Ha. He knew it. What decent person kept a diary? He did, and now look what happened—his diary was being publicly aired for everyone to judge.
Did these descendants from later generations have any idea what the right to privacy was!!!
Chu Yi closed his eyes in despair. Everything before him had gone black; he could no longer see a future for himself.
The diary entry had been written yesterday, and its contents were being exposed today. Fortunately, he had never had the habit of writing his own name in it. Otherwise, he would not still be sitting here right now.
Chu Yi fell into thought. He raised his head to look at the sky screen. Even thinking with his toes, he knew the imperial court had probably exploded into chaos by now.
All he could do now was pray that there was nothing on the screen that absolutely could not be shown.
As for Wei Qingwei, the Vice Minister of Revenue, Chu Yi lowered his eyes and only wanted to say: Amitabha. May all be well. Benefactor, you are on your own.
Since he had kept the matter hidden and had not reported it, it could not be anything too serious. Hopefully Lord Wei could work it out himself and would not expose all his own secrets just because of one sentence from Chu Yi.
Meanwhile, Wei Qingwei was sweating profusely. Emperor Xuanwu sat on a chair brought over by a young eunuch, tapping his fingers rhythmically against the armrest.
Looking at the ministers kneeling in rows before him, he asked, “Who do you think this diary belongs to?”
The meaning of “diary” was obvious enough. They were not fools—it was simply a record of one's day. What puzzled them was why the sky screen had suddenly appeared, and why people from later generations were studying this person's diary.
But if they were studying this particular person, then what this person had written must have been extremely valuable.
And from the looks of things, it really was valuable, wasn't it?
A trace of amusement flashed through Emperor Xuanwu's eyes. There was one thing he could be sure of: the little secret about Wei Qingwei mentioned in the diary definitely had nothing to do with affairs of state.
After all, judging from the tone of this person's diary, the writer was…
rather timid.
If he had truly discovered some enormous secret, he definitely would not have sounded like that.
But Lord Wei did not seem capable of making that distinction. Or rather, it was not that he could not tell—he had simply panicked, and now his whole body was drenched in sweat.
Having secrets was perfectly normal. Everyone had secrets. But having the sky screen point one out in front of the emperor was another matter entirely.
Wei Qingwei ground his back teeth. He had better not find out who wrote this diary. If he survived today safe and sound, he was absolutely not going to let this person off!!!
The others, meanwhile, were studying different things. What did “slacking off” mean? And what was that “heh heh heh” supposed to be???
The image above changed into an animation. A little figure could be seen lying across a desk pretending to work before biting the end of a brush and starting to write. Halfway through, the figure planted its hands on its hips and burst into an evil “heh heh heh” laugh.
【Judging from this diary entry, our diary's owner seems to have had a very lively personality~ We can also guess that this official probably wasn't very highly ranked. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been this poor. At present, we still haven't found anything that proves his identity, and the diary isn't signed. However, this lord's diary seems to have recorded quite a lot. After all, someone capable of writing something this amusing must have been a pretty interesting person.】
[Our ancestors really never lied to us. Once someone gets poor enough, there's nothing they won't dare to do.]
[Someone spare a thought for the poor Vice Minister of Revenue. But I'm really curious whether this guy actually went and threatened him.]
[Am I the only one curious about what the secret was??? I wonder if he wrote about it later.]
[I'm dying laughing. He's trying to act tough while being terrified at the same time. Wants to threaten someone but is scared of getting beaten. What a genius…]
[The Vice Minister of Revenue… If I remember correctly, records from Emperor Xuanwu's reign say that the Vice Minister of Revenue's surname was Wei…]
[How do I put this? A complete goofball could never become the villain…]
[Exactly. What decent person keeps a diary?]
Emperor Xuanwu raised an eyebrow. It seemed the people of later generations thought rather highly of this subject of his. One diary entry was enough to make them assume the man was a good person.
People from later generations were surprisingly naive.
Still, he was curious about who this person was. His personality was certainly entertaining.
With that thought, he turned toward Wei Qingwei and asked in a gentle voice, “My dear minister, have you worked out which little secret he meant?”
Wei Qingwei had already calmed down. He closed his eyes in despair and decided to stop struggling. “Your Majesty… this subject has… rather a lot of little secrets. I don't know which one this person meant…”
Emperor Xuanwu burst out laughing. Good, very good. He did not know which one. Wonderful.
Wei Qingwei genuinely felt a little wronged. They were called little secrets for a reason. Were little secrets supposed to be casually announced to everyone?
If he managed to return home safely today, he was going to make a little curse doll of this diary's owner the moment he got back.
The other officials were thinking about later generations instead. What was the future like? Why could people from the future appear on this sky screen?
The old foxes below, men who had occupied high office for years, were thinking much further ahead. Since a sky screen had appeared and people from later generations were discussing this diary on it, the diary's owner could not possibly have been an ordinary person.
The diary might call him the most useless of scholars, but how many people capable of becoming officials in the capital were truly ordinary?
The sky screen had appeared without warning, and so far it had revealed very little: a single diary entry with no beginning or end, no name, and only one mention of the Vice Minister of Revenue's little secret…
They would keep watching. They would see what else appeared next.
【This is the first entry in this unknown official's diary. As everyone knows, the Xuanwu era was the most brilliant period in the entire history of the Great Xuan Dynasty. In those years, outstanding figures gathered like stars, geniuses appeared one after another, and famous ministers and gifted men emerged in great numbers, helping our charming ancestor, Emperor Xuanwu, build the dynasty into its most prosperous and powerful form. But everyone also knows that there is much we can never learn from official historical records alone. Now that this lord's diary has appeared, we have a much more private source, and private writings often reveal far more. Through these entries, we may be able to glimpse the personalities and true images of many historical figures. I also hope that, little by little, these diary entries will allow us to understand this lord's life and uncover his identity. That's all for today's livestream. See you tomorrow~】
The man on the screen smiled with refined gentleness. The sky screen suddenly went dark. After waiting for a while and confirming that it was not going to light up again, Emperor Xuanwu and the others returned to the audience hall.
Seated on the dragon throne, Emperor Xuanwu asked, “What does everyone think about this sky screen?”
Left Chancellor Zuo Siwei stepped forward, cupped his hands, and said, “Your Majesty, this old minister believes we should observe it for now. This phenomenon appeared too suddenly, and we can find neither pattern nor clue. Observation should be our first priority.”
Right Chancellor You He nodded. “The contents of a diary are highly subjective, and we still do not know the writer's identity. This old minister recommends that we first determine who the diary's owner is.”
Emperor Xuanwu nodded. In other words, they had said nothing useful at all. Two old foxes.
Still, the words on the sky screen had made him quite happy. Brilliant. Most powerful and prosperous. Ah, he really was amazing!
He mentally gave himself a thumbs-up.
When the sky screen went dark, Chu Yi trudged dejectedly back to his seat. He could only hope that his future self had not written too much ridiculous nonsense. Otherwise, he had the distinct feeling he was doomed.
The best thing he could do now was lower his presence even further. He wanted to claim illness and stay home, but with everyone so sensitive right now, suddenly calling in sick would definitely draw attention.
He let out a long, gloomy sigh.
He could not use the Vice Minister of Revenue's secret anymore either. The sky screen had already mentioned it. If he went to find the Vice Minister now, wouldn't that be the same as announcing that he was the one who had written the diary?
If the paintings he had sent out did not sell either… wow, he really was going to cry over how pitiful he was.
Chu Yi collapsed over his desk with a vacant stare. Money. Money.
