Late the next morning.

Pang Yuande and the four secretaries were all dragged to the market quarter and beheaded in front of everyone.

Ning Chen meant to kill the chicken to frighten the monkeys.

The court was bound to send officials later to oversee the building of Xuanwu City.

Unless he scared the next lot of officials straight in one stroke, there'd be no stamping out graft and bribe-taking.

Word of the pardon notice had spread too.

Once the Xiliang men learned that Ning Chen would let them go home when Xuanwu City was finished, they worked even harder!

And when the laborers, Xiliang men and Great Xuan convicts alike, found out they'd be paid for their work, they were overcome with gratitude.

As for Ning Xing and Ning Mao, Jiang Hui had given them clerks' jobs, keeping records day to day. It was easy work.

One day, Ning Chen had food and wine prepared and sent for Ning Xing and Ning Mao.

"This guilty commoner greets my lord prince!"

The two of them bowed respectfully when they saw him.

Ning Chen pointed at the stools. "Sit!"

The two of them sat down, trembling.

The man in front of them was the most powerful prince in the Great Xuan today, below one man and above ten thousand... Forget the two of them. Even the court's highest officials had their hearts in their mouths in front of him.

It wasn't only Ning Chen's enormous power. More to the point, he was a man who killed on the battlefield, and the aura of slaughter that came off him without his even trying chilled people to the bone.

Ning Chen picked up the wine pot and poured as he spoke. "This is the first time the three of us brothers have ever sat down at the same table to eat, isn't it?"

The color drained from Ning Xing's and Ning Mao's faces, and they dropped to their knees in fright.

Back at the Ning residence, Ning Chen had lived with the servants. Forget sitting at the table. He'd been lucky to get scraps…