When he said this, Mu Wan's eyes flickered, and the hatred became sharper. The huge mockery and malice made her feel ridiculous, and she didn't understand why it came to this.

Mu Wanyao: "Are you trying to gain sympathy? I abandoned you? You abandoned me! When you chose to take this step... you planned to break up with me from the very beginning! You gave up on me from the very beginning! You are the bad guy! You are the one who bullied me!"

Yan Shang's face looked a little pale under the candlelight.

I don’t know if it was because of her words or because he had lost too much blood during life in prison.

His lips just trembled, but he accepted her words. As long as she was happy, she could accept whatever she wanted.

Mu Wan looked at him like this and her eyes became even colder.

She forced him to look up at her, and attacked him with all her thorns: "Are you satisfied with the current situation? Because so many people dislike you, even if you walk out of prison, you will offend most of the officials in Chang'an... right? Even if you don't die here, you will be killed by others after you get out. Without my protection... who cares whether you live or die! Those people wish they could drown you with their spit.

"But you treat me like this!"

Mu Wan shook his head and shouted at the top of his lungs: "Yan Shang, I lost everything, but you didn't win either!"

Yan Shang lowered his eyes. The more pain he felt in his heart, the paler his face became, but he remained silent. He let her vent, let her beat him, let her look at him with hatred.

They agreed to separate, but his heart was torn apart, how could Mu Wanyao feel good?

He had no rebuttal.

Mu Wanyao hated the way he was so submissive. It was because of his gentleness that he deceived her and made her think that he would always be like this. But at some point, he was so cruel - "Speak, Yan Shang! Why do you have to take this step? Don't you know that you will also be a loser if you get involved? You are risking your life, who cares?"

He didn't want to argue, but he didn't want her to go further away.

Yan Shang said: "I am risking my life to seek justice. The civil and military officials in the court may not care and think that I am throwing an egg against a rock. However, the people do care. Yizhou, where the disaster occurred, cares. The many lives that died in the disaster in Yizhou care. After the disaster is over... the lives of the 72 people who were wiped out care!

"I know you'll wonder why I'm so impulsive. The Minister of Revenue is dead, but I still want to stand up. Yaoyao, this is not an impulse at all. I thought about it... I actually struggled for a long time. You blame me for going back on my word, but I also didn't expect that you would wipe out my entire family later."

Mu Wan shook: "What do you mean by exterminating the whole family?"

Yan Shang looked at her for a long while: "Don't you know?"

Mu Wanyao was silent for a moment. She really didn’t know what Yan Shang meant by the seventy-two lives.

But Mu Wan shook his head with a cold face: "Let's not talk about that for now. I have always known that you and I have subtle differences in our positions, but I have always thought that we can coexist peacefully. Because you are not a person who would rather break than bend. In fact, you are very flexible and smooth. You can make friends with people of all kinds of personalities...but this time I can't tolerate it.

"Even if...even if you are not happy with these things, you can wait until I stand firm before doing these things! You can wait until you have enough power in your hands before doing these things! It's not wrong to be patient. Being patient for a while is for the sake of reckoning later. But you choose to take action now! Not only are you heading for a dead end, but you also drag me down with you."

Yan Shang said softly: "Can I wait until you become powerful? Then our conflicts will only get bigger. With so many years between us, Your Highness and I will drift further and further apart, and we will be separated from each other. Do you think this is better, Your Highness?"

"Will I endure until the day when I am in power? How many people will die because of this? Some die every year, some die every year... Your Highness, is human life a number? Is it an achievement? Is human life just a trivial matter, insignificant in your eyes, and you don't even take a look at it? I will endure until that time and then settle the score... Even if I have endured for so many years without getting sick and can still maintain my current mentality, how turbid will the court be by that time! Is it right not to solve problems when they arise, but just to pile them up?

