The tyrannical father was so intimidated when his own daughter was found during the raid.

He took very long strides, his sleeves fluttering, his imposing manner like a tiger descending a mountain, utterly resolute.

But in reality, those cloudy old eyes were measuring the distance between himself and the dragon pillar through the gaps in his eyelids.

The cadence of his steps held a hidden meaning; it was all bark and no bite, and the speed of his sprint was far from lethal.

"Your Excellency, you mustn't!"

"Your Excellency, please reconsider! The Great Yuan Kingdom cannot do without you!"

The unsuspecting civil officials behind him were moved to tears, and their wails echoed throughout the hall.

Several young officials had rehearsed with him countless times and their teamwork was seamless.

They pounced on him like hungry tigers, grabbing the Left Censor-in-Chief's waist and holding his legs tightly.

"Sir! Please wait!"

"If you were to kill someone in the accident, how could that be allowed to happen!"

The Left Censor-in-Chief struggled violently, shouting in grief and indignation, "Let me go! Let me die!"

He struggled violently, but he didn't move forward an inch.

The Golden Palace became the perfect stage for these upright civil officials to showcase their acting skills.

They cried out to heaven and earth, wailing and lamenting, staging a beautiful and tragic tale of a loyal minister's suffering.

The tyrant Su Zhen, sitting on the dragon throne, coldly watched the hypocritical farce below.

A chilling killing intent surged in his eyes.

These self-righteous old scoundrels, relying on the opinions of scholars across the land, play this game of moral blackmail in the imperial court every day.

Did he really think the Longquan sword in his hand was ineffective?

Since you're so eager to die, I'll grant your wish today!

Su Zhen's hand reached for the hilt of the sword at his waist, his knuckles tightening.

He was about to give the order for the Imperial Guards to cut off the old scoundrel's head and hang it outside the Meridian Gate as a warning to the public.

At the critical moment.

A very crisp sound came from the small, pure gold, diamond-encrusted chair next to them.

"Tsk tsk tsk..."

The sound was not loud, but it stood out particularly sharply amidst the wailing of the court officials.

Su Zhen's hand, which was touching the hilt of his sword, paused.

He turned his head and looked at his beloved daughter sitting next to him, showing off her roasted lamb leg.

Su Yaoyao's eyes lit up as she held up half of a roasted, golden-brown, and juicy lamb leg.

She chewed on the mutton in her mouth while watching with great interest the civil officials below who were crying their eyes out.

His clear eyes sparkled with a playful disillusionment with the world, like watching a theatrical troupe perform acrobatics.

[Old Deng's acting is absolutely superb! He deserves an Oscar!]

[These feints, these movements, these exaggerated micro-expressions—it's a real loss to the Great Yuan Kingdom's opera world if they don't go into opera.]

Su Yaoyao mentally ranted, her thoughts exploding in Su Zhen's mind like a series of cannon fire.

[Still complaining about eating only plain porridge and side dishes every day? Still claiming to have lived a life of poverty for the country and its people?]

I'm so embarrassed for his orange-peel-like face!

Su Yaoyao curled her lip, tearing away the old scoundrel's hypocritical moral mask.

Every night, after everyone in the family had fallen asleep, the old man would sneak into the secret passage in the backyard like a thief.

The cellar was brightly lit by charcoal fires, where a chef specially hired from Lingnan at great expense had already roasted a one-month-old suckling pig until its skin was crispy and its meat tender.

He took a bite, a loud crunch, and grease dripped down his chin; his eating was more ferocious than a hungry wolf.

[A crispy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside, sizzling, juicy roasted suckling pig—he can boast about half of one in one meal!]

Su Zhen, sitting on the dragon throne, listened with his lips twitching.

Roasted suckling pig? Sneaking in the middle of the night?

What a clean-handed Left Censor-in-Chief who only ate plain porridge and side dishes at every meal!

Su Yaoyao's inner thoughts were full of sarcasm.

After a hearty meal, they would rinse their mouths with the finest fragrant sachets, fearing that the smell of meat would be detectable when they went to court the next day.

[Eating so much rich food every day has given me high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar!]

[It's a good thing there were no medical examination machines in ancient times, otherwise this old man's high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar levels would have scared the head of the Imperial Medical Academy to death on the spot!]

Although Su Zhen didn't understand what "the three high indicators" and "Oscar" meant.

But he heard it clearly: that old scoundrel was eating and drinking well in the cellar every night in the middle of the night!

He had just been pretending to be malnourished and about to faint from hunger!

