good season

The fourth prince was not gagged; his limbs were only bound, but his mouth remained free. Someone like him would never bite his tongue and commit suicide, so his chin did not need to be removed and his mouth did not need to be gagged.

The Fourth Prince knew exactly what was going on the moment Li Qing brought him to the small courtyard.

That old bastard Li Qing is indeed just a dog; he has a master behind him!
This prince guessed correctly. Even if Li Qing had a lot of guts, he wouldn't dare to rebel.

This prince wants to see just who Li Qing's master really is.

Then the fourth prince saw the attendants, dressed in coarse linen clothes, their hair casually tied up in a bun, without even a hairpin.

Most importantly, their rough clothes and short jackets were clearly those worn by servants.

No, even the servants in the prince's residence wouldn't dress like that. This kind of attire is only fit for emptying chamber pots in the prince's residence.

Li Qing is so pathetic!

That's right, even though the Fourth Prince was bound hand and foot at this moment, he was as arrogant as a crab walking sideways.

He looked up and met a gaunt, thin middle-aged man.

The man was looking at him, his face revealing neither joy nor anger, but his eyes made the Fourth Prince very uncomfortable.

Those eyes were sizing him up and down, their gaze filled with disdain.

"Get your eyes off me and get out of my way!" the Fourth Prince roared irritably.

Instead of looking away obediently, the man glared at him fiercely: "Hooked nose, what an ugly hooked nose!"

The fourth prince instinctively tried to touch his nose, but his arms and hands were all tightly bound, and he couldn't move.

How dare this scoundrel say his nose is ugly?

That's his hooked nose, the hooked nose he's been proud of since he was a child! It's also the part of his face that most resembles his father's.

"You lowly thing, what do you know? Only princes and nobles are worthy of a nose like mine."

The middle-aged man, Zhao Xingzhou, was furious upon hearing this and wished he could punch the hook-nosed man flat.

"Only the sons and grandsons of dragons and phoenixes deserve such a nose? Guards, flatten his nose!"

This nose of mine must be flattened today; it's an eyesore to look at.

The other attendants exchanged glances. Xiao Zhen had instructed them before they left that as long as the old man didn't make any outrageous requests, they would fulfill them.

The Fourth Prince cannot be killed; at least not before returning to the capital.

It's just a flattened nose, it won't kill anyone, it's not an outrageous request, so of course we can grant it.

Jiang Ping struck first, catching the Fourth Prince off guard. He was knocked straight down by the punch.

Li Qing was startled and quickly bent down to check. The fourth prince hadn't been killed, but a section of his nose was crooked to one side, which meant his nose was broken.

"Please show mercy, gentlemen. The Fourth Prince still needs to return to the capital. If he is seriously injured and even His Majesty doesn't recognize him, that would be bad."

Jiang Ping and the others were merely following Zhao Xingzhou's instructions to reshape the fourth prince's nose; this was hardly a major matter.

There was a royal physician accompanying them in the house, but he had been ordered to stay inside and not come out, so Li Qing didn't want to go looking for him.

Without a royal physician, the fourth prince's injuries were not even bandaged.

He was in excruciating pain, gritting his teeth as he sat on the ground, watching the middle-aged man who had ordered him to be beaten.

The man only glanced at him, his gaze filled with contempt, as if he were looking at a piece of trash.

"You wait, your father will surely punish you severely, exile you to the army, and execute your entire family!"

Unfortunately, his nose was injured, which made the Fourth Prince's voice a little slurred.

But Zhao Xingzhou understood it.

This bastard actually dared to raid my house! You just wait!

"Who among you writes the best handwriting?" Zhao Xingzhou looked at his followers, who shook their heads. They were all guards, skilled in wielding swords and spears, but handwriting? When was the last time they picked up a pen?

Seeing the pathetic state of these people, Zhao Xingzhou looked at Li Qing with disdain and asked, "Can you write?"

"Yes, but I don't write it well."

"Aren't there any people in your Embroidered Uniform Guard who can write well?" Zhao Xingzhou asked.

Li Qing shook his head. He knew what he was supposed to write; it could be a crime punishable by beheading. His brothers had already risked their lives by following him today, so he didn't want to implicate them further.

"The Embroidered Uniform Guards are all military men; at most, they've only studied for a few years and can read."

Zhao Xingzhou was helpless. These people only knew how to hack and slash. There were dozens of them, but not a single one of them could write a decent word.

Zhao Xingzhou nodded: "Alright, alright, get the writing materials. Li Qing, you examine it, and I'll write it!"

