The peasant girl has a private space, and her husband is handsome.

In Rongyang Hall, after receiving criticism from Minister Qin, Magistrate Li deeply reflected on his mistakes and decided to put Miss Su first, as Minister Qin had suggested.

He carefully led Miss Su along the way and discovered that the Crown Prince was quite the expert at holding an umbrella!

Prince Gong was very attentive in holding the umbrella for Miss Su, moving it around in all directions to shield her from the sun, keeping himself very busy.

Is this still the aloof and handsome young master from the rumors?

Besides, what kind of man holds an umbrella for a woman? That's so pathetic! Women should be the ones doing the serving work.

Magistrate Li had never seen a man of such high status hold an umbrella for a woman before. How could a man be so humble! This completely disrupts the traditional male-dominated society; he mustn't spoil the woman.

However, Magistrate Li saw Lord Xue step forward and rush to help hold the umbrella for him.

Lord Xue smiled ingratiatingly: "Young Master Gong, are you tired? Shall I help you with your umbrella?"

Magistrate Li was so shocked he almost dropped his jaw.

This Miss Su completely changed Magistrate Li's perception.

These high-ranking officials in the capital, whom he couldn't curry favor with, all lowered their stances and fawned over Miss Su.

These two are really outrageous! They're vying to hold an umbrella for Miss Su. It's like they're rubbing men's dignity into the ground!

But Magistrate Li only dared to shout it in his heart; he wouldn't be foolish enough to say it out loud.

He was just a county magistrate, while Minister Qin held a much higher official position and didn't raise any objections to the Prince Gong's behavior. As the county magistrate, he could only pretend not to see it.

However, the umbrella in the Crown Prince's hand was really beautiful. The golden lotus on it must have been painted with gold powder, sparkling in the sunlight and almost blinding him.

The Crown Prince's hands, which held the umbrella, were also very beautiful—fair-skinned and with well-defined knuckles.

If Lord Xue were to possess this beautiful umbrella, Magistrate Li couldn't even imagine the disparity that would ensue.

Despite being rejected by the heir apparent, Lord Xue was not discouraged and still went forward to ask if he could hold an umbrella for Miss Su so that he could have a few words with her and share in her good fortune.

"Please, Prince Gong, let me hold the umbrella for you for a little while, just a short time."

Gong Yu's voice suddenly turned stern: "Lord Xue, I've already said that I don't need your kind offer to hold the umbrella for me. I heard that His Majesty plans to send Lord Xue to build the dike in Wucheng, and I will be keeping a close eye on him then."

Lord Xue quickly withdrew his hand from the umbrella.

Surely not? He only grabbed an umbrella, and it was out of kindness—he was worried that Prince Gong would get tired, and he also wanted to show off in front of Miss Su. His goal was to get the food that Miss Su had touched.

As a result, he offended the Crown Prince. Was it easy for him? His own father was waiting for the food that Miss Su had touched to save his life.

Gong Yu turned to Su Qianqian, his voice very gentle, a stark contrast to his previous sternness, "Little girl, I didn't scare you by suddenly speaking loudly, did I?"

Su Qianqian isn't actually afraid of getting sunburned because she has the spiritual spring water to nourish her skin, and she can quickly whiten her skin after getting tanned.

"Brother Gong, I'm fine. I don't really need an umbrella."

Gong Yu clearly remembered that Su Qianqian told the housekeeper, who had sunspots, that sunlight was the biggest cause of skin aging.

That's why he desperately held the umbrella for his future wife.

"Girl, don't worry about them. I just like playing with umbrellas, and I like holding an umbrella for you."

Xiangming, who was waiting to the side, had a face full of black lines.

The young master likes playing with umbrellas? She, who has served the young master since childhood, didn't even know that.

Actually, the young master dislikes umbrellas. When he was a child, he went out to see the Lantern Festival with an umbrella. It was drizzling at the time, and several human traffickers colluded to hold up umbrellas to block him from being abducted.

So from then on, the young master developed a slight dislike for umbrellas.

So the young master was truly fearless for Miss Su's sake, insisting on taking over her job of holding the umbrella.

Lately, the young master has been taking all her jobs away, and she feels like she's about to become useless.

Su Qianqian carefully inspected the rooms of Rongyangtang and found that half of the rooms were leaking.

