Chapter 167

As soon as Xue Jin'an entered the live stream, he saw the Fourth Prince's face suddenly zoomed in. He rushed over at an unprecedented speed, his figure leaving afterimages, and suddenly reached out to snatch something and hide it behind his back.

The scene before him flickered for a moment, revealing a pair of empty hands. This was the Fifth Prince's subconscious reaction to having his belongings stolen. After all, this was the Fifth Prince's live stream, so the footage naturally followed his perspective. Therefore, even though only the Fourth Prince appeared in the footage, Xue Jin'an clearly judged that the person who made the move was the Fifth Prince.

The Fifth Prince lowered his head for only a moment before looking up again, just in time to see the Fourth Prince retreating a foot away with his hands behind his back, looking utterly shaken.

"What are you doing here? Who let you in? Get out!" the Fourth Prince roared sharply.

Xue Jin'an heard a soft chuckle. The Fifth Prince seemed amused by the Fourth Prince's dramatic reaction, his voice tinged with laughter: "No wonder I always hear the sound of an abacus being fiddled with when I'm sleeping. So you spend every night doing these things instead of sleeping."

As if to verify its own words, the screen suddenly zoomed in on the Fourth Prince's face, lingering for a moment on his tired eyes with dark circles, capturing the bloodshot veins in his eyes clearly.

Xue Jin'an hadn't paid attention to the Fourth Prince for a long time. Although the data analysis gave him a warning that his fatigue level was too high, he didn't care much. Or rather, Xue Jin'an had gotten used to the Fourth Prince's always tired and listless appearance.

Ever since Chu Wenwan's death—no, perhaps even earlier, when Xue Jin'an first tried to take the Fourth Prince's battery, scaring the Fourth Prince so much that he moved away from Green Bamboo Courtyard overnight—the Fourth Prince has been plagued by nightmares and sleepless nights ever since.

However, the fourth prince at that time still had some youthful vigor. Even if he didn't sleep well at night, he was still lively and energetic during the day. After Chu Wenwan died, his vigor was completely drained. He became gloomy and listless, and his whole body was full of fatigue every day.

Xue Jin'an occasionally opened the learning software to update the learning progress and was able to catch the Fourth Prince's state while taking online classes. At first, he would always be doing nothing and would sit in his seat like a wooden sculpture for a whole day. Only when he had math class would he listen to the lecture and follow along with the calculations.

Later, the Sixth Prince gave him a workbook, and the Fourth Prince's daydreaming turned into burying himself in calculations. No matter what the class was, he was always engrossed in the workbook, with dense calculation steps covering the pages. Xue Jin'an knew at a glance that it was "The Perfect Prince's Workbook".

Cui Zui had told him about this workbook, and Xue Jin'an had also flipped through it once when he had some free time. To be honest, although the workbook had his name on it, only half of the questions in it were ones he had actually done, original questions created by Cui Pengfei. The other half of the questions were compiled by the person who wrote the workbook based on the original question types.

The timing of this booklet's release was both good and bad. It coincided with the imperial examination season, when countless candidates from all over the country were traveling to the capital to take the exams. The concentration of scholars in the capital was at its highest in history, making it a prime time for book sales. Any book even remotely related to the exam questions was selling like hotcakes, and you had to be quick to buy it.

At the same time, the candidates still focused on the imperial examinations. Previous imperial examinations did not emphasize arithmetic problems, and the types of questions were few and the questions were not very difficult. Except for people like Du Yin who were interested in arithmetic problems and greatly admired the "Perfect Prince", the candidates mainly focused their energy on literary essays. This booklet of questions was just a novelty for them.

So this workbook was only popular for a short time, and then it faded away.

Until the end of the imperial examination, once the news broke that the "Ten-Complete Gentleman" had participated in setting the examination questions, this book, "the only published work of the Ten-Complete Gentleman," was hyped up. A second book, "The Ten-Complete Gentleman's Question Book (Imperial Examination Edition)," was also published. It was even rumored to be known as the "Golden Book for Calculation Verification," and it was said that only those who could thoroughly understand the questions in it could be called masters of calculation.

