Crown Prince

It was night, and the indoor lights were dim. Empress Jin sat at the head of the table, her face pale and her expression haggard, but her eyes were filled with hatred.

Today, Madam Jin was executed, and many of Jin's relatives were either exiled or had their property confiscated. Even as the Empress, she could not save the Jin family, which had already been destroyed.

And all of this is because of one person, the Sixteenth Princess!

She had no grudge against her, and when Consort Li was out of favor and was bullied, the Empress even rectified the palace rules and gave the mother and daughter a meal. Yet she ruined her mother's family!

"I want her dead, I want her to be buried with the Jin family! Cough cough..." Empress Jin had only said two sentences when grief and indignation welled up in her heart, and she couldn't help coughing again.

The Crown Prince's advisor bowed and said, "Your Majesty, His Majesty currently favors the princess, and she wields a powerful tool like the textile factory. How can we afford to antagonize her?"

Empress Jin said, "She ruined the Jin family!"

The Crown Prince frowned as he looked at Empress Jin: "Mother, Mr. Chen is right. If Tianfu is willing to hand over the management rights of the textile factory to the Eastern Palace, it is not impossible for me to cooperate with her."

"Your Highness! She killed your own cousin, torn apart by five horses!"

"She also harmed your uncle and aunt's family!" Empress Jin raised her voice.

The Crown Prince frowned as he looked at her: "Mother, wasn't it you who entrusted me with the task of considering the overall situation?"

"Father is already very dissatisfied with the Crown Prince because of the previous floods in Jiangnan. Now, it is the most important thing to appease Father's heart."

“If Mother is truly furious, she can deal with the Jin family after her son ascends the throne. But it is absolutely impossible now.”

After the Crown Prince finished speaking, he turned to his advisors to discuss future cooperation with the princess.

Empress Jin sat slumped in her seat, her eyes closed, a bitter smile slowly creeping onto her lips.

...

As an emperor, Bai Qing has been enjoying great success lately.

His princess's textile factory was making a fortune, providing him with ample military supplies. Meanwhile, Meng Huaiyi, whom he sent out, won a major victory, replacing the previously fearsome Tuotuo Buhua from beyond the Great Wall and becoming a new generation of fierce general who dominated the border.

Meng Huaiyi was not the Crown Prince's man, nor a member of the imperial clan, nor any of the court officials' men; he was his sword, an incomparably sharp sword.

The moment the blade was drawn, blood splattered on the spot. Bai Qing naturally had to reward him for his merits by suspending court for three days to celebrate with the people.

It wasn't until the fourth day that Meng Huaiyi entered the court. As a former member of the Black-Clad Guard by the emperor's side, he was exempt from the old rule that military officers were not allowed to carry swords when entering the palace. A sharpened, cold sword hung at his waist, making many civil officials who had previously spoken ill of him and called him a lackey tremble in fear.

However, he had been absent from court for a long time and was unaware that the political climate had shifted.

Instead of hurling insults at him as they had before, the courtiers have started cursing the princess.

He scolded her for being a hen crowing at dawn, saying that as a woman, she should not be a good wife and mother but instead show her face in public, and suggested that His Majesty choose a more suitable person to manage the textile factory.

Bai Qing would naturally disagree: giving it to the royal family, the crown prince, or the ministers would not be as good as giving it to his precious daughter.

Liu Jin'an, from the Ministry of Revenue, was also a man of the princess. At the morning court, he argued vehemently for the princess: "You lot shouldn't be so shameless. What 'hens crowing at dawn' and 'good wives and mothers'? Heh, she raised her chickens well and they laid golden eggs, and now you're all eyeing them? Bah! If you want a textile factory, go and hit yourself on the head with a club until you're knocked out and start dreaming. In dreams, anything is possible!"

Ever since he was beaten up and inexplicably became the princess's lover, and was scolded every time he went out, Liu Jinan's whole style has changed.

"Lord Liu, this is in the imperial court, in front of His Majesty! How can you speak so rudely?"

"You feel guilty now that I've hit a nerve?" Liu Jinan said.

"Liu Jin'an, don't go too far! You're just a Vice Minister of Revenue. If it weren't for the princess..." He ultimately dared not speak ill of the princess in front of the emperor: "What are you, a mere Vice Minister of Revenue, doing, acting so arrogantly in front of us!"

"Oh dear, is the Minister of Rites getting impatient?" Liu Jin'an retorted with undiminished force: "Hey, my Ministry of Revenue is rich right now! Your Ministry of Rites is poor!"

The imperial court is like a vegetable market... Ever since the princess appeared and took charge of the textile factory, the court has been noisy every day.

Bai Qing, as usual, let out a tirade of anger, and then, as usual, dismissed the court.

After the court session, Liu Jin'an was the last to leave. He was afraid of being beaten. The Minister of Rites had been a soldier when he was young, and that old man was really good at beating people when he got angry.

He was so focused on looking around that he didn't notice his footing and nearly fell. Luckily, someone nearby caught him in time.

Liu Jinan looked at his benefactor with gratitude, then cupped his hands in greeting, "General Meng."

To his surprise, his benefactor glanced at him up and down, curled his lip in disdain, and quickly turned and left.

Liu Jinan: ...

General Meng was already eccentric when he was a member of the Black-Clad Guard, and now he's even more peculiar.

Meng Huaiyi was going to the inner palace, where His Majesty was waiting for him in the Imperial Garden. His Majesty wanted him to tell him in detail about the battle beyond the Great Wall, and the conversation lasted for one or two hours...

At the same time, Bai Yan also received an invitation from the Crown Prince's Palace, inviting her to afternoon tea at the palace.

Outside the Yuhua Pavilion, the Crown Prince had been waiting for a while. Seeing Bai Yan followed by several palace maids through the palace corridors, he got up to greet her.

"Royal sister," he said, bowing.

Bai Yan also bowed: "Greetings to my imperial brother."

The Crown Prince's first few words were quite reasonable. He inquired about Bai Yan's recent mood, then angrily denounced those pedantic scholars who kept writing memorials to imprison her, before finally revealing the main purpose of his afternoon tea.

"My dear sister, you are still a woman, and managing such a large textile factory by yourself must be exhausting. Why don't you let your elder brother help you share the burden?"

It's tantamount to them openly demanding her textile factory.

Bai Yan looked at the Crown Prince: "Isn't Your Majesty currently working in the Ministry of War? Isn't that placing too much burden on your shoulders?"

With his hands behind his back, the Crown Prince smiled and said, "My sister, just hand over all the textile factory's accounts and personnel to my staff in the Eastern Palace. My sister, I am the Crown Prince, and I already bear the future of the entire Southern Dynasty on my shoulders. I am not afraid of taking on more responsibility."

Bai Yan looked at the Crown Prince, but gently shook her head: "Brother, no."