Chapter 493 Getting Rich

Xiao Jingfan looked at her, "Did you see where the key was in your dream?"

[Of course the key is with the owner of the box.]

Chu Liuzheng shook his head, "It's not in the dream, just chop it off."

"Let me do it." Lu Fei did not use a knife, but took out a piece of wire, squatted down and inserted the wire into the keyhole of the copper lock and poked it.

The lock didn't open, the wire broke inside.

Everyone: “…”

"Let me try." Chu Liuzheng was eager to try it. He pulled out a hairpin from his hair and squatted down to fiddle with the copper lock.

Xiao Jingfan squatted down and watched her tinkering.

The others looked at each other, and except for a few guards, they all squatted down. From a distance, it looked like several mushrooms had suddenly grown on the ground.

There was a click sound, and Chu Liuzheng's face lit up with joy: "It's open!"

At the same time, a sharp arrow shot out from the forest and hit Chu Liuzheng's eyebrows.

Lu Fei raised his hand and blocked the arrow with the back of his knife, causing it to deflect and hit a peach tree not far away.

“Swoosh!”

Two more arrows came.

One was blocked by Lu Fei, and the other was kicked away by Si Yue.

Xiao Jingfan protected Chu Liuzheng and stood in the protective circle of the guards. He ordered in a cold voice: "Capture him."

The guards took the order and left.

They were in a remote location and there were no other tourists besides them, so they did not cause any disturbance.

A quarter of an hour later, a short man was brought in front of Xiao Jingfan and Chu Liuzheng.

"Earth-slipping Star!" Miyue stared at the man and exclaimed in surprise.

Everyone looked at her, and Lu Fei asked, "Who?"

Siyue pointed at the man and said, "He's a famous thief in the martial arts world. Because he's short and thin, and his martial arts skills are so impressive, he earned the nickname 'Di Liu Xing.' Rumor has it that there's nothing he can't steal, and he can even come and go freely in the palace. I once saw his portrait in... "

"Miss, you might have made a mistake." The guard who caught the man said, "This man runs very slowly, he doesn't seem to be able to perform Qinggong." Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to catch him so easily.

"Very slowly?" Mitsuki stared at the man's face for a moment, then squatted down to take his pulse and frowned. "His internal energy has been crippled."

Hearing this, Lu Fei squatted down, pinched the man's face, and looked around. Finding no signs of disguise, he asked, "Are you Di Liuxing, the thief whose capture the court has offered a reward for nearly ten years but has yet to catch?"

"What's this Diliuxing? I've never heard of it." The man's eyes shrewdly rolled around. "I'm Grandpa Xiao."

"Who do you think you are?" Lu Fei slapped the man, knocking out two teeth. He spat out a mouthful of blood and said with a swollen face, "I..."

Lu Fei slapped him again, and the other side of the man's face also swelled up. He cried, "My last name is Xiao, and I call you Grandpa."

He was wrongly accused!

Everyone: “…”

What a crappy name!

Chu Liuzheng clicked his tongue.

[This name is quite advantageous.]

Lu Fei then asked, "Why are you shooting arrows at us?"

"I buried that box!" the man said aggrievedly. "You stole my things, so what if I shot you with two arrows?"

"You make a lot of sense." Lu Fei handed him over to two guards for a body search. After a while, a bunch of hidden weapons were found.

Chu Liuzheng pulled Xiao Jingfan's arm and looked inside.

[As expected of a retired thief, he has quite a lot of self-defense items.]

"Eh?" Zhou Yuande asked suspiciously as he squatted down to check the box. "The lock isn't open."

[Of course not. I didn't activate the lock picking skill. I just wanted to sneak out.]

"Maybe it's locked again." Chu Liuzheng said, "The keyhole is blocked, so we might as well just split it open."

Hearing this, Lu Fei came over with a knife in hand.

The sword bestowed by the emperor can cut iron like mud and can easily cut open a copper lock.

In case there was a mechanism in the box, Lu Fei asked a guard to carry the box away and raised his hand to strike out a palm wind.

The lid of the box suddenly opened and a puff of white smoke floated out.

Everyone raised their hands to cover their mouths and noses, and only put down their hands when the mountain breeze blowing through the peach blossom forest blew away the white smoke.

The box was filled with golden light, even more dazzling than the sunlight.

【Wow~ I’m rich! 】

Chu Liuzheng immediately pulled Xiao Jingfan over and squatted down to count the gold.

Xiao Jingfan tilted his head to look at the words engraved on the inside of the box lid.

The characters are even smaller than tiny calligraphy and look quite difficult to write.

[Why read the autobiography that someone carved on Diliu Xing when you have gold to burn? Just bragging about yourself takes up a large portion of the page. The tyrant must be too idle.]

Chu Liuzheng picked up all the gold and saw some silver notes underneath, all with large denominations of 10,000 each. There were twenty of them in total, which means 200,000 taels.

Compared to these silver notes, the gold on them is nothing.

【Hey, I’m rich, I’m rich! 】

She picked up a silver note, folded it in half again, and put it into her sleeve pocket in front of the emperor, then pushed the box towards the emperor.

[I'm not greedy, I'll just take 10,000 as a reward, and use the rest to replenish the tyrant's treasury.]

Ten thousand compared to hundreds of thousands wasn't really too greedy, so Xiao Jingfan was willing to give it. He generously handed over another silver note and told Lu Fei to take the rest and exchange it for cash at a bank to deposit into the national treasury.

As for Diliuxing, send it to Shuntian Prefecture and hand it over to Dong Yi for disposal.

The group came with great excitement and returned with great success.

In the carriage, Chu Liuzheng, who was tired from playing, leaned on Xiao Jingfan's shoulder and yawned.

Xiao Jingfan held her in one hand, fanned her with the other, and whispered, "I have something I want to discuss with you."

Chu Liuzheng, who was about to fall asleep, opened his eyes with difficulty after hearing what he said and asked, "What's the matter?"

"My mother is old, and Yan'er is still young and has a boisterous temper. I'm afraid he might disturb my mother's peace. I want to take Yan'er out of the Wanshou Palace. Who in the entire harem do you think is the most suitable person to take care of Yan'er?"

[Eh? I haven't done anything yet, and the tyrant actually wants to take the eldest prince out of Wanshou Palace. Is the tragedy of the original world line just like that?]

[As for who should take care of the eldest prince... Of course, his mother is the best. However, the queen has made so many mistakes, it's only a matter of time before she's deposed. The tyrant won't allow her to take care of the eldest prince anymore. As for the others in the harem... There are only a few who are high enough to take care of the eldest prince.]

Chu Liuzheng analyzed it in his mind.

[Shufei should be the most suitable person to take over the Phoenix Seal. However, Shufei already has a princess. If she also has a prince, she would be better than the empress, if not the queen. Moreover, since the fall of Duke Zhong's Mansion, Duke Ying's Mansion has become very proud and powerful. Even for the sake of balance, the tyrant would not leave the only prince in Shufei's care.]

[Whether it's family background or means, Consort Chun is more than capable. However, her family background is simply too good. Unless Consort Chun can give birth, the tyrant probably won't want to increase her leverage with the Grand Tutor's Mansion.]

[Xie Jieyu? What's the difference between raising her with Xie Jieyu and raising her in Wanshou Palace? We can't let the tragedy of the original world line happen again.]

[This leaves only Yu Guipin and Shao Liyi. Both of them are foreign princesses. Logically speaking, unless they give birth to their own children, it is impossible for them to raise the children of other concubines, especially the eldest prince born by the Queen.]

(End of this chapter)