Li Rong listened to Li Chuan’s rambling words of comfort for quite some time. Finally feeling somewhat weary, she had Jing Lan take away the now-cooled egg and looked up at Li Chuan, saying, “Alright, stop pulling me this way and that with your chatter. If you have time, go help me investigate something.”
Hearing Li Rong’s instruction, Li Chuan quickly said, “Tell me.”
“Has the chief examiner for the imperial examinations been decided?”
Li Chuan hadn’t expected Li Rong to ask this question. He instinctively replied, “It should have been decided.”
“This early?” Li Rong frowned. Li Chuan thought for a moment and said, “It normally wouldn’t be this early. After all, the imperial examinations have never been that important. Those who pass—the aristocratic families’ children already have arrangements, while those from humble backgrounds either become useless minor officials or get sent to the provinces and never return. Managing this matter has always fallen to the Director of Evaluations at most, with the Vice Minister position being considered high level. So normally it would be decided later. But this year is strange. Minister Wang said that this year the court truly needs to select talented people as a top priority, and he volunteered to Father Emperor that he would serve as the chief examiner himself.”
As Li Chuan spoke, he couldn’t help but smile. He picked up a teacup from the side, held it in his hand, and looked at Li Rong. “Since he offered, who could say anything? The Minister himself personally serving as chief examiner—who would surpass him? So although it hasn’t been officially decided, it’s pretty much certain.”
Li Rong didn’t speak, lost in thought. Li Chuan took a sip of tea and earnestly brought up her marriage again. “Actually, you shouldn’t be too upset. Out with the old, in with the new. How about I take you around to look at prospects recently? If you see someone you like…”
“Enough, enough,” Li Rong frowned and interrupted him. “Still worrying about this? Worry about yourself instead. How is your marriage situation?”
“As if I have any say in it?” Li Chuan laughed. “I’ve already said, whatever they want. Whenever they want to select a Crown Princess, whoever they want to select—I don’t care either way. And now it’s turned out well,” Li Chuan leaned in mysteriously, “Sister, guess what happened?”
“What happened?”
“Father Emperor and Mother Empress secretly reached an agreement,” Li Chuan’s eyes couldn’t hide his delight, “they’re temporarily not selecting anyone.”
“Not selecting?”
Li Rong exclaimed in surprise, but as soon as the words left her mouth, she understood what was happening.
Now that the Shangguan family had abandoned the idea of marrying into the Crown Prince’s family and was conducting internal reforms, the competition for the Crown Princess position had fallen to the other aristocratic families.
For Li Ming, he didn’t want the Crown Princess position to fall to any aristocratic family—that would strengthen Li Chuan’s connections with the aristocratic families. He preferred Li Chuan marry women from humble backgrounds, or even better, not marry at all.
After all, whether Li Chuan’s position as Crown Prince was stable didn’t matter—he didn’t want it to be stable.
With both sides having their own agendas and without the Shangguan family’s forceful pressure, the Crown Princess position had now stalled.
“It is a good thing,” Li Rong nodded.
Li Chuan cracked some melon seeds from the side. Seeing that Li Rong showed no displeasure, he asked curiously, “Sister, aren’t you worried that if I don’t marry, my position as Crown Prince won’t be stable?”
“If not marrying could make your Crown Prince position unstable,” Li Rong turned to look at him with a half-smile, “then your Crown Prince position would truly be unstable indeed.”
Li Chuan frowned, seeming puzzled. Li Rong spelled it out for him: “Chuan’er, remember this—to secure one’s position at court, there are essentially three things: money, military power, and people. If you have money, you have provisions, troops, and people to work for you. If you have people working and speaking for you, your words carry weight. And if you have military power, you can protect your money and your people. If you have these three things, whether you marry or not won’t affect your position. But if you don’t have these three things,” Li Rong’s smile carried a hint of coldness, “even if you marry however many aristocratic daughters, in others’ hearts, you’re nothing but a puppet.”
