Qin Yining wore a plain light green fine cotton jacket with a black gauze hat veil, dressed simply as an ordinary woman. She brought Bingtang, Ji Yun, and the four silver-masked scouts including Jingzhe, standing not far from the street corner.

Jingzhe asked quietly, “Madam, should we continue spreading the news?”

When outside, they all called Qin Yining “Madam” to avoid exposing their identities.

Qin Yining nodded. “Continue. We can’t let the master always take the blame for others. He’s unwilling to publicize himself, but we can.”

Dahan said quietly, “I’m just worried that the person above won’t be pleased seeing the master’s achievements and will become unbearably sour about it.”

Dahan was the most experienced among the four silver-masked scouts following Qin Yining and was best at analyzing situations.

Qin Yining couldn’t help but laugh at his description. “That person wants to use ignorant people policies, making everyone into blind and deaf fools, otherwise they wouldn’t be easy to rule. But he doesn’t think about how no one is really a fool—who’s truly good to you and who’s being fake, isn’t that easy to distinguish? To judge a person, you only need to see what they do, not what they say. And to judge a ruler, you only need to see what the common people eat and wear.”

Speaking of this, Qin Yining turned around and led the group toward the government office gate, saying quietly, “Now everyone can’t even fill their stomachs, they’re homeless and living in fear every day, yet someone is still obsessing over treasure…”

These were all her trusted confidants. Even if they didn’t know everything about these matters, they knew most of it.

Xiaoman sighed. “That’s why there’s that saying ‘When the state prospers, the people suffer; when the state falls, the people suffer.’ At times like this, ordinary people are always the unluckiest.”

“Indeed.” Everyone quietly agreed, feeling desolate inside.

None of them had lived without hardship. Only Bingtang could be considered born with a silver spoon, but her family was also persecuted by a foolish ruler, ending up homeless and her fate changing from young miss to servant.

As for Qin Yining, who had never enjoyed good days since childhood, there was even less to say.

So they all best understood the people’s suffering and could most empathize with their feelings.

Many times, ordinary people didn’t even care under whose jurisdiction they lived—they only cared about whether they could eat their fill and stay warm, whether they could avoid the disruption of war.

Unfortunately, this was a chaotic age. Especially the lands of Great Yan seemed cursed, with disasters following one after another. Sometimes even basic food and clothing were luxuries for them.

The group returned to the government office gate with heavy hearts. Pang Xiao and Gong You were already preparing horses with their people.

Because the roads were severely damaged with frequent landslides blocking paths, they couldn’t take carriages this time and could only ride horses.

“My lord, the road to Yang County isn’t easy to travel. We might need to climb over rock piles along the way. The princess consort has a delicate constitution—will she be able to handle going with us?”

Pang Xiao smiled. “She’ll be fine. Don’t let her gentle appearance fool you—she has a spirit that doesn’t lose to us men. Yang County also has estates from her dowry. She wants to see if we can gather some grain there—wouldn’t that be good?”

Gong You smiled and nodded. “A woman who could match the prince couldn’t be simple. By the way, was the princess consort originally from Great Yan?”

At this time Qin Yining had approached and heard this, smiling, “Yes, Lord Gong. My father was originally Great Yan’s chancellor, later appointed as Crown Prince’s Grand Tutor with the title of Marquis Anping. Later when Great Yan became chaotic and corrupt, my father submitted to the Emperor.”

“Ah! I know, I know now! Your honored father is the current Minister Qin, the one called ‘Intelligent Pan An,’ Minister Qin, right?”

Qin Yining smiled and nodded.

“I see, so the princess consort comes from a distinguished family. No wonder your bearing is different from ordinary women. Then this time’s donation of dowry and money, and selling the family residence, was also Minister Qin’s…”

Qin Yining smiled. “Being able to help is very good. My father’s intention is not to publicize it.”

The attendants felt grateful again upon hearing this.

Even the usually casual Jinghu Guard and Longxiang Army now felt some admiration for Prince Zhongshun and Minister Qin. They all understood why they didn’t want to publicize their achievements. They just wanted to do practical things for the people without taking anyone’s fame or attracting trouble.

This simple way of doing real things for the people was even more moving.

Pang Xiao led over a docile chestnut mare. His black stallion also followed, nuzzling Qin Yining with its long face.

Qin Yining was amused and couldn’t help extending her slender fingers to touch the horse’s mane. Her fair hand appeared snow-white against the cloud-black shiny coat.

Pang Xiao handed the mare’s reins to Qin Yining. “My Black Cloud has too fierce a temper. Although it likes you very much, if it gets excited and runs wild with you, that would be dangerous. This horse has good endurance and is gentle—you ride it.”

Qin Yining took the reins, smiling. “Alright, but you needn’t worry. My riding skills are decent. I’ve ridden wild horses before and even lived with wild horse herds for a while.”

As Qin Yining spoke, she put on her hat veil, then stepped into the stirrup and gracefully mounted the horse.

Today she wore a short jacket with a pleated long skirt below. When mounting, her skirt hem flew up like a butterfly spreading its wings, captivating all who watched. Her upright posture sitting on horseback truly gave an impression of heroic bearing.

Pang Xiao’s eyes lit up watching her. He patted Qin Yining’s hand, then turned and leaped onto Black Cloud’s back.

