The reborn poisonous woman is hard to abandon

Chapter 173

On the Golden Luan Hall, the courtiers stood respectfully, and the atmosphere was dignified.

After the emperor's majestic gaze swept over everyone's faces, he turned to the prince.

"How did Huizhou officials handle the embezzlement of disaster relief funds?"

"Returning to my father, my son is investigating the suspected officials. Among the officials, big and small, in Huizhou, more than a hundred people have been found to be involved in the case, and even many officials in Beijing have been involved in the case."

The prince's face was worried, and his words contained a sigh.

Flooding occurred in Huizhou, destroying tens of thousands of acres of fertile land, and the people were displaced and mourned.The imperial court allocated tens of millions of taels of silver for disaster relief, but unexpectedly only [-]% of the money reached the hands of the people.

"Prince, I will leave this matter to you. All officials involved, regardless of their status, will be dismissed from their positions and thrown into prison!"

The emperor's face was ashen, and the angry voice hovered over the hall for a long time. Everyone bowed their heads and dared not speak.

"This time, I also got news that in order to help those suspected officials cover up their crimes, some merchants distributed a large amount of loan sharks, disrupting my handling of the case, and asked the emperor to order severe punishment."

The prince looked back, glanced at the officials behind him, and asked for orders again.

This court has long stipulated that no one should issue loan sharks, but the folks still continue to prohibit it repeatedly.However, due to the floods in the south, the victims in Huizhou had no food to eat, and there were still people making money from it. He really had to take care of it.

"Your Majesty, under the order of the crown prince, I conducted a secret investigation and found that most of the loan sharks are rich businessmen from Beijing and China. And these rich businessmen all claim to be covered by high-ranking officials, which really damages the reputation of our court officials. I implore the emperor to investigate thoroughly."

The emperor's face became more and more gloomy, and soon someone stood up in the court.

The man was wearing a fifth-rank official uniform and stood straight in the center of the hall. Immediately, an official secretly cast a dark look at him.

"What high-ranking official is he? I really want to hear how high his position is."

The man completely ignored the sight of him, and saluted the emperor: "Go back to the emperor, I found out after investigation that they borrowed the name of Han Gonggong."

As soon as this remark came out, everyone in the court was shocked.

Amid the astonishment on everyone's faces, Huo Xun suddenly stood up.

"Your Majesty, my grandfather has never done such a thing, maybe someone framed him, could it be that Mr. Xiao made a mistake?"

"General Huo, although we are brothers-in-law in private, in official business, I really can't protect you!"

Xiao Zhongheng turned his head and took a deep look at Huo Xun, but the serious expression on his face did not relax at all.He quickly explained: "I have found out that Mrs. Huo, the second room of the Korean government, has released 10 taels of usury."

Hearing this, Huo Xun showed a shocked expression on his expressionless face, and opened his mouth for a long time, but he just knelt down in the hall and pleaded guilty to the emperor.

"Your Majesty, please check clearly. If something really happened to the government of our country, I am willing to accept any punishment."

When Xiao Xun knelt like this, the emperor became even more angry. He slapped the handrail beside him and shouted angrily: "Send the Duke of Korea to the palace immediately!"

At the same time, an unremarkable sedan was parked not far from the gate of Zhang Shilang's mansion.

In the time it took for a stick of incense to burn, that person had lifted the curtain of the car to look out dozens of times, and it was Qian Shi who looked anxious.

"Did Madam Cao come back?"

Qian couldn't wait, and finally asked the little maid, and when she got a negative answer, the panic on her face became stronger.

"Who are those people?"

At this moment, Qian heard a group of hurried footsteps outside, and hurriedly opened the curtains to look outside.Only then did I realize that at some point, a group of officers and soldiers rushed over and immediately surrounded Zhang Shilang's mansion.

Qian's heart was pounding, and a bad premonition arose spontaneously. While she was anxious and hesitating, she finally saw an old woman in dark red clothes running out from the back door of Zhang Shilang's house.

"Ma'am is not well, officers and soldiers are here to grab Aunt Zhao, let's get out of here quickly!"

Hearing this, Qian's face turned pale and he almost fainted, but he could only order the driver to leave quickly.

"What on earth happened?"

Hurrying back to the Duke's Mansion, Qian couldn't bear the suspicion in her heart anymore and asked Madam Cao.

"Ma'am, when the servants went to find Aunt Zhao, they found that Aunt Zhao had already gone into hiding. Those officers and soldiers heard that they were here to arrest Aunt Zhao!"

Hearing this, Qian's heart became even more panicked, and she couldn't even speak clearly: "He, why did they arrest Aunt Zhao?"

"Ma'am, I'm afraid we won't be able to collect our money back."

Mammy Cao took a breath, and a look of sympathy suddenly appeared on her face: "Those officers and soldiers heard that they were ordered by the emperor to thoroughly investigate Aunt Zhao's usury, we... madam!"

Granny Cao didn't finish her sentence here, when she suddenly saw that Qian Shi seemed to be struck by lightning, and she fell down on the seat in an instant, as if she was about to faint, so she hurriedly stepped forward to massage her heart.

"Are... are you telling the truth?"

It took a long time before Mrs. Qian regained her composure, and confirmed to Madam Cao with a pale face.