“And if one day they need to replace this puppet,” Li Rong lightly tapped her fan against her palm, “do you think it would be difficult?”
Just like in her previous life, Li Chuan had married five women, yet when Li Ming established the Constabulary Bureau internally for Prince Su and seized control of the Northwest military forces externally, with those forces falling into Xiao Su’s hands, who remained by his side?
“Sister, I understand all this,” Li Chuan couldn’t help but smile bitterly upon hearing Li Rong’s words. “It’s just that Mother Empress doesn’t understand.”
“Mother Empress isn’t ignorant of this—it’s just that people always want to take the easiest path. She wants you to marry to obtain these three things through marriage. That’s far simpler than acquiring them directly.”
Li Chuan nodded in agreement, turning to look into the distance, seeming somewhat weary. Li Rong watched him and patted his hand. “Don’t think about it anymore. Go back early. Have people keep an eye on Father Emperor’s ‘small cabinet’ and see who he plans to place in it. Block those who need to be blocked—we can’t yield such positions.”
“Understood.”
Li Chuan replied. He had good judgment about these matters.
After Li Rong finished her instructions, she had Li Chuan secretly leave through the back door, urging him to visit less often in the future.
Coming to the Princess Manor now carried too much risk for him—it was better to come less frequently.
After Li Chuan left, Li Rong returned to the courtyard and lay on the rocking chair for a while. Suddenly, she felt the courtyard seemed empty.
She turned to ask Jing Lan, “Has the Prince Consort’s belongings all been moved?”
“The Prince Consort didn’t take many things when he left.” Jing Lan tidied up as she spoke. Li Rong turned to look at her. “Why is that? Is he planning to buy everything new?”
“The Prince Consort said,” Jing Lan crouched down and spoke quietly, “he’ll have to come back sooner or later, so he won’t move them for now.”
Upon hearing Jing Lan relay this message, Li Rong somehow felt that the desolate atmosphere in the courtyard suddenly dissipated.
She couldn’t help but ask a few more questions. “Did the Prince Consort move back to the Pei Manor?”
“No, he didn’t.”
Jing Lan shook her head. “Chancellor Pei originally had a residence in the capital. The Prince Consort moved there.”
Li Rong nodded. She lay on the rocking chair for a while longer, then got up and ordered, “Find Tuoba Yan and have him inquire at the residences next to the Prince Consort’s mansion to see which family is willing to sell. If they’re willing, a higher price is fine.”
Hearing Li Rong’s words, Jing Lan couldn’t suppress her smile. She glanced at Li Rong and said with a laugh, “Didn’t Your Highness say not to spend money recklessly?”
“Buying property is acquiring assets,” Li Rong said matter-of-factly. “How could that be called reckless spending?”
Jing Mei, who was massaging Li Rong’s legs, couldn’t hold back and let out a “pfft” of laughter.
Li Rong raised an eyebrow at her. Jing Mei quickly apologized with a smile. “Forgive me, Your Highness. This servant didn’t mean to laugh at you.”
No further explanation was needed—Li Rong knew what they were laughing about. She raised her hand and gently tapped Jing Mei with her fan, lightly scolding, “Impudent girl.”
The three of them playfully teased each other in the courtyard. After a short while, the Constabulary Bureau’s Guard Captain walked in.
Since Xun Chuan left Hua Jing, the position of Constabulary Bureau Guard Captain had been taken over by a man named Zhao Chongjiu. This person had been trained by Xun Chuan and was only employed by Li Rong after several rounds of evaluation. He held a plate of paper scrolls in his hands—all messages sent back from across the realm.
After Li Rong’s rebirth, she had begun having Pei Wenxuan rebuild the intelligence network from her previous life. But besides the network Pei Wenxuan established, she also maintained her own backup personnel.
She wasn’t accustomed to betting everything important on one possibility. Pei Wenxuan was useful, but that didn’t mean she would only use him.
