Regent, please maintain your aloof image.

Royal Palace

In the Imperial Study, Mu Jinchen sat before the dragon desk, head bowed, engrossed in reviewing memorials.

Yingfeng stood motionless beside him.

Before long, the Grand Eunuch Xu Tao came in and said, "Your Highness, Lord Song is requesting an audience outside the door."

“宣”.

"Yes".

A moment later, Song Mingxian, the Minister of Personnel, walked in and said, "Greetings, Your Highness."

No need for formalities.

"Thank you, Your Highness."

"The position of Minister of Revenue is currently vacant. As the Minister of Personnel, you can recommend a candidate."

"It's entirely up to Your Highness to decide."

"Lord Song, I didn't summon you here to hear your flattery," Mu Jinchen said, his face dark.

"Yes, I admit my guilt."

"Tell me your thoughts."

"Yes... In my opinion, the Minister of Revenue should be an outsider. Currently, the Left Vice Minister of Revenue is a man of Prince Qing, and the Right Vice Minister is a man of Prince Min. No matter which of them holds the position of Minister, the Ministry of Revenue will be out of balance. The only solution is to find someone who has no connection with either of them to take on this important task. Moreover, this person must have sufficient ability and competence, otherwise he will not be able to handle the difficulties posed by Prince Min and Prince Qing."

"Do you have a suitable candidate?"

Song Mingxian hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

“Speak frankly, Lord Song.”

"Yes, I have mentioned this matter to my father."

"Does the Grand Tutor have any insightful suggestions?"

"My father once recommended someone to me."

"Who is it?"

"Prefect of Yangzhou, Su Jing'an".

"Su Jing'an," Mu Jinchen thought, then realized he didn't recognize the person. "Does this person have any special abilities?"

"Does Your Highness know about the corruption case in Yangzhou nine years ago?"

“I’ve heard something about it…this matter is related to him,” Mu Jinchen asked.

"Yes, at that time, in Yangzhou, Suzhou, Huai'an and other places, the collusion between officials and merchants was very serious. The people were suffering and had no way to seek justice. The late emperor sent imperial envoys to investigate many times, but they all returned empty-handed. Several imperial envoys even lost their lives as a result. The late emperor was very angry about this, but he was powerless to do anything about it."

"If I remember correctly, this case involves not only the prefect, the county magistrate, and the provincial administration commissioner, but also many high-ranking officials in the court."

"Yes, in that case, a total of twenty-four people were dealt with, including one provincial governor, one provincial judge, seven prefects, six county magistrates, and nine court officials. It was because of this case that the late emperor was able to take the opportunity to replace those unruly people in the court. The reason why this case was able to be exposed was because Lord Su dealt with them and secretly investigated behind the scenes. It took him six years to find evidence and secretly present it to the late emperor, so that the late emperor was able to bring them to justice as a warning to others."

"From this perspective, he is indeed loyal to the emperor and loves the people."

"Your Highness may not know this, but in recent years, under Lord Su's administration, Yangzhou has achieved excellent results in both its economy and people's livelihood. Yangzhou has been the prefecture with the highest tax revenue in the country for eight consecutive years, and it also contributes the most grain to the country."

"Lord Song seems to know him very well," Mu Jinchen said casually, but the authority he exuded was undiminished.

Song Mingxian bowed respectfully and said, "Your Highness, Lord Su and I are future in-laws. I have heard my father mention him before, but I absolutely have no intention of favoring him. Please investigate, Your Highness."

"Step down."

Song Mingxian secretly glanced at him, but couldn't discern anything. She couldn't help but feel a little worried, but still replied, "Yes," and then left.

Then, Mu Jinchen instructed, "Go and investigate Su Jing'an, the prefect of Yangzhou."

“Yes,” Yingfeng replied.

Yangzhou

Su Qianrou sat on the couch, resting her chin on her hand, staring blankly at the courtyard, occasionally sighing.

"Miss, what's wrong?" Chunzhu asked with concern.

"boring".

"Then why don't you read a book for a while?"

"I don't want to watch it."

"Then let's go to the garden to feed the fish."

"I don't want to go."

"So what do you want to do?"

"do not know".

This completely stumped Chunzhu.

Kikuka said, "If you feel bored, Miss, you can go for a stroll in the street."

Su Qianrou's eyes lit up instantly, and she said excitedly, "Yes, we can go shopping! Come on, let's change our clothes!" After saying that, she quickly got up and walked into the inner room.

Chunzhu and Juxia exchanged a glance, then smiled and followed.

Afterwards, Su Qianrou took Chunzhu to the street. Seeing the bustling street, the dazzling array of goods, and the crowds coming and going, she couldn't help but feel great. She couldn't wait to see what kind of things were sold in ancient times, so she looked around like a curious child.

Chunzhu followed behind her, feeling a little puzzled. She thought to herself, "Is this still the young lady I know? She seems a little different."

"Chunzhu, what are you standing there for? Come here quickly."

Chunzhu snapped out of her daze and hurriedly replied, "Oh, okay," before quickly walking over.

Su Qianrou stood in front of a jewelry stall, picked up a hairpin at random. The workmanship wasn't very fine, but the style was quite nice. So she asked, "Boss, how much is this?"

"Miss, ten coins."

"Spring Bamboo".

Chunzhu understood and took out ten copper coins to hand to the shopkeeper.

The boss happily accepted it, saying, "Miss Xie."

Su Qianrou continued walking forward.

“Miss, the hairpin that Madam gave you is much more exquisite than this one you bought. Why do you need to buy it?”

"It's not easy to make a living," he said, handing her the hairpin. "Here, take this."

"Give me".

"Although the workmanship is not very fine, the style is not bad. Consider it a gift for you accompanying me out."

"Thank you, Miss Xie," Chunzhu happily accepted the gift. Although it wasn't as exquisite as the gifts Su Qianrou usually gave them, it proved that her young mistress cared about her, so Chunzhu was still very happy.

Afterwards, Su Qianrou got a little tired from walking around, so she decided to find a teahouse to rest.

Just as the two were about to go inside, a voice called out from behind: "Qian Rou".

Su Qianrou turned her head and saw Xu Linlin standing not far away, smiling at her, and then walking towards her.

"I saw you from afar and thought I was seeing things, but it really is you. What are you doing here?"

"It was a bit boring staying at home, so I came out for a stroll."

"That's rare. I'm always the one dragging you out before, but today you not only came out on your own, but you even came to this noisy teahouse. It's like the sun has risen in the west," Xu Linlin joked.

"Stop teasing me," she said, then added, "Go inside and sit for a while."

"Great, I happen to be free."

Then, the two went inside, with Chunzhu and Luoyu following closely behind.