Xue Jin'an witnessed all of this, and only one thought occupied his mind: copyright fees! He wanted to collect copyright fees!

Then he discovered that the publisher of this booklet was the Ministry of Rites, and the one behind it all was Feng Yin, the desperate Minister of Revenue, who would take at most 60% of the profits. Minister Feng tried every possible way to increase revenue and reduce expenditure. He could cut off the emperor's and princes' money at will, without any room for negotiation. He was a notorious penny-pincher, and once money was in his pocket, it was extremely difficult to get it out of his pocket.

Unless Xue Jin'an actively reveals that he is the Perfect Gentleman, leaving Feng Yinshou speechless on both moral and social grounds, the copyright fee will basically be unrecoverable. After all, copyright awareness was weak in ancient times, and there was no rampant piracy. This was purely because ancient printing technology was backward, printing costs were high, and scholars valued their reputation and face. Pirated books could only be sold secretly through the black market.

That's not worth it. They might as well switch to selling pornographic books. Those kinds of books that are offensive to civility won't be published in bookstores, but they sell quite well. Naturally, they're all sold by these irregular little workshops.

After weighing the options, Xue Jin'an felt that getting the copyright fee back wasn't worthwhile, so he simply gave up on the matter.

In short, in Xue Jin'an's memory, the Fourth Prince had been in this tired and listless state for a long time, only to varying degrees, so he didn't pay any attention to the Fourth Prince's expression.

The Fifth Prince clearly knew much more about the Fourth Prince than Xue Jin'an. He glanced meaningfully at the Fourth Prince's hand behind his back and said jokingly, "Pretty capable, Fourth Brother."

No one knows what the Fifth Prince was thinking, but the camera angle suddenly rose to become a God's-eye view, revealing the Fifth Prince's appearance.

The fifth prince was dressed in rather thin clothes, with his outer garment slightly disheveled and his hair loose, with many stray hairs falling out. His cheeks were slightly flushed... It looked as if he had woken up in the middle of the night and realized that something interesting had happened, so he got up to join in the fun.

Xue Jin'an judged that the Fifth Prince's current behavior was a spur-of-the-moment decision after seeing the First Prince, wanting to find out what secret the First Prince was hiding with the Fourth Prince, rather than a long-planned scheme.

Xue Jin'an guessed correctly. Although the Fifth Prince had long suspected that the Fourth Prince was up to something, he had internal strength and extremely keen hearing. It was true that he heard the sound of an abacus at night. However, the Fifth Prince was not very interested in the Fourth Prince's affairs. When he saw him trying to get close to the First Prince, he just thought he was a lackey and didn't pay much attention to it.

It wasn't until he saw that the First Prince had actually come to Suhui Academy in person, and the two seemed to have only met briefly and exchanged a few words before parting ways, that the Fifth Prince found this behavior very suspicious.

Among the many princes, the second prince was the most arrogant, clearly showing his disdain for princes from less prominent maternal families. In stark contrast, the eldest prince was always gentle and patient with his brothers, appearing very easy to talk to.

In reality, the three princes—the First Prince, the Second Prince, and the Third Prince—were all equally arrogant. The Third Prince's arrogance stemmed from his own nature; he was skilled in martial arts but also quick-tempered and easily angered, and he couldn't stand those who were less skilled than him. The First Prince's arrogance was ingrained in his bones; his gentleness towards the other princes was merely a superficial gesture.

The Fifth Prince was a man who was good at secretly observing and causing trouble. He had long seen through the First Prince's hypocrisy. It was quite unbelievable that such a person would take the initiative to approach the Fourth Prince, who had no use to him, let alone condescend to come and care about his health.

The most logical reason is that the eldest prince entrusted some important things to the fourth prince.

