thefictionvixens Chapter 97 Chen Pingping: Can you finish your sentence at once?
Chapter 97 Chen Pingping: Can you finish your sentence at once?
Chapter 97 Chen Pingping: Can you finish your sentence at once?
The Wei River is wide, and the afternoon sun spreads a dazzling golden scale on the water.
The official boat slowly approached the dock in the suburbs of Weizhou.
The black flag with gold trim of the Princess on the deck fluttered loudly in the river wind.
The originally noisy crowd on the dock was suddenly cut off.
The laborers carrying goods, the vendors setting up stalls, the merchants waiting for the ship—everyone turned their heads at once to look at the large ship that was getting closer and closer.
Then, "thump," "thump"—a large group of people knelt down.
Heads bowed, necks stiffened, no one dared to look up.
The county magistrate had already received the news that the princess's ship would be docking here tonight.
At this moment, he was waiting at the very front of the dock with his subordinates, including the county magistrate and the registrar.
The official boat docked smoothly.
"Greetings, Your Highness the Princess!" A loud voice rang out from the dock.
Lower the springboard.
Chunmei walked out of the cabin and onto the gangplank. Her gaze swept over the people kneeling on the ground and finally landed on the county magistrate.
"Your Highness must be tired from your journey, so I won't show myself," Chunmei said clearly. "We'll stop in a suburban county today to replenish our water, fruits, vegetables, and rice. Please make the arrangements, Magistrate."
The magistrate quickly bowed and said, "Your Excellency understands! Your Excellency has already made preparations!"
He waved his hand behind him, and several constables carried the boxes and jogged over.
The box was opened, revealing neatly stacked seasonal fruits, fresh vegetables, and several bags of high-quality japonica rice.
Chunmei glanced at it and nodded.
She turned to the side and instructed the two maids following behind her, "Go and take a look, choose carefully."
"Yes," the maid replied, leading several boatmen off the boat.
Before the magistrate could say anything more, Chunmei had already turned and walked back.
The gangplank was retracted, and the official boat quietly moored at the dock.
The magistrate bowed until Chunmei's figure disappeared into the cabin before slowly straightening up.
He wiped the sweat from his brow and whispered to his subordinates behind him, "Be alert! His Highness's ship is here; not even a fly is allowed to disturb it!"
"Yes—" the subordinates responded in unison.
In Li Yunrui's room on the second floor of the ship's cabin.
The window was slightly ajar, and you could see the view of the docks outside.
Wu Feng stood by the window for a while, then turned to look at Li Yunrui sitting on the soft couch.
She wasn't looking out the window; she held a book in her hand, her gaze fixed on the pages, yet it seemed she wasn't actually reading.
"Your Highness," Wu Feng walked back and sat down beside her, "Chunmei has already taken care of it."
"Mm," Li Yunrui responded without looking up.
Wu Feng looked at her profile; her beautiful face appeared exceptionally soft in the afternoon light.
He reached out and gently took her hand, which was resting on her knee.
Li Yunrui finally raised his eyes.
She looked at Wu Feng, her alluring eyes devoid of emotion, simply gazing at him quietly.
After a few moments, she suddenly smiled.
Wu Feng gently scratched her palm with his fingers.
Li Yunrui trembled slightly, her eyelashes drooped, and her gaze returned to the book.
But Wu Feng noticed that her ears had turned a very faint pink.
[Ding~ Mood points +180!]
Kyoto, Prosecutor's Office.
Zhu Ge strode into his study, his brow furrowed.
A messenger came to report that Qin Ye had led a group of men out of the city through the south gate and headed south.
"Are you sure you didn't inform Prime Minister Su?" Zhu Ge asked his trusted confidant standing below.
"Probably not. There's no movement from the Prime Minister's residence. As for His Majesty—our people can't find anything."
Zhu Ge did not respond immediately, but tapped his fingers on the table.