"Perhaps Your Highness will also ask me to make plans before taking action. Your Highness, this kind of thing will never be truly 'planned'. In ancient times, Shang Yang's reform ended with him being torn to pieces! Don't I know? For this kind of thing, no matter how much you plan, it will only be the final blow in the end. If the Minister of Revenue had not died, I would not have to stand up... But he died. If I don't stand up now, you will be alert to this, and it will be more difficult for me to break the situation in the future. Perhaps this is really the best opportunity to catch everyone off guard.

"Perhaps Your Highness thinks that I should wait until my power grows stronger. But power in the court... is not that easy. After all these years of wasting time, I am afraid my blood will run cold.

"Or maybe Your Highness thinks that I will die if I do this, and I should do something more meaningful if I let others do this. Your Highness, there is no such thing as letting others sacrifice themselves and reap the fruits of their labor. In Your Highness's eyes, the lives of people like Your Highness are worthy of respect. But in my eyes... they are all the same. My background makes it impossible for me to ignore human lives.

"The only one I feel sorry for is His Highness. And... my family."

Mu Wanyao listened to him quietly.

After he finished speaking, she said coldly: "Different classes, different positions. So you know that. But do you know that what you have done cannot cure the problems of the officialdom? Even if you bring down the Ministry of Revenue, it will only serve as a warning to the officialdom. In time, it will come back again. Unless you eliminate it from the root... But this kind of thing cannot be eliminated from the root.

"The people you want to protect died because of what you see as collusion between officials and businessmen, with superiors protecting subordinates. And the reason for this protection is that people like me want to maintain our own interests. When a disaster occurs, businessmen want to make a fortune from it, and officials want to make less trouble than more, and the whole situation will not change. Didn't the Minister of Revenue take care of the affairs below? He did. He sent you to provide disaster relief. What if you make a fortune in the process?

"You also work in the Ministry of Revenue, and you know how many people ask for money from it. Doesn't the military pay at the border cost money? Doesn't the repair work at the Ministry of Works cost money? Even the selection of officials at the Ministry of Personnel... doesn't cost money?

"I know you're going to say that it's okay to be a little greedy, but we've gone too far. Yan Shang, who's going to decide what's too much? You? Can you guarantee that the water will be too clear to have fish after you make such a fuss? You've just pulled down the Ministry of Revenue and sent new officials, causing losses to me and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince... Is that a big deal?"

Yan Shang: “It means a lot.

"Because the matter has become so serious, His Majesty will inquire about it, and the excessive things that His Royal Highness has done will be stopped. Officials all over the country will see the loss of the Ministry of Revenue in this matter, and no official will dare to act so blatantly for at least five or six years. The court can select more supervisors and add more measures. The time gained by this is very necessary."

Mu Wan shook her head: "Only five or six years."

Yan Shang: "Five or six years is enough."

Mu Wan shook his head sneerly: "Your life is only worth five or six years."

Yan Shang said calmly: "My life can be exchanged for five or six years of peace, I am satisfied."

Mu Wanyao said, "It seems like he has had enough of living and doesn't want to live anymore."

Yan Shang: "It's everyone's choice."

Mu Wanyao stopped talking.

After all, the two still have different positions and different ideas. He defends his, she defends hers. They can't convince each other, and they can't make each other bow down. This makes Mu Wan tired, sad, and makes her feel...

Mu Wan murmured, "You make me feel that in this world, no one loves anyone else."

It must be because you don't love that you choose this path.

After saying that, she felt that she had nothing more to say to Yan Shang, so she stood up and was about to leave. Who would have thought that Yan Shang had been so calm when he had expressed his thoughts before, but her words made his eyes suddenly red. When she stood up to leave, he suddenly raised his eyes to look at her and reached out to grab her wrist.

His eyes were slightly red, and the light in his eyes swayed like the tide.

Yan Shang's voice trembled a little: "Don't think so. Of all the things... what I fear most is that you will think this way.