Unlike Xue Jin'an, who couldn't figure out what the Fourth Prince's advantage was, the Fifth Prince almost immediately locked onto something—the account book.

Furthermore, the Fifth Prince made a bold assumption: the account books that the First Prince submitted to the Ministry of Revenue and were praised by Minister Feng were very likely made by the Fourth Prince. No one would believe there was no foul play involved.

The eldest prince and the second prince are now in a state of confrontation. The fifth prince, who is always eager to stir up trouble, will not miss the opportunity to muddy the waters. Without the slightest hesitation, he plans to sneak into the fourth prince's residence to see what is hidden inside.

The Fifth Prince was confident in his guess. He found the Fourth Prince's study with a clear goal in mind and found what he wanted with almost no effort.

It was also the Fifth Prince's good fortune. Normally, the Fourth Prince would carefully collect all these things and put them in a small box. The box was not only locked, but also placed in a hidden mechanism. If anyone tried to break the mechanism to forcibly take the box, the box and the ledgers inside would be destroyed.

Unfortunately, the eldest prince came today and gave the fourth prince a task that required him to stay up for several nights in a row to complete. After taking out the item, he felt a lot of pressure just by looking at it, and drowsiness kept rising. He could only get up helplessly to wake himself up and asked Shunxin to make him a strong cup of tea, the stronger the better.

The Fifth Prince barged in at this very moment and found what he wanted without breaking a sweat.

The Fifth Prince originally thought that the accounts here were only related to the First Prince, but unexpectedly, his habitual quick flipping through and checking led him to Jiu Tian Yi's cash flow records. To be more precise, these were incomplete cash flow records for Jiu Tian Yi, mainly including Jiu Tian Yi's procurement, employee wages, and facility maintenance, while there were very few accounts that actually showed Jiu Tian Yi's profits. Most of them were conservative estimates, but even with these conservative estimates, the profit amount was still astonishing.

Not to mention that this is just the book from Jiu Tian Yi Chess and Card Room. There is also a book called Jiu Tian Yi Ji Li, which is currently very popular among the young masters of powerful families and martial arts practitioners. The Fifth Prince glanced through it and found that the accounts related to Ji Li were much clearer and more detailed than those of the chess and card room. Even the military expenses of the Imperial Guards were clearly recorded. It was hard not to suspect that this book was stolen directly from Ji Li.

After a moment's thought, the Fifth Prince realized that the First Prince had stolen the Ministry of Revenue's accounts, and it was even very likely that these were Minister Feng's private accounts. After all, unlike the chess and card room which was controlled by Xue Qi alone, the Jili had the involvement of the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Works. In terms of accounts, apart from Minister of War Xu Pingchuan being rather careless, the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works would keep very clear accounts to reduce the possibility of the accounts being tampered with.

The eldest prince asked the fourth prince to calculate these accounts, probably because he coveted the Nine-One. Indeed, money is a powerful motivator. Although he looked down on merchants, how pleasant it was to squander the "stinking money" earned by them.

As for the owner of this property being Xiao Qi or something... they probably think Xue Jin'an is a pitiful little guy who doesn't even have the power of his maternal clan. His current glory depends entirely on his father, the emperor. Without his father's favor, he would be nothing.

And making Xue Jin'an lose favor isn't difficult, is it? If you can make him lose it once, you can make him lose it a second time.

It seems that the eldest prince is not the only one who has claimed the nine-plus-one as his own.

It's really interesting. After the incident of Jiu Tianyi's flying knife killing the Rongdi envoy, the ordinary people in the capital all know that the Seventh Prince of the current dynasty is a killer star who is not to be trifled with. The eunuchs and palace maids in the palace have also tightened their skin and dare not provoke the Seventh Prince. Even the court officials have lowered their bottom line for Xue Jin'an time and time again... How come his brothers can't see it?

Arrogance, arrogance! They will eventually suffer a terrible fall because of their arrogance.

