Old Madam Chen was squinting as she leaned against her cushioned headrest, dozing. A young maid held a massage mallet and tapped her legs in a steady, rhythmic pattern. Green smoke from the incense burner drifted lightly with the breeze, permeating the entire room until even people’s clothing carried the fragrance of green tea.

Chen Mingyu came forward and sat beside Old Madam Chen, gently resting her head on her shoulder as she called out in a sweet, soft voice, “Grandmother.”

Old Madam Chen’s eyes opened. With a sweep of her gaze, the maid holding the massage mallet quietly withdrew, leaving the space to this pair of grandmother and granddaughter.

“Why are you so happy after returning from the study? What did your grandfather say to you?” Old Madam Chen took the tea Chen Mingyu handed her and drank a sip. She looked up at the relaxed smile on Chen Mingyu’s face and couldn’t help but feel cheerful herself. “Don’t tell me he promised you some rare treasure?”

This was even more delightful than receiving any rare treasure. Chen Mingyu lowered her voice, placed both hands on Old Madam Chen’s knees, and knelt down beside her legs. “It’s still that matter I mentioned to you before, Grandmother. Just as I was about to return, I happened to run into Minister Fang coming to see Grandfather. I heard him say that Cui Shaoting has really already submitted a memorial supporting mutual trade.”

The fire on Emperor Jianzhang’s side should already be burning quite well. When Cui Shaoting’s memorial is submitted, he absolutely won’t escape death, and the Song family will also be implicated. They definitely won’t escape the charge of bending the law for personal gain.

Old Madam Chen thought of Consort Xian and the Ninth Princess, who had been frequently in contact with the Shangqiu Shen family recently. The corners of her mouth involuntarily turned up. She had originally worried that Old Madam Song wouldn’t let matters rest, but what was there to worry about now? At most half a year, at least a few months, and the Cui clan and the Song family would both meet with disaster together. At that time, Old Madam Song would be just like Old Madam Su from back then—worthless deadwood who couldn’t even protect her most beloved granddaughters. Who knew if she would still be able to display her imposing manner from that day at the restaurant, putting on the airs of a super first-rank noblewoman?

“Go out less frequently these days,” Old Madam Chen said after finishing her moment of delight, remembering more serious matters. “Once this matter breaks open, who knows how many people will be implicated. You’re young and inevitably somewhat impetuous. Don’t let your words slip and reveal our hand at that time.”

Chen Mingyu felt somewhat regretful. How she wanted to personally witness Song Number Six’s fallen, wretched appearance. Perhaps she could even see Song Number Six and her sisters during the house raid, strung together like pigs on a rope, paraded through the streets for all to see.

And what would happen next? Family members of guilty officials were always either sent to the Musicians’ Bureau or given as slaves to the households of meritorious officials. A smile floated across Chen Mingyu’s face. She suppressed that trace of regret in her heart and obediently nodded her head.

She wondered what Zhou Weizhao and Ye Jingchuan’s expressions and faces would be like when they saw Song Chuyi strung up like livestock. She propped her chin in thought for a while and truly couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

In the Chen family’s eyes, the Song family was now a turtle in a jar, destined to total annihilation.

But in the Song family’s eyes, the current Chen family was the one walking step by step into a burning jar.

Song Jue entered the study and first paid his respects to Old Master Song and Cui Yingshu before indignantly spitting on the ground. “Things have reached this point, yet those people still stick to us like adhesive candy. If it weren’t for fear of leaking information, I really want to beat all those people until they’re completely docile.”

This only further proved how cautious and careful the Chen family was. Even though they already felt that the Cui clan and Song family were trapped in the jar and certainly doomed, they still wouldn’t relax their vigilance in the slightest. If Elder Chen didn’t have this ability, he wouldn’t have made it this far.

Old Master Song dismissed it with a laugh and told them, “Li Ru reported that Wang Ying believed it completely, without the slightest suspicion.”

This was also quite normal. After all, there were Zhang Tianhe and Han Zhengqing and others in the northwest, plus the Yangzhou courtesan and Yang Xuan beside Cui Shaoting. None of these people had sent word back saying anything was amiss. Even if Elder Chen had divine abilities reaching the heavens, he absolutely couldn’t imagine that Cui Shaoting had two completely different memorials.

Cui Yingshu breathed a sigh of relief, but immediately his heart rose again in anxiety. They had only ventured past the first dangerous barrier; there was still a hard battle ahead to fight. He sat in his round-backed chair contemplating for half a day before speaking first. “Tomorrow Teacher will submit the memorial to His Majesty, and His Majesty will certainly be furiously enraged. At that time, the evidence from Ye Jingkuan and Lai Chenglong will become critically important. I’m not too worried about Ye Jingkuan—he’s a person with good judgment. Since His Highness said he was reliable, he is reliable. What I’m worried about is actually Lai Chenglong’s side.”

If the chain of evidence on the Yangzhou side was already complete, with everyone firmly insisting that Cui Shaoting and the former Yangzhou prefect had close relations and that he accepted bribes and beauties, Cui Shaoting would still find it difficult to escape.

He had already mentioned this concern to Song Chengru before. Hearing him say this, Song Chengru glanced at Song Chuyi, uncertain whether they should privately contact Lai Chenglong again.

Although it was said that he had a life-and-death friendship with Cui Shaoting, Lai Chenglong had already done more than enough. If it weren’t for his warning, the Song and Cui families would still be kept in the dark right now. Who knew if he could still let Cui Shaoting off the hook next time.

Song Chuyi immediately understood his meaning and slowly shook her head at Song Chengru and Cui Yingshu. “Lai Chenglong sending us a message is already an enormous piece of leverage. If anyone besides us knew about this matter, whether it’s Lai Chenglong or us, we would all certainly die. Associating with the emperor’s close ministers is no trivial matter. Right now is not the time to take risks and seek him out again. If someone with ulterior motives found out, all the efforts we’ve made before would be completely wasted.”

This was also why Cui Shaoting had repeatedly emphasized that they could only go to Lai Chenglong when Ma Changjiang and the others could no longer be controlled and were about to cause trouble.

Song Chengru and Cui Yingshu exchanged glances, knowing that Song Chuyi’s words made sense, and both nodded heavily.

“It’s not that there aren’t other methods,” Song Chuyi immediately continued. “Before, I wondered why Uncle would knowingly accept the beauty sent by the Yangzhou prefect despite knowing he had bad intentions. Thinking about it now, Uncle probably wasn’t confused by beauty, nor did he truly feel pity for her circumstances and develop compassion. He also had suspicions about this person and simply kept her close by.”

Otherwise, they would have first thought of other methods—one can’t guard against everything. It was just a beauty; with Cui Shaoting’s abilities, he could still keep a close watch on her.

Song Jue’s eyes lit up and he laughed. “Little Yi is right. Since Uncle is going to impeach Zhang Tianhe for corruption anyway, naturally he won’t be stingy about adding another charge of colluding with the Yangzhou prefect and receiving beauties from him.”