Were these all confiscated from Xue Yanshou's house?

How could a mere head of the Ministry of Personnel possess so many gold and silver ingots in his household?!

Even a fool could tell that Xue Yanshou must be involved in something incredibly serious. Otherwise, no matter how greedy he was, he couldn't have amassed so much money while holding the position of Director of the Ministry of Personnel!

What could be so important as to directly threaten his throne?

The cold winter wind finally cleared Shang Xiche's drowsy mind, and he roared angrily, "How dare you!"

His gaze swept over Xue Yanshou's family members, but he couldn't find Xue Yanshou. He flew into a rage: "Where is that traitor Xue Yanshou?!"

"Your Majesty, I have already taken him to the execution ground for public display," Shang Xiye said in a low, emotionless voice.

"You!" Shang Xiche was furious. He snatched the whisk from the eunuch behind him and threw it away angrily. "You dragged people to be executed without even trying the case. Don't you know that's called abusing your power?!"

“Brother, if someone covets your Empress, what will you, as a man, do?” Shang Xiye was no longer as submissive as before. He coldly raised his eyes and confronted Shang Xiche head-on: “Xue Yanshou tried to detain my Princess and uttered filthy words; he tried to kill the son of Imperial Censor Wang; a mere Director of the Ministry of Personnel dares to hoard soldiers and hide so much dirty silver. How treacherous is his heart? Even killing him a hundred times would not be too much!”

"You know he's a wicked man. If you kill him, wouldn't that be letting the person behind him get away with it?" Shang Xiche was so angry he almost jumped up and down.

If he weren't physically weak and lacking energy, he would have loved to throw the eunuch behind him out and crush the Ninth Prince to death!

Grandpa De shrank back and muttered to himself:

I don't exist, I don't exist, I don't exist...

"Your Majesty, I have come today only to hand over the stolen silver and to inform you that Xue Yanshou's family should be detained. I have not come to report the details of the case," Shang Xiye said, his expression unchanged. He did not even lift his eyelids as he carefully adjusted the cloak for the little bandit girl in his arms. "I will report back on this case once I have investigated it thoroughly. Your Majesty need not worry."

"You, Ninth Prince!" Shang Xiche was so angry he was practically flying to the heavens.

Shang Xiye shows such contempt for the emperor; does he even respect the emperor anymore?

Shang Xiye seemed completely oblivious, calmly raising his eyes to meet Shang Xiche's gaze: this time he would be firm to the end.

Since Shang Xiche has always regarded him as a traitor, he will act like one.

Let the emperor experience firsthand what the aura of a rebellious minister truly is.

As long as he does not defy the rule of the Great Zhao, and as long as the Great Zhao is not destroyed in his hands, he will not be considered to have broken his promise to the late emperor.

He also has people he needs to protect!

Ji Fengyao snuggled into Shang Xiye's arms, peeking out her fluffy little head from under the warm cloak. She rubbed her sleepy eyes with her chubby little hands, glanced around, and mumbled in a drowsy voice, "Your Majesty, Your Highness, please stop arguing among yourselves. We've busted a rat's nest and found all this silver during the New Year; shouldn't we be happy about that? Quickly get rid of these spendthrift rats, then we can divide the silver and everyone have a good New Year."

Shang Xiche: "..."

Those present: ..."

Even the soldiers and guards of the Ninth Prince's mansion were speechless.

Throughout history, there has never been a case of people sitting on the ground and dividing up the filthy silver brought into the palace.

The Ninth Princess (their princess) is truly the first person in history to dare to speak her mind.