Phoenix Reborn: the Prime Minister's Scheming Daughter
Because they were not in a hurry, and no one dared to disturb them, Shen Ninghua’s convoy traveled at a leisure pace. If they hadn’t taken into account that their children were too young to spend their time on the carriage for too long, they would have used a longer time to arrive at their destination.
They traveled leisurely for two weeks, but the impact they brought on the capital continued to fester.
Because there was great doubt about the officials, in addition to the fact that Baili Junyi’s secret arrangement for the Shadow Guards and the Dragon Scale Army to run their operation smoothly, the investigation of the official’s residence had progressed exceptionally swiftly, and the result was also far greater than imagined.
The things that were taken out from the official’s residence were pulled into the imperial palace by carriages for an entire day. The Third Prince and the others, who were trying to fill up the national vault, were overjoyed to see the money. As long as this money was deposited into the vault, it would fill up more than half of it, and the pressure on them would be reduced a lot.
However, Baili Qingcang had made up his mind to teach them a lesson, and he wouldn’t make things easy for them. After checking and verifying all the things that were confiscated, he moved all of them to his personal vault. Hence, the huge deficit in the national value was still the princes’ major problem.
In order to fill up the national vault and prevent Baili Qingcang from continuing his investigation, they took out all the money they had accumulated over the years. However, this was far from enough. In the end, they had to ask their mothers for help.
The Sixth Prince didn’t have any maternal relatives, and he had the least amount of money. After his wife, Zhao Ruyun, learned that the Zhao Family was eradicated after the rebellion, she was so shocked that she directly vomited blood and fainted. Right now, he could not count on her at all because she was still unconscious. As he couldn’t provide any money to fill up the national vault, he almost sold the rewards that Baili Qingcang had bestowed to him.
On the other hand, the Lin Family, who was supporting the Third and Fourth Princes, almost emptied their assets in order to help them. Moreover, Consort Li couldn’t bear to see her sons being prosecuted, so she borrowed money everywhere in her name. However, currently, no one dared to be involved with them when it came to the princes and the national vault.
In the end, the Lin Family sold all of their ancestral assets and barely managed to gather enough money to help the Third and Fourth Princes get over the punishment. Because of this, they dismissed many servants and almost became bankrupt.
The princes would have been forced to rebel had the Dragon Scale Army and the Shadow Guards not been powerful. In the end, they sold everything in their palaces except their beds, and the national vault was full.
After this incident, most of the factional forces in the imperial court suffered a huge blow. The princes behaved themselves and didn’t dare to act recklessly in case Baili Qingcang would find more of their evidence again. In fact, they didn’t have the money to support them even if they had any trick up their sleeve.
When Shen Ninghua and Baili Junyi received the news from the capital, they exchanged knowing glances and smiled. This could be considered a gift they had given to Father Emperor. They were certain that after this incident, those officials would definitely be obedient and not make any mistakes in a short period of time.
When this deterrence weakened and their evil minds began to move again, it would be their moment to return to the capital.
After another ten days, their convoy finally arrived at Zhou City.
Zhou City was the most prosperous city in the northwest. It was covered in mountains in the north with endless grassland in the west. This city could be considered as an important strategic point through which the Da’an Kingdom and the Great Yue Kingdom communicated. Therefore, this place was also extremely wealthy with vibrant and lively folkways.
On the street, they could see the Hu people and the Great Yue Kingdom’s people who were dressed differently from the Da’an Kingdom.
Before Baili Junyi’s carriage arrived at Zhou City, the Prefecture Magistrate and other officials had already stood outside the city and waited. Behind them were the twelve county magistrates. All of them were dressed formally.
Ye Yi, who had gone to scout the way, rushed back on horseback. “Your Highness, in front of us is Zhou City. Zhou City’s magistrate, Zhou Da, is already waiting at the city gate.”
“Okay, let’s enter the city.”
The magistrate, Zhou Da, stood upright at the door with a smile on his face. There was no trace of impatience on his face, despite the fact that he had been waiting for almost two hours.
The county magistrates of the twelve counties behind him did not dare to complain. When they saw the troop of about a thousand people coming over, they were so shocked that their hearts were pounding nervously.
