Chapter 71

The body of the son of the Minister of Revenue was hidden in the tribute shipped from the south by Baojiangfang.

There was a piece of document hidden inside the body, with a few words written on it: Manager Ren, and... I'm here.

As soon as the news came out, it caused an uproar in the government and the country.

Manager Ren was immediately taken into custody, the north gate inspection office was sealed off, and all related items were confiscated.

The son of the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue suffered a severe blow to the head and died instantly. There were no other wounds on his body that showed signs of struggle, and it was impossible to tell where the first place of death was.

According to the servant, Master Shu went to the eldest prince's mansion to attend a banquet, but the box containing the body was transported directly back to the imperial city from the river.

All kinds of twists and turns, unexplainable.

The only person who was apparently related to the incident, Chief Steward Ren, was found dead in his room on the night he was taken into custody, before the interrogation began.

He left a confession.

The general meaning is that Master Shu asked him to buy tribute from Baojiangfang river seafood, but he refused, but told him the transportation route of the tribute.

He didn't expect that Master Shu would go and steal the tribute directly. He didn't know what happened and died tragically in the box. He was deeply regretful and guilty, and couldn't sleep at night.

Therefore, he committed suicide.

-

Purple Palace.

Emperor Chongzhao sneered: "The confession is simply nonsense."

“Who can believe it after seeing it?”

Eunuch Yu: "It doesn't matter whether you believe it or not. Your Majesty, the most important thing is that this matter must be explained."

As for being the chief steward, he was giving instructions to the Minister of Revenue and the future Crown Prince's wife.

Emperor Chongzhao: "Not long after the marriage was granted, and a few days after the eldest prince held a banquet, his own brother-in-law died. Yu Decai, who do you think did this?"

"It could be those ministers who secretly took sides, or one of my sons. The second or third son? How long has he been in power?"

Eunuch Yu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said, "Maybe it was just an accident."

Emperor Chongzhao: "You are so surprised that you are frozen, right?"

He folded the confession slowly, tapping the pages with his fingers as he paced.

"However, I still have a question. If the purpose was to disrupt the marriage I had given to the eldest prince, the body should have been sent directly to the eldest prince's mansion. Why did it appear at the inspection and transportation office?"

Eunuch Yu did not respond. Emperor Chongzhao thought, "Maybe something went wrong, or maybe I'm overthinking..."

"Your Majesty, what about Minister Shu?"

Emperor Chongzhao handed him the confession and said, "Cut off the head of the 'confessed' and have the eldest prince send it to the Minister's residence along with the body."

"Give the Shu family's son a safe burial and tell him that the marriage between the Shu family and the eldest prince will not change. I will send the East Factory to investigate the matter carefully."

As for how long the investigation will take and whether the results will be revealed, it is hard to say.

If we really find out which prince it is, it would be fine to just tell His Majesty. But if we tell it out loud, it might be the Eastern Depot that will lose their heads.

Eunuch Yu: “Yes.”

Emperor Chongzhao: "However, if we destroy the relationship between the boss and the Ministry of Revenue, it will probably backfire this time."

-

The eldest prince brought the two bodies to the Minister's Mansion.

The house was already filled with white cloth and elegiac couplets.

Shu Wenxin was dressed in mourning clothes, standing in the yard, watching her elder brother's coffin enter the mourning hall with tears on her face.

The coffin was not opened. The body rotted very quickly after being frozen, and the weather was hot, so the corpse was already very rotten and smelled bad.

The eldest prince hesitated for a moment and walked to her side.

"Well, don't cry too hard."

Shu Wenxin raised her hand and wiped away her tears: "I've heard from my father. This matter can only be dealt with like this. It can't be investigated clearly. Your Highness, tell me, do you know something?"

Her voice was trembling, almost inaudible.

"Is it the Second Prince...? The Third Prince...?"

When she married the eldest prince, her brother got into trouble immediately. The time was calculated to be the day of the eldest prince's banquet. Only the second and third princes, or the court officials standing behind them, had the motive to disrupt the eldest prince's banquet.

The eldest prince: "I don't know about this either."

He said irritably, "But it is dangerous after all. If you don't want to marry me, I will tell my father clearly and will not involve you anymore."

"No, our engagement remains unchanged as your majesty said."

Shu Wenxin took a deep breath, her eyes red.

Father Shu also came over. In just a few days, he looked much older. He cupped his hands and bowed deeply to the eldest prince.

"From now on, my Shu family and the eldest prince are in the same boat."

Shu Wenxin: "I just hope I can find the murderer and kill him someday."

The eldest prince looked at her for a moment, then nodded vigorously and helped Shu's father up.

"Get up, get up. This is natural."

