I have suffered enough in my previous life, my cousin will never marry me

Chapter 67: Humble Prime Minister
Fu Yunni burst into tears sadly: "She is not my beautiful sister."

Seeing the man next to him with a terrifyingly gloomy face, Butler Zhao's heart was pounding with fear. He quickly bent down and explained, "Your Highness, this is the only family with the surname Ye in the entire Jikang County. There is no other family."

The Jikang County Magistrate immediately stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, this is indeed the only registered family with the surname Ye in Jikang County. The entire family, over a hundred people, all moved here from Yejia Village after our former grandfather became prosperous."

Listening to the tragic crying around him, Yan Jin seemed to have thought of something. He leaned close to Fu Mingchi's ear and whispered, "Your Highness, could it be that Miss Ye is not from Jikang County, but escaped from somewhere else?"

Hearing this, Fu Mingchi's gloomy face suddenly showed a hint of anxiety.

"In the past two years, disasters have hit various places. Ordinary families like Miss Ye's have been destitute of food and clothing, and have had to sell their children. To force her to marry someone she doesn't want to marry, they inevitably resorted to some dirty tactics."

Yan Jin's reminder made Fu Mingchi think of what happened that night again.

I'm afraid she was really forced into marriage and managed to escape from the bully's house.

Fu Yunni cried even harder: "Brother, is my beautiful sister in danger? She said she would come to see me when she returns to Yuezhou, and she will definitely not break her promise. What if her family is using her to exchange for silver, what will she do?"

Fu Mingchi's heart trembled.

I also blame myself for being too suspicious at the time and making groundless speculations about her identity, which made her wary. Otherwise, there wouldn't have been so many difficulties when she returned to Yuezhou with me.

"She'll be fine." Fu Mingchi's brows darkened. "Issue an order that taxes will be exempted within Yuezhou for two years. If any refugees from other places are found, they must not be stopped. The government will provide funds to accommodate them."

"..."

Butler Zhao was stunned.

Just for the "just in case" mentioned by the princess, and for the sake of a girl she met by chance, Yuezhou's taxes had to be exempted for two years to protect her safety, which was tens of millions of taels of silver.

He reminded anxiously in a low voice: "Your Highness, if this happens, the court's taxes and military supplies will have to be reduced for the palace's expenses in the next two years."

Fu Mingchi said indifferently: "It's just a personal possession, not worth mentioning."

"Your Highness, perhaps that girl was lying to you and the young princess. Perhaps her last name is not Ye, and she is not from Yuezhou." Butler Zhao frowned, full of suspicion.

Fu Mingchi was already somewhat displeased: "In order to save these ten million taels of silver, you want me to gamble on that one maybe you mentioned? If she really does get into trouble, do you want to make the little princess sad?"

Hearing this, Fu Yunni quickly stopped wiping her tears and looked at her elder brother with a questioning look on her face.

Butler Zhao choked up and said, "I dare not."

He had already seen that the prince had fallen in love with the girl. If she was really in trouble, and he had saved the money for the palace, which led to the girl's death, he would have more than a hundred heads to chop off. It was simply a thankless task, so he dared not say anything more.

Upon seeing this, Fu Mingchi glanced at all the officials present and gave another order in a deep voice: "Also, notify all prefectures and offices in Yuezhou that no forced marriages are allowed. If forced or forced marriages are found, the government will deal with them severely."

After explaining everything, he granted the Ye family lifelong wealth and prosperity before leaving, and then took Fu Yunni away.

The Ye family members didn't understand what was going on and all of them looked confused.

"Why is Your Highness so kind to our Ye family? How can we common people afford this?" The head of the Ye family said in fear.

Watching the royal carriage drive away, County Magistrate Ji Kang snorted coldly, "It's all because you chose a good family name."

I don’t know which girl made King Yongning so worried. Because of her, not only were taxes exempted for millions of people in Yuezhou for two years, but so many decrees were also issued. It was really a blessing for the people of Yuezhou.

As he led his subordinates to the county government office, the county magistrate hurriedly whispered, "Send more people to investigate. We must help His Highness find that Miss Hui as soon as possible."

This is a good opportunity to get promoted, so everyone agreed.

Back in the carriage, Fu Mingchi still felt extremely uneasy.

Fu Yunni leaned on his legs, her face full of anxiety: "Brother, it must be that Butler Zhao made a mistake. He didn't find the beautiful sister at all, right?"

Fu Mingchi found it difficult to answer Xiaodouding's words. If she was really from Yuezhou, or if she had defected to Yuezhou, the various decrees he issued today would be able to protect her safety.

Thinking about her mention of returning to Yuezhou, Fu Mingchi lifted the carriage curtain and instructed Yan Jin: "Send more patrol guards to ensure that the official roads from Lin'an to Yuezhou are open."

"Yes."

Yan Jin had just thought that Miss Ye might not have returned to Yuezhou yet, but she didn't expect that His Highness had already made arrangements. If the Concubine Dowager knew that His Highness was so concerned about this young lady, she would probably be so happy that she wouldn't be able to sleep for several nights.

He happily glanced at the gloomy-looking Butler Zhao and deliberately joked, "Butler Zhao, next time you look for someone, you must find the right one."

