Chapter 500

Gu Kang pushed aside the crowd and slowly walked in.

As soon as his words fell, the people around drew in a sharp breath, all looking at Official Wang lying on the bedboard, already dead.

"No, no, how could this be? He was clearly drinking at Wangjiang Tower..." Cao Maolin looked at the corpse before him, his face instantly turning pale; this time trying to play the rascal was impossible.

Seated in the place of honor, Xiao Yin's eyes flickered slightly, and he gave a cold laugh.

"Ling Feng! Recite Article 128 of the Southern Qi legal code!"

Ling Feng's voice was clear and ringing; everyone around heard it distinctly, crystal clear.

"In reply to Your Highness, Article 128 of the Southern Qi code states that plotting to murder a court official is tantamount to rebellion, punishable by immediate execution!"

As soon as the words "immediate execution" left Ling Feng's mouth, Cao Maolin's face turned deathly pale; he tried to struggle but Ling Feng stepped on him with a foot.

Seated in the place of honor, Xiao Yin glanced at Gu Kang beside him and said lightly, "Minister Gu, you are the President of the Ministry of Justice, this case..."

Gu Kang's eyes flickered, then he said slowly, "Your Highness is right—immediate execution!"

"No! No! You have no right to kill me, you have no right to kill me! My aunt is Imperial Concubine Cao! My grandfather is still away; if he returns, he will certainly not let you lot off!"

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Cao Maolin panicked completely, muttering and cursing under his breath, having already turned hostile, naturally giving the other side no face at all.

Unexpectedly, his martial arts were weak; even the dark guards controlled by the Cao Clan were wiped out one by one by the people brought by Gu Jiu Ling and Xiao Yin.

This time he had no spare strength to save him from fire and water; just as he was panicking and struggling desperately, Ling Feng had already stepped on him, and with a raise of the hand, the blade fell.

A strong smell of blood instantly spread.

The belated officials of the Yangzhou prefectural office hurried over, only to be frightened stupid one by one.

They stared blankly at the corpse of Official Wang on the wooden board, and at Cao Gongzi's head rolling on the ground.

The situation changed in an instant; their faces turned deathly pale, and they were somewhat at a loss.

Xiao Yin slowly rose, looked at these people, and gave a cold laugh: "The case of Official Wang has many doubtful points; you people failed to protect him—arrest all of you!"

For a moment, the clamor, resistance, and struggle were all suppressed; the entire Yangzhou prefectural office was now filled with Xiao Yin's people.

"Someone! Bring all the Cao Clan's account books for this prince to audit!"

Now inside and out are Xiao Yin's people; those people dare not be negligent, nor dare they send over false accounts from previous years—this time the account books are all genuine.

Box after box was delivered before Xiao Yin; if he were to withhold half of these accounts for his own profit, he could easily grow rich and achieve a comfortable life.

Gu Jiu Ling watched helplessly as box after box of account books were brought in, not knowing how much silver this represented.

She glanced at Xiao Yin's calm, steady brows beside her and couldn't help thinking, this kid is also adept at amassing wealth.

Not long after, Xiao Yin and Gu Kang stayed up all night auditing the Cao Clan's accounts; upon inspection, they hadn't expected that in just over a decade, the Cao Clan in Jiangnan had amassed wealth to such an extent, simply unimaginable.

If compared to the Southern Qi's total fiscal revenue, the Cao Clan's annual income actually amounted to half of the entire Southern Qi's tax revenue.

"Good heavens!" Gu Jiu Ling thought to herself, indeed "prosperous Suzhou-Hu, the world is sufficient."

"The most prosperous place under heaven, Yangzhou leads; this place truly is wealthy."

Xiao Yin had Ling Feng lead those guards out of the office, leaving only Xiao Yin, Gu Jiu Ling, and Gu Kang in the entire office.

Even after looking at just a few dozen volumes, the accounts were already shocking; Xiao Yin collected the account books, planning to find some accountants in Yangzhou city tomorrow to calculate them slowly.

At this moment he had a few ready account books in hand, slowly pushed them toward Gu Kang, and coldly said, "Minister Gu, I need to remind you: after the Hangzhou case is settled, I will return to Shang Jing; if you do not act against me again, there may be no chance."

As soon as Xiao Yin's words fell, Gu Jiu Ling and Gu Kang, brother and sister, both froze in place.

Gu Jiu Ling slowly lowered her head; at this moment it was inconvenient for her to speak, on one side her husband, on the other her brother.

Gu Kang slightly lowered his eyes, lifted the teacup, and took a light sip.

"What do you mean, brother-in-law?"

Here comes this act of pretending to be dead again; Xiao Yin gave a cold laugh, saying that whenever this little bastard shows weakness, he calls out "brother-in-law, brother-in-law," but once he puffs up his wings, he becomes Minister Gu, Prince Rui.

"That's exactly what you think; didn't the emperor order you to keep me forever in Jiangnan? Now that things here are settled, before I leave Jiangnan you'd better think the consequences through."

Gu Kang steadied himself, slowly raised his arm, revealing several scars—those left when Gu Jiu Ling previously gave him a blood transfusion.

Although more than twenty days have passed, the scars on his arm, due to the earlier severe trauma, cannot fade away.

Gu Kang looked at his elder sister and said lightly, "Everyone says I, Gu Kang, am a jade-faced Yama; that's not right—I am also not unreasonable."

"Indeed it is true; the emperor ordered me to keep you forever in Jiangnan."

He gave a low laugh: "Now brother-in-law also sees that I lack the ability to keep you here, and besides, sister does not allow it."

Gu Jiu Ling coughed once and turned her gaze away.

Gu Kang slowly touched the scars on his arm, saying word by word: "But imperial orders are hard to defy; the emperor, in order to have me serve him, actually fed me poisonous insects."

"Fortunately my elder sister helped me dispel most of this insect poison, though a small part remains in my body; the chance of it flaring up in the short term is extremely slight."

"Both publicly and privately, I can no longer act against brother-in-law, but upon returning to Shang Jing I must still give the emperor an explanation."

Gu Kang spoke at length, then lifted his gaze to stare firmly at Xiao Yin, pulled down the sleeve on his wrist, raised his hand, and produced a palm: "Five million taels."

Gu Kang blurted out five million taels; Xiao Yin and Gu Jiu Ling stared at each other in shock—by rights Gu Kang does not seem like a money-lover, yet he actually made such a demand.

Gu Kang said slowly, "Five million taels, and I will let this matter pass; returning to the capital, I will bear all consequences alone, having nothing to do with brother-in-law."

"After all, upon returning to the capital your official hat may not be secure; life must go on, and living costs money—brother-in-law, what do you say?"

Xiao Yin, this time, found himself increasingly unable to understand this disastrous brother-in-law; could five million taels of silver really send him away? Yet he always felt something was off.

He really wanted to chop this guy down, but unfortunately he is Gu Jiu Ling's younger brother, so he cannot lay a hand on him.

Otherwise he would absolutely not leave such a disaster beside himself; he does not fear Gu Kang's greed, nor his stupidity—what he fears most is being unable to see through this person.