The only lucky thing was that her second uncle stood on the side of the Fourth Prince and did not participate in the case of framing the Crown Prince and Queen Wei, otherwise, their whole family would suffer.

Qi Yuanxiu resumed his position as the crown prince, and the Fourth Prince did not dare to make any moves for the time being. Her second uncle could only keep his tail between his legs and serve as a seventh-rank official obediently. Naturally, the revenue of the mansion decreased a lot.

With Zhou Cuiwan's identity, it was very difficult for her to get close to Qi Yuanxiu. Today's opportunity was the result of her waiting for almost a month, but it was still wasted.

Zhou Cuiwan walked towards her second uncle's house dejectedly.

She is already sixteen years old. If she can't find a good opportunity to get close to the prince, her second uncle will arrange to find a boyfriend for her.

However, if she told her second uncle that she wanted to marry the prince, she wondered whether his uncle would help her.

Zhou Cuiwan's eyes brightened a little and she decided to give it a try.

After all, compared with the Fourth Prince, both Qi Yuanxiu and Qi Yuanshuo have a greater chance of becoming emperor, and the Second Uncle will definitely make a choice that is beneficial to him.

When Zhou Hongxi heard Zhou Cuiwan say that she wanted to marry Crown Prince Qi Yuanxiu, he was so shocked that his mouth opened wide and he didn't come back to his senses for a long time.

"Uncle, please help my niece. I come to you because I have no other choice." Zhou Cuiwan looked at Zhou Hongxi pleadingly, her eyes red and pitiful.

Zhou Hongxi took a deep breath and said earnestly: "Wan'er, don't blame your second uncle for speaking directly. If you want to marry into a good family with a high status, you can only be their concubine. If you marry the prince, I'm afraid you won't even be qualified to be a maid. Aren't you... too picky?" Even his own daughter didn't dare to have such aspirations. His niece is really bold and dares to think about anything.

He was just a minor official of the seventh rank. He had to go through his superior's superior to get in touch with the Fourth Prince. But it was not so easy to get help from his superior.

Zhou Cuiwan knelt in front of Zhou Hongxi, and said with tears in her eyes: "Second uncle, that lowly country widow Gu Qinghuai can be the consort of the Seventh Prince, and my niece is at least more noble than her, so why can't she be the Crown Princess? As long as you help me get my niece to Qi Yuanxiu's side, it doesn't matter if she is a maid or a maidservant. As long as I can get close to Qi Yuanxiu, I will definitely find a way to take him down. I will climb up step by step, by any means, and will definitely sit on the position of Queen in the end. By then, my niece will be the greatest helper to you, second uncle. What official position do you want?"

Zhou Hongxi stroked his short beard and frowned in thought.

Indeed, if Gu Qinghuai, that country widow with a burden, could become the seventh prince's consort, why couldn't Wan'er?

He first looked his niece up and down and saw that her appearance and figure were among the average among the noble ladies in the imperial capital. If he made some arrangements, he might be able to make her the prince's maid or a concubine.

If my niece can really gain a foothold in the harem, it will be a great help to me in the future.

Zhou Hongxi was moved.

He cleared his throat and said, "Wan'er, are you sure you can gain a foothold in the harem?"

Zhou Cuiwan nodded, her tone extremely certain: "I have confidence, as long as my second uncle can help me get closer to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Zhou Hongxi sighed, "Now, the only one who can help you is the Fourth Prince. Even though you are just my niece, and you grew up in the countryside, you don't have any weight that the Fourth Prince values. How could the Fourth Prince help a worthless person?"

Zhou Cuiwan thought for a while and said: "Second uncle, just tell the Fourth Prince that I have the ability to predict the future."

"Precognitive ability?" Zhou Hongxi widened his eyes and looked at Zhou Cuiwan in disbelief.

Zhou Cuiwan whispered, "Two years ago, I fainted once, and since then I have had some precognitive dreams from time to time. Those dreams are about 70% to 80% accurate. You can tell this to the Fourth Prince."

Zhou Hongxi paused for a moment and said solemnly, "Wan'er, you can't talk nonsense about the precognitive dream. If the Fourth Prince finds out that you are deceiving him, our Zhou family will... be doomed."

"Don't worry, Uncle. I am clear about this. If I am not sure, I will not say it. Just trust me," Zhou Cuiwan said in an unquestionable tone.

Next month, a great upheaval will happen in Chuanzhou. As long as she tells the Fourth Prince about this news, he will definitely use her.

Once she has established a firm foothold beside Qi Yuanxiu and gets rid of the Fourth Prince, no one will be able to restrain her.

Zhou Hongxi nodded, "Okay, I'll find a way to send a letter to the Fourth Prince."

"Thank you, second uncle. This matter only needs to be known between you and me. We should not let others know until we succeed," Zhou Cuiwan whispered.

Zhou Hongxi nodded, "Second Uncle understands. You should stay at home these days and take good care of yourself. There are many people who want to be the Crown Princess. You can't let them outshine you."

"Yes, my niece will listen to my second uncle," Zhou Cuiwan was very happy.

Just as Zhou Cuiwan was about to leave, Zhou Hongxi stopped her again, looked into her eyes, and said with concern: "Wan'er, Second Uncle will ask you one last time, are you really determined to do this? Do you know that once you enter the palace, it is like entering a deep sea, and there is no turning back."

After all, Zhou Cuiwan was his niece, so he still felt a little bit reluctant.

But if this is his niece's own obsession, then he can't be blamed.

"Yes," Zhou Cuiwan nodded firmly, "Second Uncle, I want to be the queen, the most noble woman in the world!"

Zhou Hongxi was stunned for a moment, then nodded and smiled, "Okay, Second Uncle will do his best to help you."

While Zhou Cuiwan was planning how to get close to Qi Yuanxiu, Gu Qinghuai bought ten thousand stones of grain to help the people in the disaster-stricken areas so that they could safely survive the coming winter.

In addition to the people in the disaster-stricken areas, Gu Qinghuai also ordered people to count the number of widows, widowers and orphans in each village, and to distribute relief food to the extremely poor families.

Gu Qinghuai handed the disaster relief matter over to Xiao Yueshi.

Xiao Yueshi knew what Gu Qinghuai meant.

Gu Qinghuai stole from the palace and several wealthy families in the imperial capital. Given the emperor's broad-mindedness, he would definitely not let her go. So she must first pave the way for herself and establish her lofty image of robbing the rich and helping the poor in the hearts of the people. Once the emperor decides to kill her, she will make it known to the world, and then force Qi Yuanshuo to rebel and seize the throne of Emperor Dingde.

In the past, relief grain would be exploited by officials at various levels during the distribution process and rarely reached the hands of ordinary people. This time, Gu Qinghuai would never allow this to happen. Once an official was found to have embezzled relief grain, he would be immediately arrested and severely punished.

When distributing relief grain, Xiao Yueshi subtly promoted the Seventh Prince's Consort, secretly ordered the navy to publicize the Seventh Prince's Consort's difficulty in obtaining relief grain, and her care and love for the poor people, and tried her best to win the hearts of the people for Gu Qinghuai. However, the existing food will eventually be eaten up, and if the people are not to starve next year, they still have to vigorously develop agriculture.

Therefore, in addition to disaster relief, Gu Qinghuai also took the initiative to present high-yield grain varieties such as corn, rice, wheat, and potatoes to the court, and then took Liu Qiushi to the countryside to guide farmers in planting.

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