"Miss, the pen and ink are ready."
"Go and prepare a hundred invitations. We will hold a banquet at my house on August 16th."
"August 16th, isn't that the same day as the post just now?"
"This day is it."
"Miss, the two posts collided, I'm afraid..."
"That's fine, just write it. And send a chapter to Yong'an Hou as well."
“…”
The housekeeper looked a little worried, not knowing what the eldest lady was up to.
When the post from Yong'an Hou was sent to them, they replied with a post with exactly the same date. Isn't this clearly a conflict with others?
"Miss, do you want to discuss this with the master?"
"No, go get ready. I'll take care of anything."
"yes……"
The butler withdrew.
Ye Qianning picked up a pen and wrote something on the rice paper. After a while, he put down the pen and ink, folded the rice paper and put it into an envelope.
"Du Yi, go and take this letter to Sang Zhi."
"yes."
Ye Qianning found out a few things, but they still needed to be verified. It was also time to let the person who had been hiding in the dark show himself.
"My lady, the Crown Prince is here."
"not see."
As soon as I returned home, he came here.
The capital will probably be even more chaotic after today. Now that Fu Cheng donated money and was conferred the title of Marquis of Yong'an, no one can sit still. Those who rely on their own abilities to pursue a career in the government will probably be so angry that they will vomit blood.
No matter why Sang Qi came at this time, he would never be calm.
"Your Highness, you cannot go in..."
"Your Highness, the master is not at home, Your Highness..."
The butler trotted after them, talking as he ran, not daring to actually stop them. The other party soon reached the hall.
"My lady, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince..."
"You go down first."
"yes."
The housekeeper had a bitter face and kept looking back.
He was transferred from the Zhan family and came to the mansion to take care of it for a few days. Every time he came, his cognition was refreshed a little.
Sang Qi stood in the living room, motionless, staring at Ye Qianning.
There was no wave on his handsome face, but it was not hard to tell that he was in a bad mood.
"Your Highness, I'm honored to be here. I wonder what may bring you here?" Ye Qianning spoke first.
"I heard that Miss Xiang was seriously ill a few days ago. I am free today and came to visit her." Sang Qi said coldly, turning around and sitting down.
Ye Qianning glanced up and down and asked, "Your Highness the Crown Prince came to visit empty-handed?"
Sang Qi narrowed his eyes, reached into his bosom, pulled out a jade pendant and threw it on the table.
"Your Highness, is this jade pendant edible, or can it cure all diseases?"
“…”
"If you really want to visit me, please bring a few stalks of high-quality ginseng next time. Cooking them will help you heal your body. As for the jade pendant, Your Highness should keep it."
Sang Qi didn't move, staring at her without blinking.
Ye Qianning was not afraid either, and looked over with calm eyes.
Their eyes met.
A deep exploration.
A clear and distant one.
Sang Qi was momentarily dazed by the calmness in her eyes. He had never seen such an indifferent and distant look in any woman. The depths of her dark eyes were like a whirlpool.
It made him unable to extricate himself for a long time.
Ye Qianning's clear eyes were like a miniature mirror, reflecting everything about Sang Zhi.
"You suspect I'm a fake?"
She tilted her head back with a half-smile.
Sang Qi didn't look away when he heard the voice, his handsome face was cold: "Ye Qianning, what exactly do you want to do?"
He did doubt whether her words were genuine.
In the past few days, people have been secretly observing from afar. It seems that both the Zhan family and the Gu family really favor her. Even the eldest wife of the Gu family gave her things worth thousands of taels at will.
According to the information reported by the secret agent, if Ye Qianning asked for the entire jewelry store, the second young master of the Gu family would probably give it to him with a smile.
It was Gu Shuo before, and now even the eldest wife of the Gu family is like this.
Make him believe it.
Ye Qianning asked: "What do you think I will do?"
"My father loves money and is obsessed with the Penglai Fairy Mountain. You deliberately did that just to make my father feel uneasy and admit his mistakes for what happened last year." Sang Qi's eyes were dark and his voice was filled with anger.
"Admit your mistake. Wasn't he wrong back then? Wasn't your mother wrong? Wasn't Sang Shu wrong? You—aren't you wrong?" Ye Qianning, who was smiling a second ago, turned cold in an instant.
Sang Qi was stunned at first and wanted to refute, but the other party beat him to it.
"The emperor of a country is full of lies and selfish. As a prince, what is there for you to shout about?"
"Ye Qianning!"
