Surprise! The villain is my brother, stay calm!

This account book did record that Lu Jin embezzled a lot of public funds, but there were reasons for all of it.

For example, "In the eighth year of Qianping, the Empress's Fengyi Palace was renovated, and the Ministry of Revenue was supposed to pay 10,000 taels of silver. However, due to the disaster in the south, the Ministry of Revenue only gave 5,000 taels. The funds were insufficient, so they had to simplify the construction materials."

"In the 18th year of Qianping, the renovation of the Royal Forest Garden required 150,000 taels, but the Ministry of Revenue only contributed 130,000 taels. The funds were insufficient, so they could only streamline the materials."

"Qian Ping..."

"..."

"In the 22nd year of Qianping, the prince's palace was built, which required 50,000 taels. The superiors requested that it be reduced to 40,000 taels, and the remaining 10,000 taels were used by the superiors to buy things for Your Majesty."

"In the 23rd year of Qianping, the Imperial Concubine's bedroom was being renovated. The Ministry of Revenue was short of money, so they borrowed from me, but they kept saying they would delay the payment. The Imperial Concubine is favored, and if the bedroom is not renovated quickly, His Majesty will definitely blame me. I have no choice but to pay for it first, and then plan to make up for it somewhere else later!"

"In the fifth year of Jiaqing..."

From Qianping to Jiaqing, spanning two dynasties, this was what happened after the new emperor ascended the throne.

"In the tenth year of Jiaqing, Duke Qing wanted to make up for the debt owed by the fourth prince for selling his official positions and titles, so he asked me to lend him 10,000 taels. I lent him the money..."

"In the tenth year of Jiaqing, the Fourth Prince's adviser Tan Ling came to me and asked me to save 10,000 taels and convert it into cash to give to the Fourth Prince..."

……

There were hundreds of items in the account book, and Lu Jin was wrong in every one of them, but he had no choice. Emperor Qian didn't know whether he should blame him or not, and there were so many people involved.

Even he, the emperor, was included in the list.

He did not doubt the authenticity of the account book. After all, he had some impression of these things. There had been continuous disasters in recent years, frictions between several border countries, the treasury was empty, and the Ministry of Revenue could not provide silver. Naturally, the people below would find ways to do things on their own in order to do good things.

And these debts are all private accounts...

And the last one, the Fourth Prince actually asked for it himself? How ridiculous.

The anger in Emperor Qian's eyes had not yet subsided, his face was gloomy, and the air around him seemed stagnant.

The governor of Shuntian lowered his head, waiting for His Majesty's instructions.

Finally, Emperor Qian rubbed his brows. This matter involved many things, even himself was involved. If he really wanted to explain it, it would be hard to tell.

What’s more, the direct descendants of the Duke of Anguo’s Mansion cannot be disposed of at will.

At the same time, he was a little disappointed with his fourth son. For such a small amount of silver, wasn't he afraid of being crushed to death by the roof beam?

He sighed helplessly, "Zhang Ruiquan, pass on my order. The truth has been found out. This matter has nothing to do with Lord Lu. Considering his old age, I cannot bear to see him continue to work so hard. I will allow him to resign and retire. I will also grant him 100 taels of gold, 10,000 taels of silver, and 100 hectares of fertile land. I decree this!"

The eunuch Zhang was stunned for a moment, then nodded in agreement and went out to announce the decree.

Emperor Qian looked at the Shuntian Prefecture Governor again and said, "This matter ends here!"

He has already shut Lu Jin's mouth with the reward, so he shouldn't be so big-mouthed and talk nonsense everywhere.

Little did they know that Lu Jin knew nothing at all.

Shuntian Prefecture Governor replied: "Yes, I obey your order!"

The matter was resolved just like that, with much ado about nothing happening.

The officials in the court were all dumbfounded. Although Lu Jin lost his official position, His Majesty still gave him a reward, which really allowed him to live in his old age. Many people were still envious, because that was a hundred hectares of fertile land!

You can just sit back, eat and wait to die.

The Fourth Prince was also in disbelief. He had used such a powerful killing move, but it was gone just like that?

Although Lu Jin was indeed dismissed from office, it did not achieve what he expected.

The fourth prince hurriedly found Tan Ling and said, "Yu Zhong, what's going on? Didn't you put away the account book that I gave you?"

