Bu Feizhang's face was as black as the bottom of a pot: "Since Your Highness knows you have no money, why did you agree to two hundred thousand taels? You, like Prince An and the Third Prince, only need one hundred thousand taels. You are all the Emperor's sons, why did you agree to so much!"

Trying to save face when you're not!

Now that he feels pain, he's come looking for his maternal grandfather.

He poops every morning, not money, yet it keeps being provided to him.

“Then, am I not the Crown Prince? Father Emperor said that I am both the eldest brother and the Crown Prince of Great Zhou. Do you expect me to take 100,000 taels like Zhu Yu? He is just a child who is neither loved by his father nor his mother, yet he can still take 100,000 taels. I am the Crown Prince, how can I be looked down upon by the world?”

Bu Feizhang's beard trembled with anger: "If that's the case, then why does His Highness the Crown Prince say he has no money now?"

"I..." Zhu Zhi felt quite wronged.

This fourth son, he left him absolutely no way out!

Why didn't the first two assassination attempts kill him? Are Li Quan and Lian Yongyuan both useless? They found an assassin who stabbed him in the heart, couldn't they have stabbed him a little deeper? Did they not eat?

Zhu Zhi was so angry that he was panting heavily.

Bu Feizhang couldn't be bothered to pay him any attention.

But then I thought, wait a minute, isn't Zhu Yu just a penniless man? That's 100,000 taels, not just 10 taels.

Zhu Zhi immediately became interested, his eyes shining: "Grandfather, where did Zhu Yu get so much money? Could he have embezzled military funds?"

Zhu Zhi thought about it more and more and felt it was possible. "It must be so. I will send my secret guards to investigate in a moment and report him to the Emperor. I will not rest until I have turned his Prince An's mansion upside down."

Bu Feizhang was so angry that he kicked Zhu Zhi in the shin.

He had actually wanted to kick him for a long time, but he had refrained from doing so in the Imperial Study. Now, he simply couldn't hold back any longer.

"Your Highness, be careful what you say! If Prince An were embezzling military pay, do you think those scoundrels in the Northern Army would be so loyal to him? The national treasury is empty, and military pay has been delayed for half a year. Where would Prince An go to embezzle? And open your eyes wide and take a good look at the people in the Northern Army. Is there anyone who has complained?"

Zhu Zhi didn't understand. He rubbed his calf, which was numb and sore from Bu Feizhang's kick. His grandfather was really something. Of all places to kick, he had to kick his calf tendon, which was now numb and painful.

He hesitated, then asked with a forced smile, "The Northern Army is extremely loyal to him? So they're willing to risk their lives for him even without money?"

Bu Feizhang almost vomited blood: "Your Highness, don't forget, Consort Duan's maternal family was the wealthiest merchant family in the previous dynasty."

The richest merchant of the previous dynasty couldn't have squandered everything so easily; these words were just meant to fool the old emperor.

"Didn't they say she had already squandered all her assets? Besides, Consort Duan doesn't like her son, so why would she be willing to give money to Zhu Yu?"

Bu Feizhang shut up. He couldn't get through to him, he couldn't get through to him at all. He didn't want to talk anymore. Why couldn't his grandson be more like his daughter?

So stupid and dumb, who the hell does he take after?!

Zhu Chen was in a great mood. After returning to the Third Prince's residence, he went to the room of his newly acquired concubine, Madam Xu.

His backyard was extremely clean. Apart from the Third Prince's wife, there were only two concubines. As for the other maids, they were just servants for his amusement.

This Ms. Xu was also a recent bride, whom she had taken in a month ago.

Upon seeing Zhu Chen, Madam Xu swayed gracefully and walked up to him, curtsied, and softly called out, "Your Highness, Third Prince."

The concubine was of average appearance, dressed in a lotus-green dress, but her cheekbones were slightly high, her mouth was not cherry-like, and her skin was not fair. However, she was slender and her waist was extremely thin, so thin that it could not be grasped in one hand.

Ignoring her face, judging by her figure alone, the Third Prince thought Xu was quite a beauty.

Zhu Chen smiled and wrapped his arm around Xu Shi's slender waist, pressing her against his chest.

Madam Xu blushed, her voice becoming even more alluring: "Your Highness, there are still people around."

As soon as Madam Xu spoke, a delicate fragrance of orchids filled Zhu Chen's nostrils, causing him to feel a surge of heat.

He knew this woman was a vixen, so he dared not easily enter the room, for fear of being bewitched.

Zhu Chen glanced coldly at the maid beside him, who hurriedly left the room and closed the door behind her.

The maid glanced at the tightly closed door with a puzzled look. The Third Prince had brought her into the manor and spent his first night here with the young lady, much to her dismay.

It's been a month already, what's going on today? It's broad daylight, why is he coming into the young lady's room?

The maid was completely baffled and, puzzled, shooed the people in the courtyard away a bit.

The sounds coming from inside the room made her blush.

All afternoon, Zhu Chen gave Xu a hard time, doing all sorts of things to her—by the dressing table, on the table, on the stool, on the bed, on the floor, in the bathtub in the bathroom, in front of her, behind her, above her, below her—a whole variety of things.

In the end, it was Xu who begged for mercy, saying she couldn't take it anymore, and only then did Zhu Chen let her go.

Both of her mouths were swollen beyond recognition.

Xu was carried back to bed by Zhu Chen. She was like a lump of mud, and she didn't even have the strength to lift her arms. It looked like her eyelids were about to close.

Zhu Chen kissed Xu's neck as he revealed his purpose.

Xu was too weak to do anything. She trembled as she was kissed, every pore on her body was extremely sensitive. She could only weakly point to the box she had brought with her with half-open eyes, and then put the key from under her pillow into Zhu Chen's hand before falling into a deep sleep.

Zhu Chen lingered for a few moments, then got up.

Although Xu's face wasn't particularly attractive, her body was certainly quite delicious.

Zhu Chen walked over, opened the box, put the 100,000 taels of silver notes in his pocket, and left the room.

He knew that the money and shops that Madam Xu brought from her family home were far more than that.

But a steady stream can last a long time, so there's no need to rush.

Zhu Chen came out of the room and saw the maidservant standing to the side with her head bowed. He instructed her, "Take good care of your master. Tell her that I will come again tomorrow."

He then left the courtyard with the silver, feeling perfectly justified.

Upon hearing this, the maidservant was so frightened that her legs went weak and she almost fell to the ground.

After returning to his residence, Ren Yushan changed his clothes, went out through the side gate, got into the same blue cloth carriage he had used before, and headed towards the residence.

Inside the room, the young man in black, who looked to be about twenty-six or twenty-seven years old and whom I had met before, was fiddling with the jade pendant at his waist.

That was his biological father's jade pendant.

His biological father died at the hands of the old emperor, a fact his mother witnessed and told him.

Ren Yushan talked with the man in black in that house for a long time until it got dark, and then he left through the back door.

No one knows what the two of them said, but when Ren Yushan left, he had a letter in his arms given to him by the man in black.

As Zhu Zhi had predicted, when he returned to the Crown Prince's residence, more than twenty women in the backyard swarmed towards him like flies to dung.