The harem is too complicated; the empress, a lazy bum, wins by doing nothing.

Chapter 410 (Extra Chapter) (First Encounter 1)

The 121st year of the Yuan Dynasty.

Southern China has been suffering from severe drought for years.

Crabs roamed the rice paddies, crops withered, and vegetation died. The already meager rice yield was completely wiped out.

The people were suffering terribly, so the late Emperor Jiang Wenying, along with his sons Jiang Yuyan and Jiang Yuxian, went to Rongcheng to understand the people's plight.

Another cartload of corpses was pushed out of the city by people dressed in soldiers' uniforms.

The air was hot and dry, mixed with the stench of corpses, making people want to vomit.

"Son! My son!"

A village woman's mournful cries echoed from the street: "You've almost drunk my blood dry! How could you leave me all alone? How am I supposed to live? That damned emperor! How could he just stand by and watch Rongcheng suffer a severe drought, watching crabs roam freely, and do nothing? My son, if you die, I can't live either..."

As soon as Jiang Wenying and his entourage of officials jumped off their horses, intending to lecture the woman who had disrespected the emperor.

There was a clang.

One second the village woman was holding her child and crying, the next she slammed her head against the wall.

Jiang Wenying's eyes widened sharply, and he tightened his grip on the reins.

The horse was pulled too tightly and neighed loudly towards the sky.

"Eh~"

A child of about five or six years old was so frightened by the horse's neigh that he fell to the ground and burst into tears.

The child wore a clean, pale yellow gauze dress, and her hair was neatly tied up in a bun at her back.

The clothes were clearly a size too small for her, revealing her fair ankles and wrists. Compared to the starving people, she looked like the child of a wealthy and powerful family.

She held a handful of freshly picked osmanthus flowers in her hands, her face beaming with smiles.

Jiang Yuxian was still young. When Jiang Wenying brought him out, because the journey was long, he did not let him ride a horse alone, but let him sit on the same horse with him.

At this moment, Jiang Yuxian broke free from Jiang Wenying's embrace and jumped off the horse.

He walked up to the girl angrily and said, "What are you crying about? Can't you see that the common people can't even afford to eat? You have the leisure to admire flowers here, but you're afraid of even the neighing of a horse?"

The girl, perhaps frightened by his fierce roar, stopped crying abruptly. She looked up blankly, tears welling in her eyes, staring at the boy in front of her, and shrank back as if in fear.

A hurried sound of footsteps came from behind.

"Wanwan...Wanwan..."

The girl remained silent, quietly getting up from the ground. The osmanthus flowers she was holding were knocked over, and she carefully gathered the remaining ones on her skirt before running towards the woman who had called her.

"emperor?"

Shen Wenqian paused.

He had been to the palace and met Jiang Wenying.

I received news a few days ago that the Emperor would be bringing his two princes to this place. I thought I would have to wait a few more days, but I didn't expect them to come so soon.

When he saw the group from afar, he was still a little unsure. Although they were dressed in casual clothes, they looked wealthy, especially the man at the front of the horse who was holding a child in his arms.

As they approached, Shen Wenqian suddenly realized who it was. He knelt down and bowed, saying, "Greetings, Your Majesty."

"Get up." Jiang Wenyuan frowned, full of worry. "How is the epidemic under control now? Didn't the imperial court allocate relief funds and grain? How come so many people are still starving to death? Haven't they distributed porridge?"

"Your Majesty, the people have suffered from the disaster for too long. The mere five hundred taels of silver allocated for disaster relief has long been used up. The wealthy merchants in the city have donated all the grain they could, but it is still not enough to feed the people in the dozens of nearby villages." Shen Wenqian said, then sighed deeply. "The place to distribute porridge is just ahead. Please come over, Your Majesty."

As soon as Shen Wenqian finished speaking, the little girl who had been picking osmanthus blossoms under the tree quickly ran towards a shed not far away. She scattered the few remaining osmanthus blossoms from her skirt into the porridge bucket.

A faint fragrance of osmanthus suddenly wafted from the clear, watery porridge.

Suddenly, a clap of thunder sounded in the sky, a strong wind arose, and large raindrops began to fall.

If it were any other day, and a storm was approaching, people on the street would immediately scatter to find shelter from the rain.

At this moment, instead of moving, everyone raised their hands, knelt on the ground, their faces filled with shock and excitement.

"It's raining, it's really raining!"

"It's been three years, and it's finally raining in Rongcheng!"

"Everyone says that the Shen family's daughter is a blessed person. When she was born, there were auspicious clouds all over the sky. It can be seen that the Shen family's daughter is the lucky star of our Rongcheng."

"On the day the Shen family girl was born, a monk said that she was born amidst auspicious clouds and a phoenix. I think the Shen family girl is a fairy reincarnated!"

"It's raining! Rongcheng is saved! No one will die in Rongcheng anymore!"

"Have some porridge, folks. The young lady from the Shen family just made us some osmanthus porridge..."

People lined up one after another with bowls to share the only porridge in the wooden bucket. Rainwater fell into their bowls and mixed with the osmanthus porridge, which they then swallowed.

This bowl of osmanthus porridge smells especially delicious...

Almost everyone's eyes instantly fell on the little girl in the yellow dress.

Jiang Yuxian's eyes widened in shock. He slowly lowered his head and looked at the scattered osmanthus blossoms on the ground, feeling an indescribable sense of guilt.

Jiang Wenying was the first to recover, his eyes filled with anger. "Five hundred taels? I clearly allocated five thousand taels for this disaster relief, how come there are only five hundred taels left here!"

While Shen Wenqian was completely stunned, Jiang Wenying led everyone to the Rongcheng government office.

Jiang Yuyan and Jiang Yuxian followed the Shen family into the Shen residence.

Because of the embezzlement of disaster relief funds, the entire affected village and the county government were extremely busy.

In the Shen family courtyard, due to the three-year drought, there were only two servants.

late at night.

Jiang Yuxian couldn't fall asleep no matter how much he tossed and turned because he had changed beds, and he wanted to get some fresh air.

As I walked into the courtyard, I saw the little girl who had been wearing the yellow dress during the day.

During dinner, she learned that the little girl in the yellow dress was Shen Wenqian, Lord Shen's only daughter, three years younger than him, named Shen Qingwan, with the nickname Wanwan.

She was holding a piece of pastry in her hand, sitting in the courtyard, staring blankly at the stars in the sky.

Jiang Yuxian stared at the piece of osmanthus cake in her hand, and paused for a moment.

Because such exquisite osmanthus cakes clearly came from the palace and were not something ordinary people could see, let alone in Rongcheng, which had been suffering from a severe drought for three years.

She was so tiny, sitting quietly in the yard, not crying or making a fuss.

Three years ago, when he was her age, he wouldn't have dared to sit alone in the yard like this so late at night.

Because he's afraid of the dark!

But she just sat there alone in the courtyard, without a single servant by her side. Wasn't she afraid at all?

Jiang Yuxian walked over with some curiosity, but then hesitated, thinking about how he had misunderstood her during the day and even knocked the osmanthus flower from her hand.

Shen Qingwan seemed to have noticed him and turned around.