Chapter 215 - Was It My Fault?

The issue concerning Baili Anqing’s dowry could be serious or trivial. If it was dealt with slightly, the Internal Affairs Department would just be punished for its’s negligence. Then the Empress would step in and order the Department to present the dowry in full. If it was handled seriously, it meant that the Internal Affairs Department would be guilty of disregarding the dignity of Baili Anqing as a princess and fooling her!

The attitude of the Empress towards this issue at the moment meant that she wanted to make it a serious issue, the more serious the better. In this way, it would implicate not only the Internal Affairs Department but also Baili Anning.

After all, she had a long list of dowry, which was even more than she deserved. Baili Anqing’s dowry was less than she deserved because she was fooled by the officials. At worst, she would lose face but could win the Emperor’s attention and sympathy. However, the extra portion in the dowry of Baili Anning would be worth investigating. Why would so many people curry favor with a princess like her? If the investigation went deeper, it would involve the Second Prince. It would not be a good thing if the Internal Affairs Department fawned on her because of a prince!

“His Majesty has arrived!”

Along with the announcement, Baili Qingcang, who usually had a serious expression, strode in. “Empress, for what did you ask me over?”

After making her salutations, Zhao Huiying stood up and pulled the anxious Baili Anqing over. “Your Majesty, I am to blame for neglecting my duties. Too many things have happened in the Palace these past few days. So I didn’t notice something was wrong at that moment. Seeing that Princess Anning and Princess Anqing are about to get married, I helped them check their dowries today. I didn’t expect that the dowries of the two of them would be drastically different.”

Hearing this, Baili Qingcang’s brows furrowed even more tightly. Normally, he did not pay much attention to the princesses. However, they were all his children. He might not take them seriously, but he did not allow them to be bullied. “What’s going on?”

Fangxue immediately presented the two dowry lists.

Baili Qingcang glanced coldly at the contents of the lists and slammed them on the table. “The dowries of the two princesses were prepared by the Internal Affairs Department. How could it make such a mistake?”

There was no need to check it carefully. It was obvious at a glance that there were drastic differences between the two lists.

The chief of the Internal Affairs Department Xiao Qi ran over with sweat all over his head. After entering the hall, he immediately knelt down, “Greetings, Your Majesties and Your Highnesses.”

Baili Qingcang tossed the dowry list to Xiao Qi. “Were those lists prepared by the Internal Affairs Department?”

Xiao Qi hurriedly took two steps on his knees and picked up the lists. After examining them carefully, he reported, “Your Majesty, the lists were prepared by the former chief of the Internal Affairs Department.”

Zhao Huiying said with a fierce gaze, “Xiao Qi, I just asked Fangxue to get the lists from the Internal Affairs Department this morning. It has been a while since you took over the Internal Affairs Department. So you are not supposed to say that you do not have time to update the lists of the Internal Affairs Department when the princesses are about to get married.”

Xiao Qi respectfully kowtowed. “Your Majesty, it’s been ten days since I took over the Internal Affairs Department. During this period, I have been busy tidying up the Internal Affairs Department. I knew that the two princesses were about to get married and I must pay more attention to their dowries. So I have been busy with the preparation and didn’t dare to slack off at all. I have been supervising the Internal Affairs Department in preparing the dowries all day long but didn’t know that the dowry lists had not been updated. It was only when Your Majesty summoned me that I took a look at the backup dowry lists of the Internal Affairs Department. I didn’t expect that the lists were not updated in time. I deserve to die. Please punish me, Your Majesty.”

Baili Qingcang lowered his head to look at Xiao Qi and reluctantly accepted this explanation. “You were chosen by me personally. I also believe in your capacity. Have the princesses’ dowries been prepared?”

“Your Majesty, everything is ready.” Xiao Qi replied respectfully.

“Do you mean that only the dowry lists have not been updated yet?”

“Yes.”

“Since that’s the case, then Empress, let’s check them for ourselves. Anning and Anqing, follow us to take a look too.”

Xiao Qi hurriedly stood up and respectfully followed Baili Qingcang towards the Internal Affairs Department.

A smile flashed in Shen Ninghua’s eyes. No wonder a few days ago, Chu Junyi smiled and told her to watch a good show in the Palace. She knew at the moment that his so-called good show was this one today.

Previously, the person in charge of the Internal Affairs Department was from the Zhao family. In other words, the dowry lists were prepared by the Zhao family. The Empress thought that she had succeeded in finding fault with the Internal Affairs Department, but she did not know she was actually exposing the wrongdoing of her family!

The Empress’s expression remained normal, but hints of anger could be found in her eyes. The Xiao family was really tough. Even a humble chief of the Internal Affairs Department Commander dared to challenge her!

When they arrived at the Internal Affairs Department, all servants had already knelt on the ground and they bowed respectfully to welcome Baili Qingcang and others.

Xiao Qi stepped forward and said, “Your Majesty, because Princess Anning and Princess Anqing will get married in eleven to twelve days, I and others are checking the dowry and don’t dare to make any mistake. The dowries are stored in the back hall. Your Majesty, please take a look.”

Baili Qingcang strode in and saw all the dowries in the hall. There were more than a hundred boxes. Some of them were open while some were sealed with stickers. Each box was pasted with a piece of paper. When he got closer, he saw that the paper recorded the contents of the box and the lower part had a signature.

