Chapter 110 Chapter 110 Once in Weinan County...
A batch of pepper that had been seized in Weinan County was successfully resold by the imperial court. The recipients were naturally those officials who had enriched themselves and were extremely rich but always complained about being broke.
After being secretly pressured by the prince, many officials in the court had to dig out their own pockets to buy the pepper. Within a few days, the relief money was available.
Emperor Jingren was very satisfied after hearing this, and ordered the crown prince to go to Huazhou immediately to provide disaster relief.
Soon, the urgent order was passed to the Third Prince's Palace.
After receiving the imperial edict, Li Jinxiu stared blankly at the gloomy rainy day for a long time.
Suddenly, his hand was covered by a cold little hand. Li Jinxiu's eyelids trembled and his pupils turned back stiffly. He saw a little girl smiling at him and handing him the pig's trotter.
The little girl seemed to be smiling for the first time; her smile was stiff and awkward, and her facial features seemed to be moving at different speeds.
Li Jinxiu said, "I don't want to eat it, you eat it."
Hearing this, the little girl took back the pig's trotter without hesitation, chewed it until her mouth was full of oil, and her black eyes rolled around.
She was about fifteen or sixteen, draped in a fluffy white fox fur coat, her head seemingly tucked into a ball of snow. She was pretty and cheerful, with a round face and round eyes. When silent, she seemed to smile, the typical look favored by elders. Yet, her face always wore a blank expression, expressionless. A closer look revealed a hidden meaning.
There was no one else in the hall, as they were all called out by Li Jinxiu.
Ever since Li Yu washed the servants in his palace once, he no longer liked to have other people in the palace.
After the little girl finished chewing the pig's trotter, she threw it away casually and tried to pull Li Jinxiu over with her hands covered in oil. Li Jinxiu was used to it. When her greasy hands were about to damage his sleeves, he pulled her wrist back and found a few handkerchiefs to wipe her hands and mouth.
Soon the little girl became a clean snowball.
"Xiaoyao, does it still hurt?" Li Jinxiu whispered.
Xiaoyao shook her head and said, "It's okay, it doesn't hurt much."
The Xiaoyao in front of him, who was obviously out of his mind, was the "source of trouble" as people called her, a maidservant in the Third Prince's palace.
Li Jinxiu said: "I'm sorry, I always failed to protect you."
Xiaoyao thought about it and said, "Well, it doesn't matter." It was as if she was talking about what to eat tomorrow.
Li Jinxiu asked, "Can you tell me exactly what happened that day?"
When he heard that Xiaoyao was called away by his mother again, he hurried to his mother's palace, but there was no one there, only broken glass cups on the ground.
However, because he was anxious to find someone, he accidentally contradicted his mother. After leaving the Liangji Palace, he was detained on the spot by his mother's people. His mother punished him by making him copy the "Book of Filial Piety" three times. He copied day and night until his hands were swollen and he could not even lift a pen before he was allowed to leave.
Now that he saw that everyone was safe and he could chew on the pig's trotters in peace, Li Jinxiu couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Xiao Yao thought for a while and said, "The queen asked me to lift the bowl. The bowl was very heavy and I had to lift it above my head. My hands were sore and I dropped the bowl. Then they took a few more bowls and asked me to lift them. I dropped all the bowls afterwards, and the queen suddenly got angry." She didn't understand why the woman who had been so kind and asked her to lift the bowl casually suddenly changed her face to look like she wanted to kill someone.
"The Queen said I broke the bowl that His Majesty gave her. She was very angry and wanted to punish me. Then the Princess suddenly came in and said I stole her skirt and took me back to her palace."
Li Jinxiu's eyes darkened and he said, "And then?"
Xiaoyao said, "The princess had me beaten with ten sticks in public."
She rolled her eyes, quietly pulled Li Jinxiu closer and said, "I'm telling you, it doesn't hurt at all!" As if sensing Li Jinxiu's displeasure, she pulled a stiff smile at the corner of her lips, "People in the princess's palace don't use a cane at all. It doesn't hurt me at all when it hits me."
"But I was smart. In order not to be discovered by them, I screamed very loudly. They all thought I was in pain, and even the princess smiled with satisfaction."
Seeing that she wanted to make him laugh, Li Jinxiu cooperated and laughed along, but he started crying while laughing.
Xiaoyao touched his face curiously. "Are those tears? You were smiling, why are you crying?"
Li Jinxiu said: "When you understand, you will know."
Xiaoyao said, "Is this nonsense? I don't understand."
"Then don't listen." Li Jinxiu took out a paper bag from his arms and handed it to her.
Xiaoyao took the paper bag, opened it and saw that it was a bag of rock honey. She picked up a piece and put it close to his mouth.
Li Jinxiu bit Shi Mi while Xiao Yao wiped the tears from his face. She said seriously, "Mother said that tears are the most useless things. People who cry are soft-hearted people."
"I'll give you the first candy. Once it dries up in your stomach, it will harden your soft heart and you won't shed useless tears anymore."
Li Jinxiu was immediately at a loss whether to laugh or cry, and all his tears disappeared.
He said, "Next time, if the Queen Mother's people come looking for you, you should go find the Princess, okay?"
Xiaoyao thought for a moment and shook her head firmly.
"The queen only asked me to hold the bowl, but the princess will ask someone to beat me with a stick. Although the princess's people are clumsy and can't even beat me properly, what if she beats me many times and she'll learn it?" She covered her hips and glared slightly.
Li Jinxiu's mouth was dry and his throat was choked. How could he explain that if he went to his elder sister, he could still save his life, but if he went to his mother, not even a bone would be left.
