Chapter 35 Baili Xunzhou turned away, refusing to give it to him…

The lamplight cast a slanted shadow as Emperor Jiayu remained seated at the low table, perusing the letters sent by Feng Mian.

"Father, it's time to take your medicine and rest." Chu Jingze handed a bowl of dark medicine to Emperor Jiayu, who glanced at it, frowned, and looked away.

Chu Jingze chuckled and said, "How come Father is not as good as Xiaoman? She doesn't even flinch when she drinks her medicine."

When Feng Mian was mentioned, Emperor Jiayu finally smiled a little. "She was afraid that if she drank the medicine, she would cry and I would laugh at her."

As he spoke, he sighed softly, "She said in her letter that everything was fine, but I never believed her. I wonder if she has really gotten used to the climate of the northern frontier, and whether she has lost weight again?"

"Father, you must know that she must also miss you so much. Only if you take good care of your health can she be at ease. Otherwise, I will write to her and tell her that you have made yourself sick and refuse to take your medicine."

"Alright, alright, it's just a bowl of medicine. I'll take it. Stop talking nonsense with her." Emperor Jiayu frowned, picked up the bowl of medicine, and drank it all with a look of resignation.

Chu Jingze shook his head and sighed, "Your son would like to talk nonsense with her. Do you know that she wrote a letter to the Crown Princess, but not a single word to me? It's true that as she's gone, she no longer cares about me, her brother."

"Why would the princess write to you?"

Inside the Eastern Palace, in the Crown Princess's bedchamber, Liu Yue watched with some curiosity as the Heir Apparent read a letter. The Crown Princess had been reading the letter for quite some time now, and Liu Yue finally couldn't help but ask, "Aside from sending the Princess a dowry, you've had almost no contact with her. Does the Princess perhaps have something to ask of you?"

As Dylan read the letter, a smile never faded from his lips. Even after hearing the words, his gaze remained fixed on the letter. He said, "You're thinking the worst of people. The princess probably thought I'd like the scenery of the Northern Frontier because of the gifts I sent, so she specially sent me some paintings..."

"His Highness the Crown Prince has arrived!"

Dylan quickly put down the letter in her hand, stood up and bowed, "Your Majesty, I greet you."

"No need for formalities." Chu Jingze entered and glanced at the letter that Dylan had set aside, smiling. "Reading Qingping's letter again?"

“This letter from the princess is no ordinary letter.” Dylan truly admired Feng Mian’s letter and immediately began to praise it incessantly. “The princess included many small paintings in her letter, all of which depicted the scenes she saw on her journey to the northern frontier.”

"When I was young, my greatest wish was to travel all over the Great Yong and see all kinds of different scenery. Unfortunately, I have grown up to this age and have never even left the area around the capital. I never expected that the princess would know what I wanted and had an artist make these small paintings of the scenery along the way and send them to me. This is a small consolation to my heart."

As Dylan spoke, she showed the small paintings to Chu Jingze. Chu Jingze looked them over and suddenly smiled. He picked out a few of them and said, "These are not the work of an artist. They were painted by Qingping herself."

Dylan exclaimed in surprise, "These were actually painted by the princess? No wonder the brushstrokes of these paintings seemed different to me; they must have been painted by different artists."

"Qingping's painting skills were personally taught by me, so I can't mistake them." Chu Jingze smiled as he looked at the painting, and when he turned to look at the Crown Princess, his smile hadn't faded. "The fact that she's willing to put in the effort for you shows that you two get along well, which is very good."

"When you have nothing else to do, you can write to her more often. She is all alone in the northern frontier, and she probably doesn't have many people she can confide in. Even if that Prince Baili wronged her with the Emperor, she probably wouldn't say anything."

"You and she are both women, and sisters-in-law, so you should take good care of her and comfort her. If Baili Xunzhou bullies her, you must tell me."

"His Highness the Crown Prince treats Princess Qingping very well. He spent more time in our palace today than usual. You can talk to His Highness about Princess Qingping more often in the future."

After seeing the Crown Prince off, Liu Yue excitedly started offering suggestions again. Now that the Eastern Palace has few concubines, it's a good opportunity to win over the Crown Prince's heart.