"It was me who chose to walk this path. I don't deserve your love. I shouldn't have walked towards you that day. I regret it so much. I shouldn't have let you suffer from me... But don't think so. It's just that I'm not good, not everyone in the world is bad. Don't think that you can't get pure love because of me. Don't close yourself off and stop trusting anyone because of me.

"I finally got you to come out a little. I don't want you to hide back again.

"Actually, actually... I have left a way for you, but I was just afraid that you would not want to go.

"Have you ever thought about what the consequences will be if you and the Crown Prince continue to be so stubborn? If you are lucky enough, you will become a powerful princess, but you have witnessed his past, and the power in your hands overlaps with his. If you threaten him, will he take action against you? How can you cooperate with others without getting up early for no gain?

"Your Highness, you went to marry because of the checks and balances between the noble families and His Majesty. Now that you are back, you choose to cooperate with the noble families. You are threatened like this, so you want to get such power, which is not wrong. But in fact, you can jump out... People should move towards a good place, and don't always stay in the mud.

"Your Highness... don't be discouraged by this. Don't be heartless and lose love because of me. I don't deserve your Highness to do this..."

Mu Wanyao was held by his wrist, listening to him talking incoherently, which was very different from his usual self. He was pale, thin, with long hair. He looked up at her like the hazy moonlight, and she just lowered her eyes in a daze, and suddenly heard footsteps coming from outside. Mu Wanyao turned her head and saw that the prison door, which was only a crack open, was opened, and the officials from the Ministry of Justice appeared.

When he saw them, Yan Shang's cold fingers that were holding her wrist retracted as if they were scalded.

Mu Wanyao was just wondering when she heard the officials bowing and smiling at her flatteringly: "Your Highness, we should interrogate the prisoner and ask him some questions."

Mu Wan was surprised: "Interrogating the criminal? At this time?"

She looked up at the moonlight shining through the small window on the wall and asked, "The Ministry of Justice is interrogating the prisoner in the middle of the night?"

The officials smiled apologetically and said, "It is precisely at this time, when the prisoners are not as clear-headed as they are during the day, that we can get them to speak the truth."

The officials hesitated and said nothing more. Seeing that Princess Danyang and Yan Erlang seemed to have an unusual relationship, they were afraid that if they said more, it would irritate Princess Danyang. After all, she was a delicate girl and could not stand seeing their dirty deeds. There was no need to let the princess know that Yan Erlang had been tortured many times at night.

Mu Wan shook his eyes and looked a little confused.

She immediately realized what the officials meant.

Her face suddenly turned pale, and her first reaction was to look at Yan Shang who was kneeling at her feet. She saw the bloodstains on his white shirt again, and this time she thought that there were more injuries hidden under his clothes. She stood there in silence, and the officials thought that the princess had acquiesced, so they grabbed Yan Shang's arm and lifted him up.

Only then did Mu Wanyao realize that Yan Shang was so weak that he couldn't even stand up.

She opened her mouth to ask them to stop and not hurt him like this, but when the words reached her lips, they seemed to be burned and no sound came out.

Yan Shang is the enemy! The enemy!

Yan Shang was held by the officials. He tried his best to hide his injuries and walk on his own. But when he saw Mu Wanyao's helpless look, Yan Shang was silent for a moment, smiled slightly, and said softly, "Your Highness, can you leave here?"

Muwan was dazed.

He lowered his eyes and said firmly in a low voice: "At least... we have known each other for a while, Your Highness, please give me some dignity."

Mu Wanyao was confused: Would she make him lose his dignity just by watching him?

Mu Wanyao said nothing more, turned around and left. However, she did not really leave, she just walked towards the exit of the prison, but her steps became slower and slower. Because in the empty prison, only Yan Shang had the honor of interrogating the prisoners in the middle of the night.

Mu Wanyao heard the sound of whips waving, the officials' stern shouts and questioning, and occasionally the sound of water splashing.

Facing the direction of the prison exit, Mu Wanyao's back became stiffer and straighter.

