After deceiving the villain, I was forced to love him.

Having solved a major problem, Baili Ce finally began to build relationships with the deputy officials, money officials, and agricultural officials who were traveling with him, and to arrange for their families and accommodations along the way.

Although encouraging agriculture and sericulture was a thankless and arduous task, it was nonetheless a major issue concerning people's livelihoods.

Therefore, in the past, the officials selected to be in charge were mostly over thirty years old, skilled in agriculture, and had real abilities.

While it's not uncommon for young people to be chosen to take charge, these are usually just formalities and empty gestures.

Either the work is all done by the subordinates, and all the credit goes to the incompetent boss.

They either came to do this hard work because they didn't understand the ways of officialdom and were ostracized.

In the eyes of others, Baili Ce naturally belonged to the first category.

Therefore, for those who want to get things done, the minimum requirement becomes—

It doesn't matter whether Baili Ce can endure hardship or has experience, as long as she doesn't cause trouble.

This directly resulted in her companions being very polite to her, using all sorts of sweet words to coax her.

They simply downplayed her issues and refused to elaborate.

Fortunately, Baili Ce had been in charge for three years and was not completely ignorant about agriculture and sericulture.

After the new emperor's decree was issued, she found several old farmers from her own estate and crammed on a lot of farming knowledge, so she wasn't entirely without a solution.

"Young lady, it's almost 9 o'clock. Why don't you have something to eat first?"

After writing the last few words with a "hmm," Baili Ce began to wash his hands and eat.

While we were eating, a servant came to report that another flower in the garden had died.

It was the "Beauty Like Jade" whose largest blossom had been plucked by Wang Qingyan the day before yesterday.

Upon hearing this, Baili Ce couldn't help but feel a little puzzled. "Wasn't that pink rose bush blooming very well? How could it suddenly die?"

She strongly suspected that it was because Wang Qingyan picked the flower that it died from the pain.

Didn't a professional say that flowers are actually the plant's... organs? Being forcibly broken off is almost like getting sterilized without anesthesia? Just thinking about it hurts.

However, Beatrice told her, "The gardener said it died because a nest of termites bred under the roots and rotted them."

"The good performance a few days ago was just a temporary resurgence."

Can flowers experience a final burst of life?

Bai Li Ce did not believe it.

But then he thought, since the florist is already dead, there's no point in arguing. In any case, even if they sold the florist, they couldn't afford to lose the money. "Are the other flowers alright?"

"Several flowers near that flower also showed signs of withering, but because they were discovered early, they can still be saved."

"Hmm, thank goodness, if she had died again she really would have had her pay docked."

Capitalists' hard-earned money doesn't fall from the sky.

"The gardener also said that termites often bore into more than one place, and once they have succeeded, the flowers and trees in the entire garden, and even the beams and pillars of the house, will be affected. So he asked the young lady to kill the insects throughout the entire mansion."

"Okay, just inform the housekeeper to handle this later."

“Yes,” Bicui obediently replied, then took a bowl and served soup to Baili Ce.

No! Suddenly, Baili Ce had a flash of inspiration.

"......etc"

A flicker of panic crossed Bicui's eyes. She looked at the soup with a puzzled expression, then at the bowl, and calmly asked, "Is there something wrong with this soup?"

"..." Bai Li Ce frowned, looking at Bi Cui as if he were talking to himself.

It took Bicui a while to understand what she had said.

How did he figure that out?

......

Inside the Investigation Bureau, the investigators, whose information had become unusually out of touch, were extremely busy with the tasks assigned by His Majesty the Emperor.

Zheng Fu quickly changed his mind and said cleverly, "Boss, everything else is easy to handle, but we really can't find out who's spreading the rumors."

"Exactly, it was fine before, but after those informants were removed, it's hard to find new ones to investigate. I really don't know how to investigate."

Wang Yin tentatively asked, "Boss, how about... you go talk to the higher-ups and try to get them to make an exception?"

"Heh," Lin Yuchuan chuckled, asking amiably, "How about I give you this position as prefect, and you can go and talk to him?"

"Uh, no, no~" Wang Yin hurriedly waved his hand, pretending to do something.

