The stream fish were indeed fresh and delicious—seven or eight fish were swept clean by the group of them. When Zhao Shu learned that the cook was from Meeting Immortals Tavern, he suddenly understood: “I must come to your tavern someday to try other dishes.”

“Come anytime—I won’t charge you silver,” Ruyi said in excellent spirits.

Yanning couldn’t help but glance at her: “Why is the innkeeper being so generous today?”

“Doing good deeds can accumulate merit.” She smiled, “You are all capable people, yet you’ve been reduced to doing odd jobs in my small tavern. Accumulating some merit for you—who knows, maybe someday you’ll meet your benefactor.”

Zhao Shu looked around at them curiously: “I’ve been wanting to say—you all seem to have an extraordinary bearing, not like ordinary farmers or merchants.”

Zheng Qingyi felt somewhat ashamed: “These two are lords who served in the Ministry of Justice, and one is a young lady from a noble house. Only I sell my strength—I can’t even compare to ordinary farmers or merchants.”

“How can you speak of yourself like that?” He Tinglan shook her head, “If you hadn’t single-handedly repelled those seven or eight men in black earlier, we would have died on the spot before even entering Duke An’s manor.”

“Exactly—haven’t you seen that you got an extra share of the silver?” Yanning laughed, “That’s our life-saving money.”

“Speaking of which, how did the Duke An manor case turn out in the end?” Ruyi asked.

At the mention of this, everyone at the table’s faces fell.

“What else could happen?” He Tinglan said irritably, “Running into our sage who protects his own, the Liu family’s legitimate son is probably still lying comfortably in Liu Manor.”

As soon as these words were spoken, the several guards behind them all changed expression. Zhao Shu also frowned upon hearing this, yet couldn’t help being curious: “How do you know about the Duke An manor case?”

“We promised our employer to keep it confidential—it’s inconvenient to say.” Zhao Yanning pouted, “You just need to know that in our sage’s hands, any case doesn’t distinguish right from wrong, only benefits and personal preferences.”

“Insolent!” A guard couldn’t restrain himself and scolded, “How dare mere merchants insult the sage!”

Zhao Shu held him back and coughed slightly: “I still have some matters to attend to, so I must take my leave. Tomorrow I will prepare generous gifts to visit my master.”

“Very well.” Everyone bowed to him.

Zhao Shu left in haste.

Supreme Lord ate the last bit of fish on the plate, then glanced sideways at Ruyi: “What wicked scheme are you plotting now?”

Ruyi helped clean up the plates, with a half-smile: “If I were plotting a wicked scheme, why would you, old sir, go along with it?”

Though he muttered that she was a demon monster, his actions were helping her. Supreme Lord also despised this aspect of himself, but… he had looked earlier—Zhao Shu had the destiny of a wise ruler. Giving him some good fortune would be beneficial and harmless to this mortal world.

Since they had met, this was his opportunity. The man had been good to him—if he avoided it, there would be negative consequences. Better to accept it peacefully and give him the good karma he deserved.

Just having his heart’s desires fulfilled—when it fell on a wise ruler, at most, it would mean a more peaceful world and more prosperous people. This is what the Supreme Lord thought.

However, he forgot one thing.

Zhao Shu was not yet a wise ruler—he was only the Crown Prince.

As long as a dynasty wasn’t on the verge of collapse, any Crown Prince’s heart would desire to ascend the throne as soon as possible and rule over all under heaven.

Therefore, when Zhao Shu completed his mission and returned to the palace, Emperor Qian’an, who had been robust enough to plan a spring hunt, suddenly suffered a stroke and was bedridden. The entire palace was shocked. To stabilize the situation, the Empress Dowager immediately issued a decree for the Crown Prince to oversee the government and handle all state affairs.

In just three days, the heavens had changed.

Shen Qiyuan looked at Zhao Shu praying for Emperor Qian’an in the ancestral temple and breathed a light sigh of relief.

Though Zhao Shu had grown up studying, many of his close friends were military men. He didn’t have Emperor Qian’an’s wariness of military generals. His first decree after overseeing the government was to have Great Qian’s northern twelve cities reinforce Wei Zijue and supply him with sufficient provisions.

When news reached the military camp, morale soared. Wei Zijue didn’t even eat, working through the night with his trusted subordinates to plan northern attack routes.

At the same time, Zhao Shu promoted many young retainers and minor officials. Aside from the Six Ministries, all other important positions were completely refreshed. Taking this opportunity, he raided several major corrupt households. The silver obtained filled the national treasury, and he smoothly exempted disaster-affected people from three years of taxes.

Lin’an was still the same Lin’an, with some dilapidated scenes amid the prosperity, but from this time forward, everything began improving day by day.

Ruyi stood by the second-floor railing, watching Zhao Shu below, dressed ordinarily, drinking and chatting with several people in the tavern.

He said, “On my way here, I heard news—the Liu family’s legitimate son has been imprisoned.”

Yanning, Fuman, and the others all rejoiced, then quickly asked: “Was he imprisoned for murdering Duke An’s concubine daughter?”

“Yes.” Zhao Shu smiled, “Thanks to Lord Shen raising this case again. I heard the Crown Prince immediately discovered many strange aspects and thus convicted the man.”

Zhao Yanning was somewhat stunned: “The current Crown Prince… isn’t afraid of offending Grand Preceptor Liu?”

Zhao Shu smiled mockingly: “He’s merely the sage’s teacher, standing firm only through imperial favor. But speaking of imperial favor, who can compare to the Crown Prince?”

Fuman’s eyes lit up like two lamps.

She quickly gestured: If the current Crown Prince is so reasonable, doesn’t that mean many wrongful cases can be overturned?

Zhao Shu looked deeply at her and nodded seriously: “Yes, not only wrongful cases, but those not thoroughly investigated, where the masterminds weren’t rooted out—like Uncle Xu’s black market case—I’ve already ordered the files reopened. Regardless of official rank, anyone involved will be thoroughly investigated.”

Fuman and Yanning both stood up in shock.

The two looked at him, and from Zhao Shu’s eyes they could see he had investigated their backgrounds and knew exactly why they had originally left the Ministry of Justice.

And also…

“Your Highness?” Zhao Yanning asked uncertainly.

Zhao Shu smiled and bowed to them: “Lord Shen has repeatedly told me that the Ministry of Justice lacks people. If you two are available, when might you take up your posts?”

He Tinglan was so shocked that she covered her mouth. Qingyi also looked at him in amazement. Fuman and Yanning dazedly returned his bow, their minds completely blank.

They had all despaired of this world—how could someone so good suddenly appear like a pie falling from heaven?

Zhao Yanning secretly pinched himself, hissed, and only then realized this was real.

He instinctively looked toward Shen Qiyuan, standing on the second floor.

Shen Qiyuan wore light ink-colored plain brocade with a silver crown binding his hair high. He looked very handsome, but his gaze wasn’t directed downward.

He stood beside Liu Ruyi, seemingly saying something. The innkeeper immediately put her hands on her hips: “I said I won’t accept those two words—find another way to say it.”

Shen Qiyuan raised his eyebrows, his gaze falling from above onto her full lips. With a lift of his sleeve, he blocked the view from below.

“Qingqing.” Someone spoke, pronouncing it awkwardly and quietly.