Young Master Gao? Call me Little Grand Secretary!

"Stop playing games with me, just tell me!"

Although Gao Qiu was a former official of the emperor who had been in the palace before the emperor was born and was highly trusted, the biggest difference between him and others was that he was able to recognize his own status and never did anything out of line!

Emperor Huizong was grateful for his contributions and promoted him. He accepted the promotion and was sent to the frontier for training. He did not object. After returning, he was allowed to rotate through the Three Offices, which he gladly accepted. Finally, he took the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Palace Guard!

He understood the role Emperor Huizong had in his life, so he never interfered too much in politics. Whether Cai Jing held absolute power or Zhang Shangying came to power, he remained indifferent and simply acted arrogantly in his own little corner of the world.

No matter who tried to win him over, he remained unmoved, playing dumb!

It was precisely because of this that he was able to remain unscathed amidst the repeated upheavals in the court!

However, his bluff just now allowed him to get a piece of information from Gao Zhao: he actually knew about the salt reform in advance and even used it to swindle a sum of money from Guo Weize!

This is a lot of money, so much so that even if he tried to collect it, it would take him a very long time...

Of course, that's not the point. The point is, where did Gao Zhao get the information?

How could he know about the news before the three provinces even released it?

It was obvious that someone had leaked this information to him, and the person's target was self-evident—himself!

Gaining the emperor's trust was a good thing, but it also made him a target for various factions to court.

However, the imperial court was a place of great intrigue and treacherous power, and Gao Qiu had personally witnessed countless prime ministers fall from grace!

Zhang Dun, Zeng Bu, Han Zhongyan, Zhao Tingzhi... weren't they all powerful figures of their time?

But what happened in the end?

Gao Qiu was an honest man. He had no ambition to wield power over the world. He just wanted to live a peaceful life and make a little money on the side!

That's why he was extremely wary of Gao Zhao's unusual behavior, but he never expected that the answer Gao Zhao gave him would come from him!

After a brief moment of surprise, his expression immediately turned serious: "This is no joke, don't talk nonsense!"

"No!" Gao Zhao glanced at the wooden stick and quickly explained, "Just a few days ago, the lord sent me to the study for questioning, and I happened to overhear what that Vice Minister Wang said when I arrived!"

Gao Qiu's expression softened slightly as he began to recall the conversation from that day. However, the other party had also come to win him over, and he had only been busy giving a perfunctory refusal at the time, forgetting the specific content of what they had said!

"Did they mention the salt permits?" He looked at Gao Zhao suspiciously, afraid that the guy was afraid of getting beaten up and was deliberately talking nonsense to hide the truth, thus ruining everything.

"Yes!" Gao Zhao answered affirmatively, "He said that Grand Tutor Cai wants to reinstate the salt permit system and abolish the current one, and that Zhang Zihou admitted that the salt monopoly law harmed the people, but Grand Tutor Cai ignored it..."

Gao Qiu thought back for a moment and realized that he had indeed said those words. He was relieved that no one was plotting against him. But then he was surprised that this kid could get 100,000 strings of cash just from those few words.

This is much easier than me working hard to make money!

Is he a genius?

Looking up, he saw Gao Zhao grinning as he glanced at the stick in his hand, as if to say, "You have no reason to hit me, do you?"

Gao Qiu felt a surge of displeasure and sneered, "So you deliberately tried to swindle Guo Weize out of his money based on this news?"

"No! I didn't even know that the money exchange shop belonged to him!" Gao Zhao denied it outright, looking completely innocent. "A couple of days ago, the magistrate cut off my money. I was penniless and didn't have the confidence to speak when I went out. Looking around, I felt like everyone on the street was laughing at me. So I found a business opportunity in Jieshen Alley..."

"So you're saying it's my fault?" Gao Qiu glared at him, puffing out his beard, realizing that this kid had recently taken to playing the victim.