She held her breath, not daring to listen any more, and quickened her pace as if escaping, leaving here.

Yan Shang is right.

She couldn't listen too much, let alone look at it.

Because...if she had only taken one look at him, she would never let them treat Yan Shang like that.

She would get hot-headed, she would cry, she would protect him...but he was so hateful!

She neither understood nor wanted to understand...she just wanted to fight for what she deserved.

He is dead... Even if he is dead, she will not shed a single tear for the man who betrayed her.

-----

Xia Rong saw the princess outside the prison.

She thought she would see the princess with red eyes or someone who had been crying.

However, Mu Wanyao was so cold, without any expression at all.

Xia Rong: "Yan Erlang..."

Mu Wan shook his head coldly: "He's dying. What? Do you want to be buried with him?"

Xia Rong didn't dare to ask any more questions.

-----

The case caused by Yan Shang continued to ferment, causing the entire Ministry of Revenue to be dismissed and investigated.

The Ministry of Justice has been very busy recently. This is a great opportunity to defeat the Crown Prince. However, the King of Qin is not as happy as he imagined.

The King of Qin was somewhat frightened by Yan Shang's ruthlessness in dragging everyone into the water. He was somewhat afraid that he would suffer the same blow as the Crown Prince today.

If Yan had not returned to the city that day and he had only interrogated the Minister of Revenue, the situation would not have developed to such an irreversible point... However, there is no if. Now that the court is paying attention to this matter, the King of Qin dared not take revenge on his own and would investigate as he should.

It was just one Ministry of Revenue, but it involved six other ministries. The Ministry of Justice was under great pressure, and the King of Qin could not help but blame Yan Shang for being too nosy, and had people secretly take revenge during the interrogation, so that Yan Shang would suffer more.

However, the King of Qin would not let Yan Shang die under torture.

The Dali Temple would kill Yan Shang after every trial, but the Ministry of Justice would ensure that Yan Shang would not die. At least Yan Shang should not die at this time... After the crown prince falls first, the King of Qin will not care how Yan Shang dies after he gets out.

-----

As the case was investigated, no matter how many people were unwilling or how many people were trying to conceal it, they had to watch more and more evidence being presented to the emperor.

The entire court was in an uproar.

The kickbacks that the Ministry of Revenue had taken in the past few years under the control of the Crown Prince were actually much larger than anyone could have imagined. The Ministry of Revenue had been empty-handed every year, and an unknown amount of money had flowed into the homes of the officials in the Ministry of Revenue. Many aristocratic families were involved, and many people used the Ministry of Revenue to make money.

The Ministry of War found out that the money they received every year was cut, but the Ministry of Works did not see much of a cut, and they were immediately dissatisfied.

The Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites were also arguing about who spent the taxes collected by the Ministry of Revenue in a certain year.

Yan Shang wrote down the old accounts of the Ministry of Revenue in a clear and logical manner during the trial. He found that the account books he saw when he was in the Ministry of Warehouse did not match the actual situation. So he tortured and sent people to the court... In the chaos, most of the officials were killed.

The prince and Mu Wanyao kept denying it, and when they couldn't deny it, they looked for scapegoats.

The official sent by the prince confronted Yan Shang in court, and was dismissed and exiled when he returned that day.

The officials on Mu Wanyao's side used their connections to ask the Ministry of Justice to turn a blind eye to the case. With the Secretariat, the Censorate and the Ministry of Palace Affairs supervising the case, the Ministry of Justice no longer dared to turn a blind eye.

The situation was becoming increasingly unfavorable to the Crown Prince. Gradually, the wind began to change. As a test, some people began to submit memorials to the Imperial Academy expressing their grievances. The memorials from the Imperial Academy were just laughed off, but as more memorials were sent in, it became extremely difficult for the Crown Prince and Mu Wanyao to deal with them.

The decline is inevitable.

