Lianpin’s face immediately turned black as the bottom of a pot.

The depth of Noble Consort De’s family background was something that all the imperial concubines combined could not match. Noble Consort De had three blood brothers, each holding important positions, and all were clever and cunning.

Without the guidance and support of these men, the Fifth Prince would not have achieved countless meritorious deeds at such a young age, repeatedly earning Emperor Delong’s praise.

Looking at the Empress’s natal family in comparison—the Lin family naturally need not be mentioned. Though they had foundation, they were in the south, and with their many concerns, they could never possibly step forward. As for the Wen family, there were countless families in the capital with deeper foundations than the Wen family that could be pointed out casually.

To put it bluntly, if Emperor Delong passed away and the Fifth Prince competed with the Crown Prince, the Crown Prince would be at a disadvantage. The Fifth Prince need only control the troops and falsify the imperial edict—this would not be difficult to accomplish at all.

Therefore, Qin Shuying’s words were not without reason.

“Your Ladyship, Zhou Li clearly knows this subject’s wife is Your Ladyship’s cousin, yet he snatched the items from this subject’s wife’s hands. His intentions are as obvious as Sima Zhao’s—known to all passersby. Moreover, he acts so arrogantly precisely because he has no fear. Why does he have no fear? Because he doesn’t regard Your Ladyship and the Sixth Prince with any importance at all, because he has people supporting him from behind—they simply aren’t afraid.”

Lianpin clenched her fists.

Noble Consort De had never regarded her with any importance to begin with.

Noble Consort De entered the palace already holding the rank of consort, while Lianpin had no rank whatsoever when she entered the palace. Lianpin was extremely skilled at maneuvering and helped Noble Consort De accomplish many things, relying on Noble Consort De to gradually improve her situation.

Fundamentally, Lianpin had previously depended on Noble Consort De’s favor to survive. Now, she still needed to look up to Noble Consort De.

However, Lianpin had never given up her steps forward because of this, for she firmly believed that whoever laughed last would be the victor.

But this didn’t mean she wasn’t furious about how Noble Consort De and the Fifth Prince were acting now.

She, Qin Lianlian, might be somewhat lower than Noble Consort De, but her own son was not inferior to Zhou Li at all. They were equally sons of His Majesty—their status was the same.

“Your Ladyship, this subject’s wife has overstepped.”

Lianpin suddenly snapped back to attention, thinking her expression had frightened Qin Shuying. “No, no, continue speaking.”

“Your Ladyship, this subject’s wife understands nothing, this subject’s wife…”

Lianpin interrupted her words. “Tell me, how can I gain great merit?”

The coldness in Qin Shuying’s eyes deepened. “Your Ladyship, this subject’s wife’s possessions are meant to be donated to the soldiers in the future, yet the Fifth Prince stole them. Doesn’t this count as aiding the Western Kingdom?”

Lianpin’s eyes immediately lit up.

“Your Ladyship, this subject’s wife has lost her possessions and must certainly be trembling with fear, not daring to make any noise. Not only that, she must also try every means to find them back. Your Ladyship, don’t you agree?”

Lianpin wasn’t truly foolish—she was just overly greedy, and in her greed sometimes became confused. At this moment, she immediately understood Qin Shuying’s implied meaning. “This palace consort understands!”

Qin Shuying stayed to speak for a while longer before leaving the palace.

Lianpin immediately had someone find the Sixth Prince, and the next day received the Sixth Prince’s reply: the Fifth Prince had indeed sent people to conduct a night raid on the Liang family several days ago and stolen a chest of items.

Lianpin had long regarded those items as if they were already in her own pocket. Hearing this, she was so angry her chest hurt.

One million six hundred thousand taels!

Since Qin Lianlian’s birth, never mind one million six hundred thousand taels—she had never even seen one hundred thousand taels of silver!

Qin Shuying’s possessions were Qin Lianlian’s possessions. Zhou Li actually dared to touch these items—that was equivalent to touching Qin Lianlian’s possessions!

On the evening of the eighth day of the sixth month, after the rain had just stopped.

The entire Liang residence was shrouded in the croaking of frogs and chirping of insects. Walking on the smooth road surface, it was difficult to hear footsteps.

In the depth of night, amid the pitch-black darkness, a group of black-clothed men silently climbed over the wall into the Liang residence, heading straight for Qin Shuying’s bedroom.

Just as they were about to approach Qin Shuying’s bedroom, groups of people holding crossbows appeared from the bushes everywhere, aiming at the Fifth Prince’s men and unleashing a fierce barrage.

Those walking in front immediately fell to the ground with arrows.

However, another group of black-clothed men climbed over the surrounding wall—there were actually more than one hundred of them!

They held crossbows and shot at the Liang family’s people. The Liang family’s people were prepared early and immediately used shields to protect themselves. However, the crossbows held by the Fifth Prince’s residence black-clothed men were large bows with extraordinary killing power. The Liang family’s people were immediately forced to retreat, and quite a few were injured.

After dealing with the crossbow archers, the Fifth Prince’s residence black-clothed men split into two groups—one for defense, one heading straight to kick open Qin Shuying’s door and charge in.

However, after entering, they discovered the room was silent and still—there was actually no one there?

Subsequently, as they searched, they didn’t discover a single person.

Not good!

Although the leader knew they had fallen into a trap, he wasn’t panicked at all. The Fifth Prince had said early on that the Qin Shuying couple were extremely cunning—their mission wouldn’t be so easy.

With his command, everyone withdrew in an orderly manner.

Since Qin Shuying was prepared, then that firearm must also have been moved by Qin Shuying to somewhere else. They wouldn’t be foolish enough to search in the house.

The people in the house were retreating outward, but when they reached the door, they discovered that those who had remained outside were actually coming into the house.

Had powerful enemies arrived?

Indeed, arrows from outside flew toward the house like raindrops, the sound of “bang bang bang” as they embedded in wood rising and falling continuously. Many of the Fifth Prince’s residence black-clothed men fell to the ground at the sound.

At the same time, the courtyard outside, which originally had only the faint dim light of oil lamps, had more and more bright spots, followed by uniform footsteps and faint voices speaking.

“Capture the Western Kingdom traitors!”

With a man’s high-pitched, powerful command, the arrows became even more dense, coming from east, south, west, north, front, back, left, and right. The leader immediately commanded everyone to retreat into the house and frantically closed the doors and windows.

His face turned pale. Western Kingdom traitors?

The leader looked around—there were still more than fifty people, quite a few injured, with only a dozen or so completely unharmed.

Everyone was battle-hardened and all understood the opponent’s intention. Some showed panic in their eyes.

Others cursed angrily: “Treacherous scoundrels! This master just retired from the border cities and killed countless traitors—how dare you slander this master!”

Among them, the personnel were mixed—some had indeed been to the border cities. It was just that after retiring, they didn’t have much silver and couldn’t find other livelihoods, so they were recruited into a mysterious organization and usually did “rob the rich to help the poor” work.

The leader’s expression was dark and unclear. “Everyone, don’t panic. We came to rob the rich and help the poor—we’re not Western Kingdom traitors at all. Don’t fall for their trick!”

Everyone cursed and swore. “Boss, what do we do now?”

The leader hadn’t yet thought of a plan when that high-pitched voice outside spoke again: “Western Kingdom traitors, your treacherous hearts never die. We’ll take your dog lives to honor our people!”

Speaking thus, the roof tiles above actually made a “crash clatter” sound. The people in the house looked up to see many holes appearing in the roof, and in the blink of an eye, arrows rained down from above.

The people in the house had nowhere to hide and immediately another group fell.