"Oh, none of that matters anymore!" Gao Zhao waved his hand magnanimously, "I won't do that anymore! Salt permits and all that are just too risky, it doesn't suit my cautious nature!"

Gao Qiu's lips twitched, and he tapped the table, saying, "Give me the money!"

Gao Zhao was taken aback, and quickly took two steps back, saying warily, "What money? Sir, you are still young and strong, it's not time for me to support you in your old age!"

"You bastard! You think I'm after your money? I'm helping you solve your problem!"

Gao Qiu cursed and said disdainfully, "Ten thousand strings of cash, do you know what that means? An ordinary family's annual expenses are no more than twenty strings of cash. Do you think you can keep that money safely?"

"What's wrong?" Gao Zhao asked suspiciously. "Could it be that Guo Weize would dare to hire someone to kill me?"

"Hmph!" Gao Qiu sneered, "The person who partnered with Guo Weize in the money exchange business is the same Imperial Brother-in-law you clashed with that day. Do you think he'll let this go so easily?"

"This is unreasonable!" Gao Zhao roared. "It wasn't me who decided to abolish the salt permits. If they want to find someone, they should find Grand Tutor Cai!"

"They're the ones in danger because they don't dare approach Grand Tutor Cai!" Gao Qiu said coldly. "When everyone else is losing money, it's wrong for you to make money! If you keep this money, you'll become a thorn in everyone's side! There are plenty of people who want to take advantage of you!"

"So, this money is too hot to handle?" Gao Zhao pondered for a moment and understood Gao Qiu's meaning. When everyone knows you're a piece of meat, even if you haven't done anything wrong, you'll still be targeted!

If you're a thief for a thousand days, how can you guard against thieves for a thousand days?

Naturally, people will be envious and jealous of you when you suddenly receive this much money!

Gao Zhao hesitated for a moment, then asked, "You're not planning to take this money back to them, are you?"

"Why give it back to them?" Gao Qiu scoffed. "The fact that you tricked them means they're not as skilled as you, so they have no one to blame but themselves!"

"So what are you doing?"

"Give it to the Emperor!" Gao Qiu explained, "No matter what, there's still a Consort in the palace. You swindled her brother's money, so you should at least inform the Emperor. The money might not be important, but the attitude is!"

"Oh!" Gao Zhao suddenly realized, and thought to himself, "How can I not learn anything by following a treacherous minister?"

"Furthermore, Grand Tutor Cai's salt certificates weren't discarded but replaced. You signed a contract with him, so shouldn't you buy back those old salt certificates first to pay off the debt?"

Gao Qiu stretched out his hand and said, "Give me the money!"

Gao Zhao, looking pained, pulled out 80,000 strings of cash and handed it over.

Gao Qiu frowned and said, "How come there's only this much?"

Gao Zhao explained, "I wanted to sell my salt permits as soon as possible, so I offered a 10% discount, which left me with only 90,000 strings of cash. Later, I donated some money to the nursing home, and that's all I had left!"

"Wasting money!" Gao Qiu glared at him, then waved his hand and said, "Get out! Don't cause trouble today. Tomorrow you'll come to court with me!"

"Ah! I can attend court too?"

"What are you thinking! Perhaps the Emperor will see you tomorrow!" Gao Qiu paused, then said quietly, "Our Emperor always looks at those who can make money differently..."

"Oh!" Gao Zhao left dejectedly.

After he left, Gao Qiu immediately turned his attention to the pile of salt certificates, sorted them out, and muttered, "The salt certificates will definitely depreciate significantly when converted into circulating currency. Settling at 30% is quite generous!"

Looking at the remaining 50,000 strings of cash, he sighed with a pained expression, "Giving the emperor 20,000 strings later will at least give me an explanation! That's quite a lot!"

After packing up the remaining 30,000 strings of cash, he smiled with satisfaction: "This counts as a loss..."

Just then, the dejected Gao Zhao ran into the furious Guo Shi!