Chapter 170
Zong Yuan stumbled backward three steps in a row, shaking his head as he muttered repeatedly, “This… this is impossible. Impossible!”
He turned around, about to flee, but Lu Hanzhi’s figure appeared right behind him.
Lu Hanzhi stepped forward and asked, “Why is it impossible? Why won’t you believe your own eyes, believe your own instincts? Why would you rather be blinded than believe that she is your real sister?”
Zong Yuan roared in anger, “No! That’s not it! You liars—who knows where you found a… a—”
A sharp pain twisted through Zong Yuan’s chest. He clutched his heart and crouched down, gasping for breath in great gulps, clearly in extreme emotional agony.
Seeing him like this, Lu Hanzhi could not help but feel a little soft-hearted. He said, “Can’t say it anymore? Are you unwilling to go on? Do you still want to keep deceiving yourself—choosing to believe the woman who encouraged you to offer yourself to an old man—instead of believing that your real sister is now suffering torment worse than death?”
Zong Yuan curled up into a small ball on the ground, hugging himself tightly. He trembled as he shook his head, still unwilling to accept the truth before his eyes.
Lu Hanzhi sighed and said, “Why don’t you think about it—if she truly loved you as your sister, how could she bear to send you to that barren land in the Eastern Sea, to undergo inhuman training, and then, for the sake of so-called revenge, hand you over to an aged emperor? I’m sure she must have said a lot of bad things about me to you, right? I don’t know exactly what she said, but when she said those things, didn’t you believe her without even thinking twice?”
Zong Yuan lifted his head to look at him and asked, “How did you know?”
His relationship with Su Wan’ning was something no one else knew about. He had never revealed it to anyone.
Lu Hanzhi asked, “Do you remember an old steward from when you were little—the one whose beard you used to pull all the time? His surname was Li. The Su family all called him Uncle Li.”
Zong Yuan’s eyes lit up. “Uncle Li! I remember him! I… I pulled out so much of his beard that there was hardly any left.”
Lu Hanzhi: “…”
For this kind of little menace, his usual suggestion was to beat them to death. If Ah Chan had done this, Yuwen Min would definitely have beaten him until he could not take care of himself.
Zong Yuan asked urgently, “You saw Uncle Li? How is he? Where is he now?”
Lu Hanzhi thought to himself—this kid had finally regained some sanity?
He replied helplessly, “He’s in a safe place now, and he’s already met Ah Shu. I really find it strange—Uncle Li recognized her the moment he saw her. How could you, her most beloved younger brother, fail to recognize her?”
“Ah Shu?” Zong Yuan asked, his eyes reddened.
Lu Hanzhi answered, “Yes, Ah Shu—Shu as in Lingshu. Didn’t your uncle give you the name Suwen back then? Ah Shu is now called Lu Lingshu. Her original name was already defiled by evil people and can no longer be used.”
It was clear that Zong Yuan still did not dare to believe it even now. The shock and confusion in his eyes were unmistakable.
He shook his head and asked, “I don’t understand. What exactly is going on? Sister… my sister—why did she become like this? Then who was the sister I met later? How could there be two people in this world who look and act exactly the same?”
Lu Hanzhi countered, “Oh? Do you really think they were exactly the same? Do you truly believe that the later Su Wan’ning and the Su Wan’ning you originally knew were completely identical in every way?”
Zong Yuan recalled it blankly. They were naturally not the same.
One was a joyful, lively elder sister.
The other seemed gentle on the surface, yet was full of hidden schemes.
He had originally thought it was simply a change brought on by the great calamity his sister had suffered.
But thinking about it now—would an sister who was innately kind-hearted and valued familial bonds above everything else really send him into the palace for the sake of avenging their parents?
She would not. Even if she herself had to risk danger, she would never have allowed him to sell his own body.
The realization struck him all at once. Zong Yuan immediately stood up and turned to look at that silly girl who seemed to have no awareness at all, calling his name purely by instinct.
The foolish girl smiled at him. Her eyes still held the same purity and beauty from their childhood. She said, “Ah Wen… eat… lotus seeds!”
Then she held out a lotus seed that had already had its bitter core removed.
The lotus seed core was bitter. Every time his sister peeled lotus seeds for him, she would remove the bitter core.
And then—
He watched with his own eyes as the silly girl took out a pristine white handkerchief and wrapped the lotus cores inside it.
His sister used to say, “Lotus seeds are bitter in taste and cold in nature. They enter the Heart and Kidney meridians. They can clear the heart and calm the spirit, connect the heart and kidneys, astringe essence, and stop bleeding. They are used for conditions of excessive heart fire.”
As she explained medicinal principles to him, she carefully gathered the bitter lotus cores. Her meticulous, patient manner always warmed one’s heart, like sunlight filling a room in spring.
At last, he could no longer hold back. He rushed forward and hugged Ah Shu tightly, breaking down completely as he cried into her arms.
Ah Shu, however, was utterly at a loss. She held him and tried to soothe him anxiously. “Don’t cry, little one. Don’t cry. Sister will go get you sugar cakes—the sugar cakes you love most.”
Lu Hanzhi had not wanted to cry either, but he was simply too useless.
His tears fell like beads from a broken string, pattering down nonstop.
Yuwen Jue, who had been hiding in the shadows, stepped forward and patted his shoulder. Lu Hanzhi clung to him, crying until he could barely catch his breath.
Perhaps it was because he had been suppressing himself for too long after learning the truth. Now that Suwen and Lingshu had finally recognized each other, his emotions completely spiraled out of control.
