4d2all Lucky Pick for the day: 6951
Scholar Wang gazed with an expression of utmost betrayal at the parchment on his wooden desk in the village of Peach Blossom Creek of the Tang Dynasty.
The royal decree shone in the morning light, announcing that the gods had bestowed upon the empire an unusually bright spring, and thus all the inhabitants were obliged to immediately pay a tax of 6951 copper coins, three bags of polished rice, two bundles of firewood, and one extremely puzzled rooster.
Wang had dedicated all of his life to the study of poetry, and he firmly believed that his calling was to compose poems that would bring tears from the mountains and praise from the rivers. Yet, the magistrate was only interested in the stock of grain.
“Oh, cruel heavens!” cried Wang, grabbing onto his scholar’s robe dramatically. “It was the sages who told us how to synchronize with the universe, not how to pay for its administration!”
Uncle Li happened to pass by him with a huge wheelbarrow full of turnips. “Be quiet, Wang. Turnips want their cosmos, and the tax collector his lunch.”
Beaten, Wang sighed and took hold of the rooster, which delivered a very critical squawk, and went down to the yamen, where he found out that knowing the Five Classics helped in everything in life except paying precisely 6951.