The Prodigal Son

After seeing Xi Ya off, Qin Yu immediately summoned Song Xian and Lü Si.

He had barely mentioned the theft of two hundred taels of gold from the Chu envoy, and before he could even ask further questions, Lü Si eagerly admitted, "Such a brilliant plan, of course, was my idea! How about it, wasn't my move to make Chu suffer a silent loss brilliant? Haha..."

As Lü Si spoke, he became increasingly pleased with himself and couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"I... damn it..."

Seeing Lü Si laughing so hard his throat was almost visible, Qin Yu's forehead veins bulged instantly, and his hands and feet began to twitch uncontrollably.

For a fleeting moment, Qin Yu really wanted to pin Lü Si to the ground and beat him up.

He was beaten so badly that even his own mother wouldn't recognize him!

After all that fuss, it turns out it was this bastard who did it!

"What kind of expression is that?"

Lu Si noticed Qin Yu's strange expression, and upon seeing Qin Yu's twitching hands and feet, he cleverly hid behind Song Xian, saying in a fierce but weak voice, "Qin Yu, I'm warning you, don't do anything reckless! I learned this from you! Besides, Boss Zeng knows about this too!"

"He... knew too?"

Qin Yu's lips curled into a sneer, then he glared angrily at Lü Si, "Get the hell out of here! Do you think I'm stupid? Do you think Boss Zeng would do this for you for such a small amount of gold?"

Who is Zeng Guan?

He's the commander of the Treasure Mirror Bureau!

If he wanted to make money, he could just throw any piece of evidence of corrupt officials' corruption at him, and which corrupt official wouldn't beg and plead to hand over the money to him?

"If you don't believe me, go ask Boss Zeng!"

Lu Si spoke with great confidence, recounting what happened that night openly.

Qin Yu's face turned green upon hearing Lü Si's words.

Damn it!

Zeng Guan must have been incredibly bored to help Lü Si with this!

"You fucking spineless coward!"

Qin Yu looked at Lü Si speechlessly, "Two hundred taels of gold and you're done? You wouldn't dare ask for two thousand taels, would you?"

"Do you think people are stupid?!"

Lu Si curled his lip. "Two thousand taels of gold to buy uncertain information, and there's no guarantee we won't get ripped off. If you were in that situation, would you be willing to take the gamble?"

Two hundred taels of gold was the result he arrived at after much deliberation.

He can only ask for more if others are willing to give more!

Qin Yu's lips twitched, both amused and annoyed. "You've suddenly become intelligent again?"

"I'm naturally smart!"

Lu Si snorted.

"Alright, you two, stop arguing!"

Song Xian looked at Qin Yu, puzzled. "This isn't a big deal, is it? Although Lü Si is indeed a bit shameless, he stole the Chu envoy's gold, which is still..."

"How can it not be a big deal?"

Qin Yu interrupted Song Xian, "I originally wanted Xi Ya to bribe me with 500,000 taels of silver so I would make concessions during the negotiations! But because of what he did, that old bastard Xi Ya insisted that I was the one who did it, and that I was untrustworthy, so he wouldn't even talk to me about the bribery..."

"You're insane!"

Song Xian's expression changed. "You've done such a great service this time, do you think His Majesty's reward will be small? If you accept a bribe from the Chu envoy, and the envoy turns around and tells everyone, wouldn't that give the court officials something to impeach you for?"

"I want them to have something on them!"

Qin Yu gave a weak reply and glared at Lü Si again with wide eyes.

Damn it!

I've calculated everything myself!

I never expected that something like this would pop out of the gutter!

The key point is that Zeng Guan was also involved in this matter!

It made it difficult for me to even bring myself to beat him up.

"Um?"

Song Xian looked at Qin Yu suspiciously, pondered for a moment, and then realized, "You're afraid His Majesty will grant you an official position, so you deliberately gave him leverage?"

He knew all too well that this bastard had tried every possible way to shirk his duties when he was in the capital.

Others would love to be by His Majesty's side all the time.

He's the opposite; he only works sporadically!

"Um!"

