Chapter 156 - 113: Slapping Ren Xueliang

Chapter 156: Chapter 113: Slapping Ren Xueliang

The Crown Prince’s calm voice echoed in everyone’s ears.

"To avoid future inconveniences, let’s end this today," he said. Afterward, he cast a reluctant glance at Zeng Anmin before turning to leave.

"Farewell, Crown Prince." Zeng Anmin bowed respectfully to the Little Fatty Crown Prince’s retreating back.

After the Crown Prince left, silence fell over the Imperial College.

Only then did Liu Xian dare to stand up shakily. He walked over to Zeng Anmin, his voice trembling, "Quan... Quan Fu... Wang Zhi is actually... is..."

He was obviously so shocked that he couldn’t even speak clearly. Zeng Anmin couldn’t be bothered to explain everything to him. He simply glanced at him and nodded, "You did well today."

It was clear that when Ren Xueliang wanted to take him away, Liu Xian had stepped forward to protect him.

"Hehe." Liu Xian chuckled foolishly, scratching the back of his head.

"Quan Fu." Qin Wanyue only now approached Zeng Anmin. Her eyes looked at his hand with a hint of heartache. Pursing her lips, she asked worriedly, "Is your hand alright?"

Zeng Anmin’s mouth twitched. He thought, "I was the one doing the beating. What could possibly be wrong with me?"

He smiled reassuringly and said, "It’s fine."

"Those three burly men looked like they had thick skin... and you’ve never studied martial arts..." Qin Wanyue couldn’t help but worry.

Uh... Zeng Anmin didn’t know what to say anymore. He waved his hand at everyone and announced, "Disperse, all of you! Go study hard!"

With that, he led Qin Wanyue and Liu Xian toward the classroom.

After school.

Zeng Anmin walked out of the Imperial College with an extremely composed expression. His mind was filled with only one thought: he couldn’t delay this any longer.

The first thing he needed to do right now was to gather all the evidence of the crimes committed by the Eldest Princess and the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Ren Weizhi. However, before that, he had to return to the mansion and discuss with his father about their specific course of action.

"Young Master, you’ve returned?" As soon as he stepped into the courtyard, he saw Mr. Qi practicing martial arts with Dachun.

"Yes. Where is my father?" Zeng Anmin nodded calmly and asked.

"The Master is in the study," Mr. Qi replied respectfully.

"Okay." Zeng Anmin took a deep breath and headed toward the study.

Arriving at the door of the study in his father’s courtyard, Zeng Anmin knocked gently, "KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK."

"Who is it?" Zeng Shilin’s slightly exhausted voice sounded.

"It’s me, Father. I have something to discuss with you." Zeng Anmin pushed the door open. He looked inside and saw his father sitting at the desk, holding a scroll of documents.

"What is it?" His father frowned slightly upon seeing him enter.

"Why the long face? Is there a lot of pressure at court?" Zeng Anmin rarely saw such exhaustion on his father’s face. He sat down opposite his father curiously, his eyes filled with concern and inquiry.

His father merely cast a flat glance at him and ignored the question. "Speak if you have something to say."

Uh. Zeng Anmin was already used to this. He smiled nonchalantly, his gaze slowly scanning his father’s desk. When his eyes landed on a pair of highly conspicuous red Jade Cups on the table, they lit up.

"Oh? When did you get such nice toys?" He reached out and picked up one of the delicate cups to play with.

The small, blood-red Jade Cup exuded an air of elegance in his hand.

"A Chicken Blood Jade Cup?" Zeng Anmin muttered after toying with it for a moment.

This kind of Chicken Blood Jade was extremely precious. Even though the Minister’s Mansion did not lack money, such items were hard to come by even if one sought them out.

"If you came to swipe things, just take them and leave. Don’t bother me here," his father said, his mouth twitching. Every time his precious son visited the study, something would inevitably disappear from the desk.

"Who gave these to you?" Zeng Anmin looked up, furrowing his brows slightly. "This kind of ill-gotten wealth..."

As he spoke, he grabbed the other Chicken Blood Jade Cup as well.

His father didn’t say much, simply replying softly, "It’s a return gift from the Eldest Princess."

