I only wished to take up my fiefdom, but my elder brother forced me to rebel.

"Shen Yilei, if you dare touch even a single piece of the Sun family's account book, you'll have to take off your official robes tomorrow."

Sun Wanjin stood in front of the cabinet, pointing at Shen Yilei with his finger.

Shen Yilei walked up to him and slapped him across the face.

"I am acting on the orders of the Crown Prince. Who are you trying to use to intimidate me?"

Sun Wanjin covered his face, unable to believe that a low-ranking official of the Ministry of Justice would dare to hit him.

"My daughter is the concubine of the Prince of Xiang! Hongxing is a royal merchant!"

"If you dare to raid the Sun family today, His Highness Prince Xiang will definitely send your whole family to jail."

After listening, Shen Yilei slapped him twice more.

"Your daughter has been beaten to death. The Crown Prince has charged the Sun family with treason."

"If you threaten me with the Prince of Xiang again, I will write these words into my confession verbatim."

Sun Wanjin opened his mouth wide, and it took him a long time to utter a single sentence.

The shop owners around them all stepped back.

The people surrounding Sun Wanjin quickly put the account book back on the table and tried to shift the blame onto someone else.

"Lord Shen, we are the managers hired by Hung Hing Company. The price increase was the head of the household's decision, and it has nothing to do with us. This purchase order was also modified at our request by Sun Wanjin."

Upon hearing this, Sun Wanjin immediately pointed at his nose and began to curse.

"A bunch of ungrateful wretches! I must have been blind to have let you in."

The shopkeeper wasn't going to back down either; he put the account book on the table and retorted directly.

"Bullshit! You always take the profits when you're ripping off ordinary people, while you're stingy and cut our wages all the time."

"Now that the imperial court has discovered us, why should we follow your Sun family to our deaths?"

Upon hearing this, the others also confessed.

After opening the purchase order, Shen Yilei discovered that the prices of grain, medicinal herbs, and cloth had all been modified.

When the imperial court needed to provide disaster relief, they would raise the price of grain to five times its original price.

They're all beasts.

"Treat ordinary people like dirt, like pigs and dogs. Do you even deserve to be called human beings?"

Shen Yilei was furious.

No wonder merchants have been treated as lowly people throughout history.

They are absolutely not being wronged.

Sun Wanjin then remembered, "Lord Shen, doing business should be based on voluntariness. If the court thinks the price is too high, they can choose not to buy."

"Does this count as treason?"

"Fuck you!"

Shen Yilei kicked the man to the ground and then handed the purchase order to the clerk for sealing.

"Your Hongxing Company is hoarding grain and driving up prices, which violates the imperial court's disaster relief order!"

"Your daughter is threatening the Crown Prince by cutting off supplies to the palace."

"Your Sun family is finished this time!"

When Sun Wanjin realized that his threats had no effect, his attitude immediately softened.

"Lord Shen, we have some history with each other!"

"You are the Crown Prince's father-in-law. If you can put in a good word for the Sun family with the Crown Prince, my Sun family will gladly give you 100,000 coins!"

Shen Yilei took a step back.

"So, you dare to bribe officials?"

Write this down too!

The clerk immediately wrote his name on it.

Sun Wanjin wished he could swallow back what he had just said.

He grabbed Shen Yilei's sleeve, wanting to continue pleading, but was pulled aside by the constables.

After Ma Yuanqing finished counting the people in the Sun family's household, he came to report.

"Old Shen, the Sun family has over a thousand members, including both direct and collateral branches!"

"Some people live in the capital, while others do business in other places."

"Some people still don't know if they're from the Sun family!"

"Why have all the people from the Ministry of Justice been arrested?"

Shen Yilei saw Sun Wanjin.

Where is the Sun family genealogy kept?

Sun Wanjin remained silent.

Shen Yilei ordered the warehouse in the inner courtyard to be opened.

The constables quickly found the wooden box containing the family genealogy and the Sun family's account books.

Shen Yilei gave the family genealogy to Ma Yuanqing.

"Old Ma, have your men arrest everyone one by one based on the names on the list!"

Ma Yuanqing, holding a thick family genealogy book, gave him a thumbs up.

"Lord Shen, I'm convinced."

Sun Wanjin fainted immediately after seeing the secret document sent to the Ministry of Justice.

