Forced to die for his loyalty, he was reborn in the arms of the cold and cruel regent!

"I am old, but I am not blind." The Queen Mother deliberately said with a fierce face: "Fuqing, bring all the things up."

Shen Mengyao turned her head and saw Fu Qing leading a group of young palace maids in and standing in a row in front. Each palace maid was holding a tray covered with red cloth in her hands.

"This is all a reward for you."

Even if Shen Mengyao didn't look at them carefully, she knew that they must be extremely valuable.

She immediately stood up and knelt down in front of the Queen Mother: "Queen Mother, Meng Yao did these things not for money, but for the people."

The Queen Mother chuckled and helped her up, patting her hands with a loving look on her face.

"Mengyao, have you ever heard the story of Zigong redeeming someone?"

Shen Mengyao was slightly stunned, then nodded and said, "Of course I have heard of it."

The Queen Mother explained in detail.

"A gentleman judges deeds, not intentions. If something like this happens again in the future, my generous reward will make those who hold connections think of today's reward and perhaps make the same choice as you. No matter if they sincerely save the people or do it for the reward, as long as they are doing practical things for the people's livelihood, they should be rewarded!"

Shen Mengyao nodded slightly: "Yes, Mengyao understands that the Queen Mother wants more people like this."

The Queen Mother narrowed her deep eyes, but a sharp light flashed in her old and cloudy eyes: "What's more, I heard that someone attacked you several times in order to make money. It's really lawless."

Shen Mengyao lowered her head and did not explain the matter too clearly: "People die for money, birds die for food, it's human nature."

"How abominable!" The Queen Mother slapped the table. "Fortunately, he didn't succeed. Otherwise, wouldn't all the people in my capital city die because they have no money to treat their illnesses?"

This incident was indeed done by the eldest prince, and I don’t know whether the people in the palace have found any clues.

But as long as there was no evidence, no matter how she knew it, it would not count, so she chose not to say anything. The Queen Mother also praised her for being sensible. It was not until the sun set that she yawned with her hand covering her mouth.

"Alright, it's getting late. If you stay any longer tonight, you won't be able to leave the palace. I think you still have a lot of things to do, so I won't keep you any longer."

"Then Mengyao will take her leave first." Shen Mengyao stood up and quickly left Xingqing Palace.

The setting sun is blood-red and particularly beautiful. As the sun sets in the west, the darkness covers the entire sky.

Cuiwei was surprised to see her bring out a lot of rewards, "A reward from the Queen Mother? I'll go register it and put it in the warehouse."

Shen Mengyao was about to nod, but after thinking for a moment, she said, "Let's wait and see. We'll talk about it after we've settled the accounts."

Returning to the study, she turned on the lamp and calculated today's accounts. Today was the last day and all the labor costs had been settled. Looking at the final net profit, she held her head and felt a headache!

Cuiwei saw that she looked unhappy, so she asked tentatively, "How much did you earn?"

"Forty-one taels, and a few hundred coins." Shen Mengyao rubbed his head and said, "Why is it so hard to make money?"

"This is only enough to cover the Princess's mansion's expenses for a few days." Cuiwei curled her lips.

When the mansion was first opened, Li Junfeng hired a lot of maids and servants to keep up the occasion. Each courtyard was equipped with four or five maids. There were a large number of maids in the mansion, and it was a burden to support them.

It’s better now. I can’t find a reason to lay off the employees.

Just as she was scratching her ears and cheeks, a melodious flute sound came from the yard. It was so close that she seemed to have heard that flute sound before. Being familiar with music, she recognized it after a while. Wasn't it Qi Sui'an's flute sound?

She opened the window and a cool breeze blew in. Amid the swaying shadows of the trees, a green shadow almost merged into one with the green trees. He closed his eyes and played the flute, seeming to be intoxicated by the sound of his own flute.

She waited until the other person finished playing the last note before saying, "Your Majesty is really a refined person. He didn't sleep well in the middle of the night and ran to someone else's window to play the flute."

Qi Sui'an used his lightness skills and landed in front of the window.

"It seems that someone really likes to listen to it, and was reluctant to disturb me just now."

"I just respect the rhythm of music." Shen Mengyao glanced at him unhappily: "It's so late, why are you here, Your Majesty?"

Qi Sui'an deliberately dragged out the last word: "I heard that you closed the shop today and paid everyone's wages. I think I have made great contributions, so I came to ask for your wages."

Sure enough, what is coming will come!

"Your Majesty is my partner. This is called dividends, not wages!" Shen Mengyao glanced at Cuiwei and deliberately emphasized: "Take out the silver I brought back today."

Cuiwei had indeed followed her for a long time and understood what she meant instantly. Although she was a little resentful, she quickly took out the reward silver he had brought back from the palace today and placed it on the table.

Shen Mengyao spread her hands, smiling: "My Lord, this is your dividend."

"Oh? Since it's a dividend, it seems that you have made a lot of money this time. You actually gave me so much silver." Qi Suian dragged out the last word, his tone full of distrust.

Suddenly, while Shen Mengyao was not paying attention, he took the account book on her desk with his bony right hand.

After seeing her final account, a smile appeared on his handsome face: "After all these days of hard work, this is all you earned?"

Shen Mengyao's face turned green and red: "This is a wrong calculation."

"I heard that you went to the palace to see the Queen Mother today. The Queen Mother loves the younger generation, so you must have received a lot of rewards from her." Qi Sui'an exposed mercilessly.

Shen Mengyao breathed a sigh of relief.

“It’s definitely less than I expected.”

Qi Sui'an raised his eyebrows, and there was no trace of emotion in his deep and cold eyes.

"So you faked it?"

"Your Highness has helped me a lot these days and has worked hard, so..." Shen Mengyao took a deep breath. Since the other party had seen through her, she didn't hide it anymore: "This little bit of money is probably not enough for Your Highness to see, so I will give the reward from the palace to Your Highness. I hope our cooperation can continue!"

"Do you really think so?" Qi Sui'an raised his eyebrows slightly and chuckled, and there seemed to be a hint of joy in his eyes.

"Yes!" Shen Mengyao nodded sincerely: "After all these days of hard work, I only earned a few taels of silver. I am really afraid that the prince will laugh at me and look down on my ability."

It turned out that it was to prevent him from looking down on her, rather than to make things clear and not owe each other anything.

Qi Sui'an was in an inexplicably good mood. He picked up a silver ingot of twenty taels and said, "Since we agreed to share the profits, then we'll share half. The rules cannot be broken. I'll take these twenty taels."

Shen Mengyao looked at him in surprise: "Your Majesty..."

"I don't care about these little things. I just want to have some fun and see how capable you are." Qi Sui'an showed an evil smile on his face.