—It's a pity about Minister Feng. He probably never expected that despite his best efforts to guard against internal strife, the problem of leaking the account books would ultimately be his own doing.

The Fifth Prince couldn't help but chuckle at this thought, feeling quite smug. However, his joy was short-lived.

The fourth prince has returned.

He just remembered that it wasn't safe to leave the account book so openly in the box, so he wanted to come back and deal with it. He walked very fast, almost running back. When the Fifth Prince heard the footsteps, it was too late to hide, so he simply didn't hide and was caught red-handed by the Fourth Prince.

The fourth prince's first reaction was to shut the door tightly. He stood there, stunned, pressed against the door, breathing rapidly and staring blankly, unable to react for a long time.

It was at this moment that the Fifth Prince said, "Fourth Brother, you don't want Seventh Brother to know about this, do you? How about I help you—"

Before the Fifth Prince could finish speaking, the Fourth Prince rushed over with lightning speed, snatched the account book from his hand and hid it behind his back, and frantically shouted at him to leave.

The two exchanged only a few words when the Fifth Prince's seemingly mocking voice made the Fourth Prince very uncomfortable. Without thinking twice, he wanted to kick the Fifth Prince out, his voice unconsciously getting louder, "Get out of here right now and don't show your face here again!"

The Fifth Prince wasn't annoyed at all. When he spoke loudly, the Fifth Prince put his finger to his lips and said in a very soft voice, "Shh, Fourth Brother, keep your voice down. You don't want the fact that I discovered the ledger to be found out by Eldest Brother so quickly, do you?"

"It's very possible that you and I will both be silenced," the Fifth Prince threatened casually, glancing at the Fourth Prince's reaction out of the corner of his eye.

The fourth prince froze, he had been trying his best to appear calm, and he scolded in a low voice, "Stop talking nonsense here."

The Fifth Prince has been a master of acting since childhood, so the Fourth Prince's crude disguise could not be fooled. He sneered, "Don't pretend to be fierce here, you toothless bastard. Your tail is about to be shown."

The fourth prince almost instinctively turned his head to look behind him, and only after seeing what was happening did he realize that the fifth prince was insulting him. He immediately became so angry that his face turned red and his neck bulged, and he gritted his teeth and said, "You're the dog, your whole family are dogs!"

Fifth Prince: "..."

The fifth prince was unusually kind this time and did not remind him of his entire family, including his half-brothers.

The Fifth Prince lost his mood for joking around. While the Fourth Prince was still calming down, the Fifth Prince picked up an account book from the table and began to flip through it at lightning speed, as if reading with quantum mechanics.

The fourth prince was stunned for only a moment before reacting immediately. He rushed forward to snatch the account book, but the fifth prince nimbly dodged it. The fourth prince was about to chase after him, but he pulled back the moment he took a step. He was worried that if he chased after him, he would be tricked by the fifth prince again and lose the account book on the table.

The fourth prince put the account book he had taken back into the box, then reached behind the table and touched something. There was no telling where he touched, but with a "click," the table split open to the sides, and the box containing the account book fell into it. Then, with a "clack," the mechanism clicked and the table closed up again.

The Fifth Prince's attention was drawn to the table, and he stopped looking at the account books, leisurely watching the entire process of the "table eating the book." He said with great interest, "This table is quite interesting. It doesn't look like something from the Ministry of Works. Was it modified by one of your men?"

"It's none of your business." The Fourth Prince had no intention of answering the Fifth Prince's questions. Now that the other account books were safe, he had freed his hands and, without hesitation, pounced on the Fifth Prince.

The fifth prince was agile and successfully dodged several times.

The fourth prince was not good at close combat at all, and in the end he could only try to suppress the opponent with his height. The fifth prince, who was very sensitive to height, quickly discovered this "clever" little trick.

The Fifth Prince's face immediately turned green.

