Remarrying Chun Yuan

Emperor Qi Xiao's solution was also very simple and clear.

The purpose is to have Vice Minister Fang confess his guilt in court, acknowledging that he was indeed negligent in his decision-making regarding this matter, and requesting His Majesty to punish him.

Emperor Qi Xiao reprimanded him a few times, fined Vice Minister Fang a year's salary, and let the matter drop.

But he could only grit his teeth and put the abandoned royal forest farm up for public auction, donating all the money to the war effort.

His actions naturally earned him high praise from both civil and military officials.

The families targeted also went to the palace to express their gratitude and willingness to contribute to the great cause of the Great Qi. They donated all the money from the items they had sold or pawned during this period to the Ministry of Revenue, essentially paying a price to avoid further trouble.

Everyone was overjoyed and in high spirits, except for Minister Fang, who became the scapegoat. Emperor Qi Xiao spent a long time comforting him and promised him benefits.

When he was alone, he naturally felt frustrated and embarrassed.

"He's really not a fighter." Emperor Qi Xiao returned to his study and smashed several teacups.

Cheng Hai naturally understood that His Majesty was referring to Yuan Cuo. He instructed the eunuchs to clean up and leave quickly, saying, "It's also because Vice Minister Fang acted too hastily and was too greedy."

He wanted to fulfill Emperor Qi Xiao's wish not to sell the royal garden residence; he also wanted to manipulate Yuan Cuo and sow discord between Liu Yuechu and her brother.

Killing three birds with one stone?

They didn't even manage to shoot a rabbit, and instead got themselves into a mess.

Who does he think he is? Trying to pull such tricks in front of Yuan Cuo and Liu Yuechu?

Emperor Qi Xiao glanced at Cheng Hai twice, "Are you implying that I'm judging a gentleman by my own petty standards?"

"Your Majesty, please forgive me. This servant would never have dared to have such an intention."

Cheng Hai was filled with lingering fear, realizing that he had been negligent and had revealed his true thoughts. "This servant thinks that Your Majesty can also gain a good reputation for this, so the donation of this forest is not a loss."

"If we unite with Yan and Meng in this battle and defeat Chu again, the strength of Qi will surpass Meng and become the fifth among the seven states, or even be on par with Chu."

"And all of this is because Your Majesty would rather sell the royal gardens than let the descendants of meritorious officials suffer, and resolutely refuse to demote them or take back their rewards. All the people of Great Qi will praise you."

"Moreover, such a wise and mighty emperor will surely be recorded in great detail in history books, and the people of the Great Qi for thousands of years to come will know of you..."

Cheng Hai's horse photo is indeed very well done.

Emperor Qi Xiao also found a suitable way to gracefully step down.

"It is also because I failed to teach the Crown Prince well, nor the Third Prince well. Naturally, I must give up something to compensate the people."

"Your Majesty is wise!" Cheng Hai praised.

Hearing this, Emperor Qi Xiao felt a little better, but he was narrow-minded and did not want to let Yuan Cuo off the hook. "How to sell the garden is a very difficult issue. Why don't we let Liu Yuechu come up with a plan? Yuan Cuo can ask me for a certain amount of silver, and she can sell it for that amount of silver."

Those that couldn't be sold naturally had to be paid for by the Liu family.

Cheng Hai's heart skipped a beat. Was His Majesty really going after Liu Yuechu and Yuan Cuo? But he also understood that he had to appease Emperor Qi Xiao.

When the news reached Liu Yuechu, she was listening to Liu Musheng sighing and complaining.

Because of this, Huang Wanwan lost her appetite for three days straight, and seemed completely distraught.

"...This matter is somehow related to you, so why don't you go home and help me comfort her?"

"Actually, after she was rejected by you, she didn't have any further thoughts, otherwise she wouldn't have kept quiet about it. Although she harbored resentment towards you, she didn't do anything, and she still listened to what you said."

He didn't know about this at first; it was only after Huang Wanwan told him, crying and sobbing, that he learned about the unpleasantness between his wife and sister.

He was just glad that Huang Wanwan hadn't acted rashly and actually paid Fang Ziqing to help make the connection; otherwise, the Liu family would never have been able to recover and would have been drowned in the spittle of the people.

"She knows the whole story and knows she trusted the wrong person. You've been friends with her for so long, how could you not know what kind of person she is?"

"She just trusts her friends too much. When you were being maliciously suspected, she came out to help you without hesitation."

"..."

Seeing that Liu Yuechu had no reaction, Liu Musheng kept talking, hoping that his sister would step in and help him out of this predicament.

"Impossible, I can't go." Liu Yuechu only spoke when he mentioned that he was so thirsty that he asked the maids to pour him water.

“It was clearly because she didn’t think things through that we got into an argument. Now that we know things went wrong and she wronged me, she should be the one to apologize.”

"If you do something wrong, you should have the courage to admit it. You're usually so carefree, why are you being so dramatic now?"

Liu Yuechu shook the document that had just been sent from the palace, ordering her to sell the royal gardens. She was already furious and had lost all patience with Liu Musheng and Huang Wanwan.

"As you can see, I am the one who should bear His Majesty's wrath for her mistakes. Shouldn't she be the one to appease me?"

Although she liked Huang Wanwan, her best friend, she couldn't blindly indulge her.

Now that we're living together as a family, we need to be extra clear about right and wrong. Otherwise, if things continue like this, the bond between our best friends will eventually be worn away.

Liu Musheng clicked his tongue twice; he had no way to argue.

Honestly, he also felt that Huang Wanwan's actions were somewhat foolish. But thinking back to his past self, he realized he was a hundred times more foolish than her.

"Please give her just one chance, okay? I'm begging you."

"Then you sell this royal garden? Yuan Cuo offered 200,000 taels for military supplies. If you hand over 200,000 taels, I'll forgive her." Liu Yuechu rolled her eyes wildly.

Two hundred thousand taels of silver for a dilapidated garden.

Moreover, it was a royal property that had been neglected for a long time; Emperor Qi Xiao really dared to ask for such an exorbitant amount.

Yuan Cuo's original plan was to build gardens and several mansions for imperial officials, including 200,000 taels of silver that the Ministry of Revenue could allocate.

But now Emperor Qi Xiao is demanding that she sell the garden for 200,000, and he won't give her anything else...

"If that really doesn't work, how about deducting it from my dividends? If I can't pay it back in one year, I'll pay it back in a few more years. If I still can't pay it back, I'll never be able to pay off this 200,000 taels in my lifetime." Liu Musheng was also angry. He couldn't just let things stay like this. He really had no other choice.

“You’re using your lifetime’s worth of dividends to pay it off this time, but what about next time? And the time after that?” Liu Yuechu wasn’t bothered by his nonsense. “Besides, it’s hard to say whether the Liu family business can last a lifetime.”

While his father was being guarded at the Taoist temple in the palace, Emperor Qi Xiao had already begun his power struggle with Yuan Cuo in the imperial court.

No one knows when the end will be.

Liu Musheng kept scratching his head, almost pulling out all his hair.

“What you said at the beginning of the month was right. This was my fault, and I should come here to apologize.” A voice came in, and everyone looked over to see Huang Wanwan hiding half of herself in the corner.