For several days in a row, Fang Zheng had his fill of fun in Taoyuan County.

Given Taoyuan County’s isolated nature, the market was limited in size, prompting businesses to resort to increasingly creative means to compete for customers.

The county had a training center, which was originally personally managed by Fang Zheng.

However, due to a lack of teaching experience, he had crammed in quite a few modern concepts all at once.

Unfortunately, at first, everyone did business exactly the same as the outside world, and the imagined development didn’t materialize.

Once life stabilized and development reached a certain level, it suddenly underwent intense fermentation.

The goods were, of course, still mainly primary agricultural products, but the service industry’s rapid progress had already taken on some semblance of a modern market.

Because paper was cheap in Taoyuan County, small tactics like flyers were commonplace.

Coupons and similar promotional tools had become increasingly popular.

Moreover, some people, in order to focus on high-end consumption, had even come up with quite a few top-tier experiences similar to milk baths.

After enjoying himself thoroughly, Li Yuanzhao exclaimed that it was marvelous and immediately decided to visit whenever he had the chance in the future.

Out of a sense of guilt, Fang Zheng gave the Crown Prince a three-bedroom apartment on the spot.

On this day, the sun was shining brightly, and a gentle breeze was blowing.

Fang Zheng led Li Yuanzhao and the others on a tour of the suburban flower gardens before heading to the winery to watch the monkey acrobatics.

Li Yuanzhao insisted on competing with the monkeys, throwing fruit into wine vats, and suffered a miserable 3:10 defeat to the monkeys.

The monkeys were very well-trained, clapping wildly when they won.

For lunch, everyone dined on monkey brains and hanging-oven roast duck…

In the afternoon, they wandered around the city for a long time. After being away for several months, new facilities had appeared on the streets.

A brand new arena had been erected, though who knows what Ao Chen was thinking.

Citizens with disputes could each pay one qian of silver to fight it out on the stage.

Referees and doctors were all available. As long as no one was killed or maimed, they could settle their grudges however they pleased.

The people of Taoyuan County were extremely fierce. When Fang Zheng and his group arrived, two women were already fighting on the stage.

Afraid of ruining their faces, they had thoughtfully worn finger guards and hair guards. The two women were beating each other black and blue, with three more groups waiting in line, and the spectating citizens shouting frantically, “Beat her to death!”

Li Yuanzhao watched with flushed cheeks, involuntarily joining the cheering crowd.

This scene struck Fang Zheng like a bolt of lightning, his mind in turmoil, not knowing whether he should intervene or not.

After all, he had never seen such a situation in his previous life!

After watching the passionate street brawl, Li Yuanzhao discreetly visited a book stall and purchased a few risqué books.

Fang Zheng’s sharp eyes caught a glimpse of a hardcover edition of something about a county magistrate peeking out from his chest!

Time flew by, and evening arrived.

Fang Zheng booked the entire venue to treat Li Yuanzhao to a play.

The theater had also evolved new services, with renovated infrastructure. The left and right armrests now had two grooves for holding cups.

One cup for juice, one cup for popcorn.

The popcorn was naturally made from rice. Regular sugar-coated popcorn only cost a few dozen wen, while cream-flavored cost five liang per cup.

On stage, they were performing “The Legend of Ji Gong II.”

Fang Zheng was already numb, deeply regretting bringing Li Yuanzhao to see this play.

The Taoyuan Theater probably no longer had any proper drama performances; they were all bizarre fantasy romance plays that had been wildly altered.

The precious cultural legacy he had left for this world had already been ruined beyond recognition.

In a moment of carelessness, the imagination of the unconstrained common people had led them astray!

Clearly, the people of Taoyuan County didn’t care about proper things at all.

Instead, they responded with extraordinary enthusiasm to this kind of vulgar plot.

It was unclear whether the play was written by Wu Sheng, that great artist, or by young people influenced by less savory trends.

Ji Gong on stage was still played by the previous Xu Xian, and the melodrama had turned into an action play.

