Even women who travel through time can become prime ministers and nobles.

Chapter 452 Chuzhou Gets Back on Track

The three immediately took office.

Shuyun first spent a day sorting through the government's documents, classifying the backlog of official documents according to their importance and urgency, and then talked to each clerk to understand their abilities and responsibilities.

In just three days, she brought order to the previously chaotic affairs of the government office.

Those officials who used to be perfunctory no longer dared to slack off under Shuyun's strict supervision.

Qin Xin then led several female officials to the resettlement site.

Instead of distributing supplies directly, she first visited each household, noting down the number of people in each family, their needs, and even specifically asking about the children's ages.

There was a little girl named Niu Niu. Because her family was poor, she didn't have a warm coat as winter approached. Qin Xin specially asked someone to pick out a warm piece of fabric from the cloth they brought and made a little cotton-padded jacket for Niu Niu.

When Niu Niu ran up to Qin Xin wearing her new cotton-padded jacket and sweetly said, "Thank you, sister," Qin Xin's eyes also reddened.

"Supplies must be distributed, but more importantly, they must reach the hearts of the people."

Qin Xin said to the female official beside her, "Only by knowing what they truly need can we put their minds at ease."

Qinglan's actions were even more swift.

As soon as she took over the cement workshop, she improved the production process and taught the craftsmen how to control the temperature and the fineness of the grinding, which greatly improved the quality and output of the cement.

When repairing the river embankment, she personally led the craftsmen to measure and construct, and even invented a kind of "precast cement slab".

After mixing cement and sand, pour the mixture into a mold to form slabs, which are then used to build river embankments—this method is not only time-saving but also more robust.

"Lord Qinglan, your method is absolutely brilliant!"

The foreman couldn't help but admire the river embankment built with precast concrete slabs.

"In the past, it would take a month to build one zhang (approximately 3.3 meters) of river embankment, but now it can be built two zhang (approximately 6.3 meters) in just three days!"

Qinglan smiled and said, "These are all methods that the adults taught me. I just made some slight modifications."

With the three of them sharing the burden, Shi Wanxia was finally able to free up her hands to deal with more important matters.

She began to plan the long-term development of Chuzhou: to build a large trading market outside the city to facilitate the buying and selling of goods by the people;

To open a school in the city so that children from impoverished families can also receive an education;

They also planned to expand the scale of the cement workshop and sell cement to neighboring states to increase Chuzhou's revenue.

The changes in Chuzhou are evident to all the people.

The streets used to be lifeless, but now you can see vendors setting up stalls and merchants on their way everywhere.

In the past, children would stay at home and dare not go out, but now the sound of reading aloud can be heard every day at the school gate;

In the past, people would look disgusted when they mentioned the prefect's office, but now when they mention Lord Shi and Shuyun, Qinxin, and Qinglan, everyone gives them a thumbs up.

"Lord Shi is truly a good official!"

"Lord Shuyun is fair in his dealings, Lord Qinxin is kind-hearted, and Lord Qinglan is capable!"

"Our Chu Prefecture is finally saved!"

When these words reached Shi Wanxia's ears, she was in her study looking at a map of Chuzhou.

Shiqing walked in, smiling, and said, "My lord, listen, the people outside are all praising you."

Shi Wanxia raised her head and looked out the window.

Summer sunlight streamed through the window lattice, falling on the map on the table and illuminating every corner of Chuzhou.

She said softly, "This is not my achievement alone; it belongs to all of us."

"But... there's still one thing that hasn't been resolved."

Shi Qing knew that she was referring to the investigation on Cui Zhihao and Cui Yu'an's side.

Inside the Chuzhou prison, the atmosphere was unusually heavy.

Choi Ji-ho and Choi Yu-an sat outside the interrogation room, listening to the sounds of torture instruments clashing and suppressed breathing coming from inside. Their faces were so dark they could drip water.

In the interrogation room, Wang Wan'er was tied to a rack, her clothes already stained with blood, her face covered with wounds, yet she still gritted her teeth and refused to utter a single plea for mercy.

