Reborn to be without his father but with his son, the prince shouted, "I'm not dead!"

Chapter 138: Embezzling military pay
"Hua Jie, why are you so stupid!" Cao Lingru looked at the dead person on the bed with tears in her eyes.

Yuan Niang picked up the letter on the table and said, "Madam, this is a letter left by the second lady."

Cao Lingru wiped the tears from her cheeks and hurriedly took the letter from Yuan Niang.

Every word is as sharp as a knife, bringing tears to your eyes.

Cao Lingru sat next to Deng Huajie sadly.

"Hua Jie, you and Xiu Yi have been married for twenty years, but you don't understand his good intentions. He wanted you to live and suffer the consequences alone, but you turned around and hanged yourself. How can I explain to him? Sigh..."

Yuan Niang said helplessly, "Madam has been busy running around for her, and has been shameless and asked many people for help, but in the end, it was all in vain."

Cao Lingru covered his chest, which was feeling very stuffy, and stuffed the letter into Yuan Niang's hands.

"Have someone send the letter to the Dali Temple to give to Xiu Yi. Let's hold a grand funeral for Hua Jie, so that she can be buried in style. Also send someone to inform the Eastern Palace."

"Yes."

Ji Xiuyi burst into tears when he saw Deng Huajie's handwritten suicide note.

The happier I was yesterday, the sadder I am today.

If Madam wasn't worried about her daughter's situation in the Eastern Palace, why would she choose to commit suicide?

In an instant, Ji Xiu hated Ji Qinqin to death, and hated the prince even more.

His bloody hands slammed the wooden door frantically, and blood flowed down the door in uneven patterns.

"Someone, I want to see the prince!"

Ji Xiuyi shouted heartbreakingly.

"The prince embezzled the military pay and forced me to give him the looted money. I endured it for the sake of my elder brother and allowed the prince to use me to make money. The prince is the real culprit behind all this!"

The jailers on duty were horrified and secretly groaned that they had known such a secret.

"Boss, what should we do? Ji Xiuyi has already written a confession, why not kill him?"

"Nonsense! Everyone in the cell heard it. We can't kill them all. Besides, Ji Xiuyi is dead. If the Crown Prince finds out, he will kill us. Report it to the Supreme Court!"

When the Dali Temple Minister heard that Ji Xiu was also crying out for injustice, he hurriedly sent a secret letter to the Queen.

"Empress, something big has happened to the Crown Prince!" Nanny Mei handed the secret letter to Kong Wanhan with a serious face.

Kong Wanhan put the cricket down, unfolded the secret letter with his fingers, and read ten lines at a glance.

"Chen Yuxian actually did this behind my back! Call him here!"

Aunt Mei bent her back slightly, "Yes!"

She walked quickly to the East Palace, and when Eunuch Yu saw her coming, he quickly took her into the house.

Nanny Mei stood outside the screen, frowning as she listened to the lewd music inside, and vaguely saw a palace maid playing intimately with the prince.

"Your Highness, the Queen wants to see you."

"Hmm?" Chen Yuxian looked at the screen with confused eyes, "It turned out to be Aunt Mei, what did the Queen Mother say?"

"The Queen Mother asked me to come here in person, so it must be a top priority." A trace of mockery flashed across Aunt Mei's eyes, "It concerns the position of the Crown Prince."

Shen Yuxian woke up instantly, pushed the maid away, stood up and straightened his clothes.

"I will be there right away."

The Queen's Palace was completely silent; not even the chirping of crickets could be heard.

Shen Yuxian felt heavy and nervous. He walked into the ancestral hall where his mother often stayed alone. It was the ancestral hall that his father had allowed his mother to build in order to please her and to worship the ancestors of the Kong family.

Kong Wanhan's eyes were dark as she stared at the tablets of her parents.

"Chen Yuxian, kneel down!"

The tone was so sharp that Shen Yuxian, who was confused, fell to the ground with weak legs. "Mother, what did I do wrong?"

"You still have the nerve to ask me." Kong Wanhan angrily threw the secret letter in Shen Yuxian's face.

"Look at what you have done! Fortunately, the Dali Temple Minister told me, otherwise I don't know what you would do!"

