"Take him! Take him down! Wang Fu colluded with Prince Yan—the evidence is conclusive! Search the whole place! Turn it upside down if you have to, but search every inch! If His Majesty asks, tell him that I, Wang An, have exposed a traitor of the highest order for the Crown Prince, and for the sake of our Great Gan!"
At his words, the Eastern Palace guards, who had been holding back until now, instantly turned into ravenous wolves. The last trace of respect in their eyes for a third-rank official vanished, replaced by a feverish hunger to distinguish themselves. They kicked Wang Fu aside and charged into the depths of the estate like a pack of tigers and wolves. The crash of kicked-in doors, the shattering of objects, and the screams and sobs of the women in the household blended together into a tragic song of ruin.
Wang Fu collapsed onto the ground, his whole body ice-cold.
It was over.
Everything was over.
It wasn't embezzlement. It was treason. The former would cost him his office and title at most, but the latter... meant the extermination of his entire clan.
Prince Yan? I can't even remember what Prince Yan looks like! Where did these letters come from? They found them in my cellar? Bullshit! How could I not know about something like this in my own cellar?
A frame-up!
A blatant frame-up!
Who? Who was behind this?!
The Crown Prince? Did he need to resort to this? He wanted money, and I was already prepared to give it to him. To accuse me of treason... wasn't he afraid Prince Yan would strike back? No, the Crown Prince wasn't that stupid, and he wouldn't have the nerve.
Could it be... Gu Shen? That young salt merchant? How could he