How can I bow my head and serve the powerful officials?

"Alright, alright." Shen Yuan's cheeks hurt from laughing. He really enjoyed teasing Xie Chengze. Compared to the Second Prince's arrogance and unreasonableness, Xie Chengze was just like a little white rabbit that had not been tainted by the world. People always wanted to bully him to see more interesting reactions from him.

"Your Highness, aren't you curious about why Li Dongyao wants Your Highness to ascend the throne?"

Shen Yuan held down Xie Chengze's angry hand that wanted to hit him, and said sternly, "Li Dongyao has a vicious eye and is an ambitious person who only follows wise rulers. He is not optimistic about the crown prince being in power, and believes that his methods are not enough to compete with the officials. Therefore, he would rather stay in Liaozhou as a neutral official than take the lead in standing with the crown prince."

"In his previous life, he thought I could help the prince clean up the court, so he was willing to join the prince's camp."

"In this life, he obviously realized that you have the talent to govern the country, and I am even more powerful in your camp. He naturally thinks that our side has a better chance of winning, so he wants to support you to become the next emperor."

"But this... is too hasty, isn't it?" Xie Chengze asked in confusion, "I only know some tricks to fool people, but I'm afraid I'm not good at governing a country. He should be able to see that."

"Yeah." Shen Yuan nodded. "Actually, he still has some doubts. After all, you look very..."

Shen Yuan glanced at Xie Chengze from head to toe, "He has no ambition at all, and is not fit to be an emperor at all."

Xie Chengze: ...

Xie Chengze: So what?

"Since he has seen it clearly, why does he still want me to ascend the throne?" Xie Chengze was even more puzzled.

"Because..." Shen Yuan paused, and under Xie Chengze's anxious eyes, he said lightly, "What a mess. He saw through Li Dongyao's mind, and thought that this person could be used, and it would be better to leave him to Your Highness than to the Crown Prince. So he urged Li Dongyao every day, painting a rosy picture for him, saying that you will soon replace the emperor and become the new emperor, and let him help you ascend the throne."

Xie Chengze: ...

Xie Chengze gritted his teeth and slammed the table, "Hu! Come on!"

It's you again! I shouldn't have brought you to Liaozhou!

"Laugh, laugh, laugh! You just know how to laugh!" Seeing the smile that Shen Yuan couldn't hide on his face, Xie Chengze cursed, "Why don't you stop him? Aren't you afraid that he will really recruit soldiers and help me ascend the throne?!"

Shen Yuan raised his eyebrows and thought seriously, "Well, maybe it's possible?"

"What did you say?!" Xie Chengze immediately took a step back, hugged his chest, and looked at him warily, "Shen Yuan! Are you exposed too? Aren't you a staunch royalist?!"

This joke is not funny at all!

"People always change." Shen Yuan raised his hand to prop up half of his face, and looked at Xie Chengze with a smile, "For example, in this life, I would rather watch the Second Prince review memorials every day. His gloomy face must be very interesting."

Xie Chengze: ...

Get lost! If he becomes the emperor, all these memorials will be stuffed into Shen Yuan's hands!

It is impossible to review memorials, not possible in this lifetime!

"I will send Hu Lai to stop Li Dongyao's thoughts tomorrow!" Xie Chengze slammed his palms and said angrily, "Next time he dares to instigate others like this, I will deduct his monthly salary so that he can't afford to support 28 concubines!"

"Your Highness has a good trick." Shen Yuan applauded and smiled indulgently, "Deduct his monthly salary and let him do it again."

Xie Chengze glared at him and was about to say "you too" when there was a knock on the door.

The two couldn't help but look at each other.

It's so late, who could it be?

"Come in." Xie Chengze responded, and then he saw the door was pushed open. Two servants came in with food boxes, bowed their heads and saluted to him, "Second Prince, Lord Sheng said that he was grateful for the dumplings that Your Highness had just given him. He was afraid that Your Highness would be hungry, so he asked two servants to bring the food."

