Gao Demao laughed foolishly: “Oh my, Your Majesty is truly granting the Bai family tremendous grace! Prince Liang is Your Majesty’s prince—whoever can marry Your Majesty’s prince has cultivated that blessing through several lifetimes!”

Seeing the Emperor narrow his eyes, Gao Demao suddenly changed his tone: “It’s just that, Your Majesty, this Miss Bai has a chronic illness, and I hear her fortune regarding offspring is somewhat thin! Having Miss Bai serve as Prince Liang’s side consort would already be Your Majesty genuinely elevating the Bai family. Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven with a compassionate heart, considering that all the Bai family men have perished… giving Miss Bai dignity by making her Prince Liang’s principal wife. But this old slave is a petty person with a small heart, and privately… I just feel it’s too unfair to Your Majesty’s dragon son.”

The Emperor looked toward Gao Demao and couldn’t help but chuckle softly: “Your flattery skills are getting better and better!”

“These are all this old slave’s heartfelt words!” Gao Demao smiled at the Emperor like a blooming flower.

·

In the prison of the Court of Judicial Review, it was perpetually damp and dark, reeking of mold everywhere. Even during daylight, without lighting lamps it was so dark you couldn’t see the sky.

Marquis Zhongyong Qin Dezhao sat cross-legged in the dimly lit cell, still maintaining his composure.

Merit from supporting the dragon had never been easy to obtain. Before he planned to board Prince Xin’s ship by aligning with Prince Liang, he understood that if Prince Xin won, he would gain glory, but if Prince Xin lost, he would lose everything.

Qin Dezhao always left himself an escape route when doing things. The reason he dared to gamble fearlessly this time was that Marquis Zhongyong’s mansion possessed life-saving iron tablets with golden letters.

Before the provisions left the capital and were transferred from his hands, at least on the surface, they were excellent new grain. Those who needed silencing had already been silenced, with clean handling.

Now that the provisions had failed, even if investigated, he would only bear the crime of dereliction of duty, not enough to implicate his entire clan.

“Miss Bai, Marquis Zhongyong is here, but visitation time shouldn’t be too long. Please understand, Miss Bai.” The jailer bowed and spoke in a low voice.

Bai Qingyan’s milk brother Xiao Ruojiang stepped forward, smiling as he handed silver to the jailer: “Please, brothers, use this for tea.”

“This is improper!” The jailer hastily declined with genuine sincerity, “We all live in this prosperous imperial capital under the protection of Duke Zhenguo’s sons. We only regret not being able to repay them. How could we now accept Miss’s money?! Improper, improper!”

Qin Dezhao opened his bloodshot eyes and saw that under the flickering candlelight, the person who had removed her black hooded cloak was Bai Qingyan, with her clear and elegant features.

His lips pressed into a straight line.

Having spent a day and night in this Court of Judicial Review prison, although Qin Dezhao’s dark blue diagonal-front robe was still relatively clean, his face showed signs of fatigue.

Watching the jailer’s departing figure, Qin Dezhao chuckled softly: “That jailer… he too is someone whose heart Miss Bai has won!”

“These hearts were bought back by the Bai family with their lives. If Marquis Zhongyong is willing to sacrifice his life… these hearts could also belong to Marquis Zhongyong. It’s just a pity…” Bai Qingyan raised her hand to untie her cloak and handed it to Nanny Tong, holding a plain silver carved hand warmer as she stood before the cell door, “Marquis Zhongyong’s family tradition has always valued life. I’m afraid he can’t bear to part with it.”

Qin Dezhao’s expression darkened: “Miss Bai condescends to come to this prison. Surely it’s not just to mock this marquis a few times?”

She looked deeply at Qin Dezhao and reached behind her…

Xiao Ruohai took out a register from his chest and placed it in Bai Qingyan’s hands. Nanny Tong brought over a long bench, wiped it clean with a handkerchief, and helped Bai Qingyan sit down.

Xiao Ruojiang opened the food box he carried, taking out a brush, ink, and brocade silk, then knelt on the ground with a brush in hand.

The several people acted methodically, but Qin Dezhao couldn’t make sense of it. Could it be… this Miss Bai had come to interrogate him?!

