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Chapter 516: Lovesickness (I)

I don’t know where to start expressing my endless longing for you.

Cui Du sat at the desk, holding the pen for a long time before he lowered his head and started writing.

He was used to using charcoal pencils and slightly harder paper. The charcoal pencil moved quickly on the paper, and soon he drew a cute big-eyed boy standing in the endless fields, looking at the distant clouds.

There is a palace in the clouds, and a beautiful and heroic girl stands outside the vermilion palace gate. The boy and the girl look at each other across the vast space.

There is not a single word on the paper, but all my thoughts are poured into this painting.

After Cui Du finished the painting, he carefully folded it, put it in an envelope, and had someone send it to the palace.

Nanyang Palace and the capital have always had a special channel for sending letters, which is much faster than ordinary express horses. However, sending a letter requires a lot of manpower and material resources. Therefore, every time Cui Du wrote a letter, he would send it to the capital along with Chen Changshi's letter.

This restraint and meticulousness won the praise of Chen Changshi.

"The Earl of Changning is very sensible." Chen Changshi said to Feng Changshi, "The princess went to the capital for important matters, and she was exhausted and worried every day. The Earl of Changning stayed at the farm peacefully, busy with his own work every day, and only wrote two letters to the princess. I think he was afraid of disturbing the princess's restlessness."

He always puts the princess first and considers the princess in everything. This is the most suitable husband for the princess.

Feng Changshi smiled and said, "There are so many handsome young men who came to propose marriage, including many noble sons from aristocratic families, but our princess didn't like any of them and arranged a marriage with the Earl of Changning very early on. She didn't let the Earl of Changning down at all."

Chen Changshi also smiled and immediately arranged for someone to send the letter out.

……

At this time, Jiang Shaohua was reading files in the Ministry of Justice.

The Ministry of Justice had two capable assistant ministers, and there were no old cases. At first glance, there was nothing wrong. Jiang Shaohua ordered Assistant Minister Yang to move all the files of the Ministry of Justice in the past six months.

The Ministry of Justice was in charge of the judicial system in Daliang. All murders in prefectures and counties had to be submitted to the Ministry of Justice for review and filing. The number of files could roughly show how many major cases had occurred in Daliang in the past six months.

The files were piled up on the wooden table, half a person's height. Jiang Shaohua picked up a file and asked casually, "Minister Yang, how many files are there here?"

Minister Yang replied, "My Lady, there are 169 files here."

That means there were a total of one hundred and sixty-nine murders.

"Are there more and more murders?" Jiang Shaohua looked at Minister Yang.

Minister Yang sighed, nodded and said, "Yes. I dare not hide it from the princess. Not every murder case is reported. If a major murder case occurs in a county, the county governor or county magistrate will be recorded by the Ministry of Personnel, and the year-end assessment will be greatly affected. Therefore, it is common for murder cases to be concealed and not reported."

"One hundred and sixty-nine reports were submitted within six months, and at least twice that number were concealed."

What a shocking number this is.

Jiang Shaohua's brows were solemn and he remained silent.

Minister Yang continued in a low voice, "This is all due to frequent natural disasters. For a bite of food, they dare to kill people and steal food. I know that the princess has been trying her best to promote the new grain to help the people in the north, but there are always places in the 20 states in the north that the princess cannot take care of. The princess has a clear conscience and does not need to blame herself for this."

Jiang Shaohua said calmly: "This princess really doesn't need to blame herself. The ones who should blame themselves are the officials in the court. People are uneasy and resentful. The officials should work together to govern the court and do their jobs well so that the people can live a life without worries about food and clothing. But what is the court like? Minister Yang is in it and knows it better than anyone else."

Minister Yang was speechless.

Factional struggles were fierce in the court. Over the past six months, the Empress Dowager's faction and the Prime Minister's faction had almost torn their faces apart, causing a mess. The reputation of the Empress Dowager Zheng was ruined, the Duke of Anguo was impeached and had to reflect on himself behind closed doors, and Prime Minister Wang also suffered heavy losses. His son was imprisoned for several months, and he lost his position as a governor, ruining his future. The Left General went from being the commander of the border army to the commander of the Divine Guard Camp. The difference between the two periods was more than a thousand miles.

After the princess arrived, she tried her best to suppress the rebellion and only then did she achieve a brief period of peace. When the princess returned to Nanyang County, it was hard to say whether Emperor Taihe could suppress the ministers and stabilize the situation...

These thoughts flashed through Minister Yang's mind, but he could not express them aloud.

Minister Yang calmed down and said respectfully, "The princess always cares about the people. I admire your kindness and love for them."

Jiang Shaohua was in no mood to say these light and polite words and continued to read the files.

In the next few days, Jiang Shaohua not only read the files, but also wandered around the various departments of the Ministry of Justice. No matter how much she could understand, in short, when she was in the Ministry of Justice, all the officials in the Ministry of Justice became much more diligent.

Minister Yang is still investigating the assassination case, but he has not found any useful clues. It seems that this will become another "unsolved case".

"Princess," Qin Hu came over quietly and whispered, "A letter has been sent from Nanyang County."

Jiang Shaohua relaxed his brows and took a few letters from Qin Hu.

The first one was from Chen Changshi, and the second one was from Feng Changshi. His father Lu Xuan, who was unwilling to be lonely, would write to him every time. The letters were full of meaningless nonsense, so it didn't matter whether he read them or not.

The last letter was from her fiancé, Changning Earl Cui Du.

Jiang Shaohua looked at the familiar handwriting on the envelope, a smile flashed in his eyes, and the corners of his mouth raised.

Coincidentally, the Secretary of the Central Secretariat accompanying us today is Zheng Chen.

Zheng Sheren had excellent eyesight. He could see the name on the envelope from a distance of nine feet. There was a hint of sourness in his tone: "Did the Earl of Changning write to the princess?"

Jiang Shaohua raised his eyebrows slightly: "We are an engaged couple, there is nothing strange about communicating with each other."

Zheng Chen was choked and felt unhappy, but he didn't even have the position or qualifications to be jealous.

Jiang Shaohua glanced at Zheng Chen and said, "I heard that the Zheng family and the Fan family have already discussed marriage, and will soon send the betrothal gifts. This princess would like to congratulate Mr. Zheng for finding such a good match."

In the end, Zheng Chen still wants to marry Fan Jianing as his wife, just like in his previous life.

General Fan became the commander of the frontier army and became the most important person in the army. He held military power and had great influence in the court. The marriage between the Zheng and Fan families was also something that the Empress Dowager Zheng was happy to see happen.

Zheng Chen and Jiang Shaohua looked at each other and said, "It's the same with you. I also want to congratulate the princess on her upcoming marriage to a son-in-law. He will be the successor to the Nanyang Palace in the future."

Jiang Shaohua smiled faintly: "Being able to continue the Nanyang Palace is the greatest wish of this princess."

"This princess is going back to the palace. Would Mr. Zheng like to go back with me?"

"I want to go back to the Duke of Anguo's Mansion, so I won't go with the princess."

Jiang Shaohua nodded slightly and rode back to the palace on his horse. Zheng Chen turned his horse around and headed for the Duke of Anguo's mansion.

The two people were going in opposite directions, getting further and further away.

……