She took the money from the South Korean government and invested it in Aunt Zhao. She thought that Aunt Zhao's family was one of the most wealthy businessmen in Beijing, and she would be able to make a good fortune following her.

Worried about being found out, Qian only dared to invest money in Aunt Zhao for a month.But now, one month has come, not to mention the principal, even the agreed interest has not been seen.

After that, Mrs. Qian approached Aunt Zhao a few times, but the other party always told her to wait, and said that now is the time to make money, and it would be a pity for her to take out the money.

At first, Qian felt that what she said was reasonable, but as time passed, she felt more and more that something was wrong.Today, I finally couldn't help but chose an unremarkable carriage, secretly waited outside the gate of Zhang Shilang's mansion, and only let Cao Mama go in to inquire.

Thinking back to the situation where the officers and soldiers surrounded Zhang's mansion today and he was almost taken away, Qian's heart became more and more frightened.

"Returning to Madam, this matter is absolutely true. Today, there are many servants in Prime Minister Zhang's house who went to inquire about the situation. After learning that Aunt Zhao has escaped, everyone said that the money might not come back."

Granny Cao said, with a look of rejoicing on her face: "If it wasn't for the slaves and servants who were vigilant in the Zhang residence, I'm afraid they would be arrested as accomplices."

Hearing this, Qian felt as if she had entered an ice cave. She took the money from the public. If the money is not returned now, how should she explain it to the old Guogong?
"Ma'am! The old man told you to hurry over there!"

Just when Qian's hands and feet were cold, the little maid suddenly ran in, her voice was still worried: "I don't know why this time, the old man looks very angry, Madam, you should be more careful..."

"You mean the emperor scolded the old man?"

The sun was warm, Xiao Ruan sat comfortably on the swing in the yard, saw the man in front of the stone table opposite, and asked with great interest.

The man opposite nodded, and a smile suddenly appeared on the corner of his mouth: "Did you do something in the middle? Otherwise, why would your brother directly confront me in the court?"

This morning, Huo Xun didn't expect that Xiao Zhongheng would suddenly point the finger at the South Korean government.

Although he was targeting the old Duke, they were still a family in the eyes of outsiders.Even though Huo Xun was happy to see the success, he still had to intercede for the old Duke because of his status.

Afterwards, Xiao Zhongheng's attitude towards him was still very natural, as if he was right about things but not about people.But Huo Xun knew very well in his heart that for such a big matter, Xiao Zhongheng would never know himself in advance.

If he hadn't discussed with Xiao Ruan, he would never hastily expose Han Gong directly.

Sure enough, Xiao Ruan, who was on the opposite side, immediately laughed out loud after hearing this: "What did I do? It's just spreading the news."

Seeing that Huo Xun's eyes were full of confusion, Xiao Ruan got off the swing, went to the stone table and poured a cup of tea for Huo Xun, and then talked about the story in detail.

"I was worried about Qian's revenge, so I asked Zhu Yun and the others to secretly follow Qian's news, and found out that she had a close relationship with a concubine in Zhang Shilang's house. Do you know why?"

Xiao Ruan was in a very good mood today, his eyes were full of sparks, Huo Xun's mind fluttered while watching, and he stretched out his hand to grab her hand unconsciously, the pampering look in his eyes became more intense.

"Of course I don't know why, but according to Qian's temperament of disliking the poor and loving the rich, it must be because of money that she can humble herself to a concubine."

Xiao Ruan didn't expect that the other party would suddenly grab her hand, and seeing the two little maids behind her covering their mouths and laughing, Xiao Ruan blushed immediately.

After struggling a few times without breaking away, Xiao Ruan gave Huo Xun a helpless look, and had to give her a sideways glance, letting him hold her.

"I thought the same as you, so I asked someone to check the identity of this Aunt Zhao, only to find out that Aunt Zhao was secretly raising money for usury."

"So you told Xiao Zhongheng?"

Huo Xun couldn't help feeling a little surprised when he heard this.

Officials from the DPRK and China privately swallowed up the disaster relief silver from the south, causing the emperor Longyan to be furious and asked the prince to investigate the matter thoroughly. When those officials learned about this, they immediately raised money everywhere to make up for the shortfall.

Many wealthy businessmen took a fancy to the business opportunities and colluded with officials, making the court a mess.Now the crown prince is about to ask the emperor to severely punish the businessman for lending usury, Xiao Zhongheng pushes the Duke of Korea out, what a coincidence.

Huo Xun stared at Xiao Ruan intently, with some indescribable light shining in his eyes, Xiao Ruan was embarrassed by his look, and suddenly saw Zhu Yun rushing back.

"What's going on at Songjuin?"

"Miss Hui, the old master gave the Second Madam a severe scolding. The servant heard from the people in the outer courtyard that the Second Madam is crying in the room at this time."

"Is there such a thing?"

A trace of surprise flashed across Xiao Ruan's face, and he quickly figured out the reason.

I'm afraid that the money in Qian's hand has not been recovered, otherwise how could she be scolded by the old man to cry?
Huo Xun's warm and dry palm came from the palm of his hand, Xiao Ruan lowered his eyes and thought for a while, and soon a mocking expression appeared on his face.

(End of this chapter)