Once everyone had left, Liao Tingyu sprawled out on the chair like a salted fish.

“The matter has finally come to an end.”

Huang Zilan approached and gently rubbed his shoulders. “You’ve been through a lot during this time.”

“I couldn’t put on an act; I had to deliver the whole performance. Otherwise, others would have become suspicious,” Liao Tingyu said with a smile.

“To be honest, if the waiter hadn’t overheard, we might have been caught off guard. Fortunately, Master Tang wasn’t knowledgeable about pharmacology. He only knew it was a plague and wasn’t familiar with the specific symptoms. Otherwise, we might not have been able to conceal it.”

“I still haven’t figured out why he wanted to create a plague here. He doesn’t care about money or position. Why?” Huang Zilan questioned.

“Because he wasn’t sure if the people supporting the crown prince were in the capital. He was worried that the fourth prince would have a backup here. So, he did everything to turn this place into a ghost town, just in case. Unfortunately, this guy valued his life and fled early; otherwise, he would have seen through our ruse,” Liao Tingyu explained.

“Well, it’s indeed a clever strategy that addresses multiple concerns. If the plague spreads here, General Zhao will be affected. If there’s an infection, he’ll be accused of negligence. As the key support for the crown prince, if something happens to General Zhao, the crown prince will lose his crucial ally. He couldn’t recover from this,” Huang Zilan realized.

“Yes, and if there’s trouble in Linxian County, it allows them to gather information about the counselor. If he’s alone, the crown prince might recover. But if there is a family and something goes wrong, chaos ensues, then no one could care about the counselor’s family, the counselor might be dishearten,” Liao Tingyu added.

“It’s a shame that when they encountered you, all their plans fell apart. About those in prison, did you find out if any of them were innocent?” Huang Zilan inquired.

“Humph, there’s a fool who was manipulated. A brotherhood – he’ll understand when he faces the consequences,” Liao Tingyu chuckled at the thought of that fool.

They obstructed the investigation because they feared their actions would be discovered. He obstructed it because his brother was detained by government officials, so he took an opposing stance.

Liao Tingyu was quite content. Despite spending a considerable sum on medicinal materials and lime, in other hand, Master Tang willingly spent hundreds of thousands of taels to provide General Zhao with evidence of rebellion. In the dark of night and strong wind, they were transported and concealed in secrecy.

These funds should have constituted a significant portion of the Second prince’s and his party’s wealth in the past. Yet now, it had all ended up in his and General Zhao’s pockets.

And that dragon robe, couldn’t be too delicate.

He had never realized before that the gold thread in this dragon robe was real gold. How could he have missed it after finally taking a closer look?

That dragon robe had been torn into several pieces due to his relentless efforts.

It was a shame that they still hadn’t figured out how to make it soft.

.

As soon as Zhao Han returned, Zhao Yuan summoned him to the camp.

“You have been with him for so long, now tell me what you have learned?” Zhao Yuan cleared everyone out, leaving only him and Zhao Han in the huge tent.

“I have learned that when acting, you must do it well and do it seriously,” Zhao Han said very seriously.

Zhao Yuan looked at him with incredulous eyes, “I can’t believe it, boy, you actually figured it out.”

Was his uncle underestimating him? Was he that foolish?

Zhao Han looked at his uncle unhappily, “After all, I have been shadowing that guy Liao every step of the way. If I hadn’t even thought of this until now, wouldn’t I be a fool?”

“What are you calling, a guy? You should call him uncle all the time,” Zhao Yuan scolded him with a serious expression. “I’m telling you; you and your Uncle Liao have known each other for much longer than the fourth prince. What’s the result? You can’t get along with each other. It’s not as close as other people. Take a good look at what the fourth prince does. People support each other. If you are good to others, they will be good to you.”

Zhao Han knew this truth, but back then, he and Liao Tingyu were at odds. No one acknowledged anyone’s seniority, making it difficult to get along.

But his uncle and the crown prince from the capital didn’t care about his wishes at all, turning him from a peer to a junior for that man.

It was impossible for him to bow his head now.

In Zhao Han’s heart, Liao Tingyu was already his mentor, but he was still very young, and the more he was suppressed, the more he resisted.

Besides, Liao Tingyu didn’t care about those title.

As for whoever got close to him, Liao Tingyu saw it all in the same way. The ones from the capital were related to the interests of all of them so, he was a little polite, while on this side, it was just a small dispute, so naturally, Liao Tingyu didn’t care much.

He could still discern whether a person was sincerely good to him, but his uncle always regarded him as a fool.

“By the way, there’s a letter from the capital saying that the emperor doesn’t have much time left now, and we plan to start taking action. It’s useless for you to stay in the military camp now; why not go to the county government office, and you can have a good time,” Zhao Yuan suggested.

“Should we act now? What about the second prince?” Zhao Han expressed some concerns. This centipede was not dead yet, let alone not dead, he was just old.

“Now, only the second prince in the court can compete with the crown prince, and the heavy losses suffered by the second prince in this battle are good for us. As long as the civil servants have no money, they are useless,” Zhao Yuan explained.

“Do you know why that Minister of Finance is so popular? Isn’t it just because he is in charge of the court’s money? As soon as people hears that there is no money, who will respect that old beggar?”

“You said bad words again,” Zhao Han remarked. “I want to complain to the military advisor.”

He walked out of the camp, planning to file a complaint. He also packed up his belongings. The county government essentially had no fighting capacity except for the yamens.

However, he probably wouldn’t be of much use anyway. From what his uncle said, the power transition was expected to be smooth.

Zhao Han thought about how he had secretly followed his uncle and others to move money for several nights. The two people knew how to stand there and give instructions while he worked hard running around, but in the end, he didn’t even get a single piece of silver in his hands.

But his uncle treated him like a child and coaxed him into saving money for his wife. After all, he was nineteen years old. Did he still need his uncle to take care of the money for his wife?

To put it bluntly, his uncle was stingy. If he had known, he would have hidden some during the transportation.