Phoenix Reborn: the Prime Minister’s Scheming Daughter - Chapter 332

Baili Junyi asserted, “Last time, when Sun Da and Sun Er came to the government office, it was always Sun Da who spoke. But according to the report I obtained, Sun Er is the eloquent one in usual days. That day, I felt that Sun Er was quite peculiar, so I sent my men to monitor them after they returned. My men found that Sun Er was always worried and even advised his brother to stay away from Zhou City.”

Shen Ninghua raised her eyebrows slightly. “Is that so… Could it be that Sun Er discovered something abnormal?”

Baili Junyi smiled. “Speaking of which, this matter is also very coincidental. I had people secretly investigate and find some clues. The piece of land at the foot of the mountain was usually cleaned up by Sun Er. One time, when he flipped over the ground, he suddenly found a gold ingot. At that time, he thought that he had struck a jackpot, so he turned the entire piece of land upside down.”

Shen Ninghua could not help but giggle. “Hehe. Well, I would have done the same thing if I were in his shoes.”

“Yes, his actions attracted Zhou Qing’s attention. Zhou Qing thought that Sun Er had discovered something, so he used the excuse of buying the land to probe him. Sun Er still wanted to flip through the ground a few more times, so he didn’t want to sell the land, and this made Zhou Qing feel that something was fishy. However, he wasn’t too sure about the reason, so he repeatedly wanted to kill the brothers in case they knew something that they shouldn’t.”

“Oh? The Zhou Family is so powerful, they can easily kill two people. Why do they let them live for so long?”

Baili Junyi replied, “I think they didn’t do it in time. Maybe Zhou Qing wanted to deal with the brothers himself, so he didn’t report the matter to Zhou Ziqing, for fear that he would punish him for his incompetence. But when Zhou Ziqing found out, we’ve come to Zhou City and bumped into the brothers in Qilin Garden. So, after Zhou Ziqing found out that they didn’t know anything about the silver, he didn’t make his move.”

Shen Ninghua suddenly realized that this matter was really a coincidence. “Speaking of which, we came at the right timing.”

Baili Junyi smiled enigmatically. “Yes, you’re right. Now that we know the place where the silver is hidden, it’s easier for me to make my moves.”

Shen Ninghua looked at his expression and could not help but ask, “What good idea did you think of?”

“The normal way of exposure would not work at all. The Zhou Family had made us fall into a big setback before. Now, it is time to return it.”

“What do you want to do?” Shen Ninghua became more and more curious.

“Most of Zhou City’s people believe in Daoism. Let’s invite two Daoist priests to do a ritual and subdue Zhou City’s demons and monsters in one fell swoop!” A sharp light flashed through his eyes. It was like a bolt of lightning that split the night. It was so bright that people did not dare to look at it directly. Baili Junyi smiled coldly. Zhou City, the Zhou Family… just you wait!

Just as the Zhou Family’s good reputation spread far and wide, a piece of news quickly spread.

According to the news, Zhou City welcomed all the disaster victims in the northwest to come to the city for refuge. The Zhou Family was kind and would definitely not let everyone starve to death!

The spring season this time was dry, so many people did not manage to stock up their food. Winter was coming soon, and many people were at their wit’s end as they almost finished up their grain. If they did not want to starve to death in the cold winter in the northwest, they could only think of a way now.

This news was like a ray of light, making their eyes shine.

They had also heard of the Zhou Family’s well-known reputation. Since there was a piece of definite news, they quickly went to Zhou City without hesitation. The vast group of disaster victims headed for Zhou City. When Zhou Ziqing received this news and wanted to stop them, it was already too late.

In order to gain a good reputation, they had done too well previously. Now, if they refused to accept disaster victims, what they had done before would all be in vain.

Zhou Da was sweating on the side. When he thought of the consequences of disaster victims rushing into Zhou City, he felt his vision darken helplessly. There were so many people. Each person ate five taels of grain every day. In a month, they would need tens of thousands of kilograms of grain. Even if ten Zhou City added up, they would not have that much grain. How could they accept so many disaster victims?

Zhou Ziqing looked extremely calm, but if one looked carefully, one would notice the haze in his eyes. “Baili Junyi, you crooked bastard!”

Zhou Da was taken aback and asked cautiously, “Patriarch, did Prefectural Prince Yi spread the rumors about the Zhou City accepting the refugees?”

“Who else would do such a thing?!” Zhou Ziqing slammed the table in front of him, causing the teacup to tremble. “I humiliated him in front of so many people. It would be strange if he could easily stop what he was doing!”

“What should we do now?”

Zhou Ziqing frowned and looked at him. “Do you need me to teach you what to do? Open the city gates and welcome as many people as you can!”

Zhou Da was shocked and speechless. “B-But we don’t have that much food to settle them.”

“Settle them? Do they expect me, the Zhou Family, to settle so many refugees? I’m not a savior. What’s the use of the imperial court if I need to settle everything?!” At this point, Zhou Ziqing suddenly stopped and looked at Zhou Da with a cold gaze.

Zhou Da’s clothes were drenched with cold sweat. It was as if he had not heard Zhou Ziqing’s words. He kept muttering as if he had been scared by Zhou Ziqing’s decision.

