Yun Shu was silent.
If the person who had written that memorial were standing before her right now, she was quite certain she could outdo even Emperor Xuanwu in delivering a scolding—with her eyes alone.
Just how underworked was that official?
Here she was, a dignified princess, toiling away at this laborious task, while certain senior ministers contributed nothing but flashy nonsense. How was this even remotely fair?
Feeling an increasing imbalance in her heart, Her Highness the Fifth Princess set down the memorial and began to complain.
"Father Emperor, this memorial is completely unreasonable."
"Oh?"
With both hands and eyes freed during a brief pause in the convoy's march, Emperor Xuanwu was currently enjoying the rare pleasure of brewing his own tea. He lifted his gaze slightly.
"In what way is it unreasonable?"
"The efficiency is abysmal!"
Yun Shu was righteous in her indignation.
"Take this memorial I just read. The phrasing is so ornate and flowery that the writer probably spent half a day composing it, and the reader just as long trying to decipher it. Yet all of it boils down to five simple characters: 'Bowing to His Majesty.'
Father Emperor, you must go through so many memorials each day. If every one of them is like this, just think how much time is wasted in total.
If the unnecessary parts were removed, surely Your Majesty could be spared much of this burden."
"It does sound rather reasonable."
Emperor Xuanwu gave a thoughtful nod and poured himself another cup of tea.
"Then recite only the summarized version for Us."
"Understood."
Since it was clear she could not escape this task today, preserving her throat was at least something.
Yun Shu agreed without hesitation and began reciting each memorial in drastically condensed form—stripping away at least eighty percent of the original text.
"Father Emperor, the Provincial Administrator of Liaodong, Lord Lin, reports that snow has begun to fall there. As a result, the grain price has risen to eighteen wen per dou."
Emperor Xuanwu took a sip of tea.
"Place that in the left stack."
One dou of rice was ten jin. At eighteen wen per dou, it wasn't particularly expensive. However, compared to the previous thirteen wen, it was indeed a notable increase.
This type of memorial served merely to report conditions and did not require immediate attention.
After filing that one away per Emperor Xuanwu's instructions, Yun Shu quickly picked up another.
"Father Emperor, the Governor of Yuyue…"
Having spent years practicing reading comprehension in modern schooling, Yun Shu's summarization skills were quite sharp.
Initially, Emperor Xuanwu had not paid much mind to her earlier complaints about the excessive verbosity of the court memorials.
After all, since the first day he'd begun reading memorials, this had always been their style. One becomes used to it and thus blind to its inefficiencies.
But now, hearing Yun Shu's crisp, concise summaries by comparison, he suddenly realized that if every memorial were written this way…
He truly might save a great deal of effort.
Could it be that all his years of diligent reading had simply been sifting through countless lines of empty words?
Emperor Xuanwu fell into deep thought.
Perhaps, after this autumn hunt, he should issue an edict ordering the ministers to focus only on the core points in their memorials.
"Father Emperor."
Thanks to Yun Shu's tireless effort, the towering stack of memorials had now been reduced by half.
Taking a deep breath, she finished summarizing another.
"The Right Minister says that the Crown Prince has now turned eighteen and ought to be wed."
"A Crown Princess?"
At long last, a topic concerning the Crown Prince. Emperor Xuanwu, while maintaining a composed expression, glanced toward Yun Shu and began weighing how best to proceed with this topic.
"Yes, it is indeed time the Crown Prince settled down.
We recall the Empress has mentioned several times that the Right Minister's legitimate granddaughter seems a worthy match."
"…?"
Yun Shu blinked.
Shouldn't he be telling her which stack to place the memorial in?
Why was he suddenly engaging her in idle talk?
She was barely acquainted with her Second Brother, the Crown Prince—did he expect her to have opinions about who his wife should be?
Right Minister's granddaughter? She didn't even know if that girl was tall or short, round-faced or square.
Wait a moment. The Right Minister's legitimate granddaughter?
If she remembered correctly, the Crown Prince was the Empress's biological son…
And the Empress was the Right Minister's daughter, was she not?
That would make the Crown Prince and the Right Minister's granddaughter…
This cursed cousin marriage!
With a sharp snap, Yun Shu closed the memorial and began cautiously testing the waters.
"Actually… I once came across something in an old and rather tattered travel journal."
It was coming.
The tip provided by the Simulation Life Selection System—this must be it.
Emperor Xuanwu's heart stirred, though his expression remained unreadable.
"What did it say?"
"Well… the author had traveled to many lands and met a great many people. Among them were many individuals born with congenital impairments."
Feigning a vague and uncertain recollection, Yun Shu deliberately slowed her speech while keeping a close watch on Emperor Xuanwu's face. Only after confirming that he neither frowned nor showed displeasure did she continue, just as slowly.
"The author noticed that, in most cases, the parents of those unfortunate souls… were close kin by blood."
"You are certain of this?"
At last, Emperor Xuanwu's long-maintained composure gave way to the slightest shift in expression.
He had never imagined that the true cause behind such births… could be that.
Thinking it over, he realized that the few such cases he had personally known did, indeed, mostly involve children born from cousin marriages.
So that was it.
The Simulation Life Selection System's ominous prediction—that one year from now, the ministers would claim divine omens had appeared and demand the Crown Prince's removal—was because the Crown Prince would marry the Right Minister's granddaughter and produce a disabled heir.
"This matter… We shall have it thoroughly investigated. You may return to Noble Consort Liu's carriage."
Emperor Xuanwu had no desire to hear another word of summary. He halted the carriage and instructed Li Dehai to escort Yun Shu back.
Alone now within the Dragon Carriage, he suddenly thought of Consort De.
Consort De had also been his cousin.
When she first entered the palace, she had been favored. She had conceived twice, but neither pregnancy came to term.
Could it have been due to consanguinity?
Some truths only become clear once the veil is lifted. What had once gone unnoticed suddenly appeared laden with warning signs in hindsight.
Emperor Xuanwu exhaled a long sigh.
Now that his Fifth Daughter was already thirteen, he had once considered the young man Tang Muzhi from the Tang family a decent match. Another couple of years and, once she came of age, it would have been a fine union.
But now, that could not be.
As for the other young men in the capital…
He mentally reviewed each eligible noble son one by one, then clicked his tongue in disdain.
None of them were worthy.
A princess of the imperial house need not rush to marry. A few more years at home would do no harm.
In truth, he was not quite ready to part with his youngest just yet.