Chapter 57: If Brother Biao Had Not Been Born, The Great Ming Would Be Eternal Night! Seeking Monthly Tickets
Hall of Supreme Harmony Square.
“Brothers!!”
Shen Lang was the first to jump out, his face filled with grief and indignation, but his voice carried a bizarre roar:
“Brother Biao, for us starving poor scholars! He’s shaken the heavens! He’s risked his life!”
He slapped his thigh hard, stumbling himself, “Can we be cowards?! Can we watch Brother Biao go to death generously?!”
“No—!”
Dozens of low-ranking Capital Officials roared in unison as if injected with chicken blood, their voices laced with tears and a reckless abandon.
The scene resembled not a petition, but a mob preparing to rush the market for discounted meat.
Soon, this commotion alerted the various people gathered around the square.
From under the distant corridors, passing low-ranking officials, clerks, and even the guards and eunuchs on duty, all stopped and craned their necks to observe.
“Hiss—”
A minor official in a blue official robe gasped and said to his companion in a low voice, “Are these people truly fearless? They just returned from the gates of hell and are now seeking death?”
“Hmph, making a spectacle of themselves, what kind of bearing is this?”
An older, stern-faced official beside him, flicked his sleeve and snorted coldly, his lips turned down in disdain, “The dignity of the court has been utterly disgraced by these soldiers—no, these things worse than soldiers! They are a disgrace to officials like us!”
Although his words represented many officials who considered themselves pure and upright, there were also a few similarly poorly-dressed clerks hiding behind pillars, watching the scene in the square with complex expressions.
One muttered, “Although they are foolish, they truly have courage! That record of blood and tears salary demands, I actually have a copy too.”
His voice was very low, carrying a hint of imperceptible resonance and shame.
However, the somber atmosphere that had just begun to brew was derailed by Shen Lang’s next action.
He then produced a dirty, tattered straw mat with frayed edges from goodness knows where.
“Plop!”
Without a word, Shen Lang directly spread the broken straw mat on the cold golden bricks of the square.
Then, under everyone’s dumbfounded gaze, he nimbly lay down on the straw mat.
Next, he performed another action that made everyone’s eyeballs nearly pop out.
He pulled up the edges of the straw mat and wrapped himself from head to toe, completely concealed.
From afar, he looked like a mummy that had just crawled out of a mass grave, ready to die at any moment.
“Pfft—”
A young guard in the distance couldn’t help but let out a laugh, then immediately covered his mouth tightly, his face turning red from holding it back, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably.
The older guard next to him gave him a fierce glare and hissed, “Do you want to die?! Be serious! We are trained, we cannot laugh no matter how funny it is!”
But his own mouth also began to twitch uncontrollably.
“Brothers—!”
“I, Shen Lang! Today, I will imitate the starved Old Censor Wang! And lie down here before the Hall of Supreme Harmony!”
“I want the Emperor to see! I want all the court officials to see! I want everyone in this glorious Great Ming to see!”
“How we officials! Have been forced to lie down before the Hall of Supreme Harmony and wait to die!”
“This straw mat! Is my shroud! This Hall of Supreme Harmony Square! Is my morgue!”
“Today! Either release my Brother Biao! Or, collect Shen Lang’s corpse!!”
Boom—!
This pose! It’s quite unique!
This declaration! Is incredibly shocking!
The other low-ranking Capital Officials were stunned at first, then erupted with even more fervent responses.
“Right! Lie down! All of you lie down for me!”
“What if we don’t have a straw mat?!”
“Stupid! Learn from Editor Li Mo!”
Editor Li Mo, that well-read Hanlin Academy pure stream scholar, had also completely given up all pretense at this moment.
He nimbly took off his outer official robe, which was also full of patches but was still somewhat presentable.
Then, imitating Shen Lang, he spread this refined outer robe on the ground and lay down rigidly.
“I, Li Mo! Hanlin Academy Editor! Am also lying down today! To hell with refinement! Save Brother Biao first, and fill our stomachs first!”
With a role model, others immediately followed suit.
Those without straw mats took off their official robes, and those whose official robes were too thin simply lay directly on the cold golden bricks.
In an instant, the Hall of Supreme Harmony Square was filled with a large number of ‘corpses’ lying haphazardly.
There was Shen Lang, wrapped like a zongzi; Li Mo, whose lips were purple from the cold but who still tried to maintain his elegant reclining posture; and others who simply lay sprawled, in a state of utter ruin.
This scene made the reactions of the onlookers even more spectacular, their eyes and jaws practically dropping to the ground.
“They’re mad! They’re all mad!”
That stern official’s beard trembled furiously as he stomped his feet repeatedly, “Dignity is trampled! Dignity is trampled! Ritual and music have collapsed! When a nation is about to fall, there must be monsters!”
Hearing this, several people who were clearly nobles, with their arms crossed, watched with mocking smiles, “Heh, this is much more interesting than the monkey shows under the overpass.”
“Who’s to say it isn’t!”
Another noble chimed in with a laugh, “Look, they’re lying down quite neatly!”
“Sigh!”
An official finally couldn’t help but sigh, patting his empty sachet, and looking at the figures lying on the cold ground, the previous casual amusement was gone from his eyes.
Instead, there was a trace of heaviness and a desolate sense of shared suffering.
A clerk prepared to quietly retreat back into the shadows, unable to bear watching any longer.
However, this was not the end.
Shen Lang, lying in his ‘body bag’, did not forget his duty, and roared muffledly at the crowd, “Let’s shout the slogans! To boost Brother Biao’s spirits!”
Dozens of ‘corpses’ instantly revived by half.
They struggled to raise their upper bodies, or simply lay on their backs and yelled at the top of their lungs, using all their might, emitting roars that could shake the entire Yingtian Prefecture:
“If Brother Biao had not been born, the Great Ming would have been in darkness for eternity—!”
“Give us back Brother Biao! Give us back pig’s head meat—!”
“Pay our unpaid salary! Otherwise, we will lie here and die—!”
These slogans! The first half was outright heresy, while the latter half was as common as street brawling for debt collection.
The huge contrast almost made the Imperial Guards guarding the palace gate drop their golden gourds.
Stimulating!
So damn stimulating!
Have these people truly gone mad?!
They looked at each other, trying to maintain serious expressions, but the sense of absurdity and shock in their eyes could not be hidden.
“Rebellion! Rebellion! Openly roaring at the palace prohibition! Slandering the sacred dynasty! Their hearts deserve to be punished! Their crime deserves the extermination of nine generations of a family!!”
In the distant corridor, the stern official who was initially disdainful had turned pale with anger, his finger trembling as he pointed at the square, “Quick! Quickly send someone to report to the Emperor!!”
Soon, the surroundings descended into an indescribable chaos.
Some were cursing loudly.
Some were in hysterics, unsure whether to laugh or cry.
And the clerk who had initially felt some resonance was now staring blankly, listening to the absurd yet sorrowful slogans, unconsciously murmuring, ‘pay our unpaid salary.’
He then suddenly came to his senses, looked around in panic, afraid of being overheard.
