The sickly son died young? After the marriage exchange, I will bring prosperity to his entire clan f

"We know little about the loss of the national treasury. If this news gets out, how could the surrounding countries of Da Shun not be interested? And what did Tapo do this time?"

"First, they falsely claimed that the emperor had died, and then they injured the crown prince. Each of these actions was enough to lead the Dharma to its demise."

The Emperor and the Crown Prince were shocked. They exchanged a glance, and the Emperor said, "I am aware of this matter. You are only just recovering, so go back and rest early. I am still sending people to look for Mingxian. We will definitely find her."

"Yes." Ling Silang responded and withdrew. Outside the hall, the wind blew, dispelling his emotions and clearing his mind. He thought about what he had said inside the hall. Either the Emperor or the Crown Prince could have killed him directly.

That's incredibly disrespectful.

He was so anxious that he lost his mind.

How could the Emperor and the Crown Prince, as those in power, not know about such an obvious problem?

Inside the hall, the Emperor and the Crown Prince sat quietly for a while before the Crown Prince spoke, “Father, I think… Lord Ling should know something about the national treasury. He said that the items missing from the national treasury can be returned, and he was very certain of it.”

The Emperor smiled and said, "You are a lucky man to have met Zimo and Mingxian."

The Crown Prince smiled, then thought for a moment and told the Emperor the truth, "It was my aunt... After she got lost, she was bought by Du Mingxian and became her maternal grandmother."

"Oh, tell me what happened."

“Du Mingxian’s father treated her very badly. After she married Ling Ziming, she was worried about leaving her mother alone in the Du family, so she bought a few servants and just happened to buy her aunt back with her.”

“She bought these servants to act as her maternal relatives, and her aunt became Du Mingxian’s maternal grandmother. She also bought herself an uncle, and she gave advice behind the scenes. Her uncle took her cousin to bring her mother out of the Du family.”

"Later, they came to the capital and there was no news from them. The Ling family was extremely anxious and went to Du Mingxian's mother several times to discuss the matter. The matter was then discovered by her aunt."

“My aunt also liked her very much, so she wrote a letter to her son, and he found out about it right away.”

"It was for this reason that Du Mingxian gave her son some good things, which helped him recover and live like a normal person."

After listening quietly to the Crown Prince's words, the Emperor was somewhat surprised. "Your aunt?"

"Yes."

The emperor thought of his absurd uncle, who had married the empress's elder sister, even though the empress was many years older than her.

"What a coincidence!"

"Yes, they got in touch later. With my aunt around, Du Mingxian and Ling Ziming were loyal to their son, and her mother treated my aunt like her own mother."

The Crown Prince also knew some things: "After Ling Ziming passed the high school entrance exam, her mother went back home first because she was worried that her aunt would have no one to take care of her."

The Emperor laughed heartily, “She is indeed a blessed person. All the absurd things she experienced before, the suffering in her previous life, have been given to her in the second half of her life as a free gift of several filial elders.”

"Yes."

The Emperor realized that his sister-in-law was Du Mingxian's maternal grandmother, and if they followed the line of kinship, Du Mingxian would have to call him "Grandpa."

He immediately dismissed the idea, "You didn't tell Du Mingxian about your aunt, did you?"

"No, Du Mingxian only knows that my aunt is related to me. She probably doesn't know anything else. Back then, my aunt's affair with Prince Duan affected the royal family's reputation. An order has been issued forbidding anyone from spreading it, and no one dares to spread it."

"That's good. I still like it when that girl calls me Dad. I don't feel that way about your sisters."

The Crown Prince chuckled but remained silent. He also liked his father's decision; he was happy to have Du Mingxian as his younger sister.

"Now that Mingxian is missing, and Zimo just suggested attacking directly, Father, what should we do next?"

The Emperor looked at him and said, "You will soon ascend the throne. Now is the time for you to make a decision. Think it over carefully."

“My son feels caught in a dilemma. As Zi Mo said, if we don’t retaliate against what the Tapo has done this time, the surrounding countries will be eyeing us covetously, seeing us as easy targets.”

"If we want Da Shun to show some strength, we have to do something, but we don't have any money."

"The national treasury is still intact, so we can launch a war directly. We can use this as an excuse to show that we are in the right. Even if the Dharvas are completely wiped out, no one will dare to say anything."

"But... we don't have any money right now. As for what Silang said, I don't think it's appropriate. It's not that I'm too embarrassed to do it, but I'm afraid someone will make trouble for me."

“Wealthy merchants are also commoners. When they spend the money of commoners, their thinking will be influenced. They will be hesitant and timid in their actions. If someone commits a grave mistake, will they use the issue of money as an excuse to make a fuss and then turn around and say that the royal family is heartless?”

"So my son felt that we could first spread the word that we were angry about what the shaman had done, so we should fight back. We were in the right, and no one could say anything if the word got out."

"But we have no money, and I don't know what to do."

The Emperor felt that the Crown Prince had truly grown up and was very thoughtful in his considerations. "You did the right thing. Now we just need to summon the ministers to the palace to discuss the attack on the Dharva."

"The affairs of the national treasury probably can't be kept secret. Few people knew about them at the time, but there are always ears behind the walls, and human nature is selfish."

"We can use a mix of truth and falsehood, pretending to be preparing for war while keeping our focus here, but secretly still prioritizing finding Mingxian."

"If you guessed correctly, Mingxian is the key to the missing national treasury. If we find her, we'll have the silver. With the silver, we'll have to make sure that Tapo is wiped out this time."

The crown prince immediately understood. "Father, shall this matter be announced at tomorrow's morning court session?"

"Yes, it's also a good opportunity to see the ministers' reactions. The secret guard battalion also needs to intensify its training; this incident must not be allowed to happen again."

The Emperor then remembered Ling Silang, "Isn't Zimo's medical skill very good? Ask him if he has any way to make the secret guards immune to all poisons, or at least make common medicines ineffective against them."

"This is to our advantage."

"Yes, my son will take some time these next couple of days to visit Zimo and talk to him about it."

While they were already discussing how to start the war, Du Mingxian's side made no progress at all. The old woman was still feeding her medicine. Niu Bao had come by before she started feeding her the medicine.

When Niu Bao came in, Granny Wang stood guard outside. She didn't know what they said inside.

Granny Wang brought over the medicine, but Du Mingxian hurriedly called out to her, "Wait a minute, I have something to say."

"what happened?"

"Look at what I have in my hand."

When Granny Wang lifted the quilt, she saw two gold ingots, and her eyes immediately lit up. "Where...where did these come from?"

She had been serving Du Mingxian all these days, and no one knew better than her what Du Mingxian had. How could there be two extra gold ingots, each worth ten taels?

"If you don't give me any medicine today, I'll give you this."

Granny Wang immediately beamed, "No, you must take the medicine you're supposed to take."

"Oh, you need to be flexible. Think about it, don't I feel uncomfortable lying here all day? Don't you feel uncomfortable taking care of me when I need to poop and pee every day?"