A few people who lacked self-control became terrified and doubtful after reading what was written on the paper, with beads of sweat appearing on their foreheads.

"You guys are sweating because you're all hot." Xue Shu looked at them coldly, deliberately making his voice very soft and long, making it sound a bit weird. "Supplies are scarce for winter now, and Your Highness loves the people like his own children, so he doesn't want to use more charcoal. I was originally worried that you would freeze, but now it seems that I was worrying too much."

His words were as weird as they could be, especially when coupled with the eunuch's shrill voice, which was so piercing that it hurt people's ears.

Mr. Wen, who was closest to him, was shocked and frightened, and was furious. He immediately raised his head and glared at him, but when he met his eyes, he was startled.

Previously, they were shocked by the news of the prince's arrival and did not pay much attention to the attendants beside the prince. But now, after a closer look, Master Wen was filled with panic.

For those of us who do business, good eyesight is most important.

So after he made brief eye contact with Xue Shu, he could tell that this was definitely not a good person.

When those dark eyes look at you, you feel as if your very soul is being looked at, and you feel fear from the bottom of your heart.

The face of the head of the Wen family turned a little pale. He raised his sleeves to wipe the sweat from his forehead and reluctantly responded, "Your Highness is truly kind."

Zhou Zhiling was sitting diagonally opposite him, so he naturally noticed his obvious abnormality.

Or rather, it wasn't just Boss Wen. Several other Bosses sitting opposite him all looked unhappy, as if they were feeling guilty and out of breath, as if they were being held captive.

But the eunuch did nothing but issued a deed.

Zhou Zhiling glanced at the deed in his hand. There was nothing worth reading about it. It just said that after a certain amount of donations was made, one's name would be engraved on a monument of merit. It was all a bunch of nonsense.

What are these people afraid of? Zhou Zhiling frowned and looked around, suppressing the doubts in his heart.

Yin Chengyu, who was sitting at the top, had admired the changing expressions of these people and still smiled gently and generously: "Everyone should have read the contract. You can take it back and study it carefully. If you have any questions about the contract, you can go to the Governor's Office before noon tomorrow to ask Inspector Jiang for help."

He stood up, slowly scanning the people present, the corners of his lips curled up, and his tone was a little bit weird, just like Xue Shu's: "...No more waiting after the time is up."

No matter how polite he was, people could still hear the threat in his words.

Seeing that the person had already left without a trace, Mr. Wen angrily slammed the table.

But out of concern for the prince, he dared not say even a single unpleasant word.

The other eight big bosses had the same expression as him, all of them were angry but dared not speak out.

Zhou Zhiling saw something and asked, "What did the prince show you?"

After some observation, he could confirm that what he had in his hand was different from the others.

The other master Zhu was a mean person. He crumpled the paper into a ball and put it in his sleeve. He was quick to notice Zhou Zhiling's abnormality. He had noticed that except for Zhou Zhiling, everyone else's faces changed after reading the "contract". Only Zhou Zhiling remained calm from beginning to end.

Now that I heard him ask the question, I became more certain of my guess.

Zhou Zhiling is a man who is used to pretending, and he does a very good job of pretending. I'm afraid the prince didn't catch him at all.

Realizing this, Zhu Dadong felt very upset. It was Zhou Zhiling's idea to hoard goods and raise prices, and they were just cooperating. Now that something happened, they, the little minions, were caught, but Zhou Zhiling was able to stay out of it, which really made people feel unfair.

"What are you asking, President Zhou? Are your things different from ours?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the other eight pairs of eyes stared at Zhou Zhiling with strange expressions.

To outsiders, the Sanjiang Chamber of Commerce seems to be a united force, but in fact, the ten major bosses including Zhou Zhiling each have their own power. The reason why they respect Zhou Zhiling as the head of the chamber and follow his lead is simply because of the relationship between the Zhou family and the Shao family in the capital.

Zhou Zhiling had connections with officials, so many things were more convenient if handled by the Zhou family, so they were willing to give him this face.

But at this time they found themselves trapped, and Zhou Zhiling was not even touched, so they felt uneasy and looked at Zhou Zhiling with scrutiny.

