Look me in the eye, you bastard!

The entire Chongyun Hall instantly fell silent as the grave.

After a long moment, Jiang Yingcheng's inner voice rang out.

[Huh? Why did Uncle say exactly what Chengcheng wanted to say?]

Gao Siyuan's heart lurched.

Emperor Mingze had explicitly told them that they must never let the little princess learn that they could all hear her thoughts.

But the thrill of gaining the upper hand just now had gone straight to his head, and he had impulsively blurted it out.

Gao Siyuan's gaze wandered, not daring to look at Emperor Mingze's expression atop the golden dais.

Qu Kaiyu's eyes were bloodshot, and his whole body trembled uncontrollably. Clearly, Gao Siyuan had infuriated him.

He looked around at the colleagues who had accompanied him to the duke's residence yesterday, his plea for help unmistakable.

Their gazes flickered as they avoided his eyes.

Gao Siyuan: "..."

Jiang Yanchuan's gaze slowly shifted from the wide-eyed Jiang Yingcheng to the red-faced Gao Siyuan, and he suddenly asked, "Minister Gao, what do you mean by that?"

If he let the little one continue down that train of thought, even if she suspected nothing, that "system" would start wondering.

Gao Siyuan's face crumpled.

How was he supposed to know what the little princess meant? He was merely a mouthpiece repeating her thoughts.

Normally, he found that troublemaker so jinxed that he stayed as far away as possible. How could he know whether the man had embezzled anything?

Gao Siyuan knew that Emperor Mingze's question was actually directed at the "System Bro" inside the little princess's mind, but he had no confidence whatsoever.

If "System Bro" failed to respond soon, how was he supposed to extricate himself from this awkward predicament?

If he could not lay out the particulars today, Qu Kaiyu would surely pounce on him and hack him into eight pieces!

Qu Kaiyu had already dropped to his knees and begun loudly protesting his innocence.

"Your Majesty! Throughout my many years in office, I have remained loyal to my sovereign and my country, with sleeves clean of ill-gotten silver! Yet General Gao has slandered me over a mere quarrel at court. I beg Your Majesty to uphold justice for me!"

He turned and stole a glance at several ministers with whom he was usually friendly, hoping they would join him in assailing Gao Siyuan with words, only to discover in astonishment that several gave him inscrutable looks before turning their heads away.

Qu Kaiyu's heart began to pound.

What was wrong with them?

Whenever they denounced the military officials together, every last one of them had been more eloquent than he was.

Now a few utterly baseless allegations had scared the guts out of them?

This court truly was full of petty men who knew only how to trim their sails to the wind!

He curled his lips in disdain.

Gao Siyuan grew even more anxious.

After Qu Kaiyu's howl of feigned grief and indignation, if he did not quickly respond, he would not only lose the upper hand but also make the atmosphere even stranger.

Some courtiers had already begun protesting on Qu Kaiyu's behalf.

They were so incensed that they looked ready to swallow Gao Siyuan whole and skin him alive.

Fortunately-

The little princess did not keep him waiting long.

Jiang Yingcheng's attention was always easily diverted. Seeing this man shamelessly proclaim his innocence, she immediately embarked on a new undertaking.

[Lemme see, lemme see... hmm, last March, he took a hundred thousand taels of silver from the magistrate of Changning County...]

[In May, he took a hundred and fifty thousand taels from the magistrate of Yingfu County...]

[August... a hundred and thirty thousand taels...]

[November...]

[Whoa! He pocketed even more than the Minister of Personnel!]

Gao Siyuan was wild with delight and hurriedly began mechanically repeating what the little princess's inner voice said.

This time, he was a little wiser. Rather than repeat everything, he scrambled the order and selected only a few of the larger sums.

The moment Gao Siyuan began detailing specific offenses, those who had spoken up for Qu Kaiyu seemed to choke on something, unable to utter another word for a long while.

He spoke with such certainty and such detail, and in a setting like Chongyun Hall, no less...

No matter how they looked at it, this did not seem like something he had casually made up.

Still kneeling on the floor, Qu Kaiyu's back went rigid, his eyes widening in horror.

Every sum Gao Siyuan mentioned was a figure he had long since memorized during the many late nights spent poring over his private ledger.

But how had Gao Siyuan learned any of this?!

Every time he accepted a bribe, he painstakingly planned each step down to the smallest detail. He believed that unless those bribing him exposed themselves, there was absolutely no way this could come to light!

At that thought, Qu Kaiyu squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again, forcing himself to calm down.

"Absurd!" He heard his own voice resound through Chongyun Hall. "You say I embezzled funds and accepted bribes, and that makes it true?"

Qu Kaiyu scoffed. "If everyone at court were like General Gao, seeking to slander an imperial official with baseless accusations, what law and order would Great Rui have left?!"

Gao Siyuan was momentarily speechless.

For the man to speak with such high-sounding righteousness, he must have taken extraordinary care to conceal the evidence. Finding it would likely be difficult.

Seeing Gao Siyuan's reaction, several people at court began supporting Qu Kaiyu again.

They belonged to the same faction and saw each other constantly. If he really was found to have embezzled funds and taken bribes, they could simply claim they had misjudged his character.

Amid the clamor, Gao Siyuan instinctively looked toward the little princess.

And she did not disappoint him-

[Oho?]

[He hid it in a house in the capital's outskirts under his younger brother's name?]

[And it's all government silver?!]

[Ooh, ooh, ooh, let's go dig it up!!]

Gao Siyuan let out a long breath, finally setting his mind completely at ease.

He felt a little sorry toward the little princess, but he had no choice but to snatch the credit today!

"Baseless accusations?" Gao Siyuan puffed out his chest, feeling as exhilarated as if he had won a battle. "Then where did the government silver hidden in your younger brother's house on the capital's outskirts come from?!"

Boom-

It was as though a tremendous noise had exploded beside his ears. Qu Kaiyu slumped back onto his heels. In the bitter depths of winter, he broke out in a cold sweat, looking as though he had just been hauled out of the water.

His eyes held terror mingled with despair.

Because all this silver bore official stamps, he had never touched it after receiving it, burying it all beneath the ground in his younger brother's courtyard.

And now, this illicit money, of which he had not spent even a fraction, was about to plunge him into eternal ruin!

Gao Siyuan watched with undisguised delight as the Imperial Guards rushed forward and escorted Qu Kaiyu out of Chongyun Hall, feeling thoroughly refreshed.

But his good mood did not last long.

Seeing her father order the corrupt official hauled off to prison, Jiang Yingcheng lost all interest in the matter now that her wish to secretly dig up the silver had fallen through. She went back to digging into last night's excitement at the duke's residence with 007.

[Hahahahaha, who was naughty enough to set fire to an entire courtyard of theirs?]

Gao Siyuan's smile froze on his lips.

No!

Wait!

We still haven't dug up the government silver!

Something that big, and you're already not interested?!

[Oh, it was this general uncle who just sent that corrupt official to prison!]

Gao Siyuan: "..."

In a daze, he saw Duke Wang, who had only just regained his composure, turn around with agonizing slowness and glare ferociously at him.

Duke Wang stared without blinking, silently mouthing-

Look me in the eye, you bastard!