The girl in front of him was just stubborn, and he didn't want her to be involved in too much worldly gossip.
She is so pure that the filth of the world should not contaminate her.
Li Jinxiu said: "The Queen Mother dislikes you and may even want to kill you. The princess will not hurt you."
Xiaoyao wanted to refute him: You are lying. The queen didn’t hurt me, but the princess wanted to beat me with a stick.
But seeing Li Jinxiu's lost look, she changed her words and said, "I'll remember."
Li Jinxiu sighed, "I'll send you out of the palace when my uncle comes back. The palace is full of cannibalism and it's not suitable for a simple-minded girl like you."
Xiaoyao didn't understand what a sincere heart meant, so she asked, "What about you? Do you want to go out with me?"
Li Jinxiu: "...I'll come see you when I'm free."
Xiao Yao seemed to understand, "Because people are eaten in the palace, you can't leave, right? If you eat people in the palace, will you be free?"
Li Jinxiu didn't know why she could always hit the nail on the head with just a few words. He smiled bitterly, "I'll write a letter to my uncle right now and ask him to come and take you away."
"From now on, you can play with him. If you want to eat or wear something, tell your uncle and he will buy it for you. If you meet someone you like—" He choked, "If you meet someone you like, remember to tell your uncle. If your uncle agrees, you can go with him without worry."
Xiao Yao tilted her head, "Don't you want me anymore? I only like you, I won't like anyone else."
Li Jinxiu moved quickly, had already ground the stone and started writing. Hearing this, he said, "You are still young and don't understand what love is."
"So, what is love?"
Li Jinxiu paused, and the ink gathered at the tip of the pen suddenly dripped down, blurring the words.
The smooth black ink edges spread densely along the lines on the rice paper, like countless spider silk lurking in the dark night, and the gradually shrinking ink seemed like a heart that was about to be polluted, wrapped and entangled by the spider silk.
They are entangled but cannot be integrated.
"You'll understand later." After a long pause, he finally uttered these words.
.
Emperor Jingren ordered the third prince to repair the Wei River embankment, but when Li Jinxiu took office in Huazhou, he found that the so-called "repair silver" was just boxes of stones.
Everyone knows that the Third Prince personally escorted the repair silver all the way to Huazhou, and there is absolutely no possibility that the repair silver was embezzled or swapped.
The people of Huazhou were unaware of the court's twists and turns. They only knew that someone was finally willing to deal with the flood. They were happily waiting for the crown prince to distribute grain and for the third prince to repair the dam and prevent the flood.
The court acted promptly, and we can finally have a good New Year this year! The people thought happily.
Li Jinxiu's group was silent. He never expected that his father's punishment would be like this.
Natural disasters are rampant and people are complaining. Every day that goes by will increase people's resentment.
The layers of accumulated public grievances became a sword hanging over one's head, becoming heavier and heavier, and the hair-thin silver thread carrying the sword was in danger. The sword was eager to try, waiting for the moment when the silver thread would break and pierce the top of the skull.
The people thought that now that the Third Prince had arrived in Huazhou, the dam would be repaired soon and their homes would be rebuilt soon.
But a week passed and the third prince still did not move.
The Crown Prince had already given full authority to build porridge stalls and distribute food to the disaster relief efforts. The displaced people were all waiting for the Third Prince to control the floods. As long as the floods receded, they could return home. The people thought again.
But half a month passed, and the Third Prince did nothing. The people began to worry. November was almost here. If they delayed any longer, how many people would freeze to death when winter came?
The people became increasingly anxious, and often gathered in groups of two or three to hang around in front of Li Jinxiu's mansion. Some even started throwing stones at the door.
By November, the temperature had dropped sharply, even colder than the rainy October. Charcoal fires began to be lit in the palaces, and the fire in Emperor Jingren's Palace grew exponentially.
The attendants serving Emperor Jingren were in the heat wave and had already been sweating profusely and feeling dizzy. However, Emperor Jingren felt that the temperature was just right and even held a hand warmer in his arms to keep warm.
The servants complained bitterly, but no one dared to touch the issue in front of Long Wei.
I can only crush the bitterness and swallow it.
At the beginning of November, when the people were getting restless, Princess Wanyi came riding on horseback, holding a long spear, as if she had just returned from a long journey. At this moment, she was wearing a Hu costume, and a veil that looked out of place. The soles of her shoes and the hem of her robe were stained with mud, and even her usually fair face was stained with many stains. Only her eyes were surprisingly bright.
A crowd of refugees gathered at the office gate, pounding on it with their hands and stones they had picked up, shouting, "Now that the Third Prince has received the money for repairs, when will the flood be controlled? We're all waiting to go home! If His Highness doesn't act, we'll all freeze to death this year! The people won't survive this winter!"
When Li Yu heard what they said and saw the closed door of the government office, she immediately spurred her horse and whipped it. Among the refugees who were fleeing in panic, she accurately caught the troublemaker among them and stabbed him in the calf with her gun.
After this incident, the refugees shouted, "Here comes a female killer!" and fled in all directions.
The gate was temporarily quiet, with only the troublemaker under her gun wailing loudly. However, when she looked closely, she found that there was another person at the gate, standing in front of the gate and never leaving.
Li Yu could vaguely see a pale young man through the veil. She lifted the veil on the fence, frowned and wanted to chase him away, but saw the white figure turn around, and his indifferent and worldly eyes were particularly eye-catching in this muddy and noisy world.
It’s Gu Ze.
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