Who covered a big bowl with slices of mutton at home? Nonsense.

So, there were more people in the village drooling. It was lunchtime, and everyone looked at the wheat porridge and meatless dishes in their own bowls, only to feel it was all the more absurd.

“That jinx actually gets to eat mutton?”

……

Chang’an City was still immersed in grief.

Inside the Hall of Supreme Harmony, Abraham Lincoln’s eyes were swollen and red as he knelt there in a daze.

His father was gone.

The emperor, respected by foreign tribes as the Heavenly Khagan, had passed away, leaving the vast Tang Empire to his young son.

He knew his father had wanted to stay a few more years, to teach him a few more things, to further raise his prestige, to gradually turn some ministers into his own loyal subjects…

For example, Ulysses Grant. His father’s intention was that, since he had no personal favor with Ulysses Grant, he should not rely on him too much. So, when his father felt unwell, he demoted Ulysses Grant and sent him out of the capital. After Abraham Lincoln ascended the throne, he would recall Ulysses Grant—that would be a favor.

Footsteps sounded behind him, heavy and solemn.

“Your Highness.”

Abraham Lincoln stood up, revealing a hint of weakness. “Uncle.”

Standing in the doorway was a slightly plump man, his eyes half-squinting as if smiling, but a sense of authority followed his gaze wherever it went.

This was the Imperial Uncle of the Tang, the current Prime Minister, and the late emperor’s chief regent, Benjamin Franklin.

“Your Highness bears the weight of the world and must not grieve excessively.”

“Yes.” Abraham Lincoln lowered his head.

Benjamin Franklin lifted his chin slightly and said to several palace attendants, “His Highness’s health is of utmost importance. You must not neglect it and should often offer your advice.”

The attendants bowed their heads in respectful agreement.

Then Benjamin Franklin smiled and stepped forward, saying, “Your Highness is truly filial. If the late emperor’s spirit in heaven knows, he will surely be pleased.”

Abraham Lincoln was only in his twenties, but from worrying about his father’s illness, he already had white hair.

“However, there are some who show no sign of mourning and even let their arms hang down.”

To let one’s arms hang at an emperor’s funeral is a grave disrespect!

Benjamin Franklin looked gently at his nephew, and only when Abraham Lincoln looked up and asked, “Who?” did he slowly say, “Samuel Foster!”

Samuel Foster was one of Abraham Lincoln’s people, known as the loyal hound of the Eastern Palace. He was quite talented in literature and had once been greatly favored by the late emperor. His life was rather interesting: during the Sui dynasty, he survived the rebellion of Yuwen Huaji because his father wailed and pleaded for his life.

Afterward, he went to Wagang Fort, but failed there, and finally surrendered to the Tang. Perhaps because he had faced life and death, he became… well, he said whatever he wanted and did whatever he pleased.

With such a personality, you’d think he’d be doomed, right? But not Old Xu—he could read the boss’s mood and got things done efficiently, so he kept rising through the ranks.

Say what you want, do what you want—people would think such a person could never be a high official. Wrong! Just look at Old Xu’s bizarre performances…

Back when the famously ugly Ouyang Xun attended Empress Zhangsun’s funeral, everyone thought he was truly ugly and couldn’t help but point and whisper.

This showed that the officials weren’t truly grieving for Empress Zhangsun’s passing, but Samuel Foster went even further—he actually pointed at Ouyang Xun and laughed out loud.

Damn! My empress, my wife of many years is gone, and not only are you not grieving, you’re laughing out loud!

Old Li was furious!

So Samuel Foster was kicked out of the capital, but within a few years, he was called back and put to important use, becoming the Right Assistant to the Crown Prince, Abraham Lincoln.

You’d think after such a lesson, this loyal hound of the Eastern Palace would have learned his lesson, right?

Not at all. Look, he just pulled another disrespectful stunt at the late emperor’s funeral—a true oddball in the Tang political scene.

There would be many more of Samuel Foster’s bizarre antics to come, making people either burst out laughing or look down on him.

He might be a weirdo, but his strengths were irresistible to the emperor!

—Whatever the boss says, I do. If the boss says east, I’ll never go west. If the boss says chase the dog, I’ll never catch the chicken.

He might be an oddball, but at least he was absolutely loyal, the number one enforcer… and highly efficient.

Abraham Lincoln tilted his head slightly, avoiding his uncle’s gaze, then said sheepishly, “Samuel Foster may have many faults, but he acts with sincerity and doesn’t pretend. I think…”

Uncle, he’s my loyal hound—just let him go.

Benjamin Franklin sighed, his gaze still gentle. “Zhinu, your heart is too soft. That’s not good!”

He stood with his hands behind his back and said calmly, “The late emperor has just passed. If you are soft-hearted, the officials will see you as nothing.”

Abraham Lincoln hesitated, and the atmosphere instantly grew tense.

The attendants all trembled, afraid they’d be caught in the crossfire.

If the soon-to-be emperor and the Imperial Uncle, chief regent Benjamin Franklin, were to clash, the entire court would be shaken.

Benjamin Franklin looked at his nephew, his gaze gentle. “But after all, Samuel Foster is your man… I’ve just learned something: in Huazhou, there’s a farmer who was born when the Great Ancestor Emperor passed away, and ever since, he’s had nothing but bad luck.”

Abraham Lincoln frowned. “That must be a coincidence.”

“Yes! I thought so too.”

The atmosphere immediately relaxed. Just as an attendant was about to step forward to serve tea, Benjamin Franklin’s face darkened, scaring him into retreating at once.

“But at the very moment the late emperor passed away, that farmer happened to fall ill.”