After the laughter, the Hidden Guard had almost bought back the medicinal herbs.

Su Jin rubbed her cheeks and began grinding the medicine.

When she finished, she took Xingxing to the General Workshop.

Ever since the crossbow car had been made, Su Jin hadn’t visited the General Workshop. Her sudden arrival made everyone think she was up to something new again.

The General of the Workshop, usually by the book, developed an interest in research since Su Jin gave him the blueprints for the crossbow car.

After all his years in the military, he knew how hard it was to get promoted, but after making the crossbow car, he advanced a rank.

Plus, Su Jin’s casual remarks proved invaluable to him, like the Zhuge Crossbow—making a crossbow usable with one hand, capable of shooting ten or more arrows at once, with even greater lethality.

Seeing Su Jin, the General of the Workshop hurried to greet her. Walking a bit too quickly, the spanking he received still smarted and hadn’t quite healed.

He saluted Su Jin, saying, "What brings the Princely Heir’s Wife here? Do you have any orders?"

Su Jin replied, "I came to see the blueprints for the crossbow car."

Such a small matter was hardly a matter at all.

The blueprints were a secret; they were carefully hidden by the General of the Workshop. After Su Jin looked them over, she whispered a few words to him.

The General of the Workshop was stunned, a wave of anger uncontrollably flowing across his face.

He forcibly suppressed his rage.

Su Jin said, "I’ll take the blueprints back to see if we can make any further improvements."

The General of the Workshop smiled and said, "If the Princely Heir’s Wife believes so, it surely can be done. The brothers and I at the workshop eagerly await your success."

Su Jin took another tour around the General Workshop and then left with the blueprints back to the camp.

By noon the next day, Xingxing returned the blueprints to the General Workshop.

By the night of the third day, the blueprints for the crossbow car had been stolen.

When the theft was discovered, it was already the fifth day.

The General of the Workshop took out the blueprints to study them and realized they had been stolen.

A stone thrown into a pool stirred a thousand waves.

The crossbow car, with its devastating power, had its blueprints stolen—a tremendous loss for the court.

Marquis Dongxiang was furious.

The General of the Workshop confessed his negligence in guarding the blueprints to Marquis Dongxiang.

Marquis Dongxiang wanted harsh punishment for the General of the Workshop, but Su Jin pleaded, saying, "To silently steal the blueprints for the crossbow car is the act of either a traitor or an inside job. The crossbow car represents General Li’s efforts; surely, he is more eager than anyone to catch the thief."

"The blueprints were just lost; perhaps they haven’t left the camp yet. Father, give him a chance to make up for his mistake."

Marquis Dongxiang was famously indulgent towards his daughter. With Su Jin pleading, he would certainly show leniency.

The General of the Workshop hurried to investigate how the crossbow car’s blueprints had gone missing.

Without even being able to ascertain the exact time they went missing, how could he expect to find clues easily?

After two days of investigation, there were no results.

Inside the camp tent.

Su Jin was having tea.

Xingxing was sitting and reading a letter.

It wasn’t a letter someone wrote to her; it was one she was writing to the Emperor.

When writing to Madam, she could write seven pages in one breath, with small, densely packed characters.

Letters to the Emperor were written in larger characters, yet she only filled three pages, with four pages left blank, not knowing what else to write.

She looked at Su Jin, "Miss, do you have anything you’d like to say to the Emperor?"

"No," said Su Jin.

"... ..."

Xingxing was tempted to include that in the letter.

She feared Eunuch Fu would send someone to scold her.

The Emperor was the Miss’s biological father. If the Miss had nothing to say to him, how could a maid have anything?

She had spent a whole page flattering the Emperor.

Xingxing chewed her pen thoughtfully.

No matter how hard she thought, she couldn’t come up with anything to write. She certainly couldn’t write the formula for golden sore medicine to the Emperor.

She even wrote about how Prince NanAn, when going to Yinzhou, was blocked at the gates of Nanyang Marquis Mansion until he got an invitation, which had Miss laughing her belly sore.

Xingxing racked her brain and managed to piece together another page.

Even so, there were three pages left.

She lost count of how many times she cursed the courier tasked with delivering letters to the Emperor.

Sending random letters just caused her trouble.

When she couldn’t figure out what else to write, she sought help from Xueling, who surely couldn’t help her.

Xingxing then asked others, whether she knew them or not, directly, "Do you have anything you’d like to say to the Emperor?"

Gradually, a crowd gathered around Xingxing.

Everyone chimed in with words, and Xingxing didn’t know who to listen to. Her mind was overwhelmed, so she said, "Hold on, I’ll get some paper and a pen."

With so many people talking, how could she remember everything?

She brought over a stack of paper.

The soldiers spoke, and she wrote.

Su Jin didn’t see hide nor hair of Xingxing all afternoon.

She lifted the tent flap and stepped out, just as Xueling was helping Qin Hanhan walk over.

Su Jin asked them, "Have you seen Xingxing?"

Xueling covered her mouth, suppressing laughter.

Su Jin, puzzled, looked at her and then at Qin Hanhan.

Qin Hanhan couldn’t help but laugh, "The family letter Xingxing is writing for the Emperor will keep him occupied for half a day."

Upon inquiry, Su Jin realized what Xingxing was up to.

Su Jin stood speechless, lines forming on her forehead.

Xingxing, that maid, always had a clever head on her shoulders.

Hopefully, the Emperor wouldn’t be furious upon reading the letter.

The soldiers in the army came from all over Daqi. Even if they never got to meet the Emperor, they surely had things they wished to say to him.

When Xingxing asked, they all began sharing everything.

They spoke of things they’d heard or seen firsthand about various government officials committing all sorts of atrocities, and Xingxing, being honest, wrote down exactly what she heard.

With so many soldiers around, Xingxing’s arm was nearly worn out from writing.

A family letter comprising two hundred pages, and she couldn’t part with a single page.

Xingxing gritted her teeth and bound the pages together with thread.

Hm.

One volume wasn’t enough, so she split it into two.

Wrapped in silk, she sent them to the Capital for delivery.

When the family letter reached the Emperor, he was stupefied.

No matter the quality of the writing, the volume was certainly moving.

Xingxing, that maid, was just being honest.

The Emperor eagerly opened the letter.

After reading four pages, his brows were tightly knitted.

He flipped quickly through the rest.

The more he read, the more his brows furrowed.

Seeing this, Eunuch Fu asked, "Your Majesty, what’s wrong with the family letter?"

"This isn’t a family letter," the Emperor said with lines on his forehead.

"This is the thickest impeachment memorial I’ve ever seen."

Eunuch Fu, "... ..."

Two impeachment memorials, with a few pages of family letters, were sent to fool him, the Emperor.

If Xingxing had been present, she would have been caned.

The Emperor rubbed his temples and tossed the "family letter" to Eunuch Fu. "Read it to me."

Eunuch Fu fumbled to catch the "family letter" and began to read, "The son of the County Magistrate in Changling County forcibly took a civilian girl. When the girl’s father went to demand her return, he was beaten to death... ...."

"Send someone to investigate," ordered the Emperor.

"... ..."

"In Meishan Village, a road was repaired, and villagers are charged for usage. The one collecting fees is the nephew of the Master of Yuzhou Prefecture."

"Send someone to investigate."

"... ..."

"In Lixian... ..."

"Send someone to investigate."

"And in Yu County... ..."

"Send someone to investigate."

"... ..."

Eunuch Fu looked at the Emperor, "Your Majesty, do I need to continue reading?"

The Emperor’s eye twitched as he waved his hand, "Send it to the Minister of the Ministry of Justice. I have a headache."