Chapter 20: Why Isn't Yan Ze the Son of the Imperial Concubine?

The two bailiffs exchanged a glance.

They had actually started to feel a bit afraid of Yan Ning.

Indeed, the mountains were high and the Emperor was far away; if she really killed them, there was nothing they could do.

They looked again at the guards escorting Yan Ning; only one remained, and the other...

The two bailiffs shivered.

They couldn't think about it too closely.

Seeing that they knew their stuff, Yan Ning asked, "Where are your horses?"

Zhao Xiaosi and Liu Bai said in unison, "They died on the road."

The carriage behind held Xiao Linzi and could seat two more people; Chen Yuan got in, so only one of the bailiffs could sit. Liu Bai had no choice but to sit next to the driver with Yan Ning.

They would have to wait until they entered a city to buy two horses for them.

Liu Bai, sitting outside, chatted idly with Li Shun.

Liu Bai was somewhat incredulous: "Does this even count as exile for you? This carriage, these guards..."

Isn't this clearly enough to suppress the bailiffs?

It was only when Zhuo Heng and the others surrounded him and Zhao Xiaosi with blades that he realized these ten guards were brought by Yan Ning's family.

Li Shun said with a smile, "What of it? We're going to Lingnan anyway, so it doesn't matter how we get there."

Liu Bai gave a bitter laugh.

He didn't understand why Li Shun accepted it so quickly, and why he obediently did whatever he was told.

Li Shun was so happy he almost hummed a little tune.

It was his first time escorting prisoners so easily; he rode a horse the whole way, never worried about food or drink, and stayed in the best inns. Not only that, whenever Yan Ning was in a good mood, she liked to hand out silver. When she gave it to the guards, he got a share too.

A single silver ingot was worth a year's wages for him.

Moreover, aside from liking to travel and sightsee, Yan Ning's family never made things difficult for a bailiff like him; even when he took the wrong road, Yan Ning never blamed him.

Honestly, Li Shun quite wanted to stay in Lingnan with Yan Ning.

At the thought that those guards could stay in Lingnan, Li Shun felt sour inside—couldn't they keep him too?!

They had been delayed on the road, and now it was nearly dark, yet they still hadn't seen any towns.

Li Shun shivered: "We haven't taken the wrong road again, have we?"

Li Shun looked at Yan Ning cautiously.

Yan Ning looked at the map and the Compass, then sighed: "The map must not be very accurate."

After all, this was ancient times; these maps were measured inch by inch, so the probability of error wasn't low. Yan Ning could only tidy up on the spot and prepare to camp.

Two lanterns were hung on a tree for light, and Yan Ning and the guards quickly set up several tents.

Before her exile, Yan Ning had almost emptied the Imperial Palace, including the kitchens; she had oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, pepper, and other seasonings in her space.

A small jar of something like pepper powder was worth a thousand pieces of gold.

Yan Ning wanted to eat barbecue, and Yan Ze sprinkled pepper powder and cumin powder as if they cost nothing, ensuring the flavor and texture.

When they left Xiadong City, they bought plenty of meat and vegetables, just waiting to find an inn with a balcony to grill meat.

Since they couldn't go to an inn now, Yan Ze started grilling the meat himself.

Both the guards and the bailiffs could have a share.

At night, before going to sleep, Yan Ning wanted to use the latrine, and Ji Lan carried a Lamp to take her there.

When Yan Ning squatted down, she seemed to see something in the lamplight—it looked like ginseng?!

After using the latrine, Yan Ning went to dig it out, and it really was ginseng, a very large one, as thick as her arm. Its medicinal value was high, and slicing it to boil in water would be excellent.

Ji Lan also leaned in, "What luck! Such a large piece of ginseng, it would probably cost several thousand taels to buy."

Yan Ning said with a smile, "It's a good thing we didn't enter the city gate today, otherwise we would have missed it."

Yan Ning hugged the ginseng and returned happily.

Yan Ning said to Yan Ze, who was grilling, "Dad, look what I brought back!"

Yan Ze leaned over to look, "It's actually ginseng! And so big!"

Yan Ning accepted it with a smile.

On the other side, inside the palace.

The Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Ministry of War all came to ask the Emperor for money, but the problem was that no one believed the Imperial Palace had been emptied in just a few hours. The Ministers of the Six Ministries insisted on inspecting the treasury together.

Yan Zheng was somewhat helpless, "See for yourselves. For these past few days, I have searched every place, and even pried up the floor tiles around the treasury. I dug three feet deep and still found nothing."

The Ministers of the Six Ministries were indeed present on the day of the Hundred Flowers Banquet, but they had only vaguely heard that this place or that place had been emptied.

They thought at most some money had been taken, but who would have thought that when they arrived at the national treasury, the thief had even stolen the shelves? It was simply insane.

Yan Zheng frowned: "The urgent priority is to find silver quickly, otherwise nothing can function. Within three days—no, tomorrow after court, come to the Imperial Study, and each of you give me five solutions."

That way, there would be thirty, and surely one would be usable.

Yan Zheng sighed and leaned back in his chair, thinking to himself that if Yan Ze were still in the Capital, with his many clever ideas, the situation would certainly not be like this.

Yan Zheng also wondered why the son he had with the Imperial Concubine was so exceptionally dull, unable to solve anything, and ended up vomiting blood from anger.

It was simply shameful.

Yan Zheng lay on the chair, feigning sleep. He thought, should he write a letter and ask Yan Ze to return to the Capital to think of some ways?

But if that happened, the number of people opposing Crown Prince Yan Yu would only increase.

However, since they had already been exiled to Lingnan, it was impossible for Yan Zheng to let them return; wouldn't that be a slap in his own face?

Yan Zheng really couldn't think of a way to deal with it, so he just gave up.

In any case, there was simply no money.

At this moment, Yan Yu arrived.

He bowed to Yan Zheng, "Father Emperor, Yan Ning is truly too shameless!"

Yan Zheng sat up straight: "What have they done now?"

"The son of Prefect Yang of Xiadong City couldn't stand them traveling and sightseeing while in exile, but Yan Ning actually captured them all and waited for Prefect Yang to pay a ransom, and she really swindled nearly ten thousand taels of silver from them!"

Yan Zheng frowned, "He was actually able to produce ten thousand taels; I fear he has been corrupt for quite some years."

The topic had drifted.

Yan Yu immediately brought the topic back: "Father Emperor, do you know what Yan Ning did? She tricked everyone into thinking the Eldest Imperial Brother was only temporarily exiled and would return sooner or later, so the officials along the way could only treat them with warm hospitality."

"It is simply a disgrace to us!"

Yan Zheng waved his hand, saying as if he did not care: "Let them be."

Yan Yu: "But she, despite being exiled, is still so arrogant; I truly cannot stand to watch it."

Yan Zheng thought for a moment, "Why not bring Ningning back? I haven't seen her causing trouble for a long time, and I've grown somewhat unaccustomed to it."

Alarm bells rang in Yan Yu's head, "This, this, Father Emperor, this really won't do. The Eldest Imperial Brother protects Yan Ning like the apple of his eye; he certainly won't let Yan Ning return."

Yan Zheng waved his hand to dismiss him; compared to his Eldest Imperial Brother, Yan Yu was far inferior.

At this moment, Yan Zheng felt even more irritable.

Yan Ze had many devious ideas, and Yan Ning was even better than her teacher; even at her young age, he himself had been tricked by Yan Ning several times.

Sigh, why was Yan Ze not born to the Imperial Concubine?