The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 977 - 956: Writing a Letter (Extra update for "Becky"’s reward)

Chapter 977: Chapter 956: Writing a Letter (Extra update for "Becky"’s reward)

Bai Shan and Bai Erlang, carrying their book baskets, ran in excitedly and told Manbao, "The Prince of Yizhou has entered the capital."

Seated behind her desk, Manbao lifted her eyelids and glanced at them before saying, "I know, but why are you so excited that he has entered the capital?"

Bai Shan said, "Aren’t you waiting to sell flowers? Aren’t you happy that he has entered the capital?"

Manbao perked up, then remembered that she was indeed waiting to earn money from the Prince of Yizhou.

Bai Erlang chuckled, "When did your memory get so bad?"

However, Bai Shan asked, "What happened?"

Manbao looked outside and then recounted to them the incident with the two assassins she had witnessed that day.

Bai Shan and Bai Erlang were dumbfounded, and after a long while said, "Your luck is just too good, isn’t it?"

"Is this really good luck?" asked Manbao.

Bai Shan nodded vigorously, "Of course, it’s good luck. The Prince of Yizhou hiding people inside the carriage and pretending they are family to take back shows he doesn’t want people to know about this, and you managed to see it. If this isn’t good luck, what is?"

"What use is there in my seeing it? I can’t save them."

Bai Shan then said, "You seeing it is as good as Lord Tang and Lord Yang seeing it. If they see it, it’s as good as Lord Tang and Lord Wei seeing it."

Manbao was startled, finally roused from her worry, and thought for a moment before saying, "County Magistrate Yang is too far away. If we write him a letter, it would take a long time for him to write back to Lord Wei and others in the capital."

Bai Erlang asked, "So?"

"So, we could just tell Lord Wei directly," said Manbao. "And then write a letter to inform Lords Yang and Tang afterwards."

Having thought for a moment, Bai Shan said, "It seems Liu Gui knows someone from the Wei Family; he’s handled several instances of sending letters to the Wei Family on behalf of grandmother."

He turned and sat behind his own desk, saying, "You write the letter to County Magistrate Tang, and I’ll write to Lord Wei."

Bai Erlang then asked, "What about me? What about me?"

Manbao, grinding ink with her hand, said, "You write to County Magistrate Yang."

Bai Erlang became joyful; he hadn’t spoken to County Magistrate Yang for a long time and this would be a good opportunity to have a thorough talk.

Bai Shan’s letter was the first to be finished, mainly because he was always brief in his writing, and not being familiar with Lord Wei made it even more succinct as he simply explained the situation.

Manbao, on the other hand, was a chatterbox. As she wrote to County Magistrate Tang, she inadvertently wrote too much, and her writing was especially detailed. She said, "Who knows what deep grudge those people have against the Prince of Yizhou, daring to assassinate him twice. However, they must be from Yizhou, at least from Jiannan. Lord Tang, since you are in Yizhou, it would be convenient for you to investigate further. Perhaps you might even find other incriminating evidence against the Prince of Yizhou."

Manbao felt that if those people weren’t death warriors sent by other princes or ministers due to conflicting interests to kill the Prince of Yizhou, then it must be a personal vendetta. Something that could drive a group of people to kill a prince must be deep-seated hatred, like the hatred she and Bai Shan held for their father’s murderer.

At this point, Manbao wasn’t one to spurn additional allies.

After Bai Shan had finished blowing on his letter and the ink had dried, he sealed it in an envelope and wrote Lord Wei’s name on it. Then he looked up and saw Manbao and Bai Erlang still fiercely writing, and out of curiosity, he asked, "Why are you taking so long to write?"

Manbao said, "Just wait a bit longer, I’m almost finished."

Bai Erlang said, "No rush, I’ve just started."

Bai Shan: ...

Manbao, who had been saying she was almost finished, changed her paper twice after a quarter of an hour and was still buried in her writing. Meanwhile, Bai Erlang beside her had written on four pages and pulled out another to continue writing.

