Third prince's mansion.
The third prince was sitting and discussing about the firearm matter with a high-ranking official who came to visit him. An imperial bodyguard arrived in a hurry and reported that the owner of the gun drawing had requested to meet him.
He was so shocked that he knocked over his teacup. Afterward, he became ecstatic, and he hurriedly ran in the direction of the door: “Quick! Quickly go accept this very able person’s request to meet !”
But when he walked outside the door and saw the delicate and pretty beautiful image of a woman, he was genuinely shocked: “You… how could you be…”
“That's right, third prince, the person who gave you the drawing was indeed me,” she said, and she took out a drawing painted on a snow-white sheet of paper. “This is a modified version I spent two years making, I want to go meet the emperor.”
Bai Zhenzhen put forward her own requirements.
The third prince stood next to Fang Tuo. His (FT) face didn't show even the slightest bit of shock. It only showed hidden gentleness and love when looking at Bai Zhenzhen.
Different from him, the third prince felt incomparably bitter in his heart. Bai Zhenzhen obviously was his fiancée. It was perfectly justifiable for him to meet any man. However, such an outstanding fiancée was pushed away by himself.
Fortunately, it was still not too late, he still had a chance to save the situation.
He brought Bai Zhenzhen to the imperial palace that very night, in order to find the emperor. The emperor had not slept well for several nights because he wanted to find the very able man, so the third prince felt he needed to be urgent.
What the third prince did not expect was that he saw the Ye family's carriage at the South Gate exit.
“How can the carriage of the Prime Minister’s House be at the Imperial Palace's gate?” The guards of the third prince frowned.
Bai Zhenzhen only glanced at it. After tonight, Ye family will no longer exist, so she didn't feel like looking at it again.
The third prince said indifferently: “I heard that in order to plead for leniency for Ye Huaijin, the whole family went to look for father emperor. Now, since they still did not come out, I suppose they must have been beaten into prison. Father emperor should have gotten angry.”
Ye family's downfall was inevitable, so the third prince did not care about them, and he wouldn't take care about their opinion anymore.
Thinking up to here, the third prince looked at Fang Tuo and suddenly started to talk: “Yesterday, didn't the prime minister look for you to become their residence's son-in-law?”
Hearing that, Fang Tuo subconsciously glanced at Bai Zhenzhen's eye and saw her eyebrows creasing look. He immediately said: “This lowly official had no intention of becoming their son and already refused.”
The third prince sent a deep look at Fang Tuo. For what reason did he refuse? It was clearly for Bai Zhenzhen's sake!
He had long known that Fang Tuo's heart only had Bai Zhenzhen inside. That is to say, there were only a few people in Jingchen who were not interested in this somewhat unorthodox talented woman.
However, the third prince did not point it out yet. After all, Bai Zhenzhen was too outstanding, he had to work harder to get her.
At this time, the emperor reluctantly let the people of the prime minister’s mansion leave the Imperial Palace.
After all, since Ye Shaohua was still an unmarried daughter, it was not appropriate for her to stay in the Palace for too long. If she was a man, the emperor would have sat side by side with her and have had a long talk with her.
After seeing off Ye family's group of three people, a palace maid came to announce that the third prince was requesting to meet him. The emperor was now very interested. He wanted to find someone to share this joy and agreed to have an audience with him.
After listening to the third prince's words, the expression of joy across his face became slightly deeper, but he did not say much. He merely looked at Bai Zhenzhen and said: “You said that during the past two years, you have improved the design. What about the power?”
Bai Zhenzhen was merely a go player in modern times. When she saw the emperor, a person with such a distinguished identity, she was overwhelmed by his pressure and was unable to breathe anymore.
“The range is more than one zhang(3.3m=11ft),” Bai Zhenzhen smiled and was still as proud as before. She knew how urgent the emperor was to find herself, added to that was her noble status as modern woman, so her head was held high: “More accurately, it's 10.12.”
