By now, the whole mansion knew full well that Liu Yiniang and the eldest young master were completely at odds—no one even tried to pretend otherwise anymore. Liu Saozi was deliberately trying to needle Li Xun with her words. If this had been any ordinary young ger from a noble family, he would’ve had to grit his teeth and cough up the money anyway, just to prove he wasn’t being petty and retaliating.

Everyone present heard the implication in her words. Zhu Er flushed with anger and pointed at Liu Saozi, snapping, “Cut the crap! No matter how precious the ginseng is, Liu Yiniang only used three qian’s worth in that decoction. Even if it was made of gold, it wouldn’t cost five hundred taels!”

She’d been kicked out for over a year, but that only made her more aware of how things worked outside than the people still stuck in the mansion. Even with average quality, twenty taels could easily buy a decent piece of ginseng!

But Liu Saozi didn’t answer. She just kept muttering about how a concubine like Liu Yiniang wasn’t worthy of expensive medicine anyway and looked nervously toward Li Xun, clearly afraid of being blamed by Boye.

Li Xun’s face was dark. Suddenly, he asked, “Since you’re Liu Saozi, I assume you’re married. Where does your man work? Anyone else in your family?”

Liu Saozi froze. She had no idea why the eldest young master was suddenly asking about her family.

Zhan Er jumped in quickly: “Liu Saozi was born into the mansion. Her parents are both gone. Her husband Liu Wang’er is a purchasing steward who handles buying powder and perfumes for the gongzis, yiniangs, and maids across all the courtyards. They have a son, currently serving as a page under Young Master Song. Also…” She shot Liu Saozi a sidelong glance, “Bi Tao, who serves Liu Yiniang, became her goddaughter not long after entering the mansion.”

Liu Saozi’s eyes darted about. She was just about to explain her relationship with Bi Tao, when Li Xun said coldly, “Since that’s the case, tie her and her man up. Detain the boy too. Seal off their house and search it.”

She was completely shocked. She had only come to collect money—how did this turn into a house raid?! Panicked, she cried, “Gongzi, what are you doing?! Just because I spoke out of line doesn’t mean you can—”

Li Xun sneered, “Can’t what? You think I’m that fool Liu Yufu, so easy to mess with?” He might never have bought ginseng himself, but of course he’d believe Zhu Er over this scheming woman. Asking five hundred taels for something worth twenty—this maid clearly had guts and a heart of black iron.

Li Xun’s gaze swept over the people around him, landing on Shen Qian. “You handle this. Go all out. If you don’t have enough manpower… you know where to borrow some.”

Shen Qian: “…” You’re really not shy about asking Commander Hua for favors, huh? Are we sure there’s nothing weird between you two?

Still, Shen Qian had already sensed this wasn’t just about servants skimming a bit off the top. In fact, he was even more invested in the matter than Li Xun. He said seriously, “Don’t worry, Gongzi. I’ll get to the bottom of this.”

First, he had all the maids who came with Liu Saozi tied up and locked in the Ganlin Courtyard kitchen, to prevent news from leaking. Then he took the household token and headed back to the same medicine shop where he’d bought herbs last time, bringing Zhu Er and Zhan Er along, and bought three liang of top-quality xuan shen for just ten taels.

Compared to the cold remedy he had picked up earlier, xuan shen wasn’t cheap, but it definitely wasn’t that expensive. He even asked about the prices of other herbs. Hearing the quotes, Zhan Er looked a little dazed. “Back when Gongzi had a cough, Liu Yiniang said no amount of money could get chuan bei pi pa—hundreds of taels wouldn’t be enough, so she refused. I thought she was just lying to make things difficult for Gongzi… but now I wonder, was she just…” Dumb? Or maybe she got tricked by the people under her?

Shen Qian thought: likely both. Even if her underlings told her inflated prices, it wasn’t like Fuchang Bo’s Mansion lacked money. Shen Yi’an and Liu Yufu could drop hundreds or thousands of taels at Yuxiang Tower for a single night at the theater—how come suddenly they couldn’t afford a few hundred for medicine?

Still, these conniving servants had swindled her. Liu Yufu had grown up in a brothel, never learned how to manage a household, let alone one the size of a bo‘s mansion. Even back at Yuxiang Tower, as a top courtesan, she didn’t handle purchases herself. Naturally, whatever price these procurement stewards gave her, she just accepted. And Liu Saozi was quite the smooth talker—she knew how to manipulate people. Anyone with a thinner skin would’ve let her get away with it.

Shen Qian had Zhan Er and Zhu Er take the xuan shen back to hand over to Liu Yiniang, while he ran off again—this time to Commander Hua’s Mansion.

The steward there twitched at the sight of him. Sure, the commander had said to lend help whenever needed, but this ger sure came by a lot… Even so, he still sent over more than ten strong men, a few furlangs and maids too—all tough, capable folks. They returned with Shen Qian to the mansion.

Back at Fuchang Bo’s Mansion, Shen Qian led the group to surround the house of Liu Saozi and Liu Wang’er. They walked in to find Liu Wang’er drinking with a bunch of minor stewards. Whether on duty or not, they were all completely drunk.

Shen Qian quickly decided to tie them all up under the excuse of preventing leaks. Then he had Liu Wang’er’s son tricked into coming out from where he was serving Shen Song—and detained him too.