-

The matter of the death of the son of the Minister of Revenue has been temporarily settled.

When the news came that Wen Xiaochun was promoted to Chief Inspector of the North City Gate Inspection and Transportation Office, Qu Dubian knew that this matter had nothing to do with the people on his side.

He breathed a sigh of relief. Since it involved a dead person, Xiaochun and Ye Banban refused to tell him in detail, for fear that he would have nightmares at night.

After the big rock fell, it was followed by emotion.

Xiaochun has indeed been training outside for more than three years, and he handles things so efficiently.

He didn't pay any more attention to what happened next.

He gave the more than two thousand taels of silver that the eldest prince bribed him to Xia Fuyang, and asked him to promote "Even if I die, I can still smell the fragrance of chivalrous spirit" and recruit painters to draw pictures of villains.

I don’t know what the situation is like now.

Qu Dubian sat cross-legged on the roof, his chin resting on his hands.

It shouldn't be messed up, right?

Otherwise he should go out and take a look.

Thinking of this, Qu Dubian climbed down the ladder - he couldn't jump down very coolly now, but he felt that it would only take a few years to do it.

He will definitely become a master who can fly around.

Dahei didn’t say no.

-

Kyoto City.

Men of letters, rich and elegant.

The young men of Wuling vied with each other to tie their hair in red ribbons, and there were so many of them that they could not count them.

The smile of an Oiran is worth a fortune.

But in the past half month, the most popular ones are not the courtesans competing in the same period, nor the deserted rabbit gods in the brothels, but the storytellers in Ruyi Tower, Fuguiwa, and Tiandi Yijiange.

Hey, the storytellers are old, how could they have been visited by so many people? They tell stories every day with great passion!

The gavel was banged, and there were responses of "Wow!" and "Good job!" from below.

In the private rooms upstairs, there were many children of officials and wealthy families, ladies of noble families, and even courtesans. The copper coins thrown down as rewards would occasionally hit someone.

It's evening now and it's even more lively.

Qu Dubian was dressed like a young master from an ordinary wealthy family, waving a fan in his hand, and swaggered into the gate of Ruyi Tower.

——If you ignore the anti-lost rope tied by Ye Xiaoyuan around his wrist, it would still be quite cool.

Ye Xiaoyuan: "Sir, it's not safe at night. How about we come tomorrow? If we go back late, the old lady will be worried."

"Don't worry, Liuliu is still here."

That being said, Ye Xiaoyuan looked at the people crowded around him and always felt nervous that his child would be stolen.

"Seventh... Young Master! Seventh Young Master!" On the second floor, Xia Fuyang spotted him among the crowd with his sharp eyes and waved his hand quickly, "Come up quickly!"

The thugs who were guarding the stairs and not allowing outsiders to go up to the private room immediately invited Qu Dubian up.

After successfully squeezing through the crowd below and avoiding the copper coins falling from above, Qu Dubian breathed a sigh of relief when he stood on the upper floor.

He fanned himself with his hands and exclaimed, "Your publicity effect... is so amazing?"

Xia Fuyang invited him into the private room.

The door was closed, but the storyteller's deep voice still filtered through the open window and could be heard clearly, showing that he was obviously very talented.

Xia Fuyang chuckled: "Your script is of high quality, and you gave me so much money to promote it. The combination of the two will definitely have a good effect."

"In fact, there weren't that many people at the beginning. It was Jin Yue from Chun Feng Lou who heard the story and burst into tears. She took the initiative to promote it. She really liked the hero Duan in the story."

Hero Duan has a cold personality. Although he is poisoned, his face remains young. He has five disciples.

His teaching method was cold and strict, but his disciples still respected and loved him. Later, bandits attacked the mountain gate. Five disciples were guarding the gate, and one was seriously injured and four were slightly injured.

Hero Duan rushed back at the critical moment, slaughtered the bandits, avenged his apprentice, and eventually died of the poison himself.

Before he died, he just said: "Others protected me back then, now I will protect you."

The old friend rushed over and told several disciples.

The mountain gate of Hero Duan was also attacked by bandits in those days. He was the youngest one. In order to guard the mountain gate and to protect those who had not grown up, his master, brothers and sisters died together with the enemies.

Qu Watanabe: "This guy has a lot of fashion sense, no wonder some people like him."

Xia Fuyang: "Fashion value?"

"It's just that he's attractive... the key is that he's handsome."

If he wasn’t handsome, he would have become an old grandfather who unfortunately died.

"I see," Xia Fuyang nodded. "Originally, I wanted to hire storytellers in the four cities of East, West, South, and North, but I was worried that I wouldn't be able to print enough books."

