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

Inside the Grand Secretary's bedroom, the dim candlelight flickered.

Zhu Qiyu sat on the edge of the bed, tightly holding Gu Yannian's hand, which he had deliberately pretended to be cold.

"Grand Tutor... those quacks in the Imperial Medical Academy are spouting nonsense! I have already issued an imperial decree, offering a reward for the best doctors in the land!"

"My imperial granary is overflowing with silver; it can buy century-old ginseng and thousand-year-old lingzhi mushrooms. I'm sure I can restore the Grand Tutor's health!"

Zhu Qiyu's voice was hoarse, and his eyes were full of reluctance.

Gu Yannian slowly opened his eyes.

Looking at the emperor he had personally trained, a kind but weak smile appeared on his lips.

"Your Majesty... life and death are predestined. I have lived for eighty-five years and witnessed the Ming Dynasty rise from internal and external troubles to the prosperous age of abundant treasury and peace throughout the land."

"I have no regrets in this life."

Gu Yannian grasped Zhu Qiyu's hand in return and patted it gently.

"With my departure, the heavy burden of the Ming Dynasty will fall entirely on Your Majesty's shoulders. Your Majesty is exceptionally intelligent, and in the past four years, your ability to manage finances and govern the country has already shown signs of the style of Emperor Taizu."

"Your Majesty, I have nothing more to teach you in this world."

Zhu Qiyu, fighting back tears, gritted his teeth and said:

"I will never forget the Grand Tutor's guidance. Without the Grand Tutor, how could the Ming Dynasty be as prosperous as it is today!"

Gu Yannian took a deep breath, as if gathering his last bit of strength.

He pointed to a sandalwood box on the bedside table, indicating that Zhu Qiyu should open it.

Zhu Qiyu opened the box as instructed, and inside lay a thick, uncovered account book.

"Grand Tutor, this is...?"

"This is a budget for the Ming Dynasty's expenditures over the next fifty years, which I have secretly deduced over the past few decades. It includes plans for increasing maritime trade, a century-long plan for military settlements along the nine borders, and a budget for eradicating the Yellow River floods."

Gu Yannian's voice was intermittent.

"After I leave... Your Majesty may act according to this account book. As long as this account book is protected, the Ming Dynasty... will not be poor or in chaos."

Zhu Qiyu held the heavy account book in his hands, and tears finally streamed down his face.

"Grand Tutor..."

"Your Majesty, I have another request."

Gu Yannian's voice grew softer and softer, as if it might dissipate with the wind at any moment.

"Grand Tutor, please speak! If it is within my power, I will certainly grant your request, even if it requires the full force of the empire!"

Gu Yannian forced a smile, his eyes revealing a stubborn stinginess to the core.

"After my death... keep the funeral simple. Do not use a coffin made of precious Phoebe zhennan wood, it is too expensive and a waste of national funds. Just find a coffin made of thin-skinned willow wood."

"Furthermore, no extravagant mausoleum should be built; simply bury him on a sunny hilltop. The money saved... the money saved should be left to the Ministry of Revenue."

"Go and build a few treasure ships for the sea, and bring back even more gold and silver for the Ming Dynasty..."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Qiyu could no longer control his emotions and burst into tears.

"Grand Tutor! You are truly the God of Wealth of the Ming Dynasty! Even in this dire situation, you are still thinking of saving me money! I promise you!"

"I will certainly arrange the most economical funeral for you! Every penny saved will be spent wisely!"

Zhu Qiyu cried so hard that he was hoarse, completely lacking the dignity of an emperor.

He was genuinely heartbroken, but also genuinely moved.

In a world where all the officials are thinking about how to siphon money from the national treasury, the Grand Tutor even has to save his own funeral money for the national treasury.

Such noble character and integrity are truly moving.

Gu Yannian looked at the emperor, who was crying his eyes out, and secretly found it amusing.

He wasn't being noble or virtuous; he was just worried that if the coffin was too thick and the mausoleum too secure, it would be too difficult for him to climb out of the grave in the middle of the night.

