Three days later, Emperor Kangxi issued an imperial edict, accompanied by the imperial physician. Seeing the physician's helpless expression, Yin knew that Kangxi must have learned of their situation.
Yinzhi, Yinxiang, and Yinzhi all sustained some injuries, and Qingyan specifically asked the accompanying imperial physician Yuan to examine their pulses to ensure that none of them would have any problems.
"Fourth Sister-in-law, if Mother finds out about the Master's injuries, she'll nag him to death. How dare the Master try to hide it from Mother? I don't have the guts to hide it from him." Ninth Princess Consort cried, at her wit's end. If Consort Yi found out, the problem would be truly serious.
"Sister-in-law, what does Ninth Brother mean by what to do?" Qingyan quickly reassured Ninth Princess Consort's anxious heart.
"Ninth Prince, if possible, please keep this from Mother." Ninth Princess Consort had nowhere else to turn, so she rolled up her handkerchief and looked at her sisters-in-law.
No?!
The Tenth Prince's wife nodded in agreement, "I've already said yes, this matter will have to be kept to myself."
"Sister-in-law, is something the matter?" Yin hadn't been there, so he didn't know what was going on.
Since Yin might be with Lady Yin Genjue Luo, Qingyan had no choice but to turn her attention to her.
“Things might get a bit complicated, and I believe there are people who are even more anxious than we are.” Yin Genjue Luo Shi recalled that Yin’s face had been gloomy the whole time.
The sisters-in-law wanted to know the truth, but Tu Lichen only reported it to Yin; the brothers were still unaware.
"Sister-in-law, are you a salt merchant?" the Tenth Prince's wife asked curiously.
"Of course, the salt merchants want to export salt, but we are investigating here. The salt merchants are very anxious, and some have even gone to the Salt Inspectorate for help," said Yin Genjueluo, and then told her sisters-in-law about the arrangements made by Yin.
As evening approached, Qingyan returned to the courtyard and calmly sat down at the octagonal table to drink tea. Only when Yin returned with the children did Qingyan finally show a smile.
"Mother, you went to Aunt's today. Father took us out for a stroll," Qingyan said directly.
Qingyan smiled, listening to the children's chatter. She could tell where they were playing outside, and a faint smile appeared on her face. Children really do have no worries.
"Yiken, are you all happy?" Qingyan asked gently.
"Of course, Mother, we went out and did a lot of things today, and we even went to see the big drum." Yiken'e happily told Qingyan about the day's events. Qingyan smiled gently and listened to what Yiken'e had to say.
After the family of five had dinner, Yiken'e took his younger sister and brother and left to go to bed.
Inside the main hall, Yin and Qingyan sat facing each other, their faces showing helplessness.
"Fourth Brother, how is the situation outside? Sister-in-law, does Brother think there might be some commotion when the salt is harvested?" Qingyan Baiyin Genjueluo Shi told Yin.
Yin fell silent. Of those arrested last night, two-thirds were salt merchants, and the other third were actually salt officials. Moreover, these people were actually producing salt, not smuggling it. A large number of silver notes were found on them. The salt merchants had deliberately kept so many, while the officials were accused of accepting bribes.
“Goodness, those officials are easy to convict. The silver notes found are evidence. Moreover, after arresting them, we even went to their homes and found even more silver notes. These officials are mostly from ordinary families and simply cannot afford such a large expense.” Yin was somewhat disappointed with the officials here. The salt merchants used a lot of money to bribe these people, but they ended up making themselves look very innocent.
Qingyan listened to Yin vent his resentment. He had spent the whole day with Yin searching houses, and a silver vault had to be prepared for each house they entered and exited.
"No way?" Qingyan looked at him in surprise.
Yin took out the ledger from his bosom; it was filled with hidden accounts.
"These all need to be handed over to Father Emperor. Aside from anything else, these account books alone can implicate a large number of people." Yin pointed to the names on the books.
Qingyan looked at the names Yin pointed to. Which of these people weren't henchmen of powerful officials in the capital? Each of them had a sum of money in their hands.
Based on these figures, Yuqing Palace must have a considerable amount of revenue every year, all of which comes from officials in the south.
In addition to these, Emperor Kangxi would also give the Crown Prince a sum of money, which would make the other princes jealous.
"Fourth Brother, we absolutely cannot keep this ledger, and we must not let anyone know that we have seen it. Otherwise, we will definitely be unable to explain ourselves." Qingyan quickly informed Yin.
He nodded: "They were just copied today. I just secretly took them back. I'll send them back first thing tomorrow morning. There are a lot of ledgers copied over there. If I just take one or two, no one will notice."
A serious expression appeared on Qingyan's face; such an account book would definitely attract unwanted attention.
Tulichen and the others must have seen it all. They assumed that Yin and Yin had taken back the account books, and that there might have been some arrangement by Kangxi involved.
"Father will definitely send people over. We must investigate first. There are many people in this ledger who are the people we will be contacting next," Yin said helplessly.
The next morning, Yin secretly took the account book to the study and put it in a box. He noticed that dozens of boxes of account books had already been sealed away, and only ten boxes of account books remained.
"Fourth Master, you've come." Tu Lichen hadn't slept all night and was extremely exhausted.
"Hmm, have you sealed all the boxes? Are you planning to send them to the capital?" Yin asked, looking at Tulichen.
Tu Lichen nodded: "His Majesty instructed me that these ten boxes of account books are here with you so that you gentlemen can take a look at them. You gentlemen will be going to the south at the end of the month, and these will be useful."
Yin was stunned after hearing this.
"These are all related to the south?" Yin asked in surprise.
A hint of helplessness appeared on Tu Lichen's face: "This servant is just following orders. We must be extra careful with this batch of salt samples, as they may be turned into smuggled salt."
Yin had a lot of salt permits, most of which were for smuggled salt. It was only after Yin submitted a memorial to Emperor Kangxi that Kangxi learned what the situation was.
"The people below have concealed it again," Yin said in surprise.
Kangxi had really put in a lot of effort into the officialdom in the south, but now, with one incident after another, he was getting a little annoyed. Tulichen had been following them closely, afraid that he might miss any news from Jiangnan.
“That’s right, this servant can only help His Majesty gather more information,” Tulichen said directly.
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