I started as a concubine, and I made the crown prince cry with my delicious food.

Tinglan Waterside Pavilion was filled with laughter and the aroma of milk tea every day, a scene of peace and tranquility. However, this serenity was soon shattered by the increasingly tense situation outside.

"Your Majesty, something terrible has happened!"

That morning, Ye An'an was still asleep when she was awakened by Chunxing's urgent voice.

"What's wrong?" She sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"His Highness was discussing matters in the Imperial Study until dawn last night, and fainted as soon as he returned!"

Ye An'an jumped out of bed and ran to the study without even putting on her coat.

In the study, Xiao Jingshi leaned against a soft couch, his face as pale as paper, a cold cloth still covering his forehead. The imperial physician was taking his pulse, his expression grave.

"Your Highness, what is this...?" Ye An'an's voice trembled.

"Your Highness, do not panic." The imperial physician rose and bowed. "His Highness is simply suffering from overwork and worry these past few days, resulting in a deficiency of qi and blood. This old minister will prescribe a few formulas to calm the mind and replenish qi. With proper care, he will be fine."

Ye An'an finally breathed a sigh of relief, dismissed everyone, and stayed by Xiao Jingshi's side alone.

Looking at his gaunt face, her eyes welled up with tears. Just how much pressure was this man carrying?

As if sensing her gaze, Xiao Jingshi slowly opened his eyes.

"An an..." His voice was terribly hoarse.

"Don't talk, just rest." Ye An'an held his hand. "Even if the sky falls, I'll hold it up."

Xiao Jingshi smiled wryly: "Even if the sky falls, can your small frame hold it up?"

"We have to hold on, even if we can't!" Ye An'an looked at him earnestly. "Tell me, what exactly happened?"

Xiao Jingshi remained silent for a moment, but finally told the truth.

The barbarian tribes of the southern frontier have amassed a large army and could invade at any moment. The court must send troops, but the national treasury is empty and cannot afford to pay the soldiers. To make matters worse, the internal accounts of the Crown Prince's palace are a complete mess; he doesn't even know his own family's finances. How can he possibly help his father, the Emperor?

"Last night, Father asked me what the annual expenses of the Eastern Palace were, and whether a portion could be set aside for military pay." Xiao Jingshi closed his eyes, his voice full of exhaustion. "I couldn't answer. I spent the whole night looking through those account books, and the more I looked, the more confused I became."

Ye An'an's heart skipped a beat after hearing this.

She knew how chaotic accounting was in ancient times, but she never imagined that even the Crown Prince's residence was like this. If this were in modern times, it would have been thoroughly investigated by an auditor long ago.

"Let me see those ledgers," she suddenly said.

"You?" Xiao Jingshi looked at her in surprise.

"Yes, it's me." Ye An'an raised her chin. "Don't forget, I've been in business before."

This is obviously made up, but she did work as a financial assistant at a modern company and was very proficient with Excel.

Xiao Jingshi hesitated for a moment, but ultimately had Changting bring over all the account books.

Ye An'an looked at the stacks of yellowed account books, her head spinning. The densely packed, tiny handwriting and the rambling, diary-like records made it impossible to find any pattern in them—it was simply a pipe dream.

No, we must use modern methods!

"Chunxing, go get me the biggest sheet of Xuan paper, the bigger the better! And a charcoal pencil and a ruler!"

"Your Highness, what are you doing?"

"Do something that can change the Eastern Palace, and even change the entire Liang Dynasty!"

Ye An'an's eyes were surprisingly bright.

Half an hour later, in a side hall of the East Palace, Ye An'an pieced together several large sheets of Xuan paper and laid them on a long table. She picked up a ruler and a charcoal pencil and began to draw straight lines on the paper.

"What is Your Highness drawing?" Chunxing asked curiously as she came closer.

"Forms." Ye An'an said without looking up, "A magical tool that makes all accounts clear at a glance."

She first drew up the basic outline: date, category, item, quantity, unit price, total price, person in charge, remarks...

Then she started filling in the data. She flipped through those messy ledgers, extracted the information one by one, and filled it into the form according to its categories.

This filling took three whole days and three nights.

Xiao Jingshi gradually recovered under the care of the imperial physician, only to find that his crown princess was like a demon, spending all her time writing and drawing on that pile of paper.

"An'an, you should rest." He walked over to her with concern.

"Almost done!" Ye An'an's eyes lit up with excitement. "Look, this is all the expenses for the Eastern Palace last month. I've divided them into twelve major categories, and each category is further subdivided into smaller items..."

Pointing to the densely packed form, she recounted the expenses with great familiarity: "Food expenses totaled 3,200 taels, including 1,000 taels for rice, flour, and cooking oil; 800 taels for meat, eggs, and poultry; 400 taels for vegetables and fruits... Clothing expenses totaled 1,800 taels; and staff salaries totaled 2,000 taels..."

"Look here!" she pointed to a corner of the form. "The purchasing department bought the same silk three times last month, but the price was higher each time. There's definitely something fishy going on!"

