Prince! The political conspiracy is not a play, the show is real

Chu Huanjun handed over a piece of letter worth one thousand taels of silver to Zhining, in exchange for a thick stack of letters - this was all the evidence of the financial transactions between Zhou Yan and Zuo Di over the years.

In order to ensure that the source of every penny of money was clear and to have no worries, Zuo Di recorded every word in these letters in a book.

Each envelope contained the bills exchanged between the two of them at Tonghui Money House. Every piece of paper was written in black and white, and all had handprints and signatures, which was irrefutable evidence.

In order to prevent the matter from being exposed, Zhou Yan hid all the evidence in the underground wine cellar of his Jiangnan villa, and no one should have known about it.

It was all because Zhou Yan always loved to hang out in places of pleasure, and one night when he was drunk and unconscious, he accidentally told Zhining this secret.

Zhou Yan was a traveling businessman who was also fond of beautiful women. Naturally, he would not suspect Zhining, the beautiful and delicate concubine. Naturally, he could not guess why Chu Huanjun, a nobleman, kept approaching him.

He only thought that the wine was sweet and the beauties were charming - on the night of the Lantern Festival, it was Chu Huanjun who delivered the VIP invitation of Chunfeng Tower to Zhou Yan. Zhou Yan probably thought until his death that Chu Huanjun was just a like-minded friend, but he didn't know that Chu Huanjun had spent three years painstakingly weaving a huge and intricate web on him.

Chu Huanjun took out the wooden box he had prepared long ago and carefully put the envelopes into the box. He finally showed a long-lost relaxed smile on his face: "Thank you."

Zhining chased after him reluctantly, saying in a delicate voice, "Your Highness, are you really not going to stay in Jiangnan for a few more days?"

Chu Huanjun shook his sleeves, without saying goodbye to her, and walked away quickly like the wind.

A letter came from the capital, saying that Zuo Di had learned about Zhou Yan's assassination and could no longer contain his anger, so he went to the government office privately.

Chu Huanjun bought the best horse and rode it at full speed day and night to rush back to the capital. He couldn't help but repeat that name in his heart from time to time, praying that nothing would happen to her.

The weather was just right that day. Tao Yao hadn't seen Song Zhishou come back for a long time, so she took the initiative to take a rake and go to the cornfield to turn over the corn kernels.

She felt a little guilty about eating a whole sack of corn kernels, but she couldn't grow a corn field out of thin air, so she had to make up for it with labor.

Perhaps it was because the snow fell for too long this winter, and the sky tried hard to clear up the sky during the time she was locked up in the yamen.

The sun was so strong that day that she couldn't open her eyes for several times, but she still turned the corn kernels on the ground five or six times with a guilty conscience and infinite perseverance.

The sun was at its zenith, and Tao Yao was thinking of going back to the house to get a glass of cold water to quench her thirst. As soon as she turned around, she felt something tight behind her. Then someone pulled her collar with brute force, and she slipped and fell flat on her face.

When I looked up, I saw a strange face hanging upside down under the scorching sun.

"Who are you?"

Tao Yao felt confused and was about to get up from the ground, but was pressed down to the ground again.

The man's blow was so powerful that Tao Yao could almost hear the sound of her bones breaking. A hand grabbed her neck, forcing her to lift her face.

Another unfamiliar face caught my eye. This one had a fat head and big ears, and looked like a wild boar—not ugly, but scary enough.

His two long, narrow, slanted eyes hung vacantly on his thick and swollen cheeks. There was a large, black, hairy mole on the tip of his nose, and he even had a pipe between his purple-red lips.

This person had a look of contempt, his nose turned up in the air, and without even looking at Tao Yao, he said, "She's quite smart, what a pity."

Tao Yao sensed something was wrong and struggled mightily, shouting, "This is the government office. Who are you to cause trouble here? Lord Song will be back soon..."

She brought up "Lord Song" in an attempt to intimidate the criminals, but before she could finish her words, she was punched again by the man on top of her.

Tao Yao suddenly felt stars in her eyes and a sharp dull pain came from the back of her head.

No longer caring about anything else, Tao Yao shouted, "Who are you, you fat pig?! In broad daylight, do you think there is no law in the Great Chu?!"

When these words were spoken, everyone around was stunned.

The fat, big-eared man in the lead squatted down and finally looked Tao Yao in the eye. He raised his hand and gently patted Tao Yao's sweaty cheek, as if he had patted a rotten melon, and a look of contempt suddenly appeared on his face.

"Girl, I'm Zuo Di, the Minister of Revenue. You should call me Lord Zuo." He paused for a moment, then carefully examined Tao Yao's face. His fingertips squeezed her jaw tightly, pinching her cheeks until they were bruised. "Tell me, who has a higher rank, me or Song Zhishou, this little-known county magistrate?"

Tao Yao was pinched by Zuo Di and felt pain, unable to move, so she simply bit Zuo Di's tiger's mouth hard.

Zuo Di cried out in pain, then he let go and stepped aside, pointing at Tao Yao and angrily cursing, "You girl! You don't know what's good for you! Forget it, forget it... You don't have many days left to live anyway!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Tao Yao saw a sack falling from the sky towards her.

The next second, the sack covered Tao Yao's whole body. Tao Yao suddenly felt sore and weak in her limbs, and there was a white rain of stars in front of her eyes.

The sack was dripped with a knockout drug that could make people unconscious. The drug was extremely strong and Tao Yao passed out in a few moments.

Zuo Di raised one foot and gently kicked the tightly wrapped sack. Seeing no sound from inside, he ordered the thugs on his left and right, "Drag her away and take her to the dungeon."

When Tao Yao woke up again, she found herself tied up and tied to a cold iron pillar.

Tao Yao looked around; it was pitch black and unlit. Fortunately, there was a small skylight in the roof, and through the light, she could clearly see several stone pillars extending upside down from the sky to the ground. Three feet in front of her was a tightly closed iron prison door.

Apart from the low moans that came one after another, some far away and some near, no other sound could be heard.

Tao Yao gasped as she recalled the previous incident. She thought it was the Minister of Revenue, Zuo Di, who had imprisoned her here.

Tao Yao was in a state of confusion and couldn't understand why she was taken away by Zuo Di. She clearly had no grudge against this man.

The dungeon was dark and damp. An unknown chill surged from Tao Yao's feet up her whole body, forcing her to tremble uncontrollably.

Because the dungeon never sees the sun all year round, the walls are covered with a layer of frost left over from the dead of winter. And because the weather has been fine recently, occasional sunlight shines in through the skylight, melting the layer of frost on the roof, causing water to drip down.

The cold water droplets hit Tao Yao's shoulders one by one, and she shivered with every hit.

Every time she shivered, the chains tied to her arms, hands and feet swung, making a clanging sound.

The noise quickly woke up several jailers who were still dozing outside the door. Someone said, "Go tell Lord Zuo quickly, the man is awake."

"Master Zuo? Could it be Zuo Di..." Tao Yao's originally exhausted spirit suddenly became tense, and he stared at the situation outside the prison door intently.

Not long after, a group of thugs were seen walking towards them from a distance, with the pot-bellied Zuo Di surrounded in the middle.

They were all holding torture instruments in their hands. As they approached, Tao Yao smelled the overwhelming smell of alcohol, which made her eyes sting and painful.