It's a sunny day, but the walls inside many houses are damp and moldy.

Most of the remaining soldiers had already caught a chill in the northern frontier, and living in a damp place would only worsen their condition.

Su Qianqian's gaze lingered on the moldy walls inside the room, her expression not very pleasant.

Magistrate Li kept repeating Minister Qin's words in his mind: Minister Qin said that no one else mattered, the most important thing was to satisfy this Miss Su.

So Miss Su is unhappy with the moldy wall?

Magistrate Li quickly explained, "Miss Su, it really isn't my fault! Lord Qin allocates too little silver each year; it's simply not enough to repair the Rongyang Hall."

Minister Qin suggested, "Miss Su, what do you think? Would it be appropriate to use ten thousand taels of silver to expand the Rongyang Hall in Gu'an County?"

Su Qianqian naturally wouldn't object.

However, there should still be a method to how this money should be used.

Although she earns money easily, that doesn't mean others can swindle her money at will.

However, she saw that Minister Qin directly handed the silver notes to Magistrate Li.

Alas, Minister Qin is the Minister of War, a military man by birth. He is too straightforward and doesn't understand those subtleties, which is why he is so naive.

They have no idea how greedy the people below them are.

Magistrate Li held the silver notes, a look of joy on his face.

The rustling sound of his left thumb rubbing the banknotes revealed Magistrate Li's greed for them.

Magistrate Li is already planning how to distribute these ten thousand taels of silver.

In any case, he can always make a profit from any money that passes through his hands.

No official in the world is immune to corruption. Magistrate Li felt that he had been very restrained in his greed; he had only embezzled half of the money allocated to him by Minister Qin last year.

"Please rest assured, Miss Su and Minister Qin, I will definitely renovate the house to make it look brand new, so that the disabled soldiers can live there more comfortably."

Before Su Qianqian transmigrated, she read a report about a 20 million yuan investment project in a certain place. After being subcontracted layer by layer, the actual construction workers only received 100,000 yuan, and they were even owed half of their wages.

Therefore, before she came to Gu'an County, she had already sent someone to inquire about Magistrate Li and was quite familiar with his character.

This is a corrupt official, a thoroughly corrupt official, and he's also very good at flattering others.

"Spending 10,000 taels to expand Rongyang Hall is appropriate, but giving it to Magistrate Li is not so appropriate. At the beginning of the year, Gu'an County received 15,000 taels of disaster relief funds for the snow disaster, which were used to rebuild houses for the victims, but in the end only 1,500 taels of silver were used where they should have been."

Magistrate Li broke out in a cold sweat, took out a snow-white handkerchief and wiped his forehead repeatedly, his hands trembling violently.

You must know that the Crown Prince is also the Inspector General, and he is known for his impartiality. We mustn't drag him out and behead him right away.

It's really strange. He did those embezzlements very discreetly, but I never expected Miss Su to find out so clearly.

But which official isn't corrupt? He's just the most ordinary one among a bunch of black swans.

There's nothing we can do about it. In the world of black swans, white swans are guilty, and they die a terrible death. To survive, they have no choice but to become black swans.

Moreover, he didn't embezzle the money alone. Officials of all ranks in Gu'an County also skimmed off the top, and he also had to bribe high-ranking officials in the capital. The little money he embezzled was simply not enough.

If you don't take it and I don't take it, how will Prime Minister Feng take it? If Prime Minister Feng doesn't take it, how will his subordinates get promoted and make money!

"Miss Su, I did not embezzle the remaining thirteen thousand taels of silver. I have been discussing with Magistrate Zhang how to use it, and we only came up with a plan yesterday to distribute it equally among the people."

"Oh, I see. If I hadn't brought it up, would you have been discussing it for ten or eight years? I happen to love watching people distribute silver. I want to go to the county office myself to see how Magistrate Li distributes silver to the people."

Magistrate Li was heartbroken!

That thirteen thousand taels of silver had already been divided up.

But now Miss Su wants to see him distribute silver to the people, so she can only use the silver from her own private treasury.

Because Gu'an County was too close to the capital, he, as the county magistrate, did not dare to be too greedy. He only embezzled about 20,000 taels of silver in two years.

Now that more than half of them are gone, my heart is bleeding.

Moreover, judging from the cold look in the young master's eyes, even if he vomited up all the silver he had swallowed, the young master might not let him go.