The Marquis covered his chest with his hands, and his legs went limp as he looked at the whole box of stones, and his back leaned against the stacked mahogany boxes.
The father and son looked at the red box in the secret room at the same time, and suddenly a terrifying thought came to their minds.
Lu Haoran broke out in a cold sweat, his lips trembling: "No! No!!"
Lu Haoran picked up the axe on the ground. The excitement on his face was gone, replaced by panic.
As the sound of the padlock falling to the ground was heard, Lu Haoran did not open the box immediately.
Instead, he took a few deep breaths, closed his eyes, and prayed unconsciously in his heart.
The Marquis' eyes widened, his heart hanging in the air.
Then he mustered up his courage and opened the box with force.
When Lu Haoran saw the gray and dull stone, his breathing stopped and his legs went weak and he fell to the ground.
He clenched the axe tightly in his hand and muttered to himself, "How could it be? How could it be a stone?"
After saying that, Lu Haoran was filled with anger and started chopping at the locks of the boxes with an axe.
The Marquis was also hit hard and his body was trembling.
As more than a dozen boxes were opened, they were all filled with gray stones without exception, without any trace of gold, silver or jewelry.
Lu Haoran went completely crazy, pushing over boxes of opened stones and hacking away at them, muttering, "Where's my money?"
The secret room was in a mess, with stones of all sizes scattered on the ground. The Marquis had collapsed on the ground with a dead heart.
Lu Haoran was still unwilling to accept the fact and continued to chop the remaining boxes with his injured and bleeding hands.
When the Marquis saw that his hair was disheveled and he looked crazy, he stood up and walked over with a feeling of disappointment.
He slapped him and said, "What the hell is going on? Why did everything turn to stone?"
Lu Haoran was also confused and shook his head: "I don't know."
"You don't know? You worked so hard to plan it, even colluding with bandits to get it, and it turned into stone. You say you don't know why?!"
The Marquis' voice rose eight degrees, showing how furious he was.
"Was this stone replaced by Sang Biao, or is it originally a stone? Tell me the whole story of how you stole it."
The Marquis slammed the mahogany boxes angrily. Just as excited as he was when he saw these mahogany boxes just now, they were now as irritating.
After hearing his son's description, the Marquis' face flushed with anger: "So, you don't even know whether these stones were exchanged during the journey by Sang Biao, or whether they were stones from the beginning?"
"Stupid! How could I have given birth to such a fool like you? Shouldn't you inspect the goods the first thing you see?"
"How could you not keep an eye on something so valuable the entire time? You were even stupid enough to let Sang Biao's people take over such an important step."
"Are you stupid?!"
Lu Haoran opened his mouth but couldn't defend himself. Thinking of taking advantage of the situation, Lu Haoran didn't let his men move the boxes.
Instead, he searched the manor with his men and killed the servants who were asleep.
During this period, he really didn't know whether the first batch of boxes transported to the ruined temple would be replaced with stones.
As for the second and third batches, he stayed in the ruined temple after delivering the first batch, so Sang Biao would have more time to switch the packages.
Lu Haoran thought about this and grabbed his head in frustration: "Father, what should I do now?"
"What should we do? What else can we do? Quickly and secretly take a group of people to search and see where these things are."
"If we can find it, it's fine. But if we can't, we'll lose both the wife and the army."
The Marquis felt very painful when he thought about the huge amount of money his family had spent to keep silent and to bribe the city gates because of this matter.
The Marquis was so angry that his head hurt. He shook his sleeves and left the secret room.
Lu Haoran looked at the box that was still half empty, held on to a glimmer of hope, and continued with the axe.
This went on until late at night, but luck did not come. More than 600 boxes of dowry were all gray stones, without exception.
Lu Haoran sat in this secret room all night, and the next day, with dark eyes, he gathered people to search near Xu Jinyi's manor.
Xu Jinyi also heard the news and came back with the dog that was still in a coma.
Liuli rushed back that night, so when she saw Xu Jinyi's carriage appear, she knelt down at the door with tears streaming down her face.
"Miss, the warehouse was looted and all our money is gone."
"Wow...Miss, what should we do?"
Liuli performed this role very well, and Xu Jinyi didn't expect that she had such a side.
His face turned pale as she spoke, and he sat down, his tone in disbelief: "No, it can't be, that's my parents' life's work, how could it be gone?"
"No, no."
In the crowd, Lu Haoran's servant saw this and quietly left, telling Lu Haoran what happened here.
As Xu Jinyi fainted, the onlookers dispersed.
Liuli was arranged by Xu Jinyi to spread some things, while Liuyun, who was unaware of the situation, stayed to take care of Xu Jinyi.
As soon as she entered the room, Xu Jinyi woke up from tossing and turning, without noticing that the puppy in her arms moved.
"Miss, don't be sad. Money is just a thing outside of your body. If it's gone, it's gone. At least you're still alive."
"Fortunately, we went up the mountain to pray, otherwise more than a dozen people would have been in trouble."
Xu Jinyi nodded, tears welling up in her eyes. "Liuyun, the dead are the greatest. After all, they died in the manor. Here's some money. Use it to bury them properly and give some money to their families."
Liuyun shook his head: "Miss, the dowry is gone, and we have to save the remaining money. The general and the princess are still waiting for you to go back and save them, and there is still a lot of money to spend."
"Here, I have a way to deal with the money. Besides, rescuing my parents won't take a day or two. Unless I have the chance to meet the emperor, my evidence will be useless."
The moment Di Zisheng woke up, he grasped the key words in Xu Jinyi's words and guessed the identity of the woman in front of him from her words.
Looking up, his deep eyes were full of amazement.
With just this one glance, he confirmed the identity of the woman in front of him: the legitimate daughter of General Zhennan and the most beautiful woman in the capital.
Thinking of the conversation she had just had with the maid, the emperor stared at his little paws feeling powerless.
Puzzled, he responded to Xu Jinyi's words in his heart: "I am right in front of you, and I know that your father was framed, but I am in such a difficult situation that I can't take care of myself anymore."
He was the one who promoted General Zhennan, so his loyalty was beyond doubt. The first thing Prince Yan did after taking control of his body was to operate on him. Di Zisheng was not surprised at all.
Just listening to what this maid said, why did Di Zisheng feel that the misfortune of the little girl in front of him seemed to be caused by himself?
Di Zisheng touched his nose, but forgot that his claws were very sharp at this moment. He accidentally scratched his nose and made a little noise because of the pain.
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