Qin Ye is the chief envoy of the Privy Council and also serves as the commander of the capital's garrison division. Although His Majesty has issued an edict to remove him from his position as commander and transfer Ye Zhong back to the capital to take over, Ye Zhong's return to the capital will take time, and the handover will also take some time.
Now that Qin Ye has left the capital, according to regulations he should inform Prime Minister Su Shenzhi, but Prime Minister Su is clearly unaware of this.
Thinking of this, Zhu Ge stood up and decided to go find Chen Pingping.
Just as she reached the door of the dean's study, she bumped into Yan Ruohai, who had also come to see Chen Pingping.
"Lord Yan," Zhu Ge said, bowing.
"Lord Zhu," Yan Ruohai returned the greeting, "shall I come back later?"
"No need," Zhu Ge waved his hand. "I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you all to help me with this matter later."
Yan Ruohai nodded: "Then let's go together."
Zhu Ge raised his hand and knocked on the door.
A calm voice came from inside: "Come in."
Zhu Ge pushed open the door and walked in one after the other with Yan Ruohai.
Chen Pingping was sitting in a wheelchair, looking at a case file.
Seeing the two of them enter at the same time, he put down the file and looked up at them.
"Speak," Chen Pingping said calmly, "What is it?"
Yan Ruohai looked at Zhu Ge: "You go first."
Zhu Ge didn't stand on ceremony, stepping forward and bowing: "Dean, I just received news that Qin Ye led a team of elite troops out of the capital at Chenshi (7-9 AM) today, heading south. Prime Minister Su—shouldn't know."
Chen Pingping's eyes turned cold.
Qin Ye is the Chief of the Privy Council, in charge of the military affairs of the Qing Kingdom.
His departure from the capital without informing the Prime Minister could only be due to a secret order from His Majesty.
"Find out where he went," Chen Pingping said.
"The order has already been given," Zhu Ge said. "But I'm worried that if he keeps heading south, he'll eventually leave the capital region."
Chen Pingping turned to Yan Ruohai: "Keep an eye on things here when the time comes."
Yan Ruohai readily replied, "Understood."
Chen Pingping then asked Yan Ruohai, "Is there anything else?"
Yan Ruohai then reported: "News has come back from Northern Qi. Empress Dowager Wei has taken action against the Wei family. Shen Zhong, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, has led his men to imprison the entire Wei family on charges of treason."
Zhu Ge blurted out, "Didn't the Wei family just spend 2.2 million taels of silver to secure a partnership with Qingyutang in Northern Qi? And the Wei family wields considerable influence in Northern Qi. What is Northern Qi trying to do?"
Chen Pingping frowned as well.
He had promised Wu Feng that he would take care of Qingyutang in Kyoto.
With the downfall of the Wei family, Qingyutang's sales channels in Northern Qi are likely to be in trouble.
Yan Ruohai continued, "There's one more thing."
Chen Pingping looked at him and said, "Can you finish your sentence at once?"
Yan Ruohai smiled and said, "Be careful next time. After the auction a while ago, the Pei, Cheng, Zhao, and Chen families of Northern Qi all left trusted confidants in the capital. Today, people from all four families went to Qingyutang together."
Chen Pingping immediately realized: "The Wei family just fell, and these four families are already trying to steal the partnership with Qingyutang?"
"I don't know about that," Yan Ruohai said. "The Dean might as well ask Manager Ye Songnian himself."
Chen Pingping was silent for a moment, then waved his hand: "I understand. Is there anything else?"
Zhu Ge and Yan Ruohai exchanged a glance and said in unison, "That's all."
"Go ahead and get busy."
The two bowed and withdrew.
The study fell silent.
Chen Pingping turned her wheelchair and came to the window, looking out at the courtyard of the Supervisory Council.
The downfall of the Wei family in Northern Qi will definitely have an impact on Qingyutang.
Since he had promised Wu Feng, he couldn't just ignore it.
After thinking for a moment, Chen Pingping instructed the doorway: "Prepare the carriage, we're going to Qingyutang."