Accidentally dressed as an empress

"Ayi, you will be my legal husband." Yunxiu said, holding his right hand.

Zhong Yi held her fingers tightly, "Your Highness, you must not break your promise to me."

Yunxiu raised her left hand and brushed the hair off his forehead. "Of course, what I said counts."

Her eyes fell on a prominent new pink scar.

Zhong Yi quickly covered her hair and pulled it over, saying, "It's too ugly. Your Highness is not allowed to look at it."

This is what he got in the palace.

She hadn't noticed he was wearing a hat last night, but she had gotten up at first light this morning and hadn't noticed, so she only realized it now.

Yunxiu felt a pang of pain in her heart. "I'll go get some medicine from the imperial physician. You can rub it on. The scar will fade away soon."

He used to have a good complexion, but now it's ruined.

Zhong Yi felt sorry for himself, "Your Highness thinks I'm ugly."

"You call yourself ugly? How can others live?"

"As long as Your Highness doesn't mind."

Yunxiu kissed his forehead with great affection.

"I have a favor to ask, Your Highness," Zhong Yi said anxiously, "Can Your Highness help me obtain the iron smelting technology from Heng State?"

"That's easy. Ren Li is out on business, I'll just send her a letter."

"Thank you, Your Highness..." Zhong Yi blew into her ear, and his slightly cool lips touched her ear and then left.

Yunxiu held his waist tightly and said, "You don't need to do this. I will help you too."

Zhong Yi's bright eyes held a seductive and provocative tone, "Your Highness, don't you like it?"

Yunxiu stroked his cheek and said softly, "I don't want you to trade this for anything."

Zhong Yi rubbed her palm, raised his sparkling eyes and said, "I belong to His Highness." He kissed her palm, "Only in exchange with His Highness."

Yunxiu couldn't control herself anymore and asked, "When will you return to the Weapons Department?"

"Afternoon."

Yunxiu said, "Then we have to hurry up."

I was put into the small dark room during the day, and the system was speechless.

..............................

After lunch, Yunxiu sent Zhong Yi to the carriage. Zhong Yi lifted the carriage curtain and looked at her reluctantly.

Yunxiu waved at him.

Yunxiu walked back to the study and asked the system to show her Su Qing's recent situation.

Gu Zezhi and Su Qing rode fast horses, traveling day and night for three days before reaching the Ling River and the ferry crossing in Linjiang Town. There was a dock on the shore, with people coming and going carrying goods, but Gu Zezhi stood still.

The green mountains on both sides reflect the green water, the river is vast and misty, like a fairyland.

Gu Zezhi and Su Qing rode their horses to the outside of the post station.

Su Qing took out the pass, and Gu Zezhi and Su Qing walked into the post station.

After disguising themselves, the two rented a carriage and went to Zhou's money shop.

Gu Zezhi said something to the shopkeeper, which seemed to be in jargon. The shopkeeper took them upstairs.

Gu Zezhi said slowly, "We have a batch of goods that we want to ship out."

The shopkeeper said, "You must have connections to find this place. What do you want to transport?"

Su Qing took over the conversation, "You should have heard of the cinnabar from Liyang City."

The shopkeeper quickly complimented him, saying, "Very valuable merchandise, very valuable merchandise."

After they came out of Zhou's Bank and returned to the post station, Su Qing said to Gu Zezhi, "The shopkeeper seems to be giving a secret signal. The expensive goods may represent something."

Gu Zezhi said, "Let's go and have a look at it in the evening."

Su Qing and Gu Zezhi went out separately in their night clothes, explored the dock at night, and returned to the post station to reunite. Su Qing changed her clothes and said to Gu Zezhi, "The valuable cargo ship carries tea, pottery, brocade, and jade."

"On the parallel-traded ship, there are salt, grain, and iron ore."

"There was another boat full of half-grown children."

Gu Zezhi nodded, not seeming surprised at all.

Su Qing asked, "You knew it a long time ago?"

Gu Zezhi said calmly, "There is no business that is more profitable than the slave trade."

Su Qing was puzzled. What had he experienced?

