"Alas! It's really not easy."
Watching the carriage of the Marquis Mansion getting farther and farther away, and then thinking of the noisy fight scene inside the carriage when they came, Li Xinyue smiled helplessly.
It had been really tough for her to bring those two people together.
She quickly gathered her thoughts and turned to look at Chu Junyi, who had caught up with her, asking, "Everything goes well in the Surveillance Office, doesn't it?"
Chu Junyi's broad shoulders reached just up to Li Xinyue's neck. Hearing her words, he instinctively wrapped his big arm around her.
Li Xinyue rested her head on his chest and wrapped her small hands around his waist from behind.
Chu Junyi looked down at her and gave a faint smile.
"Everything is fine."
"That's good." She knew he was capable of handling things. Moreover, he now had a group of trusted aides, those he had promoted in the Jingzhao Prefecture Office, all of whom were on his side.
With the three forces checking and balancing each other, and he being the head of the office, there was no way he would lose.
However, she still felt a bit uneasy.
"What did His Majesty the Emperor talk to you about alone at the banquet yesterday?"
"He..."
"Hmm?"
"He said there were vacancies in the court officialdom and he wanted to hold a special imperial examination, but he was struggling to find a proper reason.
So I recommended several people who could take office directly. One of them, Your Highness the Princess, you know."
"Who?"
"Wei Jingren.
Counting the days, his prison term should be over. Although an official is not supposed to have a stain on his record, I'm going to make an exception with him. In case my identity is exposed in the future, there will be a precedent to follow."
Li Xinyue looked up at him in surprise and was amused by his cleverness.
"You're really something. Oh, by the way, I have good news for you."
"Are you pregnant?"
"Huh? Pregnant with what?"
"Never mind."
It took Li Xinyue a moment to realize what he meant. She playfully punched his chest, but he picked her up and carried her into the carriage.
The carriage slowly moved forward. The sun was rising above the horizon, and a new day was about to begin.
"Father has granted me the Jiangnan region as my fief. From now on, I'll be the only princess in the Great Yan Dynasty with a fief.
If Lord Chu finds the official life in the court too tiresome, why not retire and come with me to Jiangnan?"
This way, they could avoid the intrigues in the officialdom and the danger to their lives.
"Sure. But I have to finish what I promised the Crown Prince first, and then I'll accompany Your Highness to Jiangnan."
Li Xinyue was silent for a while, hiding her worry. She simply said, "Be careful with everything!"
At noon...
A sorrel horse galloped on the official road, kicking up clouds of dust.
Chu Junyi nervously rubbed the reins with his fingertips and looked ahead with a heavy heart.
Next, he was going to investigate the case of the Yin Clan.
The Yin Clan held high positions and had great power. They were very cautious in their actions. In the case of the relief funds, the Yin Clan had only instigated others to act throughout and had never gotten directly involved themselves. Therefore, there was no substantial evidence to prove their connection to the case.
So he had to use another method: to force them to rebel.
Once the Yin Clan rebelled, it would be the crime of treason, and there would be no difficulty in uprooting them.
So the case of the relief funds was the breakthrough point to force the Yin Clan to rebel.
He had already compared the amount of the stolen silver found in the mansions of the involved officials with the account books and leaked the discrepancies.
He guessed that most of the stolen silver was in the hands of the Yin Clan. Once they got wind of it, they would surely transfer the stolen silver to a safe place or find other ways to launder it.
What he had to do was to find the evidence of the Yin Clan's silver - hiding or money - laundering, force them to rebel, and then uproot them.
"Giddyap!" Chu Junyi clamped his legs on the horse's belly and urged it to run faster.
"My Lord!"
"My Lord!"
The horse stopped in a dense forest. Chu Junyi dismounted and hid the horse in the forest. Then he joined his trusted aides who had been waiting there.
"How's the preparation?" he asked.
Hearing his words, the trusted aides who had surrounded him stepped aside, making way for him.
Chu Junyi looked up and saw for himself.
Then he saw one of his subordinates dressed as a pregnant woman, standing in front of him covered in fake blood.
This big, burly man was trying to act like a gentle and shy woman as he bowed to him.
Chu Junyi twitched the corner of his mouth.
The other trusted aides burst into laughter. Some of them even deliberately lifted the man's fake belly, and they all played around for a while.
Chu Junyi stood with his hands behind his back, looking ahead with a heavy heart.
He was also tired. He really wanted to go back to the fief with Yuanyang and live a care - free life.
As long as he solved the case of the Yin Clan and gave an explanation to the Crown Prince, he would take Yuanyang to Jiangnan and never return to the capital again.
At this moment, there were several dull thuds on the ground. An aide with sharp ears quickly lay on the ground and listened for a while. He was sure that people were coming.
All those who had been playing around tensed up and got into their positions.
Chu Junyi also gathered his thoughts and hid in the dense forest.
A caravan was slowly approaching from afar. At the front was a carriage, followed by several cargo - carrying carriages. The carriages were empty, except for the servants on board.
When the carriage reached the forest, the coachman suddenly noticed something and hurriedly reined in the horse.
The horse was hurt by the reins and neighed angrily, stamping its hooves on the ground.
The pre - arranged "pregnant woman" crawled out of the grass beside the road and reached out her hand to ask the caravan for help.
The coachman said impatiently, "Get out of the way! If you don't, I'll run you over!"
"Help! Help! Sir, please be kind and give me a ride! I'm about to give birth!"
"Get lost! Can't you see that our master is in a hurry? Be smart and get out of here quickly, or I'll really run you over."
"Goodness! How could there be such a heartless person in the world! Were you born from a rock? Don't you have a mother? How could you treat a pregnant woman like this!"
The coachman was stunned. "Hey, you seem to have a lot of energy in your words. You don't look like you're about to give birth. Why don't you lie there and wait for the next kind - hearted person to come by?"
"You, you, you! Ouch, my stomach hurts so much. I'm about to give birth! If you have the guts, run over me. As long as your conscience won't ache, go ahead and run over me!"
While the coachman was arguing with the "pregnant woman", Chu Junyi had jumped onto the carriage and got inside. He single - handedly subdued the merchant in the carriage.
His trusted aides behind him also controlled the servants on the following carriages.
The coachman realized that he had been deceived and panicked.
The fake "pregnant woman" on the ground angrily dragged the coachman down and gave him a good beating. "You heartless bastard! You don't deserve to waste food in this world. I'll do you a favor and send you to hell!"
After a quick substitution, the carriage set off again. This time, it went straight to a manor under the name of the Yin Clan.
The steward in charge of the reception came out with several guards and invited the merchant into the mansion.
Chu Junyi was worried about being recognized. Although he was in disguise, just in case, he stayed behind, acting as a servant and following at a distance.
But unexpectedly, he was stopped at the door.
Chu Junyi's heart skipped a beat. The fake servants among his trusted aides also felt nervous.
Had they been discovered?
"Master Qiao, please come in with me. The rest of you wait outside."