After Chen Shiyu finished speaking, a large group of masked men in black surrounded them from all sides of the woods.

The sheer number of people plunged Chen Shiyu and his remaining troops into despair.

The leader, with his arms crossed and a sword at his side, said indifferently, "Young Master is indeed clever. We are only acting out of necessity, seeking only wealth."

Chen Shiyu: "..."

Chen Xiaoyi: "?!"

The Ninth Prince's silver-armored army and iron-armored guards drove them into the dense forest, where they would seek wealth like bandits.

Looking at the group of people dressed in black and masked, they didn't seem to be Silver Armor Army or Iron Armor Guards.

Could it be that the Silver Armor Army and Ironclad Guards have already left, and these people chasing them are just bandits who originally lived here?

Chen Shiyu felt a sense of gloom and frustration.

Chen Xiaoyi was even more agitated and furious: "You should have said you wanted money earlier! Our Chen family can afford any amount you want!"

What an idiot! Isn't he just asking for a huge exorbitant price to be made?

Chen Shiyu quickly kicked Chen Xiaoyi in the dark.

The masked black man at the head of the group was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, and his eyes curved into a slight smile: "Then I'll trouble you two gentlemen to each write two IOUs, one for 100,000 taels and the other for 1 million taels; you can leave whenever your family pays 200,000 taels in full."

"What about the written agreement for two million taels?" Chen Shiyu asked in confusion.

"The remaining two million taels can be paid six months later; you can also choose not to pay, but for each day you delay, a finger will be cut off, until you are reduced to human stumps, at which point this document will automatically become invalid." The man in black spoke in a mechanical, cold voice, clearly a fake.

When Duke Chen received the IOU for 200,000 taels of silver written by Chen Shiyu and Chen Xiaoyi in the middle of the night, he breathed a sigh of relief, but was also so angry that he threw off the covers and slammed his fist on the bed: "How dare they extort me!"

He dressed up and went to see the Empress in the dead of night.

After a moment's thought, the Empress advised, "It's best to bring Shi Yu and Xiao Yi back first. Saving their lives is the most important thing. Don't they still have IOUs for two million taels of silver? We can set a trap to catch them all in one fell swoop later."

"If they are the Ninth Prince's men, how can we capture them all in one fell swoop?" Duke Chen still harbored doubts, and his beard trembled with anger.

“Ninth Prince…” The Empress’s expression turned strange for the first time: “What does the Ninth Prince want with a mere two hundred thousand taels of silver? If he had asked for the two million taels first, it would have been understandable.”

Early the next morning.

Shang Xiye took the 200,000 taels of silver notes in his hand, glanced at them, and then handed them back to Wuying: "Take these to buy groceries."

Ji Fengyao's lips twitched: "..."

He weighed the large bunch of keys in his pocket, then hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.

I wanted to return the key to this poor guy, but I was afraid he'd get angry because he's so proud.

I thought about it for a long time, until I finished breakfast.

Ji Fengyao pretended to be completely unaware and casually said, "Your Highness, collecting three thousand different medicinal herbs for me every month must cost a lot of money, right? Perhaps this key could..."

"Since I have promised the Princess, I will not go back on my word. There is no need for the Princess to worry about this." Shang Xiye felt somewhat relieved when he thought of the huge sum of money that Young Master Jia had made.

However, even after factoring in annual military supplies and expenses in Cangzhou, it is still not enough.

It seems he needs to find a way to earn more money so that his young wife won't have to suffer with him.

"Then consider this silver as my contribution for the mining of spirit stones," Ji Fengyao said, remembering this extremely important matter, and took out the key under the pretext of doing so.

"Is that kind of stone so important?" Shang Xiye looked at the little bandit girl with curiosity.

Brother, that's real money!

"It is extremely important, and the news that His Highness has discovered the spirit stone must not be leaked in the slightest, otherwise the entire Great Zhao may be in danger," Ji Fengyao warned solemnly.