Mu Wanyao had realized this after talking to Yan Shang. Although she was angry, she was calm. However, the prince was the most angry. He smashed the table in the East Palace many times and threatened not to let Yan Shang go.

The East Palace was filled with smoke every day. Mu Wanyao had originally wanted to discuss with the Crown Prince which ministers were reporting them, but now his ears were numb from hearing his words.

During this incident, the prince showed no emotion towards his staff and ministers. When he came back, he took out his anger on Mu Wanyao and used her as an outlet.

She just had a blank expression on her face, and the prince started to blame her again, saying that it was her indulgence that had allowed Yan Shang to reach this point. Mu Wanyao was annoyed that the prince always looked at her with suspicion, so she turned around and left immediately, which made the prince even more annoyed with her bad temper.

-----

Mu Wanyao was upset because of these things, so Xia Rong and Fang Tong urged her to go for a walk among the people to relax.

Mu Wanyao was reluctant at first, but she didn't want to go back and argue with the prince, so she was pulled out of the door by them.

At dusk in the afternoon, Mu Wanyao drove to the East Market. However, as soon as she entered the East Market accompanied by her maids, she felt that it was much calmer than usual, and there were not as many people as usual. Mu Wanyao was puzzled and asked Fang Tong to check. After a while, Fang Tong said that everyone was gathered in one place, so Mu Wanyao went over curiously.

Just as Fang Tong said, the people gathered in one place.

There was a tent there, young maids were serving tea and water, moving gracefully, and a young lady was sitting at a table, surrounded by people, talking in a flurry. The lady was writing, and every time a person walked out of the crowd, he could get a cup of hot tea from the maid.

It's just a free cup of hot tea, but it can attract all these people.

Mu Wanyao recognized the lady who was writing surrounded by the people as Liu Ruozhu.

She murmured, "What is Sister Ruozhu doing here? Could there be any precious books in the homes of these common people for her to collect?"

"Isn't it all for Yan Erlang?" A cold male voice came from the side.

Mu Wan shook her head and looked sideways, and saw a handsome man next to her.

She looked for a long time: "...Lin Yan?"

The man's face darkened: "My name is Lin Dao, and my courtesy name is Yanzhi."

Mu Wan shook her head indifferently: "Oh."

She asked, "Did you bring your sister Ruozhu here to play?"

Lin Dao said calmly: "It was her own idea. Originally, given Yan Shang's current situation, not many ministers would speak for him. Originally, those students should have supported Yan Shang... But Your Highness also knows that most of the students are from aristocratic families. This time, they probably heard from their elders not to stand up.

"Then the only way is to let the court listen to the real voices of the people. Ruozhu is collecting these... She will bring them to Yan Erlang, and I will present them to the emperor. The more such voices there are, the more the ministers in the court will be influenced."

Mu Wanyao's voice was even colder than his: "I know that the first memorial to the Hanlin Academy to speak for Yan Shang was submitted by you. Unfortunately, you were unlucky and were intercepted by the prince. The prince must remember you."

Lin Dao: "It doesn't matter. Anyway, I have been in the Imperial Academy for many years, and this is the worst that can happen to me."

Mu Wanyao: "You are also from a noble family, and so is Liu Ruozhu. I didn't expect that you would both support Yan Shang."

Lin Dao: "I'm not standing for Yan Erlang. Ruozhu stands for justice, and I stand for...her."

Mu Wanyao slowly raised her eyes and looked at him. She saw that his cold expression was full of tenderness as he looked at the young lady who was writing under the tent. Lin Dao looked at that direction intently, and his thoughts were obvious.

Mu Wanyao couldn't help but say, "She is so reckless and naive. I'm afraid that Prime Minister Liu would not even present these words about the common people to the emperor. Why are you helping her? Don't you know that this is completely useless? The right to speak is not here, but in the hands of the ministers in the court."

Lin Dao smiled.