The couple held some prestige in the mansion, and their son was assigned to the only legitimate young master. They’d been given a private little courtyard in the outer section near the second gate. But once the door was opened—every item inside was luxurious. Even their bed linens were finer than those in Ganlin Courtyard.

Shen Qian ordered a search. Just in that modest three-room courtyard, they found 7,000 taels in silver notes and a whole box of gold bricks.

When the box was opened, even the helpers from Commander Hua’s household gasped in shock.

Ten gold bricks, each worth about 100 taels, neatly stacked. That alone was 10,000 taels—not even counting the silver notes. Liu Saozi had guts. Asking for 500 taels on a 20-tael item—who knows how many times she’d pulled this off, taking advantage of Liu Yufu’s cluelessness. Liu Wang’er, in charge of buying powders and perfumes, was likely no cleaner.

With the two of them going this far, how could others not be jealous or turn a blind eye? This was turning into a full-blown corruption scandal.

Shen Qian immediately ordered the guards from Commander Hua’s estate to seal every back and side gate in the mansion. No one was allowed in or out without his or Gongzi’s permission.

He also had a few of the stewards who’d been drinking with Liu Wang’er brought in for questioning, telling them: “Gongzi already knows what you’ve done. Liu Wang’er’s family has been arrested and is about to be handed over to the authorities. If you confess now, you might be spared.”

They were all drunk and muddle-headed, and sure enough, quite a few spilled the beans.

Xiao Wan was panicking. “W-we didn’t even report to Gongzi yet! How can you just seal the gates? That’s serious stuff! And what about questioning those stewards—how dare you? And who are these people you brought?!”

“Relax,” said Shen Qian, calm as ever. “Gongzi told me to go all out, so of course he’ll approve.” He’d started to get a good sense of this Ye Gui’s style by now. Though they’d only known each other a few days and he knew nothing of the other’s background, Shen Qian, like Li Xun, felt strangely in sync with him. Slowly, he found himself willing to place trust.

Li Xun trusted him to get things done, and Shen Qian trusted Li Xun to have his back.

“If we don’t seal the gates now, and word gets out, they’ll just move the money somewhere. Even if we report them later, we won’t find anything.” This wasn’t the modern world with cameras and bank records. All they had to do was bury it somewhere, and it’d be gone forever—even if the culprits were sold off far away, the money would never be recovered.

Then he told Xiao Wan, “Get your uncle to help you watch things. If any household makes suspicious moves, don’t bother figuring it out—just tie them up. We’re likely to take down a bunch of people this time. If your uncle handles things to Gongzi’s liking, he’ll be rewarded with a nice fat position.”

Xiao Wan was scared out of his mind, but seeing how confident Shen Qian looked, he clutched his chest and went to fetch Zhang Jiuquan. Zhang Jiuquan was surprised too, but after thinking for a moment, he gritted his teeth and followed. Wealth comes with risk! Ever since Liu Yiniang took over, she only favored the smooth talkers. Folks like him who actually worked hard had been overlooked. Now that the eldest young master was rising up—maybe his luck was turning too!

Meanwhile, Shen Qian returned to Ganlin Courtyard with the silver notes and gold bricks to report.

In the kitchen, smoke was curling up—it seemed dinner was already being made. A few kitchen staff, led by Zhao Pozi, were kneeling under the eaves, crying quietly. But Li Xun didn’t even glance their way. He stood in the center of the courtyard, wielding that fire poker again like a makeshift sword.

Dressed in a light apricot robe, his figure elegant and his movements fierce, he looked totally cool and unstoppable. A few little maids were completely mesmerized.

When Shen Qian returned, Li Xun stopped. “All done?”

Shen Qian shook his head. “Not yet.” Then looked him up and down. “Gongzi…”

Before he could finish, Li Xun took a cloak from a maid and wrapped it around himself. “There, it’s on.”

He’d lost his mother young. Although his father, the emperor, did care for him, being a ruler meant attending to countless matters. He couldn’t possibly mind every little thing. The palace ladies and nannies mostly treated him with awe rather than affection. This absurd and bizarre experience had been annoying overall, but… some of the unfamiliar, nagging sort of care—it didn’t feel bad at all.

Shen Qian looked toward the women kneeling under the eaves. “What’s going on?”

“They came to apologize. Said they were wrong before. Liu Yiniang’s sick, and Fuchang Bo sent word to have two of her favorite dishes made,” Li Xun said flatly. “They couldn’t prepare them and begged to take the ingredients back.”

“Oh.” Shen Qian nodded. He had just taken over kitchen duties yesterday and only then learned the mansion’s food came from their country estates, delivered every two or three days. Honestly, he’d gone overboard yesterday, raiding the entire supply just for revenge. Their courtyard couldn’t even finish all that food and had to clear another room just to store it. This morning the chickens were all crowing like they were in a contest—super annoying. Might as well return the stuff.

He looked at Li Xun and blinked. Li Xun looked back.A leaf twirled in the autumn breeze and landed in Shen Qian’s hair. Li Xun plucked it off for him and chuckled, “That was your ‘hard-earned loot’, after all. You’re the big hero here—how could I dare give it away without your say-so?”