Jiang Kangming and his entourage arrived in the capital in mid-September. Gu Yuchen didn't even attend the morning court session and directly invited the Duke of Qi and others into the Imperial Study.

Jiang Kangming stood quietly in the corner, his eyes slightly lowered, his face numb, but his ears were perked up, listening carefully to the conversation between the Duke of Qi and the Emperor.

Zhao Xi took the box from the Duke of Qi, stood a few steps away from Gu Yuchen, and slowly opened it.

Inside the box, Gu Yufan's head gradually appeared. His entire face was grayish-white, his eyes were closed, and his cheeks were sunken. Clearly, Gu Yufan had not had a good time in the last period of his life.

Looking at that face that had been arrogant and domineering since childhood but was now completely lifeless, Gu Yufan's hand on the armrest of the dragon throne clenched involuntarily.

Gu Yufan had always wanted to die, and so did he.

But when he actually saw Gu Yufan's head, he felt a pang of sadness.

It seems that when they were very young, the two of them had a good relationship.

Gu Yuchen stared at the head for a long time before waving his hand weakly: "Close it. The imperial decree has been issued, and Gu Yufan can no longer enter the imperial mausoleum."

But he was a prince after all, so he couldn't just be thrown into a mass grave.

Just as Gu Yuchen was about to suggest finding a place to bury him, the Duke of Qi spoke up: "Your Highness, I heard that after Prince Wen settled in Jiangzhou, he was tricked by the Princess Consort of Chu."

He made no attempt to conceal anything, recounting in detail the schemes devised by Princess Chu and Gu Yufan's advisors: "If it weren't for Chief Secretary Xie's foresight in preventing the young prince from revealing his whereabouts, the young prince would surely have been drowned in spittle by the people of Jiangnan!"

“At that time, the King of Chu had not yet been defeated, but the Queen Consort of Chu led everyone in the Chu royal family to commit suicide, which was obviously to exacerbate the conflict between the King of Chu and you.”

If he were to be defeated and die on the battlefield, Gu Yufan would return to Jiangzhou with the Jiangnan navy, only to learn that the young prince had ruthlessly forced his own sister-in-law to her death. This would not only prevent the young prince from living, but also hasten Gu Yufan's desire to take revenge on the emperor.

Gu Yufan schemed against himself, his eldest son, and initially even plotted to kill his youngest son.

So the Emperor hesitated, looking as if he wanted to give Gu Yufan a proper burial, and then he immediately brought up the matter.

People like Gu Yufan should be thrown into a mass grave and eaten by wild dogs, so that his soul can be trapped there forever and never be reincarnated!

He pulled a thick ledger from his pocket and respectfully handed it over: "These are what His Highness, along with Chief Secretary Xie and others, searched out of Gu Yufan's residence and those of Gu Yufan's advisors..."

The Duke of Qi sneered, “Your Majesty, you don’t know, when Chief Secretary Xie handed this account book to me, he told me that when the young prince first arrived in the northern desert, he had very little money. Not to mention building the Prince of Qin’s mansion, he couldn’t even pay Chief Secretary Xie and the others their monthly wages. He was even dreaming at night that he wanted to make money.”

"It was the Mid-Autumn Festival gift you sent to His Highness that helped the young prince through the difficult time, but the young prince dared not write to you every time to ask for money. He took the lead in saving money and trying to do business to support himself."

Gu Yuchen's expression changed slightly as he stared at the wolf-hair brush on the table, his thoughts suddenly drifting back to the first time he received a letter from Gu Yuzhi.

The letter was written by Chief Secretary Xie, and its concise content can be summed up in one word: poverty, and in two words: needing money!

Gu Yuchen was disgusted at the time. No matter what, Gu Yuzhi was a prince. Although Consort Taixian did not have a powerful maternal family, she had lived in the palace for so many years. How could she be so poor?

Gu Yuchen had no affection for this youngest brother in the palace.

After all, ever since he became sensible, he has been busy studying, busy quietly winning people's hearts, and busy trying to consolidate his position as crown prince. How could he have spared any attention to look at Xiao Liu?

If it weren't for the master's words, he would have almost forgotten that there was such an invisible little prince in the palace.

For the sake of the country and its people, even if Gu Yuzhi was just over five years old, or even if he were a baby, he would still be sent to the northern desert.

So when Gu Yuzhi saw the letter asking for money, his first reaction was that this child, despite his young age, was actually quite cunning.

However, his decision to send Gu Yuzhi to the northern desert despite opposition had already displeased the high-ranking officials in the court. If the Mid-Autumn Festival gifts were insufficient, he would surely be nagged by those annoying censors again.

But afterwards, Gu Yuzhi became much more verbose in his letters, sharing interesting stories from his time in the northern desert, and his mindset gradually changed.

But he really didn't expect that what Gu Yuzhi said in the letter was true; at that time, he was truly unable to move an inch.

Gu Yuchen's throat tightened, and he slowly exhaled a breath of stale air before saying, "Continue."

Duke Qi then continued, "But Your Majesty, as can be seen from the account book that Chief Secretary Xie compiled for me, even Gu Yufan's least capable advisor is extremely wealthy."

His tone was sarcastic, and his meaning was clear: even a junior staff member around Gu Yufan was richer than Gu Yuzhi was two years ago, so why should Gu Yufan be given a proper burial?

Gu Yuchen tapped his fingers lightly on the armrest of the dragon throne, remaining silent and lost in thought.

Jiang Kangming, who had remained silent since entering, finally stepped forward, knelt on the ground, and respectfully handed over the bamboo slip: "Your Majesty, this is what His Highness asked me to bring to you when we parted."

He understood that the Emperor's order for the Qi State Public Security Bureau to bury Gu Yufan was definitely to avoid trouble from the censors, but Jiang Kangming also believed that Gu Yufan was not a man worthy of burial.

He had a premonition that the gift from the young prince would make the emperor make up his mind completely!

Gu Yuchen's gaze slowly shifted, not landing on the bamboo slips, but rather on Jiang Kangming.

He didn't know why, but he felt that Jiang Kangming was standing up for Gu Yuzhi at this time.

This feeling was subtle, causing Gu Yuchen to narrow his eyes, his gaze becoming somewhat scrutinizing.

Gu Yuzhi is quite an interesting kid; even someone like Jiang Kangming would stand up for him.

But Jiang Kangming remained expressionless, his eyes still calm and indifferent, as if he were simply doing his job, which made Gu Yuchen doubt his own judgment.

He paused for a moment, then slightly raised his chin, signaling Zhao Xi to bring over the bamboo slips.

When Zhao Xi slowly opened the bamboo slip, revealing its contents, Gu Yuchen's usually expressionless face finally showed a hint of surprise.

He reached out his hand, and Zhao Xi handed him the bamboo slip.

Gu Yuchen read it several times before he was truly certain that Gu Yuzhi had secretly given him such a big gift during his trip to Jiangnan!

Even if Jiang Kangming had thoughts of Gu Yuzhi in his heart, it didn't matter; right now, all he could think about was Gu Yuzhi!

The master is right, Gu Yuzhi is indeed my lucky star!

As long as Gu Yuzhi is not as greedy as Gu Yufan, he can guarantee Gu Yuzhi a peaceful and wealthy life!