Chapter 403: What’s her background?
If she were anyone else, one would definitely decline King Jin’s offer in fear and trepidation.
However, Shi Qingluo did not play her usual cards.
She smiled and said, “Before my master left, he truly wished that the commoners would benefit. Since you have said so, I have a presumptuous request too.”
Before coming to the northern border, the emperor had summoned the couple alone.
The emperor said that they could give King Jin some benefits.
If Shi Qingluo could come up with an idea to improve the lives of the people in the northern border, they could also make it happen through King Jin.
The emperor’s mind revolved about his family and his country.
Those living at the northern border were also his people, so he was happy to see them leading a better life.
When the commoners’ lives got better and better, they would definitely be unhappy if King Jin wanted to rebel.
King Jin would lose a lot of popular support at the northern border.
After King Jin was executed for his rebellion, the northern border would still belong to the emperor. Even the policies that King Jin had implemented previously would become a thing of the past.
Whether one will become a king or an outlaw depends on whether one is successful.
History was written by the victors.
By then, the emperor would continue to implement the policy that was good for the people of the northern border, and King Jin would completely be a thing of the past.
This would also make it easier for Shi Qingluo and her husband to get closer to King Jin.
Of course, the emperor did not say it out loud. This was something Shi Qingluo understood.
At the same time, she also found that the emperor was indeed very broad-minded.
It was also because of the emperor’s permission that she could do whatever she wanted here.
King Jin thought to himself, this was the first time he saw someone climbing up a pole in front of him.
“What kind of presumptuous request?” he asked curiously.
“I’m not familiar with the northern border, Your Highness. Can you compile the situation of the various cities and counties in the northern border into a booklet for me?” Shi Qingluo asked with a smile.
“I don’t know if you have heard that I need a trigger in order for me to get something, Your Highness.”
“For example, when I saw rubber grass in Heyang County, I knew that this plant could produce rubber, so I asked the locals to plant it.
“That’s why when you asked me to come up with ideas to benefit the people of the northern border, I must first carefully understand them and see if I can trigger them and come up with good ideas based on local conditions, Your Highness.
“Or perhaps, I’ll see if my master will appear in my dreams because of this.”
Of course, she wouldn’t come up with ideas all at once. Instead, she would come up with ideas gradually.
It was important to get first-hand information on the northern border.
Even the emperor might not know the situation in the northern border as well as the local tyrant, King Jin.
King Jin naturally did not believe in any dreams, but he believed in Shi Qingluo’s words about adapting to the circumstances.
He thought for a moment and said, “No problem. I’ll get someone to organize it into a book today and give it to you a few days later. ”
This might not seem important, but it was related to the situation of the entire northern border, so it was actually very important.
However, King Jin really wanted to take something out of Shi Qingluo’s head.
After weighing the pros and cons, he agreed.
If Shi Qingluo managed to get her hands on the item and the matter was left unsettled, he had his own way of dealing with it. After all, it was not to ask things from him.
And if Shi Qingluo really thought of a way to make money, it would be extremely beneficial to him.
Although the northern border was vast, it was very bitter and cold.
It was impossible to expand the army just by relying on the taxes on the fief.
Raising an army was too expensive.
The soldiers’ day-to-day salary, food, weaponry and equipment cost a large sum of money every month.
What he lacked the most right now was money.
Shi Qingluo smiled and thanked him. “I’ll have to trouble you then, Your Highness. ”
The dishes were served very quickly.
King Jin was used to not speaking while eating, so the three of them basically didn’t speak during the meal.
King Jin put down his chopsticks after casually eating a little, but Shi Qingluo and Xi Rong did not stand on ceremony and ate happily.
King Jin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when he saw them. He sighed to himself that they were really two young girls.
King Jin was only three years younger than the emperor, so his eldest son was already eighteen years old, and was now the crown prince of the royal family.
Shi Qingluo and Xi Rong were about the same age as his eldest daughter.
After the meal, Shi Qingluo and Xi Rong bid farewell.
King Jin didn’t ask him to stay. He was a patient person.
He also returned to the manor and called one of his trusted aides over.
He ordered him to compile the information Shi Qingluo wanted into a book.
Two days later, Shi Qingluo and Xi Rong went to King Jin manor to attend the flower banquet held by his concubine.
Tao Liu, on the other hand, attended on behalf of the deputy governor.
However, she wasn’t with Shi Qingluo.
After all, she didn’t seem to be close to Shi Qingluo.
She also knew that Shi Qingluo did not want to be on good terms with her. They were just using each other.
As long as Shi Qingluo didn’t make things difficult for her, it was fine.
When Ge Chunru heard that Tao Liu was dressed very extravagantly to attend the banquet at King Jin’s residence, she felt very uncomfortable and jealous.
And Shi Qingluo, the wife of a seventh rank county magistrate, what right did she have to attend this kind of banquet?
She had already prepared the clothes and accessories to go to King Jin’s residence, but she didn’t expect that she wouldn’t be able to use them.
She couldn’t help but find a pair of scissors and cut the clothes into pieces.
While cutting the clothes, she cursed and swore as if the clothes belonged to Shi Qingluo and Liu Ru.
Her heart was filled with hatred.
Shi Qingluo did not know that Ge Chunru was cursing her behind his back, but she did not care even if she did.
After all, this was the best revenge.
This clearly belonged to her, but it was all gone because of her own doing.
The most painful thing was to lose something after obtaining it.
She wanted Ge Chunru to keep having this kind of feeling.
When they arrived at King Jin’s residence, King Jin’s secondary consort’s personal maidservant personally came to pick up Shi Qingluo and Xi Rong.
The maidservant was very polite to the two of them. “Marquis, Madam Xiao, please come in! ”
Xi Rong nodded. “Lead the way. ”
Then, she held Shi Qingluo’s hand and followed behind the maidservant.
This also surprised the madams and young ladies who also arrived at the banquet.
This was the first time they had seen the servant girl beside Secondary Consort Hua being so polite to someone.
“Who are the two people who just entered?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen him before.”
” I heard the maidservant call one of them ‘marquis’,” one of them said. “There’s only one female marquis in the whole of Daliang now.”
Everyone immediately guessed Xi Rong’s identity. ” So she’s the marquis from Zhennan! ”
“Why did she come to the northern border?”
“I heard that this marquis is very favored by the emperor. Perhaps she thought that the northern border was fun, so she came.”
“Who is the person beside her? It seems that the maidservant is also very polite to her. ”
They knew that Secondary Consort Hua’s servant girls were usually proud and arrogant.
They would only be polite to people with extraordinary status.
“I heard the servant call her Madam Xiao. There is a Madam Xiao in Northern City. Could she be a family member of the deputy governor? ”
“It’s very possible.”
They all knew that King Jin was trying to win over the newly-arrived Deputy Governor Xiao.
“I’ve never heard that the marquis from Zhennan and Madam Xiao are good friends.”
“We’ll know once we ask.”
One of the madams from the aristocratic families in the Northern City asked the maidservant who welcomed them, ” What’s Madam Xiao’s background?”
The servant girl happened to know. “She is the wife of Heyang County’s magistrate. ”
The noble ladies were stunned.
How could a county magistrate’s wife be on good terms with the marquis of Zhennan and even make the secondary consort’s maidservant be so polite?
The other madams were also confused.
Many of the madams and young ladies looked down on her.
She was just the wife of a county magistrate, not some powerful identity they thought she had.