Chapter 59 Some people are born in Rome, but she was born like a beast of burden.
At the same time, the gate of the Vice Minister's residence was filled with people from the Pacification Office, and the black lacquered flat-top carriage was parked in the middle.
Xiao Mingyi opened the car curtain with one hand and got out. He stood with his hands behind his back and coldly spat out a word: "Search."
Dozens of Jinyiwei rushed into the Minister's Mansion. The female members of the family huddled in a corner, protecting their young children, and allowed them to search the mansion at will. For a while, there was the sound of rummaging through drawers and crying.
The figure in black robe walked slowly into the courtyard. Suddenly, a small figure jumped out from the corner, trotted towards him, raised the mud in his hand, and threw it at the back of his shoulder.
"Bad guy!"
Xiao Mingyi suddenly turned around, and a sense of oppression and coldness pierced through the deep and dark gaze.
Xuan Feng was terrified: "Your Highness, do you want to change clothes?"
"No need." Xiao Mingyi raised his hand and brushed his shoulders, his eyes filled with indistinct emotions.
A female member of the Minister's household rushed out and embraced the little figure who had committed the crime. She said with a mixture of fear and anxiety, "This child is young and ignorant. Please forgive me, Your Highness!"
For corruption, officials implicated were to be executed, their female relatives to be sent to the imperial palace, and all adult men to be exiled to the frontier. Although this was hardship, it would not result in death. However, the female relatives feared the Crown Prince's wrath, so even the young children were not spared.
"Your Highness!"
A Jinyiwei came quickly and reported: "There's something in the pond in the backyard."
The woman's eyes were obviously flustered for a moment, and her hands holding the child tightened unconsciously. Xiao Mingyi took in her subtle reaction and walked towards the pond in the backyard.
The surface of the pond was covered with lotus leaves, layer upon layer, and on the bank were flowers and weeping willows. Several Jinyiwei men undressed and went into the water. They peeled back the green lotus leaves and groped in the water for a while. They pulled out several gold bars covered in mud and shouted to the shore, "Your Highness, there are gold bars in the water!"
“There are some here too!”
“There are some here too!”
On the other side of the pond, many people followed suit, the gold bars in their hands shining brightly in the sunlight.
Xiao Mingyi stood on the shore, anger lingering in his narrow, long eyes. The Minister of Revenue had been a disciple of Xiao Du. When a locust plague broke out in the east, the relief money was embezzled at every level, leaving less than a tenth of it when it reached the east.
The Minister of Revenue was very stubborn. When he could not get any results from the interrogation yesterday, he personally led a team to search the mansion and indeed found some clues.
"Carry him back to the Pacification Office and continue the interrogation. Make sure to uncover all the corrupt officials!"
"Yes." Everyone answered in unison.
Boxes of gold bars were carried out of the Minister of Revenue's residence, causing complaints and curses from the onlookers.
"There are starving people everywhere in the east, yet so many gold bars were found in the home of this Minister of Revenue!"
"What a sin! These corrupt officials don't care about the lives of ordinary people!"
In the crowd, a purple figure was trying hard to squeeze forward. Hongqiu Yunyao, who was squeezed behind, kept standing on tiptoe and looking around, looking for the figure of her own girl.
"Please make way, please make way."
The girl quickly squeezed to the front row and looked at the boxes of glittering gold bars. She couldn't help but exclaim, "It's true that while the rich feast, the poor freeze to death on the streets."
Suddenly, someone in the crowd shouted, "It seems that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has come out!"
The crowd immediately became agitated, pushing the girl to the point of staggering and nearly falling. Fortunately, a woman nearby helped her up and she managed to stand.
At the same time, Xiao Mingyi strode out of the Minister's Mansion, glanced at the onlookers, and headed straight for the carriage. Xuanfeng accompanied him, his right hand always resting on the hilt of his sword.
After Song Lingyi thanked the woman, she looked up in the direction of the carriage and saw a tall figure in a black robe bending down to enter the carriage. There were several tall horses guarding the carriage on both sides.
Xuanfeng turned his back to Song Lingyi, raised his whip-grip hand, and shouted, "Return to the Pacification Office!"
This voice and figure are so familiar...
Song Lingyi frowned slightly.
Before she could think it over, the two maids had already squeezed next to her.
"Girl, what are you looking at?" Yun Yao looked in the direction the girl was looking. The street was already filled with dense crowds of people. There was nothing else except the moving figures.
Song Lingyi lowered her eyes.
After a moment's silence, he shook his head and said, "Nothing."
There are 100,000 households in Kyoto, and there are quite a few people with similar backs and profiles. She must have seen it wrong.
The excitement of the Minister's Mansion died down, and the three of them wandered the streets for a while, buying cakes and jewelry. When they returned to the shop, Lu Yu had just finished paying the bills.
On the way back, Song Lingyi couldn't suppress her curiosity and asked Lu Yu about His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.
"Speaking of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, he's truly remarkable. According to my father, His Royal Highness has been gifted since childhood. He can memorize a book after reading it once, compose poetry with ease, and is proficient in not only riding and archery, but also in all eighteen martial arts. Even with his highly respected status as the crown prince, he remains respectful and gentle in his interactions with others."
Lu Yu held her chin with both hands, her eyes full of admiration: "The most precious thing is that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is also very handsome!"
"...Have you seen it?" Song Lingyi asked hesitantly.
"I met him once when I was a child. That year... His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was still a young man. It was my grandmother's birthday, and he came to our house with gifts to celebrate." Lu Yu recalled, a charming smile on her face. "It wouldn't be an exaggeration to describe him as handsome, dignified, and gentle as jade."
After hearing Lu Yu's description, the little voice that had just emerged in Song Lingyi's heart was suppressed again, and she only sighed softly.
"Why is my cousin sighing?" Lu Yu was curious.
"nothing."
Song Lingyi shook her head, thinking that reincarnation was a skill. Some people were born in Rome, but she was born like an ox or a horse.
…
Life passed uneventfully in the backyard of the Duke of Jin's mansion, and Song Lingyi rarely heard any fresh news from the city. She would rise every morning to greet her elders, carefully tend to the flowers and plants in the courtyard, and study etiquette with the teacher hired by Wang. As for the poetry collections she bought, she only flipped through them a few times before leaving them in a corner to gather dust.
Early that morning, the girl went to the old lady's courtyard to pay her respects and happened to meet Wang there.
"In a few days, the old lady of the Pei family will have her birthday banquet. I remember there is a tourmaline bracelet from the Western Regions in the storeroom. Can you deliver it to her for me?"
The sound of the old lady and Wang talking came from the main house. Song Lingyi did not go in to disturb them immediately, but stood in the corridor for a while.
Wang said, "Don't worry, daughter-in-law. I heard that the Pei family wants to take advantage of the birthday banquet to find a bride for Jianzhi. Jianzhi is twenty-one, and it's time for him to get married."
The old lady held the bowl of soup and glanced at Wang's expression. It was not difficult to guess what she was thinking. She said lightly, "Jianzhi looks easygoing and easy to talk to, but he is actually very opinionated. Unless he is willing, it will not be easy to decide on a new bride."
Hearing this, the smile on Wang's face faded a little.
The youngest daughter had reached marriage age, and it was time to start choosing a husband. The Pei family knew her well, and they knew Pei Erlang was in his prime, a perfect candidate. However, her sister-in-law had previously broken off the engagement, and although the two families had always had a good relationship, discussing the marriage again was unlikely to be easy.
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