When Nan Wuyu arrived at the county government's storeroom, he saw ten huge boxes and dozens of burlap sacks neatly arranged inside.
"Lord Liu, is this disaster relief money?" Nan Wuyu noticed the markings on the box.
"Yes." After answering, Liu Lin opened all ten boxes, revealing neat rows of gleaming silver.
"Hmm?" Nan Wuyu looked at the rows of brand-new silver with some confusion.
"Please take a look, Lord Nan." Liu Lin handed a silver ingot to Nan Wuyu.
Nan Wuyu sensed something was amiss the moment he received the silver. "What's this?"
"Yes, Professor Nan, these are all fake." Liu Lin nodded in affirmation.
A chill ran through Nan Wuyu's eyes as he turned his gaze to the remaining silver pieces.
Liu Lin explained from the side, "Only the top layer of these ten boxes of silver is real; the rest is all fake silver. That's why the disaster relief funds sent to the county amount to only 100,000 taels."
"This is incredibly audacious!" Nan Wuyu's expression turned grim; this matter had to be reported to the Emperor.
"Lord Nan, please continue looking. These burlap sacks contain disaster relief grain." Liu Lin pointed out the dozens of burlap sacks to Nan Wuyu.
Filled with rage, Nan Wuyu opened the bag and found it was full of sand.
"These dozens of bags of relief grain all look like this. Only a small portion of each bag is actually rice. It took our county government officials and soldiers several days and nights to sift out the rice grains," Liu Lin explained from the side.
Nan Wuyu's face was so dark it was almost dripping with water. These disaster relief grains were life-saving supplies for the people, how dare these people do this!
"Rest assured, Lord Liu, I will investigate this matter thoroughly and will not implicate you." Nan Wuyu had no intention of letting these greedy people get away with it.
"I will report your merits to the Emperor truthfully."
Liu Lin must have something in mind for taking such a big risk.
"Thank you, Lord Nan. I was only doing my duty," Liu Lin said modestly.
After returning to his room, Nan Wuyu summoned Nan Wusi and Xiao Yi.
"Your Highness Prince Yi, I beg you to take my younger sister back to the capital first," Nan Wuyu said, bowing to Xiao Yi.
"Second Brother, what are you doing!" Nan Wusi was furious, never expecting that Nan Wuyu would send him away at such a critical moment.
“Little sister, I can’t let you run wild this time. Your second brother has important business to attend to,” Nan Wuyu said seriously to Nan Wusi.
He feared that his return to the capital would be fraught with peril, and he certainly couldn't let his younger sister go with him into danger. Therefore, he could only ask Xiao Yi to take his younger sister back to the capital.
"Nan Shaosinong, I'm afraid I can't help you with this matter," Xiao Yi said, shaking his head. He had come to know Nan Wusi's temper over the past few days.
Besides, he could guess why Nan Wuyu would resort to such a desperate measure, and he believed that Nan Wusi, with his intelligence, could also guess. He even suspected that Nan Wusi knew that something bad would happen to Nan Wuyu on this trip, which was why he insisted on coming along.
“Your Highness Prince Yi, if you truly love my younger sister, you shouldn’t see her in danger,” Nan Wuyu hurriedly said.
"Big brother, what nonsense are you talking about!" Nan Wusi didn't expect that her second brother was still misunderstanding her relationship with Xiao Yi.
"It is precisely because I like Miss Nan that I am unable to help you," Xiao Yi replied.
Nan Wusi stared at him wide-eyed. What was wrong with Xiao Yi? Did he like her? Really? Nan Wusi's first reaction was disbelief.
"You two siblings should have a good talk," Xiao Yi said before leaving Nan Wuyu's room, leaving the two of them stunned.
"Second Brother, I will never agree to leave first, no matter what." Nan Wusi looked at Nan Wuyu very seriously and said.
"Little sister, why do you insist on returning to the capital with me? It's too dangerous, I don't agree." Nan Wuyu also directly confessed the matter of embezzlement to Nan Wusi, explaining the pros and cons and the degree of danger involved.
"It's precisely because it's dangerous that I need to stay with you. Second brother, you can't even beat me now, so why would you be afraid of me getting into danger?"
"Don't think I don't know. Your martial arts skills are only enough to deal with some ordinary martial artists. There are many masters you can't beat. Don't be reckless." Nan Wuyu was well aware of Nan Wusi's true abilities, so he disagreed.
"Second Brother, I only came with you to help with disaster relief because I knew you were in danger. Otherwise, do you think I would want to run this far? So there's no way I could go back to the capital alone." Nan Wusi also directly told Nan Wuyu the purpose of his trip.
"Little sister, how did you know I would be in danger on this trip? What else do you know?" Nan Wuyu was quite surprised that his little sister had insisted on coming along because she was worried about his safety.
"Second Brother, didn't you also think that the disaster relief funds would be embezzled before you came? I just believed that they would do anything to protect the money and their official positions." Nan Wusi certainly couldn't reveal the real reason, so he could only find a more suitable excuse.
“Indeed, I thought there would be some embezzlement as the disaster relief funds were distributed layer by layer, but I didn’t expect it to be this serious. These corrupt officials are disregarding the people and the court.” Nan Wuyu was ultimately not familiar with the greed in human nature.
“Even if Xiao Yi and I leave first, do you think they will let us go? No, because in the eyes of these corrupt officials, we are already considered insiders. So even if we separate, different people will come to hunt us down separately. It’s better to stay together; there’s strength in numbers,” Nan Wusi continued to persuade.
After listening, Nan Wuyu agreed with Nan Wusi's point. Indeed, they all knew about the embezzlement of disaster relief funds. If any of them returned to the capital, the news would reach the Emperor's ears. To be on the safe side, these people would definitely send a large number of people to assassinate them.
"In that case, let's act together." If different people are hunting them down separately, it's indeed better for the group to act together.
"Well, Second Brother, don't overthink it. My martial arts have improved a lot recently, so I should be able to protect myself without any problems," Nan Wusi continued to comfort him.
"Okay." Nan Wuyu nodded, which was taken as agreement.
After leaving the room, Nan Wusi noticed that Xiao Yi was still waiting outside, so she went up to him and struck up a conversation.
"Your Highness Prince Yi, thank you for not agreeing earlier."
"It's alright. So Miss Nan really did come to provide disaster relief in order to protect Young Master Nan?" Xiao Yi asked.
“Yes.” Nan Wusi nodded in agreement. “There are too many corrupt officials in the court. This disaster relief fund is a large sum of money, so many people will inevitably try to tamper with it. My second brother’s visit has offended them, so someone will definitely take action.”
“My second brother’s skills are so rudimentary, he would be too easy to get into trouble if he encountered danger,” Nan Wusi explained.
"I didn't expect Miss Nan to be so thoughtful, and her relationship with Nan Shaosinong is so good that even I envy her."
“My second brother raised me from childhood, so our bond is naturally unmatched by anyone else,” Nan Wusi replied.
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