The convoy was full of rows of fluttering flags, tall and strong horses, and the guards in full armor. Seeing the sight, they knew that they did not have the guts to offend any of them.
“I am Zhou Da, the magistrate of the prefecture. Prefectural Prince Yi and Prefectural Princess, welcome to Zhou City.”
As soon as Zhou Da finished speaking, the guards spread out to both sides in an orderly manner, revealing the carriage in the middle of the procession. Zhou Da looked up and was in awe as he saw the material of the carriage and the four horses in front of it. It was such a majestic grandeur of Prefectural Prince Yi’s convoy. The cost of this carriage was estimated to be about three times his annual salary.
Suddenly, the door curtain of the carriage opened, and Baili Junyi, who was dressed in a regular suit, jumped out of the carriage.
He was dressed in a basaltic dark pattern brocade embroidery robe, emphasizing his slender and fit figure. A light-colored belt with an auspicious cloud pattern was wrapped around his waist. A dragon jade was hanging on the left side of his belt while an orchid pouch bag was hanging on the right.
After Baili Junyi steadied himself, he looked up at Zhou Da. “Are you Zhou Da, the city’s magistrate?”
“Yes, I am. Welcome to Zhou City, Prefectural Prince Yi.” He slightly raised his eyes, and only then could he see Baili Junyi’s appearance.
His eyebrows were cold and his eyes were like stars. The jade crown tied up all his hair, making his eyes deeper and colder. His thin lips were slightly pursed. He was handsome and elegant, and his bearing was graceful and noble, making people not dare to look at him directly.
Zhou Da put away the shock in his heart and felt that the man in front of him was like a god.
“Okay,” a soft voice resonated. It was just one word, but the voice fluttered everyone present’s emotions, mesmerizing them.
Zhou Da couldn’t help but swallow his saliva nervously. He heard that Prefectural Princess Yi was a fairy-like figure and was called the number one beauty in the Da’an Kingdom. He wondered if it was just a rumor.
A fair and smooth hand stretched out of the carriage, revealing slender fingers and pink nails which were like flower petals. She held Baili Junyi’s hand and slowly walked down.
Seeing Shen Ninghua’s appearance clearly, the surrounding officials were overwhelmed as they stared at Shen Ninghua as if they froze on the spot. The only word that appeared in their mind was “gorgeous”!
Before meeting Shen Ninghua, they had imagined how she looked like to earn herself a reputation as the most beautiful woman in the Da’an Kingdom. Their imagination ran wild. However, when they saw the real person, they realized how lacking their imagination was.
Shen Ninghua was dressed in a water-red Begonia flower long skirt, paired with a honey-colored rosy embroidered skirt. There was no makeup on her face, and her hair was tied up with a simple long jade carving hairpin, matched with a simple flower design. However, such an extremely simple outfit still made her reveal a gorgeous and noble aura.
When she got off the carriage, people felt like a breeze just happened to come out, blowing her ink-like hair behind her into a mess. She raised her fingertips and gently pressed the hair behind her ear. This simple action made people think of a sentence in the poem about Luo Shen.
“Her hair was dim as the moon mantled in filmy clouds, restless as snow whirled by the driving wind.”
No word could further describe such a stunning and dazzling scene.
Baili Junyi coldly swept his gaze over the officials who were in awe at the side, and the corners of his lips curled into a sneer.
Zhou Da trembled all over and suddenly came back to his senses. “Welcome, Prefectural Princess, I’m pleased to meet you.”
The others were jolted awake by his voice and hurriedly followed suit.
Shen Ninghua glanced at the officials around her and did not pay any attention to them. Instead, her gaze fell on the trees not far from the city gates, which made her furrow. The tree leaves were sparse, and the bark of the trees had been peeled off to the point that not much was left. The mottled trunk of the tree carried a bleak scent.
Baili Junyi retracted his gaze. “Magistrate Zhou, we have just arrived, so we need to trouble you to arrange a residence for us. We will temporarily live here for a while.”
“Okay, no problem. Everything has been arranged. Please follow me.”
