Transmigrating Female Supreme: The Peerless Husband Depends on Me

Puyang City in the morning mist looks like a faded ink painting, and the blue-gray city walls are mottled by the water vapor of the Yellow River.

When Su Yue lifted the car curtain, a smell mixed with the fishy smell of mud and cooking smoke hit her in the face.

"This dam is probably older than the emperor." Liang Junze held up an oil-paper umbrella to block the drifting rain for her, and immediately there was a fine knocking sound on the umbrella.

Gu Qingyan silently stuffed a heater into Su Yue's hand. The new goose-feather knife on his waist shone coldly in the rain - this was specially made for him by Shangguan Haomu before he left, saying that there were many bandits in Puyang.

On the embankment, a group of river workers wearing straw raincoats were slowly carrying sandbags.

Seeing the official sedan chair approach, the leading woman casually stuck her shovel into the mud and saluted nonchalantly: "Greetings, gentlemen."

"This is Mr. Yang Hongyu, the river supervisor." The Puyang Prefecture's Tongpan who led the way introduced, emphasizing the word "Yang" intentionally - the Puyang Yang family, a prominent family that has controlled river affairs for generations.

Yang Hongyu was in her early forties, with a pair of hawk-like eyes embedded in her bronze face.

She casually lifted a loose stone, and several fat rats immediately jumped out from underneath. "You see, we've caught a lot of these beasts gnawing at the dike over the years."

Su Yue squatted down and ran her fingertips over the black adhesive between the cracks in the stone.

As a modern person, she recognized at a glance that this was low-quality mortar mixed with too much sand and soil.

Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly heard the sounds of children playing coming from the bottom of the embankment - a few skinny little girls with pale faces were stepping in the water that was up to their ankles, picking up ears of wheat that had been washed down.

"The breach is three miles downstream." Yang Hongyu kicked aside a loose stone slab. "Would you like to go and take a look now, sir, or go to the government office for some refreshments first?"

In the banquet hall of the prefectural yamen, Su Yue was invited to sit in the seat of honor.

She looked at the table full of Yellow River carp, camel humps and deer lips, and suddenly thought of the children picking wheat ears on the embankment.

"Master Su is young and promising." Prefect Zhao served the dishes himself. "I heard that your flood control proposal mentioned 'building embankments with cement'?" She deliberately emphasized the word "cement," and a few chuckles were heard at the table.

Minister Wang, who was sent by the Ministry of Works, took a sip of his wine and said, "The Yang family's ancestral 'three-in-one soil' has been used for over a hundred years. Lord Su, do you think it's not as good as your Western stuff?"

"I dare not." Su Yue picked up a piece of cold lotus root with chopsticks. "I'm just curious. Last year, the court allocated 100,000 taels of special funds for dike repairs. How come in the end, they couldn't even afford the glutinous rice mortar?"

Amid the crisp clatter of chopsticks hitting the floor, Yang Hongyu suddenly slammed her fist and stood up. "Master Su, are you going to bring up old scores?" A booklet slipped from her sleeve. "What a coincidence! I have a booklet here too - your two gentlemen went to the market yesterday and used their authority to their full advantage."

Gu Qingyan's eyes flashed.

They did go to the market, but only to buy ointment for Su Yue's headache.

"Sir Yang." Liang Junze suddenly chuckled and pulled out an oil-paper package from his sleeve. "Are you talking about this package of Poria cocos cake worth three taels of silver?" He unfolded the wrinkled oil-paper, revealing the moldy cake inside. "The shopkeeper said this is a 'gift' specially provided to the government."

“Pah—”

Magistrate Zhao's ivory chopsticks fell on the green jade plate, making a crisp sound.

There was a sudden silence at the banquet, and even the waiter who was pouring wine froze his hands.

Yang Hongyu's face instantly darkened. She stared at the moldy package of Poria cocos cake in Liang Junze's hand, her knuckles turning white. "What do you mean, Mr. Liang? Could it be that a merchant from Puyang dares to deceive an official appointed by the imperial court?"

Su Yue slowly picked up a piece of lotus root shreds with her chopsticks, chewed it slowly, then raised her eyes and smiled, "Lord Yang, you misunderstood. My husband was just lamenting that three taels of silver would have been enough to buy three pounds of top-quality Poria cocos cake in the capital, but how come in Puyang, all he could buy was a moldy piece?"

Her tone was gentle, but every word was sharp.

Wang Shilang, the Minister of Works, narrowed his eyes and suddenly interrupted, "Lord Su, you've just arrived and I'm afraid you don't know the prices in Puyang. The Yellow River has been flooding frequently in recent years, and trade routes have been blocked. What isn't expensive?"

"Really?" Su Yue pretended to be surprised. "That's really a coincidence. Yesterday, my two husbands passed by the grain market and saw that brown rice was sold for fifty coins a dou, which is 30% more expensive than in the capital. But the strange thing is..."

She paused deliberately, tapping the rim of the cup with her fingertips. "The grain shop owner's account book shows it as 20 wen per dou."

Yang Hongyu stood up suddenly and slammed the account book in her sleeve onto the table: "Master Su! Are you going to check the commercial taxes in Puyang?"

"I dare not." Su Yue still smiled, but her eyes turned cold. "I'm just curious, who pocketed the extra thirty cents?"

There was dead silence at the table.

Prefect Zhao laughed dryly and poured a glass of wine for Su Yue himself: "Master Su has worked hard all the way, why bother with these trivial matters? Come, try this jar of aged Huadiao..."

"Your Excellency," Gu Qingyan suddenly said in a low voice, "My wife has been suffering from stomach discomfort recently and should not drink alcohol."

He raised his hand to take the glass of wine, drank it all in one gulp, and knocked the bottom of the glass hard on the table, shaking the fish head on the plate.

Liang Junze handed her a cup of warm tea at the right time: "Yuer, have some tea to moisten your throat."

Su Yue took the teacup and lightly stroked his palm with her fingertips - this was the secret signal they had agreed on earlier.

She looked around at everyone at the table and suddenly smiled. "Come to think of it, when I was in the capital, I heard the Grand Emperor mention Puyang's 'three-in-one soil'. It is said that Prince Ning'an used this secret recipe when he supervised the river repair work?"

“Bang—”

Yang Hongyu's wine glass fell to the ground, and the wine splashed on her official boots.

The table fell into complete silence.

The smile on Prefect Zhao's face froze, and Minister Wang of Works' hand trembled slightly as he held the chopsticks. The other officials lowered their heads and held their breath, fearing that they would be affected by this confrontation.

Su Yue seemed oblivious, still slowly picking up a piece of stir-fried vegetables with chopsticks, chewing it slowly before looking up and smiling: "Master Yang, what's wrong? Is the wine too strong for your taste?"

Yang Hongyu stared at her intently, her eyes almost brimming with anger. "Master Su, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want."

"Oh?" Su Yue pretended to be confused. "What did this humble official say? I just mentioned Prince Ning'an. How come in Puyang, even the daughter of the retired emperor cannot be mentioned?"

"you--!"

Yang Hongyu slammed the table and stood up, but was pulled back by Prefect Zhao.

"Master Yang is drunk," said Magistrate Zhao, forcing a smile to smooth things over. "Someone, take Master Yang back to rest!"

Several yamen runners hurried forward and half-supported and half-dragged Yang Hongyu out.

Before leaving, she turned around and glared at Su Yue fiercely. Her eyes were as vicious as a knife, as if she wanted to cut her into pieces.

The atmosphere at the table was as stagnant as ice.

Minister Wang of the Ministry of Works coughed dryly and tried to ease the situation: "Lord Su is young and full of vigor, and some things are still..."