Dali Temple Prison, Tianlao, where serious criminals are held, and a total of 127 members of the Zheng family are here, detained in different cells, but all in the same room, of course, excluding slaves and the like.
They had received the imperial edict read by Li Shimin. No one spoke, only the sounds of crying came from different cells. The oldest one, Zheng Rong, the patriarch of this sect, was seventy-three years old. His hands were shaking. What he held in his hand was the imperial edict, and he didn't know why he was trembling.
Suddenly, there was a noise in the quiet and cold cell, and soon the jailer from outside came in with someone, and brought the person directly to Zheng Rong.
Zheng Rong raised his head and looked outside. Li Ke did not hide his identity at all, but the two people behind him were shrouded in robes and could not be seen. There were also jailers with him.
"Is His Royal Highness the King of Shu coming to see the prisoners of our rank?" Zheng Rong suddenly stopped shaking his hands. He looked at Li Ke with a stern face and tried to straighten his old body.
"Zheng Lin, where is Zheng Mei?" Li Ke asked directly without bothering to talk nonsense.
Zheng Rong was stunned for a moment, "It's...over there." After a long time, Zheng Rong's lips suddenly trembled, and he pointed at a cell in front of Li Ke's left.
Li Ke directly raised his legs and walked there, "Open the door."
The jailer in front of Li Ke immediately lowered his head and opened the door. Inside this cell were women and children.
"Zheng Lin, Zheng Mei?" Li Ke asked again.
Among the crowd, two young women suddenly realized something and hurriedly opened their clothes, revealing a child less than two months old and a child less than six months old.
"Pass it over." Li Ke spit out three words.
The two women stood up quickly and ran directly in this direction. They ran to Li Ke and handed out the two babies, a boy and a girl, in their arms with trembling hands. Li Ke did not take it. Behind him, Yang Anning and Yang Li and Yang Li each reached out to take a child, and then enveloped them in their arms with their robes.
After doing all this, Li Ke turned around and left. He didn't even look at those eight or nine-year-old children.
With a "bang" sound, after Li Ke left, the jailer closed the cell door behind him again, and the sound of women crying bitterly came from inside. As for why they were crying, I am afraid only they themselves know.
Passing by the prison where Zheng Rong and the others were, Zheng Rong opened his withered lips and wanted to say something, but Li Ke didn't even stop and walked directly outside the cell.
Seeing Li Ke pass over their backs, Zheng Rong suddenly trembled and knelt down, lying on the ground.
All other members of the Zheng clan knelt down in unison.
Zheng Rong's old voice sounded loudly from behind: "May your Highness's wish last forever!"
"May your Highness's wishes last forever!" The uniform voices came from both men and women.
Hearing these voices, Li Ke stopped in his tracks, and then said in a cold tone: "Don't worry, if I die, there will be countless me in the future. No matter if it's a hundred or a thousand years later, there will always be someone who can do it."
After saying that, Li Ke directly raised his legs and walked out.
Zheng's people were still kneeling there, constantly muttering the words just now, "May your Highness's wishes last forever."
With a bang, the heavy prison door closed again, seeming to separate two worlds.
After leaving Dali Temple, Chang Lin was waiting outside. He said nothing, but watched silently as the two women following Li Ke boarded a carriage.
"Servant Chang, you can go back. I have nothing to do here." Li Ke said lightly.
"Yes!" Chang Lin nodded slightly and cupped his hands. The baby in Yang Anning's arms suddenly cried out, not knowing whether it was because of the loss of the familiar smell. A loud cry came from the carriage. .
Yang Anning nervously raised his head and looked outside, but he couldn't see anything because it was blocked by the curtain. But outside, Li Ke bowed his hand to Chang Lin with ease, and said with a self-deprecating expression: "Heh, Quite a loud voice. Let’s go.”
"Your Highness, walk slowly." Chang Lin said without changing his expression, cupping his hands.
At the Prince of Shu's Mansion in Chang'an City, when they returned home, Yang Anning and Yang Li looked at Li Ke with some anxiety. In their opinion, taking someone out of the prison... wasn't this just asking for death?
"What are you looking at me for? Tian Meng." Li Ke glanced at the two of them with a smile.
"Yes." Tian Meng immediately bent down and said.
"Go to two ordinary families who often ask for children, secretly leave them at their door, and give them 2 guan of money. Remember to change the cloth used to wrap the children into linen, and don't leave any information." Li Ke waved his hand and explained.
"Yes." Tian Meng immediately nodded in agreement. The two maids behind him came out and took the two children from Yang Anning and Yang Li's arms, turned around and left here.
"Your Highness." Yang Anning hugged her for a while and felt somewhat reluctant to let go.
"What are you doing? If you want a child, pick a time to bring the three of them to His Highness's room. It's not like I don't have the ability." Li Ke glared at her.
Yang Anning immediately lowered her head in shame, and she did not dare to answer these words. She knew that His Highness was not something a woman like her could expect.
Li Ke was a little disappointed, I thought you would agree, hey.
"Your Highness, what should I do with the two million dollars sent by Zheng? They said it would be delivered in three days." Tian Meng whispered.
Li Ke smiled, this is really a damn good day, asking Zhan over there, giving money here.
"Collect it, collect it all. This matter will be over soon. Since they dare to give it away, I dare to collect it." Li Ke said lightly.
"Yes!" Tian Meng lowered his head and said, "In addition, the Taiyuan Wang family has applied for a gold membership in one of our shopping malls. Originally, they wanted to apply for two, but Your Highness said that each family can only apply for one, and Zhao Jun The Li family, the Cui family in Qinghe, the Cui family in Boling, the Lu family in Fanyang, and the Zheng family in Xingyang all have a member."
"Got it." Li Ke waved his hand lazily, "What, my highness wants protection money from you?" He wasn't interested in them one by one. If the money was his, he would be excited, but unfortunately it wasn't.
"There are also some other big families who come to apply for membership, but they are mainly silver members." Tian Meng said in a low voice.
"How much did you charge?" Li Ke was a little curious. Although the number of members has increased recently, it was actually just a small matter, and this time there was a big one.
"Not counting the 2 million guan given by the Zheng family in Xingyang, the total amount collected is 4.82 million guan. Counting the former Longxi Li family and Li Shiji's family, as well as some other members, the total amount is 10.12 million guan. Pass." Tian Meng couldn't help but swallowed, this number was too astonishing.
"Hey! Not bad. If you add it all up, it's more than 12 million yuan, which is more than the annual income of Datang last year." Li Ke joked, hey, no wonder Lao Ma said, I don't like money, I don't like money. I don't feel much about money, and now Li Ke doesn't feel much about money either.
Of course, strictly speaking, the money did not belong to Li Ke, it was just in his hands, and he could not touch the money. However, the money that belonged to Li Ke only amounted to several hundred thousand yuan.
