"Who is this again? Can't a person just have a meal in peace?!"

Qin Kou'er craned her neck to look outside, while Lan Linxue angrily threw the bowl of porridge onto the small table next to her, spilling it everywhere.

Qin Kou'er patted Lan Linxue's hand, "Wait here for me, I'll go out and take a look and be right back!"

Qin Kou'er recognized the voice. The old man had actually come here in the middle of the night, which meant something serious must have happened.

"no!"

Lan Linxue rejected Qin Kou'er's request without even thinking, glaring at her and saying, "Was what I said just bullshit? From now on, you won't leave my sight for even a moment!"

After saying that, Lan Linxue forcefully pulled Qin Kou'er to get out of bed.

The moment she moved, Qin Kou'er slapped Lan Linxue's hand away, saying, "You're not dressed yet!"

Lan Linxue glanced at it and saw that it was indeed a mess, especially the parts that shouldn't be exposed, where glimpses of spring were faintly visible.

Lan Linxue flew out on tiptoe and quickly returned carrying Qin Kou'er's clothes: "Hurry up and put them on, what kind of behavior is this!"

After saying that, he stared at Qin Kou'er with wide eyes, intending to watch her get dressed.

Qin Kou'er glanced at it and threw the pillow off the bed: "Don't you want your eyes anymore? Or are you not a man?!"

Lan Linxue hugged the pillow tightly, then glared angrily at Qin Kou'er.

With a turn of her head and a wag of her tail, she said, "Fine, I won't look! You'd better never make me look again! Humph!"

Seeing that Lan Linxue had left, Qin Kou'er quickly changed her clothes.

When Qin Kou'er and Lan Linxue walked out at the same time, the old man sitting on the ground had already been helped up by Jun Yannuo, who had a stern face, and was sitting to the side, wiping away his tears pitifully.

"Uncle Hong, what's wrong?"

Qin Kou'er recognized him as the head of the salt wharf in Xuzhou.

When Uncle Hong saw Qin Kou'er, two lines of tears fell from his eyes again. The old man stood up shakily, took Qin Kou'er's hand, and choked out, "Master, the salt workers can't make a living! The children at the docks are about to jump into the river to fill the lake!"

Qin Kou'er unconsciously frowned, then took Uncle Hong's hand and helped the old man sit down again. She sat down next to him and gently smiled to comfort him, "Uncle Hong, it's alright, tell me slowly."

Uncle Hong did not know Lan Linxue. In his world, only Qin Kou'er was a genius.

Lan Linxue didn't say anything, but just sat in the rocking chair, fanning herself while listening to the two talking.

Uncle Hong sighed and slowly said, “Master, as you know, this year’s salt harvest is quite good! With good salt, our work at the docks is also good. Plus, the Master is kind to us, so every family is planning to take advantage of this year’s better financial situation to repair their boats and expand two more docks. But who would have thought that disaster would strike so suddenly? A few days ago, the prefecture suddenly issued a notice saying they were recruiting soldiers. Every household must contribute at least one male, and that’s not all; all salt producers will have to pay a salt tax, 20% of their annual income. Master, the salt producers don’t even earn a hundred or so taels of silver a year. If they take away 20%, we really won’t be able to survive! Moreover, all the boatmen at our docks have to report and bribe officials if they want to transport salt. Without a pass from the military camp, we’re considered rebels. Quite a few young men have already been arrested these past few days!”

Upon hearing this, Qin Kou'er immediately turned her head and looked sternly at Jun Yannuo: "Is such a thing true?"

Jun Yannuo nodded with a hint of heaviness, "I just received the news myself, and haven't had time to deal with it yet!"

Upon hearing this, Lan Linxue immediately added insult to injury, saying, "Look at that! I told you, Qin Kou'er, you have nothing but useless subordinates!"

Jun Yannuo gave Lan Linxue a gloomy look but didn't say anything.

"What are you looking at! Look again and I'll gouge your eyes out!"

Qin Kou'er turned and glared at Lan Linxue, then turned to look at Uncle Hong with a serious expression: "Uncle Hong, didn't they say why they suddenly started conscripting soldiers?"

"Oh dear, Lord! They're military officers! If we ask them something they don't like, we might lose our lives!"

Qin Kou'er nodded, then turned to look at Jun Yannuo: "Why is the news from Xuzhou so slow? Does Huang Linwen not want to continue?"

Huang Linwen is the head of Qin Tiange in Xuzhou, so of course he has to report this matter immediately.

"Lin Wen has been maneuvering back and forth. This kind of thing has happened before, and he probably thinks that if he can handle it himself, then the Pavilion Master won't have to worry about it..."

"Foolish!"

Qin Kou'er suddenly stood up, her face full of imposing coldness.

"He should have handled things properly in the first two days! Why did it have to escalate to arresting people? If he had discovered something was amiss, he should have reported it immediately. How could he think he's so great after just two days of eating rice? Does he think he can control everything in Xuzhou? Does he think he can sit on equal footing with the high-ranking officials in the imperial court just because he took a couple of taels of silver? It's utterly laughable!"

Qin Kou'er was furious at her subordinates' inability to see the situation clearly. If one person couldn't see it, it meant that hundreds or even thousands of people below would suffer as a result.

"Tell me, if Uncle Hong hadn't come today, how did he plan to clean up this mess? All the docks in Xuzhou have been taken to the military camps now? Would he still have to go out and distribute the money to each of them?"

After saying that, Qin Kou'er paced around on the ground in a fit of rage, her sharp eyes showing no sign of letting Jun Yannuo off the hook.

Jun Yannuo kept a somber face and head down, remaining silent.

Trying to calm herself down, Qin Kou'er turned to look at Jun Yannuo calmly: "Send a message by carrier pigeon to have Huang Linwen come to see me today! From now on, all matters in Xuzhou are suspended, pending orders from headquarters."

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