Chapter Seventeen: To Prosper, One Must Also Win Hearts!

“Wang Sheng has been found.”

“He said it was the manager of Longsheng Cloth Shop who ordered him to poison you.”

“The method was to apply poison inside your personal bowl before quitting his job. He knew that the servants wouldn’t wash your bowl the next day, so the poisoned soup would be served to you.”

“Originally, the cloth shop manager told him to run away, but when you didn’t die, he thought the poison hadn’t taken effect and refused to pay him, so he didn’t escape.”

Jian Qi gave a succinct summary of the investigation.

Xue Yuan listened in stunned disbelief.

He looked at Jian Qi with utter incredulity and asked, “Wait, you asked him… and he just confessed?”

Was he really that cooperative?

Jian Qi replied calmly, “I hung him from the stove in his house, heated oil in a pot below, so he had to stand on tiptoe. But everyone has their limits. When his feet were just a few inches above the hot oil, he gave in.”

“Damn, that’s clever!”

Xue Yuan immediately gave a thumbs-up, praising enthusiastically, “Jian Qi, you’re quite the talent! Indeed, this method of interrogation is far more terrifying than just beating someone up!”

Jian Qi said, “I read it in a book. There’s a similar scene in ‘The Princess Found During the Escape.’ That novel is excellent. Your Highness, don’t you want to read it?”

Xue Yuan was speechless.

So reading really broadens the mind, huh?

“All right, I’ll make time to study it!” Xue Yuan nodded in sincere agreement, then continued, “As for the manager of Longsheng Cloth Shop, first quietly investigate his background, but don’t alert him.”

“After all, I have no grudges with him; he wouldn’t kill me without someone else pulling the strings.”

“Understood!”

“Also, there’s a new case.”

Xue Yuan went on, “Have you heard about the richest man in Ningzhou being accused of murder?”

“I have. It’s a wrongful conviction!”

“How are you so sure?”

“The richest man wouldn’t kill with his own hands, and there’s no way the entire family would be involved.”

“Well said. Now, his daughter is in the east wing room. Go find her and gather the details of the case. Report back to me.”

“Got it!”

After speaking, Jian Qi strode out briskly.

The afternoon sun was blinding, cicadas chirping incessantly.

Su Ruowei sat upright at the round table inside the room. Though it was cleaned every few days, the place was seldom occupied, so it retained a faint musty smell, far inferior to her own chamber.

Still, she felt grateful. At least now she had a place to stay, and as long as she was in the prince’s mansion, no one dared seize her.

Yet, thoughts of her family brought a shadow to her delicate face.

Could the prince truly help her?

After mulling it over, she reached only one conclusion: he was a fool who seemed incapable of doing anything…

***

Suddenly, the door was roughly pushed open, startling Su Ruowei.

“Who are you?”

“Jian Qi! The prince wants to help you, so he sent me to learn the details of the case.”

“Won’t the prince come himself?”

“He said he’s a fool and wouldn’t understand.”

Su Ruowei was momentarily taken aback by the odd yet somehow reasonable explanation.

She thought further: though he’s a fool, he’s self-aware. The Su family once considered themselves the richest in Ningzhou, befriending everyone from the prefect to the lowliest clerk, yet they failed to see that wealth often breeds envy and danger. Perhaps even a fool is better off than they were.

***

Fifteen minutes later.

Jian Qi returned to Xue Yuan’s room.

“I’ve got all the details.”

“The case began over a month ago with a fire. It burned down the main warehouse shared by seven major silk shops under the Su family’s name, destroying thirty thousand taels worth of raw silk and over sixty thousand taels of semi-finished silk goods!”

“The Su family believed it was arson and reported it to the authorities. County Magistrate Li took the case and soon identified the arsonist as Qi Ermao.”

“Qi Ermao confessed the arson was revenge. A few days earlier, Su Baichang, the head of the Su family, had ordered his servant to kill Qi Ermao’s brother.”

