The 46th year of Kangxi's reign passed peacefully. During this time, Yihua stayed in the mansion to raise her child, and in her spare time, she would visit her father at the Ulanara mansion.

With astonishing willpower, Fei Yanggu finally overcame the infection and disease, returning from the brink of death. However, he had aged considerably, with many more white hairs on his head, and his thin figure looked empty in his robe.

Fortunately, he was very magnanimous. Once he felt a little better, he handed over his military command. In return, Emperor Kangxi granted him the title of First-Class Duke, a sinecure where he could simply stay at home and collect his salary.

Now that he had a lot of free time, Fei Yanggu began to observe his children from the beginning, increasing his control over the third generation and keeping a tight rein on them.

Yi Hua's third prince was easy to raise. He ate everything and enjoyed everything. In just a few months, he swelled up like an inflating balloon. His skin became delicate and smooth, and his eyes became big, like grapes. After seeing him once, Consort De was extremely fond of him and kept asking Yi Hua to bring him into the palace.

He eats well and sleeps soundly. Little Wolf has become so heavy that Yi Hua can't hold him for long. When she puts him on the bed, he doesn't cry or fuss and can play by himself all day long.

Liu Liu is overjoyed to have a younger brother. The first thing she does every morning is to give him a kiss, and the last thing she does before going to bed is to check on him.

Despite her seemingly carefree nature, Liu Liu is actually very gentle with her younger brother and has never pulled him too hard, causing him pain.

Little Wolf gradually got used to Liu Liu's company. Sometimes when he woke up early, he would peek out and wait for his sister's kiss. Whenever Yi Hua saw this scene, her heart would soften unbelievably.

Honghui and his younger brother are almost ten years apart. He watched the little wolf rolling around on the bed with his little bottom showing, sometimes even biting his toes in a silly and cute way. He couldn't bear to look at him and resolutely refused to admit that he had also gone through this stage.

Yinzhen entered with a cold face, but his expression softened considerably when he saw the children surrounding Yihua.

After seeing the children off, Yinzhen rubbed his temples, clearly a little tired. Yihua stood behind him and gently massaged his temples a few times: "Your Majesty's reputation is now so great that even I, a young lady confined to my room, have heard of it."

"Fame?" Yinzhen chuckled. "Is the Princess Consort just laughing at me?"

“Your Majesty, you’re wronging me.” Yi Hua took a piece of paper and handed it to Yin Zhen. It had a bunch of names and numbers on it. “This is all the money that has been sent to me by my third sister-in-law, ninth sister-in-law, thirteenth sister-in-law, fourteenth sister-in-law, and Ulanara Mansion in the past few days. I’ve returned it all.”

"This is no small amount. Aren't you tempted?" Yinzhen roughly calculated that there were at least several hundred thousand taels of silver in total. These people were truly despicable, openly bribing with government silver. They might as well just pay off their debts directly!

It turns out that the Yellow River swelled this year, breaching more than a dozen dikes and displacing millions of people. This is the most serious disaster in the history of the dynasty.

Emperor Kangxi immediately ordered the national treasury to be opened to distribute silver and grain. Yinzhen, who was working in the Ministry of Revenue, was busy with this task. During that time, he left early and returned late, and even Yihua rarely saw him when she was awake.

After clarifying the actual amount of money and grain, Yinzhen presented the account books and memorials to the emperor. Kangxi was furious and ordered an investigation into the whereabouts of the national treasury funds.

The investigation revealed a shocking truth: it turned out that, starting sometime during this period, all officials, regardless of rank, had been borrowing money from the national treasury. This ranged from small things like getting their children married to large things like repairing ancestral tombs, all paid for by the imperial court.

Upon reviewing the investigation results, Emperor Kangxi issued an imperial edict, demanding that all borrowers, regardless of whether they were imperial relatives or lowly officials, repay their debts within ten days. Anyone who defaulted on their debts would be apprehended and punished according to the law.

Seven or eight days have passed, and no one has taken the lead in repaying the loan. In fact, Yinzhen also borrowed money. He took 50,000 taels from the national treasury when he established his own residence, and he has not repaid it yet. Everyone is just watching and waiting.

Since Emperor Kangxi had given a strict order to collect the debts, everyone except those who were tough and fearless were prepared to pay them back. However, how much to pay and how to pay it back were very important considerations.

Honghui had privately analyzed the situation for Yihua, saying that those who owed money could be roughly divided into several categories.

First, there are those who are wealthy and powerful, most of whom belong to the Aisin Gioro clan. They treat the national treasury as their own personal money bag, buying antiques today and building gardens tomorrow, pouring money in like water, with the national treasury footing the bill.

The second group consists of senior and meritorious officials who often have imperial decrees from Emperor Kangxi and use the national treasury's silver to put on a show. They don't owe as much as the first group, but they still owe several hundred thousand taels of silver.

The third type is the herd mentality type. They see everyone borrowing money from the national treasury. If you don't lend money to your fellow officials, you're considered hypocritical and unsociable. Most of these people only owe a few tens of thousands of taels at most.

The fourth type is when someone is genuinely short of money and has no other choice but to borrow. The amount is not large, ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand taels. However, since many people borrow money from them, the total amount can be quite substantial.

According to Honghui's analysis, the fourth type of borrowing money is like throwing meat buns to a dog—gone forever. These people often struggle to make ends meet, and since they haven't exploited the people, they can still be considered good officials. Even if you squeeze them dry, they still won't produce any money.

The third type of person has the strongest desire to repay the money, but they dare not repay it first. After all, when borrowing money, one has to be mindful of the superior's wishes, and when repaying money, one has to be even more concerned about how much the superior has repaid.

The second type is the veteran officials who rely on their merits. They have money in their hands but refuse to pay even if it means death. If pushed too far, they can cry in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, and even then, Emperor Kangxi will have to give them some face because of their white beards.

The first type is even more difficult, as they are all Yinzhen's elders or his brothers. Not to mention anything else, the Tenth Prince alone owes the national treasury 500,000 taels of silver. This is even with the Emperor and Ninth Prince providing assistance. No one knows exactly where his money went.

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