Zhang Zhongping still had some sweat on his forehead, and before he could wipe it away, he bowed and replied, "Your Majesty, we have carefully checked the princess's dowry, and everything is in order without any omissions."

Emperor Mingxi nodded, waved his sleeve, and said, "Let's begin!"

Zhang Zhongping immediately agreed.

As he turned around, he straightened his clothes and sang loudly: "The auspicious time has arrived!"

Palace music played, solemn and melodious, and Princess Pingning Xie Zhiyao finally appeared at Chengtian Gate, surrounded by noblewomen and palace maids.

She wore a crown adorned with nine jadeite jewels and four phoenixes, surrounded by pearls and jade, and a bright red robe with gold embroidered phoenixes on the sleeves. She was slender, elegant, and impeccably dressed.

However, under her overly voluminous dress, Yue Fuguang noticed that Xie Zhiyao was not as graceful as she had been when they first met.

Her face was covered with thick makeup, making it impossible to discern any expression.

With the help of palace servants, she solemnly kowtowed three times and bowed nine times to Emperor Mingxi, which was considered a married woman bidding farewell to her elders.

Emperor Mingxi offered her a few words of encouragement, which were written in a refined and literary style. The illiterate Yue Fuguang could only make out the gist of it: he told her to settle down and live a peaceful life in Xiqiang and not to overstep any boundaries.

After saying that, he waved to her with a rather sad expression. In fact, Emperor Mingxi was already extremely impatient. Originally, because he knew that Prince Qi was plotting a rebellion and that Xie Zhiyao was involved, his meager uncle-nephew relationship with her had long been exhausted.

What's more, he received a tip yesterday that his good niece was still causing trouble as her marriage to a distant place was about to take place.

His men, because of her little tricks, found two more small courtyards where she was hiding people, and arrested more than a dozen servants that Xie Zhiyao was planning to place in the palace and the homes of several important officials.

Xie Zhiyao never glanced at Prince Qi and his wife, except for a barely perceptible exchange of glances with Prince Qi when she boarded the phoenix carriage and looked back for the last time.

As Xie Zhiyao's eyes darted around, they caught sight of Yue Fuguang's small figure standing beside the Crown Prince. A fleeting, almost imperceptible, killing intent flashed across the depths of her eyes.

The system quickly detected this murderous intent. [Host, Xie Zhiyao's desire to kill you has intensified. The hatred of the Qi family towards you has increased from -20 at the time of the assassination attempt to -50 now.]

Especially considering Xie Zhiyao's stock price plummeted from -50 to -68, and she's already gone, could she still have a backup plan to attack you?

"With Emperor Mingxi watching over things, there won't be any major trouble. Besides, once the Prince Qi's mansion falls, those people will become headless snakes and stray dogs."

[Won't she come back to take revenge on us after she becomes powerful in the Western Qiang?]

"Then just don't give her the chance to grow bigger, right? With Mingxi's people watching over her, and the backup plan you left for her, if she doesn't make things more chaotic for the Western Qiang royal family but instead helps them develop their power to deal with Dayan..."

"Then let's destroy her physically. Anyone or anything that stands in our way is our enemy."

The enemy must be completely annihilated.

The Vice Minister of Rites then loudly proclaimed his respects, his voice echoing across the empty square. Every word he uttered was a grand and solemn promise of "peace and prosperity for the nation" and "eternal alliance," which few would actually believe.

"System, is this the last time the Great Yan Kingdom will hold a marriage alliance?"

[Host, we've already collected all the points; this is definitely the last time. This matter was discussed in the imperial court when you were in school; the national-level policy of marriage alliances with foreign powers has already been cancelled.]

"I didn't expect it to be agreed upon so quickly. Didn't those pedantic scholars vehemently oppose it before the new year? They even brought up the principle that ancestral laws should not be lightly abolished."

Hehehe, didn't the emperor take your advice? First, he asked who objected, and then he sent the women of the emperor's family to the marriage alliance.

Indeed, there were those who sought fame and fortune by selling their daughters, such as Kong Ru, an old scholar of the Hanlin Academy, and Song Tao, a principal of the Ministry of Rites, and several others.

Then Emperor Mingxi added that all relatives of those who were involved in a marriage alliance must move to the border with their daughters after the marriage, because the emperor was reluctant to separate them from their families and was showing great imperial favor. Therefore, the bride's family members were allowed to live closer to their daughters after the marriage.

Upon hearing this, these people immediately shut up! Hahaha!

With the system's laughter, the phoenix carriage slowly started, its wheels rolling over the bluestone road with a rumbling sound.

The sound of the guarding cavalry's hooves was uniform, and the clanging of their armor added to the menacing atmosphere.

Watching the departing dowry carriages, and then looking at the composed Emperor Mingxi and Zhang Zhongping, Yue Fuguang was very curious about how they disposed of the last few carriages of goods.

"System, judging from the emperor's expression, it seems the matter has been accomplished. Do you know what Zhang Zhongping and his men did in the end?"

After all, the dowry has already been loaded onto the truck, registered, and displayed in public. It wouldn't be easy to change it in a short time.

【Host, they loaded several carts with similar items, which will be changed when they leave the city. The classics were not changed, but agricultural books and technical books were replaced with picture books and Buddhist scriptures.】

I also saw that stories of poor scholars and rich young ladies, and scholars with various demons, made up more than half of the illustrations. This isn't just poisoning the hearts of the young ladies of the Dayan Kingdom, it's continuing to poison the hearts of the girls of the Western Qiang!

Yue Fuguang knew in his heart that this kind of painting book was the most common in the market of Dayan, and it would be difficult for the Ministry of Rites to find anything else.

"What about the others?"

I heard that the seeds will be partially roasted, and the tools have all been replaced with styles from decades ago. They are not only bulky, but also have many parts, making them time-consuming and labor-intensive to manufacture.

The craftsmen remained untouched; they were all servants and apprentices from the Prince Qi's household, whose daily tasks were assisting the master craftsman, and none of them possessed any real skills.

Yue Fuguang felt relieved, but she was afraid that something might go wrong and make it more difficult for her to complete her task.

The phoenix bells on the imperial carriage swayed constantly with the bumpy ride, making a tinkling sound from time to time. The wedding procession stretched from inside the imperial city all the way outside the city, slowly and irrevocably flowing towards the northwest.

There are the Western Qiang there, who will eventually fight against Dayan. I hope Xie Zhiyao's move really shows his talent, as the system said. Otherwise, Yue Fuguang feels he would suffer a huge loss. He was also involved in the assassination attempt on Xie Zhiyao.

Yue Fuguang didn't consider herself a magnanimous person; she would only spare an enemy's life if it would be more useful to her.

The red figure on the phoenix carriage, which carried her boundless expectations, completely disappeared from the horizon of her sight. The Chengtian Gate slowly closed again, emitting an even more muffled thud, shutting everything out of the palace walls.

The morning sun finally dispelled the thin mist, and golden light bathed the Imperial Street, shining on the empty square, where faint traces of tire tracks could still be seen.

Moonlight couldn't help but yawn again, then went home to catch up on sleep!

After seeing Xie Zhiyao off, Yue Fuguang resumed his days of going to court and school.

In the Hongwen Hall, Yue Fuguang complained that traditional Chinese characters were too tiring to write while taking notes with a marker.

The soft rustling of her pen against the paper drew the attention of her focused classmates.

Yue Fuguang still retains the habit from her previous life: she likes to take notes in class. However, while she can write slowly with a brush, she can't keep up with the teacher's pace when taking notes.