Liu Fu discovered that Xiao Ying'er seemed to have no concept of money.
The maid she sent directly handed Liu Fu a two-thousand-tael silver note:
"Your Highness, our young lady said that all her savings are here. She wants you to see how many snacks she can buy so she can take them back to her."
Liu Fu happily accepted the silver notes and exchanged them for a bunch of snacks from Cao Cao's shop, about the size of a small cart, which he then handed to the maid.
"On behalf of my young lady, this servant thanks Your Highness."
The maidservant returned with the snacks, and at the same time, news came from the palace.
The Liao emperor temporarily suspended morning court sessions, entrusting all state affairs to his four brothers, the Liao kings.
Liu Fu knew that the exhausted Liao emperor needed to rest for a while.
Unexpectedly, this treasure-hunting rat was really useful. With its little rat companions, it managed to cover all the streets and alleys, big and small, inside and outside Liaodu in just one day.
Liu Fu discovered two more Liao Dynasty treasuries, several armories and medicine depots, and also found two other granaries in the Liao capital.
When Liu Fu learned the locations of these national treasuries and granaries, he secretly admired them.
The Liao emperor really hid things well. These two national treasuries and granaries were specially and secretly set up by him, and would only be passively opened when a huge crisis occurred as a last resort.
Liu Fu immediately sought an opportunity to sneak into the two national treasuries and granaries.
The two granaries contained a total of 800,000 shi of grain, and the national treasury was densely packed with silver ingots, totaling about two million taels.
Another treasury was filled with gold bricks, totaling approximately six million taels of silver.
Liu Fu emptied all the items from these secret locations without anyone noticing.
Not long after, Xiao Ying'er's personal maid came over again.
However, this time, when the young maid saw Liu Fu, she became somewhat hesitant.
"Your Highness, my young lady would like to buy some more snacks."
Liu Fu nodded in agreement:
"How many taels of silver is she going to buy this time?"
The maidservant said shyly:
"The young lady said she used all her savings to buy snacks last time, so now... she can only give you an IOU for now, and she will pay you back as soon as she has saved enough money."
The little maid stuck out her tongue shyly as she spoke.
Liu Fu took the IOU with great interest. Sure enough, it bore Xiao Ying'er's neat and beautiful handwriting, which read:
"Xiao Ying'er of the Xiao family borrowed 2,000 taels of silver from Liu Fu, the eighth prince of the Later Han Dynasty, to buy snacks, with an agreement to return it in half a month. This was written by Xiao Ying'er herself."
Liu Fu couldn't help but laugh when he saw the IOU.
Since you'll have the money in two weeks, why don't you just come back to buy it in two weeks? Why can't you wait to come and ask me to sign an IOU?
How craving must they be?
In fact, Liu Fu was used to modern snacks and didn't care about them. He was completely unaware of how tempting these modern snacks were to people in ancient times.
After chuckling a few times, Liu Fu agreed to the IOU and then took out some snacks for the maid to take back.
"Your Highness is truly wise and mighty, with an imposing presence and a handsome appearance. This servant thanks Your Highness!"
The little maid had a sweet tongue; after praising him at length, she left with the snacks.
Unexpectedly, only a few days later, the maid from the Xiao residence came again.
Liu Fu rolled his eyes and said helplessly:
"Hey, hey, hey, you still haven't paid back the two thousand taels of silver you owed last time. Are you planning to try and get something for nothing this time, and freeload off me?"
This time, when the little maid raised her head, Liu Fu took a closer look and realized it was Xiao Ying'er.
It turned out to be her disguised maid, who had actually come to find her in person this time.
Liu Fu thought to himself, "Is it really worth it for a few snacks?"
That's really necessary!
When Xiao Ying'er saw Liu Fu, she looked embarrassed and said shyly:
"Your Highness, I...I would like to ask you for another IOU."
Liu Fu raised his eyes and looked at her, asking:
"Are the snacks still worth two thousand taels of silver?"
Xiao Ying'er blushed and giggled shyly.
"Alright, I'll help you this one last time."
As he spoke, Liu Fu had Xiao Ying'er write down an IOU.
In reality, these snacks couldn't possibly be worth two thousand taels of silver, but Xiao Ying'er was foolish enough to give them away, so Liu Fu dared to accept them.
"By the way, I have some good news for you. The Crown Prince is dead, so your engagement should be dissolved."
Xiao Ying'er was stunned by Liu Fu's words and asked incredulously:
"The Crown Prince, is he really dead?"
“How could it be fake? It’s real,” Liu Fu replied.
Upon hearing the news, Xiao Ying'er immediately put on a smiling face and happily jumped around for a long time.
"It's such a blessing that I don't have to marry him. I've heard that the Crown Prince is very ruthless. If he doesn't like someone, he'll drag them out and kill them without even a charge. If I were to marry someone like that, I would go crazy!"
However, Xiao Ying'er was still somewhat puzzled and asked:
"But since the Crown Prince is no longer here, why are we still unaware of this matter?"
Liu Fu thought to himself, "Nonsense!"
Family scandals should not be aired in public, especially not the emperor's. How could the news be made public so quickly?
"Just wait and see. Soon the Liao Emperor will issue an imperial edict to dissolve your engagement with the Crown Prince. As for the news of the Crown Prince's death, he will probably never let anyone know about it in his lifetime."
Xiao Ying'er was puzzled, but what Liu Fu said was indeed true.
The Liao emperor wanted to downplay all the news of the empress being forced to commit suicide, Consort Wu being killed, and the crown prince being executed.
Once these things get out, the Liao royal family and the Yelü clan will lose all face.
However, it was best to make these things happen quietly and without attracting attention, so he has not announced the deaths of the three people until now. In order to keep the secret, he also killed all the palace maids who knew about the matter, which made the disappearance of the three people a mystery in the Liao palace.
Liu Fu knew this because the treasure-hunting rat and its henchmen tipped him off.
When Xiao Ying'er returned to the Xiao family, she trusted Liu Fu completely. After all, from the moment they first met, she felt that Liu Fu seemed reliable, and since he had saved her life, he was someone she could trust.
But how could I have known?
Soon, an imperial edict arrived from the palace, announcing the dissolution of her engagement with Crown Prince Yelü Hongqi.
But then another imperial decree arrived, betrothing her to another prince.
"After much deliberation, I have decided that the Crown Prince has other important matters to attend to and therefore the engagement with Xiao Ying'er is hereby dissolved. However, the Xiao family has served as officials for generations, risking their lives for our Great Liao. Therefore, I hereby grant permission for my Third Prince, Yelü Xiong Hai, to marry Xiao Ying'er. This is my decree!"
Although her engagement with the Crown Prince was dissolved, Xiao Ying'er was then betrothed to Yelü Xiong Hai, the third prince of the Liao Emperor.
Upon hearing the imperial edict, Xiao Ying'er's joy turned to sorrow, and she burst into tears...
Yelü Xiong Hai was a warlike man who killed countless people. He once slaughtered 200,000 people in the Central Plains, throwing their bodies into the Han River to block the flow of water. Later, as the bodies rotted, they caused a plague, which killed a great many people.
This person had an extremely bad reputation even among the Liao people, yet she was forced to marry such a murderous tyrant?
Xiao Ying'er felt a tightness in her chest, and she suddenly wanted to escape. Her first thought was to run away to Liu Fu's place...
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