Xiao Shao had the person carried back to the estate, settled them in the side courtyard, and went to the study himself.

He dismissed the servants, spread out the Xuan paper, then suspended his wrist, and wrote down the torn letter word by word.

In the thirty-sixth year of Yongtai, the Inspector of Jiangzhou submitted a memorial, claiming that the Hedong Salt Inspecting Censor, Qi Chen, had formed a self-serving faction with the powerful families of the various commanderies in Hedong, and embezzled two million taels of silver from the treasury.

As soon as this memorial came out, the court and the public were shocked. The Ministry of Revenue worked through the night to check the account books and opened the Hedong Commandery silver treasury for an inventory, only to find that the mountainous piles of silver had vanished into thin air. The treasury was completely empty; there was nothing left.

Moreover, this silver treasury was exclusively for salt and iron. As the Salt Inspecting Censor, Qi Chen had just taken the keys to the storehouse two days prior under the pretext of taking inventory of the account books.

Immediately after, the Eastern Depot raided the censor's residence and threw Qi Chen into the penal prison. Despite exhausting all sorts of interrogation methods, Qi Chen bit down and insisted that he had only taken a single look under the escort of the Inspector, and had never opened the storehouse since. His subordinates also testified for him. But the storehouse only had one door. To move all the silver out in just two short days, what other way was there besides the main entrance?

The Eastern Depot interrogated him meticulously for three days, torturing him until there was not a single patch of good skin or flesh left on his body, yet Qi Chen still refused to disclose the whereabouts of the silver. Afterwards, he committed suicide in prison out of fear of punishment, leaving no testimony behind.

The Emperor was furious and immediately ordered the extermination of Qi Chen's three clans and for his corpse to be exposed in the wilderness. He was dissuaded by the Crown Prince and the Empress, which was why the lives of the wives, daughters, and young children were spared.

But Qi Chen was dead, and those three million taels of silver vanished along with him without a trace.

Such a massive amount of silver would be enough to fill several grain storehouses. Qi Chen had lived cleanly and honestly, owning only a single property. The Eastern Depot searched the entire Jiangzhou prefecture, digging three feet into the ground, but still couldn't find where the silver had gone.

This case was thus shelved, becoming an unsolved mystery.

Xiao Shao had heard of this matter in his previous life. However, at that time, he was merely an idle prince who paid no mind to court politics, spending his days racing horses and fighting crickets with Yuan Yu and Xie Guanghong. He hadn't paid much attention to it. Now, seeing this letter, he finally understood what had happened.

He casually pressed the letter under the incense burner just as Fu Dehai walked in, bowed in greeting, and spoke hesitantly, "Your Highness, the person you brought back has fallen ill. It seems to be quite severe. Should we invite a doctor to take a look?"

Logically speaking, such a trivial matter shouldn't disturb Xiao Shao, but His Highness had suddenly ridden a horse to the Directorate of Ceremonial and ordered the person to be carried back. Fu Dehai wasn't sure what to do.

Xiao Shao asked, "How sick is he?"

"The wounds on his body are somewhat inflamed, and he just started running a fever again."

Xiao Shao was just about to speak when another maid hurried in, curtsied, and said, "Your Highness, Young Master Yuan Yu has sent word, inviting you to listen to the pipa at Xiangyun Pavilion tonight."

Hearing this, Fu Dehai immediately took out a cloak, intending to drape it over Xiao Shao.

The few years right after Qi Yan was condemned were also Xiao Shao's most hedonistic years. He went to brothels and entertainment houses every day to listen to music, enjoying all the good pipa players in the entire capital. Whenever Yuan Yu invited him, he would always attend.

However, Xiao Shao pushed Fu Dehai away, suddenly feeling that it was meaningless.

He had already been the Emperor. No matter how good the capital songstresses' pipas were, he was tired of listening to them. At this moment, he felt it would be more interesting to go and watch Qi Yan suffer.

The once high-and-mighty powerful eunuch, an unpresentable eunuch whose neck was stubbornly as taut as a pine crane. Back then, when Xiao Shao returned to the capital, Qi Yan proclaimed the imperial decree in the Ninefold Hall, looking down at the officials. He had clearly spoken so many absurd and nonsensical words, yet he lowered those eyes that seemed neither happy nor sad, his gaze filled with pretentious sorrow. And that teardrop mole hung at the corner of his eye, seemingly on the verge of falling, making one want to gouge it out.

Xiao Shao hated people looking down on him the most.

He wanted to see what kind of state such a person was in when ill.

Would he also become delirious from the fever, his eyes full of tears, begging his master for charity and asking to find him a doctor?

Xiao Shao suddenly became interested and said, "Let Yuan Yu wait. The pipa performance won't start so early anyway. Let's go, we'll take a look at the side hall."

The side hall was in the furthest corner of the estate. The estate allocated funds for its maintenance every year, so although it was secluded, it wasn't considered desolate.

