The maids retreated one after another, and from outside the door came Eunuch He's cautious inquiry, "Your Highness? Are you alright, Your Highness?"

Eunuch He originally served in the Imperial Study and belonged to the Directorate of Ceremonial. He was Xiao Shao's imperial father's man. Although the Crown Prince's reach was long, it couldn't extend to him. Now that he had followed Xiao Shao to Hedong on official business, he only recognized Xiao Shao as his sole master.

Xiao Shao said, "Come in."

Eunuch He carefully observed him. Seeing his expression was normal without a hint of anger, he breathed a slight sigh of relief and scolded, "I don't know where the Hedong Prefecture found these maids. Every single one of them is reckless, vulgar, and ignorant of etiquette. I must have a word with that Prefect Song and have him punish them properly."

Xiao Shao waved his hand. "No need."

Those maids had martial arts skills, which showed they were not ordinary lowly servants but carefully cultivated ones. And since Song Luyang was so bold and Xiao Shao didn't have many usable people here, Song Luyang could just kill two random peasant women, push them in front of Xiao Shao, and claim they were the maids. Xiao Shao wouldn't be able to do anything to him, and it would only alert the enemy while wasting two lives for nothing.

Saying that, Xiao Shao spread out a map and suddenly said, "Oh, right, Eunuch He, I remember there is a Garrison Eunuch in Hedong Prefecture. I took a brief look, and he seems to have some connection with you, is that so?"

Eunuch He was taken aback, then smiled. "We were in the palace together in the early years. He is a generation older than me. We know each other, but we're not that close."

In the early years of the current dynasty, Garrison Eunuchs were established in various regions. Eunuchs came from humble beginnings, had no descendants, no wives, and no relatives. They were the easiest cards for the Emperor to control. They were placed in various regions to check and balance local officials and control part of the military power. Xiao Shao took a brief look and found that the one in Hedong Prefecture was stationed near Mount Qinglong.

He pushed the map aside. "Eunuch He, I don't need you here. Leave the residence today and go find the Hedong Garrison. If Song Luyang asks, just say you are old friends, it's rare for you to leave the residence, and you wanted to pay him a visit. Pass on a message for me while you're at it."

Eunuch He bowed and lowered his head. "What is it, Your Highness?"

Xiao Shao said, "Tell him I want to drink the best local apricot blossom wine, and have him brew it for me."

This order was quite baffling. Eunuch He hesitated for a moment, his eyes landing on Xiao Shao. But Xiao Shao only poured wine for himself and didn't speak anymore, so he bowed, said "Yes," and retreated through the main door.

The daytime passed peacefully with continued banqueting and drinking. Song Luyang set up a banquet at the foot of Mount Qinglong. The few of them sat briefly in a pavilion, from which they could overlook the pavilions and palaces on the mountain.

Song Luyang introduced the surrounding landscape to Xiao Shao with great interest, talking about how beautiful Mount Qinglong was and how rich its natural resources were, while simultaneously observing Xiao Shao's expression.

Xiao Shao acted as if he had never been here before. He chimed in twice with a lack of interest, lowering his head to joke and laugh with Qi Yan. After the banquet, Xiao Shao was as drunk as usual, stumbling along the road, needing Qi Yan to support him.

With Song Luyang present, Xiao Shao pressed his entire body weight onto the little Tanhua. He pretended to be dead drunk, his body feeling light and limp, not using a single ounce of strength.

Qi Yan struggled to help him onto the carriage. The two returned to the residence like wandering souls, closed the doors, and extinguished the lamps. But in the dead of night, Xiao Shao took Qi Yan and sneaked out of the residence once again.

This time, the two were familiar with the route. They sneaked over to the inn's stable and led out the old horse.

Qi Yan mounted the horse, only to find that Xiao Shao was also carrying a bundle.

The bundle was tied to the horse's back and carried quite a bit of weight. Xiao Shao wrapped an arm around him and lowered his voice, "Supplies to prevent accidents. Song Luyang seems to have noticed something."

