Chapter 523: The Thousand-Year-Old (44)

In the end, it was discovered that the number of votes supporting Gu Li was the highest, and by a landslide. Wen Wan sneered at those people, who were almost scared to death, their expressions filled with terror. Lord Gu quickly knelt down, thinking to himself that these bastards had really ruined him this time. He had to cheat, and now he had to do it to the tyrant.

"Please forgive me, Your Majesty, I will definitely investigate this matter thoroughly."

"It's time to investigate this thoroughly. Not only are you deceiving the people, but as far as I know, there's a lot more to this competition than meets the eye. If you don't find out, Lord Gu, your official position will be..."

"Your Majesty, I will certainly investigate this matter thoroughly."

Wen Wan smiled, "Then who got first place?"

“Naturally, it belongs to the lady.”

"And what about the reward?"

"Naturally, it belongs to the lady as well."

Soon, a thousand taels of silver were delivered. Wen Wan took it and said, "Hold a banquet at the largest restaurant in Liuhua City and invite all the people to eat. They can eat whatever they want. Is that enough?"

Lord Gu thought to himself, "A thousand taels seems like a lot, but that's for the entire city's population! There are nearly ten thousand people. How can this be enough?"

The second prince was clearly venting his anger. If he spoke out, he might lose his official position.

"Of course it's enough."

Wen Wan pulled Gu Li away. Lord Gu originally wanted them to stay at his house, but Wen Wan refused. "Instead of trying to please me, Lord Gu would be better off investigating what he should be investigating. I will also send people to investigate secretly. If the results do not satisfy me, then you should be careful."

"Yes, Your Majesty, I understand. I will certainly investigate thoroughly."

Wen Wan left with Gu Li and her guards. In fact, she only took two guards with her, so how could she send someone to investigate secretly?

However, Wen Wan soon realized that Gu Li was too clever.

He directly instructed Wen Wan to write a letter to each of the families, and in the end, each family submitted their accusations against the others.

This is practically saying nothing at all; anyone with a guilty conscience will say whatever comes to mind.

Gu Li didn't fully trust all the information that was sent to him, so he had his guards interview the local people and finally compiled a large amount of evidence.

It has to be said that Liuhua City is not exactly clean.

The Flower Fairy Contest alone generates an unimaginable amount of money each time it's held.

The competition was manipulated by several powerful families and officials.

This is just like modern talent shows, where capital is being used to select candidates, and the original meaning is nowhere to be found.

The profits generated afterward were considerable, but naturally, there were also many dark things. After all, every year there are so-called dark horse contestants who come to the table. If you can't recruit them, you have to use some means to force them out.

He has even killed people.

Tsk tsk.

This is much scarier than modern talent shows.

Soon, the largest restaurants began offering free meals, and large numbers of people flocked in almost every minute, including residents from the surrounding area.

The money was devoured in no time.

The restaurant owner was going crazy and wanted to ask Gu Yuanzhang for help, but the other party was still thinking about how to save himself. Although he didn't participate, he ignored everything, even because of his indulgence.

He was afraid of getting himself killed, so how could he possibly save others?

“I will get other families to contribute money as well, but this time, you are destined to suffer a huge loss. Don’t blame anyone. Just consider it as the money you earned from the people in the past being returned to the people.”

"Who exactly is that imperial envoy? He's so young, could he be an imposter?" the restaurant owner said, before Gu Yuanzhang kicked him to the ground. "Don't ask if you don't want to die. Anyway, he's a big shot that neither of us can afford to offend."

The banquet lasted for a full two weeks.

Gu Yuanzhang also presented his findings, concealing his own small part and exonerating himself, but otherwise presenting a largely accurate account. "Do you know how to rectify this?"

Gu Yuanzhang: "I know, Your Majesty, I guarantee that such a thing will never happen again."

Soon, those who had committed murder were all arrested and imprisoned. They were all from the same few families, and they were fined a large sum of money, which made them suffer greatly. Some of the families were even driven to bankruptcy.

Wen Wan then spoke up.

"From now on, a porridge stand must be set up in front of the restaurant every day to distribute porridge. I will send someone back to investigate regularly. If it's not done, then, Lord Gu..."

"Yes, Your Majesty, I guarantee that I will accomplish it."

Wen Wan left Liuhua City with Gu Li and Xiao Cui. All the people in the city came out to see them off, after all, they had been eating a lot of delicious food for a long time and hadn't spent any money.

I hope this imperial envoy will come more often.

There were also some people who wished they could kneel down before the imperial envoy; these were the people who had been framed and driven out of Liuhua City, and some were family members of the victims.

Wen Wan suddenly felt that she had done a great thing.

"I'm finally realizing the benefits that my identity can bring."

Gu Li looked at Wen Wan, and her heart melted. How could this person be so kind? The advantage of her status was that she could help others.

Where is our next destination?

Xiao Cui: "Ghost town."

"Ghost City? You mean that city that was supposedly built by ghost immortals? I'd better go check it out."

"I also need to write a letter back to my father and tell him about what happened in Liuhua City."

She needed to keep the emperor informed of her actions at all times so that he could feel at ease.

This way, you'll be safe too.

Meanwhile, the emperor, who received the message from the secret guards and the letter from the second prince, first read the letter from beginning to end.

This handwriting clearly wasn't written by the Second Prince.

However, the matter was explained very clearly.

"This Yu'er is getting more and more playful."

The eunuch beside the emperor looked at him. The emperor said that the second prince loved to play, but his expression was one of satisfaction. The eunuch was shocked. It seemed that the emperor really liked the second prince. Everyone thought that he would never let the second prince inherit his position, but no one was the emperor. Who knew what the emperor was thinking?

Afterwards, the emperor sent several more secret guards to protect the second prince. However, Wen Wan was unaware of all this. If she knew that a group of people were following her, she would probably go crazy.

Two days later, Wen Wan and her group arrived at the legendary Ghost City. Despite its name, the atmosphere was nothing like the terrifying place it was supposed to be. It was incredibly lively and crowded with people.

Wen Wan started to go shopping and have a blast.

Xiao Cui still booked an inn, and for some reason, she was supposed to separate her master and Gu Li, since there was no shortage of rooms in this place at this time.

But in the end, Xiao Cui still booked a top-tier room for the two of them.

Although she still felt that Gu Li was not good enough for her master, she hoped that her master would be happy more than that. She was also worried that her master would really drive her away. She had followed her master since she was a child, and her master was the whole meaning of her life. She could not lose her master.