Who said the eldest daughter is crazy? She's clearly a woman of high rank and influence in the

On the day the mission entered Shuojing, the royal court of Beishuo opened its main gate as an exception.

That vermilion city gate was only opened during festivals and grand ceremonies. It had nine rows and nine columns of door studs, each one engraved with a wolf's head pattern.

Sunlight fell on the door, turning the vermilion lacquer a heavy, dark red. The carriages and horses of the Daying delegation filed in through the gate. The Northern Shuo soldiers on the city wall looked down at the carriages and flags from the south, their fingers gripping the city wall tightening unconsciously.

Xi Yueli sat behind her desk in the Imperial Preceptor's bedroom, with a scroll of delegation roster that had just been delivered from the Shuojing post station spread out beside her.

The Left Prime Minister sat opposite her and pointed out each item on the roll of names to her one by one.

"The chief envoy, Xiao Yanzhi, is the eldest son of the Marquis of Daying Zhenbei. He is twenty-five years old this year. Ostensibly, he is on a mission to congratulate the new Grand Preceptor on his ascension to the throne, but guess how many of the twelve people under his command are actually the Empress's men?"

Xi Yueli's gaze fell on the small print at the end of the roster: "Accompanying Councilor, Zhou Bingliang, Principal of the Ministry of Revenue, Rank 5".

She paused for two beats on that line of text. The secret report sent by Helian Jing yesterday included all the information about this person.

Zhou Bingliang, a principal clerk in the Ministry of Revenue, was personally recommended by the Empress to join the ministry five years ago. His rapid promotion was exceptional in the Ministry of Revenue of Daying. He had handled three transactions related to military expenses in the northern border, and the end of each transaction pointed in the same direction: the inner accounting room of the Empress's palace.

"At least one." Xi Yueli closed the roster and tapped her fingertips on the cover. "Zhou Bingliang is in the open, responsible for stirring up trouble. There should be one or two more hidden in the ranks of the accompanying guards, who can't be found on the roster."

The Left Prime Minister looked at her, a barely perceptible layer of approval rising in his cloudy old eyes. He used to have the same expression when he watched Fu Yuan flipping through the roster under the lamp. He was increasingly unable to distinguish between the two of them.

He stood up and cupped his hands in greeting: "Then I will arrange a welcoming banquet tomorrow afternoon in the east side hall of the Diligent Governance Hall."

The next afternoon, the sunlight filled the east side hall of the Qin Zheng Hall. The civil officials from Bei Shuo sat on the left, while the delegation from Daying sat on the right, with a dividing line of light and shadow between them.

Xi Yueli did not sit in the rosewood armchair today. When the Northern Shuo National Preceptor formally received envoys, he sat alone in a separate seat, two steps to the left front of the king. It was two steps lower than the king's throne, but half a foot higher than the seats of all civil and military officials.

King Tuoba Zhao sat on his throne, dressed in a dark blue royal robe and a twelve-tassel crown, exuding the solemn and majestic aura of a monarch.

After she was seated, she gestured to the eunuch beside her, who announced loudly, "The envoy from Great Ying enters the hall—"

When Xiao Yanzhi stepped in, the sunlight in the entire hall seemed to flicker.

His physique wasn't particularly imposing among the military generals of Beishuo, but the way he walked in exuded a composure that came with the influence of a prominent civil official family from the south.

Today he wore the formal crimson python robe of the envoy of Daying, with a narrow silver leather belt around his waist, which accentuated his broad shoulders and slender waist. His face was handsome and refined, with a calmness and sharpness honed by years of guarding the border.

The sharpness is hidden between the ridge of the brow bone and the curve of the corner of the mouth, unassuming yet revealing a restrained strength upon closer inspection.

He walked into the hall, paid homage to the king in the manner of the envoy from Daying, and then bowed in the direction of Xi Yueli. His posture was dignified and impeccable.

When he straightened up, his gaze lingered on Xi Yueli's face for a full three breaths.

While he was looking at the files of the new national teacher of Beishuo in the mansion of the Marquis of Daying Town, he already knew from the secret report that she was not very old, but when he saw her in person, she was even younger than he had imagined.

