“What did you say?”

Suzhen slowly lowered the steamed bun from her mouth, asking word by word.

“Lian Qin!” Lian Jie rarely lost his aristocratic composure, but now roared, his face completely changed.

Lian Qin looked at him, his face iron-gray. “Seventh Brother, you must think I’m crazy, but things have reached this point – it’s time to tell her the truth. Sixth Brother can’t keep traveling incognito like this. We pity her, but who considers Sixth Brother?”

Lian Jie’s expression was complex, changing repeatedly, and finally he sighed deeply.

“He publicly claimed he couldn’t sleep peacefully due to dreams of Consort Yu and went to fast at her tomb for several days before leaving the palace. Using lies about his beloved mother – do you know how difficult this was for him?” Lian Qin turned to look at Suzhen, also speaking word by word.

“What exactly were you saying just now? Consort Yu was killed by my father? I don’t want to hear about other things – I only want to know about this matter!”

Suzhen threw down everything in her hands, her eyes completely red, staring intently at Lian Qin.

Ten times more crazed than Lian Qin’s earlier appearance!

Lian Qin was startled but bit his teeth and didn’t retreat. “Yes!”

“No, it’s not like this. If it were truly so, he knew half a year ago – why would he still be with me?” Suzhen asked loudly, tears finally welling up in her eyes.

Lian Qin sneered in response: “Yes, the day he learned you were the Feng family orphan in court, he wanted to distance himself from you.”

“But after the Qixi Festival, when you met, he still accepted you again and stayed with you.”

These words struck Suzhen’s mind like hammers. Things that weren’t entirely clear that day gradually became clear in her mind.

His coldness, decisiveness, and distance then… it wasn’t only because she was the daughter of the criminal minister Feng Shaoqing, not only because she was Li Zhaoting’s former fiancée, but also because Feng Shaoqing had killed his mother!

She clenched her hands, her mind roaring, feeling even breathing was difficult.

“Then he still watched me investigate this case? Waited until I fell deeply in love with him, then conveniently when A’luo returned, he could rightfully abandon me? Or regardless of whether A’luo existed, he would still forsake me and take revenge?” She heard her own hoarse voice asking Lian Qin bit by bit.

Lian Qin shook his head, his eyes still filled with enormous anger but also showing indescribable sorrow. “Watched? He didn’t watch… Originally, we suggested he let you investigate this case, let you discover the truth yourself. Perhaps, perhaps this way, you could be more sincere toward him.”

“But he didn’t accept it. He said if you knew about this, you’d certainly be hurt, and he didn’t want to bind you with past grievances and responsibilities.”

“Li Huaisu, you were the first to actively request a thorough investigation of this case. Later when you encountered danger, he stopped you from investigating further, until you were drawn into the Gu Shuangcheng case, then he used this case again to buy you time. Because Gu Shuangcheng’s case was very difficult.”

He spoke extremely quickly, so fast that Suzhen didn’t even have time to ask what else they knew about Shuangcheng’s case! Just the current impact was enough for her to bear!

“No!” More and more details from that day surged like a tide in Suzhen’s mind.

“He didn’t give up. Yan Da, as his advisor, also knew about this, didn’t he? It wasn’t my active request – it was Yan Da’s deliberate reminder! He used Yan Da’s words to make me investigate.” She murmured, then laughed low.

Lian Jie had also been standing aside with crossed arms in frustration, but hearing this, suddenly returned. His gaze, like Lian Qin’s, was filled with strangeness.

He spoke slowly: “As far as we know, Sixth Brother never gave such orders to Councilor Yan. Think about it – we opposed our own suggestion.”

“If it were Councilor Yan’s own idea, it’s even less possible. Though Councilor Yan had some appreciation for your father, you are after all the Feng family orphan. In his heart, he probably wouldn’t approve of you being with Sixth Brother. How could he secretly hint for you to overturn the case, thereby making you and Sixth Brother more united?”

“We all thought you wanted to help Sixth Brother with his worries and proposed the case review.”

As his words ended, whether it was himself, Lian Qin, or Suzhen, they all saw a chilling expression on each other’s faces.

“Someone else is manipulating this matter behind the scenes!” Lian Qin’s voice changed. “What’s the purpose?”

“Later, though Sixth Brother was concerned about Huaisu’s danger, by coincidence, the Gu Shuangcheng case successfully drew Huaisu back into this case.” Lian Jie frowned deeply. “But why would this person do such things?”

Suzhen also felt chilled to the bone, but adversity made her calmer. Her nearly shattered emotions gradually pulled back together.

“Regardless of this person’s purpose, now we must first determine whether my father is the murderer before we can continue investigating. We must uncover the strangeness behind all this.”

“You still don’t believe your father is the murderer,” Lian Jie nodded, then sighed again.

