The Seventy-fifth Session of the Conference Struggling for Dominance

  The queen's arrival interrupted the crowd's discussion and saved the king's frog face, who finally put down his regret and forced a smile to welcome the dazzling queen with everyone.

  To be honest, although it's said that my grandmother was stunningly beautiful, considering our family's bloodline has been relatively unsuccessful in passing down good looks, this aunt of mine can't be considered a beauty at all! Obviously she inherited too much of the Dragon family style - being straightforward, not just in personality but also in appearance, which is very masculine. So all along, she gave people an impression of being fierce and intimidating, even the king often yielded to her actions! But now, a pure white elegant necklace, a colorful and luxurious outfit, completely brought out her gentle feminine side, it was as if she had suddenly changed into a different person, completely erasing the previous strong impression, giving people a stunning feeling! Even I felt unbelievable! Waves of gasps, voices of admiration, kept bursting out in the crowd, the king's eyes were almost popping out!

  The queen walked in with the applause of the crowd, and from her bright red smiling face, it can be seen that her 'vanity' was greatly satisfied! I, a poor Taoist, came to this conclusion after observing coldly.

  Then amidst the thunderous applause of everyone, the king invited the queen to dance the first dance at the ball, thus bringing the atmosphere of the banquet to a climax!

  I didn't have time to accompany them, I just wanted to sit in a quiet corner and think about how to dispel the king's idea of competing with me for taxes. Unfortunately, I underestimated the trouble those gifts brought me, no matter where I hid, someone would always come to talk to me about buying jewelry and that feathered robe. The guys who can come here are not easy to get rid of, offending one or two is nothing, but offending a whole bunch is something even the Dragon Family can't afford! Under duress, I had no choice but to pretend to be enthusiastic, dragging things out, and then vaguely agreeing to prioritize supplying goods. I was busy until the king sent someone to find me, and still couldn't think of a good way to dispel the king's idea, so I just said I'd talk about it later.

  The eunuch led me to a secret single room, where the real powers of the kingdom were gathered. Except for the king and queen, there were only the heads of various families and the great demon master, Kara. Normally, I wouldn't have been qualified to participate! Now that I've been called here, it seems like it's related to me after all!

  "Your Majesties, the King and Queen! I bid you peace!" The poor monk bowed to them.

  "Good!" The king smiled: "First of all, thank you for everything you've done for the queen!"

  "Your humble servant is terrified! It's all deserved!" I said with a bow

  "Heh heh!" The king nodded in satisfaction and said: "I called you here because there's something related to you, so I want to hear your opinion!"

  "Oh! What's this got to do with me, a small baron?"

  "The Left Prime Minister proposed that I restore the tax collection on your territory! What's your take on this?" The king deliberately emphasized the word "take", meaning to make me understand and cooperate with his intention voluntarily.

  How infuriating! I, the poor monk, am seething with rage in my heart! This deadbeat had me exiled to such a distant place and made me suffer so much. Just when I finally managed to get back on my feet, he still has the nerve to show up at my doorstep to collect taxes! Although I couldn't openly defy the king, it's perfectly fine to cause trouble for the Stone family, isn't it? After all, we've already burned our bridges, and I'm not afraid of being scalded by boiling water as a dead pig! With determination, I loudly declared: "Your Majesty! Shiroyama Kuma no Ni, as the Left Minister, is not considering the welfare of the people, nor is he contributing to the country. Instead, he's spouting nonsense and confusing Your Majesty, clearly trying to frame you as a deceitful ruler. This kind of person with ulterior motives should be immediately put to death by lingchi to demonstrate loyalty!"

  It was originally a very serious topic, unfortunately I forgot my age and said such a thing from my mouth without any serious meaning, everyone burst out laughing!

  "Haha! Still 'lingering death, in order to respect the extraordinary', this little guy is quite ruthless!" The king's words triggered an even more intense burst of laughter.

  I'm extremely depressed! But fortunately, there's someone even more depressed than me - Ishihara Kuma II. With an identity like that in such a solemn occasion, being teased by a kid of a few years old is just unbearable. My heart can't take it anymore, and I still have to put on a smile for everyone. Just looking at his smile, which looks even more painful than crying, I know he's already dying inside!

