Shen Hao hurriedly stood up and cupped his hands modestly, "Your Highness flatters me. I have very little ability, and any credit comes from following Lord Wu’s orders."

When it comes to the Black Banner Battalion, it’s not up to this Prince Shou to decide whose contributions count—even Wu Changhe doesn’t get a say. That’s for Governor Jiang Cheng to determine. Since when did Prince Shou get a turn? So Shen Hao wasn’t interested at all in the awkward act of showing off his achievements before Prince Shou, and casually shifted the credit onto Wu Changhe. After all, isn’t Wu Changhe one of your people, Prince Shou? You lot can entertain yourselves.

"Oh? Hundred Households of Shen is truly modest. The case of concealing the plague was discovered and filed for prosecution by Lord Shen, his merit is unparalleled. Seems the reward’s bound to be generous!"

Reward? Shen Hao almost forgot about that. Regarding the previous plague case, the Governor’s Office had originally said the rewards would be announced at a regular meeting, but several meetings had gone by without so much as a peep. Who knows why it’s been held back.

"It was all my duty, I wouldn’t dare claim reward."

"Oh? So Hundred Households of Shen accomplished such a feat and received nothing? Households Commander Wu, that’s rather unkind of you." Yang Lin laughed heartily, then turned and teased Wu Changhe.

Wu Changhe was clearly startled for a moment, then quickly followed with a laugh: "Your Highness, you wrong me. Lord Shen belongs to the Black Banner Battalion. Though nominally under the jurisdiction of Fengri City Thousand Households Station, his allegiance is dual, and any rewards are to be decided by Lord Xue Houxuan of the Black Banner Battalion under the Jingxi Governor’s Office."

Though this was the truth, Wu Changhe saying it in such a situation made things awkward, as if implying something else.

Yang Lin laughed even more heartily upon hearing this, and it was a while before he spoke again: "Xue Houxuan! Haha! He’s nothing but a decorative vase, it’s no wonder he can forget about the rewards. Hahahaha..."

Vase?

If Shen Hao remembered correctly, Xue Houxuan was a man. Yet Yang Lin called him a "vase", well then...

"Attendants!"

Yang Lin laughed for a long time before stopping, and without waiting for the others to react, he loudly summoned his own subordinate.

"Go, fetch me the silver box I brought."

The subordinate answered and quickly returned, holding in both hands a silver metal box, half a foot square, which he respectfully placed before Yang Lin before stepping aside.

Yang Lin opened the box with a beaming smile, revealing a sparkling collection inside.

"Wow!"

Even people like Wu Changhe and the others, considered bosses in their own right, couldn’t help but exclaim with shining eyes when they saw the contents of the box.

Sitting at the end, Shen Hao couldn’t see what was inside, but he was sure it probably had something to do with himself, since Yang Lin had his people fetch it.

Sure enough, Yang Lin rotated the box to let Shen Hao see what was inside while speaking: "These are twenty Mid-grade Spirit Stones. Since the Governor’s Office hasn’t issued your reward, this king will take the liberty just this once. I hope Lord Shen won’t find them unworthy of notice."

Worthy of notice?

This was the first time Shen Hao had ever seen a Spirit Stone in real life, and these were actually Mid-grade Spirit Stones!?

Spirit Stones are divided into four grades. The lowest is Lower Grade, then comes Middle Grade, Upper Grade, and Top Grade. A single Middle Grade Spirit Stone of a given size is equivalent to ten Lower Grades of the same size. In other words, this box of twenty Middle Grade Spirit Stones is worth two hundred Lower Grades. Shen Hao remembered that fifty Lower Grade Spirit Stones could buy you a rare Middle-grade Magical Artifact Soft Armor...

If you really did the math, this box of Middle Grade Spirit Stones was probably worth as much as all his assets. The crucial point is that Middle Grade Spirit Stones could be used to directly absorb Spiritual Qi, a method way more effective than pulling it out of thin air using a Cultivation Technique. So Lower Grade Spirit Stones were often used as quasi-currency, but those of Middle Grade and above basically never circulated on the market, since most of them were consumed instead.

Truly fitting for a prince—so extravagant. And judging from Yang Lin’s expression, twenty Mid-grade Spirit Stones seemed like nothing to him.

Should I accept, or not?

Shen Hao hesitated for a moment, then rose and bowed deeply, saying, "Your Highness, I accept your kindness in my heart. However, what I did was merely my duty, I dare not claim a reward, and I especially dare not accept such a generous gift from Your Highness. Please, take it back."

Yang Lin’s relaxed posture paused for a second. Then he tilted his head with great interest, studied the still-bowing Shen Hao for a while, and laughed: "So, Hundred Households of Shen thinks this king isn’t generous enough? Attendants, bring another box."

The subordinate at the back immediately went to fetch another silver box of the same size. Once opened, the two were aligned side by side. Now, the table held a full forty Mid-grade Spirit Stones.

"Well then, Lord Shen, is this enough now?"

Shen Hao’s brows furrowed; he stopped bowing and instead straightened his back, face completely impassive as he addressed Yang Lin: "Please don’t misunderstand, Prince Shou. I simply mean one should not accept a reward without merit, not that Your Highness’s gift is insufficient."

"So it’s not that the gift is too small, then you must mean I don’t have the right to reward you? Isn’t that what you mean, Hundred Households of Shen?"

"What I mean is one should not accept a reward without merit, not that Prince Shou’s gift is insufficient." Shen Hao couldn’t even bother to argue further; he just repeated himself. Some prince who had nothing to do with him suddenly wanted to slap him in the face with Spirit Stones? What kind of logic is that? If you really have what it takes, don’t just go twenty by twenty—why not try twenty thousand at a time? Maybe you’d actually corrupt me that way.

Repeating the same phrase over and over—even with a respectful expression—that was obvious perfunctory contempt.

Yang Lin snorted coldly, thoroughly provoked by Shen Hao’s lack of tact.

"Lord Shen, Prince Shou means well, you..." Wu Changhe tried to step in and say something, but Shen Hao cut him off halfway, forcing him to swallow his words.

"What I mean is one should not accept a reward without merit, not that Prince Shou’s gift is insufficient."

Fine, there it was again. He didn’t bother with either Prince Shou’s or Wu Changhe’s face at all.

"Insolence!" Yang Lin was truly enraged now; with a bang, he slammed his chair’s armrest to pieces, the Evil Qi in his eyes utterly undisguised.

But Shen Hao’s expression didn’t change a bit. He again cupped his hands and continued: "What I mean is one should not accept a reward without merit..."

"You!"

"What I mean is..."

"Get out!"

"Understood, I take my leave." And with that, Shen Hao backed out from the room. The corner of his mouth curled up slightly as he murmured to himself: Ridiculous.

That very day, the news of Shen Hao publicly defying Prince Shou and provoking his rage spread like wildfire. On Fengri City’s turf, this kind of gossip was extremely popular—some were just curious, others waited for misfortune to befall him, and still others were in suspense, just watching the show.

But Shen Hao stayed as cool as ever, not the least bit anxious. He went about his business as usual, not even delegating the job of garrisoning Yang Lin, but led the task himself.

As for being worried, Shen Hao felt there was nothing to fret about. With so many people present at the scene, no one could possibly pin a charge of "disrespect" on him, right? Besides, his refusal was perfectly reasonable: he was an official of the Court, and any rewards or punishments should be decided by the Court. When was it the Prince’s place to bestow rewards? And with "meritorious investigation" as the excuse, no less.

Call that a reward? Shen Hao sneered. It was nothing but a trap, and he simply didn’t fall for it.