The "contract" handed down by the prince's attendant was not a contract at all. On the thin sheets of paper were recorded their most unknown secrets.

They thought they had hidden themselves well, but unexpectedly they had already been seen by others and were used as bargaining chips by the prince.

If they were still wondering before whether the people around them had been bribed, now when they looked at Zhou Zhiling, they were filled with doubts.

Besides, Zhou Zhiling was jealous of the prince and betrayed them.

Zhou Zhiling was not a fool. He guessed what they were thinking immediately after seeing their expressions. He suppressed his anger and said, "You are also experienced businessmen. Don't fall for the divisive schemes of outsiders. If there is something wrong, it is better to discuss it openly. Don't forget that the Sanjiang Chamber of Commerce prospers together and suffers together."

Zhu Dadong put his hands in his pockets and laughed, saying in a sinister tone: "We brothers share the same fate, but Zhou Hui has a mountain to lean on, how can he be the same as us peasants?"

He had always been on bad terms with Zhou Zhiling, but in the past they had interests in common, so he was polite to him out of respect. Now that he realized he had been tricked, he immediately changed his attitude and treated Zhou Zhiling with disgust.

Zhou Zhiling knew that it was useless to argue at this time, so he just looked at the more stable Xiang Da Dongjia and said, "The prince has come with bad intentions. If we disagree again at this time, wouldn't that be fulfilling the wishes of others?"

But strangely, this time, the great host Xiang just shook his head, tightly grasping the paper in his hand, and sighed heavily: "Since ancient times, the people have never fought against the officials."

If it was just Jiang Zheng, they could still work together to fight.

But this prince was obviously not someone to be trifled with. Not long after arriving, he had already grasped their vital points and made them fight among themselves.

The most terrifying thing is that they knew it was a trap, but they were caught in it and had no choice but to drill into it.

"It's useless to argue now. I'll just say it straight. No one else can know what's going on here." Mr. Wen tore up the paper, crumpled it into a ball, stuffed it into his mouth, and swallowed it with tea. Then, under everyone's astonished gaze, he put the teacup heavily on the table and stood up and left.

"What is written on paper, even if it is bad, must be bad in my stomach. I will bring the account book with me tomorrow."

He left first, and the others hesitated for a moment before dispersing one after another.

Zhou Zhiling was the last one to leave. Looking at the backs of these people, he couldn't help but curse them as waste.

When he hurried back to the mansion, he saw the steward who came to report the matter, and asked worriedly: "Has there been any outsiders in the city recently asking about the Zhou family?"

The steward shook his head: "I have never heard of it."

Zhou Zhiling was still worried. He carefully considered his past actions and made sure that there were no hidden secrets. Then he put his mind at ease for the time being: "Did the letter from the north arrive?"

The steward came to see him for this very reason, and upon hearing what he had said, he immediately handed him a letter sealed with wax.

Zhou Zhiling carefully checked the wax envelope and confirmed that it was intact before sending the steward away to check the letter.

After reading the letter, he paced around the study a little anxiously, and his expression changed from hesitant to determined.

After writing a letter, Zhou Zhiling summoned his confidant and told him, "Send the letter to Phoenix Mountain."

After leaving the house, Yin Chengyu went to look for He Shan.

He Shan led the team this time, and Ying Hongxue also accompanied him.

Since Yin Chengyu had not arranged anything for them at the moment, they led the soldiers of the regiment and the officers and soldiers of the city to clear the snow in the city or help the people in the city repair the collapsed houses.

When Yin Chengyu looked over, He Shan was pushing Ying Hongxue back into the house. "What are you doing outside? It's very cold outside. If I'm thirsty, I'll go in and drink some water. Your legs will hurt again if you catch a cold."

He was sweating all over from shoveling snow, but he was not afraid of the cold at this moment, so he wore a thin single-layer coat, through which his well-defined muscles could be vaguely seen. Amid the laughter of the other soldiers, he pushed Ying Hongxue's shoulders into the house.

Ying Hongxue was wrapped in a thick cotton-padded coat, her slender figure was well hidden, only her face, which was exposed, was extremely gorgeous, especially when she frowned in anger, she looked even more gorgeous.

"Drink the ginger soup first, and then I'll go in."

