The corners of Tao Yangqiu's lips curled slightly.
The sight of Lu Yao hemming and hawing for so long without getting a single word out finally restored a sliver of his confidence amid his overwhelming panic.
He parted his lips. "Since-"
"Who gave you the confidence to question the Embroidered Uniform Guard's intelligence capabilities?" Lu Yao suddenly spoke, cutting off Tao Yangqiu's lengthy speech before it began and snuffing out his newly kindled hope.
The Embroidered Uniform Guard had always been responsible for monitoring the officials. But in recent years, Emperor Mingze had devoted himself to military campaigns, dispatching most of their Eastern Depot spies to other countries to steal military intelligence, so their scrutiny of the court officials had slackened somewhat.
Who would have thought that such a brief lapse would almost let these people poke a hole through the heavens?
Had the Little Highness not possessed such extraordinary abilities and revealed these filthy dealings in advance today, allowing them to continue unchecked, even he, as commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, would hardly have escaped blame!
Lu Yao's temper flared as well. "Lord Tao, you believe you and your wife share a deep and loving bond, and you hand over every penny you earn at court to her. But do you know that she spends all that money of yours on the man she's always held in her heart?"
He gave a contemptuous smile. "Don't say I didn't warn you. When you have time, Lord Tao, you'd best go home and count what's in your storerooms. See how much of your family fortune is left."
Once those words fell, not only did Tao Yangqiu tremble all over with rage, but Zhang Ding'an also gave a sudden shudder, terror filling his eyes.
Amid the officials' uproar, Lu Yao keenly