"You?" Ye Haoxuan shook his head. He only planned to send his subordinates; how could he let him go?

"Yes." Ye Rongqing tugged on his arm and said, "Think about it, if you send your subordinates, they’ll definitely sneak in. The Hundred Snakes Gang has so many people; if they get discovered, wouldn’t that alert the enemy?"

"Why not let me go?" Ye Rongqing said with a sly smile, "I’ll go pretend to join them and infiltrate their ranks."

"No way!"

"Why not? Eldest Brother, are you worried about my safety?" Ye Rongqing shouted, "If you send someone else, their safety can’t be guaranteed either, can it? My life is a life, and so is theirs, right?"

Ye Haoyang couldn’t help but cover his face. Was this kid picked up from somewhere? How could he be so foolish?

Can’t he see that Eldest Brother was about to get angry?

"You..." Ye Haoxuan raised his hand slightly, about to explode from anger.

After what Rongqing said, how could he send his subordinates to do this? Wouldn’t it imply he was ignoring their safety?

"Eldest Brother!"

Ye Rongqing also realized he was angry and shrank back his head.

"Let’s talk about this later." Ye Haoxuan poured himself a glass of water and confirmed again, "Is it the Second Young Master?"

"It is!" Ye Haoyang asked, "Do you know who it is?"

"I don’t know which Second Young Master it is, but I do know which one doesn’t like me,"

Ye Haoxuan pondered for a moment and went to the study.

"Si, is there any message from the Capital City?"

"Yes." Si bowed his head and said, "State Duke Situ was publicly reprimanded by the Emperor and had his salary docked for three years. The eldest son of Situ had his position taken away." 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Regarding the matters on the Heng River and in Jingzhou, he truthfully reported them to the court while he was in Yun’an without exaggeration. The Emperor could not let it go without punishment.

But the punishment was much lighter than what he had hoped for. "The position may be gone, but another can come. As for the salary, they won’t miss it."

After a pause, he added, "Si, spread the word that the Hundred Snakes Gang has a gold mine in their hands."

"Understood!" Si nodded. "Does the master have any other instructions?"

"Send San to make contact with the Hundred Snakes Gang."

Si nodded, "By the way, the Prefect of Yun’an sent a message; do you want to see him?"

"Not now." Ye Haoxuan waved his hand, "But pass on to him that if any non-government personnel investigate the Hundred Snakes Gang, he should step in."

He intended to fish, not catch small fry.

"Has word of our arrival in Yun’an leaked out?"

Si bowed his head again, "No, the spies on the road have all been dealt with. When we entered the prefecture this morning, a few people were outside, but they were taken care of by Liu and the others."

"That’s good."

Somewhere in the prefecture, in a certain courtyard

A guard entered and whispered a few words in the young man’s ear, and the young man’s eyes suddenly widened.

"They’re all dead?"

"Yes!"

"Is Ye Haoxuan back?"

"I’m not sure." The guard continued, "Young Master, the Old Master wants you to return to the Capital City as soon as possible. Something’s happened there."

"What happened?"

"The Eldest Young Master’s official position was revoked, and the Old Master was fined his salary."

"Boom..." Situ Er kicked over a chair. The Emperor was already displeased with the Situ Residence; he was well aware of that.

Noble families like theirs rarely pleased any Emperor.

Take this instance—there was no evidence implicating their family, yet his father was still punished just because Liu Cheng was his father’s protégé?