Shen Wan couldn't help but admire Xie Jingyan's meticulous thinking. She only thought of using her merits to ask the emperor to grant her a marriage, which would only fulfill her cousin's wish with the Princess of Qinghe County. But if she asked for the death-exemption token, the result would be very different. Not only would her cousin get his wish, but she could also save the life of the Prince of Yanping.
This is still the worst-case scenario. If the Prince of Yanping could escape that calamity, he wouldn't need the death-exemption token. With the death-exemption token, it would be much easier for the Yun family to marry the Princess of Huai'an.
The Prince of Yanping's mansion dared not accept the pardon as a betrothal gift. It wasn't that they didn't want it; if only the Emperor agreed or even offered a word of persuasion, the matter would be settled.
Thinking of this, Shen Wanxin calmed down. However, just as she calmed down, the steady carriage suddenly stopped, and Chen Feng's voice came, "Your Highness, the First Prince is looking for you."
Xie Jingyan lifted the carriage curtain and saw the First Prince riding over, blocking their way.
Xie Jingyan asked, "Does the King of Qin have something to discuss with me?"
The eldest prince looked at Xie Jingyan with a cold expression and said, "Sixth brother, without saying a word, actually stabbed me in the back."
Xie Jingyan said, "Speak plainly."
The eldest prince stopped beating around the bush and said, "You were the one who sent people to investigate the Meizhou granary."
So that's why they blocked his path. Xie Jingyan glanced at the eldest prince and said, "You owe me a favor for this."
The eldest prince laughed in exasperation, "I owe you a favor?"
Xie Jingyan also smiled, "You should know very well what the situation is like in Meizhou now. If the Yun family hadn't taken precautions to transport grain and medicine to Meizhou in advance, and the official road to Meizhou had collapsed, the grain wouldn't have been able to get in, and there wouldn't have been any grain in the granaries for disaster relief. Has the Prince of Qin thought about what the consequences would have been?"
The eldest prince's face froze, and a chill ran down his spine.
However, the eldest prince quickly regained his composure and said, "Since my sixth brother wants to do me a favor, why not do it more readily and tell me about the earthquake in Meizhou in advance?"
Xie Jingyan's smile deepened. "Even the heir of the Marquis of Pingyang, holding the Emperor's token, personally came to Meizhou, yet he couldn't convince the officials of Meizhou that there was an earthquake. Does the Prince of Qin think that if he gives an order, everyone in Meizhou will treat your words as gospel?"
"It concerns the lives of tens of thousands of people. The King of Qin dares to gamble, but I dare not."
The eldest prince had nothing to say.
Because what Xie Jingyan said was true.
The officials in Meizhou paid a heavy price for their arrogance.
The eldest prince looked at Xie Jingyan and asked, "How did Sixth Brother know that an earthquake would occur in Meizhou late that night?"
The accuracy of their knowledge is so precise, it's almost frightening.
No matter how curious the Crown Prince was, Xie Jingyan would not tell him that it was Shen Wan's dream. He said, "I can only tell you that there will be torrential rain for several days in Xizhou in two months, and the Xizhou dam will collapse."
The eldest prince's eyes narrowed. "The Xizhou Dam was only completed last year. How could it have collapsed so quickly?"
Xie Jingyan said, "I learned about the collapse of the Xizhou Dam and the earthquake in Meizhou on the same day. Believe it or not, it's up to you."
Lowering the carriage curtain, Xie Jingyan said, "Let's go back to the manor."
The servant continued to drive the carriage forward.
As the carriage drove away, the eldest prince's brows remained furrowed.
Even if the rain in Xizhou is extremely heavy, the newly built dike could not have collapsed so easily; it must have been constructed with substandard materials.
If this is true, then he truly owes Prince Ling a great favor.
The eldest prince turned around and headed to the Ministry of Works.
Inside the carriage, Shen Wan looked at Xie Jingyan and asked, "You told the First Prince about the Xizhou Dam so that he would investigate it?"
