Chapter 103 Successfully entered Dragon Bone Village!
On the other side, Zhou Qiwu was happily seeing off Zhou Ru'an. Over the years, Zhou Ru'an had taken countless gold and silver treasures from her. If she hadn't been hoping that he could help her return to the capital, how could she have been willing to give them away?
Zhou Ruan's maternal grandfather was a renowned general in the west. Although he had transferred some of his power in the west, he still had many trusted confidants in the northwest. His uncles were all officials in the court, some as civil officials and some as military generals. They even had people in the Imperial Guards that guarded the capital.
In her view, the Second Prince was the one with the best chance of winning among all the princes. As long as she helped Zhou Ru'an, it would be a meritorious deed for the emperor's ascension to the throne. Zhou Ru'an had already privately promised that after he ascended the throne, he would bestow upon her the title of Princess Zhenguo, second only to the emperor.
At that time, she will make all those who once ridiculed her wish they were dead.
Just as she was immersed in her beautiful imagination of the future, a guard rushed in with a report.
"Princess, the Second Prince has returned."
Zhou Qiwu looked surprised. Wasn't he rushing off to provide disaster relief?
What are you coming back for?
~
"What? All the disaster relief funds have been replaced with stones?" Zhou Qiwu took two steps back in shock and slumped into the armchair.
Zhou Ru'an said coldly, "I was very careful on the way here. After disembarking, I had someone store the disaster relief funds in the warehouse at the dock and assigned heavy guards to guard it. Aunt, as far as I know, the dock is the private property of the Princess's Mansion. Now that the disaster relief funds have been lost, how do you explain it?"
Zhou Qiwu raised his voice, his tone sharp: "You doubt me?"
Zhou Ru'an rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on, and sighed, "It's not that I suspect you, it's that the disaster relief funds were switched at the Tianjin dock. Someone is trying to frame us!"
Zhou Qiwu was completely disoriented and subconsciously turned to look at Yuan Lang beside him.
Zhou Ru'an saw everything, cursed him under his breath as an idiot, and then said, "If we don't come up with a solution in time, the Shen family will end up like the two of us!"
Zhou Qiwu's heart skipped a beat, and his heart sank to the bottom!
"If Aunt doesn't believe me, feel free to send someone to the dock to check. I suspect this is a trap set for the two of us!"
Zhou Qiwu gripped the chair tightly and asked angrily, "Who is it?"
Zhou Ru'an said in a deep voice, "Every adult prince is a possibility. Aunt, you don't know how much effort I had to put in to get the disaster relief mission from among the princes this time. Those people must be gritting their teeth in anger, wishing they could tear me to pieces!"
Yuan Lang nodded slightly to Zhou Qiwu, agreeing that Zhou Ru'an's words made sense.
Throughout history, the dragon throne has always been stained with blood. Whoever sits on that throne has taken the lives of several of their own relatives!
Zhou Qiwu panicked.
"So what should we do?"
Seeing that Zhou Qiwu was completely at a loss, Zhou Ruan then revealed his purpose: "Quickly gather the disaster relief funds and pretend that nothing was stolen!"
Zhou Xiwu: "Then let's hurry up and get started!"
Zhou Ru'an: "It's not that easy. All my businesses are in the capital. If anything happens to my people in the capital, it will reach the ears of my brothers. If we need to raise money, we can only rely on my aunt."
When Zhou Qiwu heard him say that, he almost fainted.
Let her pay?
That's several million taels of silver! It emptied her entire princess's mansion, and she still couldn't fill the void!
“Aunt, although I cannot use the property in the capital, I am willing to use all the compensation you gave me as disaster relief funds.”
Zhou Qiwu's face was as black as if it had been smeared with soot, and it didn't improve much because of Zhou Ruan's words.
It was only right for him to take those things out; after all, he had failed in his duty to escort the disaster relief funds.
He shouldn't have come to Tianjin; it's bad luck!
"I also need my aunt to gather some grain. After I return to the capital, if anyone stirs up trouble, I can openly tell my father that this was donated to the court by my aunt to share his burdens!"
Zhou Ru'an was able to snatch the position of Imperial Envoy for Disaster Relief not because he was an empty-headed fool, but because he successfully hit Zhou Qiwu's sore spot.
Wasn't Zhou Xiwu eagerly hoping to return to the capital and become a high-ranking official, second only to the emperor?
This is a chance to show her face, so let's ask her if she wants it or not?
"Let me think about it some more!" The amount is simply too large; if it were to be paid out, it would cripple her princess's residence.
"Okay, Auntie, I'll wait for your news. We don't have much time left!" In Zhou Ru'an's view, regardless of whether he would speak up for the Third Princess after returning to the capital, she would still give him money.
All he needs to do now is go back to the dock and wait for the money to be delivered to his door. As for why he doesn't stay at the princess's residence, he thinks it's dirty there!
An hour later, Zhou Ruan received Zhou Qiwu's reply, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief!
Meanwhile, while Zhou Ruan and Zhou Xiwu were arguing, Shen Lanxi had already boarded Dragon Bone Bay.
When Zhou Ru'an received Zhou Xiwu's reply, her identity had just been verified and she had been taken to the pirate stronghold of Longgu Village.
"Are you Mr. Yuan?" The one-eyed chieftain of Dragon Bone Village glanced up and down at Shen Lanxi, who was pretending to be Yuan Lang.
He thought to himself: Just like the rumors say, he's a gigolo who grew up living off women!
"Greetings, Chief Kun!" Shen Lanxi glanced at Cheng Zheng, who immediately bowed his head and presented a treasure box.
"This is a gift that our princess specially asked me to deliver to the chieftain!"
Cheng Zheng opened the treasure box, inside were ten luminous pearls, each the size of a child's fist!
Kuncha was immediately captivated.
Shen Lanxi smiled and said, "Put these beads in the room at night, and it will be as bright as day. These beads were originally tributes, but my princess said it would be a waste to give them to others, so we should give them to the chieftain. From now on, our two families will shine like these luminous beads for a long, long time!"
Kuncha knew that tributes were for the emperor's use, and now that Zhou Qiwu had sent them to him, it meant that he was very important to Zhou Qiwu and that Zhou Qiwu was trying to curry favor with him. He was secretly pleased with himself and found Shen Lanxi and the others much more agreeable.
"I heard from the third brother that the third princess also prepared food for us?"
Shen Lanxi said respectfully, "There is a disaster outside, and our princess is thinking about the brothers on the island. Even if the people on the shore are starving, we must make sure that the brothers on the island are well-fed!"
Kuncha arrogantly said, "That's right, we've risked our lives for the Third Princess. When you go back, tell the Third Princess that if she's good to us, we'll be good to her. Next time a large cargo passes by, we brothers will definitely be ready to fight for the Third Princess!"
Shen Lanxi began to flatter: "Chief Kun is truly a hero, quick-witted and outspoken, full of heroic spirit, which inspires our admiration as scholars!"
Kuncha was so happy to be photographed by Shen Lanxi that he was almost out of his mind. Those who could sit in the position of chieftain were all ruthless and would not be easily fooled. After the charade, he immediately asked.
"Wasn't there supposed to be a ship full of grain? Where is it?"
Shen Lanxi: "When I arrived, the ship had apparently hit a reef. Once it reached the entrance to the bay, it wouldn't move no matter what I did."
She sighed and continued, "I originally planned to come on the big ship, but now I have to come early in a small boat to deliver the message!"
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