Nan Huai Wang blocked her way with one hand and asked coldly, "What do you want?"
Zi'an was calm and composed. "Your Majesty, I don't know how to answer your question. I'll ask you a question, what do you want?"
Nan Huai Wang warned: "You'd better restrain yourself. It's best for you to stay out of things that have nothing to do with you. If you insist on getting involved, you will cry."
Zian smiled faintly, "I'll wait."
"You..." Prince Nan Huai's eyes were filled with murderous intent.
Seeing this, Boss Dao blocked Zi'an's way and asked, "What do you want to do?"
"Get out of here!" When King Nan Huai saw that a slave dared to come forward and shout, he could no longer contain his anger and chopped him with his palm.
Dao Lao Da pulled out his sword with a whoosh, but Zi'an had already handed the sword back to him.
"You dare to draw your sword on me? Do you want to die?" A trace of brutality flashed in Nan Huai Wang's eyes. He stopped and looked at Zi An, "Are your people so arrogant?"
"Yes, my people have always been arrogant." Zi'an said sternly, with no intention of stopping Boss Dao.
Prince Nan Huai fanned his hands, and the guards from Qingning Pavilion rushed forward and surrounded Boss Dao.
Boss Dao was known for his brute force and brutal moves. If his fighting style was not fast enough, he would not be a match for the guards. However, this guy's sword was extremely fast, his reactions were swift, and his sword strikes were fierce. In just ten moves, he forced the guards to retreat step by step.
Zi'an looked at the handsome face of Prince Nan Huai, which was almost distorted into a ghost face, and then he said lightly: "Xiao Dao, come back."
Boss Dao put away his knife, took two steps back, and stood in front of Zi'an.
Zi'an looked at the distorted face of Prince Nan Huai and said coldly, "Prince, the capital is not a place for you to run wild."
Zi'an's words were meant to imply something else, and Prince Nan Huai could tell. The anger on his face suddenly disappeared, and he sneered, "Is that so? Sooner or later, I will tear off the dignity on Princess's face."
Zi'an sneered back, "Okay, I'll wait!"
After saying that, he waved his hand and said, "Let's go!"
Boss Dao looked at King Nan Huai warily, then slowly followed Zi'an out.
Prince Nan Huai stood at the door, looking at Zi'an's back, and said coldly: "Xia Zi'an, our feud is sealed."
"Your Highness!" Sun Fang'er shouted worriedly. It was not appropriate to have any conflict with Xia Zian at this time.
"Waste!" King Nan Huai turned around and cursed coldly, his eyes filled with extreme disgust.
Sun Fang'er frowned and forced herself to suppress her impatience. She was becoming more and more disappointed with King Nan Huai.
"If you hadn't fallen into her trap, we wouldn't have to endure her contempt. Also, what exactly did she mean by the fate-sharing Gu she just mentioned?" Prince Nan Huai turned around and walked towards him step by step, his eyes fierce and dangerous.
Sun Fang'er felt a little uneasy, but she knew she couldn't keep this a secret any longer, so she said, "It was the noble concubine who instructed to put the same fate Gu on you and Murong Jie. That way, Murong Jie couldn't kill you, because if you died, he would die too."
"What if he dies?" King Nan Huai asked coldly. The so-called same fate Gu means that life and death are the same, if you live, you live, and if you die, you die. He is not stupid.
"If he dies, the prince will have three days to remove the poison." Sun Fang'er said.
"Are you the only one who knows the method to remove the poison?" King Nan Huai sneered.
Sun Fanger raised her head, her face pale but stern, "Yes, I am the only one who knows that the life-sharing Gu requires the blood of the person who cast the Gu, so, to remove the Gu, you must use my blood. Once I die, no one can remove the life-sharing Gu anymore."
Nan Huai Wang's eyes were furious and turned scarlet, but then they disappeared. He sat on the bed and stroked Sun Fang'er's fair cheek. "Very good, so you saved your life, right?"
