No matter what Concubine Xi had said before, with just one word, she had ruined the atmosphere she had previously created.
At this moment, Su Wan'er was quite sure that these snacks couldn't have been made by Concubine Xi. If her guess was right, Concubine Xi probably had someone else make them for her. Without even tasting how they were before leaving, she had rushed over excitedly.
Concubine Xi herself felt embarrassed and then hurriedly left the Queen's palace.
Watching her departing back, Su Wan'er turned to Si Junlin and asked, "Based on what you know about your distant cousin, do you think your distant cousin would make such a stupid mistake?"
Si Junlin also narrowed his eyes. "No." If it had been before, he might have thought Concubine Xi was a simple - minded and innocent young woman. But now, he wouldn't think so. To be precise, in the entire harem, those women without a bit of scheming would have been locked up in the Cold Palace long ago.
"Are you so sure?" Su Wan'er asked with a bit of amusement.
She always thought it was impossible for such words to come out of Si Junlin's mouth.
Seeing her disbelieving look, Si Junlin felt a strange twitch in his heart. He felt as if there was a huge rock weighing on his heart, extremely depressed and uncomfortable.
"Of course. You'll find that there are many things about me that you don't know." He could only say this.
Su Wan'er smiled at him, not saying whether she believed him or not. After putting down her chopsticks and wiping her hands, she said to Si Junlin, "Okay, I'm full. How about you?"
"Yeah, I'm full too." He was about 80% full. Seeing Su Wan'er's uncomfortable expression, he knew she still had some concerns about what had just happened. He didn't force her and let her rest well.
The maids cleaned up the things and left.
Then Su Wan'er and Si Junlin went to the Imperial Study. Su Wan'er dealt with government affairs, while Si Junlin checked the important memorials beside her.
It wasn't the first time for them to cooperate. With their mutual cooperation, although the progress of dealing with the memorials was a bit slow because of Si Junlin's injury, it wasn't too slow.
Before dinner, half of the memorials had been dealt with.
When Su Wan'er put down one memorial and picked up another, a drawing suddenly fell out.
She was startled and quickly bent down to pick it up.
A hand was faster than her and picked up the drawing on the ground.
Su Wan'er looked up at the owner of the hand. "What's drawn on this drawing?"
Si Junlin examined it carefully and then said to Su Wan'er, "The memorial in your hand should be about the flood in the South River, right?"
Su Wan'er lowered her head, opened the memorial, took a look, and then nodded. "Yes. It says they want the court to allocate silver to dredge the waterways to avoid floods in the future."
"This is a bit of a dilemma." After hearing Su Wan'er's words, Si Junlin frowned involuntarily.
"Why?" Su Wan'er was a bit confused. It was just an allocation of funds for flood control. Why was it a dilemma?
"This drawing needs to be evaluated by the people from the Water Conservancy Department before the funds can be allocated. And the person in charge of the Water Conservancy Department is Concubine Mei's grandfather, the current head of the Rong family." Si Junlin said slowly.
Su Wan'er knew about the Rong family. The Rong family was quite accomplished in construction. It was said that the previous head of the Rong family was a good friend of the late emperor whom he met during a hunting trip. The previous head of the Rong family couldn't resist the late emperor's eagerness to recruit talents. After the late emperor visited and invited him several times, he finally came out to be an official.
When the late emperor was still alive, their family had built many buildings for the late emperor, including water - conservancy projects, agricultural and mulberry facilities, and of course, palaces.
"Do you mean the people of the Rong family would defy the imperial edict?" Involving Concubine Mei, Su Wan'er also frowned.
But in her heart, she always thought that "All under Heaven belongs to the king, and all within the four seas are his subjects." No matter how capable the Rong family was, they didn't have the guts to defy the imperial edict, right?
Si Junlin shook his head. "Back then, the late emperor made some promises in order to invite the head of the Rong family to come out."
As for what the promises were, Si Junlin didn't say. Su Wan'er thought they should be the secrets of the royal family...
"So you mean I should lift Concubine Mei's house - arrest and then talk to the Rong family?" Su Wan'er thought.
Si Junlin frowned and thought for a long time before he said, "Don't lift Concubine Mei's house - arrest for now. Send someone to the Rong family to feel out their attitude."
Su Wan'er nodded. Then she sent someone to the Rong family to invite the head of the Rong family to come and check on the water - conservancy project of the South River.
Sure enough, after the messenger came back, he reported to Su Wan'er. The old master of the Rong family had caught a cold last night and was not suitable to go out. And the person he had sent was the only male member of the Rong family at home, Rong Xijiu.
Looking at the six - year - old child, Su Wan'er was a bit speechless. "The Rong family is really... so audacious."
Si Junlin sighed. "Who asked the late emperor to say that if the Rong family made a mistake, even if it was regicide and usurpation, as long as they had the gold medal for avoiding death in their hands, no one could punish them."
Looking at the six - year - old child in front of her, Su Wan'er decided to give it a try. She asked the child, "Little Xijiu, can you understand this?"
"Candy. Daddy said there would be candy in the palace." This was what Rong Xijiu said to Su Wan'er.
Su Wan'er immediately had a headache. "Fang Xi, bring in the candies."
Fang Xi responded. Before long, a maid came in with a candy box.
Rong Xijiu picked up the box, opened it, and started to eat, looking innocent and carefree.
Su Wan'er had no choice but to have someone send him away.
Just after sending Rong Xijiu away, Si Junlin suddenly said, "Wan'er."
"What's up?" Su Wan'er was still having a headache.
Si Junlin frowned and said to Su Wan'er, "What do you think of Rong Xijiu?"
"He's just a six - year - old child. You don't think he can read a water - conservancy drawing, do you?" Su Wan'er looked at Si Junlin in disbelief.
Si Junlin said calmly, "Maybe..."
Su Wan'er thought Si Junlin was being a bit unrealistic. "How is that possible? A six - year - old child can be good enough if he can recite the Four Books and the Five Classics. How could he be able to read a water - conservancy drawing?"
Si Junlin said calmly, "The Rong family has always attached great importance to the cultivation of their offspring. The offspring of ordinary families may only recite the Four Books and the Five Classics all their lives. But for the Rong family, as a family of architects, it's reasonable to train their offspring to read water - conservancy drawings from a young age, right?"
Su Wan'er thought about it and felt it made sense. But still... "Even if he can read it, he can't understand much, right?"
"Maybe." Si Junlin didn't say whether he agreed or disagreed with her words.
Su Wan'er hesitated for a while and finally said, "How about we send someone over?"