Qi Yan had been brought in by Xiao Shao's explicit order, so Fu Dehai didn't dare to make things too difficult for him. The hall was fully furnished, and a stove had been lit, making it much better than the Directorate of Ceremonial. As Xiao Shao stepped in, Qi Yan was curled up on the bed, weighed down by two thick quilts. He was sunken in the middle, wrapped tightly, his eyes shut fast, as if in a deep sleep.

He was indeed not quite lucid.

Fu Dehai wanted to prop him up to bow, but Xiao Shao raised a hand to stop him, asking, "Propping him up won't change the fact that he's unconscious, and I have no interest in watching an unconscious person bow. How long has he been like this?"

Fu Dehai replied, "He's been like this since he was carried off the palanquin, delirious from the fever."

Xiao Shao half-sat on the edge of the bed, pulled out a section of the quilt pressing against Qi Yan's face, and replaced it with his own cold hand, trailing it up along his face.

He pinched the cheek that had barely an ounce of flesh on it and raised his eyebrow, saying, "Qi Yan, wake up?"

No response.

Xiao Shao leaned in. "Do you want to see a doctor? Do you want medicine?"

Still no response.

He narrowed his eyes. "That document of yours, crawl up and write it again, and I'll deliver it to Royal Father for you?"

Of course, it was a lie. The Emperor was currently furious, and submitting a document at this time would only add fuel to the fire.

Qi Yan remained unresponsive.

He really was unconscious.

Xiao Shao withdrew his hand.

A person with a fever burned all over. His hand was cold, so touching the face had become a way to cool down. When Xiao Shao tried to pull his hand back, Qi Yan frowned slightly in his sleep and pressed down, refusing to let him pull it away.

"..."

He was actually growing attached to Xiao Shao's hand.

The high heat from the skin lingered on his fingertips. Xiao Shao shook his hand, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

Watching Qi Yan struggle was interesting, but seeing him truly half-dead stripped away the fun. Xiao Shao suddenly felt bored. "Go, find him a doctor. Don't let the fever make him an idiot. For the next few years at least, he needs to be alive and kicking."

Fu Dehai stepped forward. "Then about the medicine?"

Xiao Shao was in the middle of fastening his cloak and didn't even look up. "Use it, and use the best. Could such a massive estate really lack medicine for him?"

Xiao Shao was reckless and unbridled, but he was not stupid. In his previous life, he had no intention of ascending the throne, so he hadn't gotten involved. But in this life, since he was destined to lay his hands on that supreme seat, he couldn't let Qi Yan die in his hands.

Qi Yan's father was condemned, yes, but Qi Chen was also a famous great scholar of his time. Qi Yan himself had already achieved top honors in the imperial examinations and ranked in the First Class. Both of them had a certain reputation among the righteous faction.

The treasury theft case had caused a massive uproar, and to this day, there were still quite a few officials who believed that due to the lack of evidence, Qi Chen was innocent.

Back then, the Crown Prince had chosen Qi Yan, whose background was problematic, from a group of eunuchs in order to gain a good reputation among the righteous faction. Now that Xiao Shao had intercepted him, he had to at least treat Qi Yan decently on the surface.

Delegating full authority over the side hall to Fu Dehai, Xiao Shao rode off to his appointment. He was someone who inherently didn't know the meaning of keeping a low profile. Nightsilk let out a neigh as its four hooves trotted down the long street. Xiao Shao reined in the horse in front of Xiangyun Pavilion and headed up to the private room on the second floor.

Yuan Yu and Xie Guanghong were already waiting in the private room, and the food had long been served. Xiao Shao sat down opposite them and casually took a couple of bites.

The leisurely sound of a pipa drifted up from downstairs. Yuan Yu sighed, "Sigh, we have to go to the Imperial Study again in a few days. I really don't want to go."

Xie Guanghong said, "Who would want to go? I'm already this old, yet I'm still confined to a place like that."

Xiao Shao was currently still a prince and hadn't been granted a princedom yet, so he was required to study. Although he was of age, the Empress felt his nature was too unruly, and being her youngest son, she couldn't bear to let him go. She insisted on holding him back for another two years to make him settle down before allowing him to go to his fiefdom.

Yuan Yu and Xie Guanghong were both descendants of meritorious nobles. They had been fooling around with Xiao Shao since childhood and were similarly forced by their fathers to study at the Imperial Study.

Xiao Shao laughed. "Just go, we're only going there to play anyway."

What could a group of fops like them possibly study? It was a blessing if they didn't anger their teacher to death. While the teacher lectured at the front, they would pass notes and play with crickets at the back. Notes flew back and forth, and their textbooks were practically torn to shreds.

Yuan Yu nudged his arm and asked, "Xiao Shao, I heard you took in Qi Yan? Bring him along next time. The teacher is always bringing him up; wouldn't he die of anger seeing him as your close attendant?"

