“I agree, I agree to everything!”

Eldest Brother Zhu sat collapsed on the ground, looking up with lingering fear.

“Miss Yan, I beg you to save my father, save the Zhu family.”

Yan Sanhe looked down at him from above, then nodded lightly.

“The red clay is over there. Just press your thumbprint.”

Eldest Brother Zhu supported himself on the ground and rose, staggering to the table. Dipping his thumb in red clay, he pressed down heavily.

“Miss Yan, is this acceptable?”

“Li Buyan, close the door.”

“Yes!”

The door closed once more.

Yan Sanhe folded the paper and tucked it into her chest, saying slowly, “Don’t speak of this matter to anyone, including your two brothers.”

Zhu Yuanmo nodded in agreement.

Actually, even without Yan Sanhe’s instruction, he wouldn’t dare let a word slip outside. If it reached the Emperor’s ears, the Zhu family would face another catastrophe.

Yan Sanhe looked at him. “The Zhu Manor should stop using arrays. The more powerful the array, the greater the backlash later.”

“Will I…”

“Not for now, but it’s hard to say later.”

Yan Sanhe turned to look at the sunlight through the window. “This heart demon won’t be simple, but since I’ve agreed, I’ll do my best. Don’t give up easily either.”

Zhu Yuanmo was slightly stunned.

Yan Sanhe walked to the door and opened it again.

Outside, four people with eight eyes stared straight at her.

She cleared her throat.

“Let’s go—to Zhu Manor.”

…

With the cold weather, no one wanted to ride horses. Everyone huddled in the carriages.

Xie Zhifei and Pei Xiao sat together in one carriage, looking at each other with foreheads full of question marks.

Pei Xiao slapped Third Master’s shoulder. “Come on, brother—I’ll ask, you answer.”

This person sticks up his rear, and Xie Zhifei knows what shit he’s about to pull. He doesn’t dare ask Yan Sanhe directly, only dares to speculate about her meaning behind her back.

“Ask!”

“What kind of person is Eldest Brother Zhu?”

“An extremely impressive person.”

“How impressive?”

“In the capital, almost no one dares offend him or the Zhu family.”

“He just said Yan Sanhe was forcing the Zhu family onto a path of death. What does that indicate?”

“It indicates the condition Yan Sanhe proposed truly put him in a difficult position.”

“What condition would truly put Eldest Brother Zhu in a difficult position?”

“I don’t know.”

“Think again.”

“Even thinking again, I don’t know.”

Young Master Pei rolled his eyes in frustration, thinking Xie Fifty’s brain wasn’t much better than his own—both filled with mush.

“Let’s continue.”

“Ask!”

Young Master Pei: “Regarding my great-grandmother’s heart demon and Jingchen’s heart demon—what demands she made of the Ji family and Old Nun Huiru, we all know, right?”

Xie Zhifei: “Yes!”

“We were right there as witnesses, weren’t we?”

“Correct.”

“Why didn’t Yan Sanhe let us in this time?”

“I don’t know, but…”

Xie Zhifei hooked his arm around Young Master Pei’s shoulder, head to head, eyes to eyes. “I have a feeling Yan Sanhe is hiding something from us.”

“Right!”

Young Master Pei slapped his thigh excitedly. “I have that feeling too.”

This was the third heart demon Young Master Pei had personally experienced.

During the first two, they’d faced countless difficulties together, experienced several life-and-death situations, and Yan Sanhe had always consulted with them.

But this time she’d shut them outside…

Abnormal!

Highly abnormal!

Xie Zhifei thought: Good that you have this feeling. “Mingting, I’m assigning you an important task.”

Hearing this, Young Master Pei perked up.

“Speak!”

“I just returned—I definitely need to go to the ministry, and there are matters at the money exchange to handle. So you need to keep an eye on the Zhu family for me.”

Young Master Pei curled his lip. “What kind of task is that? I was going to watch anyway.”

Xie Zhifei: “Don’t just watch the Zhu family. Keep an eye on Yan Sanhe too—figure out what she’s hiding from us.”

Exactly.

Young Master Pei nodded in agreement. “She says we’re her people, but clearly we’re not.”

Xie Zhifei patted his shoulder and leaned back lazily, closing his eyes.

From her sudden return to Yunnan Prefecture, to Han Xu blocking her from taking the Zhu family’s heart demon case, to that resolute look on her face, and now shutting them outside today…

The unease in his heart grew stronger and stronger.

Xie Zhifei lifted his eyelid to glance at Pei Mingting beside him: You’d better be sharp, kid. Don’t just boast without doing the work.

…

In the other carriage.

“Eldest Brother, what did Yan Sanhe make you agree to?”

“Don’t ask.”

Zhu Yuanmo shot Second Brother a cold glance. “This matter doesn’t concern you.”

“How can it not concern me? We’re blood brothers, born from the same mother’s womb.”

Zhu Yuanzhao grew more agitated, his lips turning slightly purple. “Eldest Brother, don’t hide it from me…”

“Second Brother.”

Zhu Yuanmo suddenly interrupted. “Do you know what I saw?”

“What?”

Zhu Yuanmo wiped his face, as if he still couldn’t believe that scene even now.

“I saw Father lying naked under a large tree, his body surrounded by thousands of crows. Those beasts, mouthful by mouthful…”

He couldn’t continue.

“Second Brother, what does ‘heart-piercing agony’ mean? This is it.”

Zhu Yuanzhao thought of how well Father had treated him when alive, and immediately understood why Eldest Brother had given up resisting.

“Most importantly…”

Zhu Yuanmo said in a trembling voice, “The Zhu family cannot have any more incidents.”

This morning, all the flowers and plants in the manor had withered and died.

Though it was already winter and plants dying was normal, the several early plum trees in the back garden should have been alive.

Zhu Yuanmo understood very clearly—this was the Zhu family’s misfortune beginning again after the arrays were removed.

“Eldest Brother, should we set up the arrays again…”

“No. Yan Sanhe said the more arrays we set up and the more powerful they are, the greater the backlash later. Let’s wait a bit and follow her advice for now.”

After speaking, Zhu Yuanmo coughed heavily several times, his chest beginning to ache in waves.

Seeing his expression was wrong, Zhu Yuanzhao asked, “Eldest Brother?”

“It’s nothing, nothing.”

Zhu Yuanmo waved his hand. “We brothers should think carefully about why Father’s heart demon is a blood moon.”

Hearing these two words, Zhu Yuanzhao’s heart pounded.

Anyone who understood the Eight Trigrams and feng shui knew that a blood moon was an extremely yin and cold omen—inauspicious, a sign of great disaster.

Historical records stated: When the blood moon appears, the nation will decline; exhausted and powerless, as if imprisoned!

Both he and Eldest Brother had begun learning the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams at age six. They’d only read about it in history books and had never seen one in reality.

Father said he’d never seen one either.

Since he’d never seen one, how could his heart demon be a blood moon?

No matter how hard they thought, they couldn’t figure it out!

“Brother, could it be that Father really did reveal too many heavenly secrets, and that’s why…”

“Don’t let your imagination run wild and scare yourself.”

Zhu Yuanzhao’s tears flowed down without warning, unstoppable.

“If not, why would Father take Lady Ren and her child with him? When Father was alive, he’d hoped for years that Lady Ren would bear him a son!”

“Second Brother…”

Zhu Yuanmo suddenly choked up.