On the third day of their journey to Jiangnan, before setting off, Li Dequan specially invited Yinhe and Qingyan to a banquet. The censors examined the design and concluded that the Fourth Prince's wife was only after making money and had not taken on any royal responsibilities.
"Anda, wait a moment!" Qingyan looked at Yin's eyes, turned around and went inside. Using a mahogany carved box as a barrier, he took out a box from his space. Inside were the two stolen paintings and four finished products.
Qingyan came out and followed Yin and the others to the imperial tent. Everyone had heard a little about what the censors had said. The servants in the inner palace wanted to get something for nothing, and the officials' wives and children were also very indignant. However, they were also concerned about who had prepared the allowances and that one side would be replaced, so they could only swallow their anger.
As Qingyan stepped into the tent, he saw six censors standing in front of the imperial table, passionately recounting Qingyan's crimes. They even mentioned Fei Yanggu and his two sons.
"Fourth Prince's wife, do you have anything to say?" Kangxi noticed Qingyan's confident demeanor and waved his hand, indicating that she didn't need to perform the proper etiquette.
"Father, please take a look at something." Qingyan handed the box to Li Dequan, opened it, and asked him to present it to Kangxi.
The box was placed on the imperial table. Kangxi saw the finished headdress and two design sketches. He also saw the sketches that Yinzhi had specially submitted along with the imperial workshop report. Kangxi's face darkened even more.
“This is…” Li Dequan personally took out the jewelry, and the censors were still unaware of what it was all about.
"Sirs, the headdresses that the Imperial Workshop requested Linglong Pavilion to make were originally designed by Linglong Pavilion's craftsmen. However, during the sample room work, it was discovered that they were time-consuming and material-intensive, and the wearing time was short. So they were directly discarded as drafts and locked in the discarded drafts cabinet of Linglong Pavilion in the capital. I don't know how the people in the Imperial Workshop obtained them. Every design of Linglong Pavilion must first produce a sample, and then undergo repeated experiments to ensure that there will be no problems in a short period of time before it is put on the market." Qingyan raised her small head and looked at the six censors with a contemptuous expression.
As a great man once said, "Without investigation, there is no right to speak."
The six censors in front of them were clearly shocked by what they saw, but the person behind them did not say anything.
"Fourth Princess Consort, you said it was a discarded design from Linglong Pavilion. How did it end up in the hands of the imperial craftsmen?" The censor, unable to save face, resorted to shameless behavior.
"Hehe, this is something for you censors to determine. You can investigate. If Linglong Pavilion has been bribed, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to have them beaten to death. Servants who have signed a death contract have their lives and deaths in the hands of fate. What about the servants in the inner palace?" Qingyan looked coldly at the speaker.
The censors were speechless. Every time they seemed to have a handle on Qingyan, in reality, they were completely kept in the dark, and Qingyan would always turn the tables.
"Is this your investigation?" Kangxi looked coldly at the censors.
"The Fourth Prince's wife refused the arrangement made by the Imperial Workshop. As far as I know, the Fourth Prince sent a painting of a headdress to the Linglong Pavilion in the south to make it," the Imperial Censor said, still unwilling to give up.
“Censor Le, that’s right. Which takes more time, one set of headdresses or thirteen sets? Linglong Pavilion was originally the business of the Ulanara family. Do they have to queue up to make headdresses for their own masters? Didn’t Censor Le’s family’s grain shop send grain to your hometown when there was a shortage of grain in the Northwest?” Yin stepped forward to protect his wife. Censor Le had clearly been bought off by the Crown Prince.
What?!
Emperor Kangxi was shocked. When he went to fight Galdan, Yinzhi accompanied the Ministry of Revenue to supervise the supply of grain and fodder, and also visited the surrounding shops.
"Fourth Prince, explain yourself!" Kangxi put down the drawing in his hand and looked directly at Yin.
When attacking Galdan, the army had seized most of the grain supplies in the northwest. The parents of Imperial Censor Le lived in the northwest. In order to save their lives, they had the grain shops under their command move all the new grain into the courtyard in the middle of the night.
When Imperial Censor Le heard that Yinlian had carried out how many loads of grain he had moved, his legs went weak.
Originally, the silver taels allocated by the imperial court for grain requisition were equal to the amount of money earned from selling grain on ordinary days. However, after the grain famine in the Northwest, the price of grain rose continuously, and the Le family, the imperial censor, began to have wicked ideas.
"This servant... I didn't know, it's been a long time since I've contacted my family." Imperial Censor Le's face was covered in sweat.
Censor Le thought that several years had passed and he should no longer be troubled by being implicated.
Who would have thought that Fourth Master never gave up the investigation, and with all the evidence in hand, they were about to hit Fourth Master's weak spot, and he was not hesitant to use it.
Behind the screen, Consort Tong sat in a chair listening as the censors arrived early, tearfully recounting how the Fourth Princess Consort was competing with the people for profit, and even refusing to help the Imperial Workshop manufacture jewelry in order to transfer money.
Consort Tong was completely confused. Emperor Kangxi then ordered Li Dequan to invite Yinhe Qingyan over, so that at least they could have a chance to defend themselves.
“I don’t know. These are letters between you and your hometown, personally transcribed by the Ministry of Personnel. They were all sent back through official post stations. The last letter was before you set off.” Yin directly blocked all of Censor Le’s escape routes.
Yin wanted to draw out the spies inside the Linglong Pavilion. The appearance of the censors meant that someone else had appeared.
In an instant, Censor Le could only await trial; he didn't even have a chance to refute.
Kangxi's lips curled up slightly. Yinzhi had grown up and knew he should be more patient.
"Fourth Prince's wife, go check on the children in the back first." Kangxi was not prepared to punish the minister in person; the actions of Censor Le had already made him feel that he had lost face.
After Qingyan bowed obediently, she went around the screen and entered. She saw the twins walking on the carpet. When they saw Qingyan coming, the two of them opened their short, chubby arms and rushed over to her, their little faces full of joy.
"Mother..." Qingyan opened her arms to welcome her two precious children.
Consort Tong smiled, the business of Linglong Pavilion was eye-catching, and Qingyan's handling of the situation was becoming more and more skillful.
"Little darling, sit down quickly." Consort Tong invited Qingyan to sit down.
The sounds from outside kept coming in, and Consort Tong understood that someone was constantly looking for trouble and was ready to take a bite out of her at any moment.
“Mother, I really am powerless to help with the palace affairs. The jewelry from Linglong Pavilion has already been ordered until before the Golden Festival. The two little ones have a lot of luggage, and we didn’t bring many things with Master and me. We’re prepared to buy more as needed, so…” Qingyan felt it was necessary to explain to Consort Tong.
After hearing the explanation, Consort Tong nodded in satisfaction. Qingyan's preparations were impeccable.
“It’s only right that you order one or two sets of headdresses. That lady didn’t buy one or two sets when she went on the southern tour.” Consort Tong didn’t think there was a problem. The imperial workshops made at least a dozen sets of headdresses, and sometimes dozens. The time before going to Jiangnan was only a dozen days. Linglong Pavilion could only complete the headdresses if all the work was stopped.
Moreover, the internal production costs could be increased at any time, so even if Xiao Guai wanted to take the order, she would persuade her not to.
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