“Are you laughing at your fourth sister for being incompetent? You better watch out, I’ll go tell your elder sister on you and have you banned from eating sweets for ten days!” Bai Jinzhi feigned angry embarrassment, reaching out to tickle Bai Jinse.

Bai Jinse was most afraid of being tickled. While circling the stone table in the pavilion to escape, she laughed and begged for mercy: “Please spare your younger sister, Fourth Sister! Oh my! Fourth Sister! Hahaha… I’ll apologize to you, isn’t that enough!”

Such pleasant laughter from young ladies, like silver bells ringing in the wind, brought joy to those who heard it. The Bai mansion hadn’t heard such delightful laughter in a very long time.

After the two had played until they were covered in fine perspiration, maids and servants brought fruits, pastries, and hot tea, then withdrew to stand guard outside the pavilion.

Bai Jinse handed a handkerchief to Bai Jinzhi to wipe her sweat. From the corner of her eye, she saw Wei Zhong following a maid from Qinghui Courtyard toward that courtyard. She smiled and gestured for Bai Jinzhi to look down the artificial mountain: “Fourth Sister, look, that’s Wei Zhong… he’s being led by a little maid from elder sister’s Qinghui Courtyard. It seems… he’s going to Qinghui Courtyard!”

Bai Jinzhi glanced down the artificial mountain and nodded: “It should be.”

“Fourth Sister, when elder sister employs people… she always uses their strengths. For example, this Wei Zhong—the past few times elder sister has used him to investigate matters, he’s investigated extremely thoroughly and beautifully. But aside from having Wei Zhong investigate things clearly, elder sister hasn’t used Wei Zhong for other matters!”

“And Uncle Ping… these years he’s been loyal and devoted to our family. For matters concerning the Bai family’s survival, the elder sister entrusts them to Uncle Ping!”

Bai Jinzhi looked at her seventh sister, listening attentively to her words.

“Then there’s Steward Liu. Steward Liu has been managing our family’s business affairs all these years, so when it involves family business… elder sister sends Steward Liu to handle it!” Bai Jinse picked up the teapot and poured a cup of tea for Bai Jinzhi. “If elder sister handled all these matters personally, even if she had three heads and six arms, she couldn’t manage everything!”

Bai Jinse put down the teapot and pushed the teacup in front of Bai Jinzhi, saying: “So, Fourth Sister, rather than sitting here thinking about what you should do, why not think about… how you should use the people around you to achieve your desired goals.”

Bai Jinzhi looked at her young sister and suddenly felt… her younger sister had suddenly grown up, appearing even more composed than Little Five and Little Six.

Bai Jinse was a concubine-born daughter of the Bai family’s main branch. Ever since Bai Qingyan returned injured, Bai Jinse had spent almost every day by Bai Qingyan’s side, naturally becoming more composed through constant exposure and influence.

“Did you think of all these words yourself?” Bai Jinzhi suddenly felt ashamed, thinking she wasn’t even as good as her sister.

Bai Jinse shook her head: “When I was little, I heard elder sister say this to big brother. At that time I was too young to understand the meaning, but now I understand.”

The “big brother” Bai Jinse mentioned was Bai Jinzhi’s blood brother, the Bai family’s eldest son, Bai Qingluo.

Thinking of her brother, Bai Jinzhi’s eyes immediately became moist and red. She hung her head in sorrow, then suddenly raised it again, as if understanding something, and stood up, slapping her forehead: “Right! How could I not have thought of this!”

Bai Jinse was holding silver chopsticks to pick up pastries for Bai Jinzhi when she saw Bai Jinzhi suddenly stand up and slap her forehead, startling her: “Fourth Sister?”

Bai Jinzhi grabbed the riding whip resting on the stone bench and walked outside while saying to Bai Jinse, “You eat the pastries yourself. Fourth Sister is going to handle proper business.”

Just now, when Bai Jinse had pointed this out, saying to use the people around her… Bai Jinzhi immediately thought of the Crown Prince!

