Quick Transmigration: Why did you provoke him? He's love-struck!

Upon hearing this, everyone below fell silent.

The Crown Princess is the future mother of the nation.

Not to mention Zhou Yu, who held the rank of fifth grade, even cabinet ministers of the first or second grade would have to be wary of her.

If I go against her today, and she returns to the capital and complains to the emperor, will I still be able to keep my official position?

Those present were all seasoned veterans of the officialdom, and they weighed the pros and cons in a mere instant.

Although they can't openly oppose the future Crown Princess, what can this teenage girl do to them if they pretend to comply but secretly disagree?

Ultimately, Sichuan and Chongqing are their territory.

They banded together and ignored her orders. Could she really throw them all into jail at once?

If she's so capable, she'll take the five hundred soldiers from the capital and go do disaster relief herself!

Everyone secretly plotted their own schemes and exchanged glances before quickly reaching a consensus.

Yan Zhen pretended not to see their flirtatious exchanges, dealt with Zhou Yu, and put away the jade token: "Do any of you gentlemen still have any objections to what I just said?"

Everyone bowed in unison: "We will obey the Princess's orders!"

"Alright, everyone, you may all step aside now."

As everyone turned to leave, Yan Zhen seemed to remember something and said, "Oh, right, Lord Xu, please stay."

Xu Fang's heart skipped a beat.

He stood still, met with the questioning or bewildered gazes of his colleagues, a sense of foreboding rising in his heart.

The other officials left one after another, leaving only Yan Zhen and his servant, Xu Fang, and Zhang Liao in the council chamber.

Yan Zhen glanced at Zhang Liao, who was standing still, and feigned surprise: "Is there anything else, Lord Zhang?"

Zhang Liao's gaze swept between Xu Fang and Yan Zhen, then he cupped his hands and said, "The princess has not yet had her dinner..."

"It's alright, I'm not hungry. You may leave now. I have something to say to Lord Xu."

Zhang Liao then bowed and left.

As he walked out of the council chamber, he heard the princess, contrary to her previous stern demeanor, smilingly instructing her maid to find a seat for Xu Fang.

Zhang Liao stood outside the courtyard for a while before leaving with an uneasy expression.

That night, all the officials suffered from insomnia.

Xu Fang didn't sleep all night and didn't even have an appetite for breakfast. Early in the morning, he summoned his men to prepare to measure data from various parts of the city—although he planned to use passive resistance to feign compliance, he still had to put on a show.

As he left, he pondered repeatedly the princess's intention in keeping him alone last night—he had sat in the council chamber for most of the hour while the princess reviewed the disaster records of the past three months without saying a word to him.

He was allowed to leave after about half an hour.

What did she mean by this action?

Xu Fangzheng was completely baffled. Li Ru rode by with a group of people, and he immediately cupped his hands in greeting: "Good morning, Lord Li."

Li Ru sat on his horse, his attitude neither warm nor cold. He nodded in response, but didn't even stop his horse, and simply rode past him.

Xu Fang was taken aback.

When did he offend Lord Li?

As he wondered what was happening, a carriage came speeding up from behind. He recognized it as Zhang Liao's carriage and quickly said, "Lord Zhang."

The carriage stopped, and Zhang Liao lifted the curtain, his face indifferent: "What advice does Lord Xu have for me?"

Hearing the other party's distant greeting, Xu Fang became increasingly suspicious and uncertain.

The two were drinking and chatting happily at Lord Zhang's residence just a few days ago, so why did his attitude change overnight?

Unable to hold back his words, and considering his good relationship with Zhang Liao, Xu Fang stepped forward and asked in a low voice, "Lord Zhang, have I offended you gentlemen in any way? Why are you all giving me attitude so early in the morning? Lord Li is like this, and so are you."

Zhang Liao paused, his expression subtle: "Lord Zhang is joking, there's no such thing."

"Zhang Liao!" Xu Fang was a little angry. "I only asked you this because I consider you a friend. If you still care about our years of working together, you might as well give me a straight answer, so I don't have to guess like a headless fly."

Seeing that Xu Fang seemed genuinely unaware of what was going on, Zhang Liao hesitated for a moment before asking, "What did the princess say to you when she kept you here last night?"

As soon as he said that, Xu Fang understood.

They suspected he had said something inappropriate to the princess, such as the relief funds and grain...

Some even suspected that he was actually the princess's man.

"I'm innocent!" Xu Fang was both anxious and angry, his voice low as he said, "Don't you know who I am? How could I be bought off by that little brat with just a few words? Besides, we're all in the same boat. If I were to easily reveal those things, wouldn't I want to live too?"

"Really?" Zhang Liao asked, but his expression already showed some conviction.

“Absolutely true! She kept me here last night, didn’t ask me anything, just made me sit in the council chamber for half an hour before letting me go,” Xu Fang said anxiously. “That young girl is clearly trying to sow discord; we can’t fall for it!”

Zhang Liao agreed and was about to say something when a rapid sound of horses' hooves approached from afar.

The two of them turned their heads at the same time.

Not far away, twenty or thirty soldiers rode up. The girl in the lead wore a bright red, narrow-sleeved Hu-style dress and black boots. Her long hair was tied up in a man's style with a silver crown. Although she was a teenage girl, she had an indescribable heroic spirit.

As Yan Zhen passed Xu Fang and Zhang Liao, he reined in his horse and greeted them with a smile: "Lord Zhang, Lord Xu, good morning."

"Princess!" The two quickly greeted her.

"Lord Zhang," Yan Zhen said, "I'll trouble you to gather doctors in the disaster relief area, set up medical points, and centrally diagnose and prepare medicine for the disaster victims. This matter needs to be done as soon as possible and cannot be delayed."

Zhang Liao cupped his hands and said, "Princess, rest assured."

Yan Zhen nodded and turned his gaze to Xu Fang.

Xu Fang felt a chill run down his spine.

He was mentally prepared to remain indifferent and distance himself from whatever the princess said to him.

Unexpectedly, the princess only glanced at him indifferently, gave him a "you know what I mean" look, and then rode away.

This scene immediately put Zhang Liao on his guard.

Xu Fang turned around and met Zhang Liao's wary gaze again. His heart tightened, and he quickly explained, "Lord Zhang, I..."

Zhang Liao snorted coldly, lowered the carriage curtain, and left without looking back.

Xu Fang: "..."

-

Xu Fang spent two days in fear and unease under the speculative gazes of his colleagues. On the night of the third day, his superior, Lord Ma Zhuo, had his house raided.

Yan Zhen's men precisely pried open the secret underground chamber in Lord Ma's mansion and found gold, silver, jewelry, and antiques worth a total of over 370,000 taels.

At the same time, it was discovered that he owned three wineries located in remote suburbs. More than 70,000 shi of grain were seized from the wineries—the relief grain that Lord Ma had embezzled was far more than that, but the rest of the grain had already been brewed into wine.