She finished speaking and closed the carriage window with a “bang”, then ordered the carriage driver, “Shunzi, let’s go!”

The carriage driver cautiously glanced at the Prince of Zhennan, whose jade-white face now bore five stark red handprints. However, she didn’t seem to mind, one hand covering the handprints, carefully caressing them, her eyes filled with a crazed relish.

The carriage driver broke out in a cold sweat, her scalp tingling.

Hearing her master’s order, she nimbly mounted the horse and raised the whip. The horse neighed and galloped out of the city gate.

Jing Huan watched the black flat-top carriage gradually disappear into the distance, the smile on her lips lingering.

She knew Liu Changning’s character too well. She always had her own intentions in everything she did. This trip to Jiaozhou – the demotion was fake, the real purpose was to catch the Duke of Ying’s mistakes. Did she want the Duke’s power?

Hah!

The snow lotus on Tianshan Mountain, untainted by worldly dust. She didn’t understand – how could the Three Dukes and Six Marquises be so easily shaken?

The Duke of Ying had been cunning these years, not taking sides. Firstly, because he already held military power and was unwilling to submit to others. Secondly, he was unwilling to wade into the muddy waters of partisan struggles.

If Liu Changning dared to shake his foundation, even a cornered dog would jump over a wall.

Let alone the centuries-old noble house of the Duke of Ying?

If someone touched their foundation, given Nie Yizhou’s temperament, heh heh…

It wouldn’t be just about refusing to submit, but rather a fight to the death.

She only needed to reap the benefits!

Jing Huan interestedly looked at the dust flying in the air. When she came to her senses, the pain on her cheek became more intense, though painful, it aroused an enduring excitement in her lower body.

A flash of regret passed through her phoenix eyes, but as if thinking of the future, the curve of her lips widened even more.

As she turned her horse to leave, she glanced at the kneeling guard and said carelessly, “Rise! Don’t see what you shouldn’t see, don’t hear what you shouldn’t hear. Do you understand what this prince is saying?”

The guard was so scared he didn’t dare utter a word, his lips trembling as he nodded repeatedly in agreement.

――

The carriage left the city gate and entered the official road.

Outside the carriage, spring rain fell softly.

Inside the carriage, black hair intertwined.

The red-clad man, with eyes like silk, undid the white-robed woman’s sash inch by inch.

He licked his crimson lips, sitting on her lap, and lowered his voice seductively, “I can’t hold back anymore. Wife-master, teach… teach Ziyuan… alright?”

Liu Changning lightly cupped his buttocks, pretending to be troubled, “There are people outside the carriage…”

“…Wife-master can just do as she pleases, Ziyuan won’t make a sound,” Pei Yuanshao pleaded, restlessly nuzzling against her body.

In the narrow carriage, a half-exposed beautiful man, licking his lips with unsatisfied desire.

Liu Changning felt she could hardly resist. She pulled down his head and instinctively removed his clothes.

She coaxed, “Be good, Shao-er. If you want to cry out, bite me, alright?”

At her words, the misty look in Pei Yuanshao’s eyes intensified. Clinging to her shoulders, he let out a muffled groan.

He urged, “Wife-master, hurry! If you can’t, I’ll do it. Teach me how…”

Challenged about her ability, Liu Changning’s face darkened slightly. She lowered her head, undid the belt around his waist, and pressed down.

…

The carriage jolted along the way, its wheels leaving deep tracks behind.

The two inside were tossed up and down, intertwining and alternating.

The sweat on their bodies and the restrained pleasure all fell into each other’s eyes. This heat persisted for a very long time.

Only the Liu family’s carriage driver was to be pitied, having driven on the official road for an hour, when Liu Changning said she had forgotten something and needed to turn back.

The carriage driver scratched the back of her head, her face full of bitterness.

—

In the eighth year of Yifeng, in April, the Emperor Consort became pregnant, and the whole country rejoiced.

In June, the three-month pregnant Emperor Consort was pushed into the Jinming Pool by the Grand Preceptor Yu.

On this day, in Kunning Palace, one after another, imperial physicians walked out of the Emperor Consort’s palace, their backs hunched as they walked.

The Empress’s usually gentle eyes were bloodshot. She rushed into the imperial study and threw the memorials on the desk to the ground.

She roared, “I want Yu Qinglan dead!”

