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"Okay, I believe you, Princess."

As the left prime minister, Yan Xizheng was actually busier than Emperor Xingwu throughout the year, because the Secretariat reported to the emperor and governed the six ministries, with great power and many things to do. He also had to deal with the intrigues and schemes among officials of various departments.

On this rare day off, Yan Xizheng slept half an hour longer than usual. After waking up, he had breakfast with his wife and children. After breakfast, he took his fishing rod and wooden bucket to the back garden to fish. He expressed his gratitude to the emperor for bestowing him such a large mansion with mountains and water.

Yan Xizheng's fishing rod has a hook but no bait, because he enjoys this moment of leisure. If he catches too many fish, he will have to worry about how to eat them and whether he can finish them.

The chair was a rattan chair, and Yan Xi was leaning back on it, feeling very comfortable.

The spring sunshine was warm and cozy. Just when Yan Xi's eyelids were getting heavy and he felt as if he was half asleep, he heard hurried footsteps behind him.

Yan Xizheng opened his eyes, deep wrinkles appeared on his forehead. Why is he so anxious? Is it a family matter or a national matter?

"Prime Minister, Princess Qingyang has come to our house and wants to see you!"

From a few feet away, the servant said breathlessly.

Yan Xi's tense body relaxed, but he continued to frown. What could the little princess want from him? Could it be that she came to play with her granddaughter and wanted him to greet her on purpose?

Although she didn't want to move, a princess is a princess. Yan Xizheng sighed, put down the fishing rod and stood up.

In the main hall of the Left Prime Minister's Mansion where guests were received, all the members of the Yan family except Yan Xizheng had arrived. They looked at the little princess and the third prince with respect and confusion. The only one who was not nervous was Yan Zhenzhen. She happily invited the little princess and the other two to go play with her in the garden.

Qingyang smiled and said, "That's good. It also saves Minister Yan from having to rush over specially."

After politely declining the invitations from the elders of the Yan family to accompany them, Qingyang and Yan Zhenzhen walked in front, while Qin Ren and Zhang Su followed behind.

The four of them ran into Yan Xizheng on the way, who was not in a hurry to walk.

Meeting the little princess's smiling eyes, which seemed to indicate she had found fault with him, Yan Xizheng bowed and then said calmly, "I am old and unable to meet you. I beg your pardon, Your Highnesses."

Qin Ren smiled and said, "You are too polite, Left Prime Minister. My sister and I have come to disturb your rest without permission. I hope you will not be offended."

Even if we don't consider Yan Xizheng's position as prime minister, just because he is the father of the imperial concubine and the grandfather of his second brother, he and his sister should respect the old man more.

Yan Xizheng shook his head slightly to indicate that it was okay. He looked at the little princess and asked, "Princess, do you have any instructions for this trip?"

Qingyang: "It's not really an order, but I heard a strange story in the South City, and I think the Left Prime Minister should hear it."

Yan Xizheng immediately suspected whether there were any bad rumors about him.

Qingyang asked Yan Zhenzhen to take her third brother to visit the back garden of the prime minister's mansion. She and Yan Xizheng followed slowly, and Zhang Su walked behind her on the right like a guard.

After they had some distance between them, Qingyang brought up the incident in which the failed scholar Jia Fangping was beaten for settling accounts with a wealthy businessman.

Qingyang: "The Spring Examination has just concluded, and already some unruly people have the audacity to hire thugs to beat up candidates and rob them of their money in the capital. Their arrogance is simply unbelievable. No wonder my father always arranges for guards to secretly protect me whenever I leave the palace. It turns out that the land under the emperor's feet is not a peaceful place. I wonder if these unruly people are tolerated by the Jingzhao Yin due to dereliction of duty, or if the Imperial Guards are not conducting adequate inspections and have missed some mistakes. I would like to ask the Left Prime Minister to clarify this for me."

Yan Xizheng: "...The capital has nearly a million citizens, and every day there are incidents of people breaking the law due to personal grudges. This is beyond the reach of the Jingzhao Yin and the Imperial Guards, who are loyally fulfilling their duties. However, I believe that as long as Jia Fangping reports this to the authorities, the Jingzhao Yin will be able to identify the murderer within three days, bring him to justice, and recover his lost money."

