The Regent’s Little Emperor (20)
Bai Weiwei watched the favorability fall. “Slagstem.”
Slagstem: “?”
Bai Weiwei: “I hate you, hate you, hate you to death.”
Slagstem: “…”
Xie Yunting seized the memorial, also losing his good intentions.
Apart from the flattery, the remaining memorials were all regarding national events.
With the new year approaching, the assessment and settlement of all the local officials was a troublesome matter.
The border was also suffering from raids by the Xiongnu1, which was also a huge concern.
The treasury was empty, and there were outside forces greedily eyeing the palace. All of this was a huge hassle.
Such matters, if the abilities were even a little lacking, with soft legs and weak eyes, nobody would think it was a good idea.
And the little emperor’s character was known to both the government and the public.
She was mediocre and unaccomplished, and if she weren’t the empress’ child, it would have been impossible for her to take the position of the crown prince.
Xie Yunting didn’t know why he wanted to take these memorials and deliberately make things difficult for her.
Maybe it was to make it clear to her that the position of emperor was beyond her abilities or to make her give up earlier.
Bai Weiwei grabbed the memorial and brush, her expression absent-minded.
“Hmph, Minister of Revenue this old fellow, pretending to be pitiful again. He thought we didn’t know his thoughts? Afraid that the budget for the Ministry of Military Affairs would be too large, saying that the treasury is empty, and he won’t be responsible for any trouble.”
Xie Yunting raised his brows and looked up at her.
But he saw she had already read through the Ministry of Revenue’s memorial.
He took it and saw, she not only wrote down the Ministry of Revenue’s budget but she also casually corrected the calculations while she was at it.
There was a flash of shock in his eyes.
“The Ministry of War this group of idiots, the border has been raided several times and fighting amongst themselves in their free time. Send a military supervisor down there to clean up.”
Bai Weiwei also gave the Ministry of War’s memorial a critical review.
She was so fast that Xie Yunting was amazed.
“And what’s this about a marriage alliance?”
Bai Weiwei suddenly took a memorial, angrily beating and yelling at Xie Yunting.
Xie Yunting looked up and saw her eyes burning with anger.
Her beauty was suppressed by her cold and imposing manner.
Just where was she like the mediocre Crown Prince, the cowardly puppet emperor.
He couldn’t help but answer: “The Xiongnu only asked to wed their princess, so…”
Bai Weiwei glared daggers at him and interrupted. “So you agreed. Xie Yunting, so you had this sort of plan this whole time?”
These words, this atmosphere, as though he were just a humble subject.
And as if she were still high above and not an emperor who had gone through changes in the palace.
But for a moment Xie Yunting forgot how powerful he was now, and was so oppressed by her that he couldn’t answer.
She sneered and rapped her knuckles on the memorial. “Such a shameful thing as a marriage alliance, and you agreed. Even if the treasury is empty, even if there is civil unrest in the palace.”
Indeed, it was because he had used up too much energy during the civil war.
So he wanted to use the marriage to give him time to finish cleaning up the outside forces.
Only after he smoothly took the throne would he fight the Xiongnu.
But under Bai Weiwei’s ice-cold eyes of accusation, he couldn’t voice these reasons.
Bai Weiwei threw the memorials into his arms. “I had thought Tai Fu was amazing and could govern the country immaculately. It turns out that you’re just using an innocent woman to exchange for peace.”
To send a noble-born2 princess to a foreign land3, likely unable to live beyond a few years.
Xie Yunting was hit by the memorial she threw and suddenly became clear-headed.
“It was rumored that when the emperor was crown prince, his talent was mediocre, his decision-making slow. It seems this rumor is not credible.”
1: 匈奴: translates as either Huns or nomadic people.↩
2: 金枝玉叶: golden branch, jade leaves; blue-blooded nobility, particularly a member of the imperial family or a peerless beauty.↩
3: 塞外: beyond the Great Wall.↩