Chapter 290 - 120: Borrowing Strength to Strike
After Song Yunzhao left, Consort Lu went into her study. She gathered her thoughts before picking up her brush to write a letter.
This was about whether her father could rally and regain his footing, so she couldn’t take it lightly.
Consort Lu’s letter was quickly sent out of the palace and arrived at the Right Minister’s Mansion. However, the Right Minister had not yet returned. With the heavy snow, everyone in and out of court was rushed off their feet. By the time he returned to his residence, it was late at night.
Hearing that his daughter had sent a letter, the Right Minister went straight to his study. Inside, the underfloor heating was burning strong. Upon entering, the Right Minister let out a long sigh of relief. He felt frozen solid.
He warmed his hands by the brazier until the stiffness was gone, then finally picked up the letter and opened it.
As the Right Minister read, his expression grew grave. Today, Grand Tutor Qin had indeed won the Emperor’s praise by taking the initiative to distribute congee and aid the people.
The Right Minister realized he was a step behind and certainly couldn’t let Grand Tutor Qin steal the limelight. In a rare move, he had even set aside his differences with the Left Minister to join forces. They had been discussing how providing congee without clothing wasn’t enough, but where would the silver come from to make so many cotton-padded clothes?
It was no small sum. The Ministry of Revenue was pleading poverty, and the amount of silver they could produce was limited. The Emperor’s expression had been quite foul.
The Ministry of Revenue wasn’t entirely to blame. This year, floods in the south had already consumed a great deal of treasury silver for disaster relief. Moreover, the Emperor had exempted the disaster-stricken areas from taxes, meaning the National Treasury would not be full come next year. It was shaping up to be another difficult year. And now, on top of all that, a snow disaster had struck the Capital City.
He and the Left Minister shared a mutual sense of dread. This year’s end would be a tough one.
But now, with the news from his daughter that the harem concubines could take the lead in donating silver to buy fabric, he could truly strategize about this matter.
The Right Minister let out a long breath. When he read that his daughter said Song Jieyu was the one who proposed the plan, his feelings became complicated again.
’Why is that Song Jieyu involved in everything?’ Yet not only would he not refuse this plan, he had to execute it on a grand scale and do it well.
The Right Minister recalled that Song Jieyu had also been the one to pass him a message last time, allowing him to narrowly avoid the cheating scandal. ’So be it,’ he thought. ’Consider this a repayment of the favor I owe her.’
The Right Minister quickly ate a hot meal and began working through the night to arrange the matter.
His daughter’s letter had been simple, but executing the plan would be anything but. First, he had to spread the news and let the ladies of the various noble houses know what the palace concubines were doing. That way, these people would follow suit with their own acts of charity. Whether they were willing or not, they would all have to bleed a little.
He also immediately ordered people to tally the number of embroideresses in the entire city. Then, he had government decrees issued to conscript them to make cotton-padded clothes. After that, there was the matter of how to distribute the garments, how to transport them, and the need for dedicated personnel to coordinate everything...
The Right Minister’s eyes were becoming bloodshot from lack of sleep. The brush in his hand never stopped moving. The lamps in his vast study burned brightly, and he had woken all his accountants and advisors to discuss the matter. The lights stayed on all night...
That night, Song Yunzhao wasn’t idle either. The Emperor was too preoccupied with the snow disaster to visit the harem, and she had no intention of disturbing him at a time like this. Instead, she, Han Jinyi, and a few others worked through the night, drafting a plan for how to spend the silver. Not long after dawn, a message arrived from Consort Lu’s side. Song Yunzhao knew then that the Right Minister wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to earn merit.
With Consort Lu taking the lead, the scale of the operation changed completely. She was a high-ranking concubine, after all. She dispatched servants and opened her storerooms, and the commotion she made was so great that it quickly alerted Princess Consort Zhuang. Past Princess Consort Zhuang’s Zhaoyang Palace was Qin Xiyue’s Huayang Palace, and news soon reached Qin Xiyue as well.
Song Yunzhao had been busy all night and had barely slept a wink. After having Feng Yunjin deliver the plan they had all devised to Consort Lu, she simply fell into bed and went to sleep, not sparing a thought for how Qin Xiyue might react to the news.
Lu Zhixue and Han Jinyi were also exhausted from the long night. Like Song Yunzhao, Lu Zhixue returned to Yihua Palace to catch up on sleep. Han Jinyi wasn’t so lucky. She ran into Qin Xiyue before she even made it back to Liu Hua Palace.
The two came face-to-face right in front of Liu Hua Palace.
Han Jinyi glanced at Qin Wan Yi and curtsied in greeting. "This concubine greets Qin Wan Yi."
Qin Xiyue looked in the direction Han Jinyi had come from and said with a smile, "So early in the morning, where is Han Guipin coming from?"
Hearing this, Han Jinyi replied, "This concubine just parted ways with Lu Pin. I didn’t expect to run into Wanyi here. Since Qin Wan Yi is passing through, are you heading to Qingyan Palace?"
Qin Xiyue’s Huayang Palace was not far from Han Jinyi’s Liu Hua Palace. Furthermore, Qingyan Palace housed the fallen concubines from Consort Lu’s generation, who rarely left their residence or interacted with others.
She said this deliberately because Qingyan Palace was just east of Liu Hua Palace. Since Qin Xiyue wasn’t visiting Liu Hua Palace and would certainly not be visiting Lu Zhixue at Yihua Palace, the only other destination was Qingyan Palace.