Sir, take me to rebel (10): 

The eldest brother impatiently lowered his head to glance, then his whole body stiffened.

His eyes stared fixedly at that pile of mirrors, his expression blank, his mind filled with visions of a glorious future, leading his family to the peak of life.

He walked over to the stall owner, who looked displeased, and said: “This gla… these things, how much are they? I’ll take them all.”

To think that such treasures were casually placed next to those ceramic jars—truly a bunch of shortsighted fools.

No wonder they lived in Liang Province, their lives so miserable. It was all because they were too stupid.

That worked in his favor though…

The stall owner frowned and said: “All of them? Do you even know how much this costs? Shan, yu, bing, xi.”

He stared at the clothes on the eldest brother and his companions: “You can’t even afford a cotton coat, and you want to buy mirrors?”

The eldest brother suddenly felt insulted by these lowly folk, but endured the humiliation and said: “Of course I have money. Hurry, tell me, how much?”

The stall owner lowered his head, counted the mirrors, and said: “Altogether eighteen mirrors. One mirror for fifteen coins, so in total it’s…”

He paused for two seconds, then said: “Two hundred and seventy coins.”

The only brothers present who knew arithmetic froze for a moment.

The younger brother counted on his fingers, then after a long while said with amazement: “It really is two hundred and seventy coins!!”

The eldest brother looked at the elderly stall owner with a complicated expression and said: “Your arithmetic is indeed not bad.”

The stall owner replied casually: “Oh, it’s nothing. Even little kids know this.”

That winter the officials had taught them a lot of knowledge for free. With nothing else to do at home, they learned quite a bit alongside their children.

The eldest brother was at a loss for words: “…………”

That strange sense of dislocation grew stronger in his heart. The young man didn’t dare waste time. Without asking anything further, he carefully wrapped the mirrors with cloth, then threw enough coins at the stall owner.

The stall owner, not minding their rough manner, counted the coins and then eagerly promoted more goods: “Since you’re so interested in mirrors, why not see if you like these?”

The eldest brother only wanted to leave quickly and return to the capital, so he turned away in silence.

But the younger brother, curious about everything, ran over, looked, and picked something up: “Uncle, what’s this?”

“That’s an arithmetic card,” the old man said kindly, knowing these people hadn’t even learned basic math. “With this, calculations become easy.”

The eldest brother, ready to leave, paused mid-step.

He had witnessed the old man’s arithmetic skill himself—it was impressive.

If it was really as he said, it wouldn’t hurt to take a look.

His gaze fell on the small cards in his brother’s hand. His eyes glazed, and he quickly snatched them away.

The younger brother, repeatedly robbed: “…………”

Ignoring his brother’s feelings, the eldest brother touched the smooth surface of the card, felt its thickness, and studied the neatly printed characters. The writing was clear, uniform in size, and identical page after page.

He looked at the card’s size, the neatly cut, smooth edges that didn’t cut the hand—the more he looked, the more extraordinary it seemed. He couldn’t help but complain: “Such fine paper, and you waste it cutting into pieces this small, what a crime against good material!”

The old man didn’t understand the refined phrase, looking puzzled but simply explained: “Cutting it small makes it easier to memorize.”

Only then did the eldest brother look at the card’s contents. On it were neat lines such as “seven times seven is forty-nine, nine times nine is eighty-one.”

So…

The reason the old man had so quickly calculated eighteen times fifteen earlier—was it thanks to these cards?

By organizing such formulas into chants to memorize, one could calculate mentally without even using an abacus…

Born into a merchant family, the young man immediately saw the profit behind these little cards. The paper, the font, and the knowledge they contained were enough to fetch a high price in any wealthy household.

“How much are these? I’ll buy them all.”

The old man widened his eyes in surprise. Never did he expect these fellows, who couldn’t even afford cotton, to be so generous. He said: “Three coins each. Wait, I’ll count how many there are.”

The eldest brother endured his impatience and waited. While waiting, he began to observe the other items on the stall. What he saw almost made him choke on his own saliva, face turning red as he asked: “What is this?”

The old man glanced back and said casually: “Oh, that’s a glass cup.”

The eldest brother’s breathing grew rapid, his neck flushing red: “Glass? Isn’t this crystal?”

“Crystal? That’s very expensive, isn’t it? No, no, this is just glass,” the old man explained seriously.

The eldest brother felt a bit disappointed, but then realized this so-called glass was even clearer and brighter than priceless crystal, flawless and without impurities.