Huzi helped Bingtang mount her horse while teasing, “Good thing I taught you riding before, otherwise you’d be left behind now.”

Bingtang rolled her eyes at him. “It was Madam who taught me, not you.”

“Hey! How can you be so ungrateful?”

“Who’s ungrateful? Hyah!” Bingtang shook the reins and rode to Qin Yining’s side.

Huzi could only touch his nose and mount his horse too.

Gong You brought Secretary Lu and four young attendants, all mounting horses to ride alongside Pang Xiao’s group. The remaining Jinghu Guard and silver-masked scouts mixed with the Longxiang Army horses.

The group left the capital city, heading toward Yang County.

Yang County was half a day’s ride from the old capital if traveling non-stop.

But that was when road conditions were good.

The road to Yang County was mostly mountain paths. This meant that after the earth dragon’s turning, landslides and falling boulders had made the road to Yang County impassable for galloping horses.

Some places no longer had roads at all, requiring them to lead horses while stepping over stones and cracked earth mounds.

Initially Gong You was somewhat worried. After all, while it wasn’t unusual for ladies from noble families to learn riding, few women could endure such mountain climbing.

When he spoke those words earlier, he had hoped Pang Xiao would give up bringing a woman on the journey, but Pang Xiao stubbornly refused to listen, leaving him no other choice.

But when they actually reached the mountain roads, Gong You, Secretary Lu, and the four attendants truly had their eyes opened.

Qin Yining was extremely agile and bold yet careful.

For instance, at this section of road, a large boulder had rolled down from the mountain, blocking the entire path, leaving only a narrow passage wide enough for one person. But one side of this narrow path was the giant boulder, and the other side was a bottomless abyss. Even the horses refused to move forward. Qin Yining forcibly led her chestnut mare along the edge, coaxing it to cross.

This truly made everyone look at her with new respect.

Even some who were too scared to cross, seeing that even a woman could be so capable, found courage to cross without hesitation.

The group truly traversed mountains and rivers. What should have been half a day’s journey took them until dark to complete.

The situation in Yang County wasn’t much better than the old capital. The only improvement was that Yang County didn’t have as many tall buildings as the old capital, so the ruined walls didn’t look quite as tragic.

The streets still had many refugees. Seeing this group leading horses in a mighty procession that included soldiers, the refugees avoided them even more.

Gong You led the group to the county office.

Half the office walls had collapsed from the earthquake. Standing outside, they could see tents set up in the courtyard with many refugees crowded inside.

Gong You handed his horse to an attendant and entered the courtyard with Pang Xiao, Qin Yining, and several guards, weaving through the simple tents to reach the front office.

“Where is Magistrate Li?”

“Ah? You’re Prefect Gong! How did you come personally? The magistrate just went inside—I’ll call him right away!” The person who answered had met Gong You before and was already running off as he spoke.

Gong You explained to Pang Xiao, “That’s Magistrate Li’s attendant.”

Pang Xiao nodded and stood waiting in the courtyard.

Qin Yining looked toward the surrounding tents where mostly homeless people whose houses were destroyed lived. Some families shared one tent, while others had several men in one tent or several women with children in another.

It seemed Yang County’s magistrate truly loved his people like his own children.

But Qin Yining somewhat doubted the treasure would come to Yang County. She felt Li Qitian’s scouts might have investigated incorrectly, because the mountain road they had traveled was truly too difficult.

Especially the mountain near Yang County—the mountain path was blocked by giant boulders. She had led her horse along the edge with her heart in her throat. How could a treasure convoy pass through smoothly?

Unless there were other roads to Yang County.

While pondering, Magistrate Li hurried out with his attendant. Seeing Gong You, he didn’t bother with formalities and bluntly asked, “Lord Gong! Where’s the grain? Has the Emperor’s relief rice arrived?”

Magistrate Li was a man near thirty, fair-faced and beardless, with proper features and thick black eyebrows—clearly a straightforward person.

Gong You coughed. “Let’s go inside first to talk.”

Only then did Magistrate Li notice others present. He awkwardly touched his nose. “My apologies. I was too anxious and lost composure. Let’s go inside first.”

Pang Xiao smiled and waved to indicate no offense, then followed with Qin Yining and their entourage into the building.

Only then did Gong You make introductions: “Magistrate Li, this is the disaster relief commissioner sent by the Emperor—Prince Zhongshun, Grand Secretary Pang of Wuying Hall.”

Though this introduction was comprehensive, it seemed somewhat inappropriate.

But upon hearing this, Magistrate Li’s eyes lit up and he quickly bowed to Pang Xiao: “So it’s the prince! I was truly rude, truly rude.”

Pang Xiao smiled and returned the courtesy. “I see many disaster victims in the courtyard? Has Magistrate Li been housing them in the courtyard all along?”

“Yes, their houses were destroyed. I was afraid they’d get close to the ruins and catch some epidemic, so I brought them all under my watch. But my lord, hasn’t the Emperor’s relief rice arrived yet? Even with the thinnest porridge from opening the granaries, I can’t hold out much longer.”

“I’m aware of this situation. But I too received emergency orders. The Emperor’s disaster relief money and grain will probably be delayed further.”

As soon as Pang Xiao finished speaking, Magistrate Li frowned with frustration.

Gong You pulled him aside and told him about everything Pang Xiao had done since arriving and how much he had donated.