Treason

2 days later, Yuan Boran's study.

Yuan Boran rubbed his temple gently as his silk store's steward read out the list of customers that had cancelled their orders and were requesting a refund.

it was worse than he had expected, they had lost more than half of their clientele in two days. 'Do none of these people have a single drop of loyalty in them', he thought sighing.

Most of them had done business with him for over a decade, yet they were easily swayed by the Duke. He had expected a few of his closest friends to stick by him but none of them did, they were all too scared of the Duke.

Yuan Boran glanced down at the letters sent over by the coast guards, just like the Duke had threatened.

His shipments were all seized, even with his documents being up to date. He glanced from the letter to his steward and with a pained expression instructed him to lock up the stores.

He quickly looked behind the steward as his younger brothers burst into the door. Their expressions were pensive and they both held letters.

He had a feeling that they had somehow met the same misfortune he had these last two days He quickly dismissed the steward, the last thing he wanted was an audience. It would not help if his family's present situation was known.

He held up his hands to prevent his brother from saying anything until the steward was out of hearing.

Yuan Chang paced the room continuously, his mouth itched to scold his stubborn elder brother but his second brother's meaningful gaze held him back.

Yuan Chang walked to the window and looked out, he stood there until the steward was out of sight.

He stepped away from the window when the steward was out of sight and squeezed the letter in his hand.

It was from his son's school in the capital and had been delivered a few minutes later to his residence.

He looked down at the letter and frowned, "Brother Boran, we only have a day remaining. Have you made a decision?"

Yuan Boran nodded, "don't worry about any of this. I already sent word to the capital, his grace can't do anything to us once his majesty has been informed of the situation here. We just have to be strong until then".

Yuan Chang's eyes twitched, this was not what he wanted. He charged forward and slapped both hands on the table in front of him,

"This is not time to act stubborn, it is not only you that is affected. Please think of Yichen and I, why act so self-righteous?

"Brother Yichen's restaurant was raided by the ministry of works for the sale of illegal substances, his license has been withdrawn. Do you have to be so stubborn, my son is about to pay for your actions. He is about to be kicked out of the Imperial Academy because you refuse to let go!"

Yuan Boran preset his lip, he glanced at his younger brother looked visibly angry. He took a deep breath,

"A'Chang, you of all people should understand why I am doing this. I don't mean you two any harm. What the Duke is asking me to do is wrong on so many levels. Dad and mum trained us better, if we join hands with him, we might end up losing our freedom".

"We already lose our freedom whether we join him or not, let us just let him have his way and reap the benefits. We are just letting him use our routes this once", Yuan Chang said.

Yuan Boran frowned at his brother's suggestion, "What happens when he is caught, someone like the Duke would make us take the fall".

"Then we make sure that everything doesn't lead back to us, we have enough workers that can be made to take the fall. How hard would it take to build a good fall man? I say we look away and let him do whatever he likes", Yuan Change argued.

Unlike his elder brother, he did not see the reasoning in making an enemy out of a man as powerful as Duke Shenxiu. Yuan Boran on the other hand would prefer not to get involved with the Nie family.

Duke Shenxiu's bloodthirsty nature was common knowledge and as such, Yuan Boran preferred not to get involved with him.

He glanced at Yuan Yichen who had been quiet throughout, his second brother seemed to be in thoughts. He had been quiet since he walked in, Yuan Boran was curious about his brother's stance in this argument.

After some thought Yuan Yitchen stepped forward and placed hus hand on his younger brother's shoulder "don't act so naive Chang, this is treason. If we are caught, we could hang for joining hands with him".

Yuan Chang snorted, "please this is Duke Shenxiu, the elder brother of his majesty's favourite Consort. He has a massive military power that even the Zhao family respects him. He will never be caught".

"Chang! People could die! do you want to have their deaths in your conscience all for a profit?"

"Brother Boran, he is only asking us to smuggle in a few contrabands and maybe a few slaves. how can people die from that?"

"He is asking us to sell military weapons to the enemy together with bringing in slaves and drugs. As the head of this family, I will not entertain any of that. I already sent a report to the court, it will get there in two days. Once the court is involved, we will not have to compromise our values".

Yuan Chang's heart stilled as he heard that, he immediately glanced at Yichen whose face had grown completely expressionless.

He opened his mouth to scold his elder brother for his hasty action but shut his mouth when Yichen shook his head.

Yuan Yichen supported their elder brother's actions, even going as far as to find out the identity of the official their elder brother had sent the letter. Twenty minutes later, Yuan Yichen and Yuan Chang both left the elder brother's residence together.