Chapter 1737: Chapter 1734: Leverage

The wood carving that can be given as a birthday gift to the Dowager Empress is the reason for refusing the wood carvings acquired by Bai Bao Ge.

No matter what, Gao Ren realized that the Chu family is not easy to deal with, especially that lady of the Chu family, who always manages to come up with some useful items.

After three consecutive failures, Gao Ren’s rationality is somewhat crumbling, but thinking of the people above instructing him not to act recklessly recently, Gao Ren can only grit his teeth and swallow his blood.

Originally, Minister Qi did not think there was any major issue with the secret guards sent by Gao Ren.

He had already bribed people, and with just a hint, the secret guards would know what to do.

By that time, without evidence, even if Chu Heng was furious, he wouldn’t be able to link it to himself, especially since the Beirong Prince had recently returned to Beirong. Beirong and Great Chu are negotiating major trade affairs, and he really doesn’t have the energy to focus on this matter.

After instructing the people below to take care of it, there was no more involvement.

Who knew, when he was called into the palace by Emperor Xuanming to discuss court affairs, Emperor Xuanming unexpectedly mentioned the incident last night where thieves were caught at the Chu family’s old house, inquiring whether the capital was unsafe lately, as even a minister’s home was involved.

Minister Qi was so frightened that his heart skipped a beat. Having worked as a minister for over a decade, he was accustomed to hiding his true thoughts; otherwise, his expression at the moment would have betrayed something.

After leaving the Imperial Study, Minister Qi still couldn’t calm down. He felt the scorching sun was dizzying, subconsciously squinting at the sunlight. Suddenly, a thought hit him, and his heart skipped a beat.

Sure enough, upon returning to the residence, he learned that the secret guard hadn’t died and had revealed the Liu family.

The Liu family was involved with an official from the Ministry of Revenue. They were merchants, and only the Second Master of the Liu Family, relying on Minister Qi, had entered the Ministry of Revenue, holding a not-too-small, not-too-large position. A fourth-rank official is not conspicuous in the capital, but the Liu family was the wealthiest merchants, second only to the Gao family.

With this confession, the yamen directly went to arrest the Liu family master for interrogation.

Minister Qi’s heart sank. He knew there was no reason for the Liu family to attack the Chu family. If this matter couldn’t be logically explained, with Chu Heng’s thunderous methods, he would surely force the Liu family to implicate the Gao family. By then, with the downfall of the Gao family, it would be equivalent to his own financial loss.

Not to mention, Emperor Xuanming was already aware of this matter. Whether Chu Heng spoke of it himself or he asked actively, it was not good news.

His weakness had been caught by Chu Heng.

Minister Qi was both shocked and angry. That night, he contacted Minister Gao. On the surface, they had no visible relationship and didn’t get along well in court, but secretly they were quite close.

After receiving the message from Minister Qi, Gao Ren became a bit scared. He hadn’t expected such a casual matter to lead to such severe consequences.

Especially when the female members of the Liu family sent someone to his residence seeking help.

Gao Ren had only one thought in his mind: the Liu family must not implicate him.

He directly sent back a message, asking the Liu family to take the blame for this disaster.

Upon receiving this message, the female members of the Liu family cried uncontrollably, and a trace of resentment towards the Gao family arose.

But that night, another message was sent, demanding that they must confess.

At the foot of the Old Madam Liu sat three daughters-in-law with swollen eyes from crying. Both the Great Master and the Second Master of the Liu family were arrested, and the Liu family had to cooperate with the investigation.

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