The shopkeeper glanced at them. Without the Princely Heir’s token, you want to charge it to his name?
"Young lady, if you truly belong to the Uncle’s Mansion, surely you have a token from there. Our shop serves many nobles and dignitaries, and quite a few ladies from the Uncle’s Mansion favor our fabrics. If they need to charge, they use the Eldest Prince’s token or pay with their own silver taels."
With more people gathering around, Ruan Jiao’s face lost its luster, and she glared fiercely at Ruan Mian.
Pointing at her nose, she roared angrily, "It must be you, you stole my token!"
Ruan Mian confidently handed a few silver notes to the shopkeeper while holding the animal skin garments.
With the shopkeeper watching, she waved her hand, "Don’t bother giving me change, use the surplus to give some fabric to the young lady who can’t afford it, so she doesn’t pretend to be from the Uncle’s Mansion again."
After speaking, she ignored Ruan Jiao’s expression and walked out of the shop without hesitation.
Ruan Jiao chased a few steps, holding onto her unsteady hairpin, and shouted.
"The Ruan Mansion is about to be exiled! I wonder how long you as a discarded woman can still act arrogantly?! Just wait to die on the exile road, your corpse exposed in the wild!"
Ruan Mian never intended to waste time on Ruan Jiao.
Even if she hadn’t taken the token, she had ways to make her swallow her words.
The immediate priority is to get everything ready.
Just the Qi Mansion’s food clearly wasn’t enough to sustain them on the exile road.
And the food from the planting space requires time and tasks to acquire.
They naturally couldn’t wait that long; they would stock up on as much existing food as possible.
Aside from that, she needed to meet an important person—Prime Minister Xie.
Xie Huai’an, young and promising, is one of the Holy Emperor’s most trusted confidants.
In the original novel, he was Qi Nanfeng’s arch-enemy, a stumbling block against Qi Nanfeng’s meteoric rise.
Ruan Mian knows that at this moment, Xie Huai’an is secretly investigating a case under the Emperor’s command, involving the Chen Anbo Mansion.
Ruan Mian knows from the book it’s Qi Nanfeng’s tactic, as in the book, Qi Nanfeng was part of King Yan’s faction, with much of his rise backed by King Yan.
So she headed straight to the largest pleasure boat in the Capital City—Shuyu Pavilion.
With pavilions standing tall, a few elegantly decorated boats floated slowly in the snow-laden small pond.
The faint sound of pipa floated in from the night, carried by the evening winds in all directions.
The name Shuyu Pavilion is elegant, but to the average eye, it resembles a brothel, a place for the idle sons of noble families and high-ranking officials in the Capital to relieve their boredom.
She handed over some broken silver to the attendant and under their lead found the pavilion where Xie Huai’an was located.
Upon her arrival, the man in plain-colored robes looked over slowly, his eyes carrying a hint of curiosity.
Before he could speak, Ruan Mian took off her bamboo hat, "Mr. Xie."
She performed the curtsy of a lady, and before surprise could register on his face, Ruan Mian calmly stated her purpose.
"I am the daughter of the Ruan Family, a merchant family in the Capital City. My elder brother is the Hanlin Editor, Ruan Qingsong. Today, I’ve come to disturb Mr. Xie for a particular matter."
Her face was gentle, yet her exquisite face carried a gallant spirit not typically seen in women.
Xie Huai’an merely took a sip of tea, unchanged, "Ah, you are Mr. Ruan’s younger sister."
After speaking, he placed the tea lid down, "You indeed disturbed me today. If you came because of Mr. Ruan, then it is entirely unnecessary. Mr. Ruan wrote blasphemous verses that angered the Emperor; a few words won’t clear his path."
Ruan Mian nodded in agreement and continued, "I did not come to plead for you to spare my brother, but rather to propose a transaction with Mr. Xie."
"Oh?"
It was the first time that Xie Huai’an had seen a woman coming to propose "a transaction" with him.