“Li sent men to investigate the Su family and found Qi Ermao’s brother’s corpse in their cellar. The entire Su Baichang family was arrested.”

“After brutal torture, Su Baichang was forced to confess and sentenced to beheading. His wife, eldest son, and twelve-year-old daughter were exiled for harboring him. The case files have been sent to the Ministry of Justice for approval and execution.”

“Su Ruowei escaped because she was away negotiating cloth business in another province. But upon returning to Ningzhou, she was pursued. Luckily, she got word in advance and hid in the prince’s mansion.”

Xue Yuan sipped tea thoughtfully after hearing the story.

“A murder case linked to an arson…”

“And the fire destroyed raw silk and semi-finished silk products?”

Xue Yuan squinted slightly, then murmured, “Li Yuanwang really laid a clever trap.”

It was known that Li Yuanwang intended to collude with the Duke Yu to artificially inflate the price of Jiangnan silk this year.

How to inflate prices?

Simple: reduce supply, and prices naturally rise.

The Su family’s seven major silk shops supposedly held a monopoly in Jiangnan, controlling over half the annual raw silk harvest.

Their silk products likely accounted for more than half the market.

Now, with so much raw silk and semi-finished goods suddenly gone, within a little over a month, the price of silk would at least double.

Therefore, there was no doubt the warehouse was set on fire by Li Yuanwang’s men.

Jian Qi said, “Though it’s clearly a wrongful conviction, the case has already been submitted to the Ministry of Justice. Overturning it will be nearly impossible. We can hardly find new evidence, and from county magistrate to prefect, none will give us a chance.”

“Do we need new evidence?”

Xue Yuan smiled, “The key to overturning the case isn’t there… It’s about where the raw silk and semi-finished goods from the Su family warehouse actually went.”

***

Jian Qi frowned slightly. “You mean those silks weren’t burned but were moved before the fire?”

Xue Yuan nodded.

Without knowing Li Yuanwang’s plan to manipulate Jiangnan’s silk prices, he wouldn’t have thought this way.

But since Li Yuanwang intended to do so, how could he not have moved the raw silk and semi-finished goods beforehand?

After all, once the price was inflated, that merchandise would be worth a small fortune!

At least worth over a million taels!

What does a million taels mean?

In recent days, Xue Yuan had gathered some intel. The prince’s official salary was only fifty thousand taels a year!

Moreover, Ningzhou’s annual tax revenue barely exceeded three million taels, and Ningzhou was one of the wealthiest regions in Greater Qian!

So before Li Yuanwang’s men set the warehouse ablaze, they definitely moved all the goods out!

The reason for framing the Su family with murder charges, besides gaining some benefit, was mainly to prevent the Su family from uncovering the deception and appealing!

Li Yuanwang’s brilliance lay in burning the warehouse before targeting the Su family.

This way, since the fire occurred before the warehouse could be sealed, no one could say how much was there or how much was burned!

Even if the Ministry’s investigators found little evidence of silk and cloth burned at the scene, Li Yuanwang would have countless excuses.

With Duke Yu’s connections at court protecting him, this scheme was a guaranteed win.

But what if the silks could be found?

And what if evidence of collusion between Li Yuanwang and Duke Yu could be uncovered?

Suddenly, Xue Yuan had a bold idea.

A faint smile curved his lips as he said, “I’m going to overturn this case. And as for that batch of goods… I’m going to borrow it for a time.”

A clear opportunity to make a fortune—why pass it up?

This time, he not only wanted to get rich but also aimed to win the loyalty of the Su family, the richest in Jiangnan, whose business empire and talented management spanned the region.

Jian Qi was slightly taken aback.

“Your Highness, you’re going to fight fire with fire?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m a fool; I couldn’t have such malicious intent.”

Jian Qi nodded, “Makes sense.”

But looking at Xue Yuan, his gaze shifted subtly.

He increasingly felt the prince resembled a character from a novel.

That novel was titled “The Scheming Prince’s Beloved Consort,” published just last year.