Qi Yuan let out a calm “Oh,” completely unsurprised. “The ones who hanged Miss Zhou back then were the two of them. Now that the truth has come out, of course they would start suspecting each other of leaking the secret. Plus, the archway was smashed in public, and our marquis household is asking for a divorce—arguing is the most natural thing in the world.”
Qi Yuan could even already guess what kinds of words they hurled at each other during the fight.
As for whether Old Madam Zhou really fell to her death? All Qi Yuan could offer was a faint, mocking laugh.
Someone so controlling—her eldest grandson was already about to get married, yet she still made her daughter-in-law observe strict rules every day, still meticulously dressed herself daily, still held firm control over the entire inner residence—would she really be willing to die?
No way.
Forget about just the truth of the archway being exposed. Even if all twelve of the Zhou family’s archways collapsed, she wouldn’t willingly choose to die.
The only likely scenario was that the Zhou mother and son blamed each other, pushed responsibility back and forth, and Old Madam Zhou died from rage.
Of course, it was also possible that she was literally angered to the point of falling to her death.
But who would care?
The point was—she died at just the right time.
Everyone would simply assume Old Madam Zhou was feeling guilty. Everyone would assume the Zhou family was facing divine retribution.
The old marquis quickly understood what Qi Yuan meant: “You’re saying… Old Madam Zhou was killed by Zhou Ping?”
Qi Yuan shook her head. “I didn’t say that. But with this uproar, whether Zhou Ping killed her or not… we’ll know soon.”
She looked at the old marquis and Qi Zhen. “The authorities will step in.”
A falsified chastity archway was no small matter. If the story was fake, it would implicate the local officials who had reported it and a whole chain of people.
The government would have to investigate.
Once they did, the truth about Miss Zhou would no longer hold.
And whether Old Madam Zhou’s death was an accident would soon come to light.
She spoke lightly, “Actually, if Aunt doesn’t plan to remarry, she can wait a bit before returning to the Zhou family.”
By then, it would be Zhou Kun who carried the Zhou family name.
Of course, the Zhou family’s reputation was already ruined. Whether she returned or not didn’t really matter anymore.
The old marquis said no more, took a deep breath, and nodded at Qi Zhen. “Tell Ah Yuan what you’ve found.”
Qi Yuan unconsciously straightened her back.
Since she was reborn at this particular juncture, no one except Qi Zhen knew the true whereabouts of Liu Wangfei and her son.
So she had always been patient.
Including this whole matter with Qi Fangyun—she knew perfectly well that Zhou Ping didn’t just appear out of nowhere. He was simply a pawn pushed forward by the people behind the scenes to provoke her.
But that was fine. She could wait.
What about pawns?
As long as she kept breaking the claws and fangs of those behind the scenes, her knife would draw closer to those people—closer and closer.
Qi Zhen cleared his throat and instinctively lowered his voice. “These years, by the emperor’s orders, I’ve traveled far and wide, from Zhejiang to Fujian. Anywhere there were rumors about Liu Wangfei’s whereabouts, I went.”
He sighed at the memory of his endless traveling. “But they all turned out to be false leads—empty trips—scams, really. Until about half a year ago, I got a report saying there were traces of Liu Wangfei in a small county in Songcheng, Jiangxi…”
Jiangxi, Songcheng!
It matched.
Qi Yuan’s eyelashes trembled. Though her heart surged, her face remained calm as she lowered her gaze to sip her tea.
Qi Zhen’s expression was heavy. “At first, I thought it was just another false lead. Until my trusted aide made a trip there and brought something back.”
He paused, then moved aside a bookshelf, revealing a hidden compartment, and placed a small box on the table, slowly opening it.
Inside lay a tiny bow—about the size of a kite—with several large rubies inlaid upon it. Clearly, this was no real weapon but a decorative trinket.
Qi Yuan’s gaze swept over the bow. “This belonged to Liu Wangfei?”
So that’s why Qi Zhen could confirm that Liu Wangfei really was in that small county in Songcheng.
Her chest ached.
In her previous life, this news fell into Qi Wang’s hands. Qi Wang sent people to hunt down Liu Wangfei and her son. After killing them, he framed the Feng family.
Xiao Yunting and the Feng family tasked the Xie family to investigate, which caught Qi Wang’s attention. Qi Wang then seized the opportunity to wipe out the entire Xie clan.
The entire Xie family was massacred—even children as young as three were not spared.
She owed the Xie family a great debt, but before she could repay it, she had returned to find only blood-soaked corpses.
Thankfully, the heavens granted her a second chance.
This time, she was finally the one who held the upper hand.
Qi Zhen nodded, visibly troubled. “This matter… is very difficult to handle.”
His men had returned—he was now almost certain of Liu Wangfei and her son’s whereabouts.
But what to do with this information… it truly gave Qi Zhen a headache.
If he reported it truthfully to Emperor Yongchang, then he would likely be the one tasked with bringing Liu Wangfei and her son back.
How would Empress Feng and the Feng family feel about that?
Even the Liu family—would they be grateful?
The Liu family now had a much more favored Noble Consort Liu, with two sons and two daughters, all greatly loved by Emperor Yongchang.
But the ‘Liu Wangfei’ believed to be long dead—her son had been raised as a commoner for years.
If they were brought back, their position would be awkward.
Who would sit on the empress’s seat?
Would the crown prince need to be replaced?
So Qi Zhen had always struggled with this mission.
Now, looking at Qi Yuan, he unexpectedly hoped she might come up with a solution.
Qi Yuan suddenly let out a soft laugh.
The old marquis and Qi Zhen were both startled.
For some reason, they found her smile… a little frightening.
But Qi Yuan had already shut the box abruptly.
She pressed her hand on the box and calmly fixed her gaze on Qi Zhen: “Father, this matter—report it to His Majesty.”
Reporting it to His Majesty…
Of course Qi Zhen had considered this. He couldn’t help but say, “But—”
“Father, hear me out.” Qi Yuan interrupted him and said softly, meeting his eyes directly, “Before reporting to His Majesty, also leak this news to Qi Wang.”
……
The old marquis’s hand clenched tightly, and he instinctively glanced at Qi Yuan.
He understood her meaning now.
Tell the emperor—but first tell Qi Wang.
And what would Qi Wang do?
Qi Wang would never tolerate Liu Wangfei and her son returning.
He cared deeply about this—otherwise, why would he have planted Han Yue’e in the marquis household to spy, to the point of even recording what snacks the marquis household was eating?
So Qi Wang would send assassins after Liu Wangfei and her son…
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