"Your Highness is full of energy. Instead of barking here, why not go to the Golden Throne Hall and ask your almighty father, the Emperor, to donate some money for disaster relief? The money you got from exploiting honest officials wouldn't be enough even if you emptied their mansions." Ye Qianning looked at his face, which was gradually darkening, without giving him any face. "Some mansions are extremely wealthy, while others can only afford to eat three meals a day. Why is this the case for officials in the same dynasty? Isn't it because kind people are bullied? Exploiting those with good intentions is even more disgusting."
Sang Qi was trembling all over, not knowing whether he was angry or because Ye Qianning was right. He clenched his fingers tightly in his sleeves.
"What do you know?"
It took him a long time to scold.
"I don't understand, and there's no need to understand. My family is doing well outside the border, but you insist on issuing an imperial edict, apologizing, and inviting us graciously. You then refused to let us in at the city gates, and then you brought people to beg us again after we left. You're the ones doing all the work, and in the end, you act like you've been wronged. You almost didn't even acknowledge the imperial edict. It's disgusting! Tsk tsk, I've never seen such shameless people."
Ye Qianning didn't go looking for trouble, but instead he went to her house to question her, thinking that she was a pushover.
Sang Qi was shocked by the series of outputs. He stared at Ye Qianning and couldn't say a word for a long time.
"Your father's intentions were evil, and he brought misery to the people of Beili. You probably didn't know that in the east, due to the heat, a plague broke out, and not a single official offered money or medicine for treatment. People in over a dozen villages were burned alive. Don't you know how many people were in those villages?"
Sang Qi was indeed shocked again: "No... Impossible."
"Anything is possible in Beili."
“…”
"This is just the tip of the iceberg. Your Highness, please go back and investigate thoroughly."
Sang Qi's drooping eyes suddenly opened: "Have you already known everything about Bei Li?"
Ye Qianning sneered.
"Ye Qianning, you used the rumors about Fengling Cape to attract many people. Have you ever thought that if they fail to obtain Fengling Cape, you will not be able to bear the consequences of their counterattack?" After hearing the news she brought, Sang Qi was sure in his heart that Ye Qianning wanted revenge.
To avenge the hatred of the past.
Ye Qianning smiled: "So?"
"If the truth is revealed, I can protect you, but you have to agree to one condition."
"What conditions?"
Sang Qi took a deep breath and steadied his voice, "Lend me fifty million taels."
“…”
"I can sign a document."
"The imperial edict is just a piece of waste paper. How much weight does the document have?" Ye Qianning didn't mean to mock. The actions of the Beili royal family had refreshed her three views.
Whether you recognize it or not depends entirely on your mouth.
"Ye Qianning, as long as you lend it to me, I promise that they can't touch you in Beili."
Sang Qi only had one bargaining chip, and from the beginning to the end he felt that Fenglingjiao was a false hope.
"Your Highness, do you think I still trust Beili after what happened at Sifang Mountain? Although those people are dangerous, I do have what they want."
"impossible."
Ye Qianning leaned back in his chair: "Luo Wen."
Sang Qi didn't understand.
Soon Luo Wen came in with a tray and placed it next to Ye Qianning.
Ye Qianning raised his hand and lifted the cloth covering the tray, and a fiery red light on the tray fell into Sang Qi's eyes.
Fengling Cape.
Sang Qi's eyes were wide open, with shock and disbelief in his eyes. It really was Fengling Corner.
"Your Highness has seen it clearly."
Sang Qi took a long time to recover. The red color reflected in his eyes. Penglai Fairy Mountain has always been a mystery. How could she really have Fengling Horn?
"You have no capital to negotiate with me. Your Highness, please go back."
Ye Qianning picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip.
Sang Qi felt cold all over. He stood up, said nothing, and left with a flick of his sleeves.
Ye Qianning raised his eyes. I had already told him not to see her, but he insisted on breaking in.
It goes without saying that Sang Qi didn't get any of the money that Fu Cheng donated to the national treasury, so he found her.
The Four Nations Chamber of Commerce also sold the Xianhai Tower, and they got more than 100 million yuan, which almost everyone in the world knew about.
What Sang Qi lacks most now is money. However, whenever Emperor Beili hears about disaster relief, he always leaves it unresolved. Even if he is forced to allocate funds under pressure, it would be at most ten thousand taels of silver.
Ten thousand taels of silver was not enough to resettle the victims of a disaster in one city. If one city was affected by a disaster, at least three or four cities would be affected.
Sang Qi really wanted to provide disaster relief. Since the royal family refused to pay, he approached the officials. Some officials with conscience would donate some money every time, while some officials accused him of being slick and crying poor.
After doing this many times, those who are cheated are all honest people.
As a result, officials with conscience become poorer, and their salaries are only enough to feed themselves.
A penny can make a hero fall.
These days you really can't do anything without money.
Qian Fanji walked in from outside and sat next to her.