Lin Yuchuan then asked Zheng Fu, "Why don't you go?"

Zheng Fu chuckled sheepishly, "Heh...heh heh, boss, you're kidding, I'm not cut out for this kind of work!"

Lin Yuchuan immediately wiped the smile off his face and roared, "Then get to work for me!"

"Ping pong..."

"Ah ah ah ah..."

"Boss! We...we were wrong!"

"Calm down, calm down!"

"..."

The investigators were so shocked that they stumbled and staggered, tripping over each other and bumping into one another, their ears ringing as they left the scene.

"Damn it! One or two of them!"

"Boss! We've got news!"

Just as Lin Yuchuan was kicking an investigator in the butt, a message came from the undercover agents.

"Quickly, bring it here!" Lin Yuchuan immediately stood up, snatched the bamboo tube, and opened it to look. His anger gradually subsided.

After reading it and pondering it briefly, he immediately went to the palace.

Not long after Lin Yuchuan entered the palace, several officials were questioned and punished.

Among them, the most severely punished was a civil official who also came from a prominent family.

From the time his home was raided to the time he was imprisoned, it only took a mere hour.

This civil official had always been dissatisfied with women in charge of households, believing that women like Baili Ce and the head of the Zhou family, who showed their faces in public all day long, were behaving indecently and were morally corrupt.

Furthermore, because he deeply resented Lu Jian's favoritism towards the daughter of a merchant, and after repeatedly offering unsuccessful advice and even being punished with a beating, he went astray.

Not only did he spread many false rumors about Baili Ce and Lu Jian in private, but he also wrote many articles criticizing the entire court.

Among them, the most outrageous was a poem that was found when the Criminal Investigation Division searched the house.

[The court is corrupt, but I alone am pure; the emperor is muddle-headed and cannot recognize the virtuous; a hen crowing at dawn reverses yin and yang; better to take up my pen and break the cycle of heaven and earth.]

"This is utter nonsense! It's utterly absurd!" Lu Jian, returning from court, began to curse as soon as he entered Chen Yue Pavilion.

He Yao immediately waved her hand, dismissing the palace maids and attendants.

As soon as the bedroom door closed, Lu Jian began to complain wildly, pacing back and forth, "If Lin Yuchuan hadn't stopped me just now, I would have kicked that bastard to death!"

"You have no idea how outrageous that bastard's writing was!"

"He...he said you, that you have bewitched me!"

"When did you bewitch me?!"

He also privately told those Confucian scholars he was on good terms with that he was harsh and unkind and mistreated learned scholars.

"Pah—spit!"

"He calls himself a learned man?!"

"Either the article is completely nonsensical, or it's just a pile of fancy words."

"Ha, even thugs and hooligans are more cultured than him."

"Okay, okay, that's enough~"

“Your Majesty, there’s no need to get so angry over a dying man,” He Yao said calmly. She had heard these kinds of words many times since she entered the palace.

"Hmph," Lu Jian said angrily, rolling up his sleeves and sitting on the steps. Seeing that He Yao didn't seem to care at all, he felt inexplicably wronged. "You're so easygoing."

He Yao helped Lu Jian up and sat him in a chair, her smile sweeter than honey. "Alright, my dearest Your Majesty, how could a wise and virtuous ruler like you be so foolish?"

"Whether it's the world or aristocratic families, isn't it all up to you to decide?"

"Why would you take the words of a madman seriously?"

"It seems that he was living a very unhappy life, which is why he went crazy everywhere."

"how about you?"

"As for me..."

He Yao coquettishly tugged at Lu Jian's arm and shook it back and forth, "Of course, it's His Majesty's decision too~"

"Come on," Lu Jian said, annoyed, and poked He Yao's forehead with his index finger.

But the anger did subside.

"Alright, sit down. I need to discuss something with you."

He Yao spun around and sat down next to Lu Jian.

“In a few days, Baili Ce will be leaving the capital. At that time, the Baili family will definitely find someone else to temporarily take over the management of the family.”

"During this period, you need to find a way to contact some of the heads of the Baili family who are on good terms with you, and see if you can find out anything."

"Of course, it would be best to break them apart."