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

"However, for matters like confiscating the property, I may need to trouble Your Highness to take action."

Under Xie Chengze's bared fangs and angry glare, Shen Yuan raised his hands to show his surrender and smiled faintly, "I'm afraid it will be difficult for me to return to the capital this time."

"Why do you say that?" Xie Chengze was puzzled. He sat up and asked, "You and I have both done meritorious service this time, so why do you feel bad?"

"Your Highness, you don't need to know." Shen Yuan shook his head and straightened his outer coat. "The clerk of the Ministry of Justice is my man. If you can't contact me, you can go find that clerk and tell him. He is trustworthy."

"Why can't I contact you?" Hearing this, Xie Chengze panicked, "Where are you going?"

"I am already in the capital, Your Highness, don't be afraid." Shen Yuan held his hand in a soothing manner, as if to give him strength. "After entering the capital, be careful with food and fragrance, and don't let Wuhen Wuzhi leave your side. If it really comes to the last resort, it's not a bad idea to use Hu Lai."

"Don't tell me as if you are preparing for your funeral!" Seeing that Shen Yuan was unwilling to say anything, Xie Chengze immediately pulled his hand back, looking very dissatisfied.

"How could that be?" Seeing that he was angry, Shen Yuan smiled lightly and joked, "If I really have to make arrangements for my afterlife, the first thing I'll tell you is where my private money is, so that if Your Highness falls into poverty one day, you can still rely on my private money to make a comeback."

"Oh? You still have some private money? How much is it?"

As soon as he heard the word money, Xie Chengze's attention was immediately drawn to it. His pair of almond-shaped eyes widened as brightly as a rabbit seeing a carrot.

"Well, of course..."

The man spoke softly. The sounds of wheels rolling and horses' hooves outside the carriage mixed together, covering up the voices of the two people whispering inside, leaving only a room filled with warmth and reluctance.

The young man fell asleep with his head resting on the man's legs until he was tired.

-

Shen Yuan was imprisoned.

Unexpected, yet expected.

The only place that could make Shen Yuan feel uncomfortable while in the capital was the Imperial Prison. Emperor Jian used the reason that the relief grain that should have been transported to Yingzhou was transported to Liaozhou instead, which caused delays. The Ministry of Justice tried the case and found out that it was Shen Yuan who instigated the grain transport officer to deliberately write the wrong document. He then imprisoned him and dismissed him from his official position.

The entire Shen family tried to get connections and plead for Shen Yuan, but all failed. It was not until nearly half a month later that the ministers confirmed that Shen Yuan had fallen out of favor.

Unload the mill and kill the donkey.

Even though they knew there might be something unusual, all the officials understood that Shen Yuan was a man who had made great contributions. Why had he been in prison for so long and Emperor Jian refused to overturn his verdict?

This is because he is afraid of Shen Yuan and thinks he is an eyesore.

Today, the Second Prince brings in 230,000 taels of revenue for the imperial treasury, and can be said to be at the peak of his career. His friendship with Shen Yuan has completely suppressed the Crown Prince, and the Emperor and the Cao family will naturally not sit idly by.

In order to balance the court, Emperor Jian would naturally choose to get rid of Shen Yuan and let the Crown Prince and the Second Prince return to the original state of "the Crown Prince suppressing the Second Prince".

The ministers who saw the situation clearly originally wanted to switch to the Second Prince's side, but now they are reconsidering their decision.

Since ancient times, choosing the right master will lead to a meteoric rise, while choosing the wrong master will lead to the death of the wrong person. The current situation is still unclear, so they cannot act rashly.

Therefore, when the second prince extended an olive branch to them in private, they all declined and chose to stand by and watch on the grounds that factions were not allowed in the court.

During those days, Xie Chengze cursed every day, scolding those mediocre ministers for their short-sightedness, lamenting that God was blind, and feeling sorry for himself for having talents but not being able to display them, which made the ministers avoid him even more.

Of course, there were also ministers with poor brains who were willing to serve Xie Chengze, but were despised by Xie Chengze and left in anger, and instead joined the prince's faction.

"Alas! Alas!" Xie Chengze sat on a cold wooden chair, raised his cup to the moon, shook his head and sighed, "Who understands me? Only Sheng Lang!"

After saying that, he took a big gulp of the liquor, and the spiciness made his eyes curl up. After finally gathering his strength, he turned around and shouted at Hu Lai who was drawing, "Hu Lai! Are you done?"

"It's almost done, Your Highness, don't worry." Hu Lai licked the tip of the pen and quickly drew a few strokes on the paper, outlining Xie Chengze's charm. "Okay, Your Highness, come and check the goods."

Xie Chengze put down his wine glass and walked over. After being taught a lesson by Sheng Shihuai not to write storybooks anymore, the "storybooks" of the past had evolved into "storybooks 2.0". Not only had the size of the original book paper become the size of drawing paper, but pictures were also added to create an atmosphere for reading, which made it even more interesting.

Just ...

"Your painting is a bit abstract." Xie Chengze bent down, got close to the huge drawing paper and squinted his eyes. "I remember that you were a great painter, and your depictions of characters were very lifelike. How come this one is so..."

Why are his arms and legs drawn like carrots?

Moreover, the style of this painting is similar to the style of the slightly erotic novels in the capital, where men and women are entangled with carrot legs...

"You actually used that storybook style to draw my Highness?!" Xie Chengze looked at Hu Lai in disbelief, "How many other aliases do you have that my Highness doesn't know about?"

Hu Lai was much calmer this time, and he turned the tables, "What kind of storybook? What kind of picture book? Your Highness, please tell me in detail."

Xie Chengze: ... "Then why do you draw it so ugly!"

"Why paint the enemy so vividly? Just make do with what you have." Hu Lai licked the tip of his pen and added a few strokes. "When you ascend the throne, I will definitely paint a stunning masterpiece for you that will be passed down to future generations—"

Xie Chengze: "If you mention ascending the throne again, I will deduct two months' salary from you :)"

"Oh, oh, slap your mouth." Hu Lai slapped his mouth quickly, and then added what Xie Chengze had just said when he was drunk on the drawing paper, "Your Sheng Lang will be happy to see you when he sees it."

On that day, the book, oh no, picture album, which recorded the contacts between the ministers and the Second Prince during this period, was delivered to the Sheng family's private residence.

"Sir! Hu Lai has brought the Second Prince's travel notes, but..."

Sheng Shihuai turned around calmly and saw the minister who came to deliver the letter. He was holding a thick roll of drawing paper in his arms. The drawing paper was three feet wide and five feet long. If you didn't know, you would think it was a picture bought to ward off evil spirits and stick on the door.

Sheng Shihuai: ...

This guy is so stupid, is there something wrong with his brain?

The next day, Sheng Shihuai went to court with two dark circles under his eyes. Emperor Jian showed his concern for him. Xie Chengze also expressed his concern and asked, "Escort Sheng, did you not sleep well last night? Alas, I was also tossing and turning and couldn't fall asleep."

Sheng Shihuai certainly knew why Xie Chengze had trouble falling asleep.

Now no one in the court has joined his camp, his own people have been keeping silent, and those fence-sitters have been "angered" by Xie Chengze and have gone to the prince's side. Shen Yuan, who could have given him a helping hand, has been imprisoned, and only he, a senior official in charge of the Salt and Iron Bureau, has become his lifeline, allowing him to fight the prince.