After those words fell, the hall immediately went quiet.
Seeing this, Zhen Yi frowned. "Why aren't any of you speaking? We need to find a way to appease His Majesty now. Hand over those supplies at once."
The clan elders' gazes flickered, but they all remained silent.
Zhen Yi froze briefly, then understood in an instant. His eyes widened. "Y-you haven't already pocketed those supplies, have you?!"
The Third Branch's Clan Elder gave a light cough. "Not all of them. Just a tiny bit... oh, and we gave your Eldest Branch a share too."
"Have you all gone mad?!"
Furious, Zhen Yi smashed the fine porcelain teacup in his hand, slammed the table, and rose. "Those disaster relief supplies had to be handed over eventually, no matter what! We were only withholding them temporarily. How dare you embezzle them!"
"Have you forgotten His Majesty's attitude toward land seizures during the last Land Reclamation Policy? Do you know the consequences of doing this?!"
"You pack of fools!"
Zhen Yi wanted nothing more than to curse them. It had taken two months to prepare those disaster relief supplies, and now they had actually pocketed them!
What was he supposed to hand over now?!
His face livid with rage, Zhen Yi thundered, "I don't care how you do it. Get those supplies back as quickly as possible, whatever it takes!"
"It's too late."
The Second Branch's elder shook his head. "Those supplies have already been resold and distributed to trading houses across the provinces."
"It's winter now. Those supplies are in high demand everywhere, especially the clothes, shoes, and hats made from wool. They were extremely popular and sold very quickly."
"Getting them back is impossible."
After hearing this, Zhen Yi felt his vision go black and fainted dead away.
"Clan Head! Clan