Except for being so cheap it was casually sold at a roadside stall, it had no drawbacks.

He swallowed and said words that no longer surprised the old man: “How many glass cups do you have? I’ll take them all.”

The old man nodded readily: “No problem!”

The onlookers, who had thought it was a robbery, now watched with curiosity.

“They don’t look poor. Why did it seem like they were about to steal?”

“Must be refugees… but how can refugees have so much money?”

“Why buy so many mirrors and cups? Do they really need them?”

A little boy who had been following finally couldn’t hold back: “Why do you keep saying we’re refugees?”

This had already been said several times!

The crowd looked at one another, then said: “Because you’re wearing hemp clothes.”

“Wearing that now means you must be refugees from outside.”

The boy suddenly felt ashamed and protested: “My cloth is soft—it’s very good clothing!”

As a merchant’s son, he had known about fabric quality since young. Except for luxury materials like silk and satin that couldn’t be worn casually, he was already wearing the finest grade available.

Rather than say his clothes were poor, it would be more accurate to say these people’s clothes were too good!

Their garments looked light, soft, not cumbersome, and the dyeing was exquisite—so many colors, all vibrant and bright. Even in the capital, such craftsmanship would be considered top-quality!

Not to mention, there were valuable crystal mirrors and glass cups being sold casually at street stalls…

Was this really the famine-stricken, barren province of rumors? Were they really the ones sacrificed and abandoned, and not the people in the capital?

It was said that the emperor and ministers lavished praise on the crystal mirrors, and even the emperor considered it an honor to use one. Yet here, any random old man sold mirrors for a few coins each…

The boy found it more and more absurd. He pinched his own cheek hard—it hurt. So he wasn’t dreaming.

If not a dream, then what was this?

The bystanders looked at the group, puzzled. Their clothes weren’t great, but their bodies were strong and sturdy. Curiosity grew:

“Where exactly did you come from?”

The eldest brother hesitated, but the child blurted out: “We’re from the northern city, right below the capital! We’re people of the capital!”

The crowd erupted.

People from the capital! The legendary capital!

Another child, equally blunt, said: “But you’re wearing hemp clothes. Mother said hemp is for wiping tables, not even fit for bedding.”

The boy instantly flushed red, stammering: “Of course there are better clothes, I just didn’t wear them!”

The crowd nodded knowingly:

“I thought so.”

“People from the capital can’t be dressed worse than us.”

“They must wear silk and satin like the officials.”

The eldest brother was already realizing something was wrong.

At first, crystal mirrors had been brought from Liang Province by a tax official as tribute to the emperor, so finding them here again made sense, though a little too much sense.

Now they were so cheap, everyone had one.

And it was said Liang Province had been abandoned by the emperor due to constant disasters, left to die without even relief aid.

Everyone thought the people there would starve to death, but instead they were thriving—producing crystal mirrors, glass cups, solving food shortages, even finding better, cheaper cloth than hemp.

Even the emperor didn’t know about this. Otherwise, how could he treasure a mirror so dearly? Why would officials write so many articles praising it?

If they learned that ordinary people could buy such things on the roadside, they would die of shame.

The young man suddenly felt he had uncovered a great secret, one that could shake the empire’s balance with Liang Province.

The court would never let such profitable things remain in commoners’ hands. They would become property of the nobility. The lowborn had no right to touch them—even if they had created them in the first place.

Realizing this, he felt he was in a brilliant position.

On one hand, he could buy treasures cheaply and sell them in the capital for fortune. On the other, he could deliver this news to court and earn great merit.

His face lit up with joy as he asked the old man: “What other good things do you have here?”

The old man looked confused: “Good things? Nothing good, it’s just a stall.”

The young man: “……”

The old man added: “But you, coming from the capital, must have many treasures with you. That’s wonderful!”

The crowd, hearing this, looked envious.

The younger brother, not understanding, puffed his chest proudly and said in a loud, crisp voice: “Of course, we brought many treasures from the capital! We came to trade!”

The Liang Province folk gasped: “A caravan from the capital!”

“There must be so many things we’ve never even imagined…”

The boy grew even more smug, declaring proudly: “If you want to buy, it’s possible! But the prices are high—you’ll need to be ready!”

The crowd asked timidly: “How high? Several taels of silver?”

“Of course!” the boy said. “These are things only the nobles of the capital can use!”

At that, the people didn’t even dare ask to see anymore.