If she remembered correctly, the Xizhou Dam was built by Xie Jingyin's men. In her previous life, the Xizhou Dam was washed away by a flood, inundating several nearby villages and even the town. When the emperor found out, he was furious, even more so than when the Meizhou earthquake struck. After all, an earthquake is a natural disaster, while a dam might be a man-made disaster.
The Emperor ordered a thorough investigation into the Xizhou Dam case, but before the investigation could yield results, the Emperor passed away. After Xie Jingyin ascended the throne, the case was investigated, but in the end, several officials in charge of building the dam were executed, and the matter was dropped.
Thinking of the corruption of court officials, who skimmed off a layer of money from every penny they handled, ultimately causing widespread suffering, my cousin, without batting an eye, sent an extra 400,000 taels to the court. Even so, his desire to marry Princess Qinghe was fraught with obstacles, and I wondered when he would finally be able to fulfill his wish.
Xie Jingyan said, "Let the eldest prince investigate. If there really is a problem with the Xizhou Dam, the Prince of Jin's people will definitely try every means to obstruct it, and the emperor will be more cautious in handling it."
This would both cause the Crown Prince and the Prince of Jin to fight each other and help the people of Xizhou. Why not do it?
Shen Wan had witnessed Xie Jingyan's methods more than once. If he truly wanted to seize the position of crown prince, even the First Prince and the Prince of Jin working together might not be a match for him.
By the time they returned to the Lingwang Mansion, it was already lunchtime. Before leaving, Yinshuang told the kitchen not to prepare any food for them, as they would eat at the Pingyang Marquis's residence. The kitchen hadn't prepared anything, but then they returned. Since they hadn't eaten lunch by then, they quickly started preparing again.
Due to time constraints, they only had time to prepare a few simple dishes, and Shen Wan and Xie Jingyan made do with what they had.
After finishing her meal, Shen Wan felt exhausted. She rested for a quarter of an hour, but couldn't stay awake any longer and went to bed.
She slept for a full hour before waking up. When she did, she sat on the bed and stretched. Yinshuang came running in, her eyes sparkling on her pretty face. "Your Highness, the Marquis found out that the Old Madam asked you to persuade the Second Madam. He was very angry and ordered the Second Master to go to the Second Madam's family, the Cao family, to apologize. He also ordered the Old Madam to move to the Buddhist hall to recuperate until she recovers."
Silver Frost grinned, feeling incredibly happy.
The old lady was allowed to be biased and protective of her own, and she kept doing disgusting things. She was punished by the Marquis, but unfortunately, she was bound by the concept of "filial piety," so the Marquis couldn't do anything to her. He punished her by sending her to the Buddhist hall to reflect on her actions, but he had to do it under the pretense of recuperating. The old lady should have spent the rest of her life in the Buddhist hall, so that she wouldn't have such a comfortable life and would have been causing trouble all the time.
Shen Wan was in a good mood after a good night's sleep, and hearing this comforting news made her even happier. She immediately rewarded Yin Shuang with two taels of silver.
Father knew that this matter could not have been spread from Qinghui Courtyard, but only from Yinshuang's shout in the garden, so he was sure to reward her.
Yinshuang was so happy she couldn't stop smiling.
Shen Wan got out of bed, and Yin Shuang helped her get dressed. After washing her face briefly, Hai Tang brought over a bowl of lotus seed soup. Shen Wan tasted it and said, "It tastes good. Have you sent it to the Prince?"
Haitang said, "The prince has gone to the palace."
A hint of surprise flashed in Shen Wan's eyes.
Why is Xie Jingyan in the palace again? Didn't he just go to the palace with his elder brother this morning?
Shen Wan asked, "Did the Emperor summon the Prince to the palace?"
Haitang shook her head, "The Emperor has not summoned him..."
Shen Wan continued eating her lotus seed soup, her heart filled with curiosity. Last time, Xie Jingyan had taken the initiative to enter the palace to help her elder brother ask for a marriage decree, and had even made himself uncomfortable by having lunch with the Emperor. She wondered why he was entering the palace this time...
Just then, Dong'er ran in and said, "Your Highness, something terrible has happened! The Prince has been beaten by the Emperor!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
