Chapter 28 Yu'er's coquettish plea: Your Highness, please keep the captive company!
"Clerk Tian, you're finally back," Yuan Yan said.
"I have been waiting for you here for a long time."
Tian Guangliang then snapped out of his surprise and said, "...This humble servant pays his respects to Your Highness, the Prince of Yue."
Just now, when she was sitting in the grain hall, the King of Yue refused to listen to her, so why did he come to her home afterward?
"I wonder what business Your Highness has with me at my humble abode?"
The stark contrast between Yuan Yan's behavior before and after made Tian Guangliang suspicious.
“Clerk Tian, didn’t you say you had something to say to me privately? Now that there’s no one around to disturb you, you can speak,” Yuan Yan said.
Yuan Yan emphasized the words "undisturbed," which immediately made Tian Guangliang, who was puzzled, realize what was going on.
At that time, Yuan Yan was surrounded by a group of officials. If Tian Guangliang hadn't known that her lowly status made it difficult for her to get an audience with His Highness the Prince of Yue, she wouldn't have chosen to approach Yuan Yan at that time and attract attention.
"So, back then, His Highness was afraid of being overheard, which is why he forbade me from speaking frankly outside..."
Tian Guangliang understood what she meant and immediately realized that he had misunderstood His Highness the Prince of Yue.
It seems that His Highness's actions outside are merely a cover, and that he is not truly of one mind with those officials.
This idea suddenly made her realize something, and she couldn't help but cheer up.
"I have stopped Your Highness today to report an important matter concerning the grain transport."
“Your Highness has been in Chuzhou for several days now, and you must have had your suspicions. The people of Chuzhou have delivered their grain, but the grain recorded in the official accounts has decreased rather than increased. In the end, the delivered grain was several times less, which has angered His Majesty,” Tian Guangliang said, bowing his head.
"What I wish to tell Your Highness is that this matter was absolutely not caused by the shipwreck... but rather by officials colluding with the grain transport gangs, extorting exorbitant taxes, embezzling grain, and enriching themselves. They deliberately fabricated the shipwreck incident to cover up the deficit!"
The room fell silent after she said that.
"Clerk Tian, are you saying... that officials in Chuzhou colluded with the grain transport gangs to embezzle grain. To cover up their crimes, they even staged a shipwreck and grain sinking incident?"
Yu Liu exclaimed in surprise. She hadn't expected the canal transport officials to be so audacious as to deceive His Majesty in such a way; their actions far exceeded everyone's imagination.
After Tian Guangliang finished speaking, he couldn't help but look at the King of Yue's expression.
However, Yuan Yan remained calm upon hearing this, showing no surprise on his face, as if he had already anticipated this inside story.
“I have already investigated and learned about the exorbitant taxes and levies these past few days, and I have also guessed some of the details of the shipwreck.” Yuan Yan remained unmoved.
"What I want to know most right now is not these things, but where the account books are. I wonder if Clerk Tian has the answer?" she said, raising her eyes.
"Your Highness has come to the right person to ask me about this matter."
As a clerk, Tian Guangliang's daily work involved accounting and documents. Having worked under Wu for so many years, he naturally knew some of the inside information.
“Lord Cao doesn’t trust anyone, so she must keep such important documents as account books in her private residence. If Your Highness wants to find them, you can send people to search her house; perhaps you can find them there,” Tian Guangliang said.
Upon hearing this, Yuan Yan spoke with her for a long time. It wasn't until dusk that he got up and left.
After leaving the courtyard, Yuan Yan gave Yu Liu some instructions.
“Leave some men behind to secretly guard the Tian family’s property.”
Yu Liu suddenly realized: "Is Your Highness afraid that Clerk Tian will be silenced?"
“Given Cao Jinjin’s character, he might very well eliminate him completely. Clerk Tian has rendered meritorious service by reporting corruption; we must not allow him to be secretly harmed here,” Yuan Yan said resolutely.
"Yes, Your Highness. I left behind a dozen guards and the soldiers who came with me. If Attendant Cao and the others dare to send someone to silence us, we can at least ensure the safety of Clerk Tian and his family."