"Sang Qi is having a hard time moving. Otherwise, he wouldn't have come to you with just a little information. He knows he has little chance of borrowing money, but he still came."
“People always have to be in desperate situations before they can be cruel.”
"Yesterday I went to the Zhan family. They sent people to the hardest-hit areas overnight. Master Zhan asked me to tell you that disaster relief will definitely not be provided in the name of the royal family."
"I've given them the money, and it's none of my business what they do with it." Ye Qianning didn't seem to care much.
Qian Fanji didn't expose it either, but he knew Ye Qianning's personality. Even if all the people in the world died, she probably wouldn't even look at him.
Rather than saying she was cruel, it would be better to say those people were not in her heart at all.
This child has a soft yet tough heart, and she will do everything for those who love and are close to her.
Like now.
Several generations of the Zhan family died on the battlefield to defend Beili. Although the Zhan family did not interfere in the affairs of the court, they were very concerned about Beili.
Although he said he didn't care, he secretly couldn't let it go. The medicinal materials stockpiled in his house were shipped in truckloads to places affected by the epidemic.
This friendship cannot be severed just because the emperor is incompetent and unjust.
She was willing to give a large amount of money to the Zhan family, and she knew very well what the Zhan family would do.
"I just heard that the Queen sent an invitation to the palace?" Qian Fanji changed the subject.
"Three days later, there will be a flower viewing banquet."
"Remember to bring Yingge along when the time comes. There will likely be some trouble."
"Okay." Ye Qianning nodded and stared at Qian Fanji.
"how?"
Meeting her gaze, Qian Fanji raised his hand and wiped his face.
"Dad, you know that Princess Xiyan is coming, right?"
Qian Fanji was stunned and nodded.
"I feel like she's coming for Dad."
"nonsense."
"Don't disbelieve me, women's intuition is the most accurate. I've never seen someone who canceled an engagement and still waited for so many years."
Qian Fanji glanced at her and said, "Don't overthink it. I heard from the housekeeper that you asked him to write a notice and send it to the major families on June 16th, the same date as the notice sent by Fu Cheng."
"Yes, Master is back. Recently, many students who graduated from Loushan before entering the city have wanted to visit. It would be bad to refuse them, so I thought of choosing a date to invite them to a banquet. As for the invitations from various prefectures, they are just a side note. It's up to them whether they come or not. At least the invitations have been delivered, so they won't say we look down on them in the future."
"Fu Cheng will come."
Ye Qianning smiled: "He dares not to come."
——
Three days later, there will be a flower viewing banquet.
It has been a long time since the capital city held a flower-viewing banquet. When each family received the invitation, they naturally knew what the purpose of this banquet was.
The civil and military officials had seen Ye Qianning when they came to greet her at the city gate. They all knew that Marquis Xiang Ming's daughter was as beautiful as a fairy. The common people who gathered at the city gate that day had also seen her. In recent days, rumors about Ye Qianning were that she was beautiful but weak.
Many ladies and young ladies have heard a lot of rumors, but have never seen it, so they think it is exaggerated.
The young ladies from official families who received the invitations today all seemed to want to outshine the others, and each one dressed more flamboyantly than the other.
There were carriages from various mansions on the streets.
Nan Xiang arrived at the mansion early in the morning by carriage. Ye Qianning had not yet gotten up, and there was a knock on the door.
"Princess, my lady is still resting."
Yingge blocked it.
"The Queen is holding a flower-viewing banquet today. Did she forget?" Nan Xiang peeked in through the crack in the door.
Yingge did not respond.
Nan Xiang was still a little afraid of Yingge's cold face. She glanced at her and saw that she didn't seem to want to move away. She turned around and walked a few steps towards the corridor. After getting away from Yingge, she immediately banged on the window.
"Ye Qianning is up, Ye Qianning, get up quickly."
“…”
Yingge's face turned cold. As soon as she moved, Nan Xiang immediately dodged and ran into the yard away from her.
"Yingge, let the princess in."
Ye Qianning sat up from the bed.
She slept too late yesterday and entered the mountain in the space. She walked for half the night but still hadn't reached the halfway point. It was incredibly big, and the species growing in the forest were even more rare. She had never seen them before.
Not knowing whether they were poisonous or not, she didn't collect too many, but only pulled out one plant of each variety for research.
'Squeak'
The door opened, Nan Xiang came in, and rushed to the bed.
"Ye Qianning, how did you sleep?"
Ye Qianning yawned: "I sleep a lot."
"...Tsk, I think you should arrange for a few maids to take care of them."
"Take care of what?"
"Madam is punctual. If there's anything, she can wake you up earlier. Look, it's already past noon. If you're any later, you won't be able to make it to the flower viewing banquet."
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