Duke Wei’s Mansion, in the Yuanyang Hall.

Xu Pengju looked at the belated handwritten letter from Zhao Hao in his hand and felt dizzy.

If it weren't for Censor Ma's words this morning, he wouldn't have known that Xu Bangning had caused such a disaster. And he came back to celebrate the festival as if nothing had happened.

In fact, Censor Ma also just learned about this matter... This morning, Yu Jiachang of Caijia Lane sent someone to find him and said that Master Zhao had a messenger waiting outside the gate of Xu's mansion for many days.

Because of what happened last year, Censor Ma did not dare to be careless. He quickly changed into casual clothes and skipped work to go to the Duke's Mansion to investigate the matter, just like he did last time.

Xu Pengju was also not careless... Last year, Zhao Hao was able to find his weak spot, let alone the fact that things are different now and Master Zhao has already climbed up to the high branch of the eldest princess?

He quickly asked the housekeeper to check at the concierge, and sure enough, he found the letter from Mr. Zhao in the wastebasket.

This led to the scene where Xu Fu brought his servants to apologize and ask for forgiveness.

He and Censor Ma smoothed out the wrinkled envelope, took out the letter inside and read it carefully to see what the guy was up to.

The two were stunned after reading it.

It was Censor Ma who came to his senses first and began to complain without any regard for propriety.

"My Lord, we shouldn't do this." Censor Ma looked as if he had eaten a fly, and said in a disrespectful tone, "You have important things to do here, why do you want to provoke that kid again?"

“How dare you destroy someone else’s dike!” Censor Ma suddenly raised his voice and slapped the coffee table, “You destroyed the dike, but you got caught! You are so stupid!”

"Fuck his mother!" The old master suddenly jumped up, grabbed the blue and white porcelain plum vase with lotus at hand, raised it with both hands and threw it heavily at the blood coral placed in the hall!

After all, the old man was born a military general. Even though he was not very good at fighting, he still had a lot of strength at the age of nearly seventy.

The plum vase hit the blood coral right in the middle, and there was a cracking sound. The porcelain pieces shattered, and the coral was knocked to the ground and shattered with a bang.

Censor Ma was startled and swallowed his saliva and dared not say anything more.

Xu Pengju was also trembling with heartache, but he could not care less. He asked Ma Yushi with a gloomy face: "How do you think this matter can be settled?"

"My lord, do you want to hear the truth or a lie?" Censor Ma asked back.

"Nonsense!" Xu Pengju snorted. When a seventy-year-old old man gets angry, it's quite scary.

"The truth is, we may have to hand over the young master and pay a sum of money to avoid disaster." Then I heard Censor Ma say in a low voice.

"Hiss..." The old man couldn't help but be shocked. "Is it really that serious?"

"The Lord's personal soldiers were arrested in Kunshan. This matter is already difficult to explain clearly." Censor Ma sighed and said:

"Don't forget, sir. They can file a complaint directly with the emperor. Even if you finally find a way to exclude the young master, he will be marked with a big cross in the eyes of His Majesty and the cabinet. I'm afraid he will not be allowed to inherit the title in the future."

Although the title of Duke of Wei was hereditary, who would inherit it and when it would be inherited depended on the will of the emperor and the court, and he had no say in the matter.

Otherwise, Xu Pengju would not have gone through so much trouble to send Xu Bangning to the Ministry of War to study the art of war and to send him to the Imperial Academy. Wasn't it just to ensure that his youngest son could win smoothly?

Now, after hearing Censor Ma's assertion that Xu Bangning had no hope of inheriting the title, how could Xu Pengju accept it?

In that case, not only would the sunk cost be too high, but he would also lose face in Qinhuai River.

"I'll try to get Zhao Hao to stop bringing this up." Xu Pengju said, "Isn't it just about money? I don't believe he can go against real money and hurt others without benefiting himself!"

"You can give it a try, sir." Censor Ma sighed and said, "But the Zhao family has plenty of money, so I'm afraid it won't work."

"Hmm..." With this reminder, Xu Pengju suddenly remembered that Zhao Hao was still a major shareholder of Xishan Company and Jiangnan Company.

Although he certainly didn't have as much real money as himself, if Zhao Hao's shares were converted into money, I'm afraid he would be on par with the Xu family.

The most terrifying thing is that this family fortune was earned by that kid in just one and a half years, while his Xu family had accumulated it through hard work from generation to generation over two hundred years.

How much money is appropriate to give to Shancai Tongzi to ward off disasters? I'm afraid no one can say for sure.

"And the eldest grandson of the Duke is a disciple of Young Master Zhao." Then I heard Censor Ma say quietly: "To be disrespectful, the two sides have already quarreled to such an extent. If I were in your place, I would definitely ask the Duke to change the heir so that I would feel at ease."

"This." Xu Pengju's expression froze. He obviously understood the implication of Ma Yushi's words - in order to eliminate Zhao Hao's hostility, he not only had to hand over his beloved younger son, but also let his disliked eldest son take the position.

"Let me say something even more disrespectful." Censor Ma bent down to pick up the letter that Xu Pengju had thrown on the ground, and read out a paragraph:

"'Now I know that the master asked the Earl of Chengyi to persuade Jiang Jijiu to repeat the incident of last year; but your son Bangning also bribed the assistant teacher Zheng Rujin with a large sum of money, and this matter has been investigated. The Earl of Chengyi said that Jiang Jijiu had accepted the bribe, but he was honest, so what he said was untrue. When the Jijiu learned that the secret was leaked, he would impeach the assistant teacher Zheng to protect himself. By then, not only would your son's plan be ruined, but I am afraid that you and your wife would also be implicated..."

After reading it, Censor Ma took out a handkerchief to wipe his sweat and said, "We are more cautious this year than last year, but that young master Zhao... is still acting as if he saw it with his own eyes. He is even more terrifying than the Jinyiwei of the Eastern Depot. Do you really want to fight him, sir?"

“I dare not…” The old man had been becoming more and more cowardly as he aged, and now Zhao Hao was even more frightened.

The boy actually knew everything that he didn't know, and even kindly reminded him that this approach was a dead end.

This is simply the cat playing with the mouse!

"If that's the case, why would you want to bring disaster to your descendants?" Then I heard Censor Ma say in a deep voice: "The 200-year foundation established by the King of Zhongshan is not as good as one of your sons?"

In fact, Ma Yushi was the one who was completely frightened by Zhao Hao. He didn't have the red book and iron certificate to protect him. Once the truth was revealed, he would be doomed to be the scapegoat.

No matter what, he had to persuade the old master to give up Xu Bangning. Then he whispered:

"Besides, the master has more than one son."

Xu Pengju was shocked when he heard this. He sat down slowly and thought in silence.

~~

When Xu Bangning came in, he saw the ground covered in blood, it was a horrible sight.

This frightened him. His father loved money like his life, and in a rage, he smashed the priceless four-foot blood coral. It was conceivable what kind of storm was waiting for him.

He was so frightened that he turned around quickly and wanted to ask his mother for help.

But he saw the doors of the hall behind him closing one by one, leaving him nowhere to escape.

"Father, father..." Xu Bangning turned around with a pale face and asked stutteringly, "What happened?"

"Ning'er, come here." The old father looked quite calm.

"Yes..." Xu Bangning walked over to the pile of broken corals and stood still.

"Let me ask you," Xu Pengju asked softly, "Did you send people to Kunshan to dig up the embankment?"

"No, no." Xu Bangning naturally denied it.

"That's good." Xu Pengju smiled and said, "When the officials from Kunshan come over later, you can go back with them and explain the matter clearly."

ps. This is the third update, I will write another one.