A thought struck Li Qing: The Emperor Emeritus wrote it himself?

OK, great!
As the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Li Qing had interrogated many people, but this was the first time he had interrogated a prince.

He immediately held court in his own courtyard to interrogate the fourth prince.

People from the Embroidered Uniform Guard are not best at interrogation, but at using torture.

However, this obviously did not apply to the Fourth Prince, so Li Qing could only calmly begin the interrogation.

"Your Highness, where has your trusted confidant Liu Wang gone?"

The fourth prince was furious. His noble nose had been damaged, and he demanded to see the imperial physician!
"It is none of your business, you dog, to question my affairs."

Li Qing asked calmly, "Is it true that Liu Wang led twenty guards from the Prince's Palace to Huiji Granary to collect grain?"

The fourth prince sneered, "Don't you all already know? What's there to ask?"

Li Qing said, "It doesn't matter if the Fourth Prince doesn't say anything. Anyway, Liu Wang and those twenty guards have been captured. We have all the evidence. By the way, the merchant's surname is Dai, right?"

The fourth prince was shocked; they had even found out the merchant's name.

"Where is Liu Wang? Tell him to come see me!"

Li Qing smiled: "Liu Wang isn't in the manor, but he's alive and well, and is currently in a safe place."

Li Qing seemed to suddenly remember something: "That businessman surnamed Dai is here too."

He pointed to a follower crouching in the corner. The follower quickly stepped forward. Unlike the others, he did not wear a human skin mask; everything from his hair to his facial features was his own.

This man was none other than the merchant surnamed Dai.

"Your Highness, this is the first time I have met you, but I am certain that you know who I am. When Liu Wang was doing business with me, he was using your name."

Although it is not yet certain whether the person behind Li Qing is the Third Prince, the Fourth Prince knows in his heart that he must not admit to reselling disaster relief grain.

"Liu Wang? He is merely one of my retainers. He cannot represent me. If you have indeed done business with Liu Wang, you must have been deceived by him. I am not one of them."

Zhao Xingzhou grew angrier as he wrote; this matter absolutely required Liu Wang to come out and confront him on the spot.

Remembering the pain in his nose, the fourth prince roared, "Untie me now, quick!" Li Qing remained calm and said to one of his attendants, "Please tell the people at the door to ask Prefect Qian to bring his men over."

The Fourth Prince was taken aback. What did this mean? Why send Prefect Qian over? And who was he bringing?

Before he could understand what was happening, the attendant had already run off.

A moment later, Prefect Qian arrived, panting, with two constables supporting a man behind him.

Upon seeing that person, the Fourth Prince's expression changed drastically: "Liu Wang? What's wrong with you?"

Liu Wang smiled bitterly: "Your Highness, I am so sorry. Five hundred thousand taels of silver are all gone!"

Li Qing chuckled: "Fourth Prince, may you confess your crimes now?"

The fourth prince's face was ashen, and he gritted his teeth: "Fools, all of them are fools!"

His gaze swept over Li Qing and his entourage, and he said coldly, "You few think you can bring down this prince? Dream on!"
"I am a prince, a prince, a monarch! You are not worthy to judge me, much less to convict me!"

"And what about me? Am I worthy?"

Zhao Xingzhou, who had been taking notes, suddenly straightened up and stared straight at the Fourth Prince.

The fourth prince was startled, then burst into laughter, his mouth twisting his nose, causing him to cry out in pain.

"Who do you think you are? You despicable wretch, worse than a pig or a dog!"

In his entire life, Zhao Xingzhou had never been called a pig or a dog, or a despicable person.

He didn't even realize it; he thought it was an insult directed at someone.

Of course, he quickly realized what was happening and angrily reached out to peel off the human skin mask from his face.

But after one, two, three tries, the mask seemed to be permanently attached to his face, and he couldn't take it off at all.

Upon seeing this, Jiang Ping whispered, "This mask can only be removed with a special medicine."

Zhao Xingzhou: They didn't say this thing would be hard to remove when they put it on me. Isn't this a lie? If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have wanted this damn mask.

“You’ve resold disaster relief grain; your crime is unforgivable, and no one can help you.”

The fourth prince wanted to faint like those women in the inner quarters, but his nose hurt too much, and the pain kept his mind perfectly clear, so he couldn't faint at all.

"So what if I, the prince, resell disaster relief grain? This is the royal family's grain. What can a son do to me if he resells his father's property and makes a little money? What can you do about it?"

Such things happen frequently, but this time it's disaster relief grain.

The fourth prince proudly surveyed the people in the room, his eyes filled with disdain.

