Emperor Jianming hadn't even managed to direct the conversation to the 500,000 taels before Xie Xun began lamenting his poverty, claiming he had sold off ancestral properties for disaster relief—an unprecedented move. Stories about Marquis Zhenbei Mansion selling off its private assets until they were almost depleted were already well-known. Even the seven great noble families had experienced their fair share of extortion at the hands of the Second Young Master. And now, it had come to ancestral sales—truly a pitiful state of affairs.
The Minister of Revenue, Gong, was cursing silently. Young Marquis, who do you think you're fooling?
