Soon, Lianxin came over carrying a food box.
"I thought carrying a cloth bundle would be too conspicuous, so I used a food box to hold it instead."
Lianxin noticed Princess Pingyang looking at the food box in her hands with slight surprise.
"You did very well."
Princess Pingyang nodded in approval.
The two passed through the second gate and walked toward the study in the front courtyard.
At this moment, Prince Pingyang was listening to the steward's report.
"You're saying the Princess wants to promote Granny Ni to manage the estate's plants and flowers?"
Prince Pingyang asked coldly.
"To answer Your Highness, yes. I have already sent someone to find a gardener."
"The Princess said that the estate's flora needs someone to tend to it during this period."
"I was thinking that if Granny Ni does a good job, she could serve as an assistant to the gardener when the time comes."
Prince Pingyang nodded.
"Mm, go make the arrangements."
The steward bowed and backed out of the room, just in time to see Princess Pingyang walking over.
"Greetings, Your Highness,"
the steward hurriedly bowed.
Princess Pingyang wore a smile on her face. "Go about your duties."
Princess Pingyang looked at Lingfeng, who was guarding the door.
"I made some desserts for His Highness. I wonder if he has time right now?"
Lingfeng bowed to Princess Pingyang. "This subordinate will go in and announce your arrival."
After a moment, Lingfeng came out.
"His Highness is available now. Please come in, Your Highness."
The steward watched Princess Pingyang enter the study before turning to leave.
Princess Pingyang walked into the study and saw Prince Pingyang holding a chess piece, deep in thought.
Princess Pingyang walked over and placed the food box she was carrying on the ground.
"Greetings, Your Highness."
Prince Pingyang did not even lift his head. "Pingting, you're here. Perfect timing, accompany me in finishing this game of chess."
Princess Pingyang walked to the opposite side and sat down, picking up the black pieces.
The two played back and forth, neither saying a word.
"Your Highness, I have lost!"
Princess Pingyang placed the chess piece in her hand back into its box.
Prince Pingyang looked at the state of the chessboard once more.
He reached out and pointed at a spot. "If you place your piece here, it will survive."
Princess Pingyang paused for a moment, then obediently picked up a black piece and placed it there.
"And the next step?" Princess Pingyang still couldn't see how to resolve the board.
Prince Pingyang placed the white piece in his hand onto a spot.
"Here." He tapped next to the white piece.
Princess Pingyang placed down another black piece.
She seemed to understand a bit more. When Prince Pingyang's piece fell again, she followed suit.
"Not bad." Prince Pingyang offered a rare compliment.
The two continued to play back and forth for about a dozen moves. Seeing that the overall situation was beyond saving, Princess Pingyang conceded defeat once again.
"Not bad, to be able to hold out until this point." Prince Pingyang satisfiedly placed his chess piece back into the box.
"It was all thanks to Your Highness's guidance; otherwise, I would have lost long ago."
Princess Pingyang smiled gently as she sorted the pieces on the board back into their respective boxes.
"Pingting, you are mistaken in saying so!"
"It is because you, Pingting, play too little and have experienced too little. Naturally, you do not know how to respond."
"As long as you see more, you naturally will not concede so easily."
Princess Pingyang's eyes flickered.
Why did she feel like there was a hidden meaning in Prince Pingyang's words?
Was His Highness blaming her for giving up too easily, or for having too little experience?
"Right, Lingfeng just mentioned that you made some desserts, Pingting?"
Prince Pingyang looked at Princess Pingyang, asking for the purpose of her visit.
Brought back to reality, Princess Pingyang stood up and knelt down.
"Please forgive me, Your Highness. Pingting has failed in managing the household and has come specifically to ask for punishment."
Prince Pingyang reached out and helped Princess Pingyang up.
"Did something go wrong somewhere? Tell me, there is no need to kneel!"
Princess Pingyang opened the food box, took out the account book given by the steward, and placed it in front of Prince Pingyang.
Prince Pingyang sat there without moving.
"This is...?"
"Your Highness, this is the account book the steward gives me every month."
Prince Pingyang took the account book and flipped through it roughly.
"Your Highness, please look at this one as well."
Princess Pingyang pulled out another account book from her sleeve pocket and handed it to Prince Pingyang.
The speed at which Prince Pingyang flipped through the pages visibly slowed down.
After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Prince Pingyang closed the account book.
"Pingting, where did you get this one?"
Princess Pingyang hesitated for a moment, remembering Duoduo's advice to be honest with His Highness.
"Just now, Duoduo was clamoring to go to the greenhouse to see the flowers."
"I couldn't dissuade her, so I took her and Yingniang there."
"When Duoduo went in, she happened to see the steward hiding something."
"She and Yingniang found this together."
"Previously, my health was poor, and I was merely living day by day."
"Therefore, I did not have much energy to manage the affairs of the estate."
"I thought that since the steward was arranged by Your Highness, I relied heavily on him for many matters."
"However, a few days ago, I suddenly noticed discrepancies in the accounts."
"I did not dare to alert the snake in the grass, so I could only wait until the steward handed over the accounts."
"But I searched for a long time and couldn't find any flaws."
"Fortunately, Duoduo found this, and I finally understood the whole story."
"It turns out the steward actually made two sets of account books, using a fake one to fool me."
"Your Highness, it is all due to my incompetence in managing the household. Please punish me."
Princess Pingyang felt very guilty.
Prince Pingyang trusted her and handed the estate's affairs over to her to manage.
Yet she had been fooled by the subordinates without knowing a thing.
Truly foolish to the extreme!
"Lingfeng!"
Lingfeng pushed the door open and entered.
"Hide this thing back where it was." Prince Pingyang handed the account book in his hand to Lingfeng.
"Yes, sir."
Upon seeing the account book, Lingfeng seemed to cast a somewhat surprised glance at Princess Pingyang.
Then, he quickly left.
Princess Pingyang stared blankly at Prince Pingyang.
"Your Highness, does Lingfeng know where to hide it?"
Prince Pingyang gently patted the back of his wife's hand.
"Of course he knows."
Princess Pingyang opened her mouth in astonishment.
But in a flash, she suddenly understood.
"Your Highness, you already knew the steward was cooking the books?"
Prince Pingyang slowly nodded.
"Not that early. It was discovered a while ago when Lingfeng was clearing out the spies in the estate."
"Then since Your Highness knew, why didn't you clear him out?"
"Are we just going to let him stay in the estate and empty out the princely manor?"
"Your Highness, is it inconvenient for you to step forward and handle this?"
"How about you leave it to me? I will definitely handle this matter well."
"No! Keep him for now."
Prince Pingyang's hand moved unconsciously.
"Because I want to know who the master behind him is."
Princess Pingyang froze for a moment.
"Even Your Highness cannot find out who is behind him?"
If even Prince Pingyang couldn't find out, the person behind the scenes must be someone capable of hiding the sky with one hand.
"Your Highness!" Princess Pingyang grasped Prince Pingyang's hand with heartache.
Prince Pingyang reassuringly patted his wife's hand.
"Are you afraid?"