Height is a sore point for the Fifth Prince. It is unknown whether it is because he has been taking Gu worms since childhood, which has damaged his physical foundation, or because he has been practicing martial arts since childhood, which has suppressed bone growth. In any case, he is clearly in a period of rapid growth, but after three years, he has only grown a mere inch. What is the difference between that and not growing at all?

What's most infuriating is that not only is he not growing taller, but the others are growing taller and taller. The third prince, who is close to him in rank, is a good example. He has been taller and stronger than his peers since childhood. At fifteen, he looks and is already like an adult. They all practice martial arts, so why is there such a big difference?

The Fifth Prince couldn't help but grind his teeth at the thought of this, and even conceived the idea of ​​cutting off the Third Prince's legs.

Actually, the one who has grown the most is Xue Jin'an. He used to be so skinny that he looked a year or two younger than his actual age. But after his diet became normal, he started to grow taller rapidly. Now he is only nine years old, but he looks no different from eleven or twelve. He was already taller than me last year.

The Fifth Prince was completely bewildered.

The only one who could be compared to him was the Fourth Prince. Although the Fourth Prince hadn't grown taller very quickly, he was a year older and much taller than him, which made the Fifth Prince very uncomfortable.

Now this bastard is even trying to use his height to intimidate me.

"Ha!" The Fifth Prince sneered.

Xue Jin'an had already foreseen the future of the Fourth Prince.

Sure enough, the Fifth Prince delivered an elbow strike, and the Fourth Prince's face contorted as he clutched his abdomen and staggered back several steps, swaying as he barely managed to stay upright by holding onto the table.

"You—" The fourth prince opened his mouth to speak, but gasped in pain.

He took a deep breath and endured the pain, still wanting to get the account book back. Before he could speak, the Fifth Prince threw the account book at him.

The fourth prince hurriedly caught the ledger, hissed again, and clutched his aching abdomen. After a while, he said, "Go, forget all this, and don't tell anyone."

"This is for your own good," the Fourth Prince said in a low, serious voice.

His voice was also going through puberty, so it wasn't noticeable when he spoke normally, but now when he lowered his voice, you could hear a hint of a man's deep, husky, and magnetic voice.

"Alright, stop pretending to be a grown man and warning me. We all know each other." The Fifth Prince suddenly chuckled, his gaze sweeping over the man's face with an ambiguous meaning. He said in a meaningful tone, "Why do you think my elder brother is comfortable with us living together? He's already dealt with most of the spies here, hasn't he?"

Upon seeing the look in his eyes and his tendency to become more talkative, Xue Jin'an knew that the Fifth Prince had ill intentions. Looking back at his previous actions, she immediately understood that when he was snatching the account book, the Fifth Prince had already planned how to deceive the Fourth Prince.

Unfortunately, the fourth prince was unaware of the fifth prince's true nature, and he somewhat believed the fifth prince's words. "What do you mean by that?"

"Do I have to explain it to you so clearly before you understand?" The Fifth Prince leaned close to the Fourth Prince and whispered in his ear, "He and I are now in the same boat."

The Fifth Prince's words were too obvious and easily exposed, so they were probably 90% true. Xue Jin'an immediately understood that the boat the Fifth Prince was referring to was actually Prince An.

The eldest prince and the heir of Prince An are on good terms. Prince An is known as the descendant of the "Poison Doctor Zhang Jinghua". The martial arts experts under his command are all there because of Zhang Jinghua. It is almost certain that Consort De is from the Southern Frontier. Zhang Jinghua helped Lin Ruofu back then. Later, when Zhang Jinghua needed her, Lin Ruofu offered up his daughter's identity so that Consort De could successfully enter the palace.

It is unknown what the eldest prince is really thinking, but on the surface, he is also one of Zhang Jinghua's people, and there is no doubt that he and Prince An are in the same boat.

As for the Fifth Prince, he clearly harbors ulterior motives towards Prince An and his backing group. Moreover, given his current traitorous behavior, his intentions do not seem to be positive, at least not to Prince An.

