"As long as it passes, it's OK as long as it passes." Sheng Shaoqing realized the system's flaw in time and worked hard to find a way out.
Forget it, it would be great if the host could pass the test, but it would be better to lower its psychological expectations appropriately.
"I don't know what's going on over there in Yunzhi."
Just as Cui Yun walked in, he heard Sheng Shaoqing murmuring to himself and answered, "If the Queen Mother is worried, why don't you send someone to take a look?"
Sheng Shaoqing shook his head. She sent someone to look at the work as soon as it started there. Doesn't it mean that she doesn't trust him?
Comparatively speaking, she doesn't like people to supervise her work when she is working. It's not like she doesn't work, so they have to keep an eye on her.
"Use people without suspicion, don't use people with suspicion, that's it."
Anyway, we'll find out in a month.
"By the way, how's the check on Yun'er going?"
After being busy for a while, she finally remembered that there was such a thing.
It's strange to say that, apart from her father notifying her two sisters to inquire about the situation that day, why was there no movement at all later on?
"Returning to the Queen Mother, Wei Chen has sent someone to contact the people in the Feng Mansion. There has been news in the past two days."
[Host, why don’t you ask me? 】
If we leave such a golden finger unused, what is the point of wasting all these manpower and material resources?
"If you want to say it, you told me earlier. Why don't you wait until I ask you?"
Sheng Shaoqing would not say that she had forgotten.
The system was silent, and it had to admit that she was right on this point.
"However, Aning just told me that Mrs. Xu came to Yongguang Palace this morning and brought a pot..." Cui Yun continued.
"pot?"
Cui Yun clapped his hands, and An Ning and Lian Qiao walked in carrying a large stew pot, which looked quite heavy.
What kind of performance art is this Madam Xu doing?
Aning and Forsythia put the pot down gently. Sheng Shaoqing walked forward and looked around the pot. This was an ordinary stew pot that couldn't be more ordinary.
Cui Yun was also puzzled, "Empress Dowager, what does Mrs. Xu mean?"
Sheng Shaoqing remained silent and asked her, who was she asking?
"System, do you know what this means?"
The system was silent and said it didn't know. It only showed that Mrs. Xu got up early and ran to the imperial kitchen to ask for the pot, and then sent it to Yongguang Palace.
As for the earlier time, Mrs. Xu returned from Yongguang Hall the day before yesterday and spent the whole day reading the account books in Shouning Hall. There was nothing strange about her behavior.
"Aning, can you try opening the pot?"
Could it be that the secret is hidden in this stew pot?
Aning let out an "eh" sound, stood up and took off the lid of the pot, and then made a strange "eh" sound.
"What's wrong?"
Aning asked Forsythia to uncover it together, "Why is it so difficult to uncover it?"
The two of them tried their best but failed to open the lid of the pot.
[Host...I show here that Mrs. Xu...had someone seal the mouth of this pot before she came...I thought she did this to make it easier to carry, but now it seems like she did it on purpose?]
Why seal the mouth of the pot?
etc.
She seemed to understand.
"Have you...heard a word..."
Cui Yun and Aning both looked at each other and looked at Sheng Shaoqing, waiting for the Queen Mother to answer their questions.
"I guess what Mrs. Xu means is: we will be too poor to open the pot..."
"Ah???" everyone asked in unison, did Mrs. Xu actually mean this?
【It seems...that's really the case.】
Mrs. Xu has been reading the account books these past two days, sighing as she read them. In recent months, the palace seems to have become increasingly unable to make ends meet.
“We are so poor????”
Cui Yun frowned, "Logically speaking, it shouldn't be. There must be something wrong with the private treasury."
The last time Mrs. Xu and the others came to report on their work, they said that there was not much savings in the palace, but they did not expect that this would be the point where the pot could no longer be opened.
The system said before that those imperial villages have been hollowed out. Who did it?! Who did it?!
Who wants her to have nothing to eat?!
"I want to see what these imperial villages are doing?!"
Cui Jun thought for a while and then said, "There is only half a month left before the New Year, and another half month after that is the January period for Prime Minister Ji. If you want to go to Chenliu with His Majesty in person, why not pick a day during this period and drop by the Emperor?"
Zhuang take a look?"
"You just have to make arrangements, but don't let them know."
So as not to alert the enemy.
"Aning, let's go to the private treasury now."
When Wang Shanggong heard at the Shanggong Bureau that the Queen Mother was approaching, his round body trembled, and he quickly got up and went out to greet her.
"We have met the Queen Mother. Why is the Queen Mother here?"
Sheng Shaoqing raised his eyebrows, "Why, Wang Shang Palace doesn't welcome the Ai family?"
Sheng Shaoqing had been around in the previous dynasty for a long time, and he was already able to deal with Ji Wenxuan with ease, let alone Wang Shanggong. The words and tone of Wang Shanggong revealed that she, the Queen Mother, seemed like an uninvited guest.
"Wei Chen doesn't dare, Wei Chen doesn't dare."
Wang Shanggong said he didn't dare, but his body didn't move a step, still showing resistance.
"System, why am I so miserable? Xu Wan can just point at me and scold me, but can a little Shang Gong stop me? Those people in the previous dynasty didn't dare to do this to me, right?"
[Well, according to the current results, your living environment was in the harem in the past. They were familiar with you. When you suddenly came to power, they had no respect for you. The difference in the previous dynasty is that they did not respect you.
We are familiar with each other, but I don’t know your temperament. We are still in the process of getting acquainted with each other.】
"Meaning that they still think I am the gentle and easy-to-handle Feng Qing from before?"
[That should be the case, but there is nothing we can do about it. In the past, you had a relatively low status and had no say. Naturally, you had no power, so... the late emperor just took a fancy to you...]
Feng Qing and she were pretty much in agreement on this point. They were both social animals, and after eight years, they didn't even have an acquaintance in the palace that they could talk to.
"Wang Shanggong, how many years have you been in this palace?"
Wang Shanggong did not expect that the Queen Mother would suddenly ask such a question. After thinking for a while, he said, "It has been fourteen years since I entered the palace as an official during the reign of Emperor Wu."
"According to the ancestral system, you will leave the palace and return home soon, right?"
I just took the civil service examination yesterday. The female officials in the palace have a period of fifteen years. When they are old enough, they can leave the palace to reunite with their families. Therefore, it stands to reason that Wang Shanggong should leave the palace and go home next year.
"Ah", Wang Shanggong was overjoyed, "This is not a return home in fine clothes, it's just a reunion."
Wang Shanggong kept blocking her in front of her with his chubby body, and there was only one way to the private treasury in the palace. "Why, the Ai family can't go to this private treasury?"
"Ah", Wang Shanggong stepped back as if waking up from a dream, "Weichen didn't mean that, Weichen..."
Sheng Shaoqing ignored her and walked in with a group of people, while Wang Shanggong quietly pushed the person behind him, and the person turned around and fled quietly.