Zeng Anmin’s head snapped up. A return gift from the Eldest Princess? A return gift?

"Wait... you mean from the time you sent her that snake soup?" Zeng Anmin blinked, somewhat doubting his own ears.

A solemn look flashed through his father’s eyes as he nodded slowly. "After sending her the snake soup that day, she ordered someone to deliver a return gift."

At this point, his father’s frown deepened. He picked up a piece of silk cloth from the other side of the desk and handed it over. "She mistook my men for Ren Weizhi’s men."

"Uh..." Zeng Anmin took the silk cloth and blinked as he looked at it.

There was only one sentence written on it.

[Thank you for your consideration, Lord Ren. Please accept this small, humble gift.]

From these few simple words, an extremely delicate feeling washed over him. The handwriting was standard for a woman.

However, upon seeing the silk cloth, Zeng Anmin immediately looked up, a serious glint flashing in his eyes. His gaze met his father’s perfectly.

Neither of them spoke.

After a long pause, a hint of appreciation flashed in his father’s eyes. He looked at Zeng Anmin and asked, "You felt it too?"

Zeng Anmin said solemnly, "The relationship between the Eldest Princess and Ren Weizhi... seems to be quite ordinary!"

Although this sentence was short, it revealed a huge piece of information. First of all, the Eldest Princess was a member of the royal family. If she had been working with Ren Weizhi for a long time, her tone wouldn’t be so polite. Of course, this didn’t rule out the possibility that she was just being cautious.

"Yes." His father nodded slowly, then looked out the window, his voice turning somewhat remote. "Moreover, if this line was truly written by the Eldest Princess herself... doesn’t it remind you of the handwriting on the secret letters you gave me?"

Prompted by this, Zeng Anmin’s pupils dilated in shock. The secret letters they had confiscated from Prince Qi’s Mansion instantly flashed in his mind!

The handwriting on those secret letters was completely different from the handwriting on this silk cloth! Even though they were both written by women, as someone on the Confucian Dao, Zeng Anmin could easily tell whether they were penned by the same person!

"But we can’t completely rule out the Eldest Princess as a suspect based on just one piece of silk cloth!" Zeng Anmin pursed his lips, his voice serious. "Besides, what if this silk cloth was just written by a Palace Maid working under the Eldest Princess?"

"True." His father didn’t argue. Instead, he slowly looked up at Zeng Anmin, his voice tinged with gravity. "Do you know why I didn’t immediately believe Lou Yingqi when he claimed the Eldest Princess was colluding with Ren Weizhi, or when you told me the owner of the secret letters might be the Eldest Princess? And why I instead said that those letters alone weren’t enough to bring her down?"

Zeng Anmin frowned at his father. He didn’t say anything, patiently waiting for him to continue.

Zeng Shilin didn’t keep him in suspense. He looked deeply at Zeng Anmin, speaking with a profound tone, "I am not clear about the northern drought from a year ago.

"But during the Jiangnan flood two years ago, I was in office at Fengqi Road. After receiving the disaster relief funds from the royal court, we were only able to survive that catastrophe by rushing to repair and rebuild the dam with the financial support of the Liangyou Chamber of Commerce.

"I don’t know where Lou Yingqi got the evidence that the Eldest Princess, Ren Weizhi, and Prince Qi conspired to embezzle the court’s relief funds.

"However, I personally experienced that flood back then!

"Some of the deficits in the court’s disaster relief were even privately covered by the Liangyou Chamber of Commerce."

As his father’s words fell, the entire room descended into silence.

Zeng Anmin’s brows furrowed deeply. As his father laid everything out, a storm of countless thoughts brewed in his mind. These thoughts intertwined in an extremely complex manner, throwing his mind into chaos.

"So, the person colluding with Ren Weizhi and Prince Qi... might not be the Eldest Princess?

"If that’s the case, then the people who intercepted and killed Prince Qi’s family on West River Road that day... weren’t the Eldest Princess’s men either..."

A brand new thread of logic slowly spun out in Zeng Anmin’s mind. It wasn’t clear where this thread ultimately led.

However...

He slowly shifted his gaze to his father. "At court, did Ren Weizhi put any pressure on you?!"