Xie Chengze: ...

Xie Chengze: Finished!!!

Is Sheng Shihuai crazy? He went to sleep right after eating. Why is he trying to make a living by sending food? This is over——

Shen Yuanchen, who was sitting on a wooden chair, laughed and played with the teacup in his hand. His eyes on Xie Chengze were ambiguous. "Oh, thank you for the dumplings just now, Your Highness~"

Xie Chengze turned his face away: (;?д?)

After the servant had served the dishes and left, Shen Yuan hummed, "Is this what Your Highness meant by not giving food to others? Am I the first person to eat it?"

It would have been fine if he had given the dumplings to others first. He originally thought that Wuhen and Wuji had snatched the first bite of dumplings, but he never expected that the person was Sheng Shihuai.

He ate so much, but only left one bite for him. Xie Chengze didn't even know how to stop him? !

Xie Chengze lowered his head guiltily, "How can Sheng Shihuai be considered a human? He is not a human. Lord Shen is a human~"

"So the reason you came back so late is because you were stopped by Sheng Shihuai." Compared to the fact that Xie Chengze gave the dumplings to Sheng Shihuai, Shen Yuan was more angry because he had to face Sheng Shihuai alone.

Too dangerous.

Xie Chengze nodded, "But don't worry, the conversation was very successful. Not only did he think that I was a prince with a craftsman's brain but no strategy, I also..."

He said proudly, "I put his expensive fur coat under my butt! And I even farted secretly!"

Hey! It's fun!

Shen Yuan: ...

Your Highness is really awesome.

-

Emperor Jian and his officials stayed for another three days.

During these three days, the auction was in full swing.

Two days ago, some pawned items privately collected in Liaozhou were auctioned as appetizers together with the treasures that Wu Ji brought from Chenghuan Palace. This allowed the wealthy businessmen to become familiar with the rules of the auction and also helped them kill a lot of time during the day.

It was also at this time that Xie Shoujun finally understood why Shen Yuan told him that if his Red Tassel Black Dragon Spear appeared in Liaozhou that day, it would cause a lot of trouble.

After all... the weapons used by the eldest prince to kill the enemy appeared among the pawned items at the Liaozhou Pawn Shop, which would definitely cause an uproar. If it was also known that the eldest prince had to sell guns to buy food because the border troops did not have enough rations when they returned to Beijing, then Emperor Jian would certainly lose face.

By then, it is inevitable that they will vent their anger on him and banish him from the capital.

Fortunately, the second prince sent someone to find me and prevented the resentment between the emperor and his subjects.

He should thank his second brother again.

The third day was the main auction.

All of the items auctioned this time were treasures that wealthy businessmen rushed to buy for their collections, and some were even sold at a high price of three thousand taels of gold.

It’s not that the treasures in Chenghuan Palace are really that valuable, but if they were sold individually, they would definitely not be sold at such a high price. However, this is an auction, and the highest bidder wins. Naturally, there will be people who drive up the prices, causing the prices of these treasures to exceed their original value and become even more expensive.

The biggest buyers among them were Xie Zimiao and Concubine Rou.

Of course, the ones who paid the money were not Xie Zimiao and Concubine Rou, but Young Master Jiang and Jiang Henan, the two victims of the sister-con and brother-con complex.

Concubine Rou Chunchun was attracted by those treasures and wanted to display them in her own palace for appreciation. Jiang Henan was naturally willing to spend a fortune to make his sister smile, so his price was always much higher.

As for Xie Zimiao, he simply wanted to help Xie Chengze make more money, so he dragged Young Master Jiang along and used their private money to fight at the auction, not even sparing their mothers and fathers.

On the fourth day, Xie Chengze was finally able to send his living father, Emperor Jian, away.

Xie Shoujun divided a group of troops to escort Emperor Jian and others back to the capital, while he and the remaining elite troops stayed in Liaozhou, waiting to escort Xie Chengze back to the capital the next day.