Ren Ye's words stunned everyone present. Not only did Wu Pangzi look dumbfounded, but even Old Huang, who had wanted to put in a few helpful words, had no idea what to say.
He was asking someone to run errands for him, and on "state business" involving territorial expansion at that. Yet not only was he refusing to spend a penny, he actually wanted the other man to front the money.
Fuck, he had already pushed things this far. What else could Brother Huang say?
Old Liu looked equally bewildered. After taking a long time to process it, he leaned close to Tang Feng's ear and said, "Our Prince Huai really is taking his big brother for a fucking idiot! How does he have the nerve to ask? Even someone as thick-skinned as me couldn't say that."
"And that's why you aren't Prince Huai." Tang Feng smiled as he mocked him. "How does that saying go? The greater your daring...!"
Before he could finish, Ren Ye, seated at the head of the table, immediately grabbed Wu Pangzi's wrist and said with feeling, "Brother, everything in my Qingliang Prefecture needs rebuilding. If I'd had any other choice at all, I wouldn't have... have torn down and sold the Prince's Mansion my father left behind. Building Dangshan Pass City recently also cost a tremendous amount, leaving the Prefectural Yamen's treasury empty. Yet expanding our territory is an urgent matter... I... I've been driven into a corner. To tell you the truth, Brother, whenever I see a dry well in Prefecture City, I feel so ashamed and distressed that I want to jump in and end it all."
As he spoke, Prince Huai's tears began to fall. His face full of shame and frustration, he sobbed movingly, "O boundless Firmament, I truly cannot