How can I bow my head and serve the powerful officials?

After Xie Chengze stuffed the letter into the envelope and sealed it with a wax seal, he shouted, "No trace."

A light breeze blew, and a dark shadow fell silently, "Your Highness."

This was not Wuji's voice. Xie Chengze turned around and saw that it was Wuhen. He couldn't help but think that he had heard it right. "Why is it you? Where is Wuji?"

Wuhen said calmly, "I caught a cold and am recovering. If Your Highness has anything important to tell me, just tell me."

"Okay." Xie Chengze handed over the letter, "You go back to the capital and deliver the letter to my father. You stay there..."

Xie Chengze gave instructions in a low voice, Wuhen listened quietly, held the letter and thought for a while, then said, "Actually, Wuji's illness is not serious, so let him go."

Xie Chengze:?

"It's all right. You guys can do whatever you want." Xie Chengze stretched himself. "I'm going to the ice rink to see how the progress is. If you want to find me, just go to the ice rink."

"Yes."

After Xie Chengze left, Wuhen turned and went to another room, only to see Wuji sitting on the bed practicing his breathing. There was nothing wrong with his body, but his face was covered with bruises that had not yet disappeared, which was very unsightly.

“Wuhen!” Feeling Wuhen coming in, Wuji stopped practicing his Qi, glared at him and said unhappily, “How dare you come over here! Look at what you’ve done to me! We agreed to hit people instead of their faces!”

Relying on his superior martial arts skills, he focused on his face and attacked him ruthlessly, making it impossible for him to show his face in front of His Highness!

"You are the one who violated the taboo first. If I did that, you could have beaten me up like this, and I would never fight back." Wuhen handed the letter to him, "His Highness asked you to return to the capital to deliver the letter and do something else there."

Wu Ji took the letter doubtfully, "Could it be that I asked you to deliver it, but you pushed it to me?"

"How could that be?" Wuhen said in a steady tone, without any strange expression on his face, "His Highness specifically asked you to deliver it."

Although there were some twists and turns afterwards, he wasn't lying, was he?

……

On the ice rink, everything was going on in an orderly manner.

The regular troops also began to become polite to Xie Chengze. Whenever they met him, they would stop and salute him. They were full of affection and admiration for this approachable yet mysterious Second Prince.

After they became brothers with the soldiers, they learned that the surrender of the Huns was actually due to the contribution of the Second Prince. Even though they were once bandits, they had heard of the reputation of the Huns for being fierce and cruel. The Second Prince looked weak, but he was able to scare away the Huns king from thousands of miles away. It really shows that one cannot judge a person by his appearance.

Unlike that minister named Shen, who was insidious, cunning, and ruthless, he asked for the decree of two national laws to deceive these bandits, and finally forced them to join the standing army and do hard labor here!

If they were to say, instead of working for Mr. Shen, it would be better to follow the Second Prince who has special skills. Maybe they can make a contribution in the future and become a great general!

The bandit soldiers had no idea that those dirty tricks were actually thought up by Xie Chengze, and they all thought so.

Xie Chengze had no idea what the bandits were thinking. He stood on the ice rink, looking at the ice and snow feast that was already taking shape, and could not help but nod slightly.

The second in command was working hard to cut ice. In order to create the largest ice sculpture for Xie Chengze, he had exhausted all his strength. Su Qinghe followed Gu Lao, learning the art of carving while calculating the amount of ice needed for each ice sculpture to avoid redundancy. Sheng Yiren's abacus never stopped, emitting invisible sparks, and her slender fingers were covered with calluses. Every fiddle meant the loss of money, which was unbearable to watch.

But no matter how much you can't bear to watch it, you still have to face it.

“Second Prince!” She exchanged a glance with Xie Chengze. Seeing that he was trying to slip away, Sheng Yiren jumped up like a weeping willow tree pulled up by Lu Zhishen and grabbed Xie Chengze’s collar accurately. “Where do you want to run to this time!”

She urged him several times saying that she was running out of money, but His Highness kept avoiding her, forcing her to come to the ice rink to block him. Fortunately, she finally caught him!

"Ahem." Xie Chengze coughed a few times against his lips, his expression unchanged, "Look at my memory. Once I get busy, I forget."

Sheng Yiren narrowed her beautiful eyes, with an expression that said, "Do you think I believe this?"

Xie Chengze looked away guiltily.

"If Your Highness has no money, you can borrow from me. I can find someone to lobby you to only charge you a 1% interest." Sheng Yiren was helpless and shook her head, "Why do you have to hide from others? Don't you think of me as your own?"

“How could it be!” Xie Chengze immediately raised his voice and denied, “I have already regarded you as my own, but, but…”

He looked distressed, shook his head and sighed, which aroused Sheng Yiren's strong curiosity. "Just what? Your Highness, why don't you just say it directly."

"Oh, forget it. I'll just tell you." Xie Chengze leaned close to Sheng Yiren's ear and whispered, "Do you know the Jiang family in Yangzhou? That's right, it's the current Concubine Rou's mother's family, the richest family in Yangzhou and also the richest family in Jian'an."

"The young master of his family wrote to me, saying that he was accepting the family's test and looking for a business opportunity as the foundation of his career, so as to prove that he could inherit the family business in the future. He said that he could sponsor this palace with 30,000 taels of silver, but from then on, the annual ice sculpture festival in Liaozhou must be funded by his Jiang family, and 80% of the profits must also belong to his Jiang family."

"The money is on the way. Just wait a little longer, it will be here soon~" Xie Chengze comforted gently.

"What?!" Sheng Yiren's eyes widened upon hearing this, and she was so angry that she cursed, "How can this be! How dare the young master of the Jiang family ask for such a high price? He wants to buy out the future ice sculpture festival with only 30,000 taels of silver, and he also wants 80% of the profits. How shameless!"

"Your Highness! You won't agree to it, will you?!" Sheng Yiren looked at Xie Chengze anxiously, "It's ok for the Jiang family to monopolize the business in the south, but now they are planning to move to the north. If they succeed, Jian'an will be in danger!"

The Jiang family had long been rich enough to rival a country. If Concubine Rou had not been in love with Emperor Jian, the wealth in their hands alone would have been enough to recruit troops and horses to drive people's hearts and overthrow the entire Jian'an. However, Concubine Rou did not like war, and Jiang Henan happened to be a sister-con, which prevented Jian'an, which had only experienced two emperors, from falling into turmoil again.

But for Jian'an, it is not a good thing to have wealth in the hands of one person.

If Concubine Rou passes away or the new emperor dies one day, no one can guarantee whether the Jiang family will become a fierce tiger in the future, eyeing that high position covetously.

Sheng Yiren is the daughter of an official, so she naturally sees the whole story. That's why she persuaded Xie Chengze not to hand over the hosting rights of the Ice Sculpture Festival to the Jiang family.

"Alas, this ice sculpture festival is a troublesome event that costs a lot of manpower and money. I can't come here every year to supervise it. I must find a merchant who can take on this important task, but there is no merchant in Liaozhou who can bear this burden..."

Xie Chengze secretly glanced at Sheng Yiren, and saw that she seemed touched, so her face became more bitter and sad. Her already beautiful face was so pitiful that even women couldn't help but feel sorry for him. "The most important thing is that I am indeed short of money. And these thirty thousand taels of silver will undoubtedly help me solve my urgent worries!"

He looked up at the sky with a worried look, and said quietly, "Thirty thousand taels of silver... If it were to flow into the hands of the people, wouldn't it be able to revitalize the declining finances of the North?"