Xiao Shao acted with all his might, but Song Luyang had a guilty conscience. The entire residence full of maids and servants were all Song Luyang's people, even the artisans tending to the bonsai in the garden had steady footsteps, as if they practiced martial arts. It wouldn't be easy to completely deceive their eyes.

But the case had to be investigated. The Silver Case had been concluded by the Ministry of Justice, and the Crown Prince had mediated in it. Xiao Shao had a reputation outside as a playboy. If he suddenly brought up investigating the case, Emperor Jianning would only think he was playing around. Therefore, Xiao Shao only came under the guise of flood control, which also meant he wouldn't receive any help in investigating the case.

The only plan now was to investigate in person.

The bundle was well-prepared, containing two water skins, some dry rations, flint, and cloth. Qi Yan was taken aback and opened his mouth to speak, but Xiao Shao pinched his earlobe from behind and smiled. "Taking us to Mount Qinglong for the banquet today felt indescribably strange. There are so many famous mountains and great rivers in Hedong, yet he specifically chose this place. Who knows, when we return, Song Luyang might just be waiting for us at the door..."

After saying that, he dragged out his tone, "Little Tanhua, are you scared?"

Xiao Shao was a playboy, and this was his usual method of teasing beauties. Normally, when he did this, the beauty would often smile and act coy, pretending to fall into his arms, or feign anger and swat him away. But Qi Yan didn't brush his hand away; he just let out a low chuckle. "Why would I be scared?"

Back when his whole family was imprisoned, the cell was rotten and reeked of blood. The walls had long been soaked in old blood, and in the cracks of the walls, moss grew densely in the bloodstains, packed tightly together. Bedbugs, snakes, and mice crawled over the bedding of straw. When everything was silent at night, one could only hear the sounds of them foraging, mixed with the mournful groans from next door.

Sometimes, the groans came from a newly arrived prisoner, but most of the time, they came from his father.

The methods of the prison could always make a person wish for life but unable to live, and wish for death but unable to die.

He had survived those days of living in constant fear and anxiety. What did the rest even count for?

The old horse stepped forward, galloping along the small path toward the silver vault. When they reached the fork in the road, Xiao Shao pulled on the reins and headed straight up Mount Qinglong.

The fierce wind howled past their ears. Qi Yan gripped the reins tightly. "Are we heading towards Prince An's tomb?"

The entirety of Mount Qinglong served as the mausoleums for generations of Princes of An. From top to bottom, eight great tombs were lined up in a row. The peak, having the best feng shui, belonged to the first-generation Prince An's tomb.

Xiao Shao said, "I have a guess that needs verification."

The two of them reached the sacrificial hall halfway up the mountain. They tied the horse to a tree stump, bypassed the hall doors guarded by the tomb keepers, and proceeded up the mountain on foot.

Qi Yan frowned. "This Mount Qinglong is truly strange. The surrounding areas are full of lush forests and dense foliage, but only here, the higher we go, the more barren it becomes."

Xiao Shao asked casually, "Did the princes of the previous dynasty like bald mountains when building their tombs?"

Qi Yan shook his head. "Of course not. Whether in the previous dynasty or ours, the beauty lies in deep roots, luxuriant leaves, and lush greenery. When choosing a mausoleum, rulers would deliberately select such a mountain peak, and definitely not a withered mountain on purpose."

Mount Qinglong wasn't tall; it was just an unremarkable small hill in the suburbs. Before long, they reached the summit. The eight tombs of Prince An were all laid out before them. Looking down from the hill, the side with the tombs had withered and yellowed vegetation, while the side without the tombs was lush and green, which was perfectly normal.

Xiao Shao walked around to the front of the tomb. Prince An's tomb was sealed with thick sealing stones. He bent down to take a look, only to see that the stones at the entrance bore traces of being opened. Xiao Shao gave it a slight push, but the stones were heavy, and he couldn't move them right away.