Dylan nodded solemnly: "Your Highness is right. I should correspond with Qingping more often. If she has any troubles, she won't be without someone to confide in!"

Liu Yue: It seems the Crown Princess's focus has shifted again. Oh well, the result is the same in the end. If she keeps in touch with Princess Qingping, His Highness the Crown Prince will definitely come more often!

*

In Yunzhong County, Feng Mian, whom everyone was thinking of, followed the bouncy locust blossoms into the soup noodle workshop.

The female workers in the workshop were all chosen by Feng Mian with Huaihua, since she would be working with Huaihua in the future, and she had to be able to get along with her.

Huaihua did not disappoint Feng Mian's expectations. In just a few days, she got the workshop running smoothly. To do this, she consulted with the managers of other shops under Feng Mian's command.

"I heard from the pastry chefs that sometimes when they teach their secret recipes to their apprentices, there is an inevitable risk that the apprentices will run away with the recipes. So they divided the process of making instant soup noodles into parts, with each person only responsible for a part. Now the daily output has increased!"

When Huaihua first met Fengmian, she was quite different. Her back was straighter, her eyes were brighter, and she exuded a vibrant life force from the inside out.

After leaving Wu the comprador with her mother, she lived each day with hope.

"Very well done." Feng Mian did not hold back his praise. "If the young marquis's workshop is set up in the future, he will definitely send someone to consult with you."

Huaihua puffed out her chest excitedly and nervously, "I will definitely not let the princess down!"

"Just do what you're satisfied with." Feng Mian didn't want to put too much pressure on her. "Don't be afraid of making mistakes; you've already done a great job."

Huaihua nodded emphatically, thinking to herself, "The princess is so gentle and trusting. Because of this trust, I have the opportunity to stand here and oversee such a large business deal. In the future, I will definitely be like the princess, gently embracing others, trusting them, and helping them to do things better and better!"

"Princess, spare my life!"

Huaihua was distracted for a moment when a female worker carrying a tray of oil paper packages for instant soup noodles bumped straight into Feng Mian, scattering the packages all over the ground. The female worker knelt down in fear and begged for mercy.

"Hey, be careful when you walk," Liu Ying quickly scolded, helping Feng Mian to check if she was injured.

"It's alright, get up quickly. Are you hurt anywhere?"

Feng Mian glanced at her and saw that the female worker who had bumped into him seemed to be about the same age as Huaihua. Her clothes and hair were very neatly made, but her skin was sallow and she was thin and small, obviously indicating that she had lived a very hard life in the past.

The female worker looked up at Feng Mian. Her eyes were unusually large on her thin face. Seeing that Feng Mian was indeed looking at her with genuine concern, a determination suddenly appeared in her eyes. She immediately kowtowed and cried out, "Please, Princess, save my life! I was kidnapped and sold here!"

"What exactly is going on?"

Inside the Chamber of Commerce's meeting hall, Madam Zhe glared angrily at the matchmaker in front of her.

The matchmaker, sweating profusely, looked at Cai Xiaotian, the female worker sitting beside Feng Mian, wiping away tears. She slapped her thigh anxiously, "This humble woman truly has no idea what's going on! Her, her paperwork is all complete!"

"They said they were in debt at home, so they offered themselves as collateral, and the indenture was for ten years. I have thoroughly checked the paperwork, otherwise how could I have dared to send them here for the princess to choose from!"

Feng Mian: "You really didn't know?"

"Your Highness, please understand! I've been a matchmaker for half my life, making a living this way. How could I do something that would ruin my livelihood!" The matchmaker's mouth tasted bitter with anxiety, and she looked at Cai Xiaotian reproachfully, "Why didn't you say so when I was buying you? Otherwise, I definitely wouldn't have made the deal!"

With tears streaming down her face, Cai Xiaotian, who had been holding back her grievances for days, finally had a chance to let them out. She sobbed, "I'm scared. They beat people without restraint. Before, some people tried to call for help or escape, but they were caught and beaten half to death..."

"If I can be bought, I might have another way to survive. But if they expose me on the spot, I'll only have one way out: death!"