Su Zhenqiang suppressed the urge to laugh and, without making a sound, moved closer to Su Yaoyao.

[And that tattered court robe he was wearing was a miracle in the world of ancient haute couture!]

Su Yaoyao took a big bite of mutton, while in her mind she continued to mercilessly pull down the old man's underwear.

He wore patched clothes to court every day, claiming he was too poor to even afford new clothes.

These illiterate people who've never seen the world actually believed it!

[That tattered outfit was made by him at the cost of a thousand taels of silver, specially commissioned from the top embroiderer in Jiangnan!]

One thousand taels?!

Su Zhen gasped.

In the Great Yuan Kingdom, a first-rank official's annual official salary is only a little over two hundred taels of silver.

He actually spent a thousand taels on a "tattered" court robe?!

[The fabric may look rough, but it's actually a rare, traditional coarse cloth from the Jiangnan region, warm in winter and cool in summer, with excellent breathability.]

To give the clothes an aged look, the embroiderer soaked them in a special herbal solution for a full forty-nine days.

Even the placement of those patches was calculated by a feng shui master, emphasizing the beauty of imperfection.

Su Yaoyao swallowed the mutton in her mouth, took a sip of refreshing tea, and was overjoyed.

The lining of the patch is densely stitched with pure gold thread!

When the wind blew, the golden threads shimmered faintly in the sunlight, and he would tell everyone that it was because his clothes had been washed so much they were reflecting light.

The gold thread hidden in those clothes alone would be enough for an ordinary person to live on for a lifetime!

[He has the nerve to complain about being poor and even plead for his life for a thousand taels of silver to buy a tattered garment? His hypocrisy is utterly disgusting!]

Su Zhen sat on the dragon throne, his eyes gleaming with a hungry glint, like a ravenous wolf in the dark.

OK!

That's wonderful!

This is the very same Da Yuanqingliu who criticizes me every day in court for my extravagance and disregard for the lives of the people!

This is the moral exemplar whom scholars all over the world worship!

Su Zhen was so angry that he almost burst out laughing on the spot.

He coldly watched the Left Censor-in-Chief, who was still performing his deathbed remonstrance below, his eyes full of mockery.

He wanted to see how long this old scoundrel could keep up the act.

Su Yaoyao lifted the lamb leg and fiercely tore off the last piece of succulent lamb meat.

She chewed heartily, then dropped the most devastating bombshell.

However, Old Deng is putting on such a show today, he's probably been pushed to the limit.

He must be panicking inside right now, desperately needing to regain his sense of presence in court.

After all, the huge sum of money he hid in his ancestral grave had undergone a major upheaval last night.

These were his true feelings.

Su Zhen's ears perked up, and his majestic dragon eyes shone a hundred times brighter than light bulbs.

Ancestral graves? Huge sum of money?!

The news he overheard outside the window of Zhaoyang Palace last night about the dry well yielding 300,000 taels of silver had already kept him awake all night with excitement.

What if there's an even bigger surprise hidden in the ancestral graves?!

Su Yaoyao wiped the grease from the corner of her mouth.

Old Deng went to great lengths to hide the 500,000 taels of embezzled funds in his family's ancestral grave.

Thinking he could get away with it undetected, he even used his ancestors' coffin lids as a shield.

[Even with all the precautions, it's hard to guard against a thief within your own ranks!]

Five hundred thousand taels?!

Su Zhen felt as if the top of his head was about to be blown off by this enormous number.

Last night, his spendthrift son, a master of all vices—gambling, drinking, whoring, and womanizing—accumulated a huge gambling debt at an underground casino.

[They actually led a group of people to dig up their own ancestral grave in the middle of the night!]

[A full 500,000 taels of silver! His son dragged him to the casino overnight, and in just one night, he lost more than half of it!]

If this old man knew, he probably wouldn't even need to pretend to bang his head against the pillar; he'd be so angry he'd have a stroke and die on the spot!

Five hundred thousand taels! Ancestral graves! Spendthrift son! Half lost at the underground casino!

This series of explosive messages struck Su Zhen like a thunderbolt from the heavens.

Three hundred thousand taels plus five hundred thousand taels, that's a total of eight hundred thousand taels of silver!

That old scoundrel alone is worth half the treasury of the Great Abyss Kingdom!

And now, he's lost half of it at the casino to some good-for-nothing spendthrift?!

That's my money!!!

An uncontrollable rage and ecstasy overwhelmed Su Zhen's reason.

"Bang!"

A deafening roar.

Su Zhen slammed his hand on the dragon desk, his tall and imposing figure rising abruptly like a raging dragon awakening!