The Sun family immediately surrounded them.

"Master! What should we do now?"

Shen Yilei waved for the constables to carry the person away.

"Send him to the Ministry of Justice Medical Department. Don't let him die now. His Highness the Crown Prince still has matters to attend to."

After the constables carried Sun Wanjin away, the people from the Ministry of Justice began to seal the accounting cabinet.

The shopkeepers who used to have to smile obsequiously when entering and leaving the Sun family's residence now lined up one after another, reporting on what they had done.

The Hung Hing Ho signboard is still outside, but the shop's staff have been taken outside for questioning.

When the Ministry of Justice raided Zhao Mingzhu's home, Lu Yuan had already sent her to the Fuyuan Escort Agency.

Madam Zhao's escort agency has bodyguards.

She saw her daughter get off the carriage, turn around twice to make sure she wasn't injured, and then she noticed Lu Yuan following behind.

There are many people at the entrance, so there are some things that can't be said in front of them.

Madam Zhao then led the two to the backyard and had the bodyguards guard the entrance to the hospital.

However, as soon as Zhao Mingzhu entered the room, she drew a short knife from her waist and pointed it at Lu Yuan.

You need to make things clear today.

"Who are you? Don't try to fool me with the excuse of being a stand-in."

Lu Yuan opened his arms and said, "I'm coming clean, I'm not pretending anymore."

"I am the current Crown Prince, Lu Yuan."

Zhao Mingzhu stared at him for a long time, her eyes gradually reddening.

Lu Yuan sheathed her short sword.

Why are you crying?

"I didn't mean to lie to you."

Zhao Mingzhu raised her hand and punched him twice. "If you really were the Crown Prince, wouldn't I have to learn all those rules of the Imperial Household Department every day?"

There are more than a dozen types of greetings alone.

"You can't fight for the last piece of meat when you eat, you can't step over the Crown Princess when you walk, and you have to dress appropriately for the people you meet."

"I don't even get this tired after practicing with a knife all day!"

Lu Yuan held back for a moment, but still burst out laughing.

Zhao Mingzhu kicked him.

"You're still laughing!"

Lu Yuan grasped her ankle and steadied her.

"The Crown Prince's Palace doesn't have that many rules."

"I'm the most unruly person myself, who would dare force you to memorize those booklets?"

"Practice swordsmanship if you want, or go on escort missions if you want."

"Just don't demolish my study."

Zhao Mingzhu pulled her leg back, her tears still wet on her face, but a smile had already appeared on her lips.

"Do you keep your word?"

"It has to count!"

Madam Zhao could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"So, the person who saved the Zhao family, took them into the mansion, and was involved with them that night was all His Highness the Crown Prince?"

Lu Yuan nodded. "I was the only one from beginning to end."

"I have already spoken to the Imperial Household Department, and they will not conduct a physical examination."

"No one dares to punish the Zhao family."

Zhao Mingzhu's cheeks turned bright red, and then she turned her back to her mother.

"Mother, why are you asking so many questions?"

Madam Zhao did not speak, but simply lowered her head to tidy up the tea set on the table.

The sound of teacups clinking made Zhao Mingzhu even more uncomfortable, so she turned away again.

When she thought of the Sun family and the Hongxing ship, she no longer cared about what she had just said.

I'm sorry to have troubled you today.

"The Hongxing ship was followed by the Prince of Xiang, and many shops in the capital still relied on the Sun family for supplies."

Lu Yuan reached out and straightened the crooked hairpin for her.

When her fingertips touched her temples, Zhao Mingzhu tilted her head slightly but did not pull away.

Once the hairpin was in place, Lu Yuan withdrew his hand.

"The Sun family is gone."

"You can prepare to enter the manor with peace of mind. Leave the matters outside to me."

"But the national treasury is short of money, so our wedding banquet has to be postponed."

"The marriage certificate and betrothal gifts will be delivered as usual. I will send a sedan chair to fetch you into the mansion first. The pomp and circumstance I owe you will be made up for later."

Zhao Mingzhu shook her head.

"I don't care about pomp and circumstance."

"Just stop lying to me."

Su Bo'an strode into the backyard, bowed to Madam Zhao and Zhao Mingzhu, and then pulled Lu Yuan aside.

"Your Highness, something has happened!"