Qingyang: "Jia Fangping left his hometown to come to the capital to take the imperial examination. He has already been beaten once. Now his legs are injured and he has difficulty walking. He dare not cause any more trouble. However, as a princess, I promise to uphold justice for him in order to protect my father's majesty. I will ask the Left Prime Minister to contact the Jingzhao Yin and ask them to solve the case as soon as possible. Otherwise, if the matter becomes serious, it will damage the prestige of the court and my father."

The little princess had good reasons and Yan Xizheng had no choice but to agree.

Qingyang: "By the way, Jia Fangping boasted to me that he could complete accounts that would take an ordinary accountant a year to check in just ten days. I don't know if this is true or not, so please ask the Left Prime Minister to find a way to test him. The emperor values talented and wise men the most. If Jia Fangping really has this ability, I think the emperor will make an exception and promote him. If Jia Fangping is exaggerating, let him take the money and return to Ganzhou, study hard for three years, and then take the exam again."

Yan Xi was looking at the top of the little princess's head which was getting closer to him year by year. He couldn't help but be amazed at the keenness of a ten-year-old child in identifying talent, and at the same time, he couldn't help but worry about the little princess's enthusiasm for officialdom. What made him most helpless was that the little princess only did something that any official or prince should do after hearing about it. If he accused the little princess of "overreaching" and "meddling too much" for this, it would definitely chill the little princess's heart to serve the public and the people.

Princesses should not interfere in politics, but they should indeed bear in mind the justice of the people and set an example by upholding the laws of the court and the majesty of the royal family.

After a moment of silence, Yan Xizheng said, "Princess, don't worry. It is my duty to recommend talented people to the Emperor."

The little princess stopped in her tracks, stopped in front of the left prime minister, and asked with a smile, "So, if I tell the left prime minister about this, does that count as meddling in government affairs?"

Yan Xizheng lowered his eyes and had no choice but to admit defeat.

Qingyang looked at him, who had more white hair and wrinkles than his father, and said sternly, "Don't worry, Left Prime Minister. This is a peaceful world created by the efforts of our father and you, a group of wise ministers and famous generals. I only want to use my knowledge to help you share your worries and will never cause trouble for you."

Yan Xizheng raised his eyes and met the little princess's bright eyes. There was a child's purity and clarity in them, as well as a firmness that made even an old man like him willing to believe.

"Okay, I believe the princess."

.

Qingyang was sure that Yan Xizheng could handle the matter well, so after returning to the palace, she no longer thought about Jia Fangping and continued to read her books and practice her martial arts.

At the Jufu Inn, after dusk, Jia Fangping packed up his stall and limped back to the woodshed where he was staying temporarily. The woodshed of the inn was dry and spacious, and there was a shabby but narrow bed that was big enough to support his weight.

After dinner, Jafar lay down on the bed, and the image of the little girl appeared in front of him again.

The girl's appearance and demeanor proved she was no ordinary citizen. The few questions she asked him were all to the point, with none of them being idle chatter. This showed that she was not only from a wealthy family, but also very intelligent. However, the words she said before leaving were too domineering. Could it be that her father was a high-ranking official who could dispatch the Jingzhao Yin?

High-ranking official, how high-ranking? It would be easy to guess in a county or provincial capital, but in the capital, there were so many high-ranking officials and nobles that he had no idea.

Jia Fangping didn't think about it for too long. He had an elderly mother, a wife and children at home, and he just wanted to raise enough money to return home as soon as possible.

The next morning, before the inn officially opened its doors to guests, Jia Fangping came out to set up his stall, and the kind innkeepers helped him a lot.

"Thank you, little brother."

The guy smiled and said, "It's just a small favor from me, don't take it to heart."

Every spring, the imperial court would vacate official inns for the candidates traveling to Beijing to take the exams. Priority was given to candidates from poor families, while candidates from wealthy families preferred to stay in inns to meet friends through literature. Previously, the candidates who had stayed at their inns had only one eye on each other, treating them like their own servants. However, this impoverished candidate, whose deadline for staying at the official inn had expired, treated them all with a friendly attitude.