“There are so many refugees that they can fill up Zhou City. How can we find so much food!”

Zhou Ziqing examined him for a long time before he retracted his gaze.

“Just take the refugees in. Don’t worry about anything else. I will take out the other half of the Zhou Family’s property. I’ll do my best to help the people even if I have to use all my money. At that time, even if I can’t help much, the people will still be grateful to the Zhou Family.”

“Yes, Patriarch. I’ll do as you say.”

With that, the frightened Zhou Da quickly left. When Zhou Ziqing was alone, he squinted, arching his eyebrows indignantly, and hissed in a gloomy tone.

“Baili Junyi, I will make you have a taste of your own medicine! At that time, when the refugees start a riot because they can’t get any help, I’ll report your doings to the imperial court! Let’s see how you’re going to talk your way out of it! Virtuous Prince? Princess Zhaohua? Auspicious Twins? None of them can save you!”

Zhou Da quietly came out of the Zhou Family. Along the way, he was frowning and deep in thought. He waited until he returned to his home and closed the door of his room. Only then did he fall to the ground, sweating profusely and gasping for air. He felt as if he had returned from a visit to hell.

When Zhou Ziqing grunted about the imperial court, Zhou Da could clearly feel the killing intent coming from his body. If he hadn’t pretended not to hear it, he probably wouldn’t have been able to walk out of the Zhou Family’s door alive. Perhaps, by tomorrow, the people of Zhou City would have heard the news that he had died of overwork and exhaustion!

Thinking about it, he felt a burst of lingering fear. In the past, he thought that Zhou Ziqing was ambitious. However, he didn’t expect that his ambition was so great that it was endless. Was he going to work with him forever? But if he didn’t, could he turn back? At this point, he felt that his future was bleak and hopeless!

It seemed that he should make a plan for himself, or he might be killed at any moment.

The news spread further and further away. Soon, many refugees rushed to Zhou City. At first, it was only the refugees from the nearby cities. Later, a large number of refugees came over. Some of them were not refugees at all. They simply came over to join in the fun. For a time, Zhou City became the center of attention.

In the capital, Baili Qingcang received a letter from Baili Junyi. Reading the contents of the letter, he frowned, his gaze profound.

In the northwest, there was actually a family whose reputation was on par with the royal family. He suspected that Baili Junyi spoke in an indirect way to prevent him from being too angry. It was likely that the Zhou Family’s power was above the royal family.

“Where is Shadow Guard?”

“I’m here.”

“Immediately send people to Zhou City to assist Prefectural Prince Yi and Prefectural Princess. I want to see if those evil monsters will succeed or not!”

Now that the officials of the capital were down-to-earth and the corruption in the court had been cleared, he experienced the pleasure of controlling the entire country that he had not experienced for a long time. How could he tolerate other people’s destruction? The Zhou Family’s existence was like a malignant tumor, making him want to uproot it at a glance.

“Yes, I’ll do as you say.”

“Wait. When you go, be careful. Do not let the Second Prince know of your existence. Do you understand?” When he heard the Zhou Family, he thought of the deceased Second Princess’ maiden family. He wouldn’t mind if there was no connection between them, but if there was, the matter could not be solved by simply getting rid of the Zhou Family.

“Yes.”

Two weeks later, Zhou City’s entire appearance changed. The inside and outside of the city were full of temporarily built tents. There were refugees everywhere. From the looks of it, the city was so full of people and tents that there was no place to set foot.

The originally chubby Zhou Da was now as thin as a set of skeletons, and his face was ghastly pale. However, he gained a good reputation as the honorable minister of the city, so there was a benefit of his sacrifice.

Shen Ninghua leaned against the couch in the posthouse, watching Baby Girl and Big Boy play.

They were almost ten months old, and under her care, they were exceptionally nimble, and their personalities were becoming more and more obvious.

Big Boy loved his adorable younger sister very much and always wanted to play with her, but Baby Girl had a distinctive characteristic. When Big Boy gave her his toy, she could quietly play with him for a while. When he gave her all his toys, she would glare at him coldly. From time to time, she would kick him in the face.

When Shen Ninghua saw this scene for the first time, she was so frustrated. After being educated for a long time, Baby Girl was unmoved, and Shen Ninghua even felt like she needed to give her some spanking. How could a girl be so rude and not respect her elder brother?

However, Baili Junyi felt that his daughter was particularly powerful, and she had to keep this kind of personality and absolutely could not change it. In the future, no one would dare to take advantage of her.

Big Boy was the most pitiful and annoying. Despite being ill-treated by his younger sister, not only did Big Boy not stay away from her, but he also began to think of ways to find things that could be given to her, such as the furniture and the flowers. He tried all means to send these gifts to Baby Girl so that she would play with him.

After many times of fruitless education in vain, Shen Ninghua let them be.

Baili Junyi strode in with sweat on his forehead. Much trouble would have happened if he had only relied on Zhou Da’s subordinates to handle so many refugees. He secretly squashed countless potential riots and disputes.

Shen Ninghua ordered Bai Ruo to take care of the children before wiping Baili Junyi’s face with her handkerchief. “Have you prepared everything?”

Baili Junyi smiled and held her hand. His eyes were especially bright. “Yes, it’s showtime.”