Rising to Chancellor

He Yun should have been a stage performer. With that mouth of his, able to turn black into white, square into round, and wrong into right, he could turn the whole capital upside down. The Emperor ordered the great general to quell the rebellion. He was not to return until every last rebel had been wiped out. If need be, he could die on the battlefield, wrapped in his horse's hide. The young chancellor, He Yun, went to court the next morning with two eggs tucked away. He said he wanted to eat eggs, and that yesterday he had slaughtered the last old hen in his household and found two eggs in her. Because of those two eggs, he would never have any more eggs to eat. He had done something foolish: killing the hen for her eggs was no good. Feeling sorry for the chancellor, who had no eggs to eat, the Emperor sent several carts of eggs to the chancellor's residence. For the next few days, the young chancellor brought two hard-boiled eggs to court every day and praised how good his family's eggs were. The other officials gave him two eggs apiece. The officials got so used to the chancellor's tricks that they stopped accepting his eggs. Now the chancellor challenged everyone he met to bet that the eggs in his hands had double yolks. If he lost, he would pay them ten taels of silver. The palace eunuchs told the Emperor about it, and he laughed heartily. When the great general returned victorious, he heard the Emperor jokingly call him an "old hen." General Zou: ... He Yun: Tsk... I worked my tail off to raise your standing with the young Emperor from rock bottom, and this stubborn mule can't even do me the courtesy of keeping quiet instead of kicking up a fuss? Reader's Notes: 1. Extremely slow burn. 2. The general is the love interest. 3. Historical accuracy enthusiasts, read with caution. This is an alternate setting. 4. Qidian historical progression fantasy.