What could be more justified than receiving orders directly from the Crown Prince to investigate?

Bai Jinse saw her fourth sister running off with a beaming smile and knew that her fourth sister must have a plan now. She was also happy, her eyebrows and eyes taking on a smile. She tasted a bite of the newly made pastries, found the flavor quite good, and instructed a maid to send a box to Qinghui Courtyard, specifically instructing: “Just quietly give the pastries to Sister Chun Tao, don’t disturb elder sister!”

Ever since her elder sister had been injured, she claimed to be bedridden, recovering, but she hadn’t been idle at all.

Just now elder sister had sent someone to summon Wei Zhong to Qinghui Courtyard, probably to instruct Wei Zhong to investigate something again.

Bai Jinse turned to gaze at the ginkgo tree that Bai Jinzhi had been looking at earlier, only hoping she could grow up quickly. Once she grew up, she could help her elder sister, and her elder sister wouldn’t have to work so hard.

Bai Jinzhi rode swiftly straight to the Crown Prince’s mansion.

Ever since the incident at Wude Gate, where the two princes forced the palace and the Emperor handed all government affairs to the Crown Prince in one go, not even attending morning court and focusing on recovering from his injuries, the Crown Prince had moved all government business to his mansion to handle. When Bai Jinzhi arrived, a group of court officials had just come out of the Crown Prince’s mansion.

Liu Ruofu’s maternal grandfather, Minister of Rites Old Master Wang, although he hadn’t participated in this rebellion, was ultimately Prince Xian’s father-in-law and Liu Ruofu’s grandfather. He had submitted a memorial citing his advanced age, declining energy, and inability to serve, requesting retirement. The Crown Prince, no longer bothered with the dignity between ruler and minister and too lazy to maintain appearances, had approved it without any attempt to retain him.

Just now, a group of court officials had been discussing with the Crown Prince the candidate for the Minister of Rites position, arguing until their mouths were dry, but ultimately did not conclude. The Crown Prince was truly annoyed at the moment. Hearing that Bai Jinzhi had come, he quickly had Quan Yu bring Bai Jinzhi in.

“Bai Jinzhi pays respects to the Crown Prince’s cousin!” Bai Jinzhi bowed to the Crown Prince.

The Crown Prince very much liked Bai Jinzhi’s straightforward nature that didn’t require effort to guess, and also liked how the Bai family was close to him. He smiled and instructed Quan Yu: “Go bring the pastries that the Crown Princess sent earlier and let County Princess Gaoyi taste them!”

“Oh! Pastries made by the Crown Princess’ sister-in-law! Then I’m in for a treat!” Bai Jinzhi was completely at ease with the Crown Prince, sitting down casually without any reserve. She didn’t beat around the bush either, stating her purpose directly: “Crown Prince cousin, I didn’t come today just to freeload! I wonder if Crown Prince’s cousin has heard… about those dandies in our capital talking about foolishly enlisting in the northern frontier?”

Mentioning this made the Crown Prince want to laugh. He casually set down the teacup in his hand, tapped on the desk, and said with a mixture of crying and laughing: “How could I not know? It’s ridiculous! Each one of them picked names like… Yu San, Ma San, Lu San! As if afraid others wouldn’t know they were fake names. And how long did they last? They couldn’t endure it and begged their families to find ways to bring them back!”

“I heard them say that the harsh training was secondary—the main issue was that the food wasn’t clean… several grains of sand and stones in every mouthful of rice, and the rice was so coarse it was impossible to swallow, scratching their throats!” Bai Jinzhi frowned tightly. “Crown Prince’s cousin knows that I come from a military family and have followed Your Highness out of Nanjiang City. I also went to the northern frontier battle. How hard fighting is… these adults in the capital with their soft beds and pillows don’t know, but people like Crown Prince cousin and me… those of us who’ve been to battlefields, fought wars, and suffered hardships understand this all too well!”

Hearing Bai Jinzhi mention this matter, the Crown Prince lowered his eyes and touched his nose, remaining silent…