diymy Chapter 61: The worst thing is when someone is truly poor and in debt.
Chapter 61: The worst thing is when someone is truly poor and in debt.
Prince Yizhong?
Upon hearing this name, Xia Chengzong suddenly recalled a scene from the novel *Dream of the Red Chamber* after Qin Keqing's death.
Xue Pan once said, "This was brought by my late father. It was originally intended for Prince Yizhong, but because he ruined things, he never took it."
Has Prince Yizhong not committed any crime yet?
However, judging by the time it takes, it should be soon.
By the way, Prince Yizhong rebelled, and the Crown Prince was deposed.
There's probably some kind of connection between these two!
Xia Chengzong had an idea and decided to have Xia Bei secretly investigate the news about Prince Yizhong.
However, he quickly dismissed the idea.
These two rebelled, but ultimately failed, and the ultimate beneficiary was his cheap father.
They didn't cause any serious consequences.
Why would you get involved in something like this?
Once you get involved, you might get into a lot of trouble, so it's best to stay far away from it.
Thinking of this, Xia Chengzong asked, "What did the late Prince Yizhong seek when he entered the palace?"
Xia Bei replied, "I heard that the old prince owes the national treasury over 100,000 taels of silver, and the crown prince is bringing people to block his door every day to demand repayment."
"The old prince was so annoyed that he ran into the palace to beg the emperor, because the old prince was the emperor's own brother."
"I heard that he cried for half an hour in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, with snot and tears streaming down his face. In the end, the Emperor had no choice but to take out silver from the imperial treasury to pay off his debt."
"Only then did Prince Yizhong depart in high spirits."
Hearing this, Xia Chengzong couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
This old tyrant was a ruthless man to embark on the path of rebellion.
But in front of his grandfather, the Emperor, he could cry for half an hour with snot and tears streaming down his face.
With such greed, stinginess, incompetence, and folly, who would have thought he would rebel?
It has to be said, most members of the royal family are quite the actors!
After figuring things out, Xia Chengzong decided to just watch the show and have nothing to do with it.
……
Prince Zhongzheng's actions of selling everything he owned and borrowing money everywhere to repay the debt set a good precedent for the Crown Prince's debt collection efforts.
Even the Emperor's own son returned the money so readily, why don't you?
Are you more noble than the princes?
Therefore, other royal family members and noble families had no choice but to grit their teeth, sell their possessions, and borrow money to pay off their debts.
Even if they don't pay it all back, they should at least pay back a portion as a formality.
The Crown Prince recovered a large amount of debt in a short period of time, greatly alleviating the financial strain on the imperial court.
At this point, Jia Jing advised the Crown Prince to stop while he was ahead.
The crown prince, however, believed that he had not done nearly enough.
He has only recovered about 20% of the debt so far, which is far from enough.
He wanted to recover at least 70% of the owed money; he wanted to show his father his abilities.
He wanted to show his father that if he wanted to do something, he could definitely do it well.
Therefore, the Crown Prince ignored Jia Jing's advice and insisted on going his own way.
Seeing this, Jia Jing secretly told Jia She to back off and withdraw.
Having tasted success in his previous debt collection efforts, the Crown Prince became even more brazen in his actions.
His methods became increasingly aggressive; he not only blocked the door but also sent people to the door to hurl insults.
They even resorted to despicable methods such as splashing excrement on doors.
Of course, this method was not ordered by the Crown Prince, but rather carried out privately by his subordinates.
They all wanted to achieve something to please the Crown Prince.
However, this approach did not yield as much benefit as the first phase.
The main problem was that the Crown Prince overlooked one thing.
It's not the heroes who collect debts that are scary, it's the truly poor ones who are in debt.
Those who had the money and ability to repay had basically returned the silver in the first batch.
Those who remain are all extremely poor.
If it is private lending, one can also use methods such as selling children, real estate, or land to pay off debts.
How could a prince, a dignified prince, resort to such despicable means to collect debts?
Unable to collect the debt, the crown prince grew increasingly agitated and resorted to increasingly ruthless methods.
Finally, an old scholar, unable to bear the humiliation any longer, hanged himself at the gate of the mansion.
This matter has finally blown up.
The censors and civil officials launched a frenzied impeachment campaign.
In the end, Emperor Yonglong had no choice but to strip the crown prince of his post and order him to study behind closed doors in order to quell public anger.
Crown Prince's negative emotions +10 +10 +10
Xia Chengzong suddenly received news that a large sum of negative emotions had been deposited into his account by the Crown Prince.
This left him speechless.
I understand that you feel bad because you were punished for doing something wrong, but what's with you holding such a big grudge against me?
It's not like I interfered or ruined your plans!
It must be said that the Crown Prince's mentality has become severely distorted and is utterly incomprehensible.
Xia Chengzong ignored him and began to focus on his cultivation in the days that followed.
His archery skills became increasingly refined, reaching a point where he could hit the bullseye every time from a distance of 100 paces.
On this day, his emotional value once again reached 10,000 points.
Of his supernatural abilities, only the fifth one, "Powdered Jade Carving," has not yet been upgraded.
The first supernatural power he chose was "Jade Carving," and this power brought him considerable rewards.
However, later on, this supernatural power became quite useless.
Aside from being handsome, he's good for nothing.
And being handsome isn't always an advantage!
For example, Gao Changgong, the Prince of Lanling, was too handsome to deter the enemy on the battlefield.
He had to wear a demon mask every time he went to the battlefield.
Therefore, after all his other supernatural abilities were upgraded to at least the second tier, only his fifth supernatural ability remained at the first tier, white.
Looking at the plus sign next to the supernatural power, he finally couldn't resist clicking "upgrade".
Supernatural Power 5: Handsome and dashing (blue) 100000 emotion points can be upgraded to Ice Skin and Jade Bones (blue).
After the upgrade, Xia Chengzong felt that his skin became more and more crystal clear and smooth.
There were also subtle changes in his appearance.
I looked in the mirror, and wow, I've gotten even more handsome!
He gradually transitioned from a delicate, fair-skinned beauty to a youthful appearance with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes.
Looking at the next stage of her ice-like skin and jade-like bones, Xia Chengzong suddenly found it quite interesting.
Ice-based products are fine, as they are applied to the skin.
What about the jade bones?
Does it act internally?
Directly shaping the bones?
Will this jade bone make his bones harder and his defense higher?
Thinking of this, Xia Chengzong's face showed a thoughtful expression.
Previously, I probably underestimated the five supernatural powers.
Since it is called a supernatural power, how could it only affect the physical body so superficially?
It seems we can't afford to underestimate Supernatural Power Five from now on!
Well, there's no rush.
There are too many supernatural abilities that need upgrading, and my emotional value is seriously insufficient.
Days passed by, and before we knew it, summer turned to autumn, and the weather began to cool down.
It was a day of rest, and the princess invited Lady Jia to the mansion to admire the chrysanthemums, specifically requesting that she bring Daiyu along.
After the others arrived, the princess teased Daiyu for a while, and the little ones gathered around her, trying to get her to talk.
"Quick, call Sixth Brother!"
"Come on, call out to the myna bird!"
"Go away, the myna bird's voice is awful. Come here, call me 'sister' and let me hear it."
Xia Chengzong chimed in, "Call him Third Brother."
"Third Brother!"
Lin Daiyu actually called out "Third Brother," which stunned Jia Min.
She said sourly, "This girl can't even call me 'Mother' yet, but she can call me 'Third Brother' already!"