"You are clearly guilty and have no face to see me. I, this young lady, kindly saved you, and in return, you repay kindness with enmity. You truly have no face to see me!"
Feng Jin's anger would not subside when she recalled Ling Mo Han's past deeds. She had never met such a person. If she had a sword in her hand then, she would have stabbed Ling Mo Han several times to vent her anger.
"Let bygones be bygones. These past few days, Prince Jing discovered that seventy percent of the money from the third prince's colluding with the Zhao family to smuggle iron ore has all entered Chu Yan Xi's private treasury."
"Heh, Chu Yan Xi is indeed quite greedy. But as a prince, with his salary and the emperor's gifts, could he be so poor that he had to resort to smuggling iron ore?"
If it were someone else, even Chu Chen Yi, who had to rely on Lin Yu Wei's dowry to live, she could understand. But she truly couldn't comprehend Chu Yan Xi.
Chu Yan Xi is the empress's legitimate son, and Emperor Xuan Wen doted on him. Was he that poor? Birds die for food, people die for wealth. Indeed, no one could escape this fate.
"To vie for the throne, Chu Yan Xi has always been very generous with bribes to various ministers to win their hearts. Thus, the expenses would naturally not be a small sum, which is why he took this risk."
Ling Mo Han could only think of this reason after some thought.
In recent years, Chu Yan Xi had always been extraordinarily generous with his wealth towards court officials, surpassing everyone in his lavish spending. Unfortunately, there were no detailed records of these sums of money.
Moreover, when they rushed to confiscate the Zhao family's assets, some important items had already been destroyed. Currently, what Chu Chen Yi found was not enough to bring down Chu Yan Xi in one fell swoop.
"No wonder he was so wealthy. During the baby's full moon banquet, the gifts he gave, the gold and silver jewelry, were clearly of superior quality."
Feng Jin had marveled at it for a long time. Both were princes, yet look at the gifts Chu Yan Xi gave. Then look at Chu Chen Yi's gift, merely some wooden trinkets for a child, with many scuff marks. Feng Jin had suspected that Chu Chen Yi had played with them himself and almost threw the things away.
"Chu Yan Xi has always been known for his generosity. He is never stingy with money when dealing with officials." Ling Mo Han recalled Chu Yan Xi's previous bribery attempts and said indifferently.
If his guess was correct, more than half of the officials in the court had received bribes from Chu Yan Xi.
One feels obligated when they receive favors. Once this matter is exposed, those officials who had accepted benefits would go to great lengths to protect Chu Yan Xi, even if it's just to save themselves.
Without concrete evidence to leave Chu Yan Xi with no escape, this matter must not leak. Their efforts over the past few days could not be ruined like this.
"We need to find evidence of Chu Yan Xi bribing officials privately first. Otherwise, with His Majesty's disposition, he will also lean towards Chu Yan Xi and find a way to exonerate him. Only when the ironclad evidence is presented before him will His Majesty be unable to continue favoring Chu Yan Xi."
After these few incidents, Feng Jin understood that in Emperor Xuan Wen's eyes, all his sons combined were not as important as Chu Yan Xi. Furthermore, with the Empress supporting him, it would be difficult to bring down Chu Yan Xi by any means other than treason.
By using the iron ore incident, even if Chu Yan Xi cannot be brought down, he will be deprived of the opportunity to contend for the throne, and his chances of becoming emperor will be eliminated.
"Let Chu Chen Yi be patient for now, and be even more cautious in his actions from now on. First, find evidence of Chu Yan Xi bribing ministers."
After much deliberation, Feng Jin found this to be the most reliable method. The more critical the moment, the more cautious one must be.
"Everything will be done as my wife says. I will secretly send people to assist Chu Chen Yi."
Ling Mo Han had initially planned for Chu Chen Yi to investigate this matter alone. However, the efficiency of Chu Chen Yi's subordinates was too slow. He watched with anxiety and often leaked information to them through his secret guards, which is why they were able to quickly discover that Chu Yan Xi was the mastermind behind the Zhao family's smuggling of iron ore.
However, these matters alone were not enough to completely bring down Chu Yan Xi. This is why he had Chu Chen Yi continue his investigation. Only when all matters are exposed simultaneously can His Majesty be truly enraged, making him unable to protect Chu Yan Xi anymore.
"By the way, what will happen to the Zhao family?"
After all, the Zhao family had indeed used a stolen token to forge an imperial decree and smuggle iron ore. The evidence was conclusive, and the entire family of over a hundred people were all imprisoned. Counting the time, the verdict should have been released by now.
"The main culprit, Zhao Yu Long, who privately stole iron ore and smuggled it, will be charged with treason and sentenced to death. All males in the clan will be exiled, and all females will be confiscated and enslaved."
The verdict had been handed down two days ago. Given the Zhao family's grave crimes, it was already a great mercy that His Majesty only executed the main culprit and did not impose collective punishment.
As for Second Master Ling, out of consideration for his ignorance of the matter, he was only reprimanded for poor discipline and fined one year's salary as a minor punishment. Fortunately, he had narrowly escaped this calamity.
"The women will be relegated to slavery, so what about Madam Zhao..."
"Second Uncle has made numerous visits these days, trying to save Second Aunt. As for the outcome, I truly do not know."
He had only heard some rumors about these matters. After all, he was overwhelmed with his military affairs and had no time to concern himself with such trivial matters. Only Feng Jin paid particular attention to these things.
"Your second uncle is truly loyal and righteous. Even at this moment, he hasn't forgotten to save Madam Zhao. You know, such matters could easily implicate oneself. The affection built over many years of marriage is still there."
As the saying goes, husband and wife are like birds of the same forest; when disaster strikes, they fly in different directions. However, today, for Second Master Ling to risk himself to plead for Madam Zhao on multiple occasions was a gesture worthy of her admiration.
After a pause, Feng Jin shifted her gaze to Ling Mo Han and asked, "If one day, I committed a great crime and was imprisoned, would you..."
The remaining half of the sentence, under Ling Mo Han's intense gaze, Feng Jin couldn't muster the courage to continue, and simply closed her mouth dejectedly.
"Must you always ask such thoughtless questions!"
Ling Mo Han's voice was tinged with anger. He truly admired Feng Jin's mind; what sort of nonsensical things did she ponder about all day, to the point where she felt the need to envy such matters.
"I was just asking. Isn't this called planning ahead and preparing early? Others say that men are unreliable, so we women naturally have to look out for ourselves," Feng Jin argued unreasonably.