“Shen Xiyao, ninth-rank grain and money official, died on the first day of the twelfth month in the fifteenth year of Xuanjia from drunken drowning, aged forty-six…”

When Bai Qingyan read out this name, Qin Dezhao’s hand instinctively clenched his clothing. He stared fixedly at Bai Qingyan, trying hard to maintain his calm.

Xiao Ruojiang wrote very quickly, almost finishing the writing on the brocade silk as soon as Bai Qingyan finished reading.

“Li Sanhai, grain and storage manager in Jiaozhou, died on the sixth day of the twelfth month in the fifteenth year of Xuanjia, spending the night at a brothel and dying from excessive drinking, aged thirty-eight.”

With each name Bai Qingyan read, Qin Dezhao’s heart grew more chaotic.

Especially since all the people Bai Qingyan was reading had participated in embezzling grain sent to Nan Jiang the previous year… and had already been silenced by him.

How did Bai Qingyan know about these people?!

From this register, Bai Qingyan only picked out those who were already dead to read, and indeed saw Qin Dezhao’s expression change dramatically in the cell.

After finishing reading the names of the dead, Bai Qingyan closed the register and asked Xiao Ruojiang, “Did you record everything?”

“Everything is recorded!” After Xiao Ruojiang finished speaking, he picked up the brocade silk and handed it to Bai Qingyan to see.

After Bai Qingyan finished reading, she handed the brocade silk back to Xiao Ruojiang, then looked toward Qin Dezhao in the cell: “Early this morning, His Majesty issued an edict, posthumously granting my grandfather the title of Prince Zhenguo and my father the title of Duke Zhenguo. Liu Huanzhang’s family was executed and his clan exterminated. Not only were Prince Xin and his descendants demoted to commoners, but Prince Xin himself is to be exiled to Yongzhou, never to return to court…”

Qin Dezhao’s throat worked as he clenched his back teeth.

“Tell me… if I were to submit this list, how would His Majesty deal with you?” Bai Qingyan shook the brocade silk in her hand, her eyes showing no hint of a smile. “If Prince Liang learns that after I visited you in this Court of Judicial Review prison today, I obtained such a list, would Prince Liang be anxious to silence witnesses?”

Qin Dezhao’s eyes widened. He never would have imagined that Bai Qingyan knew Prince Liang was involved behind the scenes!

Prince Liang was Prince Xin’s man. Now that Prince Xin had been demoted to a commoner and exiled, Prince Liang would certainly try every means to protect himself…

Qin Dezhao remembered the scene when he ordered the killing of Li Sanhai, Shen Xiyao, and others. If he were Prince Liang… he would also necessarily kill the person who knew the most to protect himself.

“Liu Huanzhang was far away in Nan Jiang. How did he learn there were problems with the provisions, using those missing provisions as an excuse to deceive and cause great chaos within the Nan Jiang army? Had Marquis Zhongyong long been colluding with Liu Huanzhang? If so, Liu Huanzhang is a traitor to the Kingdom. What crime should Marquis Zhongyong bear? If Marquis Zhongyong implicates Prince Liang, what crime should Prince Liang bear?”

Bai Qingyan’s tone was methodical, yet fear crept like a gentle stream, silently flowing through Qin Dezhao’s limbs and bones.

“Perhaps the deaths of my Bai family sons are insignificant in His Majesty’s eyes. His Majesty might even hope for all my Bai family sons to die. But hundreds of thousands of Great Jin’s elite soldiers perished in Nan Jiang due to your selfish desires, forcing Great Jin’s generation of strong men to bow and scrape, seeking peace with Xi Liang and Nanyan. Territorial concessions are small matters, but once the Great Jin admits defeat, the Great Liang and the Rong barbarians will pounce at any time. Tell me, does His Majesty hate this or not?”

Qin Dezhao understood in his heart that the Emperor was dissatisfied with the Bai family. It was precisely because he understood this that he dared to tamper with the provisions.

But Bai Qingyan’s words were correct. The Emperor wanted the Bai family to die… but didn’t want hundreds of thousands of soldiers to die alongside the Bai family!