Chapter 116

The Eighth Lady's angry words really caused trouble.

These failed students were indeed powerless, but some of their good friends were on the list. Not to mention that some of the students were from famous families, so when the younger ones were beaten, the older ones came.

The prefect of Jingzhao spent countless efforts to suppress the matter. He counted the silver sent by the Eighth Master's mansion, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and felt that he had been wronged. He would show his merits to the Eighth Master next time he saw him.

Although the people in the prison were released, the rumors did not spread.

These students are the easiest to incite and bribe, so Mr. Ba came up with an idea to spend little money to gain fame.

But things always have two sides. It is easy to be instigated by them and it is also easy to be led by others.

Just as the students’ recommendation for the Eighth Prince was so vigorous a few days ago, the current crackdown on him is equally shocking.

Why do they treat students differently, giving 20 taels to those who win and 15 taels to those who don't?

No one knows the truth, but as the story spread, it became this meaning.

At this moment, Rong Haibin made a grand appearance. He heard the prices of twenty or fifteen taels in the teahouse and smiled disdainfully.

The friend sitting next to him was equally disdainful: "Hai Bin also thinks this is ridiculous, right? As a scholar, do we want to do this for just a few dozen taels of silver?"

"That's right, it will have to be at least tens of thousands of taels." Rong Haibin said loudly.

"Yes, you are worthy of being called Brother Rong." The friend wanted to continue to express his opinion, but found something wrong, "What did you say?"

"It seems that with the Emperor in the capital, Master Eight only dares to do these small things." Rong Haibin said proudly, "In our place, this number is the starting point."

"Twelve?"

"Are you stupid? One hundred taels."

"Of course, as an exceptional exception like me, I deserve this number."

The friend was silent for a moment: "One thousand taels?"

"No, ten thousand taels, hahahaha."

Rong Haibin's last laugh was so loud that the students around him fell silent. Ten thousand taels was not a small sum of money for anyone.

"Besides, these are secondary. The most important thing is that the Eighth Lady promised me an official position."

The friend looked him up and down and said, "You are kidding, this is a serious crime. Who would dare to do this so blatantly?"

"Who is our Eighth Lady? The Eighth Master is in charge of the Imperial Household Department, the emperor's purse. If a little bit of money leaks out of his hands, he can handle most of the affairs in the world."

"The new clerk in the imperial court, the one who walks very slowly." Rong Haibin started to reveal more information, "He actually has a lame leg and is unable to serve in the imperial court due to a physical illness. The fact that he is able to do well in his job is not due to the good management of the Eighth Master."

"Ah???" The friend was stunned to see that everyone in the teahouse had stopped talking and was only focused on listening to them.

"Brother Rong, I remembered that something happened at home, so I'm leaving first." His friends thought he was going crazy.

"I'm drunk, give me a ride." Rong Haibin stretched out his hand and motioned his friend to help him.

"Are you drunk?" The friend didn't believe it. The man's eyes were clear and there was no smell of alcohol on his body. The most important thing was that this was a teahouse and they didn't serve alcohol.

"That's right. I'm drunk because of the tea. Just now I was just talking nonsense. Don't take it seriously. Hahaha!" After laughing, Rong Haibin staggered out of the teahouse leaning on his friend.

The next day, a box was filled with memorials impeaching the Eighth Prince and the Eighth Lady. Kangxi read through several of them and found they were all similar.

He didn't look at it anymore and signaled Liang Jiugong to take it away: "Investigate the Ministry of Internal Affairs strictly." Lao Ba likes to make friends with students, which is not a big problem, but if he dares to turn Lao Ba's purse into his own purse, he is seeking death.

On the surface, Prince Cheng was investigating the imperial examination fraud case, but in fact, Kangxi was investigating the corruption case in the Imperial Household Department.

At the same time, the scribe was replaced as soon as possible.

I thought he was calm and composed, but it turns out he was lame.

Eighth Prince's Mansion

"Fujin, this Rong Haibin insisted that he had seen you and gave him a large sum of money, and even your jewelry. I believe you really didn't do these things. Think about who could have gotten your headdress."

"I remember the butterfly-shaped one. I lost it a long time ago. I was sad about it for several days. It was given to me by my Guo Luo's mother. The pattern was very special."

The Eighth Lady thought over and over but couldn't understand why things took a sudden turn for the worse in just a few days, and who was this Rong Haibin?

"The key is that this person said that we give their county students a starting amount of 100 taels." The Eighth Prince analyzed, "The person behind the scenes shed blood to build momentum for us just for today."

"I was careless." The Eighth Prince reflected on himself, "I thought Rong Haibin's support for me was suspicious, so I looked up the records of the concierge and found that he was among those who took twenty taels from us. I thought he was a simple-minded person."

"So what should we do now? The Emperor has not expressed his opinion, and the Third Brother comes to us every day. Yesterday, I heard that he wanted to confiscate our property."

"How dare he!" He was a prince, but was suspected of taking things from the palace and his house was ransacked. He might as well just kill himself.

"However, we have to close the door and check it ourselves." The Eighth Prince seemed to be thinking about something, fearing that someone had added something to their house.

"Okay, it's getting late today, and it won't be good to be seen by others if we do this openly. As soon as the sun rises tomorrow, I will take people to quietly search every room in the mansion."

"Thank you for your hard work, Madam." The Eighth Prince patted Madam's hand.

"It's all my fault. These people took advantage of me." The Eighth Lady apologized.

"I didn't think it through at the beginning. It's really not appropriate for you to come forward. Let's choose someone carefully in the future."

This means that the Eighth Lady is not allowed to interfere in this matter.

The Eighth Lady's face froze. She really liked the opportunity to show herself in public, which gave her a sense of control.

"Okay, let's take a break and talk about it tomorrow."

The Eighth Lady happily helped the Eighth Master to sleep, but suddenly she felt a little sad: "This month, the Master has only visited me twice. If nothing had happened, I don't know where you would be!"

"You are jealous." The Eighth Prince embraced her, "I have told you that although these people were sent by mother, it was the Emperor's request behind the scenes. I cannot sit back and do nothing about these people."

"I understand the truth, but Master, I feel so sad here." The Eighth Lady placed the Master's hand on her chest, her face full of sincerity.

"Does it hurt here? Let me rub it for you." As they were talking, the two of them came together.

While the two were being affectionate, a dinner party was taking place at the Fourth Prince's mansion, and they were having hotpot.

Jiu Ye joked, "Once Thirteen comes back, we will all be found and only fit to eat pot."

"Even eating can't stop you from talking. I can't argue with your fourth sister-in-law about the mutton skewers. Give them all to Liuliu."

"Oh, Liuliu has acne, so my brother should come."

Jiu Ye smiled happily, but he sighed when thinking about the situation at Bage's house. After all, they were once good brothers, and he had mixed feelings when he decided to do this.

There is really no going back for the three brothers.