Reborn to marry, the short-lived prince lived a hundred years

Meng Tingyue stared at the painting for half a cup of tea, and as she looked at it, she noticed something was wrong.

Looking at the appearance of the prince in the painting, combined with the actual situation, this painting should have been painted during the prince's return to Beijing two months ago.

Is there any girl in the capital who looks like her?

They look so similar, could they be her biological sisters with the same father and mother?

Could it be that her mother gave birth to twins? Did she have a full-born sister?

Meng Tingyue put the painting aside and his thoughts began to wander.

If not, how can we explain that there is someone who looks so similar to her?

It couldn't be that her mother had a sister who looked exactly like her and gave birth to a cousin who looked just like her?

I haven't heard this from my grandfather or Nanny Qin.

While she was thinking, there was a slight noise from the door. Meng Tingyue raised her eyes and happened to meet Qingdian who tiptoed into the room.

Qing Dian looked slightly surprised, "When did the Crown Princess wake up?"

Meng Tingyue hid the scroll behind her in a panic, and covered it up with a wry smile: "I dozed off for a while and then woke up."

She was so engrossed in watching that she forgot the time and was caught by Qingdian.

"Then let me send someone else into the house..."

"Wait." Meng Tingyue interrupted Qingdian, her eyebrows slightly furrowed, and she waved cautiously at Qingdian, "Come here first."

Qing Dian turned around and closed the door, then walked lightly to Meng Tingyue.

Meng Tingyue hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Have you ever seen anyone who looks like me in the capital?"

Hearing this, Qingdian thought about it seriously, then quickly shook his head firmly, "No."

Meng Tingyue seemed to have made up her mind and took out the scroll behind her. "Take a look at it yourself and remember the people in the painting. If you meet them in the future, tell me."

Qingdian was startled by her serious expression, and couldn't help but look stern and look at the painting with great seriousness.

She first noticed that the man in the painting looked like the prince, and was slightly shocked. Then she looked closely at the woman's face, and the horror and seriousness in her eyes disappeared in an instant like a tide.

She looked up at Meng Tingyue, wanting to say something but stopping herself.

"What's the matter? I just figured out where I saw the woman in the painting."

Qingdian opened her lips slightly and whispered, "Isn't the person in this painting the Crown Princess?"

"How is that possible? I have never painted with the prince. How could the person in this painting be me?" Meng Tingyue subconsciously shook her head in denial.

Doesn't she know whether she has ever painted with the prince?

Hearing this, Qingdian began to doubt his own eyes. He stared at the woman in the painting for a long time, carefully examining her. Then, hesitantly, he said, "The woman in the painting looks exactly like the Crown Princess. Even the mole on her temple is exactly the same."

Meng Tingyue looked at the woman's temples suspiciously, walked slowly to the bronze mirror, and with her delicate hands lifted up a few strands of hair hanging from her temples, and she really saw a faint blue mole.

Her brows knitted together, and the more she thought about it, the more she felt something was wrong. She murmured softly as she sat back down on the bed, "How could there be two people in the world who are so similar, so similar that even the little mole on their temples is the same?"

"Also, the furnishings in this room don't look like those in the Crown Prince's study. After marrying into the Crown Prince's mansion, other than visiting the palace and returning to his parents' home, I've never met the Crown Prince outside of the palace, let alone asking a painter to paint for me."

Qing Dian couldn't figure out the reason either. Her intuition told her that the person in the portrait was the Crown Princess, but she had always been by her side and had never seen the Crown Princess or the Crown Prince hire a painter to paint for them.

Qing Dian suggested, "Why don't we wait for His Highness to come back, and then the Crown Princess can ask Him properly?"

Meng Tingyue shook her head slightly. "I looked at his paintings without permission. If I ask directly, what if the prince becomes alienated from me because of my behavior?"

"I don't think the Crown Prince is that kind of person. If the Crown Princess doesn't ask clearly, what if the person in the painting is really the Crown Princess? What if the Crown Prince is attracted to her and ordered someone to paint it specifically, but just replaced the face of the person in the painting with the Crown Princess's face?"

Qingdian's words floated lightly into Meng Tingyue's ears.

Meng Tingyue frowned slightly, her eyes filled with confusion as she slowly put the scroll away. "I'll think about it carefully."

Qingdian put the rolled-up scroll back into the box, slowly walked to the opening window and opened it.

A cool breeze blew into the house, blowing away the chaotic sorrow in Meng Tingyue's heart.

Qing Dian went out of the house and told the maids in the yard that the Crown Princess had woken up.

……

royal palace.

The emperor sat in front of the dragon table, while Shen Yunheng, the imperial preceptor, the minister of revenue, and the minister in charge of disaster relief stood in the imperial study.

The Imperial Master stepped aside and announced the results of the past two days' divination: "This torrential rain will continue for the second half of the month, and the area most severely affected will be Hengzhou."

The ministers looked at each other.

"Hengzhou is far away from the capital. It usually takes half a month to travel from the capital to Hengzhou. If the rain really continues for the second half of the month, the journey will be long and the road will be muddy and difficult to walk on, which will only take longer." Lord Zheng pondered.

The other ministers all nodded in agreement.

"Unless we gather enough food and set off immediately, many people will die in this torrential rain and flooding."

What the minister said was also what the emperor was thinking.

"How is the money raised in the court?" The emperor looked at the Minister of Revenue.

Upon hearing this, the Minister of Revenue immediately trembled and knelt down. After a long trembling moment, he slowly said a number, "Fifty thousand taels."

When Shen Yunheng heard the number, his expression immediately turned cold.

He took out 10,000 taels out of the 50,000 taels from his government office. With such a huge court and hundreds of officials, they only managed to collect 40,000 taels.

He slowly closed his eyes, feeling a sense of anger and powerlessness for no reason.

Although I had expected it, I still felt chilled.

The emperor knew that his son had taken the lion's share of the 50,000 taels, while the others had only contributed 40,000 taels. He was furious, and except for the crown prince and the imperial teacher who had a clear conscience, everyone else knelt in fear.

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

Hearing this, the emperor angrily slammed the dragon table and said, "Calm down! How can I calm down with you all here?"

Shen Yunheng lowered his eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly stepped forward. "Father, please calm down. I have a plan."

The emperor's chest was heaving with anger, and the rage in his eyes subsided a lot after seeing Shen Yunheng. "You say."

"Hengzhou is thousands of miles away from the capital. As Lord Zheng said, unless we can prepare food and send it over now."

"But now, not only has the silver not been gathered yet, but the grain may not be gathered in time either. By the time the grain is finally gathered and shipped over, the Great Zhou will surely suffer many casualties."

"I think it would be better to find merchants near Hengzhou who were not affected by the rainstorm and cooperate with them. We can borrow food for disaster relief. The court can write IOUs and pay them in silver."

After thinking about it overnight, Shen Yunheng optimized the suggestions put forward by Meng Tingyue.

As soon as these words were spoken, someone immediately disagreed.

"What? Cooperate with merchants? Merchants are cunning and lowly, how can they cooperate with the court?"