That evening.
Sharp screams echoed one after another from the Lu family mansion.
Pan was initially startled, but later learned that Lu Renjia was sleeping in the study and seemed to be having a nightmare, screaming in pain.
Pan only sent one of her most disliked concubines to take care of Lu Renjia, and then she couldn't be bothered to care about him anymore.
Lu Renjia's eyes were tightly closed, but his aged face was twisted into a terrifying expression, and he kept crying out, "Let me go, please let me go..."
The concubine was terrified and tried to wake Lu Renjia, but to no avail.
Lu Renjia felt as if he were trapped in this endless nightmare. He heard his concubine calling him to wake up, but in this nightmare, his eyes had been gouged out by the female ghost and crushed under her foot.
He couldn't open his eyes at all and could only watch helplessly as the female ghost peeled off his skin and finally used a thin knife to cut through his bones. The pain spread throughout his entire body.
It was enough to make him regret everything he had done since he came into this world.
...
The torment of Lu Renjia continued unabated, while Lin Wanyue was not idle either. With the help of Wang Youcai and people from the Regent's Palace, she quickly dug up all eighteen generations of Lu's ancestors.
The Heavenly King Youcai rushed over from outside, carrying a thick stack of letters in his hands.
"Uncle Wang, what are you holding in your hand?" Lin Wanyue and her two brothers sat under the eaves, each holding a large candied hawthorn.
Since winter began, there haven't been many fresh fruits and vegetables to eat in the north. However, the hawthorn berries in the mountain valleys are bright red, and there are still quite a few to pick. Some diligent people have gone into the mountains to pick a lot of hawthorn berries, washed them, and sent them to the capital to sell.
Lin Wanyue thought it looked good, and remembering the method of making the "Eternal Prison" that she had read about in her textbooks, she asked Xue Fu to make some candied hawthorns.
The homemade candied hawthorns are made with high-quality ingredients, using only the largest ones. However, my technique is not up to par; the sugar coating is quite thick, and they don't look as pretty as those in the book.
But this doesn't stop them from eating at all; everyone in the Lin family, from the oldest to the youngest, loves to eat it.
"Princess, you're here!" Wang Youcai immediately ran over and handed Lin Wanyue a thick stack of letters. "Princess, this is the information I asked them to gather. It's all been compiled here, and there are quite a few amazing things in it!"
"What are all these things? Let me see them too!" Lin Zihan and Lin Ziqiu leaned forward, wanting to see what good stuff they were.
Wang Youcai rolled his eyes and pulled out a few bills, handing them to Lin Zihan and Lin Ziqiu. "Third Young Master, Fourth Young Master, this is fine for you."
Lin Zihan and Lin Ziqiu didn't find it offensive. They took it and looked at it, frowning as they examined it for a while before saying, "How could the Lu family be so wicked? They've been stealing money for so many years!"
Lin Wanyue found their words quite strange. Hadn't she heard before that Lu Renjia's family was extremely wealthy?
It is precisely because he is extremely wealthy that he was able to donate money to the late emperor and thus achieve his current status.
How could such a wealthy family steal silver?
Lin Wanyue followed them over and realized that the Lu family had indeed stolen a lot of money.
However, their family was very capable; they stole tax money from the national treasury!
Their family has frequent business dealings and many shops. If you calculate carefully, their annual income must be several million taels of silver.
According to the laws of the Great Yan Dynasty, merchants pay one-tenth of their taxes.
As a result, the Lu family would have to pay hundreds of thousands of taels of silver every year.
However, the documents found by the Ministry of Revenue clearly state that the Lu family only paid a total of 6,233 taels of silver in taxes last year!
How can such figures justify the Lu family's extensive business dealings?
"Oh~" Lin Wanyue laughed, "This is interesting. They can earn so much money and only pay such little tax? The Lu family is really quite capable."
Wang Youcai nodded and said, "Princess, it's not just that. This family is extremely vicious."
Lin Wanyue quickly picked up the other documents, wanting to see just how many harmful things the Lu family had done.
Lin Zihan and Lin Ziqiu also wanted to watch, but Wang Youcai stopped them, saying, "Young masters, it's cold outside. Why don't you go inside and rest for a while? These things can be left to the little princess. Don't trouble yourselves."
Lin Wanyue reads quickly, skimming through the letter in no time.
It turns out that the Lu family was not only skilled at tax evasion, but also incredibly ruthless in how they made their fortune.
His father was a kidnapper when he was young. He was the kind of person who would go to remote mountains and use a few pieces of candy to lure young girls, or even teenage girls and young wives, and then sell them to brothels.
People swindled with items worth only a few cents can be resold for tens of taels of silver.
After accumulating enough silver, he went into the smuggling of salt and made a fortune. Later, probably fearing being caught, he switched to the tea and cloth business, and bought houses, fields, and land.
With a large amount of land at his disposal, he had enough rice to eat, and thus gradually became a well-known rice merchant.
Lu Renjia was his father's good son. He not only inherited his father's gold and silver treasures, but also his vicious heart.
In his youth, he was handsome and not only slept with countless women for free, but also frequently abducted them and sold them. Even in his later years, he would snatch away any girl he fancied. If he was satisfied, he would keep her as a concubine; if not, he would slander her chastity. In total, he harmed dozens of women.
Even the servants in that household, if he didn't like them, he would still sell them to those filthy brothels, and there were even more pitiful people like that.
Lin Wanyue was so angry at the contents that her teeth itched. She said to Wang Youcai, "This guy is a real scoundrel. Can you send all of this to my godfather? Just say that I sent it to him!"
"Daughter, do you have to give everything to your godfather?" Lin Weiming came out of the house, still holding a candied hawthorn that he had confiscated from one of his sons. Hearing Lin Wanyue's words, he came over to watch the fun.
My heart felt even more sour than the hawthorns I ate.
Wang Youcai didn't want Lin Zihan and Lin Ziqiu, the two younger ones, to see this filthy content, but he didn't have the same worries about Lin Weiming.
Lin Weiming took the letter, glanced at it, and immediately became furious, shouting, "Is this even human? This is a beast!"
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