Having witnessed what he had seen today, Yu Liu greatly admired Tian Guangliang for daring to expose the embezzlement of grain transport funds. He immediately arranged for people to protect him before leaving with Yuan Yan.
Sure enough, in the dead of night, thieves broke into Tian Guangliang's house, and the guards left behind by Yuan Yan came in handy.
To eliminate any future trouble, the thieves set a huge fire, intending to burn Tian Guangliang's entire family to death in their sleep.
Unfortunately, the guards from the Prince's Mansion who stayed near the Tian family were all highly skilled, selected through rigorous training. As soon as the fire started, they quickly rescued Tian Guangliang's entire family without missing a single one.
Yu Liu reported this matter to Yuan Yan, "Your Highness is indeed a prophet; these thieves have indeed made their move... So what should we do now?"
"Bring Tian Guangliang and his family of five to the government office for protection. Also, place five charred corpses inside Tian's residence to temporarily appease Cao Shiguan and the others."
This move was to prevent these officials from becoming suspicious because Tian Guangliang was still alive, thus giving them time to search the accounts.
Yuan Yan stood up and gave Xue Lang further instructions.
"Xue Dianjun, go and select another batch of skilled men. Tonight, before they make a move, we should go and investigate Cao Jinjin's residence."
"I, too, must see for myself."
During the day, Yu'er heard that Yuan Yan had gone to the grain depot yesterday, and wondered if he had found any clues about the grain shipment.
Intending to test the waters, he actually took the initiative to seek out Yuan Yan.
"Your Highness, Lu has been copying scriptures and praying for your blessings for the past two days, and his wrists are sore from exhaustion."
"Your Highness, look! Lu has stayed up all night writing so much for Your Highness. Your Highness must praise Lu properly..." Yu'er brought Buddhist scriptures and began to coax Yuan Yan as soon as she entered the door.
Upon hearing this, Yuan Yan lazily raised his eyes and glanced at him.
"Did Yu'er copy all of these by hand?" she asked, flipping through a couple of pages at random.
"Yes." Yu'er showed no guilt whatsoever upon hearing this, and even showed Yuan Yan her pair of soft, fair hands.
"Your Highness doesn't believe me? My fingers are so tired I can barely move them..."
Actually, he had been copying all night and was too exhausted to continue, so he handed the rest over to his subordinates, who then imitated his handwriting to finish it.
After all, in his eyes, the work his subordinates did was also his work. Yu'er wouldn't actually work herself to death just because Yuan Yan gave her an order.
Yuan Yan glanced at his fingers; his slender, jade-like fingers were still beautiful, showing no signs of fatigue.
But this didn't stop Yuan Yan from giving a flat "hmm" and continuing his act, lying through his teeth.
"That beauty must be working so hard; it makes my heart ache."
The system was speechless: [Host, at least put a little effort into your acting! This is so fake... even I can tell you're faking it, let alone being a spy.]
Yuan Yan didn't care: "So what if they figured it out? The show still has to go on."
Feeling sorry for someone? You call that feeling sorry for someone?
Yu'er was angered again by Yuan Yan's perfunctory and indifferent attitude.
"No, Your Highness's words of concern don't count. We need Your Highness to keep us company!"
"Your Highness didn't take Yu'er with you when you went out yesterday. Do you not like Yu'er anymore?" Yu'er put on a wronged expression and probed about Yuan Yan's visit to the grain hall yesterday.
"Didn't the beauty herself say the other day that she was too tired to walk? I only didn't let you go because I felt sorry for her." Yuan Yan used Yu'er's previous words to shut him up.
Yu'er choked immediately.
Wasn't it because Yuan Yan was like a lecherous fiend, constantly tormenting him, that even he, a spy with ulterior motives, couldn't stand it anymore and had no choice but to say that?
Yu'er wanted to open her mouth to refute, but how could she say such a thing in front of Yuan Yan?
He could only suppress his anger and say, "Thank you for your concern, Your Highness... I am no longer in any serious condition."
"Now that the beauty is fully recovered, why don't you accompany me to the banquet tomorrow?"
As Yuan Yan spoke, he pulled Yu'er into his arms, feeling her body suddenly tense up, and chuckled inwardly.
A note from the author:
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