Qin Chuan was somewhat stunned by Xiao Yue's cold demeanor!
This woman is truly worthy of being the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review; she's ruthless, merciless, and has tough methods!
"Minister Xiao! Your subordinate is late!"
Cheng Yang, the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, arrived in haste with a team of thirty or forty constables and met up with Xiao Yue at the Left Prime Minister's residence.
Xiao Yue coldly shouted two words: "Confiscate their property!"
"yes!"
Upon receiving the order, Cheng Yang led the constables of the Dali Temple to begin ransacking the Mu family's residence.
Xiao Yun led his soldiers to herd all the more than one hundred people from the Mu family outside and take them into custody. At this time, Mu Xianke was still unconscious. The Mu family members, especially Mu Xianke's wife, Wang, were clamoring to call a doctor.
Xiao Yue strode over and slapped her twice across the face: "Shut up!"
Wang cried and said, "May I ask, Your Highness, what have we done wrong? They won't even let us call a doctor. Are they trying to force us to our deaths?"
Qin Chuan, who was watching the play not far away, suddenly heard Wang Shi address Xiao Yue as princess. He was immediately curious that Xiao Yue actually had another identity.
This woman definitely seems like someone special...
Xiao Yue completely ignored Wang's questioning, staring arrogantly at the Mu family: "Anyone who dares to make another sound will be killed without mercy!"
The Mu family members immediately fell silent, and Wang Shi sobbed softly...
After watching the spectacle, Qin Chuan led Li Aniu into the Mu residence.
Just then, a round, plump man wearing a padded jacket and long coat, with a body like a winter melon, appeared out of nowhere. He wielded a willow stick as thick as an arm and charged towards Qin Chuan and Li Aniu, shouting, "Give me back my money! Give me back my money!"
Qin Chuan panicked immediately. This guy was almost as big as Cuihua from the distillery. Even if he wasn't hit with a stick, he would be flattened just by being pressed down on him...
"Imperial Preceptor, do not be alarmed!"
Li Aniu chuckled, stepped forward, and kicked the fat man to the ground. Without a word, his fists, as big as sandbags, rained down on the man's face...
The man's face immediately swelled up like a pig's head, and he was still muttering incoherently, "Give me back my money, give me back my money..."
Qin Chuan saw that this guy was completely like a fool, and seeing that Li Aniu was still beating him, he told Li Aniu to stop.
At that moment, an armored soldier walked over, drew his sword, and was about to slit the fat man's throat...
Qin Chuan waved his hand to stop him, "Just drag him out."
"Yes, Imperial Advisor."
The armored soldiers dragged the fat man out of the Mu residence. Upon seeing this, the Mu family members called out, "Fifth Brother, Fifth Brother!"
It turns out he was Mu Xianke's fifth son.
Inside the Mu residence, Xiao Yun, having learned of the accident that had just occurred, came over and explained to Qin Chuan:
"He is Mu Xianke's fifth son, Mu Rencai. He is mentally challenged. People in the Mu family call him Mu Wulang. Just now, when Cheng Shaoqing led people to ransack the house, he was hiding somewhere. When he saw people carrying away the New Year's money he had hidden in the box, he couldn't help but rush out, wanting to snatch the money back..."
Qin Chuan said with lingering fear, "Luckily, Da Niu was there, otherwise I would have taken two blows..."
I thought to myself, it would be even more uncomfortable if he pressed down on me with his round body.
He didn't want to experience that suffocating feeling of being crushed by Cuihua's 200-plus-pound body again...
"It is my dereliction of duty," Xiao Yun said, bowing his head and clasping his hands in a fist salute.
"It's alright, you go ahead and do your work," Qin Chuan said, waving his hand.
With a guilty look on his face, Xiao Yun turned around and directed the ransacking of the house.
Qin Chuan praised Li Aniu a couple of times and remarked that he should be equipped with weapons so that he could fight back if he encountered someone with a sharp weapon.
He asked Li Aniu what weapons he was used to.
Li Aniu chuckled and said, "I'm just used to using wood!"
Qin Chuan said, "Okay, I'll have someone forge a wooden weapon for you later."
At this point, looking at Li Aniu's fierce and resentful face, he asked, "Aniu, are you married yet?"
Li Aniu gave an awkward smile and scratched the back of his head: "I also went to the wedding party, but I couldn't find a wife. They all rejected me. Some of them took four or five, and none of them wanted to share one with me..."
He looked dejected at the end.
Qin Chuan patted him on the shoulder and said, "You're a man who's rough around the edges but thoughtful underneath. It's their loss that they'd rather marry a handsome man as a concubine than marry you. Don't worry, I'll find you one later!"
Upon hearing this, Li Aniu's eyes immediately lit up. "Really?"
"Of course it's true!"
Li Aniu immediately knelt down: "Thank you so much, Imperial Advisor! You're even better than my parents!"
After Qin Chuan woke him up, he said, "It's a small matter. There are more women than men these days, so it's easy to find a wife. Tell me, what kind of woman do you want to find?"
Li Aniu scratched his head and chuckled somewhat sheepishly, "I want to find someone with a big butt. The older generation always says that a big butt means you can have a son!"
Qin Chuan: "..."
...
The ransacking of the Mou family's home continued until almost dark.
The Dali Temple then dispatched dozens more officers to thoroughly search the entire Mou residence, leaving no stone unturned, determined to find all the embezzled funds...
In total, dozens of boxes of silver were confiscated, including 2.31 million taels of silver, 300 gold ingots, and countless other items such as copper coins, fine jade, jadeite, pearls, brocade, silk, and porcelain.
The bailiffs of the Dali Temple brought in carriage after carriage to haul the valuables directly to the Dali Temple office, from where they would be handed over to the palace…
When these valuables entered the national treasury, even the Empress couldn't help but exclaim, "You, Mu Xianke! You actually embezzled more than half a year's worth of taxes from the national treasury!"
Immediately afterward, she said coldly, "Xiao Yue, this number is wrong!"
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yue was startled. Would His Majesty suspect that I was keeping something to myself?
At that moment, Qin Chuan happened to be nearby and hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, I've checked the whole thing, and the number is correct!"
Xiao Yun hurriedly added, "Your Majesty, this is all the spoils we seized from the Mu family. Oh, right, there are also some copper coins, fine jade, jadeite, pearls, brocade, silk, porcelain, etc., which are still at the Dali Temple. They will be converted into silver and transferred to the national treasury. These items are worth about three to four hundred thousand taels of silver..."
The Empress, holding a golden abacus, moved her slender fingers across the beads: "Four hundred thousand taels, plus two million three hundred thousand taels, totaling two million seven hundred thousand taels... no, the numbers still don't match..."
As she spoke, she frowned.
Xiao Yue and Xiao Yun were stunned on the spot. Your Majesty, what do you mean? Are you trying to extort money from your own family?
Qin Chuan quickly grasped the Empress's meaning and said with a smile to Yue and Yun, "Your Majesty means that the amount of 2.71 million taels does not match the total amount of 3.91 million taels that Mu Xianke embezzled and accepted bribes..."
"oh!"
Yue and Yun breathed a sigh of relief.
Qin Chuan explained to the Empress, "Your Majesty, the difference of more than one hundred taels must have been spent by the Mu family. With more than one hundred people in the Mu family, it is normal for them to spend this much money."
"normal?"
The Empress casually tossed the golden abacus into the hands of the eunuch beside her, her phoenix eyes flashing with malice as she snapped, "This is my money! This is all my money!!"
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