Stranger and Chen in the Palace

With Ling Yichen's promise, Xiao Ye finally said, "Actually, not only did my ministers know about the flooding of the Fen River, but King Yu ordered them to hide it." He said with a wry smile, "At such a time, it is necessary to search the common people. If you can’t pay the tax money on time, you won’t be able to hide the matter.”

"Do you know how many people you will kill by doing this?" Xue Zimo asked.

Xiao Ye smiled even more bitterly: "Of course I know, I also feel uncomfortable doing such destructive things. In recent days, I have been having nightmares again and again, always dreaming about those wronged souls taking their lives." As he spoke, he became excited, "But What can I do, the lives of my whole family are in King Yu's hands, how dare I not listen to him?"

"You mean that everything you do is ordered by King Yu, why would he do this?" Ling Yichen said.

Xiao Ye said: "Your Highness must also know that King Yu and His Highness the Second Highness have always been at odds. There is only one throne. If King Yu wants to surpass His Highness Second Highness, he must continue to accumulate his own strength, whether it is buying talents or recruiting soldiers. You don’t need money either?”

Ling Yichen and Xue Zimo looked at each other, and thought of something at the same time. Sure enough, Xiao Ye continued: "The Fen River is located in an important position, and it is a big river that is prone to flooding. Since His Majesty took the throne, he has allocated a large sum of money for maintenance and reinforcement every year. A few years ago, people were ordered to renovate it from the inside to the outside, because they were afraid of the flooding of the Fen River. However, in these years, less than one percent of the library silver was actually used to repair the river embankment, and the rest was taken away by King Yu. It has been withheld. Not only the Fen River embankment, but all the major projects within his sphere of influence, all the money allocated by him has flowed into King Yu's personal pocket."

Xue Zimo frowned: "Why didn't you report to His Majesty earlier?"

"When I first became an official in the early years, in order to climb up, I also did some shady things. These handles were all held by King Yu, so I had to be controlled by him, and I didn't even have the freedom to marry. "Xiao Ye laughed at himself, "What's more, whoever is the emperor, all the courtiers are courtiers. I'm just a small fourth rank, how dare I offend King Yu."

"Do you have any evidence of Yu Wang's corruption?" Ling Yichen asked suddenly.

Xiao Ye shook his head: "King Yu is very cautious in doing things, if it is not for his absolute confidant, it is impossible to have evidence."

The truth of the matter came to light. After Xiao Ye was taken away by Lian Huang, Xue Zimo asked Ling Yichen, "Do you still want to take Xiao Ye?"

Ling Yichen nodded: "Of course, if the matter is to be resolved, he must play an important role."

Xue Zimo hesitated for a while, and said, "If he refuses to speak the truth today, will you really kill his child?"

Ling Yichen smiled wryly: "I didn't catch him, how can I kill him?"

"Then just now—" Xue Zimo was stunned.

Ling Yichen replied truthfully: "Spoof him." Then he explained, "I saw that he would rather be tortured than confess, so the king of Yu must be a greater threat to him. I can't think of anything better than the lives of my family. Threat, so I thought of using his son to try."

Xue Zimo was still puzzled: "But how do you know that he has a son, a child of two or three years old?"

Ling Yichen smiled: "I have to thank the teacher. He asked me to write down the basic situation of all the officials in the court. I didn't expect it to come in handy today."

Xue Zimo laughed when he heard the words.Ling Yichen had never seen Xue Zimo smile like this before, his handsome face suddenly became radiant, and for a moment Ling Yichen could see the magic.

Seeing that his expression was different, Xue Zimo lowered his head and coughed dryly, and said, "Let's leave early."

"Okay." Ling Yichen said stupidly.

In order to save time, Ling Yichen and his party rode fast, eating and lodging in the carriage, and supplying fast horses and necessary supplies at post stations along the way.Xue Zimo and Ling Yichen were in the same carriage. Due to the bumpy road these days, Xue Zimo's appetite has not been very good, and he hardly ate much.

Ling Yichen lifted the curtain of the car and said to Lian Feng, "Pass down the order and rest at the station tonight."

Xue Zimo was concerned about the people affected by the disaster, and wanted to persuade him to continue on his way, but Ling Yichen said first: "Just one night, I feel very tired after the bumpy ride these days, so I only need to rest for one night."

After Ling Yichen said that, Xue Zimo couldn't say anything more.

In the evening, Ling Yichen came into Xue Zimo's room with a bowl of porridge and some delicious vegetarian dishes, and saw him writing something with his head down.He put things on the table and asked, "What are you doing?"

Xue Zimo said with a smile: "I asked someone to find some information about the counties and counties affected by the disaster, and I just sent them over tonight. I am going to make some notes and show them to you. During the time on the road, you can get familiar with the information there. Case."

Seeing him burying himself in a pile of books and materials again, Ling Yichen said distressedly: "You haven't eaten much these days, why don't you come over and drink the porridge first?"