They didn’t notice that while they chatted with the boy, the young man beside him was staring at the stall’s goods with an expression that said: compared to these, even the possessions of the capital’s nobles seemed crude.

If they truly tried to sell their wares for several taels of silver, the people of the capital would lose face entirely.

The attendants who had come along shared the same expression as the young man.

Everyone’s cheeks burned with shame, wishing they could shut the proud little boy’s mouth that kept running on. The young man, after taking the goods from the old man, dragged the child back toward the carriage.

“Brother, are we going to sell our things too? Should we set up a stall? Or rent a shop?” The boy, carried away by all the flattery, spoke in an especially cheerful tone.

The young man smacked the child on the head in anger. “Rent a shop for what? The things we brought, no one would take them even if we gave them away for free!”

The child was stunned. “Huh? But didn’t you say—”

“Enough!” The young man’s face burned with shame at his own earlier arrogance, and he could hardly speak.

He had actually thought that people here would gladly sell themselves as slaves, or even their bodies, in exchange for a mere piece of bread… this, this…

Covering his face with one hand, the young man struggled for a long time to compose himself.

A servant nearby asked, “Young master, where should we put our things? The carriage is already full.”

“Throw away what we brought. Toss it far so no one sees.” the young man ordered.

“And the things you bought this time?”

“Just load them on the cart.”

“But these are glass mirrors…”

“Enough. In the capital they’re worth a fortune, but here? Who would bother stealing them? They’re scattered all over street stalls.” The more he spoke, the hotter his face grew with humiliation. What kind of mess was this!

“Just have two men stand guard by the cart.” he added.

“Yes, young master.”

The little boy stared wide-eyed at his brother in disbelief.

The young man cleared his throat and said to him, “Enough. Your brother was deceived. Only after coming here did I realize what this place is truly like.”

The boy pressed on, “What do you mean, truly like? Are we really poorer than these people in the middle of nowhere?”

The young man hesitated awkwardly. “Well… I don’t really know.”

To call themselves poor… they were, since not even the empress or imperial consorts could afford glass mirrors.

But to say they weren’t poor… that was also true. They could casually pull out hundreds or even thousands of taels of silver, something the people of Liang Province could never do.

“This place is really strange…” the young man muttered.

It seemed he had to find someone to ask and understand things clearly.

…

“A trade caravan from the capital has arrived.”

The governor received the report and quickly went to find the master of ceremonies.

“A caravan?” The master of ceremonies raised an eyebrow. “What did they come here for?”

“They came and bought a pile of goods, but didn’t sell a single thing of their own.” The governor’s expression was a mix of loathing and smugness. “When disaster struck, we begged them for help, but they wouldn’t part with a single coin. Now that they see benefits, they spend money more recklessly than anyone else.”

The master of ceremonies was silent for a while, then said, “The news couldn’t have spread that fast. If they were real merchants, they wouldn’t have come so quickly.”

Only after the autumn harvest did things like glass start entering the market, followed by the harsh winter. No one would deliberately travel to the capital in that season; there was no food or water on the roads, while in the city there was work to do and food to eat.

Elsewhere, spies might be needed to pass along news, but in a forsaken land like Liang Province, no one cared to bother.

The governor froze. He remembered that it had been at least ten years since any caravan had come from the capital.

In recent years, the taxes had become so unbearable that the court surely knew how dire things were here. With the people starving, who would buy fine goods from the capital? Merchants would never risk being robbed for such slim profits—life itself was too hard to hold on to.

So these so-called merchants weren’t here to buy goods, but rather… to buy people.

They hadn’t offered help when salvation was possible. They had waited until everyone was on the brink of ruin before swooping in to push them further into despair, offering a so-called way out…

The governor’s eyes turned red with rage. “Beasts, beasts!”

The master of ceremonies rose, poured him a cup of tea, and set it before him. “Calm yourself, my lord.”

The governor grabbed the bowl, gulped a few mouthfuls, and swallowed his fury. “You just said they came so quickly…”

“The autumn court’s fortune still lingers. Perhaps it wanted to remind the court sooner that there are treasures here, so the caravan discovered them so quickly,” the master of ceremonies said coolly. “Otherwise, it would have taken months for these goods to trickle to the capital.”

The governor’s face twisted. “Autumn court’s fortune… If fortune truly wished the people well, it should have shielded us from that dog emperor forever!”

“Fortune is a blade. It can save lives, or it can take them. It all depends on the one who wields it.” The master of ceremonies’ tone was steady. “More talk is useless. If we wish to grow, sooner or later we’ll clash with the Autumn Court. Best to prepare early.”

