Poisonous Goddess: I'm just lazing around in the mortal realm.

Hao Jing subconsciously touched the silver in his pocket, his expression somewhat displeased.

"What brings you here, Lord Zhou? Aren't you supposed to be out there today catching those bandits who've infiltrated the capital disguised as refugees?"

Previously, Zhou Jinghuai had somehow offended the Emperor of Nanyang again, and the emperor specially punished him by ordering him to capture the bandits who had been frequently sneaking into the city recently, in order to quell the criticisms directed at him in the court.

After pushing Thirteen to the bamboo chair, Zhou Jinghuai slowly sat down on it, acting as if he were the master of the house.

"I came to see my thirteen brothers. What are you doing here, a member of the Imperial Guard? Investigating a case?"

Zhou Jinghuai's gaze fell on Hao Jing's arms, as if he could see through the objects hidden in his arms.

He had arrived long ago and heard everything, so he knew that Haojing had taken thirteen's worth of silver.

Hao Jing coughed lightly a few times, seemingly to cover up his embarrassment.

"His Majesty issued an edict to release Thirteen, and I was just bringing her back on the way."

"Then why did you go into her room?"

"I'm thirsty, I'd like some water." Haojing nodded, seemingly quite certain that he had come in to get a drink.

On the contrary, Zhou Jinghuai couldn't help but laugh when he saw Haojing's extremely affected manner.

"You're charging people for water? Lord Hao is truly foolish. Are you going to join in this nonsense with Thirteen?"

Upon hearing this, Thirteen turned her head to look at him, only to find that Zhou Jinghuai had completely lost his usual carefree demeanor, and instead had a serious and solemn expression, as if he were saying that their behavior was extremely dangerous.

She frowned, a hint of suspicion in her eyes.

"Did you hear everything?"

"Otherwise? Why would I come here specifically to ambush him?" Zhou Jinghuai looked at Thirteen, waved his hand, pointed to Haojing standing at the door of Thirteen's residence, and said...

“You’re taking money to do things for Thirteen. Putting aside whether the job will succeed or not, if someone discovers the pattern engraved on the silver, I’m afraid you and Thirteen will end up in that dungeon again.”

Zhou Jinghuai stood up and walked to Hao Jing, shaking out all the silver in his arms.

The silver coin struck the ground with a resounding thud, and upon closer inspection, it was indeed one hundred taels of silver.

Haojing subconsciously took a step back, realizing he had been so confused that he had forgotten about it.

He had previously assured Thirteen that the Embroidered Uniform Guard was not allowed to have any dealings with any officials without an imperial edict.

He quickly squatted down and picked up one of the coins, then saw the words engraved on the bottom of the silver coin, and his face froze.

It really was government silver!

"How did you know?" Hao Jing looked suspicious. He had noticed that the ground in the southeast corner was a bit loose when he entered the house.

After gently rummaging around for a few moments, the silver coins hidden under the stone bricks were revealed.

The room was dimly lit, and he hadn't thought about where the silver came from. He simply took out the amount and didn't even realize that it was government silver!

All official silver was recorded and managed by the government.

If he takes this money to drink and gamble, I'm afraid I'll have to go back to that dungeon with Thirteen.

Zhou Jinghuai sighed slowly, saying that the two people were too foolish.

Seeing the way the two women were looking at him, he quickly explained.

"This silver should have been given to Mr. Thirteen by the Third Prince, right?" He glanced at Mr. Thirteen, who was sitting in a wheelchair. Her face was pale at the moment.

Thirteen swallowed hard and quickly replied

“It was given to me by him. I thought I had no use for this money, so I decided to give it to Haojing. Isn’t he always short of money?”

"..."

Haojing wanted to retort, but he choked and coughed a few times.

In all honesty, who exactly sold him out of everything? How could they even tell others that he was short of a single coin?

Thinking of this, his gaze toward Zhou Jinghuai became even more menacing. If he weren't in the wrong, he would definitely have a good argument with Zhou Jinghuai to find out who was betraying him.

"Your Highness bets you don't know where this money came from. Even if you don't use it in Haojing now, as soon as it gets out, he'll definitely arrest you." Zhou Jinghuai raised an eyebrow, inwardly marveling at how cunning the Third Prince was!

"What?" Thirteen was completely astonished. She couldn't believe that the Third Prince had deliberately kept a trick up his sleeve for her.

She had initially thought that the Third Prince had sent her this box of silver as compensation for curing him.

Little did she know, the silver that was delivered would take her life.

She never imagined it was government silver, and she never even checked it. She buried the silver before the Emperor's birthday and didn't care about it at all.

“Official silver must not fall into the hands of the common people. Although you, Thirteen, are ordered to enter the palace every month to take the pulse of Consort An, you do not actually hold any official position. If this silver is noticed by someone with ulterior motives, I'm afraid you will lose your head.”

Zhou Jinghuai picked up all the silver coins from the ground and threw them on the table.

Thirteen turned to look at the silver on the table, and his heart sank.

She still remembered the kindness the Third Prince had shown her, and she had even considered other options for him, such as how to deal with the dragon fetus in Consort An's womb.

It turns out, she was the stupidest one!

Thirteen leaned back, his tone pausing as he spoke.

"Then I still have to accept this favor, after all, the Third Prince sent it over in such a grand manner, and I don't want others to say that he mistreats his servants."

She couldn't say she hated Duan Yuchuan that much now, since although Duan Yuchuan had been cured of the poison, his health was not as good as before, and he was still recuperating in the Third Prince's residence.

However, upon closer reflection, she still prepares pills for Duan Yuchuan every month to maintain his health.

Her expression turned cold, her eyes filled with barely concealed killing intent, as she slowly looked at Zhou Jinghuai.

"How about I also prepare a grand gift for the Third Prince to celebrate his marriage?"

She couldn't help but laugh at Duan Yuchuan for not being very bright; hadn't he considered that Consort An's pregnancy was suspicious?

At first, from the moment she entered the palace to take Consort An's pulse until Consort An became pregnant, only a little over a month had passed. Even if Hua Tuo were alive, he could not have been so accurate in every way, allowing Consort An to get what she wanted.

From the beginning, this was not her doing!

But Duan Yuchuan never asked her whether she had disobeyed his orders and allowed Consort An to become pregnant with the emperor's child.

It's all so absurd!

Hao Jing rarely saw Thirteen with such murderous intent, so he quickly asked...

"What do you intend to do, sir? Are we not going to rescue Miss Pei?"

After much deliberation, he decided that if it came down to killing the Third Prince of Nanyang or saving the Second Miss Pei, he would rather steal the bride!

After all, Shen Mu had repeatedly instructed that Thirteen must be protected!

If they offend the An family now, they'll probably never have peace again.

Thirteen glanced at Haojing and said disdainfully.

"Of course we'll save him, but we also need to send a gift, otherwise we'd be letting down the Third Prince's trust."

Her voice was extremely low, carrying with it the last vestige of conscience she had for the Third Prince, which was also extinguished.

She didn't mind at all. While killing Chongming, she also took the opportunity to teach her own son a lesson on behalf of the Emperor of Nanyang. This kind of ungrateful behavior was indeed just like her father's.

They are all people who break their promises, so what is there to pity about them?