"And here, the warehouse has been issued three times the usual amount of charcoal, but the weather hasn't gotten colder. Where did all this charcoal go?"

Xiao Jingshi stared at the magical "form" in disbelief.

All the problems that were hidden so well in the thick ledgers were completely exposed on this piece of paper!

"This...this is simply..." He couldn't find the words to describe it for a moment.

"Amazing spreadsheet!" Ye An'an laughed triumphantly. "How about it, isn't it amazing?"

"That's more than amazing!" Xiao Jingshi scooped her up and spun her around. "An'an, you're truly my lucky star!"

"Oh dear, put me down!" Ye An'an's face turned as red as an apple. "There are people watching!"

Xiao Jingshi then noticed that a large group of people had gathered at the entrance of the side hall, all staring in disbelief at the form.

"Guards! Summon all the eunuchs and matrons in charge of the Eastern Palace to the side hall!" Xiao Jingshi announced loudly. "I'll show you what real accounting management is!"

Soon, all the stewards of the Eastern Palace had gathered.

Leading the group was Eunuch Li, the chief steward of the Imperial Household Department, who was over fifty years old and had been in charge of the accounts in the Eastern Palace for more than twenty years. He considered himself very experienced and was rather dismissive of this suddenly appearing Crown Princess.

"Eunuch Li, tell me, what was the total expenditure of the Crown Prince's Palace last month?" Xiao Jingshi asked.

Eunuch Li opened the account book, his abacus clicking away, and after a long while he finally said, "Your Highness, it's approximately... thirteen thousand taels."

"Approximately?" Xiao Jingshi raised an eyebrow. "How much exactly?"

"This... the accounts are complicated, and I can't figure them out in a short time..." Eunuch Li said, sweat beading on his forehead.

"Then let me tell you." Ye An'an stood up and pointed to the table. "Last month, the total expenditure of the Crown Prince's Palace was 12,732 taels, 6 mace, and 4 fen, not a penny off."

"What?!" Eunuch Li's eyes widened.

"Don't believe me?" Ye An'an laughed. "Then let me ask you again, how much did you spend on food last month?"

"This...this..." Eunuch Li began flipping through the account books again.

"Three thousand two hundred and eighteen taels," Ye An'an stated directly. "Of which, rice, flour, and cooking oil account for one thousand and two taels, meat, eggs, and poultry for eight hundred and thirty-six taels, and vegetables and fruits for three hundred and eighty taels..."

She rattled off more than a dozen data points in one breath, each accurate to the minute.

Eunuch Li's abacus fell to the ground.

The other managers were also dumbfounded.

"Your Majesty, how...how did you do that?" someone asked in a trembling voice.

"That's all we need." Ye An'an patted the spreadsheet. "I call it a 'financial statement.' As long as all income and expenses are recorded in these boxes according to category, time, and item, any data can be seen at a glance."

"Not only that," she continued, "but through this table, I also discovered many problems with the Crown Prince's accounts."

She pointed out each issue one by one: abnormal prices at the purchasing department, irregularities in warehouse requisitions, and duplicate payments of staff salaries...

With each item mentioned, the face of the person in charge turned paler.

"Guards!" Xiao Jingshi said coldly, "Take all of them down and hand them over to the Ministry of Justice for a thorough investigation!"

"Your Highness, spare me! Your Highness, spare me!"

Several stewards knelt down and begged for mercy, but Xiao Jingshi was determined to reform the Eastern Palace and spared none of them.

The investigation revealed a deficit of over 30,000 taels of silver!

When the news reached the imperial study, the emperor was furious and immediately summoned Xiao Jingshi and Ye An'an.

"Crown Princess, I heard you invented a kind of 'form' that makes accounts crystal clear?" The Emperor looked at Ye An'an with curiosity in his eyes.

"Your Majesty, that's right." Ye An'an presented the form.

The emperor examined it carefully for a long time, growing more and more delighted: "Brilliant! Brilliant! With this, how can we worry about an empty treasury or the failure to eradicate corruption?"

He immediately issued an edict ordering Ye An'an to promote this "form management method" throughout the entire palace, and even to important departments such as the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War.

"Your Highness, this form you've prepared has solved a huge problem for me!" the Emperor laughed heartily. "I will reward you handsomely!"

On that very day, Ye An'an was bestowed with countless treasures.

But what made her happiest was the kiss Xiao Jingshi planted on her forehead on the way back to the palace, a kiss filled with pride and love.

"An'an," he looked at her earnestly, "with you here, I'm not afraid of anything."

Ye An'an smiled, her eyes crinkling: "Of course, I'm your perfect helpmate!"

In the days that followed, the "Form Management Method" sparked a revolution throughout the entire Liang Dynasty court.

All officials who came into contact with the forms were deeply impressed by their simplicity, efficiency, and clarity. Countless long-hidden corruption cases were uncovered, resulting in a significant increase in national treasury revenue.