Of course, what one thinks in one's heart is one thing; on the surface, the Fifth Prince sacrificed his mother to get on this ship.

So even though they each have their own ulterior motives, there's no logical problem in saying they're on the same boat.

The Fifth Prince's words were indeed unreliable. Unbeknownst to Xue Jin'an, his trust in the Fifth Prince plummeted.

The fourth prince looked on with a skeptical expression. "How come I didn't know?"

The Fifth Prince grinned, crossed his arms, and looked him up and down before sneering, "You? You'd be lucky to know this ship sank long ago."

The fourth prince was so angry that he nearly fell backward, feeling a rush of blood and qi to his chest, but he was powerless to refute it.

"Many of these accounts you've calculated are from the Ministry of Revenue, right? Do you know where all that 'saved' silver went?" The Fifth Prince looked at the Fourth Prince with a smug "I know everything" expression, but in reality, he was watching the Fourth Prince's expression closely.

Whether the Ministry of Revenue's accounts were actually in the ledger, and where the First Prince had misappropriated public funds, were questions the Fifth Prince didn't know, and were questions he wanted to ask.

The fourth prince remained silent for a moment, then shook his head, essentially acknowledging the existence of the Ministry of Revenue's account books. He said, "I don't know, and I don't want to know."

Tsk, he really didn't know. The Fifth Prince immediately lost most of his interest in the Fourth Prince.

"I... just want to help my elder brother." The fourth prince spoke with his head down, unaware of the change in the fifth prince's expression.

The Fifth Prince curled his lip in disdain, showing no desire to speak. He only thought to himself: "Go ahead and help, you'll get yourself involved sooner or later. Then you'll be the perfect scapegoat."

The Fifth Prince, impatient with the Fourth Prince's heartfelt words, gave a few perfunctory replies and prepared to leave. Before leaving, he turned back to look at him and said, "Hey, Xue Xuanyue, I'm unusually kind to remind you, don't be too open with your older brother, he doesn't deserve it."

The fourth prince was taken aback, his brows furrowed in anger, and he grabbed the fifth prince's sleeve, "What do you mean? Explain yourself clearly."

"Let go." The Fifth Prince looked like he was too lazy to explain and didn't care whether he heard it or not.

The fourth prince not only refused to let go, but also wrapped his arms around his leg, straddling it completely. "I won't let you go until you tell me. You dared to slander my elder brother. I will never let you go again."

"...Alright, alright, I'm scared of you. I'll only say a few words." The Fifth Prince seemed completely at a loss, grabbing his belt and asking, "Haven't you ever thought about why, even though Big Brother has Feng San by his side, he doesn't settle accounts with Feng San directly, but instead goes around to you in a roundabout way? It can't be because you're more powerful than Feng San, can it?"

The fourth prince opened his clear, large eyes, his face clearly saying, "What else?"

Fifth Prince: "………………" No, you really think so?!

The Fifth Prince remained silent for a moment, then ruthlessly kicked the Fourth Prince away. Before the Fourth Prince could react, the Fifth Prince jumped onto the window. The Fourth Prince rushed forward again, but the Fifth Prince kicked him back, which could be considered as repaying the kick he received on the wall of the abandoned palace years ago.

"Idiot, with your brain, you've basically given up on the struggle for the throne. I can't control you. You might as well wait to become the next Feng San. At least even if you're stupid, you still have a future, as long as you're obedient." The Fifth Prince said this, but his face showed obvious disgust, which inadvertently deepened the Fourth Prince's negative emotions.

In the blink of an eye, they disappeared without a trace, leaving the fourth prince sitting on the ground in a daze, his expression gradually becoming uneasy.

The live stream camera shifted from the Fourth Prince's face to the Fifth Prince's face, which was filled with the look of triumph over his wicked schemes.

First, lower the impression, then clear your name. The most powerful evidence to clear your name is that you did not actually harm the other party when you had the opportunity to do so.

