At the beginning, his wife came to him, and he became rich by selling kidney treasures.

"Please give them some convenience, Master. They are staying in the capital for a few days just to catch the two scammers who cheated their master before."

"They will leave after arresting the person and will not cause any trouble to Prime Minister Zhao," Butler Zhao continued to request.

Ha ha.

"How much benefit have you received from them? Why do you speak to them like this?" Zhao Ping'an turned his head and asked.

"Prime Minister Zhao, I only took a small amount." Butler Zhao smiled and took out a piece of white jade from his sleeve and presented it to him.

"Forget it, keep it for yourself." Zhao Ping'an took a look and waved his hand. He didn't like this kind of stuff at all. He just wanted the truth.

"Prime Minister Zhao, what about them..." Butler Zhao put away the white jade and laughed.

"Aren't they businessmen coming to Beijing? Merchants coming to Beijing can naturally stay in Beijing." Zhao Ping'an said this and was about to go back to the room to rest, but Butler Zhao ran back in a hurry.

"What's wrong again?" Zhao Ping'an turned around and asked.

"It was the eunuch in the palace who came to summon Prime Minister Zhao into the palace, saying that His Majesty wanted to see him." Butler Zhao reported.

"I understand." Zhao Ping'an nodded in surprise. In his impression, the number of times the Emperor summoned him to the palace could be counted on one hand.

"Why do I always feel a little uneasy?"

When Zhao Ping'an was changing into court clothes, his left eyelid kept twitching. He had a feeling that this trip to the palace was not a good thing.

Although he felt uneasy, he had to obey the summons and he had to go to the palace with the eunuch to meet the emperor.

On the way, Zhao Ping'an asked the old eunuch why the emperor summoned him.

"Prime Minister Zhao, I don't know why His Majesty summoned you to the palace. You'd better wait until you see His Majesty." The old eunuch laughed sinisterly and refused to reveal a word.

Since he couldn't get any information out of the old eunuch, Zhao Ping'an could only give up and shut up.

After arriving at Tianlu Pavilion, the old eunuch passed the message through the door: "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Zhao has arrived."

"Let him in." Wen Yan said through the door.

The old eunuch opened the door of the pavilion, and Zhao Ping'an bowed and entered the pavilion.

When he saw Ren Hao sitting on the ground, his premonition that something bad was going to happen became stronger.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you." Zhao Ping'an bowed to Wen Yan who was sitting on the imperial couch.

"No need to be polite, my dear. Please take a seat." Wen Yan waved her hand, and Zhao Ping'an sat cross-legged on the ground.

Ren Hao looked at Zhao Ping'an's old face that lacked vitality, and immediately said sarcastically: "Prime Minister Zhao, why do you look worse today than yesterday? It seems that you really need to think carefully about what I told you yesterday."

"Don't bother you to worry about it. I know my health best." Zhao Ping'an snorted, too lazy to pay attention to Ren Hao.

Wen Yan, who was sitting on the imperial couch, didn't understand what Ren Hao said, so she asked vigilantly: "Ren Hao, what did you say to Prime Minister Zhao yesterday? Do you want him to consider it?"

"Your Majesty, when I left the palace yesterday, I saw that the Prime Minister's face was dark and his Yang Qi was insufficient. This was caused by excessive sexual intercourse. So I was afraid that the Prime Minister would die of exhaustion in bed and delay important matters of the court. I thought that I happened to have Shenbao, a good medicine that can nourish Yang Qi and regulate Yin and Yang."

"The common people originally wanted to give the Prime Minister some good medicine with good intentions, but the Prime Minister did not appreciate it." Ren Hao reported truthfully with a grin.

"Prime Minister, you are an important official in my court, so please do not exhaust yourself because of some romantic matters. Since Ren Hao's house has good medicine, you are welcome to accept it." Wen Yan pretended to be concerned, but in her heart she hoped that Zhao Ping'an would die quickly, the sooner the better!!!

"Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty." Zhao Ping'an thanked Wen Yan for his concern, but did not take the opportunity to get the medicine.

God knows whether the kidney treasure given by Ren Hao was mixed with poison.

In order to avoid this topic, Zhao Ping'an quickly changed the subject and asked, "Your Majesty summoned me to the palace today. What is the matter?"

"It's like this. I heard from Ren Hao that the people who sealed off Zuihualou were sent by you?" Wen Yan asked straight to the point.

"It was this old minister who sent people there. Zuihualou had been evading taxes for more than two months, and I was only enforcing the law. But in the end, they were stopped by Ren Hao who forged the imperial edict." Zhao Ping'an hurriedly distanced himself from the matter and secretly set a trap for Ren Hao, implying that Ren Hao had disregarded Han law and forged the imperial edict.

But Ren Hao did not jump into the trap at all, and even prepared a trap for Zhao Ping'an, saying: "Prime Minister Zhao, Zuihualou was already a joint property of your majesty and me yesterday, and the Han law clearly stipulates that royal properties are all tax-free, and all the utensils and decorations inside were destroyed by Zhao Tongwei. How do you think this account should be settled?"

"This..." Zhao Ping'an suddenly realized that he had fallen into a trap. Just as he was about to think of how to put the blame on Zhao Tongwei, Wen Yan suddenly interrupted him and said, "According to Han law, anyone who intentionally destroys the royal property shall be executed."

"But the Prime Minister is a senior official of our two dynasties. In addition, the Prime Minister is unaware that Zuihualou is already a royal property, so he can be spared from execution, but he must pay an apology."

"All losses of Zuihualou must be compensated according to the price."

"I wonder what the Prime Minister thinks?" Wen Yan and Ren Hao said in unison, and Ren Hao handed the list of losses amounting to more than 20,000 taels to Zhao Ping'an.

Zhao Ping'an has been in the court for decades, and he has not eaten salt for nothing.

It was obvious that the two of them had already dug a trap and were just waiting for him to jump into it.

But now that there are no disciples to stop him, there is nothing he can do except accept defeat.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for not killing me." Zhao Ping'an prostrated himself on the ground and thanked him quickly, but he was filled with hatred in his heart.

Is Zuihualou decorated with gold? How dare you ask for more than 20,000 taels of gold?

With the compensation of more than 20,000 taels, we can buy Zuihualou.

"Ren Hao, just wait for me!!!" Zhao Ping'an gritted his teeth secretly in his heart, but he still pretended to know his mistake on his face.

Seeing Zhao Ping'an gritting his teeth and looking unhappy, Ren Hao took the opportunity to speak sarcastically and said, "Prime Minister Zhao, I heard that you have been an honest official for so many years. I'm afraid that paying more than 20,000 taels in compensation will wipe out decades of savings."

"So let's put it this way. You only need to pay 20,000 taels of silver. You don't have to pay for the remaining 376 taels. You can keep them for your daily expenses."

"I wonder what Your Majesty thinks?" Ren Hao looked up at Wen Yan lying on the imperial couch.

"You are so thoughtful. I even forgot about the daily expenses of your mansion." Wen Yan patted his forehead and agreed directly.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for considering this old minister." Zhao Ping'an hurriedly thanked him, feeling extremely disgusted by Ren Hao.

Who do you look down on?

You still have to give me some extra money.

Zhao Ping'an kept cursing in his heart but didn't dare to show it on his face.

"Since this matter has been decided, I will send someone to your house to get the silver later." Wen Yan wanted to take the opportunity to send someone to the prime minister's residence to secretly investigate and find out how much this old bastard had embezzled during his decades of service in the court.