He then held onto the tomb door and stood up, but suddenly felt dizzy. After leaning on the little Tanhua's body to barely steady himself, Xiao Shao frowned and said, "Just as I thought."

He took out the bundle and retrieved a finger-sized porcelain bottle and a small bowl. He added soil into the bowl, uncorked the porcelain bottle, and poured in some ginger-yellow powder. Then, he added water and stirred. Before long, a layer of grayish-black seeped up, and the water surface was covered with an oil film, faintly revealing a vermilion hue.

Xiao Shao and Qi Yan frowned simultaneously. "Cinnabar... Mercury?"

Qi Yan said, "I once read in an ancient text that the emperors of the previous dynasty treated death as life. Not only did they establish systems like human sacrifices and bury various vessels used during their lifetime, but they also hoped to continue ruling as emperors and kings after death, inspecting their vast empire every day. Therefore, they used rocks to sculpt high mountains and ridges, and turned mercury into rivers and seas. The emperor's coffin would be placed amidst these mountains and seas, symbolizing the co-lord of the realm."

Xiao Shao said, "Since the emperors did this, presumably the princes did the same. Although Prince An's tomb might not have rivers and seas, he must have used mercury to map out the rivers of his fiefdom. It's not strange to have a large amount of mercury around his tomb."

At this point, they looked at each other, both having reached a conclusion.

—The vanished silver, presumably, came from here.

Crown Prince Xiao Yi colluded with the Hedong Prefect to misappropriate the silver from the treasury, using it to win over courtiers and privately raise death-sworn assassins. Originally, once the Crown Prince ascended the throne, all accounts would naturally be balanced. However, the Emperor suddenly sent an Imperial Censor to Hedong to investigate, and the one he sent was Qi Chen.

Qi Chen belonged to the righteous faction, an impartial and incorruptible pure minister.

On his first day in Hedong, he demanded the keys to the treasury. The treasury's silver was a matter of great importance. Once exposed, not to mention Song Luyang losing his head, the Crown Prince forming factions for personal gain and playing politics under the Emperor's nose would inevitably result in him being cold-shouldered. The two of them conspired and decided to simply frame the Imperial Envoy to be done with it.

They placed a few boxes of real silver on the surface, while deep inside the treasury, they filled the boxes with mercury.

At sunset and dusk, the lighting was dim, making it inherently difficult to see clearly. Moreover, the treasury was poorly ventilated. It was snowing at the time, and the cold temperature prevented the mercury from evaporating in large quantities. However, the amount that did diffuse into the air was still enough to poison Qi Chen. He became dizzy, suffered from diarrhea and vomiting, and couldn't see clearly. Seeing only the shimmering silver light in the treasury, he believed it to be real.

Silver was difficult to dispose of, but mercury was simple to deal with.

After Qi Chen finished his inspection, Song Luyang had someone use a pipe to draw it out and pour it into the mountain soil or the river, completely unnoticed by anyone. Then, a massive fire burned everything clean, leaving not even the last shred of evidence.

And the villagers living at the foot of the mountain unintentionally ingested an excessive amount of mercury, naturally resulting in deaths and casualties.

Xiao Shao said, "I originally had this suspicion. Unfortunately, refining mercury is not easy. Your father's transfer order as Imperial Censor came suddenly. Even as the Hedong Prefect, he couldn't have produced so much mercury in a short time. I found it strange back then, but now it seems they took it directly from this prince's tomb."

He added, "That old tomb keeper, with his slanted mouth, crossed eyes, missing teeth, and full-body spasms, was also suffering from mercury poisoning. However, since he lives on the mountain, his was accumulated over the years. The ones in the village were the ones who died from the treasury dumping the mercury."

At this, Xiao Shao sighed. "It's a pity. The village that once had fluttering tavern banners and was surrounded by apricot blossoms was left in utter devastation. Half the people died suddenly within three months. Who knows how many people died because of this absurd scheme."