Feng Mian patted Cai Xiaotian's back reassuringly, "It's alright, it's nothing now. Do you still remember what those people looked like?"

"I remember." Cai Xiaotian nodded, her voice choked with emotion, fear and hatred flashing in her eyes. "I will never forget those people's faces!"

“They have many accomplices, but I’ve only seen three of them. When they’re tied up, they blindfold us.”

“Three people are enough. I’ll have the painter come to see you later, and you can describe the three men’s appearances to him. With the portraits, it will only be a matter of time before we capture them all.”

“They, they…” Cai Xiaotian mustered his courage before speaking, “They seem to have powerful backers…they must be high-ranking officials.”

“I also have a powerful backer. The one behind me is the Emperor. No matter how high an official's rank is, can it be higher than the Emperor’s?” Feng Mian looked into Cai Xiaotian’s eyes and gave her a firm look.

Cai Xiaotian suddenly lowered her head in shame, "I'm sorry. I deliberately bumped into the princess today, and only dared to speak because I saw that you were truly kind..."

“You are very smart and brave.” Feng Mian patted her head reassuringly. “Don’t worry, I will definitely catch these people and send all the children they kidnapped back home.”

The princess's words reassured Cai Xiaotian, and she finally smiled and nodded with relief.

Madam Zhe looked at Feng Mian with admiration in her eyes and said, "If the princess needs anything, I will do my best to help."

Feng Mian returned a grateful smile and instructed, "Please do not spread today's events, so as not to alert the enemy."

Madam Zhe nodded, her cold gaze sweeping over the matchmaker and her maid in the hall: "Of course. If anyone leaks the news, I will be the first to punish them without the princess's intervention."

The maidservant bowed respectfully, and the matchmaker trembled as she agreed.

When Feng Mian left the Chamber of Commerce, he was still feeling depressed.

Yunzhong County is the largest town in the northern frontier, guarded by the King of Dingbei. Yet, there are still people in its territory who dare to openly commit child trafficking, and they even have officials as their backers. How many children outside Yunzhong County are forced to separate from their families?

She not only wanted to arrest them, but also to make an example of them to deter others from committing human trafficking again!

There are too many things to do, and we need to do them one by one.

Feng Mian boarded the carriage, prepared paper and pen, wrote a note, summoned a guard, and instructed, "Send this to the Heir Apparent at the Swift Feather Camp."

The swift feather camp's courier station had only ever delivered letters home to its soldiers before; today was the first time they had ever sent a note to the Crown Prince.

Even Baili Xunzhou himself was somewhat bewildered. In the past, even when he was on military campaigns, he had never received a single letter from home. "Who sent it?"

"He is a servant of Her Highness the Princess."

Princess? Could it be that something urgent has happened?

Bai Lixun hurriedly unfolded the note, only to find a few simple lines written on it—

I visited the instant noodle soup workshop today, and everything was fine.

I met with Madam Zhe once because of some matters, but it's inconvenient to talk about them now. We'll discuss it in detail another time.

I'm planning to go to the teahouse for some snacks at lunchtime. What about you?

At the end, there was a simple and cute little girl with a question mark on her head.

"What...does she mean by this?"

Yao Zhiyuan peeked over and concluded, "They're investigating your whereabouts. They want to know who you met, what you did, and what you're planning to do next."

"My advice is to ignore it, as there is a risk that they will find out our secrets."

Baili Xunzhou turned away and wouldn't let him see.

The princess might just be bored and curious; why make it sound so serious?

Feng Mian was somewhat surprised when she received the note from Baili Xunzhou. She had thought he wouldn't pay attention to it and that she would have to sit on the sidelines for a while.

However, the reply note was very brief, containing only two words: "Training troops."

It's good that I didn't see anyone particularly special.

She couldn't bring herself to plant her own people in the military camp, so she could only try this simple and clumsy method to find out Baili Xunzhou's whereabouts. She didn't want him to suddenly find himself on that dead end in her dream, somewhere she wasn't even aware of...

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Author's Note: Yao Zhiyuan: What did I tell you? [Chin resting on hand]