Jiang Laoye felt a sense of dizziness, "Master, Master, quickly call a doctor..." He heard the panicked shouts of those around him and then fell into darkness.
Upon hearing that he had fainted, Wu Caiwei revealed a triumphant smile. It was all her setup. Although the rouge shop's business was booming, it couldn't earn two hundred thousand taels of silver in such a short period. Moreover, this sum would cripple the Jiang family. It was a profitable deal no matter how she looked at it.
In fact, the masked person was her in disguise. She had considered many possibilities. If she were exposed and caught by the authorities, she was selling her own formula, which was different from stealing someone else's formula to sell. It was also simple for the various masters to come knocking, because the formulas she showed everyone were genuine. She only sold to Jiang Laoye because she wouldn't sell to other masters, no matter how high the price they offered.
When Jiang Laoye woke up again, he wailed and cried when he thought of losing half of his fortune.
Kong Laofuren heard the news and rushed over, "Brother, what's wrong? Why did people say you fainted in public? Father and Mother passed away long ago, and before they died, they repeatedly told me to take good care of you. What difficulty have you encountered? Tell your sister, and let's see if I can help."
"Sister, only you can help me. You don't know how detestable that Zhou Shaoqiu is. He set a trap and took away half of my wealth. Now, the mansion doesn't even have any liquid assets, only fixed assets." This time, Jiang Laoye was truly heartbroken. He was not cut out for business; he had merely maintained the status quo for so many years. Losing half of his fortune at once almost killed him.
When Kong Laofuren heard this, she quickly asked for the full story. To be honest, if her own brother hadn't coveted what didn't belong to him, she wouldn't have been able to cheat so much of the Jiang family's assets. But it was too late to say anything now. The most pressing matter was to find the masked man. Perhaps he could be handed over to the authorities to recover the losses.
Unfortunately, he knew nothing about the other party's information. When they arrived at the dilapidated hut Jiang Laoye had visited, it was already deserted. It was clear that this was Zhou Shaoqiu's trap. Once the money was in hand, he had vanished. However, they couldn't do anything to him. Even if they reported it to the authorities, they wouldn't side with them.
When Kong Laoye heard about it, he secretly felt pity. Thinking about Zhou Shaoqiu's methods and then looking at Jiang Yin, the difference was clear.
"Madam, I feel that little girl Hua Yue has been very flustered and quiet lately. Could there be something wrong?" Huayi came to her side and reported in a low voice.
"Increase surveillance on her." Wu Caiwei had recently extorted a large sum of money from the Jiang family and didn't believe they would take it lying down. She needed to strengthen her defenses.
The next day, he and Huangfu Yunkun returned to the courtyard as usual. As soon as they entered, they sensed something was wrong. The two exchanged glances, closed the door, and began searching the house.
They almost turned the entire house upside down before finding a small bundle at the bottom of a cabinet. Upon opening it, they discovered a dragon robe. Huangfu Yunkun also found a similar item at the foot of the bed. Wu Caiwei quickly took out a flint and, with utmost speed, burned the items. As they burned, their hearts pounded. Wu Caiwei listened intently to the sounds outside, afraid of any unusual noises.
Only when the two small bundles had turned into a pile of ash did they breathe a sigh of relief and quickly open the door to let the smell of burning dissipate.
Before long, the sound of the steward arguing with someone could be heard from the front yard. Wu Caiwei and Huangfu Yunkun hurried to the front and saw General Liu leading the group. They quickly bowed to him.
"Master Huangfu, we are truly sorry. We are acting under orders." General Liu knew the man's standing with the Emperor and spoke politely. After all, he didn't know if the matter he was investigating was true or false, and offending the man would be more loss than gain.
"Since you are acting under orders, we naturally cannot obstruct your work. However, we would like to know what business you have at our manor?" the two pretended to know nothing and asked what they needed to ask.
"Someone reported that you are plotting rebellion, so we naturally came to search." Without waiting for their reply, he immediately ordered his subordinates to split up and search their bedrooms with emphasis.
"This is utterly ridiculous! Others may not know, but General Liu, as a confidant of the Emperor, must know what I did in the past. It is likely that someone is trying to frame us. I request that General Liu speak a few kind words for me in front of the Emperor when you return, and also caution His Majesty." Huangfu Yunkun said indignantly.
Upon receiving this news, the Emperor's expression was unusually calm. In General Liu's opinion, this showed that the Emperor did not believe the contents of the letter. Yes, they did not know, but he did. When he was still the Crown Prince, he had reported the steward for hiding soldiers in a secret passage. During the trial, if it weren't for his wife's quick reaction, the Emperor would likely have been in grave danger. Therefore, in his opinion, the other party could not be plotting rebellion, as they had had numerous opportunities and not only did they not rebel, but they had also assisted the Emperor.
It wasn't that evidence couldn't be found; even if it were placed before the Emperor, he might not believe it. However, since there was a report, a search was still necessary.
They originally thought that the other party had gone to such great lengths and would surely find evidence. To their surprise, after searching again and again, they found nothing. General Liu looked at Huangfu Yunkun with a surprised expression, while the latter looked at him with an innocent face.
When he reported this strange phenomenon to the Emperor, the Emperor immediately burst into laughter.
"This child and his wife are cunning people. I heard they recently swindled the Jiang family out of a large sum of money. It is likely that the Jiang family member, in collusion with the Kong family, wants to retaliate." Although the Emperor rarely left the palace, his eyes and ears were everywhere. The events in the capital were all within his grasp.
"But why couldn't they find any evidence?" General Liu immediately asked the doubt in his heart. After all, he had made this trip but found nothing, and he was somewhat unwilling.
"The two children are vigilant. They must have noticed something amiss and quickly found and disposed of the evidence." The Emperor answered with certainty.
"No wonder my men said they smelled something burning in their bedroom, and they checked, the bottom of the charcoal basin was still warm. It's clear they burned something before we arrived." General Liu immediately reported this discovery to the Emperor.
"It seems that this is what happened. They wanted to retaliate, so they placed some so-called evidence of rebellion in the two people's rooms and quickly reported it, but the two of them noticed it and burned it, leaving you empty-handed." The Emperor quickly pieced the events together.
"Your Majesty is wise!" General Liu sincerely exclaimed.