Qi Yuan followed Qi Zhen’s pointing finger—and sure enough, she saw that the eastern edge of the kennel had already formed a mound as high as a small hill.
It was hard to imagine that the jumbled pile of bones once belonged to living, breathing people.
No wonder Tian Baoci had flown into a rage just because someone had kicked his dog in passing. Even when Qi Yunzhi had revealed her identity, he hadn’t cared at all.
Because once a person has killed enough, they’re no longer like ordinary people.
Ordinary people feel fear. Tian Baoci didn’t.
Qi Yuan narrowed her eyes, disgust flashing across her face.
She recalled her previous life—how Tian Baoci had followed Qi Wang on a royal hunt with his pack of hounds. One of the maids from Eldest Princess Baorong’s household had tried to fend off one of the dogs with a stick out of fear—and that very night, her corpse had been found in the dog pen.
Tian Baoci had still argued that it was the maid’s own fault. Said she must’ve been playing with the dogs and provoked them.
Qi Wang had been disgusted by the incident and ordered that he never bring dogs into the city again.
But not only did Tian Baoci ignore the order—he raised even more dogs after that, and even allowed them to roam freely, snatching village children and mauling them to death.
The commoners had nowhere to seek justice.
Even those who tried to bring their grievances to the capital were intercepted by the Tongzhou authorities before they ever arrived.
And if anyone was lucky enough to reach the capital, there would always be people from the Tian family waiting to silence them. The officials, seeing the Tians’ influence, didn’t dare interfere.
Until one day—one of Tian Baoci’s dogs bit Eldest Princess Baorong’s daughter.
Eldest Princess Baorong was enraged and stormed into the palace, demanding that the Crown Prince—then Qi Wang—give her an explanation.
Only then was this horrifying scandal exposed.
That b*stard. Qi Yuan felt her expression grow darker.
She’d been too swift in killing Tian Baoci—just to make trouble for Xiao Jingzhao. The man hadn’t even suffered.
What she should have done was toss him into one of his own dog pens and let the dogs tear him apart.
He loved dogs so much? Then he should’ve died with them.
Qi Zhen stared at the soldiers and cursed under his breath:
“That b*stard! That son of a b*tch! Not even a turtle could spawn something this vile!”
“Is that even still human?!”
As he cursed, he suddenly noticed that Qi Yuan hadn’t said a word. Alarmed, he turned to look at her and asked anxiously, “Yuan’er, what’s wrong? Are you alright?”
He thought maybe she’d been frightened by the gruesome scene.
He said softly, “Yuan’er, if this scares you…”
Qi Yuan gave a light laugh.
Scare her?
How could she possibly be scared?
In her previous life, Feng Caiwei had intentionally given her false intel—told her to go to Changle in Fujian to rescue Xiao Yunting, claiming pirates had clashed with the Crown Prince’s escort.
She had no men with her—just seventy or eighty temple monks who were part of the coastal defense militia. Together, they rushed to Changle.
But in truth, Xiao Yunting wasn’t in Changle at all. He’d gone with Feng Caiwei to Zhoushan to discuss organizing a navy with the local officials.
So Qi Yuan and the monks ran into more than 300 pirates and coastal raiders.
She couldn’t even remember how she’d fought her way out—only that the ground was littered with corpses and the seawater crashing against the rocks smelled thick with blood.
Now that was a sea of blood and a mountain of corpses.
Compared to that—this was nothing.
She said coolly, “I’m not scared, Father. But this—this needs to be accounted for.”
Qi Zhen looked at the stinking kennel yard, his expression equally grim. He gave a cold snort and said, “Yes. No matter what, the Tian family can’t get away with this!”
There are times when things must be done thoroughly and decisively.
Qi Yuan had always believed that.
They were already enemies anyway—so she might as well send the whole Tian family straight to h*ll.
Tian Baoci couldn’t have done all this alone. Qi Yuan didn’t believe for a second that the Tian elders didn’t know what was happening.
She nodded and said to Qi Zhen, “Please draft a memorial to the court.”
Qi Zhen agreed immediately. Anyone with a conscience wouldn’t let this go unpunished.
Just as he began to talk more with Qi Yuan about what to write, a sudden, earth-shaking scream echoed from the distance. He jumped and asked, “What now?!”
One of Xiao Jingzhao’s guards came running over in a panic, shouting, “The dog—it killed someone again! Another one’s dead!”
Qi Zhen exhaled heavily, full of hatred for Tian Baoci.
He bellowed, “Then kill it! For these mad dogs, there’s no need to catch them—slay them on sight!”
But the guard looked ready to cry: “But—but it bit Miss Feng!”
Everyone knew that Feng Caiwei was the future Princess Consort.
And now—she’d been killed by Tian Baoci’s dog?!
What?!
Qi Zhen’s heart skipped a beat. He instinctively looked at Qi Yuan—and a sudden chill went down his spine.
Just earlier, she had said there was still something left to do. Could it have been this?
After all, when Zhou Wang summoned him to help send troops and clean up the kennel, he had still seen Feng Caiwei walking around—only her leg had been bitten, and she was otherwise fine!
He cleared his throat and said quickly, “Well—well then what are you standing here for? Go report to His Highness at once!”
The guard ran off in tears to find Xiao Jingzhao.
Qi Zhen turned and asked nervously, “Yuan’er…”
“No need to ask,” Qi Yuan said crisply, not bothering to hide it. “Yes, it was me. Feng Caiwei schemed to get Jialang bitten by dogs, tried to pit me against Tian Baoci, hoping we’d destroy each other—and even now she wouldn’t quit. She tried to stir up trouble using my dog.”
She sneered. “I simply used her own methods against her.”
She’d never been merciful to enemies. And she certainly wasn’t about to start now.
If Feng Caiwei thought she’d be the exception, she’d badly misjudged her.
Qi Zhen had nothing left to say. He just thought Feng Caiwei was unspeakably foolish.
They’d clashed so many times—yet she never learned.
He snorted. “Serves her right!”
After a pause, he said, “Then about the Feng family—shall I go speak with them?”
“No need.” Qi Yuan glanced toward the yard where the soldiers were still vomiting from the stench, then lowered her eyes. “Let the Feng family come and kneel in apology first. Otherwise, I’ll deliver evidence of their collusion with Qi Wang straight to the Emperor—so His Majesty can see what a fine son he’s raised. Stirring up storms in the capital while claiming to be in Hongdu.”
Qi Zhen shuddered.
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