Xue Zimo smiled, put down the things in his hands, and walked towards him.

There was a bowl of porridge and four dishes of delicate vegetarian dishes on the table, and Xue Zimo finally had some appetite.He was just about to pick up the bowl of porridge, but Ling Yichen carried it over first. He was accompanying the porridge with a spoon in one hand, and was testing the temperature of the bowl with the other, with an extremely focused expression.

After a while, Ling Yichen handed him the porridge, and said softly, "You can drink it."

Xue Zimo took the porridge with a smile and began to drink it slowly. Ling Yichen was really thoughtful, if he was allowed to eat those meat dishes, he would definitely not have any appetite.Due to eating too little in the past few days, his stomach has felt a little uncomfortable, and porridge is undoubtedly the most suitable.

While he was slowly drinking the porridge, Ling Yichen helped him pick up the vegetables, each chopstick picked up neither too much nor too little, and it happened to be the porridge, Xue Zimo drank it quietly, feeling warm in his heart.

After Xue Zimo finished drinking, Ling Yichen got up to clean up the dishes, but Xue Zimo stopped him: "Your Highness, I will do these things."

Ling Yichen looked at him and said seriously, "I prefer you calling me by my name."

Xue Zimo smiled, lowered his head and began to clean up the dishes.Ling Yichen was helpless, he couldn't be in a hurry, he had promised Xue Zimo that he would wait for him to accept himself slowly.Now it's much better than what he expected, but he always wants to be closer to this person...

"I'll let them clean it up, don't move." Ling Yichen stopped him, and then called a guard to take the dishes out.

Xue Zimo went back to the desk, and Ling Yichen followed him.

Only then did he discover that the materials of various counties and counties on the table were put together in categories, some of which had already been annotated by Xue Zimo. He looked at the sky outside the window and said, "It's getting late, I'll have someone heat it up for you." Water, you can rest after bathing, you still have to bump on the carriage afterwards."

"Okay, I'll tidy up for a while." Xue Zimo said softly.Ling Yichen picked up the stack of materials he had annotated next to him: "Then I'll take these back and read them first."

"Isn't Your Highness tired? Let's see it tomorrow." Xue Zimo said.

Ling Yichen smiled: "If I don't say that, why are you willing to stop at the station to rest?"

Xue Zimo lowered his eyes when he heard the words, and said after a while: "Then Your Highness, don't watch it too late."

Ling Yichen nodded lightly, said good night, and went out with the documents in his arms.

On the second day, the group set out again.Seeing Ling Yichen's eyes were red, Xue Zimo knew that he must have watched it all night, so he couldn't help but said, "Sleep in the carriage for a while?"

Ling Yichen read the materials last night, and was indeed a little dizzy. He nodded and said, "Then wake me up in an hour, and I'll sleep for a while." After speaking, he leaned against a corner of the carriage and fell into a deep sleep .

Seeing him falling asleep like this, Xue Zimo found a cloak in the box and put it on for him.

It was already noon when Ling Yichen woke up, he opened his eyes and saw that Xue Zimo was not in the carriage, he was about to get up to look for it, when the cloak on his body suddenly slipped off, Ling Yichen picked up the cloak and looked at it, secretly smiling.

At this moment, the curtain of the car was lifted, Xue Zimo saw Ling Yichen wake up, and said with a smile: "It's just right, get up for lunch."

"Didn't I tell you to call me in an hour?" Ling Yichen pretended to be displeased.

Xue Zimo was slightly stunned, then smiled: "I see that you are really tired, so I want you to sleep for a while."

"Are you feeling sorry for me?" The smile in Ling Yichen's heart slowly spilled over his face.

Xue Zimo lowered his head and changed the topic: "Your Highness, are you eating in the car, or outside?"

Ling Yichen smiled helplessly: "Let's go outside!"

Along the way, Ling Yichen carefully looked through the materials Xue Zimo had prepared for him, and had a general understanding of the situation in the affected counties.After half a month of traveling, Ling Yichen and others finally arrived in Dianxi County.

The officials who knelt on the ground at the gate of the city, not only the officials of Dianxi County, but also the officials of all the affected counties and counties were here.

Lian Feng lifted the curtain of the car for Ling Yichen, and Ling Yichen got down first and stood outside the carriage, with one hand behind his back and the other spread upward, smiling slightly at Xue Zimo.

Xue Zimo looked at the hand reaching out to him, and hesitated for a while whether to hold it.If he insists, there are so many officials here, and Ling Yichen is a prince, it's not suitable for him because of affection and etiquette; but if he refuses, he will definitely lose face.

Xue Zimo hesitated for a while, and finally put his hand on that hand, and gently got off the carriage.

The smug smile on the corner of Ling Yichen's mouth couldn't be concealed, Xue Zimo sighed, and lowered his voice beside him: "Stop messing around in the future."

Ling Yichen didn't take it seriously, and whispered in his ear: "I don't think this is nonsense."