After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

The sun sank behind the mountains. In the vast sky, the orange glow that once radiated light and heat gradually faded, replaced by the azure of autumn when the wind picked up.

As the clouds drift by, the moon's outline resembles a jade plate. As night falls, the jade plate will emit a cool, pale white light, like a cold furnace.

Qianqing Palace.

East Warm Pavilion.

On the soft couch covered with a large red felt and a Ming Dynasty carpet, Zhu Boqing leaned against a sandalwood kang table, listening to the little maid Lychee, sitting on a small stool, read Gu Xichuan's memorial to him again.

"Your subject, Chen Baiyufang of Xichuan, has ten major evils. The first evil... the second evil... the third evil..."

The little girl named Lychee had a clear and melodious voice, and her tone was steady. But as she read, Lychee's brows furrowed and relaxed repeatedly, as if she were deep in confusion and thought.

Although winter was still far off, charcoal was already burning in the warm chamber. The red charcoal glowed faintly in the gilded incense burner, producing no smoke or smell, filling the room with a warm, spring-like atmosphere.

Lizhi, fearing stuffiness, opened a small window in one corner and separated it with a screen. A gentle breeze tapped on the screen embroidered with beautiful landscapes, making a soft "plop" sound before quietly dissipating, so the room was not affected by drafts.

Zhu Boqing's face was deathly pale, and he squinted his eyes slightly.

He pondered for only a moment, then his face contorted and twitched, and he slowly exhaled, giving up on thinking.

The doctor said that if he takes good care of himself and doesn't think too much, he might live for another three years. But if he continues to work hard from dawn till dusk and thinks about everything three times over, he might live for another three months and have to thank the spirit of the founding emperor in heaven.

"Your Majesty, your brother-in-law," Lizhi's small brows finally furrowed, "Hmm, what is he doing? He... he seems to have left himself no way out at all." Subconsciously, Lizhi even suspected that the other party knew the young lady's identity and was testing her through this memorial.

"If they still don't kill me after this, then my wife is indeed of extraordinary status..." Lychee imagined the man's smug expression, her eyes wide. Who would willingly invite the court to behead them?

Although the memorial was delivered by Gu Xichuan, they naturally knew who had given the order.

Gu Xichuan also sent over a secret report, stating that it was the Grand Prince Consort's idea, and even sent over the original text of the letter the Grand Prince Consort sent him.

One look at this letter and you'll know that the so-called "Ten Evils of Baiyufang" were all written by the brother-in-law himself.

His brother-in-law suggested that Grand Tutor Gu could use the pretext of a scholar's words or "hearing rumors" to write the memorial, so that Grand Tutor Gu wouldn't offend anyone. But Gu Xichuan disdained this and directly submitted the memorial in his own name.

Zhu Boqing was somewhat puzzled and sighed. During their meal earlier, his brother-in-law had mentioned that he had exchanged letters with Grand Tutor Gu, intending to offer the Baiyufang to the imperial court.

He even thought that the other party had written a sincere and loyal memorial to present Baiyufang, and even planned to write the words "righteous merchant" in his own hand later to commend the other party, make him a role model for the world, and reward his loyalty.

But to his utter surprise, the letter the other party sent to Gu Xichuan was something else entirely.

Zhu Boqing lowered his gaze and slowly exhaled a breath of stale air from his lungs.

"Your Majesty, the ten calamities your brother-in-law mentioned," Lychee said, her face slightly tense, "are indeed all very accurate. Upon closer examination, they are so severe that execution is inevitable."

Lychee clutched the memorial tightly in her hand, her eyes filled with confusion. This was the question that puzzled her the most.

I had considered the drawbacks of Baiyufang before, and they were somewhat similar to some of the ten major evils, but none were as clearly organized and progressively detailed as this one. There was even a sense of hatred between the lines, as if the author was determined to destroy Baiyufang. I don't know why the other party is so zealous, especially since Baiyufang was his original creation.