Yuwen Jue said helplessly, “Hanzhi, you’re pregnant. You mustn’t experience extreme joy or sorrow—be careful of the child.”
Lu Hanzhi sniffed and said, “No, Second Sister-in-law. I can’t control myself.”
Once emotions slipped out of control, they surged like a raging sea, impossible to rein in.
Only after Zong Yuan had finally calmed down did he notice that Lu Hanzhi’s eyes were swollen like walnuts.
He frowned and, for the first time, began to reflect on himself.
Although this guy sometimes had a truly irritating mouth, seeing him cry like this over the matter made Zong Yuan realize—far too late—that this was not someone who could have burned down an entire family.
It had ultimately been because the person who told him these things was his sister—he trusted his sister unconditionally.
But if that person had been a fake sister, then were her words still worth believing?
Naturally, they were not!
And not only should they not be believed, her intentions had to be carefully scrutinized!
Zong Yuan finally came to his senses. The expression on his face grew increasingly complicated as he said, “She… I mean that fake Su Wan’ning—what exactly is she trying to do?”
Lu Hanzhi had finally managed to steady his emotions by then and said, “I called you here today precisely to talk to you about this. What she wants to do can be set aside for now. Let me ask you first—do you know a maid called Chou Nu?”
Zong Yuan nodded immediately. “I know her. She was sister’s personal maid. The name Chou Nu sounded unpleasant, and sister always wanted to change it for her, but her mother refused. She said that a lowly name made it easier to raise a child—and she really was quite ugly.”
Lu Hanzhi asked, “Then did you ever feel that Chou Nu had anything about her that was different from ordinary people?”
Zong Yuan thought for a moment and said, “Chou Nu… it’s hard to say. She was ugly, yes, but everything she used in daily life was the same as sister’s. She was very smart—she picked things up the moment she learned them. She was a bit… ambitious. Once, sister failed to answer the teacher’s question, but she answered it instead. I happened to overhear her say once that if not for her poor background, she might not necessarily be inferior to the Young Lady.”
“Sister was actually very happy and said that one day she would become a divine physician renowned throughout the land, and told her never to belittle herself because of her origins. From then on, she tried to outdo sister in everything. I really didn’t like her.”
Lu Hanzhi understood. Ambition as lofty as the heavens, a fate as fragile as paper—envy giving birth to hatred.
It was as though everyone in the world owed her something, as though they had all wronged her.
Though she was indeed pitiable, the pitiable always had something hateful about them.
He said to Zong Yuan, “All I can tell you is that Chou Nu used some unknown method to steal your sister’s appearance and identity, replacing her as the Su family’s eldest daughter. And to prevent her identity from being exposed, she slaughtered the entire Su family.”
Zong Yuan froze, his mouth falling open. He jumped to his feet in disbelief, only to collapse back down again.
He hated himself for being so foolish—mistaking a thief for his sister, allowing her to use him to achieve her own ends, and even to go against his real sister.
When Zong Yuan thought of this, a cold sweat broke out across his back.
He asked, “Why? Why did she… do this?”
His teeth chattered as he thought of the dozens of lives of the Su family, and of the humiliation he had endured over the past few years.
Lu Hanzhi replied, “She wanted to become empress. Using Ah Shu’s identity, she infiltrated the highest circles of the capital and became acquainted with many princes and commandery princesses. Then, using the witchcraft she possessed, she manipulated them to scheme for her, pushing the Crown Prince onto the throne. Once the Crown Prince ascended the throne, the position of empress would sooner or later be hers.”
Zong Yuan was stunned. He still could not believe what he was hearing and asked in return, “Empress? Chou Nu? She… truly had ambition as lofty as the heavens!”
Lu Hanzhi said helplessly, “Having ambition isn’t frightening. Having ambition and harming others—that’s where she went wrong. She has been committing evil for a long time. If we don’t join forces to eliminate her, she’ll likely commit even more atrocities.”
And moreover, she had an unknown system behind her. If that system were harmful to the world, then it would not be a matter of just a few people falling victim to her poison.
It could lead to devastation for all living beings.
It took Zong Yuan a very long time to finally adapt to this unbelievable reality.
Looking at Ah Shu standing there obediently, quietly peeling lotus seeds, his heart ached slightly. He slowly closed his eyes and said, “What do you want me to do?”
Lu Hanzhi thought to himself—just as he had expected, Zong Yuan could still be saved.
That meant his next plan could proceed smoothly.
Lu Hanzhi said, “It’s very simple. Don’t expose your identity around her. Continue pretending to be completely obedient to her. Whatever she tells you to do, you do it. Make her trust you one hundred percent.”
“No!” Zong Yuan stood up and said, “She told me to give myself to that damned old emperor. Back then, I didn’t know the truth and only wanted to avenge my parents. Now that I know the truth, I will absolutely never do that again! Even though I wasn’t my parents’ biological child, my parents and sister were my saviors, reborn parents to me. I will never listen to her again and go seduce that damned old emperor.”
Every time, he had had to suppress his nausea and act coquettish toward him. Thinking back on it now made him sick to his stomach.
Lu Hanzhi waved it off and said, “He can’t even do it anymore—what are you afraid of?”
Zong Yuan: ???
He looked at Lu Hanzhi in utter confusion. Lu Hanzhi, on the other hand, seemed a bit embarrassed as he said, “One bowl of medicinal soup preserved your virginity. Aren’t you going to thank me?”
Zong Yuan: !!!
He was stunned. What kind of earth-shaking, ghost-weeping person was Lu Hanzhi, exactly?
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