Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 18 Store Refresh
Lu Zhu's face turned pale. She knew her princess's personality very well. She knew that the princess did not want to stay in the monastery and wait obediently for the empress dowager's pardon, but wanted to cause trouble.

To put it in a positive way, Princess Chenliu was able to see the big picture from the details, to see the internal relationships of things through phenomena, and to act decisively once she had set her goals, much like her father, Emperor Xiaowen.

But in fact, the princess did everything just for fun, and her intelligence made her bad character even more dangerous.

She prayed for the royal family, devoted herself to worshipping Buddha and was unwilling to get married. During the reign of the previous emperor, she was also respectful and gentle, and never competed for favor with her brothers and sisters. This is probably the personality that Princess Chenliu established in public.

In fact, she was the one who fanned the flames of many things, and she did it for one purpose - "to have fun".

For example, the sister mentioned by Princess Chenliu and the marital conflict between Princess Lanling and her husband Liu Hui were the result of Princess Chenliu's instigation.

Princess Lanling's husband was actually not that bad. Liu Hui was a descendant of the royal family of Liu Song in the Southern Dynasties. His father fled to the Northern Wei when the Southern Qi replaced the Song Dynasty and was granted the title of "King of Song".

Princess Lanling had a period of peaceful life after her marriage, but as she became increasingly arrogant, and the Emperor Xuanwu who succeeded to the throne was her brother from the same mother, her husband Liu Hui could no longer bear it.

During this period, Princess Chenliu often took the opportunity to mediate the conflicts between Princess Lanling and her husband, but in fact she secretly spread the news of the discord between Princess Lanling and her husband, causing the whole city to be in turmoil today.

Lu Zhu couldn't help but think that Princess Chenliu did not reveal her identity after Empress Dowager Hu was assassinated and clear her suspicion to return to the Princess' Mansion because she wanted to stay in Yongning Temple for fun.

The next morning, Su Ze came out of the monks' quarters refreshed. Yongning Temple was indeed a royal temple, with high-ranking officials and dignitaries coming and going. These monks' quarters looked elegant, and the interior decoration was very luxurious, which was much more comfortable than Su Ze's house.

Su Ze got up early in the morning and brought food to comfort the soldiers on duty, replacing them with those who were guarding the monastery courtyard of Princess Chenliu. He pretended to be doing his duty, but in fact he opened the system, ready to remotely control Su Da to carry out the commission.

At this moment, there was a noise coming from the monk's house where Princess Chenliu lived. Then Luzhu, Princess Chenliu's personal maid from yesterday, opened the gate of the courtyard and walked out. Behind Luzhu were several maids holding silk in their hands.

Lu Zhu bowed to Su Zeyingying and said, "Captain Su, the Lord appreciates your hard work and has granted each of you two pieces of silk. Please gather the soldiers and receive them."

Su Ze was a little surprised, while the soldiers around him were excited.

In this era, silk is not just a piece of cloth, but also a kind of currency that can be circulated. One piece of silk can be exchanged for eight hundred coins. Two pieces of silk are a considerable fortune for impoverished military households like Su Ze.

Su Ze bowed and said, "Please wait for a moment, Madam Luzhu. I will gather everyone right away."

Lu Zhu was very satisfied with Su Ze's cleverness. Soon, the soldiers who had just taken turns to rest also gathered in front of the courtyard. Lu Zhu handed the silk to them one by one. Su Ze led the soldiers and shouted loudly to the monks' courtyard:

"Thank you princess for the reward!"

When Lu Zhu retreated back into the courtyard, Su Ze saw that the soldiers around him had changed their previous low morale and were firmly guarding the gate of the courtyard. Su Ze couldn't help but sigh, it turned out that the simplest and most effective way to win people's hearts was to reward them. If you want people to fight for your life, you still have to give them enough money to buy their lives.

Su Ze took the two pieces of silk back to the monk's house where he was temporarily staying. Suddenly, he had an idea and put the two pieces of silk into the system's warehouse.

Then Su Ze opened the system again, and Sijuan was indeed stored in the system. He focused his attention on Sijuan, and the system also popped up a prompt.

[Ordinary silk: valuable, worth 800 coins.]

As expected, just like the Taihe Wuzhu coins in reality, silk can be directly converted into the system as currency! It was true that when you are sleepy, someone will send you a pillow. Su Ze finally understood why his father had to participate in the selection of the Qinghe Palace. In this day and age, being a dog for the rich and powerful was something that many people fought for.

Any random reward is equivalent to Su Ze's military pay for several years, but low-level Yulin soldiers like Su Ze have to starve. What kind of life do the people outside the capital live?
It was precisely because of the extravagance of the Northern Wei high-ranking officials that the social atmosphere degenerated to such an extent just twenty years after Emperor Xiaowen's Sinicization reforms.

Stopping thinking about these questions, Su Ze looked at the time and the store should have been refreshed.

He quickly opened the store, and to his surprise, the system refresh actually created four grids!

Wait, there were clearly three grids before, how come there was suddenly an extra grid?

Could it be the effect of the “level +1” from completing Gao Huan’s horse-selection mission last time?

If this is the case, then it makes sense to complete the tasks and increase the level. Thinking of the big question mark in Yongning Temple, Su Ze became tempted again.

Let’s take a look at the new “products” refreshed in the store.

One orange, one purple and two green!
Su Ze felt that his luck was improving, and he quickly checked the grid that was flashing orange light.

[The Unnoticed Egret Messenger Cao]

Grade: Orange;
Effect: None;

Comment: "Take off the Egret Cao uniform, and no one will pay attention to this guy with a meager presence."

Price: 800 wen tai and 100 baht coins, and a maintenance fee of wen tai and baht coins is required every month.

Su Ze was confused. Was the world he was in really a huge stand-alone game? How could he summon even Bai Lu Cao's messenger? Could your system summon the current queen mother as well?
Su Ze quickly paid the fee with silk, only to see a masked man in Bai Lu Cao Gong's uniform appear in front of him.

The taciturn riding slave Ada was different. As soon as the White Egret Cao messenger appeared, he crossed his arms and said to Su Ze, "My Lord."

Su Ze looked at the Egret Cao envoy and saw that his official uniform, waist badge, and sword were exactly the same as the Egret Cao envoy he had seen yesterday, and it seemed that they could communicate normally. Su Ze asked quickly:

"Are you the real Egret Cao messenger?"

The Egret Cao envoy in front of him nodded and shook his head. Seeing Su Ze's puzzled look, he explained:
"My Lord, I am the envoy of Bailu Cao, but my name is not in the Bailu Cao's register."

Su Ze immediately understood that the "Messenger Bai Lu Cao" in front of him was just a summoned creature with the same abilities as Messenger Bai Lu Cao. His official uniform and badge were real, but there was no such person in Bai Lu Cao. The so-called "Messenger Bai Lu Cao" was just the "profession" of this summoned creature.

Although the system is powerful, it does not have the ability to change the real world and create a living person with experience out of thin air.

(End of this chapter)