The next day, the Prince of Dongping personally came to the Marquis of Jinxiang’s estate and told Young Lady Fan about the absurd things Han Zhi had done. Originally, facing the haggard-looking Young Lady Fan, he felt somewhat ashamed and guilty, thinking that mother had been too aggressive and feeling unable to hold his head up.

But when he heard the news sent in from outside, his expression changed dramatically in an instant. His face shifted through several expressions, and he looked at the bewildered Young Lady Fan with uncertain emotions. After coughing several times to clear his throat, he finally asked her, “Aunt, do you know about cousin hiding people at the estate in Tongzhou?”

Hiding people? Hiding what people? Young Lady Fan didn’t react for a moment. She only saw Qiuju outside secretly making hand signals to her, so she suppressed the questions in her heart and slowly shook her head. “He’s away from home year-round, spending most of his time at the estate. He even moved his study to Tongzhou. The people I sent couldn’t even see his face—how would I know about his affairs?”

That was true. Han Zhi’s relationship with Young Lady Fan had never been good. When he was young and sick to the point of death, it was all Young Lady Fan’s doing. Young Lady Fan herself didn’t want to live, and didn’t want her son to live either. She took poison herself and also fed it to her son, nearly killing them both together. If mother hadn’t been alert, if mother hadn’t been kind-hearted enough to specially remind uncle, and hadn’t gone to great lengths to find masters and imperial physicians for Han Zhi, Han Zhi would have died long ago.

Thinking of this, Zhou Weiqi’s eyes flickered again. Since mother had been so good to aunt and cousin, why was she now refusing to save them, despising cousin, cousin-sister, and aunt to this extent?

This didn’t make sense. He couldn’t figure it out no matter how he thought about it.

Young Lady Fan felt somewhat restless. Seeing him lost in his own thoughts, she coughed several times, startling him back to his senses, before asking him with concern, “Has something else happened?”

Han Zhi had no one to teach him since childhood. Han Zhengqing himself was not upright—what could he teach his son? Moreover, Grand Lady Fan had complete control over the people around Han Zhi. She couldn’t exert any influence at all. A perfectly good child was raised to be full of dark, sinister energy that frightened people just to look at him. With great difficulty, a marriage with the Zhang family had been arranged, but then the Zhang family fell into trouble. That scoundrel Han Zhengqing naturally didn’t hesitate to break off the engagement, afraid of being implicated by others.

Hearing Young Lady Fan ask this, Zhou Weiqi’s face turned alternately green and white, as if he truly was angry to the extreme. Even his usual smile was gone. With some anger, he told Young Lady Fan, “He actually secretly harbored a court criminal and made false identity documents for him… hiding him at that estate in Tongzhou. Now, because of the gambling den matter, when Magistrate He came to the door, he happened to be discovered!”

Young Lady Fan’s face instantly turned deathly pale, unable to even speak a complete sentence. She had heard plenty about gambling dens causing deaths—such things were common in prestigious families. Even if someone was arrested and detained by the Imperial Guard, it could be settled with silver money. As long as the censors weren’t alarmed, at most it would just be going through the motions at the magistrate’s office.

But harboring a court criminal—such a serious crime… Young Lady Fan’s hands resting on her knees twisted her handkerchief into a ball. Her heart was bitter, but her face showed not a trace of doubt. She asked him in panic, “A court criminal… how could he be harboring a court criminal out of nowhere?”

Han Zhi had done plenty of such things. The reason they had been so successful in silencing Zhang Tianhe in the Northwest affair last time was because they had gotten hold of Zhang Tianhe’s legitimate son and daughter beforehand, using this to threaten Zhang Tianhe into compliance.

But even if these people had identities and household registrations, they shouldn’t have remained in the capital.

Yet Han Zhi had kept Zhang Tianhe’s son Zhang Run in the capital. The Prince of Dongping, holding back a belly full of anger with nowhere to vent it, resented Han Zhi for constantly causing trouble. Ever since Han Yueheng’s affair, it was as if he had taken the wrong medicine. His words became less polite. “Who knows what cousin was thinking? If he had saved a Miss Zhang, I could have taken it as a hero rescuing a beauty—after all, the two had a marriage contract. But he watched Miss Zhang hang herself with his own eyes without even furrowing his brow, yet saved Young Master Zhang instead.”

This was truly a joke.

The undisguised mockery and disdain in his words instantly stabbed into Young Lady Fan’s heart like a knife. Young Lady Fan covered her mouth and coughed several times. When she looked up again, aside from a bit of panic in her eyes, she still had that Buddha-like appearance.

Why hide the young master and not the young lady? Wasn’t the answer to this question obvious? She also wanted to know just how Grand Lady Fan had taught him—teaching Han Zhi to only like men and not like women.

In the end, the Prince of Dongping didn’t even drink a sip of tea before leaving in a huff. Han Zhi had left him with such a mess—he still had to go back and think of a solution, and still had to write a letter to the Northwest to explain things to uncle.

Qiuju slowly entered the room and crouched beside Young Lady Fan. Looking at Young Lady Fan’s bloodshot eyes, she couldn’t help feeling heartbroken. “Madam, there’s news. The estate manager arranged through an escort agency to send that wet nurse to the capital… it should be within these few days.”

Young Lady Fan’s originally pitch-black eyes instantly lit up, like a flame being ignited. She laughed once, and for the first time her beautiful eyes held light, as if wanting to burn everything in this room. “Good! Good! She too will have this day. She too will have this day.”

Having endured for a lifetime, yielded for a lifetime, sacrificed for a lifetime—she had already retreated until there was nowhere left to retreat.

She still remembered when she gave birth to Yueheng. At that time she had already given up wanting to live. Han Zhi was in Suzhou without any news at all. Han Zhengqing found new ways to torment her every day. The nanny bestowed by the palace at home also mocked and ridiculed her daily in her ears.

She had just given birth to a child, still bleeding below, living every day amid these cold words and sarcastic remarks. Not a single person from her natal family came to send red eggs. Somehow, she took to heart what that nanny had said—wouldn’t it be cleaner to just die and be done with it all?

Yes, staying in this world was only suffering. It would be better to take her daughter and die together cleanly. As for the rest, they could make whatever fuss they wanted—she couldn’t care anymore.

But just as she put her head into the prepared white silk, the door was kicked open. Outside were Grand Lady Fan’s shocked face and Han Zhengqing’s angry, alarmed face.

They clearly wanted her dead, but still had to bring people to save her, letting Han Zhengqing see her smothering the child with a pillow, the child’s feet flailing chaotically…

There were many times she wanted to compromise, accept her fate, live a good life, live well. But Grand Lady Fan wouldn’t let her live. Not until she was tormented into having no strength left, half-dead, did she seem satisfied. If being half-dead could earn Grand Lady Fan’s satisfaction, she was willing to tuck in her tail and be a person for a lifetime. But after only a few years of peaceful days, Grand Lady Fan came again, just like an evil ghost, clinging to her without leaving her even a breath of respite.