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

Xiao Yanzhi stood up, his movements calm and confident as he adjusted his cuffs. He looked up to meet her gaze: "As long as the Imperial Advisor doesn't publicly bring up the Ministry of Revenue's old accounts at the banquet, the people I brought will naturally keep quiet."

He stood in the empty room, glancing down at his cuffs, but a trace of warmth from last night's touch on her wrist through the fabric remained in his palm.

At 9:00 AM that day, the ceremony for formally presenting the imperial credentials at the Qinzheng Hall was much more solemn than the banquet the previous day.

The entire delegation from Daying was dressed in formal attire. Xiao Yanzhi carried the letter of state, wrapped in bright yellow brocade, to the front of the throne. Tuoba Zhao sat upright on it, the jade beads hanging from his twelve-tassel crown resting motionless in front of his eyebrows.

The civil and military officials stood in neat rows on both sides, and the air was filled with the fragrance of sandalwood. Even the sound of breathing was suppressed to a minimum.

As expected, the letter from the Emperor of Da Ying expressed his "congratulations" on the ascension of the new Grand Preceptor of Bei Shuo, and stated his wish to establish a lasting friendly relationship with his neighbor, exchange gifts, establish trade routes, and have the border troops each withdraw three miles.

After receiving the letter of state, the king replied with polite words as is customary, following the standard procedure for diplomatic exchanges between the two countries, without any faults.

However, Xi Yueli sat in the seat of the Grand Preceptor, her gaze not falling on the scroll of state documents in the king's hand.

Her gaze fell on the figure standing with his hands folded at the side of the palace gate. Zhou Bingliang was much more well-behaved today than yesterday, with his hands folded in front of him and his head down, not saying a word.

Xi Yueli turned her gaze away, took a sip of tea, and glanced at Xiao Yanzhi out of the corner of her eye.

He was listening to the king's reply with his eyes downcast, his posture respectful, but the index finger of his hand hanging at his side tapped very lightly twice on the outside of his robe seam.

Unlike the time she knocked in the flower hall at night, this time it was a new signal, and she was trying to guess its meaning.

After the letter of credence was presented, Zhou Bingliang suddenly took half a step forward, took out the rolled-up object that had been under his thumb from his sleeve, and presented it to the throne with both hands.

"Your Majesty, before I accompanied you, the Ministry of Revenue had an old file concerning the exchange of grain routes along the northern border that I needed to present to your country."

"This scroll contains supplementary clauses to the agreement reached between the two countries two years ago. Because it involves the shared rights and responsibilities of the border granaries, the Ministry of Revenue has not found a suitable time to deliver it. On this occasion, when I was sent on this mission, the Ministry entrusted me to bring it along. Please take a look, Your Majesty."

His tone was much more subdued than yesterday, and he was much more humble, but something deep in Xi Yueli's memory made a sound.

Two years ago, Beishuo and Daying did indeed have an agreement on the mutual supply of grain routes along the border. Fu Yuan personally signed that document, which involved a joint supply mechanism between the two countries' border troops in case of emergency at three granaries outside Shuofeng Pass.

The supplementary clause, attached to the original, outlined the authority of both parties to access supply lines, cost sharing, and, most importantly, the most crucial clause in the event of an emergency.

"If one party's grain warehouse is damaged by force majeure, the other party has the right to take over the control of the warehouse until the damage is repaired."

Zhou Bingliang handed over the supplementary clauses, ostensibly as a normal diplomatic exchange between the two countries, but Xi Yueli's gaze fell on the thickness of the scroll.

It was longer than usual supplementary clauses, and there was a crease on the corner. She suddenly understood what Xiao Yanzhi meant by tapping his finger earlier.

He was reminding her that there was something wrong with the roll of paper in Zhou Bingliang's hand.

Tuoba Zhao reached out and took the scroll, but did not open it immediately. He simply placed it on the table, pressed his fingers against the seal at the beginning of the scroll, and looked up at Zhou Bingliang.

