The female anchor turned into the dean of an ancient academy

"Dean, why are we back again?" Xiaozhi quickly followed behind Cen Jiexiao, her tone full of confusion and doubt. She looked back at the road she had come from and asked in a low voice, "Shouldn't we be following Li Yusheng? See what he and that Liaodan country guy are up to?"

Cen Jiexiao stopped, turned to look at Xiaozhi, and patiently explained, "Tracking Li Yusheng is certainly important, but we must not alert them, and we must not let them know we are following them."

Xiaozhi nodded, seeming to understand, but his eyes were still full of confusion: "Then why did we come back here? There's nothing here except these account books!"

"Arresting someone requires evidence," Cen Jiexiao said as she casually picked up an account book and flipped through it. "I just heard Li Yusheng talking to that man, and he seemed to mention some kind of sacrificial ceremony. I suspect..." She paused deliberately, her eyes glancing at Yu Lan and Xiao Zhi. Seeing that they were both listening intently, she continued, "I suspect he might be trying to take advantage of the sacrificial ceremony to harm the emperor!"

"Sacrificial ceremony?" Yu Lan and Xiao Zhi exclaimed in unison. They looked at each other and saw a hint of shock and disbelief in each other's eyes.

The sacrificial ceremony is the most important annual royal ceremony. During this ceremony, the emperor leads his civil and military officials, as well as his relatives, to the imperial mausoleum outside the city to pay homage to their ancestors and pray for peace and prosperity for the country and the people. If Li Yusheng really wants to take advantage of the sacrificial ceremony to harm the emperor, the consequences will be disastrous!

Xiaozhi couldn't help but shudder. She nervously grasped Yulan's sleeve and asked in a trembling voice, "Dean, what should we do? If Li Yusheng really wants to harm the emperor, then, then wouldn't we..."

"Don't be afraid, Xiaozhi." Yu Lan gently patted the back of Xiaozhi's hand and comforted her, "Don't we still have the dean? The dean will definitely find a way."

Cen Jiexiao calmly analyzed, "Li Yusheng holds a high position of power and is deeply trusted by the Emperor. If we don't have solid evidence, the Emperor might not believe us." She paused, her eyes determined as she spoke, "So, what we need to do now is to find evidence that Li Yusheng is colluding with the Liaodan Kingdom. Only then can we stop this conspiracy!"

"But where can we find evidence?" Xiaozhi asked anxiously. "There's nothing here except the account books!"

"Don't be impatient, let me think about it." Cen Jiexiao lowered her head and pondered for a moment. Suddenly, as if she had thought of something, she raised her head abruptly, a gleam in her eyes, "I think I know where to find evidence!"

She quickly walked to the pile of account books and began to look through them carefully. Seeing this, Yu Lan and Xiao Zhi hurried forward to help.

Time passed minute by minute, and the stone chamber was silent except for the sound of flipping papers. The three of them held their breath, fearing that they would miss any clues.

"Found it!" Cen Jiexiao suddenly exclaimed, breaking the silence in the stone chamber. She excitedly raised an account book in her hand, a victorious smile on her face.

Yu Lan and Xiao Zhi quickly surrounded her and saw that Cen Jiexiao was holding an account book in her hand with an excited look on her face.

"Look," Cen Jiexiao pointed at the lines of records in the account book, her expression serious. "Here are records of a large amount of funds related to the Zhenxi General's Mansion. They involve military pay, food, weapons, horses, and other important supplies. The amount is so huge that it's shocking." She paused, frowning, and continued, "What's more, the whereabouts of these funds are very suspicious."

Yu Lan and Xiao Zhi immediately came forward and carefully examined the contents of the account book. It was densely packed with records of various expenditures, with dates, amounts, purposes, and persons in charge. However, a closer look revealed that the purposes of many of the funds were vague and ambiguous.

"Look at this," Cen Jiexiao said, pointing to one of the records. "One million and a half taels of silver, and it's being used for 'border rewards'. Isn't that too much? And then there's this: six million dan of grain, used for 'border reserves'. But there's no fighting at the border right now. Is it necessary to stockpile so much grain?"

"It's indeed suspicious," Yu Lan also noticed the problem. "We need to investigate where the money went to see who it ended up in."

Cen Jiexiao nodded and pointed to another page in the account book. "I've just looked at it. A lot of this money was allocated to several generals at the border under various names, such as Wang Dan, Li Ruzhe, and Zhao Quanzong. They all have close ties to Li Yusheng and are his trusted aides who were promoted by him personally."

She paused, lowered her voice, and pointed to one of the records. "Look, this money was sent directly to Heifengkou, which borders Liaodan. It's called 'border trade,' but the amount is huge, and there's no record of the goods. It's clearly a bribe to Liaodan!"

Xiaozhi suddenly realized, "So that's it! Li Yusheng wants to use this money and grain to bribe the Liaodan Kingdom, so that they will send troops to help him rebel!"

"It's almost certain." A cold glint flashed in Cen Jiexiao's eyes. "This Li Yusheng is truly audacious. He actually dared to collude with foreign enemies and plot a rebellion. Isn't it enough for the Li family that the court has given them? What exactly does he want to do?"

"So what should we do now?" Xiaozhi was a little flustered. "Should we hand this evidence over to the Emperor?"

"No rush," Cen Jiexiao pondered for a moment. "We still don't know what Li Yusheng is up to. If we act rashly, we'll only alert the enemy. We have to continue investigating to see what he's up to. It would be best if we could find solid evidence of his collusion with the Liaodan Kingdom."

"But the sacrificial ceremony is coming soon..." Xiaozhi said worriedly, "What if Li Yusheng really wants to take advantage of this opportunity to harm the emperor?"

"Don't worry, I have my own way," Cen Jiexiao smiled confidently, "Let's take these account books back first and study them carefully to see if we can find more useful clues. Then we can make plans."

The three of them carefully packed up the account books and quietly left the stone chamber.

After returning to the academy, Cen Jiexiao immediately called Lu Qingyun, Wen Kuan, Wu Cheng and others into the study and began to carefully study the account books, hoping to find more clues about Li Yusheng's conspiracy, especially conclusive evidence of his collusion with the Liaodan Kingdom.

As night fell, Zhaoyin Academy was shrouded in silence. Only Cen Jiexiao's study was still brightly lit, reflecting the mottled shadows of trees on the window lattices.

However, unlike the tranquility outside the window, the atmosphere in the study was as cold as an ice cellar, so oppressive that it made one breathless.