The Prodigal Son

After a bloody massacre, all members of the Shi family and the guests present were taken away and detained.

The plaque that read "Forever Imperial Merchant" has been removed.

The favor that Emperor Gao bestowed upon the Shi family seemed to turn into a joke at this moment.

However, no one sympathizes with historians.

They brought this on themselves!

Zeng Guan led his men to search the Shi family's residence, while Qin Yu followed the main force to the prefectural governor's mansion.

On the way, Qin Yu ordered someone to pass on an order to Shen Jue, commanding him to divide his troops in two.

Some were stationed near several locks on the Grand Canal to prevent the henchmen of the Shi family from sabotaging the locks.

Another group of troops continued to blockade Yunhuai and were ready to provide support at any time.

At the same time, Qin Yu sent a messenger to Yuan Dingguo, who had already stationed himself at the border of Ningzhou and Shangzhou, ordering him to lead his troops to blockade the western part of Ningzhou and to immediately lead his troops to quell any unrest that occurred there.

Historians must have had assassins among them!

When they destroyed the Shi family today, they did not see any trace of the Shi family's loyal followers.

It's estimated that things won't be peaceful in Yunhuai City tonight.

After arranging everything, Qin Yu immediately began interrogating Shi Yi and Shi Wang himself.

Although the historians were all captured, there are still many doubts surrounding the assassination of the crown prince.

What they want to know now is whether the historians have any other accomplices, and whether there are officials in the court involved.

Now that we've come this far, we absolutely have to get to the bottom of it.

Anyone involved in the assassination attempt on the crown prince must be brought to justice!

Moreover, regardless of whether historians confess or not, the officialdom of Ningzhou will face the most rigorous scrutiny.

Guo Yang struck the perfect balance.

Although he destroyed Shi Yi's main meridians, he only prevented Shi Yi from circulating his true energy and exerting great strength; Shi Yi could still walk and jump.

With Shi Yi's hands and feet bound, Guo Yang also assigned two people to keep a close watch on him, not giving him any chance to commit suicide.

Shi Yi, who had been sitting there in despair, suddenly had his eyes filled with endless hatred upon Qin Yu's appearance. His face contorted in agony as he hysterically cursed, "You scoundrel! You scoundrel! I'll haunt you even as a ghost..."

He hated it so much!

She regretted believing Qin Yu's nonsense and thinking that this scoundrel really came to celebrate the baby's full moon.

If they had been even slightly on guard, they wouldn't have been caught in one fell swoop by this scoundrel.

Even if all else fails, they could still leave behind a few sparks of hope!

But now, all the key members of the Shi family have been captured. The Shi family, which had survived countless hardships and difficulties, has been completely destroyed by Qin Yu.

Qin Yu stared coldly at Shi Yi, "The three emperors of our dynasty have treated your Shi family well, yet you have committed the heinous crime of murdering the Crown Prince! How dare you, you traitor, call me a dog?"

"Has the historian family been treated well?"

Shi Yi scoffed, "If they had truly treated my Shi family well, would my family have remained imperial merchants forever?"

snort!

To remain a royal merchant forever?

It sounds like the historians were treated well, but it cut off the path to officialdom for countless historians' children.

The Shi family was wealthy and powerful. Although some of the Shi family's sons were dissolute and unruly, most of them were highly learned.

Because of the phrase "forever imperial merchants," those talented young men were forced to become merchants and were unable to realize their ambitions.

So what if a historian is the richest man in the world?

Merchants will always be merchants; they can be destroyed at any time if the court is displeased!

Only by becoming a top-tier family can one safeguard this family business!

A look of realization flashed in Qin Yu's eyes. "So, this is also one of the reasons why you attempted to assassinate the Crown Prince?"

"You don't need to try to trick me into telling you anything!"

Shi Yi grinned maliciously, "I know you have many questions, but I'm not going to tell you! I'm going to leave you with these questions forever when you close the case of the Crown Prince's assassination!"

This is his revenge!

Speaking out means death, not speaking out also means death!

Why did he say that?

"At this point, do you think you still have a choice whether to talk or not?"

Qin Yu scoffed, "You don't actually think you can withstand any kind of torture, do you? Believe me, I'll have someone pull down your pants right now and stick a needle into your testicles!"

Silly bird!

At your age, you still don't know what it means to be worse than dead?

Not to mention Guo Yang and Zeng Guan, even he could think of a whole bunch of tortures that would make Shi Yi wish he were dead.

Faced with such torture, only those with extremely firm beliefs can remain silent.

Unfortunately, someone like Shi Yi certainly doesn't have any kind of faith!

Upon hearing Qin Yu's words, Shi Yi's heart trembled violently.

Although Qin Yu has not yet carried out this torture, he knows how painful it must be just by thinking about it.

Shi Yi raised his venomous eyes and stared intently at Qin Yu: "Do you think you've already won?"

Qin Yu raised an eyebrow slightly, meeting Shi Yi's venomous gaze directly. "I know your Shi family also keeps a group of assassins. You're still hoping those assassins will save you, aren't you?"

Speaking of the assassins, Shi Yi's face showed an uncontrollable bitterness, and he growled through gritted teeth, "If it weren't for that battle back then that wiped out all of my Shi family's elite assassins, do you think you could have so easily destroyed my Shi family?"

They did indeed succeed in assassinating the crown prince back then.

However, historians also paid an extremely heavy price.

Of the two thousand elite warriors that the Shi family had trained over two generations at great expense and effort, less than a hundred survived that battle.

Even among those who survived, more than half became disabled.

Some people had their arms cut off, and some were left crippled.

Some people suffered severe damage to their meridians, leaving behind incurable ailments, and died in agony within a few years.

Those two thousand elite warriors were the core strength of the historian!

Although they trained another group of assassins afterward, it was too short a time!

The two are completely incomparable!

His father, grieving the loss of his beloved son and living in constant fear, fell ill and passed away less than three months after the prince's assassination.

If those assassins from back then were still alive, even if Qin Yu had a grandmaster by his side, he wouldn't be able to wipe out the Shi family in one fell swoop!

"What goes around comes around! You sowed the seeds of your actions, and now you're reaping the consequences!"

Qin Yu looked at Shi Yi indifferently, "You guys are really ruthless, even willing to kill your own elder brother! Your brother was truly wronged; he died at the hands of his own family, yet even in death, he continues to protect the Shi family!"

If Shi Zhen hadn't maintained his protective stance towards the Crown Prince until his death, the court might have already begun to suspect the Shi family.

In a way, isn't this a kind of protection?

"Ha ha……"

Upon hearing Qin Yu's words, Shi Yi burst into laughter.

"What are you laughing at?"

Qin Yu looked at Shi Yi with suspicion, "You killed your own elder brother and smoothly became the heir. You're very proud of yourself, aren't you?"

"You think you're so smart?"

Shi Yi looked at Qin Yu with a mocking expression, "How do you know this wasn't his idea? Haha..."

As Shi Yi spoke, he burst into laughter again.

They seemed to be gloating over their perfect plan, or perhaps mocking Qin Yu's self-righteousness.

Qin Yutong suddenly shrank back, looking at Shi Yi in disbelief.

Shi Zhen?

Was this Shi Zhen's idea?

Did he sacrifice himself to ensure the historians' successful assassination of the crown prince?