The Imperial Palace.
The Imperial Study.
Wisps of fragrance rose with the smoke from the incense burner, and with a gentle breeze, the alluring aroma filled the entire palace.
Inside the hall, however, the atmosphere was stagnant, and the temperature had dropped to its lowest point.
A tall figure stood in front of the window. The man was wearing a bright yellow robe with a five-clawed golden dragon. His posture was as upright as a pine tree. Even just looking at his back, he seemed majestic and domineering.
Behind him, a figure was kneeling. He listened without even frowning, as if it were something insignificant.
In the center of the main hall, a man in a crimson court robe knelt on the ground, his forehead covered in large beads of sweat, anxiously explaining something.
"Your Majesty, this matter is due to my poor performance. There was a flood in Jiangnan. Your Majesty trusted your ministers, but the officials in Jiangnan protected each other and embezzled funds at every level. I could only do my best to protect a portion of the disaster relief funds."
That's right, this person is Xiao Heng, who will ascend the throne in the future. He is decent-looking, but his abilities are really not outstanding. However, he is the emperor's only nephew.
When the imperial line was dwindling, not only the emperor but all members of the royal family found it difficult to conceive, especially the men, who might have countless concubines throughout their lives but still struggle to have a son.
In Xiao Jin's generation, only his twin sister, the Princess, gave birth to a son, named Xiao Heng.
Because they share the same mother, Xiao Jin has no heir yet, so he values Xiao Heng highly and specially assigned him this important task, but he didn't expect Xiao Heng to mess it up.
Xiao Heng seemed to know that this was an opportunity given to him by his uncle to test his abilities.
If things had gone well, that would have been fine, but unfortunately, they didn't. Little did he know how dark Jiangnan was. Even if he revealed his identity, it would have been completely useless.
Xiao Jin turned around, her gaze sharp and imposing as she stared directly at him: "What, still making excuses for your incompetence?"
In Xiao Heng's heart, Xiao Jin was like an insurmountable mountain, weighing heavily on his mind. He had heard that during the palace turmoil more than ten years ago, Xiao Jin had been stranded among the common people and was almost killed.
Instead of giving up, he fought his way out and exterminated all the rebels, along with their entire families. It was this perseverance and decisiveness that made him someone no one dared to underestimate.
There are rumors that Xiao Jin once ended up at Chunfeng Tower, and there are also rumors that he entered a bandit's den and was taken as a male concubine by the bandit leader. All sorts of rumors are hard to tell.
Many scholars criticized him at the time, but after Xiao Jin killed all the enemies and successfully intimidated everyone with his swift and decisive actions, no one dared to utter a word.
Xiao Heng was so frightened by Xiao Jin's questioning that he broke out in a cold sweat, his back was soaked, but he didn't even dare to wipe it off, he just knelt on the ground timidly to be scolded.
"I'm asking you a question, are you deaf? If you're truly useless, cut you off and feed you to the wolves!"
Xiao Jin grew increasingly disdainful of his nephew, especially his cowardly and irresponsible manner. How could he entrust the burden of the country to someone so lacking in responsibility?
"Fine, if you can't solve it, it means you're not suited for the position of pacification envoy. Go to the military camp for training as soon as possible!"
Xiao Jin's voice filled Xiao Heng below with joy. A military camp—didn't that mean he could command troops and gain military power?
However, before he could think it through, Xiao Jin's next words shattered his beautiful dream.
"Start as a lowly soldier and go to the harsh, cold border region of the northern city to gain experience. Do not reveal your identity, or I will remove your Xiao surname!"
Xiao Heng looked up abruptly, his eyes filled with disbelief. He had thought he would at least be given a captain's rank, but instead, he was being made a nobody?
"Royal Uncle—" Xiao Heng wanted to plead for himself, which was completely different from his original intention.
The lowest-ranking soldiers in the Tianqi Kingdom didn't even have their own tents. Instead, they had to squeeze in with others like servants, eat the worst food, and do the most tiring work.
"What, you can't even handle this little bit of hardship? Then you might as well not do anything at all and just be a carefree playboy forever."
Xiao Jin's eyes were icy cold. This time, she really had the idea of deposing him. It was better for the Xiao family to have no successor than to leave a scourge to become emperor.
Xiao Heng may not be good at much else, but he is good at reading people's expressions. When he saw the coldness in Xiao Jin's eyes, he shivered and quickly kowtowed to admit his mistake.
"It is my narrow-mindedness. Thank you for your great kindness, Your Majesty. I will certainly do my best as a soldier and guard the border for Your Majesty."
Although Xiao Heng said this, there was no joy in his eyes. Instead, he was anxious and wished he could return to his residence immediately to ask his advisors for advice.
"Get lost."
Xiao Jin waved her sleeve, not even glancing at him, seemingly disgusted by this fool.
"Yes, nephew takes his leave."
Xiao Heng lowered his head and made a respectful gesture before quietly leaving the imperial study.
After Xiao Heng left, Xiao Jin rubbed his temples with a headache. After a while, he decided to send the Prime Minister to handle the matter.
It wasn't that he was making a mountain out of a molehill, but rather that Jiangnan was too far from the capital. As the saying goes, "The emperor is far away, and even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake," and this is not just a saying.
We need to send someone of high enough status and quick wit. He thinks the old fox that is the prime minister is quite good. We shouldn't have let him go just now; we should have kept him here.
Once Xiao Jin had a suitable candidate in mind, he made a decisive move and immediately sent someone to the Prime Minister's residence. After sending the person away, he remembered that the Prime Minister wanted to invite Master Hongyi.
Thinking of this, Xiao Jin summoned Li Peicong and asked him about it: "The Prime Minister just came..."
He had barely started the conversation when Li Peicong understood and immediately picked up where he left off.
"Your Majesty, the Prime Minister's decision is based on that prophecy. Master Hongyi once predicted that if the Prime Minister's son cannot find his destined partner, he will not live to be twenty."
"Yesterday, the Prime Minister's son got married. Today, he probably wants to invite Master Hongyi to take a look and see if the new young lady is the Prime Minister's son's destined one."
"Did Hongyi go?" Xiao Jin was genuinely curious. Speaking of which, he had some old friendship with Xie Changling, the son of the Prime Minister. Helping him out would be a way of repaying the favor from back then.
"The master didn't go, but he calculated that he had already sent a message through the boy."
"What are you saying?" Xiao Jin didn't believe in gods or Buddhas. Master Hongyi was invited to the palace by the Empress Dowager. He had never met him and didn't know how profound this person was.
Seeing that the emperor had shown some interest, Li Peicong's face was no longer as gloomy as before, and he felt much more at ease, so he quickly spoke.
"What the master means is that the woman is Young Master Xie's destined one and can cure his illness."
"Hahaha, although I don't know if those words are true or false, Prime Minister, you can rest assured!"
Xiao Jin nodded with a smile, feeling somewhat relieved. After all, he had also participated in the arranged marriage, so in that sense, he could be considered half a benefactor of Xie Changling.
Xiao Jin laughed heartily at this moment, unaware of how much he would later hate himself for his meddlesome actions!
However, that's a story for another time.
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