When Shen Yuxian saw Kong Wanhan's solemn face, his heart suddenly skipped a beat. He unfolded the secret letter with trembling hands. After reading it, his face looked extremely ugly.

"This is Ji Xiuyi falsely accusing the child."

"False accusation? Oh, Chen Yuxian, do you think everyone else is a fool? Ji Xiuyi was about to die, and his own daughter belonged to your Donggong, so why did he bite you before he died?"

"Maybe he holds a grudge against me because I didn't allow Ji Qinqin to leave the palace to visit him."

Kong Wanhan was so angry that she reached out and twisted Chen Yuxian's ear.

"Tomorrow, the Dali Temple Minister will tell the emperor about this matter. Let's see what you will do!" Kong Wanhan let go of Shen Yuxian's ear only after she saw that his ear had turned red.

Shen Yuxian’s palms were sweating.

The truth was revealed, and Shen Yuxian dared not hide it from Kong Wanhan anymore.

"Mother, save me! I made a mistake in a moment of confusion."

Kong Wanhan angrily flicked her sleeves and turned away.

Chen Yuxian said with a guilty conscience, "I accidentally learned that my father had cut off my uncle's food and military pay. At that time, I was still young, and I panicked and believed the villain, mistakenly thinking that my father wanted to abolish me. Later, my father agreed to the court to allocate military pay, so I embezzled the military pay and used it to buy soldiers. I also robbed part of the food and grass that was transported to the border at that time and used it to feed my own soldiers."

Kong Wanhan's eyes suddenly became sharp, and she raised her foot and kicked Shen Yuxian in the back.

"No wonder life on the border was so difficult that year. It turns out it was all your fault!" She thought at the time that the emperor had deliberately taken away food and military pay again.

Shen Yuxian swallowed the blood in his throat.

"Later, my father became aware of this and secretly sent someone to check the account books. His spy sent a secret letter to me, so I asked Duke Ji for help. By chance, I learned that Ji Xiuyi's wife's family was from the Deng family, a wealthy family in Jiangnan. I wrote to Ji Xiuyi and asked him to find a way to get money and use the money to make up for the deficit in the account books. I promised him to return to Beijing to serve as an official, but he sent someone to kill the Deng family. Deng Qiqi even reported this to the Dali Temple."

Chen Yuxian said viciously, "I thought Ji Xiu would also be concerned about the Duke's Mansion and take the secret into his grave, but who would have thought that he would reveal everything and fight to the death with me!"

Kong Wanhan slapped Shen Yuxian with a cold face.

"Are you not convinced? Do you know that your stupid actions have harmed your uncle? Were you responsible for the loss of food and grass at Qingyu Pass?"

She wanted to strangle Shen Yuxian to death. The Kong family had fought for the country on the battlefield for generations, but now they were being dragged down by Shen Yuxian.

Chen Yuxian said anxiously, "Don't worry, mother. The loss of food and grass at Qingyu Pass this time has nothing to do with me."

Kong Wanhan's expression softened when he heard this.

"Who is the person who helped you embezzle the military pay?"

"The Minister of Revenue, Dong Yan."

Kong Wanhan patted Shen Yuxian on the back of his head, "You said that there is no one in the court to help you. Over the years, Dong Yan has helped you accumulate a lot of wealth, right? Humph!"

Kong Wanhan's mind flashed through the image of Dong Yan in his youth. She raised her chin slightly and said proudly.

"You fool have been fooled by that old fox Dong Yan. Do you think you get the lion's share? In fact, Dong Yan has gained much more than you. Let him take full responsibility for this matter."

Shen Yuxian was horrified and reluctant, "Mother, Dong Yan is available, why not let his men take on the responsibility?"

Kong Wanhan's eyes were filled with indifference.

"Dong Yan is the Minister of Revenue. No one is more suitable than Dong Yan. If Dong Yan is gone, your father will not bother you. If you are reluctant to let him go, then you will bear the consequences yourself!"

Shen Yuxian had no choice but to give up Dong Yan, but unfortunately no one sent him large amounts of money every month.

He wrote a secret letter and asked Eunuch Yu to pass it to his spies outside the palace.

(End of this chapter)