"You are clearly guilty and have no face to see me. I kindly saved you, but you mistook my kindness for malice, repaid my goodwill with enmity, and truly have no face to see me!"
Thinking of Ling Mohan's past actions, Feng Jin's anger still simmered. She had never met someone like him. If she had a sword in her hand then, she would have stabbed Ling Mohan several times to vent her frustration.
"Let the past be the past. These past few days, Prince Jing discovered that seventy percent of the silver from the collusion between the Third Prince and the Zhao family in the iron ore trade went into Chu Yanxi's private treasury."
"Heh, Chu Yanxi is indeed greedy. But as a prince, with his salary and the Emperor's rewards, could he be so poor that he had to resort to this path of no return, selling iron ore?"
If it were anyone else who did this, even Chu Chenyi, who had to rely on Lin Yuwei's dowry to survive, she could understand it. But Chu Yanxi was someone she truly couldn't comprehend.
Chu Yanxi was the legitimate son of the Empress, and Emperor Xuanwen doted on him dearly. Was he that poor? Birds die for food, and men die for wealth. It seemed no one could escape this.
"To contend for the throne, Chu Yanxi has always spent a lot of money to bribe ministers and win people's hearts. Thus, the expenses would naturally not be a small sum, which is why he took this risk."
After pondering, Ling Mohan could only think of this as a reason.
In recent years, Chu Yanxi had always been generous with money and gifts to court officials, his出手 unmatched in its extravagance. Unfortunately, there were no detailed records of these sums.
Furthermore, when they went to seize the Zhao family's assets, some important items had already been destroyed. Currently, what Chu Chenyi had found was not enough to bring down Chu Yanxi in one fell swoop.
"No wonder he's so rich. During the baby's full moon banquet, the gifts he gave, the gold, silver, and jewels, were clearly of superior quality."
Feng Jin had marveled at it for a long time. Both were princes, but look at the gifts Chu Yanxi gave. Then look at Chu Chenyi's gift, which was just some wooden toys for a child, and they were covered in smudges. Feng Jin had suspected that Chu Chenyi had grown tired of them himself and almost threw them away on the spot.
"Chu Yanxi has always been known for his generosity. He is never stingy with money when it comes to officials," Ling Mohan said faintly, recalling Chu Yanxi's previous attempts to bribe him.
If he guessed correctly, more than half of the officials in the court had accepted bribes from Chu Yanxi.
Those who accept favors are softened by them, and those who receive gifts have short hands. Once this matter is exposed, officials who have received benefits, even to protect themselves, will try their best to protect Chu Yanxi.
Without solid evidence to trap Chu Yanxi with no escape, this matter must not leak out. Their efforts of many days must not be ruined like this.
"We must first find evidence of Chu Yanxi bribing officials in private. Otherwise, with the Emperor's disposition, he will also lean towards Chu Yanxi and try to find ways to absolve him. Only with irrefutable evidence can the Emperor no longer show favoritism to Chu Yanxi."
After these few incidents, Feng Jin had understood clearly that in the eyes of Emperor Xuanwen, all his sons combined were not as important as Chu Yanxi. Coupled with the Empress's support, it would be difficult to overthrow Chu Yanxi by any means other than treason.
By leveraging the iron ore incident, even if they couldn't bring down Chu Yanxi, they had to ensure he lost his chance at the throne and had no possibility of contending for it.
"Let Chu Chenyi remain patient for now. His actions going forward must be extremely cautious. First, we need to find evidence of Chu Yanxi bribing ministers."
After much thought, Feng Jin found this to be the most reliable method. The more critical the moment, the more prudent one must be.
"Everything will be done as my lady says. I will secretly send people to assist Chu Chenyi."
Ling Mohan had originally intended for Chu Chenyi to investigate this matter alone. However, the efficiency of Chu Chenyi's subordinates was truly too slow. He saw it and was anxious, often letting his hidden guards leak information to them, which was why they were able to quickly discover that Chu Yanxi was the mastermind behind the Zhao family's sale of iron ore.
However, these matters alone were not enough to completely bring down Chu Yanxi. This was why he had Chu Chenyi continue his investigation. Only when all matters erupted together could the Emperor be truly enraged, making it impossible for him to continue protecting Chu Yanxi.
"By the way, how are those people from the Zhao family to be dealt with?"
After all, the Zhao family had stolen the token, forged the imperial decree, and colluded in the iron ore trade, with conclusive evidence. Their entire family, over a hundred people, were all imprisoned. By now, the judgment should have been rendered.
"The main culprit, Zhao Yulong, for privately stealing and selling iron ore, was charged with the crime of usurping the nation and sentenced to death. All adult males of the clan were sentenced to exile, and all women were confiscated as slaves."
The verdict had been handed down two days prior. The Zhao family had committed such a grave crime, and the Emperor had only executed the main culprit, not punishing the entire family, which was already a great grace.
As for the Second Master Ling, considering he was unaware of the matter, he was only questioned for his lax management and received a minor punishment of a year's salary deduction. Fortunately, he had narrowly escaped this disaster.
"The women are to be made slaves, so what about Madam Zhao..."
"My uncle has been visiting frequently, trying to save my aunt. As for the outcome, I truly don't know."
He only heard some whispers about these matters. After all, he hadn't even finished dealing with matters within the army, so where would he have the time to worry about such trivial things? Only Feng Jin paid particular attention to these matters.
"Your uncle is truly loyal and righteous. Even at this moment, he hasn't forgotten to save Madam Zhao. You know, such a matter could easily drag oneself down. The affection of many years of marriage is still there."
As the saying goes, husband and wife are birds in the same forest, but when disaster strikes, they fly in separate directions. However, the fact that Second Master Ling dared to go to great lengths to beg for Madam Zhao today was enough for her to admire him for a long time.
Pausing, Feng Jin then turned her gaze to Ling Mohan and asked, "If one day, I also committed a serious crime and was imprisoned, would you..."
With the remaining half of the question left unsaid, under Ling Mohan's intense gaze, Feng Jin could not muster the courage to continue and meekly closed her mouth.
"Must you always ask such thoughtless questions!"
Ling Mohan's tone was laced with anger. He truly admired Feng Jin's mind, always thinking about such nonsensical things. Were these matters worth her envy?
"I'm just asking. Isn't this preparing for a rainy day and making arrangements in advance? They all say men can't be relied upon, so we women naturally have to look out for ourselves," Feng Jin retorted stubbornly.