Da Ming: The system granted me immortality; I clock in every day.

The carriage sped along and came to a stop outside the Donghua Gate.

Led by a young eunuch, Zhu Qiyu walked heavily through the many palace gates and arrived at the Wenhua Hall.

He took a deep breath, calmed his wildly beating heart, and stepped over the high threshold, lifting the hem of his shirt.

"Your subject, Zhu Qiyu, pays his respects to Your Majesty! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!"

Zhu Qiyu performed the full kowtow respectfully, his forehead pressed against the cold gold brick, not daring to even breathe loudly.

"No need for formalities, please rise."

Zhu Qizhen sat behind his desk, his tone revealing neither joy nor anger.

Zhu Qiyu stood up tremblingly, his eyes lowered, not daring to look directly at his elder brother on the dragon throne.

The hall was eerily quiet.

Zhu Qizhen did not speak, but looked his younger brother up and down, who was pale and thin.

After a long pause, Zhu Qizhen suddenly spoke up: "Qi Yu, you're fifteen this year, aren't you?"

Zhu Qiyu trembled and quickly bowed, replying, "Your Majesty, I am indeed fifteen years old this year."

"You're fifteen now, all grown up. It's time for you to share some of the burdens on the shoulders of the Ming Dynasty and on my behalf."

Zhu Qizhen stood up and slowly walked down from behind the imperial desk, approaching Zhu Qiyu step by step.

Zhu Qiyu swallowed hard, trying to appear calm.

"Your Majesty, I am but a foolish and dull man. Aside from reading some poems and songs and practicing calligraphy and painting, I truly do not know what I can do for you. In court, there are ministers like Prime Minister Gu and other pillars of the state..."

"Poetry, lyrics, and songs?"

Zhu Qizhen sneered and abruptly interrupted Zhu Qiyu.

His eyes revealed a resentment of disappointment and frustration.

It was as if I saw myself back then, trying to use martial arts and grand ambitions to escape accountability.

"Can poetry and songs conjure up rice and flour? Can calligraphy and paintings pay the soldiers stationed on the nine borders?"

Zhu Qizhen grabbed Zhu Qiyu's wrist and pulled him to the huge map of the nine border regions.

"Look at this map! The nine border regions of the Ming Dynasty were built with the bones of countless soldiers and the gold and silver of the Taicang granary!"

"Now, those fierce generals guarding the border have swallowed up all the millions of acres of fertile military farmland left by the founding emperor! They're so fat and bloated, yet they're asking me for money!"

Zhu Qizhen's eyes were bloodshot as he stared intently at Zhu Qiyu.

"I absolutely refuse! Not a single penny of my silver will be given to these rats! I will send an imperial envoy who is absolutely trustworthy and whose status can rival that of the commanders-in-chief of the nine border regions."

"Go to Datong and Xuanfu, measure every inch of land for me, and reclaim all those military farms that have been seized!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Qiyu felt a loud buzzing in his head.

Go to the Nine Garrisons? To measure the military settlements?

Snatching meat from the mouths of those ruthless border generals who kill without blinking an eye?

"Your Majesty! Your humble servant is utterly powerless, and knows absolutely nothing about matters of land and finance!"

"Those generals of the nine border regions are arrogant and domineering. If I were to go, I fear I wouldn't even be able to enter the gates of Datong; I would be tricked by them!"

Zhu Qiyu was so frightened that he knelt down on the ground with a thud, tears welling up in his eyes.

"Completely ignorant?"

Zhu Qizhen seemed to have heard the biggest joke in the world.

He turned around and picked up the large sandalwood abacus that had been with him for eight years and was polished to a shine.

He walked up to Zhu Qiyu and slammed the heavy abacus onto the floor tiles in front of Zhu Qiyu.

"Back then, when the Grand Tutor asked me to calculate the salt tax of one million taels, I also said that I knew nothing about it."

Zhu Qizhen's eyes revealed an almost obsessive persistence and pleasure, as if a daughter-in-law who had endured many years of hardship had finally become a mother-in-law.

Finally, they found a scapegoat to inherit his humiliation and torment.