“What is this?”

“Your Majesty, written on the paper are the names of items in the box. The signature below is the name of the person who checked the items of the box. When a box has a problem, I can check the number of the box to know what items were in the box and who was responsible for inspecting the box.”

“Did you think of this method by yourself?” Baili Qingcang’s expression eased up a lot. This method was simple and effective. It was not easy to make mistakes in such a well-organized manner. It was really a good method.

“Your Majesty, I was also extremely annoyed before. It was Lord Chu who thought of this method. After having a trial, I found that it was extremely effective. So I put it into use.”

“Chu… Do you mean Princess Zhaohua’s husband, Chu Junyi?”

“Yes, the imperial son-in-law Chu.”

“Good. He has always been an extremely intelligent person.” Baili Qingcang nodded in admiration as he thought of the recent events that Chu Junyi had accomplished.

Shen Ninghua smiled. She lowered her head as if she felt shy, making Baili Qingcang’s smile even more obvious.

She smiled and said, “In fact, this method was used when I inspected my dowry. At that time, there were too many items, so I asked the servants in my mansion to help me inspect them. Considering that the servants might not check them clearly or there might be some damage to the dowry, I asked them to write down the names of items in the boxes on a list and sign their names. In this manner, subsequent inspections would be much easier.”

Baili Qingcang smiled and said, “Alright, Anning and Anqing benefited from your method too.”

Shen Ninghua smiled and remained silent.

Baili Qingcang turned to look at the Empress. His expression turned unhappy. “Empress, you said there was a problem with the dowries. Do you think the problem is solved?”

Zhao Huiying hurriedly bowed and said, “Your Majesty, it was all due to my negligence that I made such a mistake. Please punish me.”

Xiao Qi hurriedly knelt on the ground. “Your Majesty, this issue is all due to the negligence of the Internal Affairs Department. It presented the original dowry lists to Her Majesty, which resulted in the misunderstanding of Her Majesty and disturbed Your Majesty. Please punish me, Your Majesty.”

Zhao Huiying’s gaze became even colder. This Xiao Qi implicated the former chief of the Internal Affairs Department in this issue. Apparently, he was going against me. Was this his idea or the Xiao family’s idea?

Shen Ninghua stood there quietly. Her eyes swept across the dowry boxes in front of her one by one. Suddenly, her gaze paused. “Are these dowries exactly the same?”

Xiao Qi replied, “Your Highness, because Princess Anning and Princess Anqing were conferred with the same title, most of their dowries are the same. However, because their mother consorts have different titles, some of their dowries are different due to the Palace etiquette and taboos.”

“Lord Xiao is considerate. No wonder I found that some items written on the boxes were different.”

Baili Qingcang turned to look at the chief eunuch. “Where are the two original dowry lists?”

“Your Majesty, they are here.”

After taking the lists, Baili Qingcang swept his eyes over them and snorted heavily. “Empress, I remember that Zhao Yunde was previously in charge of the Internal Affairs Office, right?”

“Yes.”

“Humph, he was really careless. I entrusted him with the management of such a big Internal Affairs Department. He actually couldn’t even know what items are taboos to the two princesses. Moreover, you are the Empress, the mother of the country. If you can’t even perform your duty well as the mother of our children, how can you be a model for the women of the country?”

Hearing those harsh words, Zhao Huiying’s face turned pale. “Please forgive me, Your Majesty.”

“Xiao Qi, you’ve done a good job. Keep it up. I don’t want to see the Internal Affairs Department in its old shape. Clear away the disloyal persons in it.” With these words, he was clearly expressing his dissatisfaction with the Empress.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Zhao Huiying knelt on the ground. Her fingers clenched into fists so tightly that her palms almost bled. Originally, she wanted to use this issue to let Baili Anqing know how low her status was as an unflavored princess. Then, she would make up for the dowry with her private treasure, attempting to rope her in and making her a pawn in the future. She didn’t expect that her plan would be foiled by a humble chief of the Internal Affairs Department!

“Your Majesty, it was my negligence that led to such a big mistake and caused Your Majesty to suffer. As their Mother Empress, I would surely care about the marriage of the two princesses. That is why I overreacted. Please forgive me, Your Majesty.”

Baili Anqing stepped forward and said, “Father Emperor, Mother Empress is kind to us and she was afraid that we would be treated unfairly. That is why she disturbed Father Emperor. She did this out of her love for us. If she were to be punished for this, how could we as her daughters face her? Please consider it carefully.”

Shen Ninghua glanced at the calm-faced Baili Anqing and she suddenly remembered the shy look on her face when she saw Bu Jinglan in Chengqian Hall in the past. Did such an introverted and plain princess start to change? Who would be stupid if they could live a peaceful life in the Palace?

“Father Emperor, younger sister Anqing is right.” Baili Anning also stepped forward to intercede for the Empress.

Shen Ninghua followed suit and knelt. Although she did not speak, she had already made her position clear.

Baili Qingcang nodded and felt a little impatient. “Alright, get up. Empress should properly handle the wedding ceremonies of Anqing and Anning and should not act indiscreetly during the wedding.”

Zhao Huiying’s heart skipped a beat. She immediately understood that Baili Qingcang was angry about her leaving early at the wedding banquet of Shen Ninghua. Although he did not say it clearly, this was the first time he had warned her like this. “Yes, I understand, Your Majesty.”