"In that case... I am relieved."

Gu Yannian let out a long breath and slowly closed his eyes.

He instantly stopped breathing as if it were nothing, reducing his heart rate to a state of barely perceptible stillness, where it only beats once every few days.

He had completely lost his vitality, resembling a real corpse.

"Grand Tutor!!"

Zhu Qiyu let out a mournful wail that echoed throughout the Grand Secretary's private residence.

The eighth day of the fourth month in the third year of the Jingtai reign.

Gu Yannian, the Grand Secretary of the Ming Dynasty, a veteran of seven reigns, and Grand Tutor, passed away at his private residence in Xuanwu Lane.

He passed away at the age of 85.

The news brought grief to the entire nation.

Inside and outside the capital, countless people spontaneously set up memorial services in the streets, their cries shaking the heavens.

Those military households who had been exempted from exorbitant taxes and levies in the Nine Garrisons, and those laborers who received their full wages and food allowances on the banks of the Yellow River, all knelt and kowtowed in the direction of the capital.

Although the officials in the court also wore mourning clothes, many of them secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

The mountain that had been pressing down on them, calculating every penny of their wealth, finally collapsed.

However, Emperor Jingtai Zhu Qiyu's next move shocked everyone.

The emperor did not give this powerful chief minister a grand funeral.

Not only was there no coffin made of Phoebe zhennan wood, no large burial goods, but no silver was even allocated to build the mausoleum!

With red eyes, Zhu Qiyu roared at his ministers in the court.

"The Grand Tutor's dying words were that the national treasury was strained and a lavish funeral was forbidden! I will obey the Grand Tutor's wishes! The Imperial Household Department is to purchase the most ordinary thin-barked cypress coffin!"

"Funerals shall be kept simple. Officials are forbidden from extravagance in their mourning, and even the paper money should be burned sparingly!"

The courtiers felt a chill run down their spines.

The Emperor's stinginess is simply obsessive!

Even the Grand Tutor's funeral was held in such a meager manner; how heartless must they be!

But Zhu Qiyu knew in his heart that this was his final tribute to the Grand Tutor.

He intended to invest every last penny of the hundreds of thousands of taels of silver he had saved in the funeral expenses into the account book left behind by the Grand Tutor.

The body lay in state for three days.

On a dark and windy night, Gu Yannian's coffin was placed in an ordinary cemetery in the western mountains outside the city.

The burial will take place early tomorrow morning.

In the dead of night, all was quiet.

The servants and imperial guards responsible for keeping vigil were shivering in the cold wind. They huddled in a shack in the distance to warm themselves by the fire and had already fallen asleep early.

Inside the thatched shed where the coffin was kept, only a few ever-burning lamps flickered in the night wind.

"Crunch..."

A chilling soft sound came from the thin-skinned cypress coffin.

The coffin lid slowly rose up, creating a small crack!

Immediately afterwards, a hand with distinct knuckles and immense strength emerged from the gap and shoved sharply to the side.

"Bang."

The solid wood coffin lid, weighing over a hundred pounds, was lifted as easily as a sheet of paper by Gu Yannian's terrifying arm strength.

It slid diagonally to the ground without making a loud sound.

Gu Yannian sat up from the coffin.

He stretched out a long yawn, his bones making a popping sound like popping beans.

The stiffness caused by the past few days of rest was completely dispelled.

"This thin-skinned coffin is really uncomfortable to lie in; there's not even room to turn over."

Gu Yannian patted the burial clothes on his body and muttered to himself.

He nimbly leaped out of the coffin and dragged out several heavy sandbags from a hidden compartment at the bottom.

This was prepared in a secret room in his mansion by someone he had ordered years ago, and its weight was exactly the same as his body.

He neatly stacked the sandbags inside the coffin and even thoughtfully covered them with a thin quilt.

Then, he lifted the coffin lid with one hand and put it back on tightly.

With a flick of his fingertips, the iron nails were silently driven back into the wooden board under the pressure of his powerful internal force.

It was as if it had never been opened before.