Song Yaozhu avoided his gaze and hurriedly sorted through the letters.
She said, "Lord Yu is your man, and I am your princess consort. I will naturally do whatever you ask. Is he any different from Mr. Ji and the others?"
She tidied up the letters and put them back in the box. When she looked up at Xie Liwei again, she no longer felt guilty; her eyes were filled with a calm and composed demeanor that was a facade.
Xie Liwei glanced at her, turned to the side, took out a folded document from his pocket, and handed it to her.
Song Yaozhu took the document and glanced at it, only to find it was a routine notification. It was almost July, the hottest time of the year, and the Emperor was going to take all the officials and concubines to the Summer Palace to escape the heat. Xie Liwei, the Prince of Xiaoyao, was among them.
Song Yaozhu handed the memorial back to him and said, "Why do I feel like this damned emperor is still up to no good and is targeting me, and you're just an afterthought?"
Xie Liwei chuckled lightly and said, "Yes, yes, the princess is a celestial beauty, stunningly beautiful, beyond the reach of us mortals."
Song Yaozhu chuckled and then said, "Your Highness, you should prepare a few maids who know martial arts for me."
This is something she's wanted for a long time.
Xie Liwei gave her a long, brooding look and said, "Do you think people like this are easy to find?"
The princess's personal maids naturally had to be beautiful, loyal, and skilled in martial arts. These women were mostly chosen from among the best-built servants and trained from a young age.
There were quite a few women like that when his older sister was alive, but most of them died after she passed away. He never thought about starting a family, so he naturally couldn't plan for the future and never raised a woman like that.
Before Song Yaozhu even spoke up, he had already considered arranging such a person for her, but unfortunately... he had found some people to train her, but none of them had been very effective. After all, martial arts training is not something that can be accomplished overnight.
Song Yaozhu knew that such people were hard to find. In her past life, the people who protected her were all left to her by her mother, accompanying her through life and death. If she hadn't become the Empress, and if those girls hadn't lacked the ambition to achieve great things, perhaps one of them could have become the first female general of the Great Chen Dynasty.
Thinking of her old flame, Song Yaozhu couldn't help but feel sad.
Granny Qin had told her that after Xie Liwei escorted the coffin back to his hometown, he also erected a cenotaph next to her tomb, so that those people would keep her company and not be lonely in the afterlife.
"Alright, Your Highness, please find me some personal protective items."
That's easy enough. My older sister had kept a lot of them before, so he simply gave her the key to his private stash and let her choose. He also said that if she didn't like any of them, she could draw up the designs herself and have a craftsman make them for her.
Song Yaozhu looked up at him while holding the key, thinking to herself, "How did he know I could draw some weapon blueprints?"
She left such questions at that, not daring to think about them too deeply, for fear of leading her to conclude that Xie Liwei had already guessed her true identity.
It's better to be a little oblivious when it's appropriate, otherwise you're prone to getting stuck on trivial matters.
Xie Liwei handed over the keys and then went to select the people to take to the manor. Officials' families could bring servants, but they were all given a quota, so he naturally chose the most capable people.
After he left, several young ladies surnamed Cao who lived in the mansion came over and said bluntly, "Your Highness, I saw that they are recruiting escort agencies to transport grain supplies. We would like to go too!"
The girl who spoke was named Cao Jing. She was very tall; Song Yaozhu, who considered herself not short, was still half a head shorter than her. She stood as straight as a pine tree and spoke with a strong voice, indicating that she was a trained martial artist, and a very skilled one at that.
Song Yaozhu had no intention of forcing them to stay as guards. Everyone has their own ambitions, and forcing things won't work. Besides, you'd have to constantly worry about whether they had ulterior motives.
"But what the imperial court wants is a security escort agency that has been established for more than three years and has completed at least ten escort missions. If you want to go, it's too late to establish a security escort agency now."
"We're not setting up a security escort agency. There are already quite a few agencies out there expanding their workforce for this bidding process. We'd like to apply!"
Song Yaozhu smiled at them, "Since you've already made up your minds, just tell your nannies; you don't need my approval."
"You are our host, so of course we should tell you!" The girls were very happy that she didn't insist on keeping them.
"The old woman said that if you agree, she will let us go. Let's go tell her the good news now!"
Song Yaozhu: "......"
Unwittingly, she was forced to do something foolish.
If she didn't agree, the girls would complain about her; if she agreed, Granny Yu would also complain about her.
After the girls left, Granny Qin said unhappily, "That Granny Yu clearly didn't want them to go, but she couldn't resist their pleas, so she used the Princess as a pretext. Now look what's happened, she's going to hold a grudge against the Princess."
Song Yaozhu took a sip of tea. "She said it herself, so we should be prepared for anything. If she hates me because of this, it shows we're not on the same path. It's better to part ways sooner rather than later."
She had originally intended to recruit them and make them a great asset. But upon seeing these young girls in the prime of their lives, she suddenly changed her mind.
My own loves and hates are none of their business, so why should I involve them? So I settled them in, asked them what they wanted to do, and did my best to help them bloom in their best season.
The next day, the girls came to thank Song Yaozhu with their job offers. Granny Yu, who was standing beside her, had an inscrutable expression, and it was impossible to tell what she was thinking.
The girls moved out of the palace that very day, and a group of people saw them off.
After they left, several other girls came to say that they wanted to visit the academy, as they couldn't stay in the Prince's mansion forever and needed to find something to do.
Song Yaozhu reluctantly agreed, while Granny Yu couldn't understand why the Princess Consort of Xiaoyao had summoned them from so far away just for this.
That's it?
Was there no conspiracy or trickery involved?
Isn't there anyone facing a life-or-death situation?
Granny Yu moved to the academy with the girls, filled with anxiety, still unable to believe that Song Yaozhu was a good person.
Once people have power in their hands, everything they do ultimately revolves around the pursuit of profit.
Time flew by, and the Ministry of Personnel quickly recruited escort agencies. These agencies secretly set off in batches along different routes to escort the grain supplies. By the end of June, the matter was over.
"The missing grain has not been found, and all the officials in the Ministry of Personnel have been investigated. Several officials who accepted bribes have been demoted, but Tong Qian was only reprimanded for inadequate supervision."
Xie Liwei had expected this outcome. After all, if such a trivial matter could bring down Tong Qian, then it would be a real underestimation of the Minister of Revenue.
Song Yaozhu was looking at a list, which contained all the items she needed to bring to the imperial palace.
She picked up a vermilion pen and crossed out some useless things, then continued, "I remember that old geezer was quite lecherous?"
Xie Liwei was slightly taken aback. Was Tong Qian a lecher?
How could he not know?
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