She's sleeping in my bed!

Lan Linxue spoke before Lan Xiuyuan could finish. Then she watched as Lan Xiuyuan's face grew paler and his eyes darkened.

Lan Linxue laughed cruelly, a laugh as merciless as that of hell.

Lan Xiuyuan struggled to calm the turmoil within him, then nodded expressionlessly, "Alright! Your subject understands!"

"You don't know enough!"

Lan Linxue had no intention of letting Lan Xiuyuan off the hook. "Lan Xiuyuan, if you want the world, I'll give you a chance. But if you want Qin Kou'er, that's wishful thinking! I will absolutely not give you any chance whatsoever. And, I must admit, you did a really good job this time. At least you let Qin Kou'er see your true colors. For that, I still have to thank you! Otherwise, I could talk myself hoarse and still not be able to see through your hypocrisy."

Lan Linxue smiled again, beaming with pride.

Lan Xiuyuan lowered his eyes, smiled slightly, and cupped his hands in a slight gesture: "Your subject understands!"

Lan Linxue glanced at Lan Xiuyuan, then turned her gaze to the adults who were still kneeling in the heavy rain.

"Jiang Ming?"

"Yes, sir!"

Jiang Ming answered timidly, his whole body swaying as if he were too cold or too scared.

"I have a question for you: why did you arrest the people from Qin Tiange?"

Lan Linxue leaned back, looking at Jiang Ming with a hint of confusion in her eyes.

Jiang Ming quickly sat up and said, "Of course, it's to find the traitor who rescued the Third Prince!"

"You think Qin Kou'er rescued the Third Prince, don't you?" At this point, Lan Linxue became even more confused, squinting as she asked, "How could the Third Prince be connected to Qin Kou'er? Are you out of your mind? Your logic is completely flawed. Even if you suspect me and Fifth Master, you wouldn't suspect her, would you? After all, I, Fifth Master, and Third Master are brothers, born at Hai Shi (9-11 PM). I think you, the Governor-General of Liangjiang, are utterly idiots. Are you hiding something from me?"

As she spoke, Lan Linxue glanced at Lan Xiuyuan, seemingly unintentionally.

Lan Xiuyuan remained standing in the same spot, expressionless.

"Your subordinate would never dare to deceive the Crown Prince! The reason for searching Qin Tiange's people is that the banks of the Qinhuai River were all built by people hired by Qin Tiange. Now that this leak has occurred, of course they want to arrest their people and question them!"

This was an excuse Jiang Ming came up with on the spur of the moment when Lan Linxue asked them to come to the dam.

"Oh," Lan Linxue suddenly realized, pointing to the broken dike outside: "Those fishermen and boatmen embezzled all the money meant for repairing the dike, is that what you mean?"

"That's not what I meant! But since there's a problem with the dam, it's my duty to ask them first."

Jiang Ming felt that his reasons were perfectly legitimate.

"Why don't you go check on the supervisors first? What were they doing while the dike was being built? Sleeping? Or eating shit?"

After Lan Linxue finished speaking, the people below lowered their heads even further, almost burying themselves in the rainwater.

Lan Linxue stood up, and Lao Qi immediately reached out his hand. The people behind her quickly held up their umbrellas. Lan Linxue took Lao Qi's hand and slowly got out of the car.

Damn it, my leg injury hasn't even healed yet, and I already have to deal with these bastards. I'll see how he handles them later.

The people below became even more nervous as Lan Linxue got out of the car.

"I'm asking you a question! Answer me!"

Lan Linxue had no intention of letting Jiang Ming off the hook.

Jiang Ming immediately turned around and roared at the Yangzhou prefect behind him, "Didn't you hear the Crown Prince asking a question? Answer me, what were you all doing when this dike was being built?"

The prefect of Yangzhou was so frightened that he quickly kowtowed and said, "Your Highness, the dikes of the Qinhuai River are indeed incredibly sturdy. They would certainly be fine during the rainy season, but today's rain was too heavy, and a lot of mud and rocks were washed down from the mountains, which is why there are cracks like this. I will immediately supervise the construction and have them speed up the repairs."

"You—bullshit!" Lan Linxue didn't give him a kind look at all, coldly staring at the head on the ground: "The rainy season in Jiangnan hasn't even really started yet, and besides, I already sent people to inquire these past two days, and there's no mudslide or debris flow washed down from the mountain at all. The Emperor has long said that the dikes along the Qinhuai River, the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, and other major rivers are so sturdy that they can withstand at least five years of major disasters! They were just repaired, and they're already leaking like this. Do you really think I don't know what you did with the money spent on repairing the dikes?"

At this point, Lan Linxue suddenly turned around, glaring fiercely at Jiang Ming: "Jiang Ming, I'm asking you, where did all the treasury silver in Liangjiang go? According to the Ministry of Revenue's records, there should be at least four million taels of silver stored in Yangzhou. Now tell me, why do I only see one million two hundred thousand taels? Where is the silver?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Ming immediately panicked, his hair standing on end. "Your Highness, you know that the treasury has always been in deficit. The two rivers have not been peaceful these past few years, and we have provided a lot of grain and fodder to the border rebellions. These expenses for repairing dikes and dams, distributing aid to the people, and helping officials—last year alone, the construction of the Grand Canal cost a full 500,000 taels of silver! Your Highness, these are all clear accounts. Even if you take my life, I dare not touch that silver!"

"Jiang Ming, you dog, how dare you spout nonsense to my face! The Grand Canal was funded by you? That money was specially allocated by the Emperor through the Ministry of Revenue! I was the one who oversaw the accounting! Now you've got it all figured out, so if there's any deficit, you'll pin it on the Emperor, right? You think you can just pin these things on the Emperor and no one will investigate? Let me tell you, you're dreaming. You corrupt officials who won't shed a tear until you see the coffin, are you waiting for Shi Mengjian's accounts to be thrown out and exposed to the world? You officials in Yangzhou are guarding the richest place, greedily embezzling to death. That's one thing, but you can't even protect this Qinhuai River properly for the Emperor? Are you all just courting death?!"

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