Chapter 165 - 117: Eldest Princess, So Big!

Chapter 165: Chapter 117: Eldest Princess, So Big!

He could only watch helplessly as Zeng Anmin slowly walked forward.

"This..." Liu Xian had absolutely no idea what was going on.

"This is my house! You’re telling me to get out?!" he thought in disbelief.

Liu Xian’s face was deathly pale. He wanted to speak, but under the oppressive weight of the surging aura, he found he couldn’t even open his mouth.

"Fengnian, come out." A weathered voice rang out from outside the courtyard.

"Dad?" Liu Xian felt the pressure on his body suddenly loosen as he looked outside.

"Come out, quickly." The weathered voice even carried a hint of anxiety.

"But Quan Fu is still there..." Liu Xian looked worriedly at Zeng Anmin’s slowly advancing back.

"He will be fine." The weathered voice carried a tone of deep respect.

Only then did Liu Xian grit his teeth and head out of the courtyard.

***

Meanwhile.

Only three people remained in the courtyard: Zeng Anmin, Chi Bufan, and that alluringly curvaceous figure facing away from them.

Chi Bufan remained expressionless while the captivating figure simply took a gentle sip of tea.

Zeng Anmin fell silent for a moment before offering a deep bow to her back. "Zeng Anmin greets Your Highness."

His voice was steady and indifferent, neither servile nor overbearing. Although he had already deduced the woman’s identity, he had no intention of saying it out loud. Since she chose to meet him at the Liu Mansion, she naturally didn’t want to expose herself. Moreover, she wasn’t even willing to show her face...

"Huh?!" Right after Zeng Anmin thought this, his expression froze slightly.

The seated woman slowly turned around, revealing a face of unparalleled beauty. Her skin was incredibly fair and exceptionally radiant. Her eyes seemed veiled by fine sand, enigmatic and impossible to read. Every single one of her features was perfectly proportioned. A small red mole by the corner of her mouth gave her an alluringly sensual charm.

"Auntie!!" Zeng Anmin exclaimed inwardly in shock.

With just a fleeting glimpse, his heart skipped a beat in spite of himself. The woman’s chest was incredibly full! Paired with a waist so slender it could be held with two hands, the combination created a precarious, almost gravity-defying sense of danger!

A phrase instantly popped into Zeng Anmin’s mind: "A slender branch bearing heavy fruit!"

"Perfect! She’s too perfect," he thought.

Even having been exposed to countless internet beauties and television stars in his previous life, Zeng Anmin was still momentarily dazed. He had never seen such a flawless woman. Every frown and every smile radiated sheer temptation and gorgeousness.

"Hehe." Seeing Zeng Anmin’s reaction, the Eldest Princess’s exquisitely beautiful red lips curled up slightly. Her eyes, like the most beautiful jewels in the world, shone with a gem-like radiance as they fixed on him. "Have you guessed my identity?" she asked, a half-smile playing on her face.

"The Eldest Princess doesn’t mind exposing her identity to me! This is a wildly important piece of information!" countless thoughts brewed in Zeng Anmin’s mind.

"No," Zeng Anmin replied, lowering his head, his voice betraying no emotion.

"Give it to him," she said. The Eldest Princess paid no mind to his denial. She simply tilted her chin up slightly, extending her arm and tracing an arc in the air with her pale, slender fingers. Her gaze landed on Chi Bufan beside her.

"Yes." Not daring to hesitate, Chi Bufan pulled two extremely thick ledgers from his robes.

THUD.

The books were tossed at Zeng Anmin’s feet.

Zeng Anmin focused his gaze.

"The Liangyou ledgers," he muttered to himself.

His heart skipped a beat. "The Eldest Princess knows I want the ledgers!" he thought.

Without hesitation, his expression turning solemn, he picked up the ledgers from the ground and flipped through them page by page. Every entry was recorded with absolute clarity. Furthermore, these were the exact accounts for the two major national disasters: the Jiangnan floods and the northern droughts. It meticulously detailed exactly where every single tael of silver had been spent.

After studying them for a long while, a glint flickered in Zeng Anmin’s eyes. He slowly looked up, meeting the Eldest Princess’s gaze directly. "Your Highness, the Liangyou Chamber of Commerce subsidized a total of one hundred and twenty-three million, four hundred and sixty-four thousand taels of silver during these two great disasters!"

This was an astronomical figure. It practically represented the entire accumulated wealth of the Liangyou Trading Company since its establishment nearly a century ago.

A fleeting look of surprise flashed through the Eldest Princess’s eyes. She said indifferently, "These are the original ledgers."

Zeng Anmin pursed his lips, his eyes reflecting a profound seriousness. "Your Highness didn’t come to see me just to show me some ledgers, did you?"