Out of sheer curiosity, he leaned in to take a closer look, "What on earth are you writing about?"

Manbao said, "Nothing much, just updating them on our recent situation and asking County Magistrate Tang to take care of my fourth brother and the rest. After all, my fourth brother is primarily doing business in Yizhou City, isn’t he?"

Bai Shan looked towards Bai Erlang.

Bai Erlang said, "I’m just having a chat with County Magistrate Yang."

They both looked up at Bai Shan and asked, "Do you want to write something to them as well?"

Bai Shan felt a sudden itch to write and simply rolled up his sleeves, "Alright, I’ll write a few pages to them as well. We can send them all back together later."

Seeing that Bai Shan had written letters to Lord Tang and Lord Yang, Manbao decided to write one to County Magistrate Yang as well, similarly asking for his help in looking after her family and to prevent the Prince of Yizhou’s people from finding out about them.

So, half an hour later, Daji received six thick letters. Bai Shan said, "Have someone send these back and, by the way, check when grandmother and the others will come to the capital."

Daji looked at the six letters and asked, "Young master, you are only writing to County Magistrate Yang and the others—aren’t you writing to our family as well?"

Hearing this, the three immediately turned around and went back to the study, "Wait a moment, we’ll be done shortly."

Daji stood outside the study waiting. This ’short while’ turned out to be forty-five minutes, and the trio came out with three more thick letters to stuff into his hands, "Thank you for your trouble, Daji."

Daji thought to himself... It wasn’t troublesome at all, since he wasn’t the one going home.

Because the letters contained many secrets, it was impossible to send them back through the postal station. What if they were opened and inspected just at the wrong moment?

So Daji chose a man from the front courtyard and instructed him to saddle up his horse and set off the next day to deliver the letters.

After finishing writing the letters, the three of them had some free time. Manbao went to water her plants and murmured to them, "You have to grow nicely and make an effort, so you can earn me a lot of money."

At the same time, the emperor was also looking at his sons. He had just finished reviewing their homework, and with not a hint of a smile on his face, he was admonishing them, "I have hired such good teachers for you, yet your work is a complete mess. Can’t you put in a bit more effort?"

The crown prince and his brothers bowed their heads as the emperor was displeased and reprimanding them passionately, a court lady gingerly came in, and only then did he stop and ask, "What is it?"

"Your Majesty, someone from the Empress Dowager’s palace has come. They are asking for Your Majesty and the princes to join them for a meal, saying that they want to have a ’family reunion meal’."

Since it was a ’family reunion meal,’ obviously the Prince of Yizhou who had just arrived in the capital was also there.

The emperor leisurely stacked up his sons’ work and inquired, "How is the mood of the Empress Dowager?"

"The Commandery Prince Xin’an just wrote a poem, and the Empress Dowager praised it highly. She is in a very good mood," they replied.

With the Empress Dowager in a good mood, the emperor’s mood soured. He glared at his sons and got up, saying, "Let’s go, we shall pay our respects to the Empress Dowager."

Walking on the way to the Empress Dowager’s palace, the emperor grew more indignant the more he thought about it, and suddenly turned his head to speak to Gu Zhong, "Go to the duty room and find Courtier Wei. The Empress Dowager’s birthday is coming up, and it’s time for the princes from other regions to come to the capital to celebrate. Have him draft an imperial edict for them to come to the capital."

Gu Zhong bowed and responded with a "Yes."

Upon entering the Empress Dowager’s palace, the Prince of Yizhou, who was having a delightful time with his mother, immediately stood up from her side and hurried down the steps to greet them, bowing and saying, "Imperial brother..."

The emperor, smiling, stepped forward to help him up, his face beaming with a smile, "Why so formal with your own brother? Sit down."

The Empress Dowager waved them over repeatedly, "Yes, yes, sit down. Look, Bai Er, don’t you think Bai Five looks much thinner and older than the last time we saw him?"