Smuggling to the Xiongnu is treason and a capital offense!

Lu Renjia knew that all his hopes were gone. He collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted. Finally, he made a request to Qi Sichen: "Your Highness, with your excellent methods, I am willing to confess anything. However, there is one thing I would like to ask of you."

"What is it?" Qi Sichen looked coldly at Lu Renjia, his heart filled with hatred for him.

"Please... let me see my son just once!" Lu Renjia knelt on the ground and kowtowed several times.

Lu Renjia believed that even if he had wronged everyone else, he had been unconditionally good to his two sons.

He told his two sons everything, from his business dealings to his unspoken thoughts, without reservation, all so that they would succeed.

But now, she has been betrayed by her own son.

Even a heartless bastard like Lu Renjia felt the pain of betrayal for the first time, and was so distressed that he felt like he wanted to rip his own heart out.

Qi Sichen nodded slightly, and the guards beside him immediately went to the prison and brought over Lu Renjia's two sons.

Lu Renjia's youngest son was only in his early twenties. He was young and timid. After being called over, he knelt on the ground and kept kowtowing, not daring to raise his head.

His eldest son, Lu Ji, had served as an official in the Ministry of Revenue for several years. Although he was a minor official, he had gained some knowledge and was not as prone to crying as his younger brother.

However, at this moment, he was also pale and looked wretched.

Upon seeing his eldest son, Lu Renjia flew into a rage. He scrambled to his feet, kicked Lu Ji in the chest, and cursed, "You eat my food, drink my water, I've raised you for so many years, and this is how you treat me! Now that things have been exposed, I'm going to chop off your head. Do you think you'll survive?"

"I never imagined that after all these years of carefully teaching you, I would have raised such a good-for-nothing!"

Lu Ji was also imprisoned in the dungeon for many days. His father kicked him to the ground, and he couldn't get up for a long time. He cried and protested, "Father... I didn't say anything!"

"Didn't they tell you? How did they know about our family's dealings with the Xiongnu? Who else could it be but you! I didn't even tell your brother about this. You're the person I trust most in the entire Lu family. But you're my most trusted son, yet you're the one who hurt me the most!" Lu Renjia was extremely agitated and wanted to beat Lu Ji again, but he was held down by the guards beside him.

Lu Ji shook his head frantically: "Father, I didn't say any of these things, I definitely didn't say them, I don't know anything... I've been in a daze these past few days, maybe I'm dreaming..."

Upon hearing Lu Ji mention his dream, Lu Renjia immediately thought of the terrifying nightmare he had just had a couple of days ago.

For some reason, since he was imprisoned, he hasn't dreamt of that terrifying scene again. However, he was so preoccupied with his impending execution that he completely forgot about it.

After all, no matter how realistic the dream of being skinned and dismembered may seem, it's still just a dream. But now he's really going to be beheaded!

The two sons of the Lu family were quickly dragged back.

Lu Ji didn't know how Qi Sichen and his group obtained the evidence of their family's smuggling dealings with the Xiongnu, as this matter was considered a secret within their family, known to very few people.

And this is just too profitable.

On the grasslands, there is a severe shortage of everything: grain, porcelain, cloth, ironware, farm tools, and even women.

The Xiongnu wanted everything, and they had nowhere to spend the money, gold, and jewels they had taken with them from their repeated raids southwards in previous years.

Since discovering this route, the Lu family had been conducting clandestine transactions. Under the guise of delivering money and grain to the border, they remained undetected and gained the trust of the border soldiers. In reality, they would give a large portion of their supplies to the Xiongnu in each transaction.

This is the most dangerous route, but it is also the safest route.

What Lu Ji couldn't understand at all, Qi Sichen knew perfectly well.

These messages were naturally spoken by Lu Ji himself, but he didn't remember them.

After he was imprisoned in the Heavenly Prison, Qi Sichen went to Lin Wanyue for help, hoping she could find a way to extract more information from the Lu family.

Lin Wanyue then thought of the Truth Elixir.

However, these are all military-use products. Although her villa does contain a lot of things, she has no way to obtain military-grade items.

Lin Wanyue then went to Hu Jiuyuan for help.

Hu Jiuyuan was very interested when he heard that such a thing existed. He added a few more ingredients to the anesthetic powder and created a drug that could make people feel dazed and unconsciously lead them by the nose.

Qi Sichen quietly had the drug added to the food of several members of the Lu family, and then interrogated them separately, which indeed yielded good results.

After taking the drug, they all became somewhat dazed and confused. No matter what questions others asked them, they would answer honestly without uttering a single lie.

Therefore, while the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Justice, and the Court of Judicial Review were busy organizing evidence, Qi Sichen had already gained an unfair advantage with Lin Wanyue's help.

Faced with the evidence that his son had signed and fingerprinted, Lu Renjia, though ashen-faced, had no choice but to press his fingerprint, then his eyes rolled back and he fainted.

He's really not going to make it this time.

Lu Renjia was fully aware of this, but he was completely helpless.

This case involved a wide range of people, yet it had both witnesses and physical evidence. Under Qi Sichen's strong leadership, the case was quickly adjudicated.

Lu Renjia was convicted of a series of serious crimes, including colluding with bandits to harm innocent families, smuggling goods to the Xiongnu, stealing grain and evading taxes. There was no room for leniency, and he was sentenced to death.

His two sons were also convicted of abducting women and knowing about and participating in smuggling, and were similarly sentenced to death.

As for the women of the Lu family, apart from Madam Pan, who had killed several maids and concubines and was sentenced to exile, the rest of the concubines and servants were all confiscated and sold off.

After learning the news from Lai Fu, Little Pink Butterfly was in a good mood. Seeing Lu Renjia waiting to die in the dungeon, she happily grabbed a mouse that was bigger than a cat and threw it at him.

This frightened Lu Renjia so much that he shrank into a corner, too scared to move.

There's not much food in the dungeon to feed a rat, and this rat has grown so big that it can only eat the people locked up in the dungeon.

Seeing his terrified expression, the little pink butterfly felt a surge of pleasure and couldn't help but burst into laughter: "Three more days, don't die so soon!"