Sun Fang'er was silent for a while, "Fang'er was just trying to protect herself."
"Do you think I will kill you?" King Nan Huai laughed instead of getting angry.
Sun Fanger looked at King Nan Huai, "Will it?"
Prince Nan Huai stared at her, then suddenly smiled and patted her cheeks twice. "You are very smart, but being smart can also lead to mistakes. You haven't given up on Murong Jie yet, have you?"
"No, I've long given up on someone who has no feelings for me." Sun Fang'er denied.
"You haven't given up yet, but you will give up too. He is not a man without feelings. He just has no feelings for you. He treats Xia Zian very well."
"He's just doing it for others to see. He doesn't even love me, so how can he love Xia Zian?" Sun Fang'er didn't believe it at all. She was very confident in her beauty.
She had cast a poison on Murong Jie in the first place, but Murong Jie was able to escape. This proved that he was a man without emotions at all. As long as he had the slightest thought of love in his heart, or the slightest affection for her, the poison could not be removed.
However, he lifted it, thus proving that he was an emotionless person.
Nan Huai Wang had a cruel expression on his face. "You might as well take a look. Anyway, this strategy you proposed will definitely implicate Xia Zian. It depends on how Murong Jie treats Xia Zian at that time."
Sun Fanger said confidently: "Even if he didn't kill her, he would drive her away. He always does things like this, without any consideration for her feelings. Don't you know that?"
King Nan Huai just sneered and said nothing.
Zi'an went into the palace frequently over the next two days, not for the emperor's business, but to manage the palace's accounts.
She checked the expense accounts for the past two years, and the inner court was also holding its forehead and complaining that its feet hurt, because the monthly expenses were beyond the budget, which also resulted in a large excess when the accounts were settled at the end of the year.
Zi'an's legs turned white with worry when he looked at the pile of account books. The palace had too many expenses, and although they were classified into different categories, they were not detailed enough. For example, there was only a total amount for silk, but there was no record of how much each palace got.
"Why are the account books so messy?" Zi'an asked the chief steward of the inner court, he really wanted to curse.
The chief steward of the inner court said pitifully, "There's nothing we can do about it. The Queen has previously ordered that the account book only needs to record one item in the general ledger and then summarize it in the general ledger of all expenditures."
"Didn't each palace keep accounts of the things they received?" Zi'an asked.
"I remembered it, but not in detail," said the chief steward of the inner court.
Zi'an frowned and said, "In addition to the monthly distribution, any additional items must be applied for. Do not put the medicinal materials under the management of the inner court, but let them go directly to the Imperial Hospital. I will arrange for someone in the Imperial Hospital to handle the applications for medicinal materials from each palace."
"We can't ask for an application every time we want to get a few pounds of charcoal, right? Wouldn't that be too much trouble?" the manager asked.
"Trouble?" Zi'an sneered, "What is distributed every month is enough for each palace to use for a month. For example, silk, tung oil, silver charcoal, needles and thread are all sufficient. Only additional items need to be applied for. Where is the trouble?"
"Then are the tonic products also under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Medical Bureau?" Seeing that Zi'an was not easy to bully, the chief steward compromised.
"Yes, we will send someone to the Imperial Hospital. If you want to get supplements, you must first apply to Concubine Mei. After Concubine Mei agrees, you can go to the Imperial Hospital with the receipt with Concubine Mei's seal to collect it. Medicines do not need to go through Concubine Mei, you can go directly to the Imperial Hospital to apply for them. The Imperial Hospital will only give them if it thinks they are necessary."
"Also, the expenses for bed curtains, bedding, sedan chairs, carpets and other decorations in each palace should all be saved. Try not to make extra payments. After the four-season clothes are distributed according to the positions, no additional silk and satin cloth can be collected. Lamp oil and candles should all be saved. The lanterns in front of the corridors and even in the courtyards of each palace do not need to be lit every five steps. Instead, one lantern should be lit every ten steps."
(End of this chapter)