The procession entered the city in a grandiose manner. The formation was extremely grand, but no citizens came out to watch, not even a peep. The entire Zhou City was like a dead city with a strange odor that lingered in the silence.
Zhou Da’s face was full of smiles. He seemed to see Shen Ninghua’s doubts and explained, “Princess, are you surprised that there are no people around?”
“Yes, indeed,” Shen Ninghua replied faintly.
“You are our honorable guests. I’m afraid that the ignorant citizens will offend you when you are here. Moreover, you bring along the young Bei Zi and Prefectural Princess. I can’t afford to let the citizens scare them, so I clear the streets two days in advance.”
Zhou Da said it as if it were for a matter of course, but Shen Ninghua couldn’t help but frown when she heard this. They made it as if the Emperor himself was here by clearing the street two days in advance. In this way, Shen Ninghua wondered how the people of Zhou City thought about them.
Glancing at Zhou Da, Baili Junyi wondered whether he was doing it on purpose or not. Now that they were here, it was better to settle down first. They were not even afraid of the capital, so they could handle the small Zhou City.
Not long after, a large mansion appeared in front of them. There was no plague on the new gate. On both sides of the gate stood two exceptionally imposing stone lions.
“Your Highness, Princess, this is the mansion that I prepared for you in advance. Everything inside is brand new, and I hired the craftsmen from the capital to carefully design the landscape in the garden. If you two are dissatisfied with anything, please tell me. I’ll immediately send people to fix it.”
With a slight nod, Baili Junyi led Shen Ninghua and the others into the gate. The scenery in the garden was elegant, and it was obvious that Zhou Da was very attentive in his arrangement. “Not bad. Lord Zhou, you have worked hard.”
“You’re welcome,” Zhou Da said modestly, but his face was full of smiles. “It is my honor that you find it comfortable.”
Baili Junyi smiled slightly. “It must cost you a lot to build this mansion, right?”
“It didn’t cost much. In fact, this mansion was originally owned by the Zhou Family, a well-known philanthropist in the city. They heard that the two of you were coming over and took the initiative to provide the courtyard. They even bore the cost of fixing the courtyard.”
Shen Ninghua turned her head and asked in a slightly questioning tone, “The Zhou Family? Is it your family, Lord Zhou?”
Chapter 461: Arrival in Zhou City
They traveled leisurely for two weeks, but the impact they brought on the capital continued to fester.
Because there was great doubt about the officials, in addition to the fact that Baili Junyi’s secret arrangement for the Shadow Guards and the Dragon Scale Army to run their operation smoothly, the investigation of the official’s residence had progressed exceptionally swiftly, and the result was also far greater than imagined.
The things that were taken out from the official’s residence were pulled into the imperial palace by carriages for an entire day. The Third Prince and the others, who were trying to fill up the national vault, were overjoyed to see the money. As long as this money was deposited into the vault, it would fill up more than half of it, and the pressure on them would be reduced a lot.
However, Baili Qingcang had made up his mind to teach them a lesson, and he wouldn’t make things easy for them. After checking and verifying all the things that were confiscated, he moved all of them to his personal vault. Hence, the huge deficit in the national value was still the princes’ major problem.
In order to fill up the national vault and prevent Baili Qingcang from continuing his investigation, they took out all the money they had accumulated over the years. However, this was far from enough. In the end, they had to ask their mothers for help.
The Sixth Prince didn’t have any maternal relatives, and he had the least amount of money. After his wife, Zhao Ruyun, learned that the Zhao Family was eradicated after the rebellion, she was so shocked that she directly vomited blood and fainted. Right now, he could not count on her at all because she was still unconscious. As he couldn’t provide any money to fill up the national vault, he almost sold the rewards that Baili Qingcang had bestowed to him.
On the other hand, the Lin Family, who was supporting the Third and Fourth Princes, almost emptied their assets in order to help them. Moreover, Consort Li couldn’t bear to see her sons being prosecuted, so she borrowed money everywhere in her name. However, currently, no one dared to be involved with them when it came to the princes and the national vault.