Xi Yueli sat on the Imperial Preceptor's seat, the sunlight shining from the side, illuminating her slender shoulders clearly. Yet, there was not a trace of stiffness or strain in her physique, as if she had sat on that seat for a hundred years.

He withdrew his gaze, lowered his eyes, and returned to his position at the head of the delegation. After taking his seat, he took a sip of tea, and then glanced at her again out of the corner of his eye.

She was listening to the king's whispers, her chin slightly tilted towards the throne. Her calm and confident demeanor was genuine, but he couldn't understand how a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl could sit so steadily in the position of Grand Preceptor in the Northern Shuo Royal Court.

Halfway through the banquet, the music changed to a different tune, the singing and dancing ended, and the polite greetings over drinks also came to a temporary halt.

Xi Yueli picked up the wine cup in front of her, lowered her head and took a sip, waiting for the people at the opposite table to make the first move.

Zhou Bingliang stood up from the middle of the seats of the Daying delegation. He was in his early forties, of medium build, with a square face and narrow eyes. He was wearing a vermilion-green robe of a fifth-rank official. When he stood up, his gaze swept over the faces of the Northern Shuo civil officials and finally landed in the direction of Xi Yueli.

He held his wine cup and gestured towards the officials of Beishuo. When he spoke, his voice was not loud, but the trailing tone was just right so that everyone in the hall could hear him clearly.

"I am Zhou Bingliang, the Chief Clerk of the Ministry of Revenue of Daying. I have long heard that the Northern Shuo State Preceptor has inherited the legacy of Fu Yuan. Today, I have the pleasure of meeting him, and he is indeed young and promising." He first offered half a sentence of praise, then paused and changed the subject.

"There is one thing I don't understand. Beishuo is also a great country. From the late king to the present, the position of Grand Preceptor has always been held by a person of high moral character and prestige."

"Now that the Grand Preceptor Fu Yuan has just passed away, and no one from Bei Shuo has come here, how can they allow a little girl from the south to sit in the position of Grand Preceptor? Is there not a single civil or military official from Bei Shuo who can accept this?"

When he said the words "little girl," some of the civil officials in the Northern Shuo line gripped their wine cups tightly, while several military officers unconsciously placed their hands on the hilts of their swords at their waists.

The Left Prime Minister sat at the head of the civil officials' row, his face remaining perfectly still, but the fingers holding his teacup twitched slightly.

The hall was quiet for a couple of breaths. All eyes shifted from Zhou Bingliang's face to hers, waiting to see how she would respond.

Xi Yueli slowly raised her eyes. "Master Zhou just said that no one from Beishuo has come here."

"Then I'd like to ask Steward Zhou—has the 370,000 tael deficit in the Ministry of Revenue's autumn grain accounts for Daying last year been filled?"

Zhou Bingliang's hand holding the wine glass suddenly froze. Xi Yueli looked at him with a flat gaze, as if she were looking at an old trick that had already been exposed.

"In the three years of the reign of Emperor Da Ying, five Ministers of Revenue were appointed. Each new minister would review the old accounts of the previous dynasty, but no matter how they reviewed them, they could not find where the 370,000 taels of silver had gone."

"Master Zhou has served in the Ministry of Revenue in Daying for five years. He should know this better than anyone else. Even the officials in the Ministry of Revenue can't sort out their own accounts. How does Master Zhou have the confidence to come to Beishuo and tell them who should sit in the position of the Grand Preceptor?"

The hall fell silent for a moment. A few of the Northern Shuo civil officials twitched their lips, but suppressed their laughter.

Several people from the Daying delegation changed their expressions. Some lowered their heads to drink tea to hide their emotions, while others secretly glanced in Xiao Yanzhi's direction.

Zhou Bingliang's lips trembled, and his face turned from red to white and then from white to green. He opened his mouth as if to say, "That's a matter of state affairs that's not convenient to disclose to outsiders."

But as he was about to speak, he saw Xi Yueli tilt her head slightly, and the sunlight shone on her profile, illuminating the faint curve of her lips.

That slight curve sent a chill down his spine. She not only knew about the messy accounts of the Ministry of Revenue in Daying, she knew which of those 370,000 taels he had handled.