For several days, Choi Ji-ho used every kind of torture instrument imaginable: whipping, clamping, branding irons...

But Wang Wan'er was like a stubborn rock; no matter how much she was tortured, she refused to reveal a single word about the remnants of the Rongyang King.

"Speak! Who is your lord? How many remnants of the Rongyang King are still in Chuzhou?"

Cui Yu'an walked into the interrogation room, took a piece of paper, and slapped it in front of Wang Wan'er.

"This is a secret letter found in your residence. Who exactly is this 'lord' mentioned on it? If you tell me, I might spare your life!"

Wang Wan'er raised her head, a cold smile curling at the corner of her lips.

Her voice was so hoarse it was almost inaudible, yet it carried a fanatical resolve: "How could you people possibly know the name of my lord?"

“If you kill me, others will do the work for me. This world… will be ours sooner or later.”

Cui Yu'an was so angry that his face turned pale. Just as he was about to order the torture to continue, Cui Zhihao walked in and waved his hand, saying, "That's enough, stop for now."

Stepping out of the interrogation room, Cui Yu'an couldn't help but ask, "Third Uncle, are we just going to let her go like this?"

"She's almost at her limit. If we use torture again, she might confess!"

Choi Ji-ho shook his head, his gaze deep: "She couldn't hold on any longer, but she would rather die than confess, which means she has something more important than life itself."

“Using torture again will only hasten her death, and then the trail will truly be lost.”

He walked to the window, looked at the high walls outside the prison, and continued, "I've already interrogated Yuan Xiaomiao."

"He's a complete idiot. All he knows is how to make money and play with women. He knows nothing about the remnants of the Rongyang King's faction and was just used by Wang Wan'er."

“Wang Qinian does know a little. He said that he and Wang Wan’er have a one-way communication, and Wang Wan’er always gives him instructions. He has never seen any other remnants and does not know where their hideout is.”

"What should I do?"

Cui Yu'an frowned. "Are we just going to let this go? The remnants of the Prince of Rongyang are hiding in the shadows, and they will be a threat to Lord Shi and Chuzhou sooner or later!"

Choi Ji-ho was silent for a moment, then said, "If the hard approach doesn't work, we'll try the soft one."

"Have someone investigate Wang Wan'er's past, see if she has any family, friends, or anything she cares about."

"Everyone has weaknesses, and she is no exception."

"In addition, Wang Qinian said that Wang Wan'er goes to a dilapidated temple outside the city to burn incense every month. Have someone keep an eye on the vicinity of that temple and see if anyone has been in contact with her."

"Okay! I'll get on it right away!"

Cui Yu'an immediately turned around and left.

Choi Ji-ho remained outside the interrogation room, looking at Wang Wan-er through the window.

She leaned against the rack, her eyes closed, her face showing no fear, only a deathly resolute expression.

Choi Ji-ho knew in his heart that this woman was far more difficult to deal with than he had imagined.

In a corner of Chuzhou, a man dressed in black stood in the shadows, watching the commotion outside the prison.

He held a secret letter in his hand. After reading it, he immediately lit it with a tinderbox, watched the letter turn to ashes, and then turned and disappeared into the darkness.

A few days later, Cui Yu'an's investigation yielded results. Holding a file, he hurriedly found Cui Zhihao: "Third Uncle, I found it! Wang Wan'er was an orphan when she was young and was adopted by an old nun at Ciyun Nunnery outside the city."

“That old nun passed away five years ago, and Wang Wan’er goes to pay respects at her grave every year.”

"In addition, we also investigated the dilapidated temple that Wang Qinian mentioned. We found that every month on the fifteenth, a person dressed in gray goes there to burn incense. Each time, he leaves a package and then leaves."

"What's in the package?" Choi Ji-ho asked immediately.

"It's not clear yet."

Cui Yu'an shook his head, "We dare not disturb him, we can only wait until he comes next time to investigate."

However, we found a note hidden in a crack in the wall of the dilapidated temple. It read, "October 15th, prison break."