In the end, the Lin Family sold all of their ancestral assets and barely managed to gather enough money to help the Third and Fourth Princes get over the punishment. Because of this, they dismissed many servants and almost became bankrupt.
The princes would have been forced to rebel had the Dragon Scale Army and the Shadow Guards not been powerful. In the end, they sold everything in their palaces except their beds, and the national vault was full.
After this incident, most of the factional forces in the imperial court suffered a huge blow. The princes behaved themselves and didn’t dare to act recklessly in case Baili Qingcang would find more of their evidence again. In fact, they didn’t have the money to support them even if they had any trick up their sleeve.
When Shen Ninghua and Baili Junyi received the news from the capital, they exchanged knowing glances and smiled. This could be considered a gift they had given to Father Emperor. They were certain that after this incident, those officials would definitely be obedient and not make any mistakes in a short period of time.
When this deterrence weakened and their evil minds began to move again, it would be their moment to return to the capital.
After another ten days, their convoy finally arrived at Zhou City.
Zhou City was the most prosperous city in the northwest. It was covered in mountains in the north with endless grassland in the west. This city could be considered as an important strategic point through which the Da’an Kingdom and the Great Yue Kingdom communicated. Therefore, this place was also extremely wealthy with vibrant and lively folkways.
On the street, they could see the Hu people and the Great Yue Kingdom’s people who were dressed differently from the Da’an Kingdom.
Before Baili Junyi’s carriage arrived at Zhou City, the Prefecture Magistrate and other officials had already stood outside the city and waited. Behind them were the twelve county magistrates. All of them were dressed formally.
Ye Yi, who had gone to scout the way, rushed back on horseback. “Your Highness, in front of us is Zhou City. Zhou City’s magistrate, Zhou Da, is already waiting at the city gate.”
“Okay, let’s enter the city.”
The magistrate, Zhou Da, stood upright at the door with a smile on his face. There was no trace of impatience on his face, despite the fact that he had been waiting for almost two hours.
The convoy was full of rows of fluttering flags, tall and strong horses, and the guards in full armor. Seeing the sight, they knew that they did not have the guts to offend any of them.
“I am Zhou Da, the magistrate of the prefecture. Prefectural Prince Yi and Prefectural Princess, welcome to Zhou City.”
As soon as Zhou Da finished speaking, the guards spread out to both sides in an orderly manner, revealing the carriage in the middle of the procession. Zhou Da looked up and was in awe as he saw the material of the carriage and the four horses in front of it. It was such a majestic grandeur of Prefectural Prince Yi’s convoy. The cost of this carriage was estimated to be about three times his annual salary.
Suddenly, the door curtain of the carriage opened, and Baili Junyi, who was dressed in a regular suit, jumped out of the carriage.
He was dressed in a basaltic dark pattern brocade embroidery robe, emphasizing his slender and fit figure. A light-colored belt with an auspicious cloud pattern was wrapped around his waist. A dragon jade was hanging on the left side of his belt while an orchid pouch bag was hanging on the right.
After Baili Junyi steadied himself, he looked up at Zhou Da. “Are you Zhou Da, the city’s magistrate?”
“Yes, I am. Welcome to Zhou City, Prefectural Prince Yi.” He slightly raised his eyes, and only then could he see Baili Junyi’s appearance.
His eyebrows were cold and his eyes were like stars. The jade crown tied up all his hair, making his eyes deeper and colder. His thin lips were slightly pursed. He was handsome and elegant, and his bearing was graceful and noble, making people not dare to look at him directly.
Zhou Da put away the shock in his heart and felt that the man in front of him was like a god.
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With a slight nod, Baili Junyi turned around after the guard put the small stool beside the carriage and said gently, “Ninghua, come out of the carriage and have a look.”“Okay,” a soft voice resonated. It was just one word, but the voice fluttered everyone present’s emotions, mesmerizing them.
Zhou Da couldn’t help but swallow his saliva nervously. He heard that Prefectural Princess Yi was a fairy-like figure and was called the number one beauty in the Da’an Kingdom. He wondered if it was just a rumor.
A fair and smooth hand stretched out of the carriage, revealing slender fingers and pink nails which were like flower petals. She held Baili Junyi’s hand and slowly walked down.
