The ministers left quickly, leaving only Emperor An and Jing Zhe in the Golden Palace. Even Sui Shouren had left.

"What do you think the Prince of Jin's heir really wants to do?"

Emperor An stood with his back to Jing Zhe, hands behind his back, and said in a deep voice.

In fact, Jing Zhe thought that with Su Xinping's not-so-bright brain, this was probably Su Xinping's own idea, and the purpose was probably for Zhang Xiaoyu.

But he wouldn't say that.

"Your Majesty, I... dare not speak!"

"Is there anything you wouldn't dare to do?"

Andi glanced back at him.

"There are no outsiders here, so just say it!"

"I believe that it would be impossible for Zhang Xuehou to open a winery on his own. Besides, he used to live in the countryside and didn't know the Prince of Jin at all. So why would someone suddenly frame him?"

Emperor Andi nodded, signaling him to continue.

"And strong liquor is an extremely profitable business. The Prince of Jin's son is not satisfied with opening one store; he wants to open stores all over the country. How many soldiers and how many weapons can he afford with the money he earns in a year?"

Upon hearing "soldiers and weapons," Emperor An's gaze sharpened: "Are you saying that Prince Jin ordered all of this to be done?"

"It's not what I said, but what Your Majesty thinks!"

"..."

After a moment of silence, Emperor An looked up at him: "Actually, I have been watching every move Prince Jin has made in Jinxi. At first, I couldn't bear to take action because of our kinship. But now that Prince Jin's power is growing, even if I wanted to take action... alas, it has reached the point where I can't!"

"Since Your Majesty has already noticed, I think it's best to act as soon as possible, otherwise, if we delay too long, it will eventually lead to disaster!"

Upon hearing this, Emperor Andi took a long time to recover: "Are you saying this because you want revenge?"

Jing Zhe shook his head: "If the Prince of Jin is innocent, even if I wanted revenge, I would have no way to do so. But if the Prince of Jin is breaking the law and plotting to usurp the throne, then I will take revenge while I'm at it!"

Jing Zhe was not afraid of Emperor An's gaze and went to meet him.

Upon seeing this, Emperor An suddenly laughed.

"What a convenient way to take revenge! Well then, I'll have to rely on you from now on!"

Jing Zhe cupped his hands and replied, "Your Majesty, I will obey all your commands!"

Emperor An nodded before changing the subject: "In your profile, you only mentioned that Zhang Xuehou's distillery belongs to Zhang Xuexian, which is understandable, since they are brothers and he stole the Zhang family's distillery's production techniques."

"But what about Wenxiangju?"

Jing Zhe chuckled, "Nothing can be hidden from His Majesty! Before Manager Song was arrested, he had already given Wenxiangju to me."

Seeing the disbelieving look on Emperor An's face, Jing Zhe said earnestly, "If Your Majesty does not believe me, I can produce his letter of gift!"

Do you think I'm stupid?

"..."

"Alright, actually I just promised Manager Song that I could guarantee the safety of his wife and children. In addition, Wenxiangju is currently operating at a loss. He's in jail, and no one in his family can take over. It's not bad to have me take over."

Emperor An was satisfied and said, "Zhang Family Winery... is basically yours now, and Wenxiangju is also yours. It would be a waste of your talents to make you an official. With just these two stores, you can live a life of plenty!"

Jing Zhe smiled and thought to himself, "If I have no worries about food and drink, why would I need to open a shop?"

Not knowing whether Emperor An was deliberately targeting him, he said seriously, "Your Majesty, I actually have some selfish motives for taking over Wenxiangju."

"Oh? What ulterior motive?"

"I have told Your Majesty that in order to implement compulsory education, besides newspapers becoming popular, the rest is money. In the future, I can open Zhang's Wine Shop and Wenxiangju in places all over the country where there are newspaper branches. So, half of the money earned from the shops can be invested in compulsory education. What does Your Majesty think?"

"Good, very good!"

Emperor An excitedly patted Jing Zhe on the shoulder, thinking to himself that An Kingdom was in dire need of such talent!

He wasn't just thinking about making money; instead, he wanted to invest it in the education system of Anguo. His level of commitment is almost on par with that of an emperor!

Jing Zhe pressed on, saying, "Your Majesty, it's not easy to run Wenxiangju well. For example, there are too many people who owe money to Wenxiangju, and their status is not low. I dare not take them! If this continues, Wenxiangju will not only fail to make money, but will also have to take money from the winery to subsidize it. I'm afraid we won't be able to afford to invest in education!"

Upon hearing this, Emperor An immediately became displeased: "Is the Emperor's Sword I gave you just for show? Take the Emperor's Sword and go collect money, and see who dares not to pay!"

Jing Zhe was just waiting to hear those words!

He immediately clasped his hands in a gesture of respect and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Emperor An then remarked, "Your entertainment section takes a risky approach. If it weren't for the monkey story, it would be difficult to keep the common people interested in the newspaper! However, if we delve deeper into this story, it is indeed as Grand Tutor Bai said, easy for people to misunderstand!"

Yesterday, when Mo Chen told me the story, I almost thought you were plotting a rebellion! Luckily, Mo Chen told me the rest of the story, but knowing the ending, I suddenly felt less interested in it…”

"..."

Jing Zhe felt great sympathy for Emperor An; this is probably what would happen if he were spoiled.

...

After talking with Emperor An for a while, Jing Zhe left the Golden Palace and headed straight for the Fuchen Palace. This time, he didn't need Sui Shouren to lead the way; Jing Zhe was able to get there on his own.

Before we even reached Fuchen Palace, we heard laughter coming from the Imperial Garden next door.

Jing Zhe stopped and quietly moved closer.

Before Jing Zhe could step through the moon gate, he heard Su Mochen's voice coming from inside.

"Jing Zhe, no!"

"Ah~ Zhe'er, no!"

"..."

Jing Zhe was practically petrified outside the door.

Logically speaking, Jing Zhe should have been excited upon hearing such a thrilling sound, but he wasn't the main character!

I was clearly outside, so who is Jing Zhe inside?

Enraged, Jing Zhe strode toward the moon gate of the Imperial Garden. As soon as he entered, a dark figure rushed toward him.

Danger!

Thinking this, Jing Zhe lifted his foot!

"don't want!"

Just as they were about to kick, they heard Su Mochen shout from afar. After hesitating for a moment, they put their feet down. They had already seen that the black shadow running towards them was a small white dog. After seeing him, the dog stopped for some reason and even wagged its tail at him.

"???"

Jing Zhe was full of question marks when Su Mochen walked over and patted his chest, saying, "That was close! Luckily I shouted in time, otherwise my Zhe'er—would have been kicked to pieces!"

When "Zhe'er" was mentioned, Su Mochen cautiously looked up and her pretty face turned red.

————