"Gu Shen." He turned his gaze to Gu Shen.
"This commoner is here." Gu Shen immediately bowed and kowtowed, his posture utterly humble.
"Is there anything you wish to add?"
Gu Shen raised his head, his face showing just the right amount of shock and lingering fear. "Your Majesty, everything Eunuch Liu said is true. This commoner... this commoner is merely an honest businessman. I truly don't know why I would be targeted for such a deadly calamity. If Eunuch Liu and the guards hadn't risked their lives to save me, I would already be... already be a soul beneath a blade."
He paused, and his voice took on just the right note of fear and confusion. "This commoner is so bold as to... to guess that perhaps... perhaps I accidentally stumbled upon some secret? When I was in Jiangnan, I heard some rumors about... about private salt and iron goods, but I'm a timid man and never dared get involved..."
His words were vague and he stopped there, but they were like a precisely cut key, instantly unlocking the lock of suspicion in Zhao Yuan's heart.
Private salt, iron goods, Yan territory...
Those words, strung together, pointed to the one possibility he could not tolerate most of all—treason!
A flash of murderous intent finally crossed Zhao Yuan's eyes. Though it vanished in an instant, Gu Shen, who had been quietly watching him all along, still caught it.
It worked.
Gu Shen silently repeated it to himself.
The emperor had already believed him seven or eight tenths.
"Liu Zhong protected the emperor and deserves a reward of a thousand taels of gold and a thousand-year-old ginseng root. Have the Imperial Physician treat him well." Zhao Yuan waved his hand. His voice still revealed no emotion. "Gu Shen suffered a fright,