Qu Watanabe: "Take your time."

If a small bookstore becomes too popular all of a sudden, it will collapse.

Xia Fuyang closed the window and said, "Tomorrow I will announce that I will no longer tell stories and bring everyone to our bookstore."

Qu Watanabe: "Okay, I'll be staying at the Marquis' Mansion these days, come find me if you have anything."

Xia Fuyang glanced at him and lowered his voice: "You are really the first prince I have ever seen who can live back and forth between the imperial palace and the marquis' mansion. It's amazing."

But there were countless twists and turns, power transfers, and compromises in the process.

Qu Duanbian said in his heart, and said with a smile on his face: "Yes."

Xia Fuyang: "Besides, how can I put it? The feeling of being with you is more comfortable than being with other princes."

"They all have the same nose and mouth," Qu Watanabe said, "Don't be so joking. Bring me the food box. Are my grandma's favorite foods ready?"

Xia Fuyang brought up a food box.

“Yes.”

Qu Watanabe: "Then I'll leave."

Xia Fuyang walked him out and stopped only when he was just one street away from the marquis' mansion.

Qu Dubian waved at him, and he waved back with a smile. When he was out of sight, he turned around leisurely, put his hands behind his back, and hummed a short unknown tune.

He himself couldn't explain why he and the Seventh Prince could get along so well even though there was a four or five year age difference between them.

Perhaps when talking to the Seventh Prince, he would subconsciously ignore the fact that he was a child. Or perhaps, the Seventh Prince did not have the uncomfortable condescending look in the eyes of the nobles in the capital.

The Seventh Prince is close to Ye Xiaoyuan and affectionate to Old Madam Hou, and he treats him and ordinary people as equals.

He sees people as people, not as objects.

-

The second day.

The storyteller stopped abruptly at the most exciting part and stopped talking.

If you want to know what happens next, please go to Cangwen Bookstore to buy it.

At first everyone started cursing and rushed towards Cangwen Bookstore, until they saw the scroll hanging outside the bookstore, with lifelike characters from the book on it.

The bookstore owner called out, "Take a look, the sequel to 'Even if I Die, I Still Smell the Fragrance of the Chivalrous' is here. Buy the full copy and you'll have a chance to get a character painting. The paintings are limited, so first come first served!"

"Any customer who buys a book and then buys a brush, ink, paper, and inkstone in the store will get a 20% discount within 30% of the original price!"

"Don't miss it if you pass by! The owner is spending a lot of money, you will make a profit if you buy it!"

In an instant, the small bookstore was packed with people.

Within two days, the script began to run out of steam.

Xia Fuyang was busy as a bee and urgently paid for more printing.

Qu Dubian was only responsible for giving advice, and he was accompanying his grandmother in the marquis's mansion.

He had already drawn many marks on the pillar outside the bedroom of the Marquis's Mansion, all of which were signs of his growth.

He and his grandmother lay side by side on the armchair, basking in the sun. There was a small table in the middle, with fruits and snacks on it.

Qu Watanabe: "Grandma, do I have an uncle in my third uncle's grandfather's family? Why haven't I ever seen him?"

Wu Siwan gently swayed and fanned him with a fan, and said with a smile: "Maybe, it's not the right time yet."

-

Xia Fuyang's bookstore became popular and attracted a lot of customers from the bookstore opposite.

The owner of the bookstore opposite couldn't sit still any longer.

He rushed out that afternoon.

When they arrived at the destination, Xue Letian shouted loudly: "Ahhhhh, please do something about it! If this continues, the bookstore will go bankrupt!!"

He was dressed in purple and walked with great vigor. The four characters "天命风流" (Tian Ming Feng Liu) on his fan were almost waving in the wind. He headed straight for the bamboo garden.

There is a figure in green playing chess in the pavilion in the bamboo garden.

"Xu Tingfeng! Xu Tingfeng!"

"Alas..." Xu Tingfeng sighed and put down the white chess piece. "You sit down first. What's going on? Why are you so flustered?"

Xue Letian picked up the teapot on the table and drank it all in one gulp.

"It's our bookstore. All the customers have been taken away."

He recounted what had happened in the past few days. "I don't know where this expert from, he published a book called Chivalrous Fragrance, and used so many weird tricks to trick people into spending money. If this continues, we will definitely lose money!"

Xu Tingfeng raised his eyebrows: "Interesting, do you know who is behind Cangwen Bookstore?"

Xue Letian: "I'm not sure, it seems that this shop is owned by a lady. What should we do?"

"What should we do?" Xu Tingfeng smiled, "If they can take it away, we can also take it back."

The business world is like a battlefield, there is no reason for anyone to give in to anyone else.