Butler Zhao was now worried about how to explain to the Concubine Dowager when he returned. Looking at Yan Jin's provocative eyes, he could only sigh.

Fu Mingchi didn't bother to watch the bickering, so he put the curtain back and saw that Fu Yunni had fallen asleep in his arms. He silently took out the blue handkerchief and stared at the eye-catching word "Ye" on it, his thoughts becoming more and more confused.

I don't know if she was deliberately deceiving me or if she had some unspeakable difficulties.

"You'd better not let this king find you."

"You'd better let me find you quickly."

Murmuring silently, Fu Mingchi slowly tightened the handkerchief.

"You better be alright."...

The lighting range of the carriage lights was limited after all, which resulted in a very slow journey. It took a whole night to reach Shituo Posthouse. By then, Qin Chulin and Mu Qingqing were both exhausted.

Little Chulin had never experienced such a bumpy ride and started to have a high fever in the carriage.

Fortunately, Mu Qingqing was a very good doctor, so she didn't need to go back to Lin'an to see a doctor. She only needed to rest in the inn for a day.

After leading everyone off the carriage, Ye Wanshu had just stepped into the door of the inn when Chunhong suddenly called out in her ear, "Miss, it seems the master's carriage is here too."

Ye Wanshu turned her head and glanced over, and sure enough, she saw a golden carriage hidden in the shade of a tree in the distance, some distance away from the posthouse. It was acting sneakily and no one knew what it was trying to do.

Mu Qingqing looked at him and just covered her mouth and smiled.

It can be seen that the Prime Minister cares about his daughter. Even if his reputation is bad, how can he not love his own flesh and blood?

Not to mention that the Prime Minister has only one legitimate daughter.

"Sister Wan, the Prime Minister must have been exhausted from the journey and is old. He's been traveling all night, leaving him outside..."

Before she could finish her words, Ye Wanshu pulled her in: "Ignore him."

Then he asked the owner of the inn to open three rooms, one for himself and Mu Qingqing, one for Chunhong and Xingtao, and one for Qin Chulin, and they rested there first.

After asking Mu Qingqing to take the little guy's pulse and take care of him until he fell asleep, Ye Wanshu left Chunhong and Xingtao in the room to look after him, and then went back to her guest room with Mu Qingqing to have dinner.

Mu Qingqing deliberately left a window open. When Ye Wanshu was eating, the girl seemed to look out the window from time to time.

Following her gaze, I saw Ji Yuan's carriage. He had been standing there, looking up.

Thinking of her mother, and then of the deceased Ning Yue and Aunt Qin, Ye Wanshu felt a surge of anger in her heart, and finally she stood up and lowered the window frame.

Mu Qingqing didn't dare to speak again. Everyone finished their lunch in silence and took a nap on the bed.

Ye Wanshu was tossing and turning in bed when she suddenly heard faint sobbing sounds coming from beside her. She immediately guessed that Mu Qingqing was missing Xiao Zhang.

"Auntie has her own pride. Perhaps you should let her go and see the place where your uncle fought for her."

Ye Wanshu placed her hand gently on Mu Qingqing's shoulder and said softly, "That was her wish."

"Actually, I also know that A Niang chose to stay in Lin'an all these years because of me. I shouldn't stop her."

Mu Qingqing said: "But I am worried, worried that she will go..."

She didn't say the rest of the words. Ye Wanshu knew that she was afraid of separation from her loved ones.

She has felt this kind of pain many times. Even if she were to live again, she would still feel heartbroken and uncomfortable when she saw the people she cared about leave.

But compared to life and death, Xiao Zhang obviously cares more about the Mu family army and the territory that Mu Hou once swore to defend with his life. This state of mind is not comparable to that of ordinary people.

"Sister Wan, I know I shouldn't try to persuade you, but the Prime Minister's situation isn't one where he can retreat. Even if you refuse to forgive him, I think you should cherish every farewell."

Mu Qingqing's words were quite pertinent, and Ye Wanshu did not reject them.

After she fell asleep, Ye Wanshu got up again, gently opened a corner of the window, and could still see the carriage.

After all, he is my biological father. If something happens to him in this remote place, I will be the one implicated.

After leaving the room, Ye Wanshu instructed Chunhong, "Go get him a guest room so he doesn't have to stay downstairs. Let him come in, have some food, and rest before returning to the city."

"Yes," Chunhong responded happily and left.

After watching several figures enter the inn through the gap, Ye Wanshu finally felt relieved and fell asleep peacefully.

She was also very sleepy at the moment. She listened to the noise outside for a while in the room and fell asleep unknowingly.

When I woke up again, it was pitch black outside and night had fallen again.

Seeing the candles in the room lit, Chunhong went to the door and called out, "Miss, the master has prepared dinner himself and asked you and Miss Mu to wake up and have dinner."

"This old man..."

Ye Wanshu really couldn't describe her feelings. She had to eat anyway. She smiled at Mu Qingqing and pulled her up.

"Let's go."

After a simple wash, the two walked out of the room together.

After walking a few steps in the corridor, I suddenly heard the sound of tiles being crushed above my head.

(End of this chapter)