Using a book as a decoding key had its advantages, namely convenience and simplicity.

But the disadvantages were significant too, primarily the limited information that could be conveyed.

Xie Xian’s letter couldn’t be too long. A lengthy message would arouse suspicion.

So he could only directly state the key points.

Fang Zheng went through the pages one by one, line by line, and finally, after much effort, pieced together the two short paragraphs hidden within.

Xiao Tao tilted her head curiously as she looked at the letter and asked, “Young Master, what does it say? Why are you getting so flustered?”

Fang Zheng rolled his eyes. “What do you mean flustered? This is a secret message!”

Then he sighed. “It seems Xie Xian has encountered difficulties and can’t handle the situation. I should go there myself!”

Xiao Tao looked surprised and asked, “Going out again? Where to? Will you take me?”

“It’s farther this time. I won’t be back for at least half a year. You stay and look after the house.”

Fang Zheng’s brows knitted together.

Xie Xian had already made contact with the salt merchants.

The surface message in the letter was notifying family members to relocate to Haiyuan City, which meant they would be held as hostages.

The Lu family’s influence in that region was already immeasurable.

If anything went wrong, his small group of men definitely wouldn’t be enough.

And even with his official seal, he couldn’t be sure others would recognize his authority. Whether anyone would believe him was questionable.

Xie Xian and his men had no official status. It wouldn’t be surprising if they were killed.

With no cameras or phones, if they disappeared, there would be no way to investigate…

He needed to go there quickly. Otherwise, if something went wrong, it would be a disaster.

Seeing that Fang Zheng didn’t want to take her along, Xiao Tao stood to the side, clearly dejected.

Fang Zheng looked up and glanced at her. “Be good. This isn’t something pleasant. Why are you so eager to go suffer? I need to return to the palace first. I’m leaving.”

……

In the palace.

Emperor Jing read the letter carefully three times, his expression growing dark.

He looked up and said, “The Lu family is quite bold! All these years, I’ve been too lenient with the salt merchants. If not for their contributions to the court, I would immediately send troops to destroy them!”

“Minister Fang, what do you think of this matter?”

“Your subject… believes we shouldn’t rashly eliminate the Lu family. I’ve done some investigation into these salt merchants previously.”

“After Your Majesty conquered the Qian Dynasty, everything in the civilian sector needed rebuilding, including salt administration. At that time, the Qian Dynasty’s salt warehouses were all built by the government. With old officials dismissed and insufficient manpower, the salt warehouses were managed by salt merchants.”

“I think the Lu family must have contingency plans for such situations. The salt warehouses might not even contain any salt at all.”

“If we hastily sweep away the Lu family, the regions they control will certainly face salt shortages. The common people will suffer, and restarting production won’t happen overnight.”

“Moreover, court officials will likely have strong opinions… At that time, I estimate Your Majesty will have quite a headache. So I request Your Majesty to consider this carefully.”

Emperor Jing clapped his hands and laughed. “Good, I was thinking the same. Taking hasty action would likely cause those officials below to disturb my peace! If all officials were like you, always thinking of me, I wouldn’t need to be so exhausted.”

That’s because you have a good daughter… Fang Zheng secretly laughed.

“When do you plan to depart for Haiyuan City?”

Thinking of Haiyuan City, concern flashed in Fang Zheng’s eyes. The men he had sent were all capable individuals from the county.

He would be heartbroken if even one of them came to harm. The letter was already a month old, and he didn’t know the current situation.

“Your subject plans to leave as soon as possible. I’ll return to the county to prepare, and depart in the next couple of days!”

“Good. I appoint you as Regional Governor. When you arrive, act as you see fit. Kill when necessary!” As he spoke, a fierce light flashed in Emperor Jing’s eyes.

“Before you leave, go see the Crown Prince. Otherwise, he’ll be clamoring to find you again. I don’t want that happening a second time!”

“Also, the land in the eastern suburbs has already been allocated to you, right? How is the greenhouse project progressing? Has construction begun?”

At the mention of the greenhouse, Fang Zheng suddenly looked embarrassed.

Construction? What construction? He had been enjoying himself so much lately that he had completely forgotten about it.

