Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 47 A huge sum of money

"Please resign?"

Zhao Xing was stunned and asked, "Do you mean you won't go to the palace to read for me?"

"Your Highness, please forgive me. My grandfather is old. I want to send him back to Yangzhou and stay by his side to fulfill my filial duty." Gu Tingye said.

Zhao Xing tapped the table, pondered for a moment, and said, "Have you told your grandfather about this?"

"Not yet. I plan to ask Your Highness for permission first, and then inform my grandfather!" said Gu Tingye.

Zhao Xing looked at him and said, "You are not telling the truth."

"minister…"

"Zhong Huai!"

Zhao Xing interrupted Gu Tingye and said, "Deceiving me is a serious crime. I can forgive you for what happened before. You should think it through first."

Gu Tingye was silent for a long time after hearing this, and then he said in a hoarse voice: "The last time my grandfather met Your Highness, he asked Your Highness to help investigate the cause of my mother's death. During this period of time, I have also been secretly investigating this matter, and found...found..."

"You found out that it was related to your father, and you didn't know how to face your father, so you wanted to escape?" Zhao Xing said.

Upon hearing this, Gu Tingye looked at Zhao Xing in surprise and nodded.

Zhao Xing was not surprised at this. If things had developed as they had originally intended, Gu Tingye would have known there was something wrong with his mother's death more than a year later, when Old Master Bai passed away and he went to Yangzhou to inherit the family property.

He felt that his mother's death was related to Gu Yankai. On one side was his biological mother, and on the other was his father. He didn't know how to face it, so he ran to the Bai Lu Dong Academy.

Now that Gu Tingye knows about it in advance, it is normal for him to want to escape.

Zhao Xing was silent for a long time and then asked, "Why do you think this matter is related to your father?"

"I secretly investigated and found that many servants were sold back then, including some born-in-law who had been slaves in the Gu family for generations. The only one who could do this was my father." Gu Tingye said.

Zhao Xing was speechless. Gu Tingye was a very smart man, but he had been deceived by women in the first half of his life. First it was Xiao Qinshi, and then there was Zhu Manniang.

Didn't he ever think that there was also Xiao Qin in the Gu family who could do all these?
He would rather think of his biological father than doubt Xiao Qin.

I really don’t know whether to say that Xiao Qinshi disguised herself too well or that Gu Tingye was too stupid.

"I have asked someone to investigate this matter. Although there is still no clue, according to some clues I have found, it should have nothing to do with your father." Zhao Xing said.

"Your Highness, are you telling the truth?" Gu Tingye looked at Zhao Xing in surprise.

Gu Tingye has complicated feelings towards his father, and some of his actions seem very rebellious.

In fact, this is not the case. Gu Tingye actually longs for his father's recognition and love.

Although Gu Yankai had no feelings for the Bai family, he still loved his son Gu Tingye very much.

Because his eldest son was weak and sickly, he trained Gu Tingye as his successor and was very strict with him.

No matter how well Gu Tingye did, he would be pleased in his heart but would not show it on his face, let alone praise him.

Since ancient times, there has been a saying that there is a strict father and a kind mother. Gu Yankai only wanted to play the role of a strict father, but ignored the fact that the kind mother was not Gu Tingye's biological mother, and the kindness was just an act.

Over time, the conflicts and estrangement between father and son have become increasingly serious.

The reason why Gu Tingye felt that his mother's death was related to Gu Yankai after he found out that the Gu family had sold out many servants was because he thought of Gu Yankai's attitude towards him over the years.

He felt that the reason why Gu Yankai treated him like this was because he didn't like him.

But Gu Tingye still has a deep father-son relationship with Gu Yankai.

So he didn't know how to face his father and could only choose to escape.

"There is no need for me to lie to you. Now I can only find out that this matter has nothing to do with your father. I have no clue about the rest." Zhao Xing said.

He felt that he had explained it so clearly. As long as Gu Tingye went back and thought about it carefully, he would probably have some doubts about Xiao Qin.

Many things, as long as there is suspicion, even if it is not true, one will think about it in that direction. Moreover, this matter was originally done by Xiao Qinshi, as long as Gu Tingye has suspicion, he will definitely find clues.

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Gu Tingye didn't think too much at this time, and was completely caught up in the surprise that this matter had nothing to do with his father.

Subconsciously, he was unwilling to believe that his mother's death was related to his father.

But all the signs forced him to believe it.

Now Zhao Xing's words gave him reason not to believe it.

"Do you still want to resign now?" Zhao Xing asked.

"My lord is guilty!"

Gu Tingye knelt on one knee and said, "My grandfather has been nursed back to health by the imperial physician. I deceived Your Highness before. Please punish me!"

"Forget it this time, but if you dare to deceive me again, don't blame me for being ruthless," said Zhao Xing.

"Thank you, Your Highness, for your magnanimity." Gu Tingye expressed his gratitude.

"By the way, please ask your grandfather to keep an eye on it and see whether the problem of private salt has been curbed after the court conducted a thorough investigation into the salt business," said Zhao Xing.

"Yes!" Gu Tingye replied.

"Okay, it's getting late, let's go back to school." Zhao Xing said.

"Your Highness, my grandfather said he was willing to donate 200,000 taels of silver to Your Highness." Gu Tingye said.

"Oh?"

Zhao Xing was stunned for a moment, but soon understood what Old Master Bai meant.

Although the punishments for officials were somewhat light during this thorough investigation of the salt business, there was no mercy for the salt merchants who colluded with the officials.

Many salt merchants had their properties confiscated and a large amount of silver was obtained from them.

However, the Bai family was not held accountable. After all, not only did Old Master Bai reveal many secrets, but a lot of evidence was also collected with his guidance, so he could be considered to have made some contributions.

Old Master Bai was also a smart man. He gave out 200,000 taels of silver at once.

You have to know that the annual taxes and other income of the Song Dynasty, converted into silver, is only a little over 100 million taels.

Among them, the state-run tea, horse, salt and iron merchants accounted for the majority.

In an average small county, the tax revenue for several years might be only 200,000 taels.

But when I think about the time when the Bai family married off their daughter, the dowry was worth one million taels of silver, not to mention the gold and silver jewelry.

This shows how much money the salt merchants made.

Of course, the Bai family does not only deal in salt, they also have other businesses.

Zhao Xing had no reason to refuse such money delivered to his door. He thought for a while and said, "Thank Mr. Bai on my behalf. Tell him to keep the money with him first. He will send someone to get it when I need it."

He now lives in the palace and has no place to put such a large sum of money.

If my father finds out, I probably won’t be able to stay here, so it’s safest to leave it with Old Master Bai first.

"Yes." Gu Tingye hesitated for a moment and then agreed.

This money was actually intended to be handed over to the government through Zhao Xing, but looking at Zhao Xing's appearance, it was obvious that he was going to embezzle it.

Gu Tingye wanted to remind Zhao Xing, but in the end he said nothing.

Thanks to Haotian 215 and Daqin Wei Zhuang for their monthly ticket support.

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(End of this chapter)