The guy went inside to work, and Jia Fangping lowered his head to tidy up his stall.

The sun gradually rose higher, and around noon, a group of Jingzhao Yin's yamen runners suddenly arrived, wanting to take him to Jingzhao Yin for questioning.

Jia Fangping guessed that it was the little girl who took action, so he handed the stall to the inn waiter and prepared to limp on this journey.

When the yamen runners saw this, two of them came out and helped him onto the horse. Not to mention what Jia Fangping felt, the people around who were watching the excitement were all stunned. They had seen yamen runners arrest people, but they had never seen such a polite way of arresting them!

Jia Fangping rode a horse to the Jingzhao Yin's yamen. The Jingzhao Yin, who was sitting in the hall, did not treat him with much courtesy, because scholars were exempted from kneeling, and he had a leg injury. The Jingzhao Yin sent someone to bring a chair and asked Jia Fangping to sit down and answer.

At this point, Jia Fangping had no choice but to pursue the matter even though he didn't want to. He directly revealed the identity of the suspect, who was his nephew's accountant who was scolded and fired by his wealthy uncle.

The Jingzhao Yin immediately sent someone to bring the man away, and after an interrogation, the useless nephew confessed everything.

The case was settled, and the nephew's accountant's family obediently handed over the twenty taels of silver that was robbed from Jia Fangping, as well as compensation for medical fees, food and accommodation. The Jingzhao Yin then sent a yamen runner to take Jia Fangping back to the inn on horseback.

Now Jia Fangping no longer needed to set up a stall. He avoided the bustling crowd and returned to the woodshed. Jia Fangping hesitated as he looked at the coarse cloth bundle at the end of the bed.

The little girl had done him a great favor, so shouldn't he thank her before returning home? But he had no idea who the girl was.

"Mr. Jia, someone is looking for you!" The next morning, the inn waiter called him loudly outside.

Jia Fangping hurried out.

The man who came claimed to be a steward in the Left Prime Minister's Mansion and asked him to settle an account for the Prime Minister. The carriage was ready outside.

Jia Fangping was shocked. The little girl turned out to be the daughter of the Prime Minister? No wonder, no wonder!

Just like that, Jia Fangping arrived at the Yan residence in a carriage. Yan's father and son were both away on business, so the steward led Jia Fangping to the small guest room in the southeast corner of the first courtyard. After Jia Fangping had a good look inside the room, the steward pointed to four large boxes of account books beside the desk and said, "The Prime Minister said, please check these account books to see if there's anything wrong. Whether you can find it or not, the Prime Minister will personally thank you when he returns in the evening."

Jia Fangping said, "You're welcome," and thus began the assessment from the Left Prime Minister.

At dusk, Yan Xi had just stepped off the carriage in front of the mansion gate when the steward came over excitedly and said, "Prime Minister, the account books you prepared are missing. Mr. Jia finished his check after lunch and spent another hour. I saw that he was bored, so I arranged for him to rest in the guest room. Mr. Jia just woke up two quarters of an hour ago."

Yan Xizheng: "What's the result?"

The steward said: "Not a single penny wrong. It's exactly the same amount you gave me."

Yan Xizheng: “…”

The little princess really picked up a capable man?

Since he was a capable person, Yan Xizheng let Jia Fangping stay in the guest house of his home, and planned to take him to the palace to meet the emperor after Jia Fangping recovered from his leg injury.

Jia Fangping was even more anxious to express his gratitude to the daughter of the prime minister who had given him this good fortune. After enduring for two days, he finally couldn't help but express his wish to the steward.

Steward: "Sir, why do you want to thank my young lady?"

Jia Fangping: "Of course it's Miss Xie's kindness in recognizing me."

The steward was stunned for a moment, then reacted and smiled, saying, "My young lady hasn't been out lately. However, on March 20th, Princess Qingyang and the Third Prince came to visit and had a long talk with the Prime Minister."

Jia Fangping: "..."

【Author’s words】

Yan Zhenzhen: Thank me, then fly a kite with me [Three-color cat head]

Haha, 100 little red envelopes, see you tomorrow~