Xiao Ruici knew that most of the silver had been embezzled.

The grain was being taken layer by layer, and by the time it reached the disaster-stricken people, it was nearly nonexistent.

The war at the borders was at a crucial point, and the grain and supplies couldn’t be lacking.

However, the silver and grain in the national treasury were nearly depleted, and the officials in the court were all silent, unable to come up with a feasible solution.

In the end, they even proposed increasing the taxes.

Xiao Ruici was so enraged that he slammed his memorial on the table in the imperial court.

The common people were already starving, and raising taxes now was tantamount to condemning them to death.

The central and southern regions had dried up; the riverbeds had long since dried out. Without water, the crops could not grow.

Though the situation in the north was slightly better, last year’s harvest had been poor, and it was only April—this year’s crops had yet to be harvested.

Every household was struggling, and they could hardly take care of themselves, let alone pay extra taxes.

Although the south had more water, it was now controlled by the Prince of Huainan, who was leading a rebellion and had no concern for the people’s suffering.

Just when Xiao Ruici was at a loss, a concubine in the harem suggested an idea: to raise disaster relief funds, with the concubines in the palace leading the effort.

If there was anyone in the world who had the most money, aside from the noble families, it was the royal nobles.

Now that the country was in crisis, they should not stand idly by.

Xiao Ruici immediately promoted that concubine to the position of Xue Fei and entrusted her with gathering the funds.

Xue Fei was quite capable and, with the emperor’s support, managed to pressure all the other concubines in the harem and forced them to contribute a significant portion of their wealth by blackmailing them with their secrets.

As for the officials of the previous dynasty, Xue Fei directly used the emperor’s name to force them to donate.

Though these officials had received their silver, they all harbored resentment toward Xue Fei.

When it came to the noble families, Xue Fei’s methods were even more forceful.

She invited the heirs of each major family to stay in the palace, telling them that if they didn’t donate nearly half of their wealth, they wouldn’t be allowed to take their family members back.

In this era where imperial power was supreme, those noble families had no choice but to submit.

The eldest son of the Bai family, Bai Jingting, the young master of the Qin family, Qin Xiuzhu, and the eldest son of the Ning family, Ning Huaichang, were all invited into the palace.

Though Xue Fei had been the one to take the initiative, it was the emperor who had given the orders behind the scenes, so the noble families naturally had much dissatisfaction toward the emperor.

Half of the wealth from each family undoubtedly weakened the foundations of the families, but Xue Fei didn’t care.

Though the noble families had originally planned to resist, Bai Erye stepped forward to persuade everyone.

With the country in peril, as subjects of the Great Xia, they should contribute to the nation.

They all understood that when the nest is overturned, no egg remains intact.

So, despite their dissatisfaction, they eventually contributed half of their wealth to support the court.

With the combined efforts of the harem, the previous dynasty’s officials, and the noble families, the collected funds were truly enormous.

Xue Fei, seeing the amount, knew she couldn’t give it all to the emperor, and she wasn’t going to let herself work in vain.

She kept one-third of the funds for herself, and the remaining two-thirds were handed to the emperor.

Even though Xue Fei had kept one-third, the emperor was still astonished by the vast sum when he saw it. Because of this fundraising effort, Xue Fei was showered with favor in the palace.

Half of the funds were used to replenish the national treasury, and half went toward disaster relief. This money solved Xiao Ruici’s most urgent problems. During that time, he almost stayed in Xue Fei’s palace every night.

Xue Fei also often gave Xiao Ruici advice, genuinely helping him a great deal.

Though the harem had no right to interfere in state matters, if someone truly had talent, Xiao Ruici wasn’t the type to reject good counsel.

What Xiao Ruici didn’t know was that Xue Fei’s aim wasn’t to compete for favor; what she wanted was Shen Qingwan’s life.

Shen Qingwan probably wouldn’t have imagined that the woman who should have died, Ye Lingxue, hadn’t died and had instead become Xiao Ruici’s favored concubine.

In the Luoxue Palace, Ye Lingxue removed her layers of gauze and exposed her snow-white skin.

A palace maid gently applied a jade-skin ointment to the faint scar on Ye Lingxue’s chest.

The red mark, two fingers wide, was almost invisible now.

Fortunately, she had worn soft armor at the time, so Shen Qingwan’s blade hadn’t pierced her heart, though it had left a scar.

Luckily, the jade-skin ointment was very effective; otherwise, the scar wouldn’t have healed so quickly. “Shen Qingwan, you took what I valued most. Now, I’ll make you lose what’s most important to you. Let’s see who will have the last laugh.”

So what if she took the ring?

The ring had already recognized her as its master.

As long as she didn’t die, the ring would remain just an ordinary ring in Shen Qingwan’s hand, and she would never discover its secret.

Now, she had gained the emperor’s favor, and her next step was to deal with Shen Qingwan, as well as Gu Tingyi and Beichen Yuan.

She wouldn’t let any of them off.

“Ying Nu,” Ye Lingxue softly called.

A man in a black robe appeared instantly in the palace. “Miss,” the shadow slave knelt before her.

Ye Lingxue, barefoot, slowly walked to his side and gently traced her slender fingers over his shoulder.

“Ying Nu, are you truly willing to go through fire and water for me?” Ye Lingxue leaned in closer to the shadow slave.

The shadow slave’s body stiffened, but his voice remained firm. “Ying Nu’s life was saved by the miss. Ying Nu swears to be loyal to the miss to the death.”

Ye Lingxue smiled lightly, then took a letter from her robe and handed it to him. “This letter must be delivered to the Prince of Huainan.”

Ying Nu took the letter and tucked it into his clothes. “Ying Nu will complete the task.”

After saying that, Ying Nu turned and left.

Ye Lingxue wiped her hand, feeling disgusted after touching him.

She hadn’t expected that the slave she had bought from the slave market would turn out to be the renowned assassin, Wuying.

To repay her for saving his life, Wuying had promised to protect her for three years.

Now, it was time for her to plan. Who would she take out first?

..

In Dahu Village, the situation in Suxian City was better than expected.

This year, due to the large-scale planting of sweet potatoes and potatoes, the people didn’t need to worry about food.

With the sweet potato leaves, they wouldn’t go hungry.

Compared to Suxian City, the situation in Yanzhou was much more difficult.

The nearby cities were also experiencing grain shortages, and with the influx of refugees, the cities in the north were struggling.

Shen Qingwan, with her limited abilities, could only take care of her immediate surroundings and the people close to her.

As for the other cities, she truly couldn’t offer any help.