  Everyone laughed for a while before stopping. Then the king glanced at Ishihara, who clearly didn't want to give up like this but couldn't say it outright either, so he could only call out to Ishihara instead.

  "Ahem!" Ishihara Kuma spoke with great reluctance, "Your Majesty agreed at the time, but after all, it was a sudden decision, and there are some things to consider... Oh! It's not very... Oh! Thorough!"

  He had not finished speaking, when I interrupted him: "Do you dare to say that His Majesty's thoughts are not thorough? Are your thoughts more thorough than His Majesty's? Is His Majesty inferior to you?"

  "Of course not! Just, oh~!" He was so scared that he couldn't say the whole sentence with my big hat on him! Saying 'Your Majesty is no better than him' was something he dared not admit under any circumstances!

  "Ahem!" The king, seeing Shi Yuan had fallen into a disadvantage, hastened to relieve him by saying: "At that time! I indeed didn't consider it too much! After all, the precedent of granting permanent tax exemption to vassals has never been set before. How could I have broken the rules of my ancestors? Now thinking about it, there are some things that aren't right!"

  "Ah! Now I know the ancestral rules! When you exiled me, why didn't I think of it? I hurriedly said: 'Your Majesty! Which rule says that you are not allowed to be exempt from taxes?'"

  "This!" The king was stunned.

  "Wow! Look at you two, one is a prime minister and the other is a king, adding up to 100 years old, yet still arguing like a few-year-old kid!"

  Sweat! Only my fierce Queen Aunt could scold them like that. She immediately smiled at me and said, "Let me say it! Little Wu, you see, back then your fief was too poor, so we exempted you from taxes. Now that you're rich, you should pay a bit, or others with fiefs will gossip. What do you think?"

  I finally understand why they say it's hard to raise women and little people. She just accepted a million-dollar gift from me, and there are two even more valuable young beasts in front of her, but now she won't even speak up for me! Unbelievable! The tiger isn't showing its might, but it's treating me like a sick cat!

  The poor Tao straightened his waist, put his hands behind his back, and glared at the Queen loudly: "How come when I was exiled to a desolate land thousands of miles away during the cold winter, no one had anything to say?"

  "This!" She didn't expect me to be so blunt, her face turned red and she lowered her head in silence.

  Then I said to the king, "When Your Majesty granted me the fief, the taxes from that place were not even enough to cover the kingdom's expenses there. So when you said 'tax exemption', you also told me to take care of all the expenses there myself. There were many people present at the time, and the Left Prime Minister was also there!" I turned my head and glared at Ishihara Kōji, continuing, "Why didn't you say anything then?"

  After a pause, I continued: "You've passed the burden of accompanying money to me, so you naturally have nothing to say. Now it's become a gold vault for collecting money, and all your nonsense has arrived, right? Don't even think about it!" The last four words were shouted out by me.

  "Long Qingtian! This is not a place for you to be so arrogant!" Ishihara said angrily.

  "Kuma Nishihara! This is not a place for you to be reckless!" The poor Taoist's words were sharp and opposing, I'm not afraid of anyone now, with my grandmother as a backing, even if it's the king who wants to openly turn against me, he'll have to consider the reaction of the Dragon family!

  "You...!" Ishihara's face turned red, but he couldn't do anything to me, so he turned his head to the king and said: "Your Majesty! He dares to be so presumptuous towards you, his title should be taken away immediately, and his fiefdom confiscated!"

  The king was so angry that his face turned red. He now hated me so much that he wanted to eat me, but he had scruples and didn't dare do anything to me. The situation remained stalemate like this.

  "Clear sky, I apologize to Your Majesty!" Father spoke up! His tone was not severe, but very cold.

  "I'm sorry, Your Majesty! I was too impulsive!" The poor Taoist could only say with a hint of grievance.

  "Come on! You're still young!" The queen said with a smile, then pulled at the king's clothes.

  "Haha! No big deal!" The king reacted quickly. "However, considering your mistake this time, I will definitely revoke your tax exemption rights as punishment. Tomorrow, I will dispatch a tax officer to you, and you can follow him back too!"

  Wow! Give him some sunshine and he's really radiant! I'm so angry! He casually paid his respects and left, but before leaving the door, he threw out a sentence from between his teeth: "I wish your tax officer a safe journey!"