Qi Yan had always possessed a literary reputation and was the youngest Third Place candidate in the imperial examination of the current dynasty. Whenever Xiao Shao and the others angered the teacher until his face was red and his neck thick, the old scholar would stroke his beard and pace around, muttering, "A disgrace to the literati, a disgrace to the literati," and then pull out one or two talented young scholars to compare with them, illustrating just what unsalvageable pieces of dead wood they were.

Coincidentally, Qi Yan was one of those "talented young scholars" brought up as an example.

This kind of "other people's child" always drew hatred, and just hearing his name made Xie Guanghong's teeth itch.

Xiao Shao glanced at Xie Guanghong and said with an unclear meaning, "If you hate him so much, be careful of your neck."

Xie Guanghong paused. "My neck? What's wrong with my neck?"

Xiao Shao casually brushed it off. "Nothing, just telling you to be careful not to sleep on it wrong, lest you break your neck."

What he didn't say was that in his previous life, Xie Guanghong's neck really had been broken by Qi Yan.

At that time, Xiao Shao had already been enfeoffed as a Prince of the First Rank and had gone to Daning to guard the border, thousands of miles away from the capital. By the time the news reached him, Xie Guanghong's first seven days of mourning had already passed. The Emperor had ordered an interrogation, and his corpse rotted in the Eastern Depot's penal prison. In the end, he was rolled up in a straw mat and thrown onto a barren mountain to feed the dogs.

And at that time, Qi Yan was exactly the Director of the Eastern Depot.

The order had been given by the Emperor, so Qi Yan couldn't be considered the main culprit. Xiao Shao wouldn't go as far as to demand a life for a life, but he still felt extremely unsettled by it.

He still remembered how, being thousands of miles away, Xiao Shao had sent people to collect the corpse. When found, Xie Guanghong had been mostly gnawed on by wild dogs and vultures, leaving only half a skull. It was said that his dark, empty eye sockets stared fixedly at the sky, and maggots occasionally crawled out from the decaying, rotten red flesh, a truly terrifying sight. Later, he was hastily gathered and buried. Xiao Shao had offered a bracelet, counting as his only burial object.

Later, as past events scattered like the wind and clouds, by the time Xiao Shao ascended the throne and went to investigate, all the files had been burned. Nothing could be found out anymore.

Of course, there was no need to tell Xie Guanghong this now. As for what exactly happened back then, why the Xie family was suddenly condemned, and what role Qi Yan played in it, Xiao Shao would investigate it all, one by one.

They rambled randomly about this and that. After eating and drinking to their fill, Xiao Shao got up and returned to the estate.

He led Nightsilk into the estate just as the doctor came out from the consultation. The doctor was carrying a medical box, stroking his beard, and sighing repeatedly.

Xiao Shao asked, "Are you here to treat Qi Yan?"

The doctor bowed in greeting. "Answering Your Highness, yes."

Xiao Shao handed the horsewhip to a servant. "Tell me, what's wrong with him?"

The doctor said, "Deficiency of both Qi and blood, infected by the Six External Evils, and internally injured by the Seven Emotions; he is severely ill. He has been punished, injuring his internal organs, which cannot be cured in a short time. But none of these are major problems. As long as he is carefully nursed, he can still recover seventy to eighty percent. It's just..."

Xiao Shao asked, "It's just what?"

"It's just that the patient himself—he doesn't want to live."

Xiao Shao's eyebrows twitched.

A few days ago, Qi Yan was still writing letters, hoping to present them to the Emperor in person to clear his grievances. How is it that after just a mere two days, he doesn't even want to live anymore?

The doctor sighed slightly and added, "Your Highness, forgive this old man for speaking bluntly, but do you want him to live?"

Xiao Shao found this strange. "Naturally I do... Why do you ask?"

The doctor said, "While I was treating him, he woke up and asked this old man..."

Xiao Shao frowned. "Why are you stammering? What did he ask you?"

"He asked me if you brought him back to be your close attendant?" The old man paused. "Ah, Your Highness, what I mean is, looking at his expression, it seemed like he wants to be your close attendant. It's only this thought that has roused a little bit of will to live in him."

Xiao Shao's eyebrows shot up even higher.

...Qi Yan wants to be his close attendant?

What the hell?

Xiao Shao already had Fu Dehai. For newcomers who had just entered the palace, they usually needed time to familiarize themselves and start by doing menial chores.

...But doing menial chores?

Xiao Shao pinched his chin. If he made Qi Yan do menial chores, Qi Yan would die.

He was sleeping perfectly fine in the side hall and still ended up critically ill. If he fetched water and chopped wood, what would happen? He'd truly die right in front of Xiao Shao.

If he brought the former Third Place candidate to his estate and worked him to death in a few days, the censors would drown him in spit.

Xiao Shao stepped into the estate. "Fine, I allow it. If he wants to be my close attendant, then so be it. Tell Fu Dehai to have Qi Yan come to the study tomorrow and serve my ink and brush."