"If you know nothing, just learn. I was able to learn back then, so why can't you, as a member of the imperial family, learn?"

Zhu Qizhen looked down at his trembling younger brother, his voice as cold as ice.

"From today onwards, you no longer need to return to your Tenth Prince's residence. I will prepare a bed for you in a side hall of this Wenhua Hall. Every day at the hour of Yin (3-5 AM), I will personally teach you the 'Household Law' of the Great Ming Code, the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art, and how to calculate land tax!"

Zhu Qizhen pointed at the abacus on the ground, his imposing manner exactly the same as Gu Yannian's back then.

"If you make a single mistake in the accounts, you will not be allowed to eat today! You will not be allowed to carry this abacus out of the pass and collect debts from the nine border regions until you have settled the old accounts of these millions of acres of military settlements!"

Zhu Qiyu looked at the sandalwood abacus in despair, as if he were looking at a coiled venomous snake.

His dream of a life of leisure and wealth as a prince was shattered at this moment by this abacus.

Just as the two brothers were being so "brotherly and respectful" and passing on their abacus skills,

A series of unhurried footsteps could be heard outside the gate of the Wenhua Hall.

Gu Yannian, fanning himself with a folding fan, stepped leisurely across the threshold.

His deep eyes swept over only one glance at Prince Zhu Qiyu of Cheng, who was kneeling on the ground with a deathly pale face.

And Zhu Qizhen, with his dignified expression and abacus in hand, couldn't help but let a gentle smile appear on his lips.

"Your Majesty, this humble subject pays his respects and greets His Highness the Prince of Cheng."

Gu Yannian bowed slightly, his demeanor dignified.

"The Grand Tutor has arrived at just the right time."

Upon seeing Gu Yannian, Zhu Qizhen could hardly contain his pride and pointed at Zhu Qiyu on the ground.

"I just tested the Prince of Cheng. This boy grew up in the inner palace and is unfamiliar with worldly affairs. I intend to keep him in the Wenhua Hall and personally teach him the methods of financial management."

"Once he has completed his studies, he will be appointed Imperial Commissioner and Minister in charge of military settlements along the nine borders, to inspect the borders and measure the land on my behalf."

Zhu Qizhen tilted his chin up, his expression seemingly saying something.

Grand Tutor, look! I have not only learned your accounting skills, but I have also mastered your methods of conscripting men and forcing them to work!

Gu Yannian nodded, his eyes full of admiration, while fanning himself with a folding fan.

"His Majesty is far-sighted and knows how to appoint the right people. His Highness Prince Cheng is of noble birth and represents the majesty of the royal family. It is most appropriate for him to inspect the military settlements along the nine borders."

When Zhu Qiyu saw that even the powerful Grand Secretary agreed with the matter, his last glimmer of hope was completely shattered.

He collapsed to the ground like a wilted eggplant, his eyes losing their light.

Gu Yannian walked to Zhu Qiyu's side and stopped.

He slowly and deliberately took out two items from his wide robe sleeves and gently placed them next to the sandalwood abacus.

Clang.

A crisp sound of metal hitting the ground.

Zhu Qiyu looked down blankly.

Beside the abacus, there appeared a short-handled iron shovel, entirely black, and a measuring tape made of fine cowhide.

"Grand...Grand Tutor, what does this mean?"

Zhu Qiyu's voice trembled.

Gu Yannian closed his folding fan, stood with his hands behind his back, and spoke in a gentle and calm tone, yet every word was piercing to the heart.

"Your Highness must not only engage in theoretical discussions when you go to survey the military settlements. If those fierce border generals misrepresent wasteland as fertile fields, or falsely report fertile fields as saline-alkali land, Your Highness will surely be deceived if you only have an abacus."

Gu Yannian pointed to the iron shovel and the measuring tape.

"When I was instructing Your Majesty, I said that if you do not know the hardships of farming, how can you know the suffering of the people? To measure the land, you must use your feet to measure it and your hands to dig the soil."

Gu Yannian looked at Zhu Qizhen, a meaningful smile on his handsome face.

"Your Majesty, do you think what I said is reasonable?"