Later, after she established the Constabulary Bureau, these intelligence networks were directly integrated into it. When Xun Chuan left Hua Jing and began traveling everywhere to build the Constabulary Bureau for her, the expansion of these information networks accelerated, especially in the Northwest and Southwest.
With Qin Lin in the Northwest, Xun Chuan’s establishment of the intelligence network was practically unobstructed. And in the Southwest, although Lin Feibai hadn’t shown obvious progress yet, there were no powerful aristocratic officials there either, making it much more convenient for Li Rong to send people to establish operations.
Of course, correspondingly, what this consumed was money.
The Constabulary Bureau received funding from Li Ming, but it was far from enough. So inevitably, she had to supplement it with her private coffers. At the current rate of consumption, she couldn’t sustain it for long either. Fortunately, Pei Wenxuan had made a series of arrangements in various enterprises last year—from inviting Gu Chenzi to her fief of Qingzhou to teach farming techniques, to acquiring real estate and various industries, and recruiting Tuoba Yan to help manage and handle finances. This year, her accounts could barely maintain operations.
Zhao Chongjiu brought the information up respectfully. “Your Highness, these are the recent messages sent back from various locations.”
Li Rong acknowledged and took the information to quickly review it.
As she reviewed the information, she listened to Zhao Chongjiu say, “Your Highness, regarding the matter of the divorce, we’ve largely investigated it.”
“Speak.”
Li Rong’s voice was calm as she scanned the paper with Xun Chuan’s report on the Northwest situation.
Currently, there were no major battles in the Northwest, but this year’s winter was severely cold. Many cattle and sheep froze to death outside the Great Xia defensive line, so several small-scale raids still occurred—targeting individual cities for plunder before quickly retreating.
Qin Lin had been sent to the frontlines to independently defend a city. He temporarily recruited citizens whose provisions had been stolen to form an army, which, combined with forces originally controlled by the Qin family, filled out their numbers considerably. The biggest problem now was lack of funds, and he asked Li Rong to find a way to help raise money.
“Last night in the palace, Su Rongqing had a private discussion with His Majesty. Afterward, His Majesty issued a decree to reduce funding for the Constabulary Bureau and demanded that half of Qingzhou’s tax revenue be submitted to the court to support northern military provisions.”
Hearing this, Li Rong paused briefly. After a moment, she pulled out Lin Feibai’s message from the Southwest.
Several larger battles had occurred in the Southwest this year. Lin Feibai had been promoted very quickly and now also faced problems—he needed to bribe officials on his promotion path.
In summary, it was also two words: lack of money.
Seeing mentions of money, Li Rong felt a headache coming. Thinking about how Li Ming’s original decree had been to demand money from her, she felt fortunate. Without looking up from the messages, she said, “Who made Father Emperor change the decree?”
“His Majesty went to Consort Rou’s quarters,” Zhao Chongjiu answered calmly. “When he returned, he changed his mind.”
Hearing this, Li Rong smiled. “Looks like Pei Wenxuan calculated correctly.”
Indeed, there was a rift in the cooperation between Consort Rou and Su Rongqing.
Otherwise, since Su Rongqing had already provided a plan, Consort Rou should have fully supported its implementation, rather than changing Su Rongqing’s intentions midway as she did now.
This gave Li Rong some relief.
Su Rongqing still understood the Princess Manor’s financial situation too well. Having Li Ming cut her income truly struck at her weak point. Fortunately, Consort Rou hadn’t listened to him and had misjudged her relationship with Pei Wenxuan.
However, such coincidences probably wouldn’t happen too often.
Su Rongqing would surely realize this time that Consort Rou had developed reservations about him. Since he planned to use Consort Rou, he wouldn’t allow these reservations to persist. He would certainly do something to repair the cooperation between Consort Rou and himself.
And Li Rong couldn’t give him this opportunity.
