Chapter 66: Fame and Merit (First Update, Seeking Collection)

  Imperial Palace, Longde Hall.

  Emperor Yi stroked the slightly rough paper, his face full of wonder, nodding repeatedly, overjoyed. Beside him, Wen Zhong, Shang Rong, Bi Gan and other high-ranking officials also held a similar square paper in their hands, caressing it, with smiles filling their faces, like a chrysanthemum blooming.

  Shen Gong Bao stood by with a smile on his face, watching the crowd's uncontrollable astonishment with great delight in his heart.

  After a long time, Emperor Yi's slightly trembling voice said: "Daozhang is indeed a divine person, such a shocking work, it should be passed down for centuries!"

  Wen Zhong and others also nodded in admiration, although they had already learned from Emperor Yi that Sheng Gong Bao might make such a move, but when it was really placed in front of them, they couldn't help but exclaim.

  Before this, apart from bamboo slips, there was another thing that people could use for writing, which was silk. However, the cost of producing silk was too high, and ordinary people were unable to afford it.

  The paper made by Shengong Bao is different, and the materials used are only ordinary wood or even grass stalks in the fields, so the source of raw materials can be very extensive.

  They both tried writing on paper and felt it was much better than writing on bamboo slips.

  Everyone present was a wise and knowledgeable person, they could instantly imagine the huge impact that would be produced when paper could meet the needs of all merchants and citizens. That is, the cumbersome bamboo slips would be completely replaced, and scholars would be overjoyed.

  The most excited one in the field was Huang Feibao, who had been stationed in the forest for several months. Although he didn't know what was going on in the forest before, now he knew thoroughly. When he first saw the paper and knew that his guarding of the forest was to study this masterpiece, he felt extremely grateful to his brother. Although he did not participate in this specific action personally, being able to guard the birth of this extraordinary work was also a great joy in life.

  "Good! As expected, the Taoist priest has made a great contribution to the wealthy merchant. With this paper, local officials can rest assured that their annual records will be safe and sound, no longer worrying about losing what they've recorded due to bookworms eating away at bamboo slips. And I won't have to face a mountain of memorials every day either... Hahaha..."

  Emperor Yi burst out laughing and said, "Since being thoroughly treated by Shengong Bao, he felt that his body had improved significantly, with more vitality than before. At this time, hearing such exciting news, he couldn't help but laugh out loud."

  The rest of the ministers all bowed their heads and congratulated him, saying: "Congratulations to Your Majesty, this is a blessing for the great merchants!"

  Emperor Yi nodded and said to Shengong Bao: "I don't know what you want this time, I will definitely satisfy the Taoist priest!"

  Shen Gong Bao bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, I won't speak falsely. There is indeed something on my mind that I wish to request of you. However, it's not yet fully formed in my thoughts. May I be allowed to return and deliberate carefully before presenting my request to Your Majesty?"

  "Alright!" Emperor Yi immediately agreed, he deeply knew that Shengong Bao was a cultivator who didn't care about worldly fame and wealth, so he let him think it over carefully before speaking again.

  "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

  The city of Chao Ge was in an uproar, a very familiar name once again resounded in everyone's ears. Shen Gong Bao, the Taoist priest who had entered the palace as a royal physician, finally broke his silence and did something earth-shattering - he invented paper, completely replacing bamboo slips and silk.

  The students cheered, the elegance of the past was gone, they walked onto the streets, hugging each other, congratulating and cheering, venting their excitement, but more so expressing their admiration for Shen Gongbao. Meanwhile, countless couplets poured onto the streets, sung by children, praising only one person - Shen Gongbao!

  Not long after the shock of Chao Ge City, with the news radiating out, the entire Da Shang was shocked. The four great marquises and eight hundred small marquises of Da Shang simultaneously sent congratulatory messages to Emperor Yi, while tactfully inquiring whether Emperor Yi could transmit the paper-making technique within their territories.

  Among these vassals, not all were peaceful people. However, with the occurrence of this matter, they all calmed down and did not dare to make any more trouble at this time. Emperor Yi and his ministers severely punished those marginal vassals who were eager to move, obtained great benefits, and only then agreed to allow paper to flow into their territories.

  These vassals are also helpless, the role of paper is too great, those literati just love to indulge in it, if they hadn't introduced it, their own ambition might not have burst forth, and the literati from their own territory would have been the first to rebel against them.

