"Master, will we cross the sea kingdom?"

Kang Lin bit down on one end of the bandage and tied it up, saying, "No rush, we have to give Emperor Mingyang a big gift."

He had originally planned to give this gift to Emperor Mingyang in a few years, but now he had no choice but to bring it forward.

Hopefully, Emperor Mingyang can handle it.

"Is that what you're referring to, Master?" The subordinate frowned, clearly disagreeing. "With Prince Chen in the capital, this matter is difficult to discuss."

Emperor Mingyang was already difficult to deal with, and with the extremely astute Prince Chen added to the mix, their chances of succeeding were extremely slim.

"I'll take care of it."

He can be transferred to Kyoto.

"This letter must be sent to the Third Prince immediately, by express courier."

...

Recently, Qin Su reviewed the events that occurred during this period in her previous life. She remembered that Xue Huai'an would enter Emperor Mingyang's field of vision the following month and would steadily rise through the ranks from then on.

What exactly is going on?

Qin Su thought for a long time before she remembered that in early summer next month, during the hunting expedition, Emperor Mingyang was assassinated, and Xue Huai'an was credited with protecting him.

If I remember correctly, Xue Huai'an had already entered the Imperial Censorate at that time. The position in the Imperial Censorate was not high, but it was extremely important, and this was the starting point for Xue Huai'an to climb up the ranks.

Qin Su asked Lian Tao to inquire at the Censorate, and the result was that Xue Huai'an did not hold a position there, but he had been there not long ago, only to find that the position was full.

This is different from my previous life.

She obtained the position of Inspector of the Imperial Censorate through connections with several of her uncles, and she stopped caring about it after breaking off her engagement with Xue Huai'an.

It seems that his uncles stood up for him and prevented Xue Huai'an from taking the position.

Tsk.

Xue Huai'an, who is only the eldest son of the Duke of Cheng and not yet the heir apparent, is qualified to go hunting together?

If he misses this opportunity, how will he get into Emperor Mingyang's sights?

Even so, Qin Su dared not take it lightly and still drew a circle around the matter.

The weather has been unpredictable these past few days, and Qin's mother caught a cold without realizing it. She is now recuperating in the courtyard, and all the affairs of the household, big and small, have been handled by Steward Hu, except for a few matters—

Butler Hu pushed a stack of account books toward Qin Su.

Qin Su was completely overwhelmed by all this. Before she could even speak, Butler Hu said with a smile, "Since you're planning to find a husband, you can't leave these matters to him. You'll have to keep an eye on things yourself."

Qin Su opened the ledger and glanced at it. "Uncle Hu handled everything very well. I don't need to look at it any further."

“Young lady, you can’t refuse. You must learn this.” Old Hu knew perfectly well that Qin Su wasn’t interested in these things, but he was afraid that Qin Su would suffer in the future. After all, they, as elders, couldn’t accompany her for a lifetime.

"I can do it all. Uncle Hu, do you believe I can pick out the falsified ledgers here within the time it takes for an incense stick to burn?"

Butler Hu's expression was strange. "There's no falsification of accounts, is there?"

He had seen almost all of these ledgers; nothing could escape his notice.

Qin Su quickly checked the ledgers, one after another, her previous impatience gone. Old Hu initially thought Qin Su was just putting on an act, but after seeing the notes she had left, he was immediately astonished.

"Is the young lady perhaps a genius when it comes to accounting? I remember she learned a little before she got married." He also remembered that the young lady was always impatient back then, always trying to find ways to get Lian Tao to go out and play.

Looking back on the past and then at the girls now... Uncle Hu suddenly fell silent.

The girl didn't seem as happy or carefree as before.

Suddenly, Old Hu pressed down on the account book in Qin Su's hand, sighed and said, "If you don't want to look at it, then don't. Uncle Hu will take you out to play."

He watched Qin Su grow up and treated her almost like his own daughter. Now that he sees how sensible Qin Su is, he is naturally gratified, but he feels more heartache than anything else.

"Uncle Hu, there's something wrong with this ledger." Qin Su's words immediately caught Old Hu's attention, and he turned to look at it.

"What's wrong? I don't see anything wrong with it."

Qin Su pointed to one of the expenditures, "Here, the price of white silk silver charcoal dropped last November, but we still purchased it at the original price."

Qin Su only learned about such detailed matters by chance; she rarely paid attention to these things in her daily life.

"The usual price of white silk silver charcoal is two taels of silver for one hundred catties, but last year it dropped to one tael of seven hundred coins for one hundred catties."

"And here, the prices of these vegetables are also wrong."

Old Hu's lips tightened, his face not looking too good. "These traitors! They dare to falsify accounts! Girl, let's go take a look."

He snatched the ledger from Qin Su's hand, looked at it carefully, and said, "Let's go take a look at the manor in the southern suburbs of the city."

He would never tolerate such people, even if the money was not much to begin with.

Qin Su's original intention was just to prove to Lao Hu that she could read the ledgers and that he should stop bothering her. Unexpectedly, he noticed that there was a problem with the ledgers and immediately grabbed her and ran away.

Helpless, Qin Su had no choice but to follow.

Qin Su had some recollection of this manor on the outskirts of Nanjing, but why? It wasn't because the manor belonged to their family.

Rather, it's because the manor is connected to a horse farm, which has connections with Xue Huai'an's people; they are the ones who are truly betraying their own people.

After Lao Hu went to deal with matters at the manor, Qin Su turned and went to the horse farm.

When the stable manager saw Qin Su arrive, he immediately bowed and scraped.

"Would the young lady like to go for a ride today?"

"No," Qin Su replied casually. She then asked, "Has the latest batch of foals been ordered?"

The manager bowed and answered very respectfully, "It's already been booked. It's a regular customer who pays generously."

Qin Su sat down and accepted the tea offered by the steward. "Whose order was it?"

Upon hearing this, the manager hesitated.

He had heard about Qin Su and Xue Huai'an's affair, but dared not say it out loud.

He not only knew these things, but he also knew very well that he had deliberately inflated the price with Xue Huai'an, and that all the kickbacks went into his pocket, while Xue Huai'an's money also belonged to Qin Su.

Ultimately, this fattened up Xue Huai'an and him.

"What? Is there something you can't say? It can't be that it was sold to the people of Yuehai Kingdom, can it?" Qin Su said casually, as if he didn't care about the matter at all.

The steward's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly said, "Not at all, not at all! Even if you gave me a thousand men, I wouldn't dare to do business with people from Yuehai Kingdom."

Qin Su knew he wouldn't dare, but Xue Huai'an would.

"So who is this regular customer you're talking about?" Qin Su asked again.

The steward stammered, "This...this is just an unknown nobody, not worth Miss's attention."

Qin Su fiddled with the forbidden belt hanging from her waist and said, "Hmm, the eldest son of the Duke of Cheng's mansion is indeed an unknown nobody."

Her tone was still as earnest as ever, but the steward's legs buckled and he knelt down.

"I didn't mean to hide it from you, Miss. It's just that I heard you and Young Master Xue have been having some disagreements lately. I... I didn't want to offend your ears."

"Has this batch of foals been delivered yet?"

The manager quickly replied, "Not yet."

"He paid in full?"