During the sacrificial rites, An Jing stood next to Ning Wenxian, the Crown Princess Consort.
Xiao Changyi, accompanied by four youngsters, stood below Su Chengyu, with Su Muchen on the other side of the children.
Originally, the four youngsters should not have been standing directly between Xiao Changyi and Su Muchen, since Su Muchen was the Imperial Grandson. However, because Xiao Changyi was the only one who could keep them well-behaved, the Emperor of Xiyun granted special permission for the youngsters to stand in front of Su Muchen.
The Emperor of Xiyun stood at the very front.
Xiao Changyi was next after him.
Xiao Changyi, being Prince Yi, the foremost among all the princes, and older than Su Chengyu, his sworn brother, could have stood alongside Su Chengyu, the Crown Prince. But due to the need to look after the four children, Xiao Changyi stood just below Su Chengyu.
By the time the prayer and ancestor worship ceremony had fully concluded, it was already a quarter past the hour of Shen.
And just as the ceremony ended, the Emperor of Xiyun received some disturbing news that immediately infuriated him.
Frightened by the Emperor’s fury, everyone present, except for An Jing’s family, knelt down, crying out, "Emperor, calm your anger!"
The disturbing news was that the Chilin Kingdom had also managed to produce white paper...
Originally, only Xiyun could produce white paper, and by selling it to other countries, had earned a considerable amount of coin, enough to fill the treasury even without collecting taxes. But now, Chilin was also able to make white paper; thus, Xiyun had gained a competitor and would experience reduced income...
An Jing, observing the secret agent who knelt trembling because of the Emperor’s in anger, calmly inquired, "Has Chilin developed white paper on their own by discovering the raw materials, or has someone from our Xiyun leaked the secret?"
The raw materials for making white paper were considered a state secret, as they were extremely profitable and vital for filling the treasury. Hardly anyone in Xiyun knew about them.
Upon hearing the term "leak", the agent trembled even more, stammering in response, "My... My reply to your Highness, I do not know. Oh, also, Princess Chengyin has been elevated from Consort to Imperial Consort."
Princess Chengyin was none other than Linghe.
Linghe had given birth to a son for the Emperor of Chilin last year.
Upon hearing the agent say that Linghe was now Chilin’s Imperial Consort, An Jing found it suspicious and exchanged a glance with Xiao Changyi. She was about to speak when she overheard Su Chengyu saying, "There seems to be a manager in the paper mill who is a distant relative of the Prince of Pingjun."
The Prince of Pingjun was Linghe’s father, and a manager in the paper mill was the Prince of Pingjun’s distant relative; now that Chilin had just started producing white paper, Linghe had become the Chilin’s Imperial Consort...
Could this really be such a coincidence?
An Jing did not think this was a coincidence. She believed that this distant relative must have leaked the secret of making white paper to someone in the household of the Prince of Pingjun, who in turn leaked it to Linghe, who then informed the Emperor of Chilin. That’s how Chilin also began producing white paper, leading to Linghe’s elevation to Imperial Consort.
The Emperor of Xiyun also did not believe this was a coincidence. Upon hearing Su Chengyu’s words, he grew even angrier and immediately ordered the arrest of everyone in the Pingjun Prince’s Mansion and that distant relative.
This matter was to be investigated by the Minister of Justice.
If the Pingjun Prince’s Mansion was indeed guilty of treason, they would decimate their Nine Clans without mercy.
Seeing that the Emperor of Xiyun was still immensely furious after giving the orders, An Jing paused for a moment and then spoke up again, "Royal Father, your immense anger stems from two issues, one is the potential betrayal against Xiyun; the other is that another nation can now produce white paper, leading to significant financial loss for us in Xiyun." She paused, "I have an idea, it won’t stop Chilin from making white paper, but it might help Xiyun increase its revenue."