—A common whitewashing trope in novels, it was quite novel in ancient times.

[Here's the pen, you write this story.] Xue Jin'an affirmed the Fifth Prince's ability to write and direct.

The sudden sound made the Fifth Prince pause. Telepathic communication? There's an expert here? One of the boss's men? The voice was somewhat distorted; it sounded young, but he couldn't identify who it was. However, the calm tone did resemble Xiao Qi's.

...No, that's not right. The sound didn't come from my ears; it came directly from my head.

What kind of voice can resonate directly in my head? My... innermost thoughts? Do I... perhaps... want to become... a storyteller? And why is the voice in my head Xue Jin'an? It wasn't like this before! I can't change it now!

The Fifth Prince fell silent.

The Fifth Prince pondered slowly.

The Fifth Prince chose to stop thinking and restart his mind.

A moment later, the Fifth Prince, his mind clearing up, continued to grin wickedly and muttered to himself, "Successfully sowing discord between the eldest and fourth princes."

Now that the struggle for the throne has begun, shouldn't it be a lively affair? The Fifth Prince concealed the sharpness in his eyes, a smirk playing on his lips as he happily counted on his fingers, "Who else can be dragged down next? The Eldest Princess... she doesn't need to be dragged down, with the Second Prince around, she can't escape. The Third Prince? Forget it, he's too brainless and hard to control. The Sixth? The Eighth? The Ninth? Hmm, that's worth a try."

"As for Xiao Qi... he can sell today's news to Xue Jin'an. Knowing that his business is being targeted, he can't stay out of it, right?" The Fifth Prince couldn't help but imagine that scene.

Xue Jin'an narrowed his eyes, rubbing his fingertips together. The data analysis revealed that Prince An was probably getting restless and wanted to take advantage of the conflict between the First Prince and the Second Prince to do something. The Fifth Prince simply wanted to muddy the waters and drag more people into it, because only when the water was muddy enough could the things hidden at the bottom surface, and the things he wanted to investigate would be easier to find.

There aren't many people the Fifth Prince can influence, and he just happens to be one of them. Although the Fifth Prince eventually named him, there's a 97% chance he'll reject the proposal in order for the plan to proceed smoothly.

As expected, the Fifth Prince quickly shook his head, picked up Xue Jin'an's fingers, and muttered, "Forget it, Xiao Qi's brain might fall apart as soon as he opens his mouth, that would be too boring."

The live stream went completely black.

***

Three days later, at the morning court, the eldest prince presented the account book that the fourth prince had been working on for several nights in a row to the emperor. He accused Wen Lianshan, the vice minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Xu Jin, the prefect of Mengzhou, and forty other people of selling official positions, embezzling public funds, and disregarding human life. The case was also related to the embezzlement of military funds more than ten years ago, with the amount involved reaching as high as five million taels of silver!

Everyone knows that the one thing that cannot be mentioned in front of His Majesty is the embezzlement case of military pay from years ago. It was the first major case His Majesty investigated after becoming Emperor, but it was also the first unsolved case. His Majesty executed hundreds of people for it, replaced a whole batch of officials in the court, and reformed the conscription law... However, all of this cannot cover up the fact that the case was never properly investigated after it reached the capital.

This case wasn't without evidence, nor was it impossible to find the culprit; it was simply that too many powerful families were involved, making further investigation impossible. This unsolved case was closed that year, but it left an indelible mark on the mind of the then young and impetuous emperor.

Other cases could be tolerated, but if you say these people are related to that case of embezzling military funds, the emperor will never let them go.

The second prince's face turned extremely ugly in an instant. His eyes, which were glaring at the first prince, were almost bulging out of their sockets, as if they could breathe fire.

"Little brother, don't be angry. Although they are all your men, your elder brother believes you are innocent." The eldest prince smiled gently as he plunged a knife deep into the second prince's carotid artery.

Chaos ensued.