The next day, at the appointed time, Su Qing naturally failed to produce the cinnabar. Seeing the situation was not good, the shopkeeper wanted to escape, but Gu Zezhi and his men waited at the back door and pinned the shopkeeper to the ground.

Li Xian also rushed to the Linjiang Town government office and took people to detain the county magistrate.

Gu Zezhi showed the token of the Inspector General and took the garrison troops and the inspector of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the Zhou family to arrest the person.

The elite soldiers surrounded the Zhou family's house.

Seventy servants of the Zhou family joined forces with ruffians in Linjiang Town and servants from other families to rebel.

The garrison troops have already fought with the Zhou family's mob, outnumbering ten to one and gaining the upper hand.

Su Qing opened the back door of Zhou's house, but no one came out. Su Qing heard Su Twelve's sharp whistle coming from the house next door. It turned out that Zhou Ying, this rat, could dig a tunnel and was trying to escape from somewhere else.

Su Qing rushed over and caught Zhou Ying who was trying to escape. She was carrying a large bag full of silver.

At the county government office, Li Xian assigned ten garrison troops to escort the county magistrate back to Lingyun City.

Gu Zezhi handed the supervision order to Li Xian and asked her to handle it with full authority.

Li Xian, holding a supervisory order, sat in the county government office and interrogated Zhou Ying, the head of the Zhou family, who was wearing handcuffs and shackles.

"May I ask, Your Excellency the Inspector, which law have I broken?"

"Zhou Ying, your Zhou family's ships are merchant ships that travel between Yan and Chu, right?"

"Yes."

"What are you transporting?"

"Ordinary goods, bamboo weaving, farm tools, pottery."

"anything else?"

"Tea, silk, jade, and jewelry."

"Not including people?"

"Sir, I'm just doing some transportation business. How dare I sell people? Do you have any evidence?"

"You still dare to quibble! Zhou Jia and Zhou Yi have already confessed. A group of imprisoned children were found in Zhoujia Village."

"Call the witness."

Three half-grown children, about twelve or thirteen years old, were brought out. All three looked disheveled and even smelled foul. When they saw the officers, they lowered their heads in fear and did not dare to speak.

Li Xian said with a pleasant face, "Children, talk about it."

One of the braver girls spoke up, "We're being held in a large warehouse with very little food and water. The person in charge said we're being taken on a boat, and we're not even allowed to drink water on board."

"These children are hiding on my merchant ship, trying to cross the border illegally. What does that have to do with me?"

"Don't cry until you see the coffin!" Li Xian said, "The person in charge is Zhou Laizi from Zhoujia Village. The child is hiding in a warehouse by the river. This warehouse is your Zhou family's land, and Zhou Laizi is a servant of the Zhou family. You are engaged in the slave trade and have been caught red-handed. According to Yunguo law, your hands and feet should be chopped off. Do you obey?"

"I don't accept it," Zhou Ying said. "I don't even know those kids. The evil things Zhou Laizi did have nothing to do with me!"

Li Xian took out a booklet and shook it. "What about the list we found in the Zhou residence? How many children have you sold? How many families have you ruined?"

An old woman with gray hair rushed to the front, wailing, "My ten-year-old grandson has been missing for three years. My daughter and son-in-law have been looking for him, but they can't find him. It's all because of this beast! He sold my grandson to Yun Country. How can we find him? Wuuwuwu..."

A man also rushed over, hugged the shortest of the three children and started crying, "Sanwa... Sanwa... you are here..."

Li Xian was deceiving her, as they did not find the list of people being trafficked.

Someone in the crowd said, "Kill this human trafficker!"

"That's right, chop off his head!"

"You've lost your conscience! Damn it!"

Zhou Ying's face looked dejected.

Li Xian said coldly, "Zhou Ying is engaged in smuggling and human trafficking, and he is attempting to evade punishment by making excuses. He will be severely punished. Zhou Ying's limbs will be chopped off, all 31 members of the Zhou family will be exiled, and all their property will be confiscated."

This is what happens when evil is punished.