Among them were infants still in swaddling clothes, growing young boys and girls, fathers, mothers, and white-haired elders. They might have once strolled along the field ridges in the village and admired the mountains full of apricot blossoms, but in the end, they all turned into yellow earth and white bones corroded by mercury.

"..."

Qi Yan lowered his eyes, bowing his head to look at the grayish-black in the porcelain bowl, and remained silent for a long time. Only after a moment did he reveal an astringent, bitter smile. "Yes, just how many people died because of him?"

He blinked, a thin layer of mist covering his eyes. Xiao Shao's face was hidden behind the mist, appearing indistinct. After everything came to light, what surged in his heart wasn't relief, but a heavy, unresolvable hatred.

If all of this was just a deception, and the Silver Case was a predetermined trajectory, then what about the punishment his father suffered, the hardships his mother and sisters endured, and even himself—that heart-piercing castration, that unbearable torment, and this bleak, lightless future? What did all of that amount to?

Qi Yan remembered that torture chamber. His father's voice had gone hoarse from screaming, unable to even cry out in pain. His sister and mother were covered in tears, like easily frightened birds, while he just listened and watched, unable to do anything, completely powerless.

His father had studied hard for ten years, remained honest and uncorrupted, and made his way up to the position of a fourth-rank Imperial Censor. His mother was elegant and intelligent, his sister was knowledgeable and learned, and he had become famous at a young age—an outstanding young talent who had taken the greatest scholar of the era as his master. He was destined to enter the Grand Secretariat and leave his name in history... What did all of this amount to now?

At this moment, Qi Yan even felt that if his father had truly been corrupt, had truly forgotten his oath to serve as an official without failing the common people, had truly been heartless and ungrateful, and had truly swallowed those millions of silver taels—that would have been better.

Otherwise, what exactly did this joke of a life amount to?

And how was he supposed to find release?

The political games casually played by those in power had cost him, his family, and everyone in the innocent village at the foot of Mount Qinglong their lives and futures.

So cruel.

Xiao Shao had originally been looking around, but he saw Qi Yan clutching the wooden door, his fingertips exerting force. His body was trembling slightly, and his face was extremely ghastly, pale as gold paper. Even when Xiao Shao called out to him twice, he didn't react at all.

It was as if he had fallen into a nightmare again.

Xiao Shao paused, gently touched his pale nape, and called out to him softly, "Qi Yan?"

"...Pingzhang?"

At this moment, Xiao Shao didn't even dare to speak loudly.

This familiar voice awakened a bit of his consciousness, and Qi Yan woke up as if from a dream.

He raised his head, blinked, and squeezed out the things his eye sockets could no longer hold. Through a hazy veil of tears, he saw Xiao Shao.

—The Second Prince's eyes contained worry. He quietly watched him, not rushing him, only soothingly stroking his back, like comforting a restless little animal.

In an instant, boundless grievance surged up, as if it was going to drown Qi Yan.

He could clearly endure it before, but now, he couldn't stand it for another moment. He didn't want to care about anything, didn't want to do anything, and only wanted to find a safe place to suppress the raging, fierce flood of emotions.

...A safe place.

So Qi Yan fiercely raised his hand and roughly wiped his eyes. Then, facing Xiao Shao, he suddenly forced out a tragic, bitter smile. "Your Highness, may I make a request?"

Xiao Shao wanted to raise his hand to brush over his cheek and wipe away his tears, but at this moment, he paused. He furrowed his brows. "...What request? Tell me."

Xiao Shao didn't like the little Tanhua looking like this. Such a beautiful person should be smiling.

Qi Yan suppressed his trembling voice. His entire body was shaking, and the tear mole under the corner of his eye trembled along with it, looking like a suspended teardrop. Yet even so, he tried his best to maintain his dignity. He only spoke with a hoarse, choked voice, making a request:

"It's like this. I know this request is a bit presumptuous, but right now, just for a moment, could you...Give me a hug?"