When Chu Tianling finished his business and came over, he saw Zhou Tianqi sitting on the ground, laughing foolishly at a box of silver notes.

What are you laughing at?

Zhou Tianqi turned around, grinning foolishly at him: "Your Highness! Look! So much money! Enough to buy so many chicken legs! Hahaha..."

Chu Tianling walked over and looked at the large box of silver notes.

I felt a pang of emotion, wondering how much of the people's hard-earned money had been plundered from them.

"What are you thinking about?" Shen Jiaojiao asked, looking downcast as she saw him standing beside her.

"I was thinking that with so much money, we could save a lot of people." Chu Tianling rephrased, his gaze fixed intently on Shen Jiaojiao.

Sure enough, after he said that, Shen Jiaojiao looked at him differently.

He was secretly pleased; she really did like him this way!

He had previously noticed that Jiao Jiao seemed to have a particular fondness for doing good deeds, whether it was opening a private school or taking in people who were struggling to survive.

She always seems to be trying to do good things.

He would do his best to do whatever she wanted, and all of these things required money, so who would complain about having too much money?

"Tianling! Your idea is excellent; you will be a qualified and good emperor!"

Chu Tianling smiled rather reluctantly upon hearing this. He didn't have any particularly deep feelings about being an emperor, but this identity would allow him to better protect Jiaojiao and help her realize her wishes, so he was willing to do it.

He would be even happier if you confessed your feelings to him instead.

Zhou Tianqi lowered his head and remained silent, inwardly cursing himself for his lack of vision. Look at His Highness the Crown Prince, he only thinks of the people!

All he thinks about is eating!

Besides, this banknote isn't even mine, so why am I so happy?

"We'll rest for one night and leave tomorrow!" Chu Tianling suddenly announced his decision.

Shen Jiaojiao was startled, but looking into his eyes, she suddenly understood.

Since Liu Fugui is a member of the Liu family, there will definitely be some action taken in Jiangnan if something happens to him. The longer he stays here, the more likely he is to run into trouble.

"What about this side? Who will stay behind?" Shen Jiaojiao thought. The city lord had been captured; he couldn't just leave behind a mess and run away.

Chu Tianling walked to Shen Jiaojiao's side, hugged her in his arms, and only then did he feel alive again.

He closed his eyes and slowly said, "Don't worry! Fu Hang will stay behind to act as the city lord. I've written a memorial, and the new city lord is on his way. He'll take over for the next few days."

"It's good that Dazhuang is staying at the manor to recuperate. He'll come over from behind after the new city lord arrives and the handover is completed."

"This way, we can at least have a way out."

Hearing this, Shen Jiaojiao suddenly felt a sense of urgency.

Zhou Tianqi sat on the edge of the large wooden box, so embarrassed he almost died.

I'm such a big guy sitting here, and you guys just can't see me?

Or maybe we should just take the suitcase and go out!

Creak!

The sound of the box closing was very loud, and Zhou Tianqi secretly glanced back at the Crown Prince.

The other person looked at him in surprise, as if to say: What are you doing here?

Then his eyes darkened.

Zhou Tianqi gave him a silly grin, stared at his menacing gaze, picked up the box, stood up, and prepared to leave.

Chu Tianling then said to him, "By the way, Tianqi, go out and arrange for two people to escort this money back to the capital to be handed over to the Emperor. Then tell the other brothers to have a good dinner tonight and get ready to leave early in the morning."

"Yes! Your subordinate obeys!" Zhou Tianqi left without even turning his head.

He knew there was no need to turn back; turning back would only invite disdain.

Let's leave quickly and arrange the delivery of the silver notes first, then we can tell the cooks what to do.

Thinking about food made me quicken my pace.

Shen Jiaojiao pulled Chu Tianling to sit on a chair in the study, and the two exchanged information about what had happened since they separated.

He told Chu Tianling everything Liu Shasha had said.

As for Liu Fugui, perhaps knowing that his end would not be good, he, like the previous Liu San, said nothing and began to seek death.

He didn't have the time or the patience to interrogate slowly, so he could only leave it to Fu Hang and Da Zhuang to ask questions at their own pace.

Shen Jiaojiao leaned against him, recalling the information she had received during this period.

"Tianling, what do you think the Liu family is trying to do by constantly having so many children? Surely they don't have a throne to inherit in the family?"

Chu Tianling toyed with the long, black hair in his hand and said with some speculation, "Your statement isn't impossible!"

"How so?"

Chu Tianling closed his eyes, his voice magnetic: "Imagine if I hadn't survived back then, Chu Tianyang would have been the one to take over."

"According to my father, Chu Tianyang is not his biological son, and Consort Liu was sent up by the head of the Liu family. Chu Tianyang should have Liu family blood."

"Chu Tianyang's ascension to the throne means the Liu family has a successor to the throne, doesn't it?"

When Shen Jiaojiao put herself in that situation, it was indeed like that.

That makes some sense.

Do you remember the original plot where Chu Tianyang ascended to the throne after the short-lived crown prince's death, and he married Chen Baozhu?

Chen Baozhu has seven older brothers, all of whom are outstanding in their respective fields. Marrying her would be like marrying a powerful ally, making the throne more secure.

In other words, Chu Tianyang might not have truly loved Chen Baozhu in the original story.

Although I intervened in this life and didn't follow the original plot, many things from the original story remained unchanged.

If the events involving the Liu family in Jiangnan hadn't been discovered in the original storyline, then something even more terrible would have happened later on.

Therefore, the dense black mist surrounding Chu Tianling is not solely due to his own resentment.

He absorbed the resentment that had appeared in Peach Blossom Village.

It seems there are other people who died unjustly who harbor resentment towards the imperial power. In this life, the royal family only has one descendant, and all the resentment is concentrated on him.

The Liu family is truly shameless!

Chu Tianling noticed that she hadn't spoken for a while and was a little puzzled: "What are you thinking about? Why aren't you saying anything?"

These things are too mysterious to be explained.

"I'm thinking, there's another possibility behind the Liu family having so many children: they want to improve their genes!"

"I suspect that Liu family ancestor might have been a dwarf!"

"His constant childbirth is a form of genetic screening, aiming to select superior genes to pass on."

"If one parent is a dwarf and the other is normal, there is a 50% chance that their child will be normal."

"If that's the case, then it makes sense. That's why the children in Peach Blossom Village would disappear around the age of fourteen."

"Because dwarfs stop growing completely around the age of 14, imagine if a child looked like a child for decades, people would be terrified, and the news would have spread by now."

"There has been no news of dwarfs in Peach Blossom Village for so many years, so they must have found a special place to settle these people."

Shen Jiaojiao had guessed casually, but unexpectedly, following this line of thought went exceptionally smoothly, and all the previous inconsistencies became clear.

She had a feeling that this was the truth.