“Murder requires motive. Why would my father want to harm Lian Yu back then? Lian Yu also said that night he and my father only met briefly, with no further contact. Who determined my father was the murderer?”

Lian Jie and Lian Qin quickly exchanged glances, with Lian Qin asking doubtfully: “You asked Sixth Brother about what happened that year?”

“Yes, since I was investigating the case, I asked him about his part of the events’ process.”

Under the moonlight, Suzhen concisely recounted her final conversation with Lian Yu in the Imperial Study that day.

“Huaisu, Sixth Brother lied to you.”

After listening, Lian Jie immediately shook his head.

Seeing Suzhen stare intently, Lian Qin spoke slowly: “Sixth Brother told you he took the soup Councilor Yan gave him back, encountered us on the way and fought, discovered a eunuch passing by in the brush, feared unnecessary trouble, so hurriedly came out, took his things and returned.”

“But the matter wasn’t finished yet.”

“Didn’t he say he later discovered he’d lost something Consort Yu gave him and went back to retrieve it?”

Suzhen’s heart immediately seemed weighed down by heavy stones, sinking rapidly.

Recalling the scene Lian Yu described that day, he had indeed said so. Yet that final sentence about “going back to retrieve things” he could have omitted – it seemed unrelated to the case at the time. But apparently it had deeper meaning all along.

He had concealed the second half of the story, the most crucial details.

“When he returned to where we had fought, he unexpectedly discovered three people talking. He couldn’t see two clearly as they stood sideways, but he knew who one was.”

“It was your father, Feng Shaoqing.”

“At that time, someone asked: ‘Brother Feng, you’ve switched the items and changed life and death – aren’t you afraid of causing great trouble?’ Feng Shaoqing laughed and said: ‘His Majesty’s invitation, ostensibly from concern, was actually for divination. But my divination revealed another true Son of Heaven. Naturally, I couldn’t tell His Majesty this, but I believe others could see it too. I can only act first and switch this destiny.'”

Suzhen could barely stand steady, only Lian Qin’s voice remaining in her ears.

“Huaisu, the soup was indeed given by Councilor Yan, but it was switched along the way. Wasn’t it actually given by your father? Only he didn’t know Sixth Brother would leave this for his mother!”

“It was that eunuch. He wasn’t just passing by, but took advantage of your fight to switch the soup…” Suzhen said in a low voice.

“You finally noticed that eunuch who seemed to appear and disappear. Actually, based on Sixth Brother’s recollections, the old magistrate went to great lengths to find that eunuch. The eunuch confirmed he had indeed switched things, and the one who instructed him was Feng Shaoqing.”

Lian Qin paused here.

“At that time, we followed Sixth Brother, giving that person the opportunity,” Lian Jie said bitterly, taking over.

“Sixth Brother was young then and didn’t understand the meaning of Feng Shaoqing’s words, much less know this ‘switching destiny’ referred to the soup. Later, he became Crown Prince, then Emperor – your father’s words came true one by one.”

“You say your father had no motive. We were also puzzled before, but after Prince Jin’s consort’s matter was exposed, everything had reasonable explanation. He wanted to kill someone who would obstruct Prince Jin’s descendants’ claim to power.”

If earlier Suzhen had been like an army of a thousand losing eight hundred against Lian Yu, now the remaining two hundred had also completely perished.

Of the three people that year, could one have been Fu Jingshu? Then the remaining one would be the murderer now hiding in darkness, brutally killing?

To cover past evil deeds, using lies to cover lies, violence for violence, murder to stop murder?!

The palace maids from that year, tonight’s dead, including that innocent infant – all sacrifices in this power game?

Was her beloved father from childhood no longer her faith?

He taught her to serve country and people, yet he too had selfish moments? Could also kill innocents?

She had fallen in love because of his unconditional love, but could she love the son of her father’s killer? Could others love the daughter of their enemy? Was his being with her truly from love, or also revenge?!

The moment of confirmation, all her strength seemed completely drained. She couldn’t even cry – finally she could only laugh, laughing aloud.

“Haha, my father is a traitor, indeed a traitor! Why should I overturn his damn case!”

“So many eyes were actually watching me make a fool of myself, weren’t they?”

“What ‘for my own good’ – I said we should face everything together. When he knew then, why didn’t he tell me? Then he was still beside me, I still had someone to depend on. Now I have nothing left, and only now he tells me this?”

“I saved him, he saved me too, but my father killed his mother, and his father killed my entire family. Is this damned situation my fate as Feng Suzhen?”

Seeing her step by step backing away, trembling all over, eyes wide open filled with deep red veins, Lian Jie and the others were greatly alarmed, but she retreated further and further.

“Don’t follow me, or I’ll kill you. This debt – wait for it, I’ll settle it clearly with him!” She said fiercely, the hatred in her eyes stopping them both in place…