And the county’s glassworks wouldn’t be sufficient. He would need to build another glassworks near the eastern suburbs.

The roads would also need reconstruction. It was all very troublesome, and he had been planning to put it off until next year.

He hadn’t expected His Majesty to be so eager.

“Uh… we’re already working on it! Since Your Majesty assigned this task, I certainly can’t be as casual as I was in Taoyuan County. This requires proper planning!”

“Slow work produces fine results. This is what we call craftsmanship spirit!”

If I work quickly, I’m an infrastructure maniac. If I haven’t done anything, I’m all about craftsmanship spirit!

Craftsmanship spirit? I don’t understand! Emperor Jing pondered for a while, feeling it didn’t sound like a good term.

But Fang Zheng occasionally came up with terms others didn’t understand, so he was used to it.

A faint smile appeared on his face. “You always come up with new terms for me.” Then his expression became serious again. “This journey is long and distant. You must be careful.”

“If you cannot resolve the matter, don’t be reckless. Go and return quickly.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty!” Fang Zheng was delighted inside.

This father-in-law is great! I haven’t even married his daughter yet, and he’s already so concerned about me. Truly wonderful!

After bidding farewell to the emperor, his first destination was naturally Mingluan Palace!

Find the Crown Prince? Impossible! I’ll see the princess first, then the Crown Prince!

Fang Zheng snuck into Mingluan Palace with practiced ease.

Though he came often, without any official relationship, there was always an element of sneaking around.

The palace maids had long turned a blind eye to this, and even looked forward to Fang Zheng’s visits.

After all, he usually scattered some money with each visit.

The future son-in-law was so generous. What more could one ask for?

Following the maid’s directions, Fang Zheng went straight up to the second-floor pavilion.

First, he peeked through a crack in the door. Li Miaohan was leaning against the window, flipping through what looked like account books.

If he wasn’t mistaken, they were probably accounts from the Banshan Textile Factory.

Soft sunlight fell on her exquisite profile, like a beautiful landscape painting.

Fang Zheng revealed a besotted smile.

This life is the one! This wife! In my previous life, I’d have struggled to find someone like her even scrolling through Douyin!

After quickly tidying his appearance, Fang Zheng pushed open the door.

He locked it behind him and strode toward Li Miaohan.

She was so absorbed in reading that she hadn’t noticed someone entering the room.

Not until a pair of large hands encircled her waist and pulled her into an embrace did Li Miaohan cry out in surprise.

Seeing it was Fang Zheng, she immediately calmed down, slowly resting her head against his chest, and softly asked, “Why are you here?”

“I missed you. Why did you cry out like that? Shouldn’t it have been more of a gentle moan?”

“What gentle moan?” Li Miaohan looked confused.

“Isn’t that how women usually sound? Princess, let me hear you make that sound.”

“Mmm… how strange! Who told you that?”

“It’s written in the Spring and Autumn Annals.”

Li Miaohan’s pretty face reddened slightly as she gently pushed him away. “Stop fooling around. I haven’t finished reviewing the account books and reports from the textile factory. Can I finish them first, please?”

Such dedication to her work!

“You look at your books, and I’ll hold you. It won’t interfere.” Fang Zheng said shamelessly, with a brazen face.

Li Miaohan shook her head helplessly and picked up the ledger again. “I think there might be serious problems at the textile factory.”

“Some female workers have been injured when their hair got caught in the looms.”

“And lately, I’ve seen reports of many female workers fainting from exhaustion. Look, here’s one named Chen Xiaoman who was sent to the medical hall just yesterday.”

“She worked continuously for three days without sleep to compete for some ‘advanced model’ title.”

“I think we should have them tie up their hair, then hire more female workers, or set regulations for their working hours. Continuing like this isn’t sustainable.”

Fang Zheng took the ledger, glanced at it, and said, “Chen Xiaoman… got it. Tomorrow I’ll have the newspaper publish an article praising her.”

Li Miaohan raised her delicate fist and punched his chest in annoyance. “You’re terrible!”

Fang Zheng chuckled, catching her fist. “How am I terrible? I’m leading by example!”

“When we’re married, I’ll also work continuously for three days!”

“???”