After marrying the fierce god, her handsome young husband was pampered to the extreme.

"The North?" Xiao Fu asked suspiciously, "You wouldn't happen to be Yan Rulai's spy, would you?"

Hua Yue puffed out her tender little face and retorted, "No, that's not true!"

Xiao Fu said, "Of course it is! Otherwise, why would you sell yourself? You're obviously not a good person!"

"No, no, no!" Hua Yue was furious. How dare he falsely accuse him of being a spy for Yan Ru!

Lin Er spoke up quietly from the side, "Actually, he's one of Prince Cheng's subordinates, right?"

Upon hearing this, Hua Yue quickly nodded and said smugly, "That's right, that's right, actually I'm a subordinate of Prince Cheng..."

But as soon as he spoke, he immediately realized what he had said, covered his mouth, and said, "No, no, no, I'm not."

With a mournful face, he asked pitifully, "Young master, could you please not send me away?"

"No wonder..." Lin Nian suddenly realized, and took Hua Yue's small hand, "Sit down."

Little Fu pouted.

Lin Nian said, "Xiao Fu, please sit down too."

Hua Yue sobbed for a long time, "I'm so stupid, I was found out so quickly, I'm so useless, sob sob."

Ye Qingyu's brow twitched, and she was about to speak when Lin Er stopped her.

Lin Er asked, "Did His Highness Prince Cheng send you?"

Hua Yue shook her head. "The prince originally wanted to send a secret guard to protect the young master, but I volunteered and asked to come myself."

Lin Nian found it interesting, pinched the child's chubby cheeks, and turned to look expectantly at her father and second brother with her watery eyes.

Ye Qingyu couldn't resist her youngest son's coquettishness, and her heart softened, so she agreed to everything.

Considering that Huayue was from the Prince Cheng's residence, Ye Qingyu did not bring up the matter of the slave contract again. "Then let Huayue stay."

"Yay!" Hua Yue snuggled happily next to Lin Nian. "Don't worry, young master, with me here, Yin Shun won't be able to touch a hair on your head."

Xiao Fu felt a pang of jealousy, but he cheered up again after Lin Nian secretly slipped some tea and snacks into his hand.

In this imperial examination, Lin San lived up to everyone's expectations and passed with flying colors, becoming the top scholar.

To watch Lin San parade through the streets, the Lin family specially booked the most spacious private room in the restaurant.

Xiao Fu leaned against the windowsill, staring intently at the street below. After a moment, he turned around excitedly and said, "Young master, come quick! Third Master is here!"

-----------------

"These are the horses prepared by the Prefect of Qingyang County?" Yin Cheng crossed his arms and looked at the sickly horse in front of him with a complicated expression.

Zhao Su wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "I have been to the horse farm and these horses are already the best."

Disaster relief efforts require traveling day and night to reach the disaster area, with dedicated horsemen taking turns to travel day and night.

While the people rested, the horses never slept, so the horses had to be changed at each city to ensure the speed of the journey.

Qingyang County is not poor; in fact, it can be said to be wealthy. It is absolutely impossible for them to raise such poor horses.

Zhao Su may not understand the intricacies of horses, but that doesn't mean Yin Cheng doesn't.

That night, Yin Cheng kicked open the door of the prefect's mansion, dragged Li Youde off his concubine, and beat him for almost half an hour.

"Ouch, ouch!" Li Youde cried out, clutching his body. "Guards! There's an assassin!"

The guards of the prefectural governor's office swarmed forward and surrounded Yin Cheng.

"Guards, seize this audacious and unruly commoner!"

Yin Cheng grabbed Li Youde by the neck and patted his face. "Look carefully at who your father is!"

By the moonlight, Li Youde could see Yin Cheng's face clearly, and he exclaimed in shock, "Your Highness Prince Cheng!"

"Every year, each county allocates silver for raising horses. Is this how you try to fool me with these old, weak, sick, and disabled horses? You've embezzled all that silver?" Yin Cheng was furious and slapped Li Youde's face until it was red and swollen.

Li Youde wanted to argue a bit more, but then he heard Yin Cheng say, "Before I beat you, I checked the account book in your room, the one that was hidden."

Upon hearing the account book, Li Youde turned ashen-faced and obediently handed over the fine horse.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Su was immediately filled with admiration for Yin Cheng.

"How did Your Highness know that Lord Li's account books were hidden?"

Raising a fine horse is a huge expense, so local officials would try to embezzle money by using it as a pretext.

The price for a good horse is high, while the price for a bad horse is low.

Officials would mix bad horses with good ones, reporting them all as good ones, thus embezzling a considerable amount of money.

Of course, they wouldn't dare raise only bad horses, because if the imperial court needed horses and they didn't have any, it would be a serious crime if discovered.

Corrupt officials all keep two sets of accounts, one for official purposes and the other for private purposes. Yin Cheng had seen this trick before, and with a little trickery, he made Li Youde panic.

"Just a guess." Yin Cheng said expressionlessly before mounting his horse, leaving behind only an inscrutable silhouette.

During this time, he also figured it out: the emperor had asked him to come along for disaster relief, not only to deliver the message, but also to support this upright and righteous Lord Zhao.

Of course, once Li Youde realizes what's going on, he'll definitely go to the place where the real account book is hidden to confirm it, and then the remaining guards will be able to get the real account book smoothly.

With evidence, no one would care about the Ninth Prince beating up the corrupt official at night anymore.

When leaving Qingyang County, Yin Cheng found several fleeing refugees in the mountains and forests.

After arresting and questioning them carefully, it was discovered that these people were refugees from Jiangzhou who had been ordered to be driven out of the city by the governor of Qingyang County, who also sent soldiers to expel them.

When Zhao Su found out, he was so angry that he immediately wrote a memorial and sent it back to the capital, accusing the governor of Qingyang County.

Instead of thinking about how to resettle the displaced people and resolve the disaster, they actually sent troops to drive them away, which is truly disheartening for the people.

Yin Cheng roughly understood why Zhao Su was sent to provide disaster relief. If it were any other official, they would have tried to gloss over such matters as much as possible, rather than offending their colleagues over a few refugees.

He looked at Zhao Su with some admiration; this Lord Zhao was indeed very upright and incorruptible.

Zhao Su sighed deeply, "There are already refugees in Youzhou, so Jiangzhou must be in complete chaos."

An official asked, "Lord Zhao, in your opinion, should these refugees from Youzhou be settled nearby, or sent back to Jiangzhou?"

Zhao Su said, "I am also extremely troubled by this matter. Do any of my colleagues have any ideas?"

"I believe that sending the refugees back at this time, when the floods in Jiangzhou have not yet subsided, would be too risky. It would be better to settle them nearby first, and then send them back to their original places after the floods in Jiangzhou have subsided..."

Another official said, "If Lord Li had simply settled them nearby, who knows how much suffering these people would have endured."

Another official said, "We also need to ask the displaced people what they think, lest they feel resentful and cause trouble."

Zhao Su suddenly pointed to Yin Cheng, "What is Your Highness's opinion?"

Yin Cheng never expected that the question would be directed at him. "Don't ask me about this. You're the imperial envoy, so I'll listen to you."

"Your Highness..." The highest-ranking official here is Prince Cheng. Zhao Su felt that she should discuss with Yin Cheng more about how to resolve the disaster.

Yin Cheng said, "Why don't we just kill them all?"

Zhao Su choked up, and from then on, she made all the decisions herself, big and small, and never asked Prince Cheng's opinion again.

Yin Cheng finally had some peace and quiet. While cooperating with Zhao Su in disaster relief, he also made sure to send gifts to the little darling in the capital.