When Pei Yuanshao rushed into the palace, the matter had already been settled. The Empress, usually weak and incompetent, had personally beheaded Grand Preceptor Yu in front of all the civil and military officials during the interrogation, her face splattered with blood.

It shocked all the officials.

A muddle-headed ruler is not frightening, but a tyrant who regards human life as worthless is truly harmful to the country.

Empress Mingxing had almost completely blocked her own path to personal rule.

−−

In Kunning Palace.

The Emperor Consort leaned against a red-based white peony brocade cushion, fiddling with the long nails on his hand. He looked with dignity at the man standing in front of the carved rosewood canopy bed.

“The matter of Grand Preceptor Yu, you did it on purpose!” Pei Yuanshao’s voice was not a question, his eyes showed understanding, but with a hint of coldness.

The young Emperor Consort on the bed, his delicate face still showing some weakness, his lips pale, met his complex gaze. He opened his crimson lips, admitting faintly, “Yes, it was done by this Consort. Brother Ziyuan… if one doesn’t take revenge…”

His slender nails dug into his palm: “If I don’t take revenge, how can I face myself, face my scarred body? Do you know what that night meant to me? Hahaha… They all must die, Grand Preceptor Yu, Pei Mingxing, they all must die!”

Pei Yuanshao suddenly felt powerless. Hatred could destroy a person. Fortunately, when he was reborn back then, he still retained a bit of clarity.

He crouched down, his gaze level with Viscount Jia’s, and said softly, “Viscount, you’re sacrificing your own child along with them. If the child in your womb can’t be saved now… is it worth it?”

Viscount Jia was stunned for a moment. He covered his ears, his eyes expressionless: “It’s fine if the bastard doesn’t survive! Imperial Consort, you may leave. This Consort is tired!”

—

In May of the eighth year of Yifeng, Liu Changning was appointed as the Deputy Magistrate of Jiaozhou. On her first day in office, she was invited by the Prefect to the largest restaurant in Jiaozhou, where they drank and made merry, spending lavishly.

The next day

Various salt merchants sent brocade boxes to the Deputy Magistrate’s office. When opened, they contained neatly arranged gold bars.

It was said that Jiaozhou was the domain of salt merchants, and even honest officials would be forced into corruption by these salt merchants.

The newly arrived top scholar Liu Changning was among the worst, falling into Jiaozhou’s cesspool of corruption less than a day after taking office, seduced by sugar-coated bullets.

In the following months, she became a lackey, a dog of the local gentry.

The people of Jiaozhou all cursed her as a “dog official”.

Four months later, the “dog official” led the Jiaozhou General Qi Lian to behead the largest private salt merchant.

In October of the same year, with solid evidence of the Prefect’s corruption, a report was sent to the imperial court. Prefect Nie Pingyuan’s entire family was executed.

Deputy Magistrate Liu Changning was promoted to the new Prefect.

In December of the same year, the Jiaozhou salt merchants, in collusion with local gentry, set fire to Liu’s mansion. Magistrate Liu narrowly escaped death.

She returned to the government office, and her first act was to bind the perpetrators.

Using this as leverage, she established a four-step principle for salt trade with the Jiaozhou salt merchants.

Civilian production — Merchant collection — Merchant transportation — Official sales.

The government restricted salt prices but did not deprive salt merchants of their livelihood, and could provide jobs for the coastal commoners.

The local private salt merchants were reluctant, but Liu Changning used their collusion to harm a government official as a threat, forcing them to sign official contracts.

Only then did the people understand that the newly appointed Prefect of Jiaozhou was not a “dog official”, but an official who fought for the people’s rights.

In March of the following year, while interrogating local private salt merchants, Prefect Liu first uncovered the dealings between the Duke of Ying’s household and private salt trade.

When the former Prefect’s home was confiscated, nothing was found.

But in March of the same year, his daughter revealed that there was an account book buried in the pine and cypress forest of the Nie family residence.

The account book listed all the officials in the capital who had received bribes.

The Duke of Ying’s household had the most, with embezzled and bribed silver amounting to tens of millions in gold.

In October of the ninth year of Yifeng, a pigeon-delivered letter from Jiaozhou quietly arrived at the study of Vice Minister of Revenue Jia Ziyun.

The next morning at court, a memorial impeaching the Duke of Ying was presented to the golden hall, shocking the court. The civil and military officials were in an uproar.