When Yongchang Emperor heard this, he was simply overjoyed.
All these years, he had always felt guilty toward the Eldest Princess, to the point where he had no face to see her.
Now that Lu Mingan had returned, he finally had an explanation for her.
Overjoyed, he immediately called for Qi Zhen to come in.
He patted Liu Wangfei’s shoulder again: “Wanyin, now that you’ve come back, you should rest for a while. I will summon Duke Chu and the Duchess to the palace to see you.”
But Liu Wangfei suddenly shook his hand off.
She narrowed her eyes coldly and asked: “Your Majesty should know that my mother passed away long ago in our fiefdom. How could there be a second Duchess Chu in this world?”
…
Only then did Yongchang Emperor remember that the current Duchess was a second wife.
Feeling a bit awkward, he softly explained: “She is the second wife of Duke Chu, but she’s very gentle and sensible, and she treats your younger brother and sister as her own…”
Liu Wangfei sneered, finding it even more ridiculous: “Treats them as her own?”
Yongchang Emperor noticed something was off in her tone and couldn’t help but ask: “What’s wrong?”
Just then, Xia Gongong came to report that Duke Chu was requesting an audience.
Yongchang Emperor glanced at Liu Wangfei, furrowed his brow, then relaxed: “Let him in.”
Qi Zhen stood stiffly at the side, feeling like he was sitting on pins and needles.
Why summon him at this moment?
He didn’t want to hear so many royal secrets!
Duke Chu entered shakily, about to kneel and pay his respects.
Yongchang Emperor had always treated him leniently and kindly, and this time was no different. Glancing at Liu Wangfei, he said warmly: “Please rise, Duke Chu. Look—do you know who this is?”
His voice was full of excitement and joy.
Duke Chu responded and shakily looked up, meeting Liu Wangfei’s gaze in midair.
Father and daughter locked eyes—there was no tearful reunion, no emotional embrace, no harmonious warmth.
What they saw in each other’s eyes was coldness.
Duke Chu supported himself and stood, walking toward Liu Wangfei: “Wanyin…”
Liu Wangfei bluntly stepped back, clearly unwilling to perform any affectionate father-daughter act, and coldly asked: “I just heard His Majesty say that the Duke has married again and granted her the title of duchess. May I ask—who is this second wife?”
Duke Chu sighed heavily: “Wanyin, listen to your father’s explanation…”
Liu Wangfei’s expression was full of sarcasm, her tone cutting: “What’s left to explain? I saw it with my own eyes back then. Liu Jinghong and Liu Wanqiu called that woman ‘Mother.’ They said she was their real mother. Did I see it wrong? Did I hear it wrong?”
…
There was none of the joyful family reunion Yongchang Emperor had imagined. Instead, Liu Wangfei was aggressive and sharp, as if she harbored deep hatred toward Duke Chu.
Real mother?
Yongchang Emperor was shocked and turned to look at Duke Chu.
Qi Zhen silently clicked his tongue.
No wonder Duke Chu had been willing to kill the daughter who was about to become empress.
It turned out she had stumbled upon his secret, so he silenced her.
Back then, Liu Jinghong was already serving Min Wang. With just one word from Liu Wangfei, given how close Min Wang and Liu Wangfei had been, Min Wang would have surely stripped Liu Jinghong of his status and inheritance.
That was why Duke Chu would rather sacrifice a daughter.
Seeing Liu Wangfei and Duke Chu so hostile toward each other, it was obvious there were many things Yongchang Emperor didn’t know. He looked at Qi Zhen and said: “You’ve worked hard. Go home and rest. Come to the palace early tomorrow.”
Qi Zhen immediately agreed.
The Qi family had been waiting. He knew Qi Yuan was surely waiting for him to bring back the news, so he returned straight home without stopping.
At home, the old Marquis Qi was already waiting and took him directly to the Mingyue Pavilion.
On the way, the old Marquis wasted no time and told Qi Zhen about Qi Yunting’s situation.
Qi Zhen paused slightly, his face darkening.
The old Marquis glanced at him and sighed: “I knew you’d be angry…”
Qi Zhen honestly didn’t know if he was angry or not. Of course, as a father, he couldn’t help but feel pained that something had happened to his son.
But after this trip to fetch Liu Wangfei, he had seen far more than just that.
It was nothing unusual for noble families to produce useless heirs. Among the children of powerful families, many were disappointments.
But the successor—there must never be any mistake.
Otherwise, even a great family could collapse.
He steadied himself and said solemnly: “At least he kept his life. Given Qi Yuan’s usual methods, this is already showing mercy.”
The old Marquis saw that he really understood and nodded, patting his shoulder.
When they reached Mingyue Pavilion, Qi Yuan was already waiting.
Qi Zhen glanced at her: “I heard you already told your grandfather I would be back soon. How did you know?”
Qi Yuan raised an eyebrow: “Generally speaking, such great news would definitely be delivered before the New Year. Don’t we Great Zhou people value reunion? I guessed that you would think the same.”
…
Qi Zhen rubbed his nose, grew serious, and recounted the entire palace conversation between Liu Wangfei and Yongchang Emperor, as well as Liu Wangfei’s reaction to seeing Duke Chu.
The old Marquis was somewhat shocked. Although Qi Yuan had always been firm in saying that the assassination attempt on Liu Wangfei was definitely not orchestrated by Empress Feng or the Feng family, he had never imagined it was the Liu family’s doing.
And for such a reason.
Qi Yuan listened with furrowed brows and quickly picked up on Liu Wangfei’s attitude.
In the previous life, Liu Wangfei hadn’t even made it back to the capital before being killed. Qi Yuan had been unsure what her stance toward the Liu family would be and had even worried that Liu Wangfei would act mercifully like a bodhisattva and forgive her father and brother.
But now it was clear—Liu Wangfei had no intention of being a saint.
That made things much more interesting.
Qi Zhen finished everything in one breath, took a sip of tea, and looked at Qi Yuan: “So, what’s the next step?”
He had already heard from his father about how Qi Yuan killed Liu Jinghong, dismantled Qi Wang’s secret guards, and killed Cheng Wang and Second Master Liu.
Frankly, both sides had already torn off all pretenses.
It was now a matter of life and death.
Of course, he wouldn’t want the Liu family to sail through this smoothly.
But… could the accusation of taking a mistress as a wife really bring the Liu family down?
And could Yongchang Emperor’s feelings for Liu Wangfei truly outweigh his attachment to Noble Consort Liu, who had been with him all these years?
After all, Noble Consort Liu had borne him two sons and two daughters.
While Liu Wangfei’s son… was a fool.
Qi Yuan smiled lightly: “The next step, of course, is to blow this up as big as possible. Otherwise, if we don’t get rid of this Qi Jin now, there will just be another Qi Jin.”
Qi Zhen understood. He looked at Qi Yuan, took a deep breath, and asked: “Then, who are you going to kill this time?”