The governor exhaled deeply, calming down. “Then what do we do about these merchants?”

The master of ceremonies said calmly, “Better to guide than to block. Since we can’t stop the news from leaking, we might as well reveal it openly.”

…

In the height of spring, a new shop quietly opened on a bustling avenue in the capital.

Not long after, young masters and ladies out enjoying the sights were caught by the sudden glimmer of light from inside. Looking closely, they saw a small crystal-clear cup on the shelf, casting rainbow colors under the sun. Their steps carried them inside almost against their will.

Within half an hour, the stream of passersby noticed the crowded shop and were stunned that even the worldly nobles of the capital were so taken with whatever it was selling.

Soon after, a minister’s son, having managed to purchase a glass cup, couldn’t stop stroking its cool surface. “I must present this treasure to my father!” he declared.

Another wealthy lady emerged from the crowd, clutching a silver-wrapped hand mirror, gazing at her reflection in infatuation, her fingers brushing her cheek.

Her maid sighed with envy. “Madam, that is a treasure only His Majesty could use!”

“Congratulations, madam!”

The lady, pleased but thoughtful, sighed. “Such a treasure—I cannot keep it. Best to prepare it carefully and gift it to the imperial concubine. She will surely love it.”

The maids chimed in, “A wise decision, madam. The concubine will certainly be delighted with your gift.”

Those nearby were shocked.

If even a minister’s household and an imperial concubine coveted such items, how many treasures must this shop hold!

It wasn’t long before news of the shop spread through the capital.

Treasures once praised by countless officials and even the emperor himself could now be found in a modest little store.

And not only glass mirrors—there were countless other wonders, as beautiful and enchanting as, or even surpassing, them.

A minister reported this to court, describing the shop as though it were a palace from the heavens. The emperor, intrigued, ordered the owner to bring the treasures into the palace. Everyone envied the shopkeeper’s good fortune.

Of course, a few instead secretly envied the emperor.

Only the most powerful man under heaven could truly enjoy such treasures.

Whereas they, to buy anything, had to face limits, compete with others, and even if successful, still couldn’t keep them—forced instead to offer them up.

In the palace hall, the emperor and ministers beheld row after row of treasures laid carefully on tables covered with soft blankets.

Even an emperor used to countless wonders was dazzled.

The young man who had once stood at a street stall now stood obediently at the side, his heart pounding wildly, waiting for the emperor’s questions.

No one knew that these treasures, now revered as priceless, had recently been sold casually by peasants at roadside stalls, worth only a few copper coins.

The young man kept his head bowed, but from the corner of his eye saw the intoxicated expressions of the powerful ministers, endlessly praising the treasures and declaring that only such things were worthy of their noble emperor. He certainly didn’t dare reveal the truth.

The emperor stepped forward and picked up a glass cup.

Its surface was smooth and delicate, its feel exquisite, as if crafted from the finest porcelain—but clearer and purer than porcelain itself. One could easily imagine pouring fine wine into it, watching it glow in candlelight, breathtakingly beautiful.

Setting the cup down gently, the emperor reached for a stack of papers.

The sheets were smoother and whiter than any existing paper, firm yet thin, without the lingering scent of grass or wood. Running his fingers over the surface felt like stroking silk—finer than the best paper in the palace.

And these sheets had been used to make books—multiplication chants, beginner literacy lessons, everyday knowledge for life…

Never before had the Autumn Court possessed such simple, easy-to-understand texts. Students always memorized classics like the Three Character Classic or the Thousand Character Essay, never learning from one to ten. No one would waste expensive paper to draw simple illustrations reminding people to wash hands before meals or boil water before drinking.

What’s more, the writing on the pages looked as though measured with a ruler, perfectly uniform in size and spacing. On different pages, the same character looked exactly the same, down to the smallest detail. Could a human hand truly produce this?

The emperor was more and more astonished.

He asked the young man, “Where did you obtain these things?”

The young man carefully lifted his head, and by chance glimpsed the emperor’s face—he froze.

The emperor who had ruled for over twenty years looked extraordinarily young and handsome, without a trace of age.

His tall, strong frame, his imposing aura, his godlike features inspired instinctive awe. Only his eyes, shadowed with decay, gloom, and a hidden cruelty, seemed out of place.

A chill ran through the youth’s body. He dared not look again and quickly bowed. “Replying to Your Majesty, this commoner discovered and brought back these treasures from Liang Province…”