A kiss, and I'll live another day; they begged me not to go crazy.

Lord Zhou turned around and fell into memories:

Actually, many years ago,

He had considered asking Uncle Wang Er to ask the Prime Minister for help in reporting the matter.

However, he kept having doubts in his heart.

He couldn't be sure whether Uncle Wang would genuinely help him ask the Prime Minister for help.

......

Moreover, you must know that he was the Prime Minister!

The prime minister has countless tasks to handle every day.

They might not be willing to offend such a powerful force behind the prefect of Hezhou for the sake of a mere half-brother.

and,

If this alerts the enemy, my peaceful days will be over, and my family will never have a peaceful day again.

......

As it turns out, it was indeed a wise move for Lord Zhou not to rashly approach Uncle Wang.

Because Uncle Wang would never grant him such a request.

He absolutely cannot be allowed to bring such a huge risk to his own brother.

But things are different now. Today, Wang Er has taken the initiative to come to us, which is a completely different situation!

......

Furthermore, in the past few years,

While Zou Zhili did have some shortcomings, his actions were not as outrageous as those during this drought.

After all, the officials he recruited at the time were fairly dedicated to serving the common people.

Although there were a few dullards among them, none of them committed any heinous crimes.

Therefore, Lord Zhou sometimes turned a blind eye and didn't bother to argue with them too much.

......

Perhaps as he grew older, Zou Zhili's ambitions swelled even more.

Especially this year, he went too far with the issue of drought relief funds!

......

Even so,

Perhaps because he had lived a peaceful life for too long, Lord Zhou had lost the ambition he had in his earlier years.

He felt that this was not enough to justify risking his entire family's lives.

Especially after he was attacked by refugees last time, he was exhausted and stayed at home, ignoring all outside affairs.

......

Sun Shan and Xiao Wu followed the gatekeeper slowly to the outside. The gatekeeper then said without any hesitation:

"You should leave now, but please don't ever come back again."

Before he could finish speaking, the gatekeeper turned around.

Turning to Uncle Wang standing to the side, he coldly added:

"And you, don't come again either."

Uncle Wang opened his mouth as if he wanted to explain something, but in the end he couldn't make a sound.

......

Just then, Xiao Wu, who had been silent all along, suddenly seemed to sense something.

His gaze faltered slightly, becoming somewhat unfocused.

Then, he said softly to everyone, "Wait a moment."

After saying that, he ignored the puzzled looks from the others and walked quickly toward the wall beside him.

Everyone looked at each other, their minds filled with questions, completely baffled as to what Xiao Wu was up to.

......

However, not long after, when Xiao Wu reappeared before everyone, everyone's eyes widened in surprise.

In his hand, he was holding a golden scroll.

Although most of the people present had never seen this thing in person,

But even just by intuition, everyone could guess what it was.

It was an imperial edict!

......

Uncle Wang, who had been watching coldly from the sidelines, was immediately enraged upon seeing this.

She glared fiercely at Xiao Wu, her anger flaring up.

Well, you little rascal, you clearly had an imperial edict on you!

But why didn't you bring it out sooner? It's a shame that everyone just had to suffer such disdain here!

Thinking of this, Uncle Wang couldn't help but curse a few times in his heart.

......

Those who had already walked out the door, upon seeing the imperial edict in Xiao Wu's hand,

Each one of them instantly straightened their heads and turned back.

Seeing this, the gatekeeper sighed helplessly.

Knowing full well that even if he wanted to stop them, he couldn't, he couldn't.

So I stopped arguing and let them go back into the study.

......

After everyone had left, Lord Zhou returned to his study.

He stood by the desk with bloodshot eyes, head down, seemingly lost in thought.

......

Hearing a commotion of footsteps outside, he couldn't help but look up.

Looking at the returning crowd with astonishment, he asked loudly:

"Why are you back again!"

However, at this moment, no one had the mind to pay attention to Lord Zhou's slightly out-of-control appearance.

Everyone stared intently at the imperial edict in Xiao Wu's hand.

......

Xiao Wu, with her straightforward personality, had absolutely no idea what tact or subtlety meant.

Without saying a word, he walked straight forward and handed the imperial edict to Lord Zhou.

......

In the beginning,

Because his vision was blurred by tears, Lord Zhou did not see clearly what Xiao Wu was handing over.

Until he rubbed his eyes hard,

After taking a closer look, I finally saw the true nature of what was in front of me.

In that instant, he was completely stunned...

......

Lord Zhou opened his mouth slightly and uttered a hesitant "This..."

Before he could finish speaking, Xiao Wu interrupted him:

"It's exactly what you've been thinking!"

After he finished speaking, there was a loud "thump" and Lord Zhou knelt down on the ground.

Seeing this, the surrounding crowd also knelt down.

......

Xiao Wu was at a loss for what to do.

He's just a robot, how could he have such emotions?

He soon stopped dwelling on it.

He quickly searched his vast database for methods and procedures for reading imperial edicts.

......

After a brief pause, Xiao Wu shouted in her clear and loud voice:

"The Emperor Fengtian Chengyun issued an edict:

Now, I hereby order the officials in the vicinity of Hezhou to...

We must do our utmost.

Assist Su Aige in handling the case of Zou Zhili, the prefect of Hezhou, for embezzlement, without fail!

Hereby——"

As the last word fell, the entire scene fell silent.

......

After a long while, Lord Zhou slowly raised his head, his face already covered with tears.

Standing to the side, Sun Shan had no time to wonder why the imperial edict had arrived so quickly.

He was overjoyed because the support was finally secured!

Lord Zhou will not disobey the imperial decree!

......

Lord Zhou received the imperial edict with trembling hands, and then examined it carefully and repeatedly.

After a long while, the previously dull and lifeless light in his eyes suddenly regained its vitality.

It was as if a long-forgotten sword had finally been sharpened and polished.

......

"Please rest for a while, everyone. I will start making arrangements after dawn."

Lord Zhou said calmly.

It was curfew time, and many things were inconvenient to do at night.

Even though everyone was extremely anxious, they could only follow the instructions and go to the side room to rest.