Shen Xihe's words were like soft daggers, each one piercing Xiao Changyan's heart, yet he had no words of rebuttal.
Though skilled in warfare, he had neglected civilian welfare to such an extent—this was indeed a grave error. Shen Xihe was right: had he established daily rations per person from the beginning, the food he had acquired could have lasted at least another ten to fifteen days.
The current predicament of food shortage would not have occurred. Had Xiao Huayong and Shen Xihe not come here, he would still be unable to devise a solution to fill the food gap, and the consequences would have been unimaginable.
Acknowledging his fault, Xiao Changyan composed his expression and bowed deeply to Shen Xihe. "Your rebuke is justified, sister-in-law. The blame lies with me, and I cannot escape responsibility. I will submit a memorial of self-accusation to His Majesty to repent."
Xiao Changyan's swift admission of fault made Shen Xihe raise an eyebrow in surprise. She couldn't continue berating him relentlessly, but it didn't matter—this matter was over, and there would be another soon.
"Grain will arrive in the city the day after tomorrow. Prince Xin, make arrangements for a hundred strong laborers to receive it," Shen Xihe declared, then turned and left with her attendants without another glance at the two men.
Xiao Changyan wanted to ask something, but remembering his compounded offenses, he knew he had no right to inquire further. By directly instructing Xiao Changqing, Shen Xihe made it clear that he should reflect deeply and refrain from meddling further.
"Fifth Brother, I burden you," Xiao Changyan said indifferently.
Xiao Changqing smiled gently. "Serving the people is my duty."
Exchanging a glance, they dropped their pretenses and went their separate ways.
The imperial grain requisition for Dengzhou had been announced throughout the land. Even if Wendeng County was isolated, news had reached them. However, due to poor communication, aside from Xiao Changyan, Xiao Changqing, and the provincial governor, no one knew how the grain would be transported. Even Xiao Changqing and the others only knew it would come by water. Yet the waterways here were turbulent, and with heavy rain making navigation difficult, they were not optimistic.
Shen Xihe's certainty that the grain would arrive in two days astonished them, but they had no choice but to follow her instructions—posting notices and publicly selecting laborers for the task.
Once the notices were posted and drums were beaten to spread the word, many came to enlist, their hearts filled with hope—this was their lifeline!
Having watched Xiao Changyan being thoroughly criticized by Shen Xihe, Xiao Changqing personally oversaw the selection of laborers, taking exactly one hundred as specified, not one more.
During the wait for the grain, the most leisurely was Xiao Huayong. Feigning illness, he remained indoors, trimming flowers and plants daily and arranging them in various vases to adorn Shen Xihe's plain quarters.
"I've found Xiao Shier's whereabouts," Xiao Huayong announced as Shen Xihe stepped into the room, while he was pruning branches.
Shen Xihe turned and walked toward him. "Do you plan to rescue him?"
Snip—an excess branch was cut off. Xiao Huayong neither confirmed nor denied rescue plans. After working quietly for a moment, he looked up and said, "I'll follow my wife's lead."
He even wore an expression seeking praise.
Shen Xihe had ordered him not to interfere and to let her handle everything, so he complied completely, obeying her every word.
Her dark, luminous eyes, like obsidian, shimmered with a captivating light. She gazed at him quietly, then after a moment, let out a soft laugh.Xiao Huayong raised his brows, glanced down at himself, then touched his own face with a puzzled expression. "I wonder in what way I've pleased Youyou?"
"The way you looked just now..." Shen Xihe circled around Xiao Huayong, still turning her head to give him another assessing glance as if making a comparison. "You looked exactly like Duanming begging for treats."
Instead of taking offense, Xiao Huayong's eyes darkened as if something was stirring within. His voice grew slightly husky: "I'd like to beg for 'treats' too. I just wonder if Youyou would grant them..."
He emphasized the words "treats" heavily, his sweeping gaze over Shen Xihe carrying unmistakable implication. "Youyou has been keeping me on a strict diet for quite some time now..."
With his pitiful tone and woeful eyes, Shen Xihe felt both amused and slightly flushed.
This man was perpetually improper,
always twisting her words toward shameless topics. Yet he expressed himself so subtly that if she pointed it out, she'd fall right into his trap. He would surely blink innocently and claim he'd been eating plain broth like the commoners these past few days, merely asking for proper food. Then he'd boldly suggest that she must be the one having such thoughts, and he'd only be accommodating her desires - taking advantage while playing the innocent.
Having been fooled several times before, Shen Xihe directly avoided this no-win conversation: "As for Prince Yan, let him endure a few more days of hardship. After some time passes, I'll make Jing Wang return him exactly as he was captured - completely unharmed."
"Oh?" Xiao Huayong immediately became interested. "How will Youyou make Little Eight return him voluntarily?"
"Do you think I was genuinely picking fights with Jing Wang, putting on a show of being a shrewish, aggressive woman in front of him?" Shen Xihe picked up a teacup and took a delicate sip. "First I called him out for exploiting wealthy households, today I added incompetence in handling affairs. These seem like minor offenses, but minor offenses accumulate into major ones. When the time is right, I'll ask him where Prince Yan is.
Prince Yan came with him for disaster relief. We've been overwhelmed since arriving here, and with his firm insistence that Prince Yan was providing relief in the neighboring county, plus the difficulty of communication between counties, our ignorance of when Prince Yan disappeared is understandable. But if he doesn't know, that becomes rather suspicious.
Especially since Prince Yan has been missing for so long, and even after our arrival, he still claims Prince Yan is providing relief - clearly he's lying.
Before we came, he could use being overwhelmed with disaster relief as an excuse for his negligence. But now that I've stripped him of his authority, he's basically idle in the county office. If he still doesn't know when Prince Yan disappeared, how will he explain himself to Your Majesty?
If anything happens to Prince Yan or he suffers serious injury because of this, Jing Wang will be held fully accountable.
Failing in his duties and neglecting his brother - with multiple offenses combined, I can make him lose his princely title!"
Xiao Huayong's eyes lit up hearing this, and he couldn't help clapping in admiration. "Marvelous, absolutely marvelous."
So from the moment she stripped Xiao Changyan of his disaster relief authority, she had been planning Xiao Changgeng's rescue. Though these seemed like completely unrelated matters, their connection remained invisible until surfacing. Even Xiao Huayong had thought Shen Xihe took over the disaster relief authority just to keep Xiao Changyan from getting in the way. Xiao Changyan himself probably never imagined it was connected to Xiao Changgeng.
Xiao Huayong's burning gaze settled on Shen Xihe, then fixed on the teacup in her hand. The corners of his mouth couldn't help curling upward. "Youyou, that's my teacup."He also took a sip of the tea.
Although they were husband and wife, Shen Xihe had the aristocratic etiquette ingrained in his bones—they had never shared personal items before...
Well, except for the bathtub.
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