Lock and secure

The laundry rooms in the palace were far away from the west courtyard, one in the west corner and the other in the east corner, diagonally opposite each other.

When Qing'er went in alone, she was stunned.

Three piles of clothes were piled on the ground, and the large basins were full. Two laundry maids, each holding a basin, were washing clothes by hand.

The two maids were not surprised to see a newcomer. They had heard that the princess's maid had killed the prince's favorite spirit fish and was punished to wash clothes in the laundry room for three months.

"Yun Qing'er, that pile of things next to you is yours. You have to wash them all today."

You've divided it up already? I haven't even arrived yet, how can you already divide it up?

Qing'er felt that these people must have deliberately given her a lot of clothes. After all, the pile given to her was the largest among the three piles of clothes!

"Why do you have less than me?"

"We came earlier than you and have been washing for a while, so naturally we have less than you." The maid lied with her eyes open. There were not many clean clothes around her. She looked like she had just arrived.

After the two maids said this, they ignored her and continued to wash clothes.

If I hadn't come a step late, you would have bullied me like this. Who knows who will come earlier tomorrow? Qing'er decided to give them a taste of their own medicine and stopped arguing with them.

I went to the laundry room, found a basin, and started washing clothes.

In addition to washing the clothes of the masters, the clothes of the guards were also washed in the laundry room. There were many guards in the palace, and anyone with a little power could put their clothes in the laundry room.

Qing'er couldn't stand scrubbing the clothes with her bare hands on a washboard for two hours. She didn't know what material the guards' clothes were made of, they were hard and difficult to wash.

Thinking that she would have to stay here for three months, the pressure of survival suddenly increased. Qing'er looked at the pile of dirty clothes with a face full of bitterness and resentment.

-

As July approached, the capital city welcomed a major happy event, which was the Empress Dowager's 60th birthday in a month.

This opportunity to strengthen ties with the emperor was eagerly sought by all the ministers and dignitaries in the capital. Some had even begun preparations two months in advance, gathering treasures from around the world in hopes of making a splash at the Empress Dowager's birthday banquet.

News also spread in the capital that the He Zeguo delegation was coming to see him.

Heze State has been a vassal state of Dacheng since its founding. At the end of each year, all vassal states must come to Dacheng City to pay tribute.

The minister had many vassal states, most of which were remote. Many of them would only pay tribute to Dacheng at the end of the year. Many of these small states were very poor, and every time they paid tribute, they would only bring fur blankets and the like. Those things were useless and worthless, and Dacheng didn't care about these things at all.

Not a penny of tribute could be collected. Every time the tribute came, they were provided with food and drink, and when they left, they were also required to give gifts when they left. This was a headache for emperors of all dynasties, and the one who had the most headache was the current emperor Bei Zhenming.

"I really have nothing to give them."

In the imperial study, the young emperor looked depressed.

The Heze State is the closest to the city of Dacheng and is the poorest. This country is sandwiched between the Qi State and the coastal area of Dacheng, and its area is pitifully small.

Bei Zhenming had clearly written a memorial to the emperor, saying the mountains were high and the road was long, so he told them not to come. But the king of Heze was such a rebel that he actually set out on his journey and wrote a memorial in reply.

The colorful memorial in Bei Zhenming's hand was the reply memorial, and it said kindly:

Dear Daming Khan, I, Dailubini, heard that Dadaning Hedun’s birthday is coming, and that Heze Grassland has found a treasure that I must give to the respected Dadaning Hedun…

He used a memorial as a messenger, and the writing was completely incoherent, from giving gifts to what he saw on the road, using random words and sentences, and the sentences were incoherent. In the middle, he even inserted a small wild flower. At the end, he also kindly said that there was no need to worry about the long journey and the high mountains. They were men who grew up on the grasslands and were hardworking and persevering...

Haha, you should be writing a letter home to your elderly father!

Bei Zhenming threw the memorial casually, and the small wild flowers in the memorial fell to the ground.

Zhu Shengyuan picked it up and put it away. "Your Majesty, please be at ease. He Zeguo has always been the most honest person. I guess he is just eager to give gifts. Don't get angry and damage the dragon's body..."

"That little broken country of theirs has been complaining year after year. They have so little land, yet they've been given the most every year! The drought in the northwest is getting worse, so how can I possibly give them anything?"

"Your Majesty, calm down, calm down..."

Zhu Shengyuan hurried to comfort him and massaged Bei Zhenming's shoulders attentively.

-

In a remote village far in the north-west, the river dried up, the land cracked, and the sun was scorching. A farmer was carrying a small bucket and observing his surroundings vigilantly. When he realized that there was no one around, he quietly left the house.

The farmer walked upstream along the dry riverbed for several hours before entering a dense forest. Many trees in the forest were dead. The farmer cautiously looked around again. Seeing no one was following him, he carefully walked around a century-old tree that still had some green leaves. Behind the tree was a cave, the entrance hidden by withered vines.

The farmer lifted the withered vines and entered the cave with ease.

The cave is full of upside-down stone pillars stacked layer upon layer, which are stalactites.

The farmer walked to the deepest part of the cave and found a small puddle inside, with a thin stream of water constantly flowing into it from the top.

The farmer threw away the wooden barrel and hurriedly scooped up a handful of water to quench his thirst. Just as he lowered his head and had not yet drunk the water, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head and fell to the ground.

The people behind all came out in a swarm, there were more than twenty of them. Their lips were peeling and their cheekbones were sunken, but one of them had a pair of eyes that were bright after seeing the water source.

They all ran towards the puddle, pulling and shoving each other. Some hadn't eaten a grain of rice or drunk a drop of water in days, and just getting here was the limit. They were brutally pushed to the ground, no one caring if they lived or died, just stepping on their bodies.

Amidst the screams, someone was drinking water in big gulps, making gurgling sounds.

The screams gradually became weaker, some people sighed in comfort, while others suddenly fell to the ground after drinking too much water.

As for the farmer at the beginning, the blood flowing from the back of his head had turned black, one of his eyes had been trampled out and rolled to the side, and he was already dead.