He said, "I actually don't think it's useful. If Your Majesty wants to protect His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Yan Erlang will die in prison; if Your Majesty wants to protect Yan Erlang, after Yan Erlang is abandoned by the Crown Prince and His Royal Highness, he might be killed by those ministers after he comes out. What's the point of Ruozhu doing all this, except to cheer up Yan Erlang?"

Lin Dao paused for a moment, then said softly: "But I... just envy a fool like her. I just try my best to protect her."

He said: "Your Highness likes Yan Erlang, isn't it this side of him that he likes?"

Mu Wan shook her head coldly: "Who said I like him? He is a mortal who will soon be buried, and I am a princess high above. How could I like him?"

Lin Dao sneered but said nothing.

Liu Ruozhu turned her head, probably trying to find Lin Dao, but unexpectedly saw the princess standing and talking with Lin Dao. Liu Ruozhu was surprised for a moment, and suddenly her eyes lit up. She didn't know what she had misunderstood, and her eyes showed joy.

Liu Ruozhu said something to the maids and came over. She looked at Mu Wanyao with joy: "Your Highness is here too? I know that Your Highness loves the people like his own children. Your Highness was just implicated for some reasons. Your Highness is with us... Your Highness, do you want to write a few words too?"

Mu Wanyao: "I came here to go shopping. It was an accident that I met you."

Liu Ruozhu didn't believe it, and was convinced that she was just being stubborn and refusing to admit it. Liu Ruozhu felt that Mu Wanyao must have something to tell Yan Shang, and asked the princess if she was willing to take these words from the people and go to the prison to see Yan Shang and encourage him.

Mu Wanyao thought she was really stupid. The two sides were on opposite sides, so how could she possibly go to see Yan Shang.

Besides, she and Yan Shang have already separated.

But Mu Wanyao was confused and probably couldn't resist such a soft-spoken person, so she was pulled in by Liu Ruozhu. Mu Wanyao refused to help the people write, because it violated her position. But Liu Ruozhu stuffed the pen into Mu Wanyao's hand, turned around and helped the people write, leaving Mu Wanyao holding the pen in a daze for a while.

Mu Wanyao still did not help Liu Ruozhu.

Half a moment later, Lin Dao found a sentence left by Mu Wanyao from the handwriting of Liu Ruozhu and her maid:

"Love for heroes is difficult."

-----

I went for a walk in the East Market and found that Mu Wan was not in a good situation.

The next day, she was again reported by the court officials, who accused her of interfering too much in state affairs and asked the emperor to take good care of his daughter.

This must be another tactic of the King of Qin.

In the past, Mu Wanyao didn't care about such memorials. But on this day, when Mu Wanyao went to the Prince's Eastern Palace to participate in their government affairs, the Eastern Palace was polite and said that the princess had just received an impeachment and it was better for her to keep a low profile recently.

Mu Wan shook his head and was stunned.

After she returned, she sent a message to one of her ministers buried in the East Palace, asking him to tell her what the prince meant.

The minister whispered to the princess:

"It is said that a portrait of the princess was found in the brothel with Chunniang. The prince suspected that the princess and Yan Erlang had colluded to bring down the Ministry of Revenue."

Mu Wanyao immediately found it ridiculous: "The Minister of the Ministry of Revenue is dead! What good would it do me to bring down the Ministry of Revenue?"

The minister smiled bitterly: "I will help Your Highness persuade His Royal Highness the Crown Prince...His Royal Highness has had a difficult time recently."

-----

But who doesn’t have difficulty?

-----

In the quiet room, I close my eyes and think quietly at dusk.

It seems that the prince is going crazy.

Does she still want to tie the boat here?

Mu Wanyao hesitated for a long time, thinking of the way out that Yan Shang had left for her... She had some premonition in her heart, but she was not completely sure yet.

That night, Mu Wanyao drove into the palace to honor her father, the emperor. She had to save herself... She couldn't count on the prince who had turned against her!