The ministers' eyes trembled as they stared blankly at their colleagues, led by Jiao Hongmiao, who dismounted with swaggering vigor, marched straight up to Emperor Mingze's carriage, and bowed respectfully. "Master, Hongmiao has arrived late!"
Those three words, "has arrived late," were particularly forceful, particularly heartfelt, particularly...
Double-edged.
He sounded as resolute as if he had raced hundreds of miles just to say that one sentence.
No sound came from inside the carriage for a moment. Jiao Hongmiao's expression did not change in the slightest as he continued, "Master, is the young miss also in the carriage? This old servant passed through Qu Chun on the way and brought her some local specialty pastries."
The emphasis fell on "Qu Chun." At that point, the ministers led by Pan Jifeng who could not hear the little girl's thoughts also understood the main purpose of this group's journey.
"..."
Well, this-
This was a little awkward.
Although the gold and silver had never entered the state treasury, and they had obtained those funds with Emperor Mingze's approval...
For some inexplicable reason, this scene left them feeling as ashamed and helpless as children who had secretly stolen a huge sum to buy toys while the adult in charge of the household money was away, only to be caught afterward.
The ministers sheepishly put away the weapons in their hands, dawdled back to the carriages, carefully returned everything to its proper place, and took the opportunity to clean the interiors as well.
-Anything to avoid facing the faintly sorrowful, indignant looks those men cast their way.
For a long while, no one answered from Emperor Mingze's carriage.
Standing outside with several fellow "aggrieved parties" who had received no money, Jiao Hongmiao was suddenly overcome with sorrow and could not help letting out a loud