. Doesn’t it say that the Son of Heaven faces the same penalties as commoners?”
“This…” Li Shimin was visibly embarrassed.
Li Zhi chuckled. “Allow me to answer for you, Father. As it is written in the Spring and Autumn Annals, ‘The law does not bind the exalted.’ The law is for ordinary people. The Son of Heaven, who makes the laws, is naturally above them!”
“Yes, yes…” Li Shimin quickly agreed.
But Li Zhi changed the subject: “However, Father, you often say, ‘The Son of Heaven faces the same penalties as commoners.’ What if, one day, you truly broke the law? What then?”
Li Shimin fell into deep thought.
“Take your time, Father. Perhaps you’ll find a solution!” As he spoke, Li Zhi placed his walnuts on the floor, then sneakily moved beside Li Shimin. While his father was distracted, he grabbed the imperial seal.
Crack!
He slammed the heavy seal down on the walnuts, splitting them open.
“Ah—!” Li Shimin turned in alarm as he heard the sound, only to see the imperial seal lying on the ground. He cried out, “Zhi’er, you—!”
Li Zhi feigned innocence and exclaimed with delight, “Father, this stone is remarkable! It cracks walnuts effortlessly… Mmm, delicious!”
“Father, you should try some too!”
With childlike sincerity, Li Zhi offered a piece of the cracked walnut to Li Shimin.
“I ask you to study law, and you—” Before he could finish, Li Zhi stuffed another piece into his mouth.
“If you keep being so careless, your father will—”
“Please, Father, just try another! They’re really tasty!”
...
Li Zhi kept feeding him walnuts until the pile was gone.
Li Shimin carefully picked up the imperial seal, returned it to its proper place, and sternly said, “Zhi’er, remember! The imperial seal is even more important than an imperial edict! Without my permission, you must never touch it! Next time, your punishment will not be so simple as reciting law codes…”
“I don’t understand, Father. Isn’t it just a stone? If you say it’s the imperial seal, then it is. If you say it’s a rock, then it’s just a rock. Isn’t that so?”
“This—” Li Shimin was taken aback.
For generations, emperors had been obsessed with the imperial seal, as if holding it meant holding the world itself. Yet no emperor had ever truly considered what the seal was: merely a jade stamp, carved from an unremarkable stone. Only by the emperor’s recognition did it become the imperial seal; without that, it was nothing more than a piece of jade.
“My son, Zhi, your insight is truly exceptional. You will achieve great things one day!” Li Shimin felt as if the clouds had parted, many things became clear to him, and his affection for Li Zhi deepened even more.
“Ding! Congratulations, Host! Task complete. You have been rewarded with one hundred jin of sweet potatoes, now stored in the Lijing Hall warehouse!” chimed the system.
Li Zhi withdrew.
He hurried straight to Lijing Hall.
“They really are sweet potatoes, just like those in the future!” In the storage of Lijing Hall, a burlap sack was piled up. Li Zhi opened it and was filled with amazement.
The system seemed capable of anything.
Any rare item could be conjured as if by magic.
Of course, the condition was that he had to complete the tasks it set.
“Luo Tong!”
“Here!”
“Move these sweet potatoes to the back garden. Then find a few more men and turn over a patch of soil… By the time the New Year arrives, we’ll have fresh vegetables to eat!”
...
Li Zhi calculated that it was right now the season for planting sweet potatoes.
Time was of the essence.
There could be no delay.
Luo Tong and his men toiled all afternoon.
They planted all one hundred jin of sweet potatoes into the earth.
“Your Highness, are these… sweet potatoes actually edible?” Luo Tong asked, his tone full of doubt.
“Of course!”
“Sweet potatoes aren’t just delicious—they mature quickly and have an extremely high yield. They can complete their growth in just two seasons. After ten days underground, they’ll sprout and grow rhizomes. We cut off some of the vines and replant them, and they’ll keep growing… From our one hundred jin, by New Year’s, we’ll harvest a thousand jin!”
Though Li Zhi explained at length,
Luo Tong didn’t quite understand.
But that last line—one hundred jin turning into a thousand—he heard loud and clear! Such a high yield was unmatched by any crop. Could it really be true?
By evening.
Cheng Chubi sent over the latest report from First Restaurant.
He wrote in his report that
First Restaurant in the capital had truly earned its name.
Every day, the customer flow greatly exceeded what the restaurant could accommodate.
Preliminary calculations showed daily profits of fifteen thousand coins!
At this rate, in less than a month, all debts would be repaid, and earnings would surpass one hundred thousand coins!
“This Cheng lad is getting more and more impressive… In just a few days, he’s made the restaurant flourish. Luo Tong, would you like to go take a look at the restaurant?”
“Of course!” Luo Tong licked his lips.
He hadn’t had a decent meal in days.
He thought about it nearly every day.
But then, remembering Li Zhi’s recent punishment, he shook his head immediately. “No, no, if His Majesty finds out, we’ll be in real trouble. Besides, the guards at the palace gates all know us. Getting out might be harder than we think!”
“How hard could it be? A bit of disguise is all it takes!”
Li Zhi brought him into the room and made a few alterations.
When they emerged, their appearances had changed entirely.