Chapter 184 - 127: Slapping Ren Weizhi

Chapter 184: Chapter 127: Slapping Ren Weizhi

"Ahem, I won’t disturb the Crown Prince and the Princess from catching up."

Zeng Anmin casually shot a wink at the Crown Prince before making his exit.

Who knew if that fellow had even noticed. It didn’t matter. Whether he had noticed or not, it wouldn’t affect his own plan to weed out the mastermind behind the assassination attempt on his life. If it really was Consort Xi... even if he couldn’t kill her, he’d at least skin her alive.

"HYAH!"

After exiting the Imperial Palace, Zeng Anmin cracked his whip and rode his little green horse toward the Minister’s Mansion.

...

Yong’an Palace.

The Crown Prince sat rather respectfully across from the Eldest Princess, a probing look on his face. "Just now, when Brother Quan Fu came over..."

The Eldest Princess caught the cautious look on the Crown Prince’s face, a hint of amusement flashing in her eyes. She naturally knew how the Crown Prince had eagerly run over to the Imperial College for the sake of that "upright minister of the state." However, she also knew that these two might have inadvertently touched upon His Majesty’s taboo.

Thus, she nodded calmly. "That boy has already sworn allegiance to me."

CRACK.

Upon hearing this, the Little Fatty Crown Prince felt as though he heard something shatter in his heart. Disbelief washed over his face. His mouth hung agape as he stuttered, "That... that... no, that can’t be, right?"

"Why couldn’t it be?" The Eldest Princess frowned, looking at the Crown Prince. "Could it be that the Crown Prince has also tried to recruit him?"

"N-no, how could I? I should be focusing on my studies right now." The Crown Prince hurriedly shook his head, carefully hiding his disappointment.

"Mm." The corners of the Eldest Princess’s lips curled up slightly as she gave a nonchalant nod.

...

The Ren Manor.

Upon hearing his subordinate’s report, a sharp gleam flashed in Ren Weizhi’s eyes. He looked at the servant. "He’s not dead?!"

The servant knelt respectfully on the ground. "This old servant saw it with my own eyes. Zeng Anmin rode his horse back to the mansion."

Ren Weizhi frowned deeply. He subtly glanced in the direction of Fa’an Temple.

He wondered if the assassin had failed to act. That was impossible. He had been given that person’s warrant; how could he not have acted? What kind of accident could have occurred?

Ren Weizhi tapped his fingers slowly on the tabletop.

After a long while, his eyes narrowed as he asked the servant, "How many days has it been?"

Understanding his meaning, the servant replied with extreme reverence, "Nine days."

"Heh." A faint smile graced Ren Weizhi’s face. "Then he should have arrived in Liangjiang Commandery a long time ago."

As he spoke, a hint of murderous intent permeated his eyes. "The good days for the Zeng Family father and son end here."

...

The next day, in the Imperial Court.

His father walked down the palace path as indifferently as usual. Lou Yingqi didn’t stray too close to him; the two walked separately. After all, forming factions in the Court was not exactly a glorious thing.

His father’s gaze remained calm. After arriving at the Court, he quickly found his spot and stood there. He then kept his eyes down and his mind focused, seemingly unbothered by everything around him.

TAP.

A soft footstep sounded right beside his father, seemingly intentional. Zeng Shilin glanced over slightly, only to see Ren Weizhi looking back at him with a half-smile.

The two locked eyes, then slowly lowered their heads.

His father’s lips twitched imperceptibly.

...

"If there are any matters, present your memorials. If not, the Court is dismissed." The old eunuch’s voice rang out as loud as ever.

Emperor Jianhong looked in good spirits today, all because he had received an interesting piece of news yesterday: The Crown Prince had looked thoroughly depressed after leaving Yong’an Palace.

It only took a little probing by a junior eunuch to find out that Zeng Anmin had visited Yong’an Palace.

Interesting.

Although he didn’t know when Zeng Anmin had gotten involved with the Eldest Princess, it at least proved that the Crown Prince wasn’t as unruly as he had imagined. Emperor Jianhong sat calmly on the dragon throne, his gaze sweeping slowly across the assembled officials.

"Your Majesty, I wish to impeach the Minister of the Ministry of War, Zeng Shilin, for perverting the law for bribes," a voice rang out directly.

The sudden exclamation caught everyone off guard. Even his father was surprised.

Zeng Shilin looked expressionlessly at the person who had spoken.

Ren Weizhi.

This fellow had completely dropped all pretenses with his father. His face was extremely stern as he stepped out with a bow, holding his Ruler. His entire being radiated absolute righteousness.

"Oh?" Emperor Jianhong’s gaze remained unchanged as he looked toward Ren Weizhi.

Everyone knew that Ren Weizhi and Zeng Shilin didn’t see eye to eye. However, the two hadn’t openly clashed in the Court recently. Today’s sudden confrontation caught everyone by surprise. Emperor Jianhong didn’t say a word; he simply watched Ren Weizhi quietly.

Ren Weizhi bowed slightly, his gaze solemn. "Two years ago, during the floods in Jiangnan, the Court allocated funds to the region. At that time, Zeng Shilin, acting as the Governor of Fengqi Road, took on the responsibility of disaster relief and the construction of the Jishui Dam.

"However, just a few days ago, while reviewing old cases with the Ministry of Revenue, I discovered a discrepancy in the disaster relief funds."

As he spoke, he produced his "evidence" and presented it respectfully. "Therefore, I suspect that Zeng Shilin embezzled the Disaster Silver, skimmed off the relief pay, and deliberately used inferior materials when constructing the Jishui Dam."

Having said his piece, he lifted his head. With an intensely righteous gaze, he glared at Zeng Shilin and raised his voice sharply. "But did you know, you traitorous thief? If anything were to happen to the Jishui Dam, the twelve commanderies of Jiangnan would be plunged into absolute misery! When you committed this treasonous act, did you ever spare a thought for those tens of thousands of commoners?!"

It was a completely high-sounding, righteous speech.

Zeng Shilin narrowed his eyes at Ren Weizhi. In return, Ren Weizhi stared fearlessly back at him.

Meanwhile, Emperor Jianhong was inspecting the "evidence" that Ren Weizhi had submitted.