Qin Yu nodded bitterly, "When others get promoted, they enjoy the good life; when I get promoted, I suffer the most! You'd think I could get hundreds of thousands of taels of silver and avoid the suffering, what a great deal! But this bastard ruined it all. Should I beat him up?"

"..."

Upon hearing this, Song Xian was at a loss for words, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

That damn thing!

Are you really that lazy?

Others will stop at nothing to get promoted.

But with him, it was exactly the opposite?

If this gets out, how will those who are scheming to get promoted face themselves?

"Perhaps, this is fate!"

Song Xian patted Qin Yu on the shoulder and said gloatingly, "Even God can't stand to see you having too much free time!"

Song Xian secretly pondered to himself, "Qin Yu's considerations probably go beyond these."

Was it to deliberately leave a handle in case that His Majesty might suspect the Qin family?

It's rare that he can maintain such clarity of mind despite his young age and numerous outstanding achievements.

"What nonsense about fate! It's all because of my incompetent teammates!"

Qin Yu glared at Lü Si, gritting his teeth, and said, "Remember this, you fucking owe me 300,000 taels of silver!"

"What the heck?"

Qin Yu's words almost scared Lü Si into turning into an eunuch.

Damn it!

I've seen shameless people, but I've never seen anyone this shameless!

I barely had my 20,000 taels of silver in my pocket before I owed him 300,000 taels of silver?

How could he say such shameless things without blushing or skipping a beat?

How can a person be so shameless?

"You should be grateful I didn't make you owe me 500,000 taels of silver!"

Qin Yu glared at Lü Si with wide eyes, "If it weren't for you interfering, I would definitely have had a chance to swindle 500,000 taels of silver from the State of Chu!"

For the State of Chu, spending hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to bribe him in exchange for concessions during negotiations was definitely a worthwhile deal.

Damn it!

Even though he had tricked Lü Si so many times, none of them were as bad as the one time Lü Si tricked him!

This time, he was truly screwed over by Lü Si!

Sure enough, the worst thing is when a fool comes up with a brilliant idea!

"Why don't you just take me and sell me!"

Lu Si curled his lip. "Don't try to play dumb with me! I'm telling you, I'll only give you half the gold at most, not a single coin more!"

I've never seen such a shameless person!

If you want a share of the spoils, just say so!

Why make such a fuss?

"Do you think I care about your little bit of gold?"

Qin Yu was both amused and annoyed. "Here's the deal: you owe me 300,000 taels of silver, and I'll sell you the Seventh Princess of Chu! I've seen the Seventh Princess of Chu; she's absolutely a beauty, more than a match for you!"

"Get lost! Why didn't you keep it for yourself?"

Without a second thought, Lü Si refused, scoffing, "Selling her to me is worse than..."

As he was talking, Lü Si suddenly slapped his forehead: "Are you fucking stupid? You'd be better off selling the Seventh Princess to the Chu Kingdom than selling her to me! A princess could at least fetch several hundred thousand taels of silver, right?"

"hehe……"

Qin Yu rolled his eyes at him.

If I could sell it, would it be your turn?

That old fellow Xi Ya didn't mention the Seventh Princess at all!

If this old man is determined not to care about that princess, I'll really suffer a huge loss this time!

No, we can't just let it go like this!

If we can't count on Xi Ya, let the Seventh Princess write a letter to the Chu Emperor asking for help!

We should still try to fight for what we deserve!

Song Xian looked at the two speechlessly, then said to Qin Yu, "I think that as long as the Chu Kingdom agrees to our conditions, they should be willing to ransom the Seventh Princess! After all, we've already spent the lion's share, so what's a little more to maintain the royal family's dignity?"

She is, after all, a princess of a nation!

If they were to fall into the hands of another country and be raped or enslaved, it would still damage the reputation of the Chu royal family.

Of course, if Qin Yu asks for too high a price, the State of Chu may very well give up on this princess who has already been married off.

"I hope so!"

As Qin Yu spoke, he glared at Lü Si again, "If the Chu Kingdom is unwilling to spend money to redeem the Seventh Princess, I'll make up for it by taking it out on you!"

"Can't you fucking have any shame?"

Lu Si was speechless, inwardly cursing Qin Yu as a shameless bastard...