He Shan didn't dare to make her angry, and didn't care whether it was hot or not. He drank the whole bowl of ginger soup in one gulp, handed the bowl to her, and smiled at her ingratiatingly.

Ying Hongxue finally relaxed her brows, took the bowl and was about to go into the house, but she saw Yin Chengyu and others.

"Your Highness." Ying Hongxue bowed, then looked at Xue Shu who was attending beside him and nodded at him.

The others heard the sound and looked over, then quickly followed suit and saluted.

Yin Chengyu waved his hand to indicate that he didn't need to be polite, and said to Hongxue, "I have already negotiated with the Sanjiang Chamber of Commerce. Several big bosses of the Chamber of Commerce have generously donated money. I don't trust others, so I have to trouble Miss Ying to be in charge of connecting with the Chamber of Commerce and transporting the donated materials back as soon as possible to help the victims."

These people in the Chamber of Commerce are all thousand-year-old foxes. Asking Ying Hongxue to go over there can prevent them from causing trouble again.

There is nothing that Hongxue would not respond to.

Yin Chengyu also asked He Shan about the progress of snow clearing in the city.

"Most of the main roads in the city have been cleared. The next step is to repair the houses that were blown down and collapsed by the wind and snow." He Shan said.

The progress is quite fast.

Yin Chengyu thanked him for his hard work and went back to the government office to handle other matters. Xue Shu followed him half a step behind. When they passed a cross-alley, the cold wind blew the snow particles on the ground towards their faces. Xue Shu immediately took two quick steps to block the wind and snow for him.

Yin Chengyu suppressed a few coughs and quickened his pace to pass through.

Xue Shu, on the other hand, frowned as he heard him coughing. He reached out to touch his hand in his sleeve to check its temperature: "Why are you coughing? Did you catch a cold?"

The hand in his palm was as cold as ice, and the wrinkles between Xue Shu's brows suddenly deepened: "We still have to ask someone to add a few more charcoal basins and boil another bowl of soup to prevent colds."

The two men were walking on the road, arm to arm, with their wide robe sleeves overlapping, just blocking their clasped hands.

Xue Shu's palm was very warm. Yin Chengyu curled his fingers and hesitated for a moment, but did not pull them out in the end. He just said "hmm" lightly.

After returning to the government office, Xue Shu ordered two charcoal basins to be added to the study, and asked someone to boil some medicine. He personally watched Yin Chengyu drink a bowl of it.

Yin Chengyu was also afraid that he might get sick and cause trouble, so he drank the medicine without blinking, and then continued to review the documents sent by the various prefectures.

By the time he had approved each of the documents and ordered them to be delivered, it was already dark.

The night is colder than the day, and the cold wind is like a knife, cutting my face and causing severe pain.

Yin Chengyu returned to the house, and only then did he feel that the pain in his brain from being frozen had faded a little.

But the room was not very warm. Supplies were scarce at the time, and Yin Chengyu did not want to waste too much, so he only placed two charcoal basins next to the bed for heating.

It was so cold that the water cooled quickly and it was inconvenient to take a shower. Yin Chengyu simply wiped his body, changed into a clean undershirt, and got into the quilt.

I had put some hot water in the quilt to keep it warm, but it wasn't cold.

Yin Chengyu hid half of his face in the quilt, staring at Xue Shu.

He didn't say anything, but Xue Shu understood that this was a urging.

After wiping his body with the remaining water, Xue Shu lifted the quilt and got on the couch. He turned sideways to face him and called out "Your Highness" in a low voice.

Yin Chengyu did not respond, but moved towards his arms, and put his cold hands into his shirt to warm them. His feet, which had been warmed by Mrs. Tang, also came over and pressed tightly against his legs.

Body against body, skin against skin.

Yin Chengyu felt a constant flow of warmth, and he sighed comfortably, "Go to sleep."

There was a warm scent of plum blossoms in his nose. Xue Shu looked at the swirl of hair on his head, his Adam's apple rolling a few times. He pulled the man into his arms and responded softly.

The author has something to say:

#Can read the heart dog hook#

Your Highness: Watch

Big Dog Gou: Your Highness is urging me to go to sleep!