I'm in trouble again! My best friend, the princess in the group, please save me!

Jiang Xingkuo walked around the desk in shock and stood in front of him, looking at him intently. He wanted to say something, but then he realized that the new emperor had only been on the throne for a few days, but his perfect jawline was already covered with short stubble, making his already upright temperament even more resolute.

His sword-like brows were tightly furrowed, hiding endless sorrow and helplessness.

She pursed her lips but still didn't say a word.

Now she just felt it was ridiculous. She had never expected to lose her freedom in this way.

She never argued with him because he never treated her like that.

For a moment, she felt inexplicably angry, looked at the desk piled with memorials, and resolutely turned her head and left.

But he pulled her into his arms and sat on his lap.

Jiang Xingkuo's eyes widened, and before she could react, a hand passed through her waist and gently pressed on her neck.

Her head was immediately pressed on his shoulder. A faint smell of ambergris filled her nose, making her head feel like paste and she closed her eyes unconsciously.

"Will you stay with me?" His voice was deep and charming, even though it was full of fatigue.

"What happened?" She opened her eyes and asked after thinking quickly.

"It has rained in Lingnan for more than a month. Now there are floods. Farmers have no harvest and all lives are lost..." He spoke softly, but held his arms tighter.

She struggled uncomfortably against her restraints and spun around to sit on the armchair next to her.

Seeing his empty hand and the disappointment on his face, "Ahem..." Jiang Xingkuo cleared his throat to hide his embarrassment. "From your situation, it's probably more than that."

He smiled bitterly. "Indeed, you are very smart. If it is just a natural disaster, people can still block it, but if it is a natural disaster plus a man-made disaster..."

Jiang Xingkuo frowned, "Could it be that some officials took bribes and embezzled the disaster relief funds?"

He nodded and added, "More than that."

"Then the disaster victims will become bandits, burning, killing, looting, and endangering the local area. And the disaster victims will flee north and pour into Youling City, and the roads will be filled with displaced refugees? Not only will the national grain and rice prices rise sharply, but the price of sugar will be as high as the sky..."

Jiang Xingkuo talked incessantly, but he didn't notice the surprised and admiring looks from the opposite side.

"You know all that?"

She smiled awkwardly unconsciously: "I sell milk tea and desserts in the shop outside the palace, which use a lot of sugar... Wei Chuchu told me that the price of sugar is high these days, so I can only sell it at a break-even point to gain some publicity. Besides, sugar is abundant in Lingnan. The flood is so severe that it must have ruined a lot of food crops."

"That's true." He seemed to be somewhat relieved and continued, "You are really not as good as the women in the harem..."

But when he saw her expression change suddenly, he swallowed his words back.

The atmosphere suddenly became very strange. The two of them stopped talking, and only the smoke rising from the incense burner beside them remained.

Jiang Xingkuo suppressed the strangeness in his heart and suddenly remembered something: "Wait, sugar? When did sugar come here?"

He just happened to take over the conversation as he walked down the steps: "White sugar? It has been around since my father was still alive. It is said that an official named Ji discovered the method and spread it around."

"Dr. Ji?" Jiang Xingkuo immediately became excited.

"That shouldn't be the case. If he could live to this day, he would be over a hundred years old. Doctor Ji looks only in his sixties or seventies." He shook his head, took the teacup, took a sip and put it down again.

Jiang Xingkuo narrowed his eyes slightly and agreed, "I see. Then your father has left behind a lot of good things."

After saying that, I followed his example and took a sip.

Bah! How bitter!

She swallowed it with a calm expression, but her tightly pursed lips betrayed her.

He couldn't help but smile slightly, but changed the subject again: "Father... left behind a big mess."

The smile turned into a bitter smile.

Jiang Xingkuo seemed to feel the sorrow as well, and his mouth felt even more bitter.

Eunuch Li outside the door suddenly shouted, "Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Urgent news from the south!"

"Come in!"

Eunuch Li hurried in, looked at him, and then looked at Jiang Xingkuo.

"Just say it!" He leaned back in his chair, his face became serious, and he looked intimidating without even getting angry.

After receiving the order, Eunuch Li glanced at Jiang Xingkuo again before saying, "General Hai Yanze's troops... lost contact with the military camp in Yunnan on their way back to the southwest border, and the local government searched for them but could not find them anywhere."

He frowned and closed his eyes unconsciously.

"Well...you are busy...you are busy...I'll go back first!" Seeing this, Jiang Xingkuo quickly found an excuse to leave.

He opened his eyes, but before he could nod, he saw a light green skirt disappear at the door.

Eunuch Li opened the lid of the exquisite incense burner next to him and said, "Your Majesty, the ambergris has been burned out. Do you want to add more?"

Without even turning his head, he said calmly, "No need. It's thick enough."

Eunuch Li obediently closed the lid of the incense burner.

Jiang Xingkuo ran all the way back to Piyue Palace, but met a man outside the door.

Second Prince, no, what should I call you now?

Jiang Xingkuo tilted his head and called out tentatively, "Brother Yuyan?"

But he didn't get angry, he just replied in surprise: "You are older than me?"

"Yes. I'm thirty." She spoke nonsense very naturally, but the man opposite her froze in his face.

"Let's not talk about this. Now that he has succeeded to the throne, what do you say? Where should he go to become a mountain king?" Jiang Xingkuo continued to ask.

An Yuyan's eyes, which were originally sparkling with light, dimmed instantly. "He was given the title of King of Jingnan, and his fiefdom is in Quanzhou."

"Quanzhou? That's a nice place! Beautiful mountains and rivers." She racked her brains to think of it, "It's just a little far. But why don't you go there now?"

He suddenly grabbed Jiang Xingkuo's hand, and the bracelet on his hand made a jingling sound.

"You have no freedom here anyway, are you willing to come with me?" he said, looking into Jiang Xingkuo's frightened eyes with an inquiring look.

"...Ah?" Jiang Xingkuo was puzzled, shocked and confused, "Marry...marry you?"

"Yes." He still didn't want to let go of her hand, and even pulled her closer, so that some of the smell on her body drifted into his nostrils.

"…Isn't this just jumping from this cage to another cage?"

Jiang Xingkuo subconsciously wanted to pull his hand back, but found that he couldn't do it at all.

I don't know if it was her answer that angered him, or her action that made him angry.

An Yuyan suddenly exuded a murderous aura from her whole body, and she fiercely grabbed her hand and walked towards the corner.

Then he took out something that looked like a memorial and threw it at her.

"What do you think you can gain by staying here? At least I will only marry you, but as the king of a country, can he promise you the position of queen?"

An Yuyan’s brain was about to explode.

The strong scent of ambergris on her body, which only the emperor could use, made him jealous and crazy.

Jiang Xingkuo, with a confused look on his face, picked up the memorial on the ground, opened it, and the moment he saw the contents on it, his breathing stopped.