  As for these political affairs, Shen Gongbiao was too lazy to care about them. At this time, he was lying in his own mansion, opening his divine eyes and looking at his constantly increasing merits. He laughed so hard that he almost fainted, the chrysanthemum-like smile on his face still hadn't faded away, it was quite sly.

  When the people of Dachang thanked Shengong Bao, Shengong Bao gained great merit, and as the wishes of the people increased, his merit also continued to increase.

  However, Shen Gongbao also found that his karma had increased. After thinking for a moment, he suddenly realized that every earth-shattering invention would affect the interests of some people. This time, the biggest impact was on those bamboo slip manufacturers. Therefore, it was only natural that Shen Gongbao's karma increased, fortunately, these karma were much smaller compared to his merits.

  After several days, Shen Gong Bao finally realized that the speed of his merit increase had slowed down and eventually stopped increasing. After all, the merit of one thing is also limited and cannot be increased indefinitely.

  On this day, Sheng Gong Bao was humming a tune in the mansion, admiring the flowers and eating fruit when suddenly a servant reported: "Sir, Miss Shang has arrived!"

  "Oh! Just let her in then, from now on Miss Shang doesn't need to report when she comes here, just let her pass directly!"

  "Yes!" Then he left.

  Soon, a beautiful woman in a purple dress came floating over. Her face, without any makeup, was still as white as snow, and the skin on her neck was like ice and snow, extremely white and beautiful.

  Her lovely face had a pair of big, starry eyes, with long eyelashes that couldn't conceal the joy in her eyes. All she saw was her tenderly calling out: "Shen Daozhang, you're really carefree and at ease!"

  "Haha, Miss Shang, I don't have anything to do again, of course I'm free. You're the same, always running around looking for me!"

  The merchant's purple clothes and rosy face were a sight to behold, she gave Shengong Bao a shy glance before sitting down on the stool next to him, saying: "Shen Daozhang is now famous throughout the land, I'm afraid that as soon as you step out, you'll be chased by countless people!"

  Shen Gong Bao tossed a dried fruit into his mouth and muttered, "In that case, I dare not go out even more! Hehe..."

  Shang Ziyi gazed at Shen Gongbao, her beautiful eyes revealing a thread of admiration, and said: "Daozhang, you are indeed formidable, this humble woman is full of admiration for you!"

  Shen Gong Bao smiled slyly and said, "Miss Shang is overpraising me, I just have a little ability!" Although he said so, but looking at his sly smile, it can be known that he was proud in his heart. This guy is shameless, not feeling any shame for his plagiarism at all.

  "This guy thought to himself: 'Is this considered plagiarism? It seems like the era of great commerce is still far away from the Eastern Han, and I'm the one who 'invented' it first, at most it can be called 'taking', not 'stealing'!'"

  Shang Ziyi naturally didn't know that Shen Gongbao's memories had merged with the souls of later generations, so in Shang Ziyi's eyes, Shen Gongbao's appearance was no longer important, it was just a shell, the key was what was inside! From this matter, Shang Ziyi felt that Shen Gongbao was an extremely talented person.

  Shen Gong Bao, although he looks very wretched, has maintained the appearance of a twenty-year-old after many years of cultivating Taoism. Shang Ziyi is now at the age of marriage and is in her prime youth, and she is the kind of noble lady who truly cares about inner beauty. Shen Gong Bao's current actions have made her heart secretly hidden.

  These days, Shang Ziyi has been running to Shen Gongbao's mansion whenever he has time. At first, Shen Gongbao was very surprised, but after seeing him many times, he became calm and collected. The only thing that puzzles him is what this old fox Shang Rong is thinking, could it be true that he wants his own daughter to marry him?

  Shen Gongbao naturally saw the emotions in Shang Ziyun's eyes, but there were still a lot of troubles at home and he didn't dare to provoke Shang Ziyun again. He wanted to treat her as his sister, but unfortunately, Shang Ziyun seemed to ignore Shen Gongbao's attempts to create distance between them and continued to get close to him. After several attempts, Shen Gongbao finally gave up and realized that beneath Shang Ziyun's weak appearance was a heart that dared to love and hate.

  However, Shen Gongbao still treated Shang Ziyi as a friend and did not overstep his bounds. There were many things that needed to be taken care of, but it was not the right time to deal with these romantic entanglements.

  (Cough, cough... The heroine will only choose between the two people investigated by Qingfeng, so you guys understand! Hehe. Today I've decided to update four chapters, wow... Everyone please give me your support, collect and recommend votes are all welcome!)