Seeing Shen Ninghua’s appearance clearly, the surrounding officials were overwhelmed as they stared at Shen Ninghua as if they froze on the spot. The only word that appeared in their mind was “gorgeous”!
Before meeting Shen Ninghua, they had imagined how she looked like to earn herself a reputation as the most beautiful woman in the Da’an Kingdom. Their imagination ran wild. However, when they saw the real person, they realized how lacking their imagination was.
Shen Ninghua was dressed in a water-red Begonia flower long skirt, paired with a honey-colored rosy embroidered skirt. There was no makeup on her face, and her hair was tied up with a simple long jade carving hairpin, matched with a simple flower design. However, such an extremely simple outfit still made her reveal a gorgeous and noble aura.
When she got off the carriage, people felt like a breeze just happened to come out, blowing her ink-like hair behind her into a mess. She raised her fingertips and gently pressed the hair behind her ear. This simple action made people think of a sentence in the poem about Luo Shen.
“Her hair was dim as the moon mantled in filmy clouds, restless as snow whirled by the driving wind.”
No word could further describe such a stunning and dazzling scene.
Zhou Da trembled all over and suddenly came back to his senses. “Welcome, Prefectural Princess, I’m pleased to meet you.”
The others were jolted awake by his voice and hurriedly followed suit.
Shen Ninghua glanced at the officials around her and did not pay any attention to them. Instead, her gaze fell on the trees not far from the city gates, which made her furrow. The tree leaves were sparse, and the bark of the trees had been peeled off to the point that not much was left. The mottled trunk of the tree carried a bleak scent.
Baili Junyi retracted his gaze. “Magistrate Zhou, we have just arrived, so we need to trouble you to arrange a residence for us. We will temporarily live here for a while.”
“Okay, no problem. Everything has been arranged. Please follow me.”
The procession entered the city in a grandiose manner. The formation was extremely grand, but no citizens came out to watch, not even a peep. The entire Zhou City was like a dead city with a strange odor that lingered in the silence.
Zhou Da’s face was full of smiles. He seemed to see Shen Ninghua’s doubts and explained, “Princess, are you surprised that there are no people around?”
“Yes, indeed,” Shen Ninghua replied faintly.
“You are our honorable guests. I’m afraid that the ignorant citizens will offend you when you are here. Moreover, you bring along the young Bei Zi and Prefectural Princess. I can’t afford to let the citizens scare them, so I clear the streets two days in advance.”
Zhou Da said it as if it were for a matter of course, but Shen Ninghua couldn’t help but frown when she heard this. They made it as if the Emperor himself was here by clearing the street two days in advance. In this way, Shen Ninghua wondered how the people of Zhou City thought about them.
Glancing at Zhou Da, Baili Junyi wondered whether he was doing it on purpose or not. Now that they were here, it was better to settle down first. They were not even afraid of the capital, so they could handle the small Zhou City.
Not long after, a large mansion appeared in front of them. There was no plague on the new gate. On both sides of the gate stood two exceptionally imposing stone lions.
“Your Highness, Princess, this is the mansion that I prepared for you in advance. Everything inside is brand new, and I hired the craftsmen from the capital to carefully design the landscape in the garden. If you two are dissatisfied with anything, please tell me. I’ll immediately send people to fix it.”
With a slight nod, Baili Junyi led Shen Ninghua and the others into the gate. The scenery in the garden was elegant, and it was obvious that Zhou Da was very attentive in his arrangement. “Not bad. Lord Zhou, you have worked hard.”
“You’re welcome,” Zhou Da said modestly, but his face was full of smiles. “It is my honor that you find it comfortable.”
Baili Junyi smiled slightly. “It must cost you a lot to build this mansion, right?”
“It didn’t cost much. In fact, this mansion was originally owned by the Zhou Family, a well-known philanthropist in the city. They heard that the two of you were coming over and took the initiative to provide the courtyard. They even bore the cost of fixing the courtyard.”
Shen Ninghua turned her head and asked in a slightly questioning tone, “The Zhou Family? Is it your family, Lord Zhou?”
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