Situ Yao's eyes flashed, "If the Minister is not afraid of attracting criticism, you can follow the Queen's rules."
"But this way, the cost of the birthday banquet will probably increase significantly." Situ Yao had just finished speaking when he was immediately opposed by the Minister of Revenue. "Without rules, there will be no order. Since you are only a noble concubine, you can only follow the rules and regulations for noble concubines. You can't go beyond the Queen's control, otherwise how will others see it?"
"But..." The Minister of Rites was afraid that the emperor would blame him. If he failed to organize the birthday party he wanted, everyone in the Ministry of Rites would suffer.
However, without the money from the Ministry of Revenue, he dared not speak out even if he had many ideas. Moreover, he did not really want to do what the emperor wanted, and he did not want to be criticized.
"As for the money, Imperial Concubine Bai isn't the Empress, so all expenses for the birthday banquet should naturally come from the private treasury. The money in the national treasury should be used for more important things, not just a birthday banquet for a concubine." Situ Yao sneered, "Since the Emperor wants to honor her, he'll have to pay something. Just ask the Emperor, my Lord, and he'll agree."
Situ Yao was very sure that given the emperor's favor for Concubine Bai, he would still hold a birthday banquet for her even if he had to take money out of his private treasury.
The two ministers looked at Situ Yao's receding figure, and said thoughtfully, "In fact, it's time for the young people to take charge of the court."
"Yes, Your Majesty has become more and more confused recently." The Minister of Rites sighed.
"We weren't optimistic about this crown prince at first, but now it seems he's the most suitable." The Minister of Revenue's eyes gleamed, and he felt he should let go of some of his prejudices. In fact, what the Great Qi needed now was a monarch as decisive and ruthless as the crown prince.
"You don't want to wait and see?" The Minister of Rites said with a smile.
"The one preferred by the higher-ups is the one raised by Concubine Bai. Although he has some abilities, he is still far behind the crown prince. And if he is allowed to sit in that position, Da Qi will probably have to change its surname to Bai." The Minister of Revenue saw the situation very clearly, and he was not optimistic about Situ Zhao.
However, because they were all veteran officials, their loyalty was to Da Qi, not to the prince, so they never made their stance clear. Over the years, Situ Yao's actions had won the approval of these veteran officials.
"Never mind, he is already the crown prince who has issued an imperial edict. We old guys will just keep an eye on him and nothing serious will happen." The Minister of Rites was cheerful and not worried at all.
Situ Yao, returning to the East Palace, hadn't thought about their discussion at all. He saw Su Mengyan drinking the tranquilizing soup and preparing to go to handle official business. Qing Feng led Cui Mixue in and said with his head lowered, "Your Highness, Miss Cui wants to see you."
"You can leave now." Situ Yao sat next to Su Mengyan without moving. He looked at Cui Mixue with an unhappy face and said, "You can go now. I helped you regain the family property, and you regained your status as the Cui family's legitimate daughter. This is considered to be my repayment for saving my life. From now on, we owe each other nothing."
Cui Mixue's face turned pale. She hadn't expected Situ Yao to be so heartless. With red eyes, she explained, "Your Highness, I really didn't think of sending Concubine Su to Prince Rui's Palace."
"I only believe what I see with my own eyes." Situ Yao didn't want to hear her explanation.
Cui Mixue saw Su Mengyan lying silent beside her, bit her lower lip, hardened her heart, and pretended to be weak, "This is all my fault. I hope Concubine Su can forgive my mistake. I really didn't intend to harm you."
Su Mengyan pulled her hand back and smiled awkwardly, "Your Highness will decide whether you stay or go."
Cui Mixue was rejected by her, and her eyes were redder than before. "In fact, you know that they arrested the wrong person. You deliberately didn't want me to stay, so you instigated His Highness to send me away."
"Su Mengyan, how could you be so cruel and deliberately set up such a trap just to drive me out of the Eastern Palace." Cui Mixue's ability to confuse right and wrong was too strong. She said that everything was Su Mengyan's own fault and had nothing to do with her.
No matter how Cui Mixue clamored, she was eventually sent out of the Eastern Palace. This was because what she did this time touched Situ Yao's bottom line, and there was no way he could keep her here any longer.
Cui Mixue relied on the protection of the Eastern Palace before, and no one in the Cui family dared to do anything to her. After being sent out of the Eastern Palace this time, her life will probably not be easy.
But Su Mengyan didn't have time to think about these things. Situ Yao didn't know why he was thinking about the sachet again. She had only embroidered half of it last time, but under his urging, she had to pick up the needle and thread again.
Chun He thought of the last time she had her ten fingers bandaged up after being pricked, and said with some concern, "My lady, how about I let this servant help you?"
"I will definitely finish it before His Highness returns."
"Chun He, you now dare to pretend to obey His Highness, aren't you afraid that he will find out that the sachet was not made by me?" Su Mengyan said with a smile. Chun He was much bolder than before, which was a good thing.
"As long as the young lady doesn't say it, no one will know." Chunhe said in a low voice, and glanced outside, afraid that someone would eavesdrop.
"I'll do it myself. The worst I'll do is get pricked and bleed." Su Mengyan thought, thinking that if Situ Yao hadn't rescued her in time, the consequences would have been disastrous. It's just a sachet, isn't it? Consider it a token of gratitude for saving her life, even if the thank-you gift is a bit meager.
When the master and servant were discussing how to make the white tiger embroidered more realistically, Yun Fu ran in dejectedly without notifying anyone.
"What are you doing?" She suddenly said, startling Su Mengyan. She looked up and saw Yun Fu's face approaching. She quickly put the sachet away and asked, "Princess, what's wrong?"
"In half a month, it will be Concubine Bai's birthday banquet." Yun Fu said.
Su Mengyan nodded. She had heard Situ Yao talk about this a long time ago. "What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
"I just went to see my father and heard them discussing arranging a marriage for me during Noble Concubine Bai's birthday banquet." Yun Fu said with a bitter face, "Noble Concubine Bai hates me and my brother the Crown Prince so much, if she took the initiative to propose an arranged marriage, it definitely can't be a good thing."
"Have you discussed this with His Highness?" Su Mengyan remembered Situ Yao's previous concerns and didn't expect them to come so soon.
Yun Fu shook his head. "The Crown Prince has been very busy these days, and I don't want to cause him more trouble."
"If they insist on me marrying someone I don't know, I'll become a nun." Yun Fu bit his lip and said, "I want them all to see that if the evil concubine forces the princess to become a nun, will she still be able to be her concubine safely?"
"Don't worry, we'll think of a solution after Your Highness comes back." Su Mengyan quickly comforted her.
After a while, she asked in distress, "Princess, do you want to get married now?" Because she felt that the solution Situ Yao came up with was nothing more than finding another person to get engaged to Yun Fu.
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