Qian Yuan quickly understood in his heart.
No wonder this Highness was so favored.
He could fight, but he could also talk!
So many emperors had suffered losses simply because they couldn’t speak well, ending up taking the blame for many things.
But Xiao Yunting was different. He could really talk!
That mouth, what a shame it wasn’t being used as an Imperial Censor!
No wonder he wasn’t flustered in the slightest. He really didn’t need to be. He didn’t even need the others in the envoy to say a word, he handled everything himself.
Sure enough, the people of Wuchang Prefecture were instantly calmed.
Qian Yuan couldn’t help but sigh again in his heart, how pure the common folk were.
They had an instinctive reverence for those in high positions. As long as those people slightly lowered themselves and said a few nice-sounding words, that was enough to soothe their hearts.
Xu Mingqing also knelt on the ground, trembling, and kowtowed to beg forgiveness: “Your Highness, please have mercy. I deserve ten thousand deaths! Ten thousand deaths!”
As soon as he said that, the officials of Wuchang Prefecture, who had been dragged here by Lin Tong, all dropped to their knees to beg forgiveness as well.
They really shouldn’t have come!
Trying to curry favor, only to slap the horse’s hoof instead of its butt.
Xiao Yunting snorted coldly. “Since this matter was masterminded by him, and you were only participants, I won’t hold it against you all.”
He paused, then pointed his whip at Xu Mingqing. “You, effective immediately, you’ll temporarily assume the role of Wuchang Prefecture Governor! Pass down the order: all commoners who built the flower floats last night are to be exempt from one month of corvée labor! If Wuchang Prefecture needs labor in the future, pay silver to hire them yourselves!”
He barked sharply: “Do you understand?!”
Whether the officials understood wasn’t important.
What mattered was, the commoners understood every word.
He was giving them benefits! Of course they understood!
This prince, he was a good prince!
They now understood clearly: this whole flower float parade wasn’t ordered by the prince at all, nor was it something he wanted. It was all the work of that dog official Lin Tong, who used his power to bully and fawn, tormenting the people just to please the Imperial Grandson!
But instead, it only embarrassed the prince!
And made the people of Jiangxi suffer even more!
Among the personal guards were some clever ones who had already blended into the crowd, just in case anything happened.
Now, hearing the public discussion begin to ease, one of the guards knelt down and led the chant: “Your Highness is wise and kind, he loves the people like his own children!”
Once someone started, the others followed. Everyone dropped to their knees.
A massive pitfall, and Xiao Yunting had leapt right over it perfectly.
Qian Yuan wiped the cold sweat off his forehead, inwardly wondering who exactly had orchestrated all this.
Was it Lin Tong?
No, if it were Lin Tong himself, he wouldn’t have been so stupid.
There were far better ways to flatter Xiao Yunting.
Just like Xiao Yunting had said, this wasn’t meant to curry favor at all. It was meant to cause chaos.
If it wasn’t Lin Tong…
Then it had to be that person in Hongdu.
Qian Yuan was deeply troubled.
They hadn’t even entered Jiangxi proper yet, and already the blades and shadows had not ceased, each incident more intense than the last.
Once they did enter Jiangxi, what kind of days awaited them?
He had originally thought this mission was just a chance to appear more often in front of the future Imperial Grandson and earn some credit, but now, it was clearly nothing of the sort.
He couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.
The road ahead was bleak indeed.
Xiao Yunting, however, had no such worries.
After leaving Wuchang Prefecture, he led the imperial envoy straight toward Xunyang.
The prefect of Xunyang was caught completely off guard.
Who would’ve guessed? With Qi Wang’s royal residence in Hongdu, this Imperial Grandson would bypass his uncle, bypass the provincial capital, and run straight to Xunyang?
And so, the situation in Xunyang was laid bare before the imperial envoy, without a shred of preparation or cover-up.
The city gates of Xunyang were shut tight.
Outside the gates, countless refugees, entire families, were begging the city guards to let them in.
They were from nearby villages and towns, all of which had been flooded. They’d lost everything, begging their way to Xunyang, hoping they could at least get something to eat. Surely the Xunyang prefecture would open its granaries?
But to their dismay, after they arrived, the gates of Xunyang never opened, not even a little. There was no sign they ever would.
The refugees were gaunt and yellow-faced from hunger. People were constantly collapsing to the ground, once they fell, they never got back up.
Other than their immediate family, no one else even glanced at them. Their faces were numb, devoid of reaction.
Why would they look?
If the granaries weren’t opened soon, they would all meet the same fate sooner or later.
Xiao Yunting closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and said coldly, “Well done. What a fine prefect of Xunyang. What a fine parent official.”
Qian Yuan was equally stunned by the sight before him, but his first thought was still Xiao Yunting’s safety: “Your Highness, please look all you want, but do not go too close to the disaster victims!”
Not because Qian Yuan was a corrupt official who felt nothing.
But because he was a court official. He had read countless reports and knew that some of what Qi Wangkui and others had warned about was absolutely true.
Disaster victims were no longer ordinary people.
When life and death were on the line, people were capable of anything.
At that moment, a child ahead suddenly burst into tears: “No! Mama! Mama! Mama!”
Turns out, there were many human traffickers among the crowd.
Carrying small bags of coarse rice, they went one by one asking the refugees: “Will you sell your child?”
At a time like this!
Qian Yuan assumed Xiao Yunting wouldn’t understand and explained awkwardly: “Among the refugees, there are always some children who are good-looking. They’re bought at low prices and resold to brothels or shady dens. The better-looking ones are sold as slaves or servants.”
At a time like this, a human life was worth nothing.
Up ahead, the crying child was being clutched tightly by his mother, who sobbed and pleaded with her husband: “Please, I’m begging you! We can’t sell our child, we can’t!”
The child’s father was also weeping bitterly, but his voice held no hesitation: “Mother’s already starving! I’m dying too! If we don’t sell him, he’ll just starve to death with us!”
As he spoke, tears streamed down his face.
The trafficker grew impatient: “Three catties of coarse rice for one kid, are you selling or not? If not, I’m moving on!”
It was intolerable.
Xiao Yunting strode forward, drew a guard’s saber, and in one swing, severed the trafficker’s wrist.
Blood splattered everywhere.
Screams rang out.
Even the numb-faced refugees instinctively valued their lives, otherwise they wouldn’t be clinging to this gate, waiting desperately for it to open.
People would do anything to stay alive.
Now that they saw someone actually committing violence, cries and shouts rose all around.
The child immediately leapt into his mother’s arms.
The woman clutched him tightly, sobbing uncontrollably.
The trafficker writhed and howled on the ground, clutching his bleeding stump.
The others scattered in all directions, staring at him in terror.