His gaze fell on Prefect Qian's face, and he said sarcastically, "Prefect Qian, have you forgotten what I told you?"

Prefect Qian's heart sank. Could he forget? Of course not!

But those things are too far away; he would even have to trade his life and fortune for them!
He shook his head vigorously and looked at the Fourth Prince: "Your Highness, I, I, I will not collude with you!"

The Fourth Prince's head buzzed. Wasn't this Prefect Qian a spineless, despicable scoundrel?

Why is it different from what was rumored?
He stared blankly at the crowd in front of him, and suddenly a phrase came to mind: the tide had turned!
He said quietly, "Li Qing, so you've been spying on me all along. Have you been following Liu Wang?"

Li Qing wanted to say that the person who was really monitoring you was not me; I was forced into it.

He was suddenly confused. Did Xiao Zhen have already guessed that the Fourth Prince would embezzle, so he took time out of his busy schedule to monitor the Fourth Prince and his subordinates?

Besides Liu Wang, there are also Zhang Hui and Ding Gao. Li Qing already knows that Zhang Hui and Ding Gao are in Xiao Zhen's hands.

Li Qing was increasingly confused. Even he himself only became suspicious after Ding Gao and the others disappeared.

He glanced at the old man who was writing furiously, gritted his teeth, and continued, "Is the Fourth Prince going to confess?"

The Fourth Prince sneered: "That's right, Liu Wang was acting under my orders, but so what? Wasn't the transaction interrupted because of you? The disaster relief grain is still there, and the 500,000 taels of silver didn't end up in my pocket. Since this matter didn't succeed, there's no question of reselling disaster relief grain. What crime have I committed?"

Li Qing looked at the old man again, only to see Zhao Xingzhou pause slightly before continuing to write.

"The Fourth Prince only needs to admit that Liu Wang was acting under your orders."

Li Qing then looked at Liu Wang: "You were ordered by the Fourth Prince to first go to Huiji Granary to transfer grain, and then to Baofeng Wharf to trade with the man surnamed Dai. Is this true?"

Liu Wang was terrified.

He was just a frail scholar; he had never seen anything like this before.

He can do nothing but admit it.

"Yes, that is indeed the case. I was on a mission for the Fourth Prince."

Li Qing then looked at Prefect Qian: "Prefect Qian will also be asked to be a witness in this case."

Prefect Qian trembled. What was all this about? Why was he being asked to give testimony? What was there to testify about?
"Yes, the Fourth Prince intended to win me over, but in reality, he wanted me to collude with him and cover up the fact that the disaster relief grain was laced with sand."

"In that case, you should sign and put your fingerprints on the document first."

Zhao Xingzhou handed them two statements, and the two men signed their names and pressed their fingerprints on them.

Prefect Qian's mind had completely gone blank. He desperately wanted to tell the Fourth Prince: "I was forced, forced! I would have loved to climb up to you and rise to prominence!"

However, Xiao Zhen has evidence against me, and I cannot afford to offend him. I can only obey his orders.

Seeing the two sign and seal the document, the fourth prince was so angry he wanted to hit someone.

His gaze was piercing. The two had signed and sealed the document; so let them be.

"I'll say it again: none of you are worthy to interrogate me, and I may refuse to answer your questions."

Zhao Xingzhou was furious and subconsciously reached for his beard. This time he used too much force, and as a result, he tore off a piece of his face.

He actually ripped off that fake face.

Zhao Xingzhou continued to pull, revealing more and more of his face, and he was very satisfied.

He picked up the written petition and walked up to the Fourth Prince: "You keep saying you're not worthy, so let me ask you, am I worthy or not?"

The fourth prince was stunned: "You, you, who exactly are you?"

Zhao Xingzhou was still angry. He placed the several petitions in front of him and said, "Sign and put your fingerprint on them!"

The fourth prince was tied up like a dumpling, so even if he wanted to put his fingerprint on the document, he couldn't, let alone do so.

Zhao Xingzhou simply grabbed the Fourth Prince's hand and pressed it hard onto those papers.

With the confession perfectly concluded, Zhao Xingzhou walked up to the Fourth Prince: "Little Fourth, do you know who I am?"

The old man in front of him looked somewhat familiar, but the fourth prince couldn't quite place where he had seen him before.

Who is this person?

He couldn't remember, so he simply said, "It doesn't matter who it is, what matters is that you have deceived the emperor. At most, I, the prince, will be confined to my residence for three to five years, like the fifth prince. But you people have committed treason!" (End of this chapter)