The emperor looked at her, and the light in his eyes was difficult to understand. He took out a pistol from an embroidered box and gave it to Bai Zhenzhen. “You, hit a fruit from the fruit tree outside the door for me to see.”
Bai Zhenzhen had not been military trained. She had only seen guns on television, so her grip on the gun was unskilled. Ye Shaohua's godly sharpshooter confident manner was nowhere to be seen on her.
After she shot the gun, she cut a sorry figure. The recoil almost made her fall.
Bai Zhenzhen had lingering fear across her whole face. She felt a little wrong. The emperor was so anxious to find her, so shouldn't he be pleasantly surprised, now? Shouldn’t she be repeatedly rewarded? How come everything was different now than what she had thought?
“Alright, you, stand up,” the emperor regained his gaze. He looked at Bai Zhenzhen who replaced Ye Shaohua as the most talented woman for three years and shook his head slightly. “You have a good improvement plan, but compared to this, it's a lot worse. I think it basically won't work? What do you think of this design?"
He said, put down the piece of snow-white paper and casually took out a manuscript. On it, the proportions of the gun were clear, well organized, and the internal structure was described in great detail.
Even the palace eunuch supervisor who didn't know anything about firearms could see the difference between the two papers very clearly.
Compared with the paper painted by Bai Zhenzhen, it could be said that it was as different as the sky and the earth. When Bai Zhenzhen saw the paper, her face turned white in an instant and she herself had no choice but to admit that her skills were indeed inferior to the other person.
When the emperor saw her facial expression, he couldn't help but shake his head. If there was no Ye Shaohua, this time, Bai Zhenzhen would have been rewarded by him a hundred times. Moreover, it would not be a far-fetched to say that she would have become the first female government official. Unfortunately, Bai Zhenzhen, compared to Ye Shaohua, no matter if it was temperament or skills, they were all dimer.
Comparing Bai Zhenzhen and Ye Shaohua was like bullying her(BZZ). One was the chief of the secret service, the other was an average person. It's like asking who has more money between a king and a beggar.
“Ten times more power?” The third prince suddenly lifted his head. As a prince, he certainly knew what ten times more power implied. “Father emperor, who is this very able person?”
Such a talent, he can’t let that crown prince get him first!
The emperor did not answer immediately. Rather, he looked at the third prince and slightly narrowed his eyes: “I heard that you didn't meet Ye family?”
The third prince promptly cupped his hands. He disregarded his relation with Ye Family and said with devotion to righteousness that inspires reverence: “Ye Huaijin was disgraceful, causing trouble for father emperor and destroying father emperor's major event. This child (third prince), your servant, is not willing to interact with such people.”
Ye Family was not worth the risk of offending father emperor. Although it was good to send charcoal in snowy weather 1, it depended on who the other party was and whether it had value.
Ye family? No need.
“Father emperor, you spoke of that very able person. In the end, who is it?” The third prince was now very concerned about the very able person. Concerning Ye family, he was not in the mood to pay attention.
Bai Zhenzhen also fixed her attention on the emperor, waiting for his answer.
Her heart was a little uneasy. This pistol, only people from her era knew of it. how could someone draw such a meticulous picture? If the genius was not bad2, she still had a lot of ideas that the future generations had come up with. Bai Zhenzhen's fear was that this person was also a transmigrator!
She will never allow another transmigrator to appear!
The emperor looked at them deeply. “That person, you are familiar with her, she is precisely…”
Footnotes
1. To help someone in their time of need ↩
2. As in a genius that is not dangerous to BZZ, who will not be more excellent than her ↩
Translator note
Sorry for the delay! I’m busy moving but I could still squeeze an update. Hope you enjoy BZZ and third prince digging their own grave.
And Crown prince was mentionned this chapter! Seems like TP sees him as a big threat. Without YSH and BZZ, I wonder who would become emperor, and who would get Original YSH…