Although Zhu Boqing himself couldn't figure it out, he was still somewhat pleased to see Lizhi's discomfiture, so he said with great interest, "If you want to know, you can go to the East Palace and have Cuiwei order you to go to Baiyufang with the people from the East Palace to talk to him."

The only request my brother-in-law made to Grand Tutor Gu in his letter was for the court to send someone to Baiyufang to talk to him. He said that after the talks, the ten calamities of Baiyufang would be resolved, and it would also contribute no less than 100,000 taels of silver to the Ministry of Revenue every year. This would be a great service to Grand Tutor Gu.

"I'm not going." Lychee loosened her grip, placed the memorial on her lap, and pouted, "He's just blowing his own horn. He even said he'd exonerate himself from the Ten Harms, but how is that supposed to work?"

"Putting everything else aside, just this sixth problem alone—he owes cotton merchants over 300,000 yuan in purchase funds—is something that can't be resolved!"

"Even if the problem is solved this year, what about next year? He bought cotton at five or even six times the price. He signed all the purchase contracts at such high prices."

"If the imperial court takes over, how will it purchase the goods in the name of the imperial court?"

"Most of the land used for cotton cultivation belongs to the families of officials in the imperial court. If the price is too low, the officials will criticize His Majesty for competing with the people for profit. Cotton merchants will also refuse to sell cotton."

"If the price is too high, the imperial court will be overburdened, and there will be suspicion of hoarding and speculation... Isn't that the first harm? Moreover, the price of cloth will rise later, and the people of the world will suffer."

Lychee wrinkled her nose and shook her head, saying, "This is a dilemma. He can't resolve it. He still has over 300,000 taels of silver in debt to pay off."

"I think the Crown Prince's side will probably decide to close Baiyufang down, since it won't last long anyway."

As she spoke, Lizhi then talked about the fifth and eighth evils, scoffing, "It would have been better if he hadn't mentioned it. Now that the newspapers have brought it up, all sorts of monsters and demons like the Black Jade Workshop and the Purple Jade Workshop are probably popping up. The White Jade Workshop seems simple, but the eunuchs who are in charge of the investigations all say it's actually quite complicated. They haven't quite figured it out yet, but they're not far off... Isn't the Qi Prince's Mansion planning to set up another White Jade Workshop? Dou Yuan has already found a shop. Some merchants have even started operating there, but it's not making much of a splash."

"Hmph, if you ask me, the other workshops will also have these ten major evils of Baiyufang! They're just imitating others and ending up with something worse than a tiger. They might even come up with a hundred or a thousand major evils!"

"I think so."

Lychee's eyes widened with worry, but she raised her chin and said with a determined look,

"Your Majesty, you must issue an edict in advance to ban all these black jade workshops, purple jade workshops, and especially grain and oil workshops! They must not be allowed to follow suit, otherwise the world will really be in chaos... chaos... um... eh... eh..." As she spoke, Lychee's impassioned voice slowly subsided, she let out a soft 'eh', her brows furrowed, as if she had fallen into deep thought.

Zhu Boqing's eyes narrowed slightly.

After a while.

The emperor gave a wry smile and pointed to the memorial on the lychee's leg, sighing.

"Ha, he doesn't want to shut down Baiyufang," he shook his head, "He... he wants to shut down all the other workshops."

……

……

Xinwangfu.

The ministers of the Eastern Palace discussed matters in the palace.

Liu Zhi, who served as the Crown Prince's advisor, stood up gracefully.

He bowed deeply, cupped his hands, and with a solemn expression, addressed the woman at the head of the table, dressed in a bright red, round-necked jacket, with impeccable manners.

"Your subject Liu Zhi requests that Your Majesty's decree be followed. Tonight, after Chen Shao Zhan Shi and Xu Zan Shan go to Baiyu Fang and handle all matters there, the owners of Baiyu Fang, Ning Nan and Ning Bai Xuan, shall be executed immediately as a warning to others."