Shen Xihe’s words were like soft knives, stabbing into Xiao Changyan’s heart one by one, yet he couldn’t utter a word of rebuttal.
Though skilled in warfare, his neglect of civilian affairs was indeed a major fault. Shen Xihe was right – if he had established daily rations early on, the grain he’d acquired could have lasted ten to fifteen days longer.
This wouldn’t have led to the current grain shortage predicament. If Xiao Huayong and Shen Xihe hadn’t come, he still wouldn’t have found a way to fill the grain deficit, with unimaginable consequences.
Acknowledging his error, Xiao Changyan composed himself and bowed deeply to Shen Xihe: “Sister-in-law’s criticism is correct. This was my fault, I cannot escape blame. I will submit a memorial to His Majesty admitting my wrongdoing.”
Xiao Changyan’s quick admission of fault raised Shen Xihe’s eyebrows – she couldn’t continue berating him, though it didn’t matter, as there would be more issues to address later.
“Grain will enter the city the day after tomorrow. Prince of Xin, make arrangements – we’ll need a hundred strong laborers to receive it,” Shen Xihe said, leaving without another glance at either man.
Though Xiao Changyan wanted to ask questions, he realized his accumulated faults left him no right to inquire. Shen Xihe had directly instructed Xiao Changqing, clearly meaning him to reflect deeply and stop meddling carelessly.
“Fifth Brother, I trouble you,” Xiao Changyan said neutrally.
Xiao Changqing’s smile was gentle: “Working for the people is our duty.”
They exchanged glances, dropping all pretense before heading in opposite directions.
The court’s grain requisition for Dengzhou had been announced empire-wide. Even though Wendeng County was isolated, they’d received the news. However, due to difficult communications, only Xiao Changyan, Xiao Changqing, and the Provincial Governor knew how the grain would arrive. Even they only knew it would come by water, though the surrounding waterways were turbulent with rapid currents, making direction difficult to determine in the heavy rain – they weren’t optimistic about this.
Yet Shen Xihe was so certain the grain would arrive in two days, truly shocking them. They could only follow her instructions to post notices and publicly select strong workers for grain transport.
Once the notice was posted and announced with drums and gongs, many came forward. These people were full of hope – this was their lifeline!
Seeing Xiao Changyan thoroughly criticized before Shen Xihe, Xiao Changqing personally supervised the selection, not taking one person more than Shen Xihe’s specified hundred.
While waiting for the grain, Xiao Huayong was the most leisurely, feigning illness indoors, arranging flowers daily in various vases to decorate Shen Xihe’s simple quarters.
“I’ve discovered Twelfth Brother’s whereabouts,” Xiao Huayong said as he trimmed branches, seeing Shen Xihe enter.
Shen Xihe turned toward him: “You want to rescue him?”
With a snip, Xiao Huayong cut off excess branches. He neither confirmed nor denied, busy for a moment before looking up: “I’ll follow whatever my wife says.”
He looked as if seeking praise.
When Shen Xihe told him not to interfere and let her handle everything, he completely stepped back, following her words entirely.
Her lustrous eyes like black obsidian flickered with captivating light as she watched him quietly, eventually breaking into a soft laugh.
Xiao Huayong raised his eyebrows, examining himself and touching his face, puzzled: “What did I do to amuse Youyou?”
“Your expression just now…” Shen Xihe circled him, turning back for another appraising look as if comparing, “looked exactly like Short-Life begging for food.”
Xiao Huayong wasn’t annoyed by this comment. Instead, his gaze grew dark, as if something stirred within, his voice deepening slightly: “I also want to beg for ‘food,’ though I wonder if Youyou will give it or not…”
He emphasized “food” heavily, his scanning gaze up and down Shen Xihe carrying obvious implications: “Youyou has denied me for so long…”
His pitiful tone and plaintive eyes made Shen Xihe both annoyed and flushed.
This man could be improper anytime, anywhere, taking her words and twisting them shamelessly, yet speaking so subtly that calling him out would be falling into his trap. He would surely blink innocently and say he’d been eating thin soup with the commoners lately, purely asking for actual food.
She hadn’t expected to think such things – it was her mind wandering. Then he would shamelessly claim he was just trying to satisfy her desires, taking advantage while playing innocent.
Having fallen for this before, Shen Xihe ignored his trap where any response would be wrong: “Prince of Yan must endure a few more days. After some time, I’ll make Prince Jing return him unharmed, exactly as he was captured.”
“Oh?” Xiao Huayong’s interest was immediately piqued. “How will Youyou make Eighth Brother return him voluntarily?”
“Did you think I was truly antagonizing Prince Jing pointlessly, acting like an aggressive shrew before him?” Shen Xihe took a cup of tea, taking a small sip. “I first pointed out his exploitation of wealthy households, today added his incompetence – seemingly minor faults, but many small faults accumulate into major ones. When the time is right, I’ll ask him about the Prince of Yan’s whereabouts.
The Prince of Yan came for disaster relief with him. We’ve been overwhelmed dealing with the disaster since arriving, and he insisted the Prince of Yan was providing relief in the neighboring county. With communication difficult between countries, our ignorance of when the Prince of Yan disappeared is understandable. But if he claims ignorance, that’s suspicious.
Especially since the Prince of Yan has been missing so long, yet after our arrival, he still claimed he was providing relief – clearly lying.
Before we came, he could excuse himself as too busy focusing on disaster relief to notice. Now that I’ve stripped his authority, he’s idle at the county office. How will he explain to His Majesty if he still doesn’t investigate when the Prince of Yan disappeared?
If anything serious happens to the Prince of Yan or he’s gravely injured, he can’t escape blame.
Failed his duties, neglected his brother – with multiple crimes combined, I can make him lose his title of Prince!”
Xiao Huayong’s eyes lit up hearing this, unable to help applauding: “Brilliant, truly brilliant.”
So from taking Xiao Changyan’s disaster relief authority, she had been planning to rescue Xiao Changgeng. Two seemingly unrelated matters showed no connection before surfacing. Even Xiao Huayong had thought she took control of relief efforts just to prevent Xiao Changyan’s interference – surely Xiao Changyan himself hadn’t realized it involved Xiao Changgeng.
Xiao Huayong’s burning gaze fell on Shen Xihe, then fixed on the teacup in her hand, his lips curving involuntarily: “Youyou, that’s my teacup.”
He had already drunk from it.
Though they were married, Shen Xihe had noble family etiquette ingrained in her bones – they had never shared items before…
Well, except for the bathtub.