Carrying the little lucky star, leading the villain on the road to exile

Chapter 343, Section 343: Speculation
Rong Ruiyuan spoke persuasively, but probably no one present believed him.

But we still had to show our appreciation, and everyone looked grateful.

Gu Baijiang expressed his loyalty again before the Third Prince led him to a seat.

"Your Highness, why did His Majesty think of suppressing bandits?" The banditry in Lingnan is rampant and there is no way to completely eradicate it. Over the years, the government has only sent soldiers to perform routine tasks every now and then. As long as Lingnan does not become chaotic, the government has simply abandoned the matter.

"This time, Father Emperor somehow obtained the documents and learned about the collusion between officials and bandits here, so he sent me, the prince, to resolve the matter..."

Rong Ruiyuan recounted how difficult these past few days had been, and how he had been too busy to fully attend to matters concerning the Gu family.

"I have so many things to do every day. If I had Lord Gu or someone like you to assist me, I could relax a bit more." Rong Ruiyuan said shamelessly, using the nice things he had learned these days. "Now that this mission has fallen on my shoulders, it is also giving me a headache. In addition to facing the urging from the capital, I also have to fight wits and courage with the officials and bandits below."

Gu Baijiang seemed to be deep in thought, "His Majesty had already sent people to Lingnan before?"

“That shouldn’t be the case,” Rong Ruiyuan said, knowing his father quite well. “However, he has always wanted to thoroughly clean up Lingnan, and the officials here haven’t been replaced for some time.”

After all, nobody wants to take up a post in such a poor and remote place. Usually, it is only those officials who have no power or influence who are directly assigned here.

It seems this Third Prince doesn't know His Majesty the Emperor very well either, Gu Baijiang thought to himself. "I wonder if Your Highness has learned about the other officials who came to be exiled with us this time?"

"What do you mean?" Rong Ruiyuan quickly shook his head. "That's impossible. The escorts didn't allow you to move freely the whole way here, so there was no way for you to investigate."

Moreover, it's not that he looks down on these people; those exiled to Lingnan this time are all useless. If Gu Baijiang didn't have something he wanted, he wouldn't have paid any attention to them.

"They may be unable to move around, but that doesn't mean they can't bring people with them." The emperor only needs one decision-maker and one supervisor; his officials don't have to do everything themselves.

Rong Ruiyuan looked directly at Ming Peifeng and asked, "Have you noticed anything unusual?"

Ming Peifeng: "That's quite a lot. So many people came to assassinate us. I only investigated some of the instigators. Some of them I don't even know the origins of."

Gu Baijiang said, "I've always felt that Lord Chen in the team is highly suspicious."

"Which Lord Chen?" Rong Ruiyuan had no recollection of him, after all, he had also spent some time in the exile ranks.

"It's Chen Dafu, the former Vice Minister of Revenue. His whole family was also exiled this time, but he didn't implicate any of his clansmen." Gu Baijiang had previously thought that the Chen family members would be sent directly to Lingnan, but they have all arrived in Lingnan, and there's still no news of the Chen family members. This shouldn't be the case.

The main problem is that old man Chen Dafu is terrified of death, yet he always follows them around.

Now that he heard that the Third Prince had no recollection of Chen Dafu, he remembered that the Chen family had not shown up when the Third Prince was traveling with him.

"It's him?" Rong Ruiyuan also remembered this person. Chen Dafu's reputation in the court was truly hard to describe.

Despite being a Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, he exuded a petty and stingy attitude, always being miserly.

I've heard that when interacting with colleagues, they always try to take advantage of others, and the Chen family has been constantly complaining about being poor in the capital.

When the brothers sat down, they occasionally mentioned Chen Dafu, commenting on whether he was genuinely poor or just pretending. After all, how poor could someone guarding the national treasury really be?
Moreover, this person is unyielding to both soft and hard approaches. Several brothers have tried to win him over, but he either pretends to be crazy or directly refuses.

Fortunately, he is usually quite low-key and doesn't side with any particular faction, so people just ignore him.

If he is the Emperor's man, then this makes sense. "Tell me in detail, what unusual things happened to Chen Dafu along the way?"

Gu Baijiang also wanted to make a good impression on Rong Ruiyuan, so he told him everything he had observed and guessed along the way.

"Now that you mention it, Chen Dafu really does seem very suspicious."

Since you find him strange, have you considered getting to know him better?

Gu Baijiang's expression stiffened. "I don't know much about that. But this time, as soon as everyone was pardoned, many people chose to return to the capital. It's not that they couldn't afford to go back or contribute money to return to the capital, but they stubbornly refused to leave. There must be more to the story."

Chen Dafu from Tamura sneezed several times, which frightened his wife and sons.

Madam Chen quickly put down her work and came over to ask if she was feeling unwell, "What's wrong? Did you catch a cold?"

"Dad, do you feel unwell anywhere?"

Chen Dafu was pleased with the concern shown by his sons and wife, and quickly reached out to stop them, saying, "I'm fine. It must be that someone is talking about me behind my back."

"It's better to wear more clothes," Mrs. Chen thought the guess was a bit unreliable. "If you get sick, it will not only harm your health, but we will also have to call a doctor and do some good conditioning for you. It's not a worthwhile deal."

“Yes, Dad, if we have any minor ailments, we should get them treated quickly. Don’t delay. The clinics in this town are shady; they charge two taels of silver for a little fever reducer.”

"If you ask me, I'd say wear more clothes. The weather is so cold that even if the sun is out, it won't keep you warm. You still need to wear something warm."

Anyway, these clothes aren't expensive, so I can wear them all.

Seeing that his sons had all inherited his skills, Chen Dafu felt a pang of sadness for some reason. If he really fell ill, would his wife and children abandon him to save money?

He quickly shook off the thought from his mind; he had more important things to do now. "Why didn't you tell me sooner that the Gu family had just entered the city?"

"What's so strange about that? They haven't been to the city for days, so they'll definitely have to go back to buy more vegetables and meat this time. Every time, they make us sneak up behind them, and we almost broke our legs running around like crazy," complained the second son of the Chen family.

They all walked into the city, and each time they had to keep an eye on the Gu family, they were forced to follow behind them.

While others were eating well and buying lavishly, they were left hungry or eating a dry bread they brought from home. Their hearts must have felt incredibly desolate.

"What nonsense are you spouting? You can't even do your job properly, and you expect to have a good life in the future?" Chen Dafu cursed. "You good-for-nothings, you complain so much when I ask you to do something. How can I expect you to support this family in the future?"

(End of this chapter)