The first one weeps, I am truly poor

After about half an hour, everyone entered a dilapidated building inside the courtyard.

"Is this the home of Lion?"

"Is it too rundown?"

"Could a person really live here?"

...

Everyone was horrified.

Even the Empress was greatly shocked, looking at Lion in disbelief: "Lion, is this really your home?"

Lion nodded lightly and said calmly: "Yes, your Majesty! To tell the truth, this is my temporary rented office!"

"Since you've rented a room, why not choose something better?" asked an official who couldn't help himself.

"Sir, do you not worry about the cost of living?" Lion felt extremely frustrated. "I also wanted to rent something better, but my financial situation doesn't allow it! This is the capital city, under the feet of the Emperor, and every inch of land is precious! Buying a house is expensive, and even renting a room is not cheap! You know, to rent this room, how much money do I have to spend every month?"

Lion raised one finger. "Ten taels of silver! I have to spend 10 taels of silver every month to live here! That's 120 taels of silver a year! I was born into an ordinary family, where can I find that much money? But because of the exam, because of the need to prepare for the background check, I can only bear the pain of spending such a large amount of money!"

"If I spend this much money later, I'll become a pauper, and on the road to poverty there are so many others who have fallen, but I can only compare and make do! Usually, I eat less, wear less, and dare not move too much, for fear of hunger!"

The Empress shook her head and sighed: "Lion, I never realized how hard your life was before!"

"That's right, I was too hard before, mainly because of poverty!"

"I am really too poor! I have no parents, no siblings, no relatives, no friends to rely on, everything depends on myself!" Lion reminisced about the past: "I remember one year ago, I was hiding under the bed when a thief came to my house! At that time, I didn't even dare to breathe loudly, I was so scared that I ran away from him! You know, at that time, what was I thinking?"

"What were you thinking?" The Empress inquired.

"At that time, I hoped that he could find only a little money!" Lion covered his face.

The Empress, indifferent: "Hmm!"

"In the end, he couldn't find anything and ran away crying! On holidays, he even had two bags of rice to throw at me!"

The Empress, indifferent: "Hmm!"

Lion was moved to tears, quietly wiping away a tear: "I relied on stealing to survive for more than a year, four seasons, 365 days! It was he who made me feel that there is love and kindness in the world!"

"Is it really that tragic?" A government official couldn't help but say: "I remember having a position and receiving allowances from the court! Mr Lion, you have won the royal contest prize, according to reason, you shouldn't have had to suffer so much!"

"Very true, court allowances are very generous, and there is no need to endure such hardship!"

"To be honest, I don't really believe it!"

…

"You only know one thing but not the other!"

Lion said sadly, "The main issue is that I rose too quickly! I achieved three contests within three years, before even receiving the imperial allowance, and then became a disgraced official! If I had taken the exam a little later, it wouldn't have been so tragic!"

Officials: "Cough cough..."

They glared at him angrily!

This guy is definitely pretending!

What's wrong with achieving three contests so quickly?

How many bookworms dream of such a thing?

Why are you ashamed of being fast?

Could it be like this?

The Empress smiled softly.

She found that Lion was becoming more and more meaningful!

He cried so miserably and made such a fuss, yet he was so elegant and refined!

Every time he said something like this, it was reasonable and made sense, which made her so angry that she wanted to hit him!

"So, Lion, is your boundless greed the reason for all this?" Old Holland taunted him. "You didn't suffer enough before becoming an official, and now you're risking your life for greed, trying to compensate for your past losses?"

"Mr Holland, I don't want to exchange white for black! I read the book of Confucius, and what I can do is the ceremony of the Saints! You speak in such a way, I accuse you of mocking me!" Lion sneered.

"Is that so? We'll see about that!" Holland pushed open the door and shouted, "Search for me! Search meticulously and seriously, not even a blade of grass should be allowed to fall!"

"Yes, sir!" A group of officials rushed in.

"Sir, there's nothing in the living room!"

"Sir, the owner's room has nothing!"

"Sir, the rented room has nothing!"

"Sir, the kitchen has nothing!"

...

Finally, all the investigators stood together in front of them, indicating that they had found nothing.

Holland was stunned, and all the officials were stunned.

Holland quickly shouted, "How is it possible that there's nothing? It's impossible!"

Lion was pleased with himself, "Is there anything else to find? Look at my house, it's just four walls, nothing can be missed. Even if I wanted to steal something, I wouldn't have anything to steal! Any objects can be seen at a glance!"

Beforehand, he had distributed his wealth to consider the consequences.

As long as they couldn't find anything, it would be difficult to accuse him.

"It's impossible that there's nothing... Speak up! Did you leave early?" Holland asked agitatedly.

Lion raised his hands, "Can I move somewhere else? I'm so poor that I can only ask for food!"

At this moment, Lion's eyes couldn't help but glance at one side.

Holland caught this glance.

He followed Lion's gaze and saw a big tree that seemed to be penetrating the ground, a little damp.

Holland laughed heartily and said, "Haha! I knew it, Lion, you must have hidden the treasure under this big tree!"

Lion immediately shook his head and said, "No! That's absolutely not true!"

"How can it not be true? I just saw it!" Holland walked over to the big tree and stepped on the freshly dug soil, saying triumphantly, "Look at this muddy soil, it was just recently disturbed! Therefore, you must have hidden the treasure here, am I right?"

Everyone's eyes gathered on the spot where the soil had been recently dug.

At this point, Lion's house had been searched once, but nothing was found. So where did he hide the eight treasures?

Lion was a little panicked and said, "Mr Holland, it's definitely not true, don't think randomly!"

"I'm absolutely sure!" Holland said loudly, "Does anyone have a shovel? I want to dig it up myself!"

"Mr Holland, please don't do this, you will regret it!"

"Shut up! If I can't dig it up, then I'll regret it!"

He took a shovel and dug excitedly.

After digging a few times, he dug up a hole.

At that moment, a black head popped out from inside and bit his hand.

Holland cried out in pain, "Whoa... a snake! I've been bitten by a snake, help me quickly!"