Bai Wanrou took Lin Yi and Lu Zhu back to the private room where Shiweitian lived. Not long after, Song Zhui, the Minister of Household Affairs who had not arrived yet, appeared. When she saw Bai Wanrou, she felt guilty for a moment.
"Sit down, Mr. Song." Bai Wanrou did not warmly receive Mr. Song Zhi, the Minister of Revenue. Instead, she sat there calmly, poured him a cup of tea and placed it opposite her, and then motioned to Lu Zhu and Lin Yi to go out first.
Song Zhui, the Minister of Household Affairs, felt a little nervous when he saw Bai Wanrou's posture. However, he had already thought of a countermeasure to deal with Bai Wanrou on the way here, so after accepting the tea handed over by Bai Wanrou, he spoke tremblingly.
:
"I know the princess' intention to meet with you, but now the Ministry of Finance doesn't have much money to help you solve your worries. After all, there are a lot of natural disasters at the beginning of spring, and the Ministry of Finance really can't come up with much money..."
Bai Wanrou had long known that the old fox Song Zhui, the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, would find reasons to excuse her, so there was not much displeasure or embarrassment on her face. Instead, she took a sip of tea and said with a smile:
"Isn't it true that the household department's silver is spent so quickly? Didn't I receive a lot of gifts a few days ago? If I remember correctly, the household department's current income is at least no less than 800,000 yuan.
Liang, even the expenditure is not less than 400,000 taels, so why should the household department have four to five million taels in hand? Could it be that you, the Minister of Song Dynasty, are embezzling?"
In fact, Bai Wanrou didn't know how many accounts the Department of Accounts had. The reason why she knew it was by chance from Bai Fengqi's official documents. From then on, she remembered the expenses and expenditures of the Department of Accounts, and secretly asked people to do so.
After inquiring about the revenue and expenditure of the Ministry of Revenue, I got a relatively accurate figure.
Song Zhui, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, fell silent after hearing what Bai Wanrou said, because before he came to see Bai Wanrou, he never thought that Bai Wanrou would know so much about the income and expenditure of the Ministry of Revenue, and what he said was quite different.
He couldn't help but feel that Bai Wanrou was actually very clear about many things, but she just didn't clarify it to him anymore.
Bai Wanrou looked at his silence and continued: "Don't worry, I am not telling you this to ask for money from your household department. I just need Song Shangshu to help you conceal the true financial expenses of the palace. As for what Song Shangshu has in his hands."
There are so many things about this that I will keep secret for you."
These words surprised Song Zhi, who was the Minister of the Ministry of Accounts. She was surprised and happy at the same time. Bai Wanrou asked her to help conceal the income and expenditure of the palace's accounts. She was happy that Bai Wanrou would keep the money expenses and income of the Ministry of Accounts secret for her.
secret.
"I know what the princess means, but it's not easy for me to explain to the emperor. After all, I don't know the purpose of asking me to do this, princess. I don't dare to do it rashly..." The Minister of Household Affairs, Song Zhui, still wanted to know Bai Wanrou.
The purpose of letting myself do this, so I said it in a circumstantial way.
Bai Wanrou had already been very tolerant of him when she told Song Zhui, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, that she helped him hide the truth about the Ministry of Finance. Now this old fritter is still here to insinuate himself and wants to know that she has allowed him to do this.
For the purpose of doing this, Bai Wanrou couldn't help but darken her face, looked at him murderously and said:
"Just do what I ask you to do! There are so many purposes that you must know? Is it possible that when the Ministry of Accounts received a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry but did not enter the accounts of the Ministry of Accounts, Song Shangshu also wanted people to know that you did this?
The purpose?"
Song Zhui, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, was not a fool. Seeing that Bai Wanrou was unwilling to reveal the matter, he stopped asking further questions. He was sweating profusely and said nice things to Bai Wanrou. Finally, under Bai Wanrou's eyes, he had no choice but to agree. Bai Wanrou didn't say anything when she saw this.
I continued to embarrass him and waved him away directly.
After Song Zhui, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, left, Lin Yi, who had been standing at the door with Lu Zhu, walked in. Looking at Bai Wanrou who was sitting there and wondering what he was thinking, he said, "Princess, I'm afraid the silver in our house is not enough for you now."
needs."
After listening to Lin Yi's words, Bai Wanrou, who had been deep in thought, came back to her senses, looked at him and said: "This matter is very important. I will find a way. Don't worry. The most important thing now is that we must first go to Kyoto."
.”
As early as after letting Song Zhui, the Minister of Household Affairs, leave just now, Bai Wanrou thought about how to raise the money next.
After gathering this matter, and now hearing Lin Yi ask about it, she became even more convinced of her idea. After all, she would not do this unless it was a last resort.
When Lin Yi saw this, he didn't say anything else. Instead, he asked people to quickly prepare a carriage for Bai Wanrou, because he knew that Bai Wanrou must have had a plan in her heart, otherwise she wouldn't have said so clearly that she wanted to go back to Kyoto.
.
Lu Zhu, who was waiting on Bai Wanrou, saw that his princess had grown so fast, and felt uncomfortable for a moment. However, thinking back to the suffering that the princess had suffered in the palace before, it was definitely impossible to say that there was no growth.
