Chapter 66 is a remarkable person.

Prince An opened the letter and frowned upon seeing the handwriting. Ugly, truly ugly. Even if he wanted to conceal his identity, there was no need to write so badly.

However, although the handwriting was ugly, it was still legible. He read it quickly, then unconsciously sat up straight and read the letter carefully again.

He handed the letter to the man, whose expression turned serious after reading it. He asked, "Your Highness, is what this says true?"

"Whether it's true or not, we'll find out by checking," said Prince An.

After a while, he asked again, "Has anything special happened in the capital these past few days?"

The man thought for a moment and said, "The most special thing is the matter between the Duke of Chu's mansion and the Earl of Qingshan's mansion."

Prince An frowned slightly as Jiang Yu's calm and beautiful face appeared before him. He had his own informants in the palace, and what happened in the Imperial Study that day was no secret, so he knew everything Jiang Yu had done.

It must be said that this eldest daughter of the Duke of Chu's mansion is quite a character.

"Is there anything else?" Prince An asked again.

The man frowned and thought for a while before saying, "Xie Lei, the second young master of the Xie family, got into a fight at the dock yesterday and almost killed someone."

“The Xie family,” Prince An murmured. “The letter also mentioned the Xie family. And the second young master of the Xie family just happened to be fighting with someone at the dock. Isn’t that too much of a coincidence?”

The man thought for a moment, then said, "I'll go and investigate right away."

Prince An hummed in agreement. "Investigate everyone mentioned in the letter."

"Yes." The man bowed and left. Prince An gazed at the night outside the window, lost in thought. After a while, a servant's voice rang out from outside, "Your Highness, Prince Rui has sent someone to deliver something."

Prince An snapped out of his reverie and said, "Let them in."

The door was pushed open, and a man in his thirties walked in. He bowed and said, "My master said that he had a question that he couldn't figure out when it was your birthday, so he missed it. He asked me to bring you a birthday gift."

The eunuch handed over an exquisite box. Prince An opened it and saw a wooden object, which was neither a bird nor anything else, lying inside. He took it out and looked at it, asking, "Is this something that Uncle has been researching recently?"

The eunuch nodded, "Yes, His Highness is studying how to make this wooden bird fly."

Prince An examined the wooden bird closely again, but it wouldn't fly no matter how he looked at it, unless it possessed magical powers. He put the wooden bird back into the box and said, "Tell Uncle Wang that I really like it. When I have time, I'll go have a drink with Uncle Wang."

When the eunuch heard that Prince An wanted to drink with Prince Rui, his face showed reluctance. "Your Highness, please don't mention drinking. Last time you drank with my prince, he had a headache after getting drunk, which the Empress Dowager and the Emperor talked about for days."

Prince An smiled helplessly, "Alright, I'll go have tea with Uncle Wang next time."

The eunuch smiled and said, "My lord has been talking about you all day. He would be very happy to know that you were going to see him."

Prince An smiled and said, "Don't worry, I will definitely go."

The eunuch bowed to Prince An and then withdrew. Prince An picked up the wooden object and fiddled with it for a while before getting up and placing it on the display shelf. Those shelves were filled with his treasured possessions.

...

Xie family

It was so dark at midnight that you could hardly see your hand in front of your face, but the light was still on in the study of the main courtyard of the Xie family mansion.

The old patriarch of the Xie family, Xie Yun, sat silently in his armchair. Although over seventy years old, he was vigorous and showed no signs of decrepitude.

Several other people were sitting in the room: Xie Yun's eldest son, second son, third son, and eldest grandson Xie Ning'an. All four were silent, their faces solemn.

After a while, Xie Yun's aged voice rang out, "So, the scheme to get Jiang Chengye to buy the ship has been exposed?"

"Yes," Xie Zihui, the Second Master Xie, said. "The boatman, the eldest son of the Chen family, and the madam of Qimeng Tower have all suddenly disappeared."

"Did the Duke of Chu intervene?" Xie Yun asked.

Xie Zihui hesitated for a moment before saying, "It should be. I had someone investigate the situation at the Duke of Chu's mansion. The news that came out was that Jiang Jiarong instigated Jiang Chengye to steal the dowry of the heir apparent's wife to exchange for silver. The Duke of Chu was furious and put the father and son under house arrest. They are being dealt with."

Xie Yun chuckled, "It's just a smokescreen. That old fox Jiang Jinglan is quite shrewd this time."

The Duke of Chu was named Jiang Jinglan.

"Perhaps the Duke of Chu has already found out about us," said Xie Zizhang, the old man.

“It’s not a possibility, it’s certain,” Xie Yun said. “We’re not hiding very well; a careful investigation will uncover it.”

"So what do we do now?" asked Xie Zihui, the Second Master Xie.

Xie Yun paused for a moment and then said, "Hurry up and clean up the tail. Second brother, you don't need to go out from now on. Third brother, you go and clean up the tail."

"Are we just going to let it go like this?" Xie Zinan, the Third Master Xie, asked.

“We must stop now,” Xie Ning’an, the eldest son of the Xie family, said to Xie Zinan. “Third Uncle, we don’t know how the Duke of Chu’s mansion will retaliate. Our people are in their hands, so we must be prepared.”

"That old man, the Duke of Chu?" Xie Zinan, the Third Master, said with a hint of disdain. "The Duke of Chu has been hiding since he resigned from his post. Would he fight back? In my opinion, Jiang Chengye has already bought the ship. This is the evidence that the Duke of Chu's mansion is smuggling salt. If it gets out, they'll be in big trouble."

"Third Uncle, you're thinking too simply." Xie Ning'an's face showed disapproval. "The people are all in the hands of the Duke of Chu. They might already have something on us."

Xie Zinan realized he had been oversimplifying things. He glanced at Xie Yun, shrank back, and remained silent. Just then, Xie Ning'an spoke again:

"Regarding the matter between the Duke of Chu's mansion and the Earl of Qingshan's mansion, the Duke of Chu's mansion acted swiftly and ruthlessly. This is enough to show that the Duke of Chu has not, as we thought, sheathed all his sharpness."

Xie Yun nodded in agreement, "Ning An is right, we need to be prepared. Third brother, hurry up and finish up, be careful and don't miss anything."

Xie Yun spoke, and even if Xie Zinan didn't care about the matter, he sat up straight and answered seriously. Seeing his serious attitude, Xie Yun felt somewhat relieved.

“I don’t think we need to worry too much,” said Xie Zihui, the old man. “Even if the Duke of Chu has something on us, we also have something on Jiang Chengye for ‘smuggling salt.’ He won’t expose us.”

Xie Ning'an frowned upon hearing his words. Xie Yun, seeing this, lowered his eyes and said, "That's fine then. The three of you go back and rest. Ning'an, stay."

The three brothers turned and glanced at Xie Ning'an before getting up and leaving. Once they were gone, Xie Yun looked at Xie Ning'an and asked, "What did you want to say?"

Xie Ning'an leaned forward, looked at Xie Yun, and whispered, "Grandfather, given the way the Duke of Chu has dealt with the Earl of Qingshan this time, do you think he might retaliate against us?"