After returning from rebirth, the eldest sister of Hou family destroyed her household registration b

Looking at the frowning emperor on the dragon throne, Liu Zhou felt nervous.

This time, he was also threatened by the Queen, so he raised the price again. He originally wanted to do something superficial and embarrass the prince, so as to satisfy the Queen and the third prince.

As for the inappropriateness, the worst thing is that he and His Royal Highness the Prince and the Ministry of Revenue will slowly grind it out. Their Ministry of Works has seen many such things and has plenty of experience.

Unexpectedly, His Highness the Crown Prince would be so rude and directly use this book to rebel against the entire army.

If private craftsmen are really allowed to take charge of this matter, let alone whether the people under them are happy or not, and if the construction is really fast and good, then it will be a slap in the face of their Ministry of Industry.

Moreover, if someone with good intentions makes a fuss about this matter to criticize them...

The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. Seeing that Emperor Xiao seemed to have made up his mind to speak, Liu Zhou quickly knelt down.

"Your Majesty, as Minister of the Ministry of Industry, Weichen must be responsible to the people. Even if private craftsmen can really save a lot of money in construction, the quality is uneven and it is really difficult to guarantee. Please give Weichen some more time, Weichen. I will definitely study it again and think about whether there are other ways to save money while ensuring quality."

"Mr. Liu, please don't force yourself. After all, the last time you quoted a price, I thought it was too high. I asked you to think about it again. As a result, instead of lowering the price this time, the price was increased by another 30%." Xiao Jinzhi sneered. , "I'm a little worried. After you spend time studying it, the price might even increase."

Liu Zhou's back felt cold and he had a faint cold sweat, but he still spoke according to the words he had prepared before.

"Your Highness, it is not that Wei Chen intends to increase the quotation. It is just that during the second calculation, it was found that there were omissions in the last quotation, and the price will increase after adding them. It was indeed Wei Chen who was negligent before. I hope that Your Highness, Prince, will forgive me. But please don’t misunderstand, His Highness the Crown Prince. This is definitely not the result of any malicious intention. If His Highness doesn’t believe it, I can explain the details to His Highness in detail.”

Fortunately, before the newly quoted price was announced, he had already prepared his words and evidence. Even if His Highness the Crown Prince wanted to pursue further questions, he could guarantee that there would be no problems.

Xiao Jinzhi raised his eyebrows, "That's unnecessary. After all, how can a layman know in detail every expense of the Ministry of Works?"

These words seemed to be said casually, but after what he said just now, the courtiers present also understood it. It turned out that the Minister of the Ministry of Industry deliberately wanted to embarrass His Highness the Crown Prince, but was forced into a corner by His Highness the Crown Prince.

"Since the Ministry of Industry has proposed a new quotation, I will give you one day to renegotiate it, but..." Emperor Xiao looked at Liu Zhou below with a deep brow, "I only have one day, I hope the Ministry of Industry Don’t let me down.”

Regardless of Liu Zhou's attitude towards Xiao Jinzhi, what is more important now is to seize the time to completely rebuild the houses, resettle the victims, and restore order in the imperial city. No one can delay this.

"Yes, I obey!" Liu Zhou responded quickly.

Xiao Jinzhi curled his lips slightly and said again: "Mr. Liu, you can think carefully about the idea that I just proposed to let the refugees and disaster victims participate in the reconstruction and serve as labor force. After all, this will not only play the role of the victims, but also give full play to the role of the victims. Let them support themselves and save the treasury expenditure to a certain extent, killing two birds with one stone. Although the affairs of the Ministry of Revenue have nothing to do with you, they are all colleagues after all, so you should also consider the Ministry of Revenue and not give them too much headache."

Before Liu Zhou could reply, someone from the Household Department immediately responded.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is right. Mr. Liu can open his mouth and ask for prices all over the place. In the end, it is our household department that is in trouble."

"Exactly, now that the national treasury is empty and the household department is short of money, it is also very difficult to deal with it. I think the proposal of His Highness the Crown Prince is very good!"

"Your Majesty, I second the proposal."

"I second the proposal!"

Officials from the Ministry of Revenue stood up one after another.

In the past, they had often quarreled with the Ministry of Industry over expenditures and appropriations. In addition, after listening to Xiao Jinzhi's words, the officials of the Ministry of Revenue were also annoyed.

I'm afraid that no matter how much it is, the Ministry of Industry will find an excuse. In the end, it won't be the Ministry of Household Affairs that is in trouble. If they can't come up with the money, they might blame them for delaying the reconstruction.

Besides, even if you put aside this grudge, His Highness the Prince's proposal is quite good. Let the victims fend for themselves, they will earn money, and a sum of money will be saved for disaster relief. This is a good thing for their household department!

Seeing that all the officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs responded, Liu Zhou and the Ministry of Works officials were not happy in their hearts, but under such circumstances, it was not easy to refute anything.

Soon, Emperor Xiao made a decision to allow refugees and disaster victims to participate in this reconstruction.

After the morning court, Liu Zhou left the palace with a sad face.

In fact, the first quotation given to His Highness the Crown Prince was a bit too high. I originally thought that if I quoted a higher price first, I would be able to keep the bottom line even if I had to go lower.

But who knows where the Queen is...

But now that the emperor has spoken, it is naturally impossible for him to make any more moves in terms of quotation. No, he must find an opportunity to meet the Queen and explain the situation in person.

"Master Liu."

Xiao Jinzhi's voice suddenly sounded from behind, making Liu Zhou's heart skip a beat and he turned around to salute in a hurry.

"His Royal Highness."

Xiao Jinzhi stopped in front of Liu Zhou, "Mr. Liu, you don't have to be polite. I didn't want to embarrass you when I went to court today. It's just that you knew...some things went too far."

Liu Zhou calmed down and said, "Your Highness, I just want to do the rebuilding of Liangshui Lane as well as possible, and if you want to do it well, it is naturally difficult to save on the price."

"Ha." Xiao Jinzhi laughed, did not speak, and just looked at Liu Zhou quietly.

The latter's whole body was chilled by Xiao Jinzhi's gaze, and a lot of cold sweat broke out on his already wet back.

It wasn't until he couldn't stand it anymore and looked up at Xiao Jin that the latter finally spoke.

"Master Liu, I hope you can understand one thing. The human heart is the most fickle. Even if you don't love me anymore, you still have blood feelings after all."

Liu Zhou was stunned and lowered his eyes, "Your Highness, I don't understand what you mean."

"It doesn't matter if you don't understand. Mr. Liu can think about it carefully." Xiao Jinzhi sighed, "Now that the third brother is injured, the mother is naturally partial to her because of her distress. And the tension between Gu and the third brother is at war, which also makes the mother angry. It’s normal. But Mr. Liu needs to keep his eyes open and do things appropriately. Don’t think you’re trying to please yourself, but in the end you become someone else’s cannon fodder for repairing family relationships, and you don’t even know it.”

After saying that, Xiao Jinzhi glanced at Liu Zhou meaningfully again, and then got on the carriage parked not far away.

Liu Zhou was left stunned in place, so His Highness the Crown Prince knew very well that it was the Queen who wanted to deal with him herself?

Also, what His Highness the Crown Prince means is...