After ten years, Xu Xian had evolved into a powerful monk with a bull’s head, specializing in the art of dual cultivation, leading the celestial army in a counterattack against Sun Wukong at Spirit Mountain.

The Buddha on stage was clearly having trouble coping, swinging his lotus throne left and right, constantly calling for Fahai’s help.

The two groups went back and forth, fighting extraordinarily lively.

Li Yuanzhao was clearly very invested in the fight scene, grabbing a handful of popcorn, taking a sip of juice, and watching the performance on stage intently.

He muttered, “Perfect! Living in Taoyuan County feels perfect!”

“Old Fang, help me set up a troupe like this in the Eastern Palace in the future. Why aren’t there such exciting plays in the capital?”

Fang Zheng shuddered.

He couldn’t help but tilt his head and think.

If he found this kind of performance intolerable, wouldn’t introducing it to the Eastern Palace incur the wrath of the Emperor and court officials?

Outside, he’d still be surrounded and beaten by monks and Taoists. What if one day he was knocked out with a club on the road…

Fortunately, there wasn’t much in the way of religion in the county!

Forget it… It should be managed! Strictly reviewed! In the future, these negative energy things absolutely cannot be performed on stage, let alone spread to the outside world!

Having made up his mind, Fang Zheng said earnestly, “Your Highness, we’ve played enough, we should return to the palace.”

The chairman has approved an unlimited vacation, do you really want to keep playing wildly? What are you waiting for if you don’t go back to work?

“If this kind of vulgar thing is brought to the Eastern Palace, how will others view me?”

“I still need to save face!”

Li Yuanzhao glanced at Fang Zheng: “Old Fang, having been with you for so long, I’ve decided not to care about face anymore.”

“We don’t need those worldly constraints!”

Fang Zheng: “………”

Li Yuanzhao continued to share his thoughts: “On my way back, I was thinking about why Imperial Father doesn’t like me.”

“It must be because my skin is too thin, I don’t know how to say the right things, I can’t act. I’ll change when I go back! I’ll act more convincingly in front of Imperial Father in the future.”

“Old Fang, you should teach me. What good methods are there for me to learn quickly?”

Fang Zheng licked his lips. “Let’s start with some tongue twisters. How about ‘She sells seashells by the seashore’?”

“She sells she-males by the seashore.”

Fang Zheng sighed: “Forget it, Your Highness, your talent isn’t quite there.”

“Let’s talk about something serious. We still need to manage Banshan District when we go back, and the Number One Scholar Tickets need to be strictly controlled.”

“I heard that many people have started organizing study groups within the district, just to buy Number One Scholar Tickets in the hope of getting rich overnight.”

“As soon as there are signs of income growth from the Number One Scholar Tickets, they should be immediately revoked. Otherwise, if we let it grow further, it will become a big problem!”

“The treatment of reporters is indeed a bit low, we need to improve their working environment.”

“The autumn imperial examinations are coming up soon, and quite a few people in our newspaper office are preparing to take the exam.”

“It’s so difficult to recruit people now! What if they leave and don’t want to come back, or if they pass the exam, what will happen to the newspaper office?”

“Reporters are the newspaper office’s golden geese! We must try our best to retain them.”

Li Yuanzhao turned his head curiously: “Why revoke the Number One Scholar Tickets? Isn’t it good that people are studying the classics because of them?”

Fang Zheng shook his head: “This is indeed a good thing.”

“But once there are many ordinary people who can read and write, the issue of buying Number One Scholar Tickets on behalf of others will certainly become unstoppable.”

“Then the purchase threshold I set initially will become meaningless. Ordinary people don’t have money to begin with, should they invest their money in this kind of empty fantasy?”

“Once the situation gets out of hand, it will turn from a good thing into a bad thing.”

“As for the newspaper office, let’s go there tomorrow. I plan to have Xie Xian manage the newspaper office.”

“During his time in Jianjiang…”

“Old Fang, look! The Buddha is trapped under the Five-finger Mountain!”

“…………”