Chi Bufan was a Fifth Grade Martial Artist. Although Zeng Anmin himself was only at the Seventh Grade in Martial Art, he was confident that if he went all out, he could retreat calmly—or even turn the tables and kill him. However, it was far from that point right now.

"Tell me, what did you see in the ancestral hall that day you raided Prince Qi’s Mansion?" The Eldest Princess’s eyes were cold and clear. She wasn’t angry in the slightest. Even the green viper "snake soup" sent by the Minister’s Mansion, along with those two threatening remarks, hadn’t left a single trace of grievance in her heart.

Hearing this, a sharp glint flashed in Zeng Anmin’s eyes as he fearlessly stared right back at her. "You don’t know, Your Highness?"

"Hmph!" Chi Bufan’s expression instantly turned cold, and a wave of Martial Artist pressure bore down on Zeng Anmin.

"Hmm?" The Eldest Princess narrowed her phoenix-like eyes slightly, casting a faint glance at Chi Bufan. He immediately bowed deeply, humbling himself into the dust.

"Should I know?" she asked, tilting her chin up. Even though she was sitting and looking up at Zeng Anmin, it gave off the distinct illusion that she was looking down on him from on high. Her features were so exquisite they were mesmerizing.

Zeng Anmin cracked a gentle smile. "It seems the Eldest Princess also doesn’t know the identity of the person backing Ren Weizhi and Prince Qi."

Just a moment ago, Zeng Anmin had confirmed one thing. The Eldest Princess wasn’t the mastermind behind Ren Weizhi and Prince Qi’s embezzlement of the Court’s disaster relief funds. On the contrary, she was incredibly open, placing the ledgers and everything else right out in the open. She had even genuinely made the Liangyou Chamber of Commerce fork out cold, hard silver to clean up their mess after they embezzled the Court’s relief funds.

These things couldn’t be faked. A simple investigation would immediately reveal the truth. There was no need for the Eldest Princess to forge anything over such a trivial matter, especially in front of a junior like him. His father, the Governor of Fengqi Road, wouldn’t help her forge them either.

His father’s words back at the Minister’s Mansion that day were true. The Eldest Princess had indeed been secretly performing acts of immense charity...

Zeng Anmin had already vaguely guessed her purpose for seeing him today. She wanted the secret letters he had found in Prince Qi’s Mansion. "Could it be... she also wants to know who is backing Ren Weizhi? Or perhaps, she has some other ulterior motive?" he thought.

"You know?!" The aura around the Eldest Princess drastically shifted as her stunning eyes locked fiercely onto Zeng Anmin.

"I don’t know either," Zeng Anmin shrugged, looking up with a chuckle. "So, hasn’t Your Highness’s goal in seeking me out today been achieved?

"You continue dealing with Ren Weizhi out in the open.

"I’ll secretly investigate the person behind him."

At this, Zeng Anmin slowly raised his head, staring straight at the Eldest Princess. "Furthermore, in the Court, my father and Your Highness can secretly form an alliance."

"Hehe." Hearing his words, the Eldest Princess merely chuckled. Her breathtaking face radiated a charm as alluring as peach blossoms. "Speaking with a smart person truly puts one at ease."

"It’s all thanks to Your Highness’s profound benevolence in saving countless commoners. You deserve my utmost respect," Zeng Anmin said, bowing deeply. He was utterly convinced and sincere when he said this. Regardless of her true motives, stepping in to clean up the mess left by Ren Weizhi, Prince Qi, and the mastermind behind them had, at the very least, saved the lives of countless people.

"There’s no need," the Eldest Princess replied, her gaze indifferent.

"It’s just, Your Highness, do you have any clues about that mastermind?" Zeng Anmin looked at her candidly. She had been in the capital much longer than he had, so she naturally possessed more clues than him.

"No," the Eldest Princess said calmly. "That is why I am having you investigate it."

***

Zeng Anmin remained expressionless, but he was secretly frowning inwardly. "For all these years, the Eldest Princess has been dealing with Prince Qi and Ren Weizhi. Logically, she should have been investigating the whole time. How could she not have a single clue?!

"Unless... her purpose in getting close to Prince Qi and Ren Weizhi wasn’t to investigate the mastermind!

"But what goal could possibly make her willing to spend so much money to clean up after Ren Weizhi and Prince Qi?! To the point where she doesn’t even care about the mastermind?!

"Wait! Prince Qi... Chi Bufan went to Prince Qi’s Mansion on the day of the raid..."

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck through his mind as three words surfaced in his thoughts. "Could the Eldest Princess’s true goal be... Emperor Xi’s Map!!!"