As Li Rong pondered, she also thought about the matter of the chief examiner for the imperial examinations. Suddenly, someone came to mind.
She quickly looked up at Zhao Chongjiu and ordered, “Go contact Cui Yulang for me. Ask him whether he still intends to continue with what he told me last time.”
Zhao Chongjiu respectfully raised his hand and replied, “Yes.”
Zhao Chongjiu handled matters with great efficiency. That very evening, he found Cui Yulang in a small alley.
Cui Yulang had just finished drinking at a pleasure house and was staggering on his way back. He walked forward reciting poetry as he went. Halfway through, he saw a person standing in the middle of the alley.
Zhao Chongjiu wore the official uniform of the Constabulary Bureau with a sword at his waist. Cui Yulang frowned, leaned against the wall, took a drink, and said, “What is this officer standing here for? Has Cui committed some offense and must enter the Constabulary Bureau?”
Zhao Chongjiu’s expression remained unchanged as he simply said, “The officer has sent this subordinate to ask Lord Cui a question.”
Hearing this, Cui Yulang raised his head, his gaze turning slightly cold. Then he heard Zhao Chongjiu say, “Regarding what you discussed with Her Highness last time, do you still intend to continue?”
At these words, Cui Yulang was immediately stunned.
His facial expression changed several times, seeming extremely conflicted. Zhao Chongjiu frowned. Seeing that Cui Yulang hadn’t answered for a long time, he couldn’t help but prompt, “Lord Cui?”
“Sir,” Cui Yulang hesitated for a long time, took a drink, and finally said, “Then please trouble this officer to ask on Cui’s behalf—if I comply with the Princess’s wishes, can the Princess guarantee my life will be safe?”
Zhao Chongjiu nodded. “Is there anything else you wish to ask?”
“There is also,” Cui Yulang answered solemnly, “afterward, will Her Highness agree to help Cui investigate the case and give Cui’s good friend justice?”
Zhao Chongjiu agreed and confirmed once more, “Are there any other questions?”
“If Her Highness agrees to everything, just inform this humble one.” Cui Yulang’s face showed an expression of facing certain death. “Three days from now on the rest day, this humble one will be at the top floor private room of the Deshun Inn, awaiting Her Highness’s honored presence. However, before coming, please ensure Her Highness that the Prince Consort doesn’t know.”
“This minister is but an ant compared to the Prince Consort,” Cui Yulang bowed respectfully. “I hope Her Highness will show mercy.”
Zhao Chongjiu: “…”
Somehow, he felt there was something mysteriously odd about this matter. Still, he nodded. Seeing that Cui Yulang had nothing more to say, he returned and relayed Cui Yulang’s message.
Zhao Chongjiu repeated Cui Yulang’s words almost sentence by sentence. Li Rong soaked her feet as she listened. Hearing Zhao Chongjiu’s report, Jing Mei couldn’t help but say, “Your Highness, why did he mention the Prince Consort out of nowhere? What does he want Your Highness to show mercy for?”
Li Rong glanced at Jing Mei indifferently and said in a tone of tolerance mixed with some pity, “He’s ill. We need to be understanding.”
With that, Li Rong turned to instruct Zhao Chongjiu, “Go back and tell him to wait for me at the Qingyue Teahouse three days from now.”
Zhao Chongjiu nodded and withdrew to relay the message. Just as he turned around, Li Rong couldn’t help but add, “Also, tell him to stop imagining things all day and be more normal!”
Zhao Chongjiu agreed with this sentiment. He also felt that Lord Cui’s mind didn’t seem quite right.
When Li Rong’s message reached Cui Yulang and he heard the location was Qingyue Teahouse, after a brief moment of stunned silence, he couldn’t help but feel somewhat emotional. “Her Highness really knows how to have fun.”
Zhao Chongjiu looked up at him and said calmly, “Her Highness also said,” these words made Cui Yulang nervous again, “to tell you to be more normal.”