"Your Highness, I did give the account book to General Feng. Why don't you ask him?"

Therefore, Feng Chengyu was secretly found in the courtyard: "This humble general greets His Royal Highness the Fourth Prince."

"Feng Chengyu, have you confirmed that the account book has been placed in Lu Jin's study?"

Feng Chengyu was startled, then nodded: "Yes, my father-in-law often asked me to go to the study to talk, and I just buried it in the pile of documents."

He hated the Anguo Mansion so much that he naturally wanted to see it fall. Another reason was that he met his younger sister Xianxin, who was still so innocent and kind, and was forced to give up her marriage by her vicious sister. If she had not fallen into the water and been rescued by the second prince, she would probably have died.

Every time he thought of this, he felt heartbroken. Not only did the Fourth Prince not despise Sister Xianxin, he was also willing to give her the position of principal wife. It was obvious that he truly loved her. He felt relieved to hand her over to such a sincere person.

When he learned that the Fourth Prince wanted to deal with the Anguo Mansion, he agreed without thinking.

Because he didn't want to be forced by his father to be nice to Lu Xifei all the time, and he didn't want to see his parents always trying to please Lu Xifei because of the Anguo Mansion. Every time he saw her, he would be reminded of the hateful faces of the Lu family. He wanted to see the Anguo Mansion fall.

"Then why did the emperor only dismiss Lu Jin from his post and reward him?"

That account book was enough to cost Lu Jin his life.

Tan Ling also knew that the Fourth Prince was a little disappointed, but still said: "Your Highness, maybe His Majesty is not in a position to take action against the Duke of Anguo's Mansion. After all, the old Duke is still alive, so he has to give him some face. At least Lu Jin has been dismissed. From now on, just focus on dealing with Lu Zhanyan, and Your Highness doesn't have to worry about it anymore."

After being advised like this, the Fourth Prince thought about it and could only sigh.

Duke Anguo's Mansion

Lu Jin was dismissed from office and was in a very low mood. He felt that someone was framing him and didn't want him to complete the repairs. He wanted to ask clearly why he was dismissed from office when he was clearly innocent.

But he had no place to complain after the imperial edict came, after all, the emperor had given him a reward.

At this moment, Lu Xihua came to the door of the study: "Dad, Ah Xing asked us to go to the opera."

"How can a father be in the mood to listen to opera..."

Lu Xihua raised her lips and smiled: "I heard it's about your dismissal from office. It's fine if you don't want to go."

"what?"

Lu Xihua ignored him and walked away.

She didn't have much attachment to her father and her attitude towards him was very casual. In the past, her father always wanted her to be a well-educated and well-mannered young lady. If it weren't for her uncle's protection, she probably wouldn't have been able to learn martial arts.

Lu Jin hurriedly followed, he wanted to see what his youngest son was keeping secret.

When Lu Jin and his companions arrived at Liuli Courtyard, Tingxue respectfully invited them to the dark room of the study, where the old Duke, Luo, Su Xianye, three daughters, and two sons-in-law were already seated.

"Father, why are you here?"

The old Duke was in much better spirits now. He just glanced at him calmly and said, "Xing'er said he wanted to invite me, his grandfather, to watch a play, so I came here."

"What is this kid doing?" Lu Jin frowned.

"Ah Xing said that we must not talk and just listen carefully."

Although I couldn't see the study clearly, I could hear it.

Soon, Lu Zhanxing's voice was heard outside: "Third brother-in-law, do you know why I asked you to come here?"

Feng Chengyu snorted coldly: "If you have something to say, say it quickly. If you have to fart, fart quickly."

Lu Zhanxing didn't care and played with his paper fan: "You married my third sister, but you treat her only brother like this. Don't you think it's rude? Do you take my third sister seriously?"

"Humph, so what? Your third sister is someone who will do anything to achieve her goals, why should I give her a hard time?"

"Oh? How did my third sister resort to such means? Did my third sister force you to marry her? Wasn't it your Feng family who took the initiative to ask for marriage?"

……

Thank you for your support. If you have any comments, please write them down. Huahua will read them. Hehe, do you want to see our Zhanxing open a harem? Enen, if there are enough supporters, it is not impossible to consider it~ Hahaha