After Song Zhui, the Minister of Household Affairs, met with Bai Wanrou, he went to the palace to find the emperor, and revealed to the emperor that he had perfunctoryly dealt with Bai Wanrou. Bai Wanrou did not have any doubts about this. After hearing these words, the emperor had no doubts about this.
Song Zhui, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, expressed his satisfaction with this approach and even said several words of praise for him. In the end, he had nothing to say and let him leave.
Originally, this incident was quite thrilling, so after Song Zhui, the Minister of Revenue, left the emperor, he just walked not far from the door. When he saw no one around, he began to exhale loudly, and then wiped himself with his sleeves.
His forehead was covered with sweat, and he could be said to be extremely panicked.
On the other side, Bai Wanrou quickly brought Lu Zhu and Lin Yi back to the Jian'an Palace. Bai Wanrou was quiet along the way and didn't say much else. She waited until they returned to the palace and returned to Bai Wanrou's usual residence.
After entering the courtyard, Bai Wanrou, who had been silent all the way, finally spoke:
"It's Princess Chaohua's birthday party in a few days, right? Then we'll go visit Princess Chaohua."
When Lin Yi heard this, the expression on his face could be said to be very surprised. He suddenly thought of what he had told Bai Wanrou not long ago about the lack of silver in the palace. He wondered whether Bai Wanrou was planning to get it.
Going to visit Princess Chaohua and raise money from the princess to help the prince? But if he remembered correctly, Princess Chaohua didn't seem to want to hold a birthday party this time.
"But Princess Chaohua doesn't seem to have any intention of hosting a birthday banquet this time. Wouldn't it be a bit rude for us to go there rashly?"
Listening to what Lin Yi said, Bai Wanrou knew what was going on, but she didn't believe that Zheng Chaohua, the eldest princess of the Chen Kingdom, could not hold a birthday banquet. Even if she didn't want to, the emperor and the others would definitely give her a big one.
After all, she is the aunt of the current emperor. She watched the emperor grow up with the current Chen Ruzhi and the prince. Although she is old, she still holds military power in her hands. She is a powerful princess with her status.
extraordinary.
Therefore, it is impossible for the emperor and others to neglect Zheng Chaohua, unless the emperor wants to go against Princess Chaohua.
"It doesn't matter, we are just paying a visit to Princess Chaohua and wishing her a happy birthday in advance. As for her birthday banquet not being held anymore, this matter is not something we should worry about. After all, our purpose of visiting her is also
It’s obvious, isn’t it?”
Bai Wanrou has already known about the current situation. Even if Princess Zhaohua does not hold a birthday party this year, she will find an opportunity to talk to Princess Zhaohua about the current situation.
"Go and have someone send a greeting note to Princess Chaohua's residence. Just say that Princess Jian'an misses the princess and wants to visit her."
In order to prevent them from appearing too abrupt if they go directly like this, Bai Wanrou specially arranged for Lin Yi to send a greeting to Princess Chaohua first, so that she could bring people to visit her directly.
Princess Chaohua did not directly drive Lin Yi away after receiving the invitation. Instead, she asked someone to reply and said that she was looking forward to Bai Wanrou's arrival and would prepare Bai Wanrou's favorite meals for Bai Wanrou's visit.
Lin Yi was very surprised by Princess Chaohua's answer, but still brought these words to Bai Wanrou intact.
Bai Wanrou didn't expect that Princess Chaohua would reply to her like this, but since she had already sent her a greeting, there was no reason not to pay her a visit. She asked Luzhu to prepare the gifts he wanted to bring to Princess Chaohua. Bai Wanrou brought them within a few days.
Lin Yi came to visit Princess Chaohua.
As the people from the Princess Mansion brought Bai Wanrou and others to Zheng Chaohua, Bai Wanrou also bowed to her in a polite manner.
"Wanrou has met the princess."
Because he knew that Bai Wanrou would come in the next few days, he asked the girls to prepare food early. Now he was waiting for Bai Wanrou to come to visit him. Seeing Bai Wanrou bowing politely when he saw him, Zheng Chaohua couldn't help but feel...
She was a little surprised, feeling that the rumored Princess Jian'an seemed a little different.
"Get up quickly, we are all a family. This palace is not like the imperial palace, but there are not so many rules." After saying that, Zheng Chaohua stretched out his hand to help Bai Wanrou, and asked someone to show her tea and let her sit down.
Bai Wanrou did not expect that she would be treated like this by Princess Chaohua after she arrived. She was also very surprised. However, she did not forget the purpose of her trip, but she was thinking about finding a suitable opportunity.
Tell me your previous purpose.
Zheng Chaohua looked at Bai Wanrou sitting there and felt a little embarrassed, so he asked, "Why is it that I just arrived at the princess's mansion and my face looks so sad when I sit down? But what's bothering me recently? Why don't you talk to me about it?"
Listening to Princess Chaohua asking herself this question, Bai Wanrou, who originally didn't know how to tell her about her visit, felt a little grateful in an instant.
Looking up to meet the concerned eyes of Princess Chaohua, Bai Wanrou knelt down under her surprised eyes, and then said word by word: "Actually, Wanrou came here this time for the prince, and please ask the princess to help the prince."