"You've worked hard, Chief Clerk Zhou. I'll review this old file again later. Is there anything else?"

Zhou Bingliang bowed his head and returned to the ranks of the delegation: "Your Majesty, I have nothing more to report."

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The instant Tuoba Zhao pulled her fingers back from the dossier, she swiftly touched the folded edge under the seal, then subtly withdrew her fingertips.

After the ceremony of presenting the official credentials was completed, Xi Yueli turned towards the side corridor of the rear hall of the Hall of Diligent Governance and entered the Imperial Study through an inconspicuous corner door.

Tuoba Zhao was already inside. The scroll with the bright yellow cover was spread out on the desk. She was reading it line by line with her head down. When she heard the door open, she looked up and pushed the scroll half an inch toward Xi Yueli.

"Take a look, this supplementary clause has been revised."

Xi Yueli walked over and leaned over the table, her gaze falling on the paper. The ink was indeed from the year before last, and the texture of the paper and the seal of the Northern Shuo Kingdom showed no signs of being replaced.

However, the supplementary clause in Fu Yuan's memory was different from this one. On the scroll that was now unfolded, the third clause had three words changed—"takeover" was changed to "management on behalf of others," and a line of small print was added after "disaster recovery": "or as otherwise agreed by both parties."

A change of three words and one sentence transformed a temporary clause for handling emergencies into a permission interface that can be extended indefinitely.

"They want to leave the allocation of the Beishuo granary in a state of uncertainty." Xi Yueli straightened up, raising her gaze from the paper to the king's face.

"Zhou Bingliang wasn't submitting old files; he was planting a seed for Daying. If any of the three granaries outside Shuofeng Pass were to suffer an accident in the future, Daying could claim the right of trusteeship based on this revised clause and delay returning the granaries."

Tuoba Zhao leaned back in his chair and tapped his fingertips lightly twice on the table.

Her movements were different from the habitual finger-tapping she used to do in the Imperial Study before the autumn hunt. Now, when she tapped her fingers, the rhythm was even, one tap after another, as if she was keeping a beat in her mind.

"They knew the granary would flood," Tuoba Zhao said. "When Tuoba Lie's fire broke out, Daying had already received the news, and may even have known in advance that he would take action."

"If I had publicly exposed the alteration of the terms in the palace just now, Da Ying could have said, 'The old documents from two years ago were copied incorrectly, and this is just a correction,' and I would have appeared to have made a mountain out of a molehill."

Xi Yueli looked at her. The young king sat behind his desk, his twelve-tassel crown removed, and a few strands of hair fell loosely to his temples.

"Then we won't demolish it," Xi Yueli said. "Let them think this move has been successful."

Tuoba Zhao looked up at her.

Xi Yueli closed the file and pushed it back in front of the king, tapping the cover lightly twice with her fingertips.

"They will wait for the next time the granary is flooded, but we can replace the fire prevention and guard duties of the three granaries outside Shuofeng Pass with the Left Chancellor's men. If Tuoba Lie wants to burn them again, without an inside man, he won't be able to."

"Could we also switch the grain out with the grain, and then have them take over the management of an empty granary?"

Tuoba Zhao looked at her, and a light suddenly shone in his usually dignified eyes. "Yueli, before Fuyuan left, she said something to me, that someone would catch her hand in the future. I didn't believe it at the time. I thought she was just trying to comfort me."

Xi Yueli sat down again and flipped through the file on the table once more. She lightly scratched a mark with her fingernail next to the third change, as if making a secret mark that only she could recognize.

"There's one more thing." Tuoba Zhao's voice suddenly deepened by half a degree.

"My informant has reported that Xiao Yanzhi helped you out of that predicament in the flower hall last night. After recognizing you as the Imperial Advisor, he didn't expose you but instead helped you get away with it. However, today he had Zhou Bingliang submit this revised dossier without stopping him."