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

Su Qianqian delivered the flower tea to the Empress Dowager's Cining Palace. After leaving, she slipped a money pouch containing gold beans to the eunuch, Eunuch An.

"I'm sorry, Eunuch An, the Empress Dowager asked you to escort me out of the palace. I don't want to ride in a sedan chair, so I'll trouble you to accompany me on foot. Let's take the road through the Imperial Garden."

Grandpa An held the gold coins in his purse, a satisfied smile spreading across his face. "I'll leave everything to Miss Su's arrangements."

Since the border wars and the resulting financial difficulties began before the new year, the palace had been living in poverty. Eunuch An's monthly income had decreased by more than half. After the arrival of the Western Xia Empress and the Southern Yue Prince, the emperor gave the two countries a huge sum of money as a greeting gift, and the palace became even more frugal.

Therefore, these golden beans are considered extremely precious.

Eunuch An followed Su Qianqian, enthusiastically introducing the surrounding scenery as they walked.

Su Qianqian knew that the small pavilion next to the Imperial Garden contained Emperor Qi Jing’s favorite musical instruments. The room was full of them, including xiao, se, cymbals, zheng, fou… and all of them were made by famous artists and were priceless.

Emperor Qi Jing wanted to use her black stone mine to appease the Nanyue people, so she would put the loss on Emperor Qi Jing's head, and consider the musical instruments as compensation from the emperor.

It has to be said, emperors really knew how to enjoy life.

Although the sun was blazing and the weather was extremely hot, the Imperial Garden was shaded by lush trees. The ancient, massive waterwheel turned slowly, and as the water scoops tumbled, water droplets splashed everywhere like pearls, adding a touch of liveliness to the Imperial Garden.

As Su Qianqian walked, she arrived at the attic where the music room was located.

She ransacked the music room through the wall and left the palace happily.

The emperor's greatest hobby was musical instruments, so he would come and check on the music room every day.

The emperor arrived half an hour after Su Qianqian left today.

He went inside and was dumbfounded. All the famous musical instruments he had painstakingly collected were gone. The room was empty, with only four walls remaining.

Has it been stolen? How dare they steal from the palace!

"Someone, summon all the eunuchs, maids, and guards on duty in the Imperial Garden today. Also summon any palace servants who came here today for questioning."

In less than half an incense stick's time, three large rows of palace maids, eunuchs, and guards stood in the Imperial Garden.

"Tell me honestly, who has been here?"

The weather was already hot, and Emperor Qi Jing was in a bad mood, so his clothes were already soaked with sweat. Standing next to him, Eunuch Fu was holding a banana leaf fan and fanning himself frantically.

After a moment of silence, Eunuch An from the Empress Dowager's palace stepped forward.

"Your Majesty, Miss Su came to deliver flower tea to the Empress Dowager. When she left, she passed through the Imperial Garden. However, I followed Miss Su the whole time and I am certain that she did not go into the house. Moreover, Miss Su left empty-handed."

Upon hearing that Su Qianqian left empty-handed, Emperor Qi Jing immediately ruled her out.

He was furious. The way they managed to steal so many treasures without anyone noticing felt very similar to the method used to steal the Murong family's ice cellar.

That's incredible! I doubt only the Grand Preceptor of the Western Xia Dynasty could have such abilities.

Emperor Jing of Qi felt that this case was too big, and the thieves were too audacious to even dare to steal from the palace.

There's no need to hand over such a big case to the Shuntian Prefecture.

"Eunuch Fu, go to the Ministry of Justice and convey my imperial edict: this major case will be investigated by the Ministry of Justice. If it cannot be solved within a month, I will demote all officials in the Ministry of Justice by one rank."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Emperor Qi Jing made up his mind that if it was done by the Western Xia national teacher, he would pretend not to know for the sake of friendly relations with the foreign lands. But if it was done by the people of Qi, they must be torn to pieces to vent his hatred.

The musical instruments in the music room were rare treasures he had painstakingly collected! They were his emotional anchor. Now that the instruments are gone, he feels an emptiness in his heart and is particularly sad.

Lord Xue quickly learned of the theft from the palace's music room.

Lord Xue was overjoyed and went to Gu's restaurant to chat with Hu Pingfan.

It was so hot that Lord Xue had sweated a lot on the way and felt extremely thirsty.

"Brother Hu, hurry up and brew a pot of good tea. I have some good news to share with you. I'm sure you'll be very happy to hear it."

Hu Ping thought to himself, "Lord Xue is here to mooch his flower tea again. Sure enough, he is more valued by Miss Su, which is why he gets more flower tea than Lord Xue."

After drinking two cups of tea, Lord Xue felt much better.

He whispered in Hu Pingfan's ear, "Our Great Qi also suffered a major flood in the south, and His Majesty actually gave the Southern Yue Kingdom three hundred carts of grain as compensation. The theft of the royal music room was truly deserved."

Hu Pingfan gloated, "Serves him right! Who told him to give away Miss Su's black stone mine!"

The largest black stone mine in the Great Qi Dynasty was first discovered by Hu Pingfan. It should have belonged to Miss Su, but the emperor arbitrarily gave it to the Southern Yue Kingdom.

According to Hu Pingfan's opinion, since the Seventh Prince of Nanyue had harmed so many people of Daqi in the capital of Daqi, Nanyue should compensate Daqi.

Meanwhile, the Southern Yue sent General Zhu Yuan to the Huainan region to make contact with the King of Huainan.

The council hall of the Prince's Palace was very quiet. The Prince of Huainan sat upright at the top, exuding an imposing aura.

He had sent people to Nanyue many times before, hoping to join forces against Daqi, but the negotiations failed because Nanyue had too big an appetite. They demanded that after taking over Daqi, most of the cities would belong to Nanyue, which the King of Huainan was naturally unwilling to accept.

Now the Southern Yue Kingdom could no longer sit still and took the initiative to come and beg him.

All of this is thanks to Miss Su. If Miss Su hadn't killed the Seventh Prince of Nan Yue, Nan Yue wouldn't have been so impatient.

Now let's hear what good conditions the Southern Yue Kingdom can offer. If the conditions aren't good, he won't agree.

Sitting below, Zhu Yuan spoke very respectfully: "Your Highness, the Prince of Huainan, we of Nanyue sincerely wish to cooperate with you and join forces to attack Daqi. After we take Daqi, most of the cities will belong to you. You only need to hand over Miss Su to Nanyue."

"This time, we from Nanyue have come with sincerity. Our old shamans from Nanyue are highly skilled in magic. They can move those huge rocks outside Qinghe County instantly with just a flick of their fingers. In addition, we from Nanyue will also send 80,000 troops to help us."

When the King of Huainan heard that Nanyue had finally lowered its conditions, he thought it was very good. He felt that cooperating with Nanyue was just right. The reason why he hadn't attacked Qinghe County was because of those giant stone barriers.

Once the Grand Preceptor of the Southern Yue Kingdom removes the boulder outside Qinghe County, his troops will be able to immediately attack Qinghe County.

After capturing Qinghe County, this formidable barrier, we can then directly target the capital of the Great Qi.

The two sides quickly reached an agreement and decided to join forces to deal with Da Qi.

To celebrate this cooperation, the King of Huainan ordered many firecrackers to be set off outside the gate of his palace.

The King of Huainan, listening to the crackling sound of firecrackers, was torn between choices.

After he conquers the capital of Qi, will the new capital be located in the capital city or in Huainan?