Ruan Mian stood up, took out several ingots of silver from her pouch, and placed them on the table.
"I know where the thing Mr. Xie is investigating came from. If you can transfer my brother from the third basement level of the Ministry of Justice to the first basement level to spare him physical punishment, I will tell you."
At this moment, Xie Huai’an in the book is investigating the folk song of a fallen kingdom, and Ruan Qingsong was framed for singing treasonous words, pulled into the case by Qi Nanfeng and Li Shen, and sacrificed as the scapegoat.
Ruan Mian must change the situation!
Though exile may be inevitable, she must not let Ruan Qingsong die in jail.
Xie Huai’an smiled slightly, "How can I believe you?"
Ruan Mian expected him to say that, "This matter involves the Princely Heir of Chen Anbo Mansion, Li Shen. I know quite a few things about Li Shen, including the fact that he bears the wild goose totem of King Yan’s faction."
Hearing this, Xie Huai’an furrowed his brows slightly. How did a merchant’s daughter know about this?
King Yan harbors treasonous intent, and the fact that some of his early supporters had the wild goose totem on them was little known.
He had already traced it to Li Shen, and his presence there was incognito, covertly tailing Li Shen.
In his thoughts, Ruan Mian spoke directly, "If Mr. Xie has doubts, then please come and see with your own eyes if what I say is true."
Her gaze fell towards the pavilion’s lower reaches, where faint laughter from women emanated from the swaying boat.
Ruan Mian glanced at Xie Huai’an, and before she acted, Xie Huai’an signaled to the people beside him with a gesture.
Several men in black suddenly leapt out, armed with bows, and released a volley of flaming arrows!
Instantly igniting the small boat!
Moments later, several scantily clad men and women screamed and scrambled ashore.
Ruan Mian immediately spotted the bare-chested Li Shen and quickly looked at Xie Huai’an, "The totem is at his lower abdomen."
Xie Huai’an and his men went forward, rescuing the panic-stricken Li Shen onto the shore, followed by his concubines collapsed on the ground wearing only belly bands.
The teasing scene instantly attracted the attention of everyone on the boat.
Li Shen, indifferent to shame, roared, "Who dares to be so bold!!"
Seeing his rescuer was Xie Huai’an, he hurriedly bowed, "Thanks to Mr. Xie for the rescue."
Xie Huai’an remained calm, he swept his gaze across Li Shen’s lower abdomen and indeed saw the inconspicuous totem.
Apparently, the Ruan Family’s young lady wasn’t just speaking nonsense; daring to approach him for a transaction meant she had some courage.
Now Ruan Mian walked to Xie Huai’an’s side and noticed that among the group of laughing concubines drawing attention, Ruan Jiao looked visibly embarrassed.
Ruan Jiao naturally recognized her.
Instantly furious, she stood up, "Ruan Mian? Why are you here!!"
She still remembered the scene of being humiliated by Ruan Mian during the day, and now encountering her during her most embarrassing moment, concluding that the boat fire certainly was Ruan Mian’s doing!
"Husband~"
She clung to Li Shen, gritting her teeth and accusing, "During the day, she made me lose face, she stole the token you gave me, and just now, it’s surely connected to her!"
Ruan Mian quietly stood closer to Xie Huai’an, calmly saying, "I was with Mr. Xie, how could I have burned your boat?"
"You couldn’t do it alone, surely you were with Mr. Xie..."
"What are you saying!"
Li Shen immediately interrupted her, Ruan Jiao hadn’t reacted yet, "I said this Mr. Xie and she were in cahoots, they..."
Before finishing her sentence, Ruan Jiao suddenly realized this Mr. Xie... is...
The next moment, Li Shen slapped her face, "Wretched woman! Mr. Xie is the Prime Minister, how can a concubine like you casually speak his name?"
Ruan Jiao, with tears in her eyes, dared not speak further, and thus in front of everyone, slapped her own cheeks several times as apology.