Fix Smile Order

While working, Zheng Shaofeng chatted with the coffin, "We’re going to do something big today, so we need your help. I'll get you something better in the future. Don’t blame me." He cupped his hands in salute to the coffin and then added, "The Emperor ordered this matter to be done. If you are really angry, you can talk to him. He lives in the Imperial Palace of the Imperial City, so it's easy to find..."

Tan Lingyin listened with black lines all over her forehead. The Emperor's body was full of dragon aura, so no evil spirits dared to get close to him. Not just the Emperor, but also Zheng Shaofeng, because he had been on the battlefield and had taken many lives, he also bore a body of strong murderous aura. Ghosts and the like were also very afraid of such people. Oh, and Tang Tianyuan, he was a reincarnation of deity of culture and literature. Divine immortal energy surrounded his body, and the evil spirits dared not approach him even more.

After thinking about it, Tan Lingyin realized if the owner of this place really harbored resentment, she would be the most likely person it would target...

The method of ‘drain the pond to get the fish’ was very effective. They were equivalent to building a tiny dam upstream of the undercurrent. The dam was not strong and leaked, but it somehow worked. The water level dropped slowly, and after waiting for nearly two hours, the gold bricks gradually emerged.

Tan Lingyin had never seen so much gold before. Her eyes almost popped out and her heart was beating wildly.

The appearance of the gold tested the inner qualities of everyone present. Although the soldiers were somewhat agitated, they remained disciplined and ready to obey Zheng Shaofeng's command at any time.

Zheng Shaofeng divided everyone into three groups. The first group consists of reliable people, who are responsible for packing gold by the water. The second group were the most reliable of the reliable. They were responsible for transporting out the boxed gold. This group of people connected the inside of the tomb to the outside, and they were not allowed to disclose anything. The third group were the rest of the people and accounted for the majority of people. They are dedicated to waiting outside and guarding the goods. They were not made aware of what was inside these heavy boxes. 

Zheng Shaofeng left Tang Tianyuan and Tan Lingyin as supervisors by the water. He went up to provide support.

The whole moving process lasted more than two hours. Once all the gold was loaded into the carriages, the sun had already begun to set. 

Zheng Shaofeng led his men back to the garrison. Three thousand people guarded thirty carriages, surrounding the grain carriages layer by layer. Zheng Shaofeng issued a military order: Anyone who deliberately gets close to the grain carriages will be killed; anyone who inquires about what is in the grain carriages will be killed; anyone who talks about it will be given a hundred military flogs. 

After Zheng Shaofeng gave this order, everyone knew that these carriages were of great importance—of course it was, otherwise thousands of people would not have been dispatched to transport thirty carts of grains. A military order was as heavy as the sky, even if they were curious, they could only do it secretly.

After returning to the county government office, Tang Tianyuan rewarded everyone who went to the tomb together that day. He then wrote a letter of recommendation for everyone except the Feng Shui Master. The next magistrate of Tongling would definitely not treat them lightly after reading this letter. He also warned them to keep their mouths shut.

Then, he found Duan Feng and gave him a bag of silver. "Take this money and distribute it to your brothers. Two taels per person, let they do so lawful business."

Duan Feng took the money and asked, "Aren't my sins punishable?" Didn’t he say that his crimes would warrant a death penalty?

Tang Tianyuan shook his head, "You can pay for your crimes by collecting merits. You wouldn’t need to die, at most you would be exiled. I have found the family of the girl who hanged herself. They promised that as long as you give them fifty taels of silver, they won’t pursue the matter anymore."

"I– I don't have that much money..."

"I've already paid them for you."

Hearing this, Duan Feng fell to his knees and kowtowed heavily to Tang Tianyuan. "My lord, you are my great benefactor. From now on, I will do whatever you want me to do."

"Get up, I don't need you to do anything. You are skilled and gallant. Remember to behave properly in the future and don't hurt others."

"I will definitely do as you say."

As soon as Duan Feng left, Cong Shun arrived. He came to Tang Tianyuan for two reasons. One was to thank; now that Zong Yinglin was under fire, all the criminals scattered, so his family remained safe. The second was to plead guilty. No matter what, he did participate in the case and gave Zong Yinglin a lot of tips.

"No need," Tang Tianyuan shook his head. "You were coerced."

Now that everything that needed to be done has been done, it was time for him to depart.

—

The cold winter wind in the twelfth lunar month seemed to be caught in ice. Once blown towards the face, the skin would become numbingly cold.

Tan Lingyin couldn't help but take off her mink gloves and rubbed her face.

Tang Tianyuan said, "This is why you should have taken a carriage. Are you cold?"

Tan Lingyin tightened her rabbit fur scarf, and lowered the fox fur hat a bit. Her voice coming out from among the piles of animal fur was a little weird, "It's not cold, it's quite fun."

She dressed up as a soldier and followed them without armor. She wanted to ride a horse, but unfortunately she didn’t know how to. If she rode with Tang Tianyuan, she would feel too high-profile and weird.

So she rode out on a donkey. The gold-filled carriage couldn't go fast, anyways, so even if she rode a pig to follow, it wouldn't delay their trip.

Tang Tianyuan himself was riding a tall horse, and the height difference between the two of them was quite large. Tan Lingyin still had to look up when talking to him. Now that her face was buried in the silver-white fox fur and rabbit fur, making her even smaller. Tang Tianyuan looked down at the soldier riding a donkey, shook his head, and smiled, "Immature."

Qingchen followed behind them, seeing how funny his sister looked, he also smiled.

Zheng Shaofeng was at the front of the team, Tang Tianyuan and the other three were in the back, and behind them was the Tang Residence's own team.

The gold fished out from the tomb, together with the stolen money kept by Official Sun, Official Qi, and ex-prefect Zong's Mansion, plus the money kept by Tan Lingyin, Tang Tianyuan roughly estimated that there were about one hundred fifty thousand taels. Many people were still kept in the dark about this large amount of gold. Tang Tianyuan also couldn't check each item one by one, so he could only lock everything up, and transport it to the Ministry of Revenue safely first.

In addition to gold, he also had to deliver Qingchen safely to the Emperor and Empress. 

As for Tan Lingyin, she originally wanted to go home for the New Year, but Tang Tianyuan insisted that she go to the imperial city first. It was the end of the year, and it was such a great achievement. It was the best opportunity to ask for more favors from the emperor. There was no way they would postpone till after the new year.

Therefore, when Tan Lingyin passed by Jinan, she and Qingchen hurried home to have a look. Without even eating a meal, they turned back and caught up with the large army. Tang Tianyuan sent some people to protect the siblings. If he wasn’t in a rush, he would have definitely visited his future father-in-law himself.