Li Jieyu kept staring at the imperial edict in Shen Qingwan's hand, pursing her lips, a little unhappy. She felt that she was simply avoiding simplicity and going for complexity. It was obvious that an imperial edict could shut Li Chaoyang up, but she had to go through a big detour to persuade Li Chaoyang, which seemed like she was deliberately showing off.
After Li Chaoyang and Shen Qingwan finished talking, they left first, leaving only her and Lianyun in the hall.
Li Jieyu stood on the other side, crossed her arms in dissatisfaction, and said to her in a low voice, "Since sister brought the imperial edict, why didn't you take it out earlier? You have been arguing with Li Chaoyang for nothing until now."
"The imperial edict is certainly a shortcut, but if we only rely on the emperor's majesty to suppress Li Chaoyang, even if he agrees on the surface, he will be dissatisfied in his heart. Convincing people with reason is the long-term solution." Hearing this, she looked up at Li Jieyu who was frowning with some resentment, and replied lightly.
"He is just a little Li Chaoyang, why bother so much?" Li Jieyu said in a slightly higher voice with some disdain in her tone.
Seeing her shouting, she just thought she was ignorant and didn't want to get angry with her, so she had to patiently continue: "Since I came to Jiangnan to help with flood control, Li Chaoyang is the most familiar with the local customs and practices here, so I naturally have to coordinate with him. Our starting point is for the people, so there is no need to consider whether he is a high-ranking official. To put it another way, if I don't have his support, it will be inconvenient for me to control the flood. I can only rely on the imperial edict. Judging from his initial attitude, he will definitely look down on us."
"He still dares to look down on us?" Li Jieyu screamed in a shrill voice when she heard this, her eyes widened, and she looked like she was going to pull Li Chaoyang back and scold him immediately.
"Don't make such a fuss. Now that the matter has been resolved, you can rest assured and don't worry about it anymore. I will take care of it." She sighed faintly after she finished speaking. She really didn't know what Li Jieyu was angry about. She rubbed her eyebrows helplessly, then turned and walked towards the main entrance of the hall. She knew that she couldn't change her mind, so she prepared to leave.
When he was about to walk out the door, he suddenly remembered something and turned around and asked, "Didn't you come to Jiangnan to look for your relatives? If you need any help, you can tell me if it's inconvenient for you to tell Li Chaoyang."
"Yes, thank you, sister." Li Jieyu was stunned for a moment, then she realized that she was able to go to Jiangnan because of the reason of looking for relatives, and she hurriedly responded.
"Lianyun, come with me to the street to take a look. Although I trust his words, it is still most reliable to observe the people's sentiments in person." Shen Qingwan pushed open the door and prepared to go to the street to ask.
"Hold on, madam. I think what the governor said just now makes sense. We are all women, and it would be inconvenient to go out like this. How about I ask the governor to ask the servants to find two sets of men's clothes to change into?"
"That makes sense. You've been very thoughtful today." After hearing Lian Yun's words, a smile finally appeared on her lips.
After changing clothes, Lianyun followed her out the door. She had black hair like ink brocade hanging down on her shoulders, with a purple jade hairpin tied on top of her hair, revealing her broad and smooth forehead, giving her a unique style.
"Remember to call me Young Master Shen in front of others later. You should also change to a men's name, let's call yourself Feng Qing." Shen Qingwan lowered her head and tidied her clothes. She hadn't worn men's clothes for a long time, so she was a little uncomfortable with it. A helpless smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.
"Yes, I... Oh, Feng Qing has made a note of it." Lian Yun hurriedly changed her words, then followed Shen Qingwan and went to the market with her.
Shen Qingwan and Lianyun came to an old lady selling vegetables. The old lady was wearing coarse cloth and looked very tired. She leaned down and squatted in front of the old lady. Considering that she was dressed as a man, she lowered her voice and asked, "Auntie, are you from the nearby village?"
"Yes." The old woman stopped tending to the vegetables and slowly raised her head to answer. Her face was covered with wrinkles and her voice was very old.
"Has your family been affected by the flood? Is it serious?" Worried that the old lady was old and had poor hearing, Shen Qingwan moved closer and asked.
"From your voice, you are not a local," the old lady smiled kindly, and when she saw Shen Qingwan nodded, she continued, "You don't know, there have been continuous heavy rains in Jiangnan, and many surrounding villages and farmlands have been flooded. I hurriedly picked these vegetables after the heavy rain, and sold them so that I can exchange them for some rice and flour."
She listened to the old woman silently, nodded from time to time, and carefully inquired about the situation in the surrounding villages. Then she got up. Before leaving, she asked Lianyun to buy all the vegetables from the old woman and gave her some extra money.
Shen Qingwan thought a lot on the way back to Li Chaoyang's mansion. The appearance of the old woman just now always appeared in her mind from time to time. She knew that her money could only alleviate the urgent needs. The most fundamental way for her to help more people was to control the water as soon as possible and eliminate the flood.
After dinner, Shen Qingwan and Li Jieyu returned to the rooms that Li Chaoyang had prepared for them. When Li Jieyu passed by Shen Qingwan's room, she took a peek inside. After returning to her room, she was suddenly unhappy because her room was worse than Shen Qingwan's.
This was also understandable. Whether from her position in the palace or Li Chaoyang's contact with the two of them, Shen Qingwan should have lived in the best guest room in Li Chaoyang's mansion. It was just that Li Jieyu was jealous. She became more and more angry as she thought about it in her room at night. Finally, she slammed the table and decided to find Li Chaoyang to argue.
"Bang, bang, bang." There were heavy knocks on Li Chaoyang's study door. He opened the door with some confusion, and saw Li Jieyu standing at the door in anger, with one hand on her waist, looking like she was ready to accuse someone.
"It's so late, I wonder what the queen wants?" Li Chaoyang could see that Li Jieyu's visit was not well-intentioned, but considering that she was a concubine in the harem, his attitude was still polite.
"Why should I stay in a room worse than the one for Concubine Xian! Hurry up and change me to another room, or you won't be able to sleep tonight!" Li Jieyu raised her eyebrows and asked loudly, thinking she was making a lot of sense.
"Li Chaoyang Mansion is not like the imperial palace. There are not enough rooms and I can't change it for Your Majesty. Your Majesty and the maid are two people, so it's understandable that the room is bigger. Please forgive me." Li Chaoyang despised Li Jieyu's sharp look in his heart, but he still gave her face.
Li Jieyu was left speechless by his words and had to return home in disappointment.