“The late Empress died suddenly in the palace, and he, as her husband, showed no concern or inquiry. There wasn’t even a proper mausoleum, nor did he mention avenging the Empress. Even if he didn’t kill her himself, he certainly acquiesced to it!”

“You’ve forgotten about that rumor,” Qin Chang Ge said coolly. “That rumor didn’t come from nowhere. If Xiao Jue truly believed the claim that ‘the Empress faked her death and fled,’ then he’s a man abandoned by his wife. For an emperor’s dignity, this would be a tremendous blow. Why would he seek revenge for something that might not even exist?”

Seeing Qi Fan’s silence, she continued, “The current various incidents appear complex and tangled, but once clarified, they involve only those few people after all – who else but extraordinary individuals could attempt to kill the late Empress?”

She sighed slightly, “Whether it’s the mechanism hidden in the golden crossbow or my danger today at the Blazing Flame headquarters, it all indicates that in the shadows, there’s a powerful force constantly watching us like a tiger. This ‘us’ might not necessarily refer to Xiao Jue, the Phoenix Alliance, or the Blazing Flame sect individually. Perhaps we’re all included, all suffering attacks because we’ve touched upon certain interests – this is a very powerful force, and we need to be careful.”

“If we’re truly under their surveillance, why have we been able to live peacefully for three years and safely raise Rong Rong?” Rong Xiaotian protested.

“I said their focus might not necessarily be directly on the Phoenix Alliance. They might be targeting all groups that could potentially touch their interests. The Phoenix Alliance has kept a low profile for three years, appearing as just ordinary merchants, so we might not have entered their field of vision. But once the Phoenix Alliance takes action, pulling one thread moves the whole web, making it inevitable that we’ll be noticed.”

Qin Chang Ge paced slowly, saying, “I just looked at those travel passes – never mind the others, but An Feiqing, the great magnate from Longxi, left the city the day after the incident. Have you investigated him?”

“We did. He had been lingering in Yingdu previously. He left the city because his elderly mother sent word that she was gravely ill. He hurriedly bought a batch of medicinal herbs produced in Eastern Yan in Yingdu and rushed back. His mother was indeed ill – we quietly verified this.”

“What illness did she have?”

“Abdominal distension.”

“What medicines did he purchase?”

“Raphanus seeds, costus root, betel nut, bitter orange peel, green tangerine peel, licorice, fleece-flower root, and mayapple. This prescription is fine.”

“You’re very thorough with good memory,” Qin Chang Ge smiled after thinking. “Unfortunately, being too thorough isn’t good – it easily diverts attention and leads to wrong directions. These medicines are indeed fine, but don’t you think it’s strange to travel all the way from Yingdu to buy these very common medicines? Surely Longxi wasn’t waiting for his medicines to treat the illness? Yes, Longxi doesn’t have fleece-flower root, a specialty of Eastern Yan, but fleece-flower root happens to be the most dispensable item in this prescription.”

Qi Fan was stunned and murmured, “Fleece-flower root detoxifies and reduces swelling, moistens intestines and aids bowel movements. For scrofula, sores, and intestinal dryness with kidney qi stagnation, it’s most suitable.”

“It’s fine by itself, but combined with the other medicines, it becomes very problematic. Actually, just decocting the first few herbs would have miraculous effects. Since this prescription was written, it shows the prescriber is an expert. An expert wouldn’t unnecessarily add the astringent fleece-flower root. So who added it? Naturally, it was An Feiqing himself, who wanted to make the excuse of ‘delivering medicine home’ appear more reasonable – after all, no one would believe someone would travel so far just to deliver licorice.”

“Go investigate him,” Qin Chang Ge pushed the travel pass forward. “It’s him.”

Qi Fan accepted it, thought for a moment, and smiled, “Miss Ming has remarkably sharp insight.”

Qin Chang Ge smiled, “Actually, I took a shortcut – look at this pill.”

She took out the poison she had extracted from the assassin’s mouth earlier, broke it open, and smelled it. “I detected familiar herbal scents in this pill – maple blossom and euphorbia, both plants that grow in Longxi. That’s why I paid special attention to An Feiqing.”

“The Blazing Flame sect is certainly investigating that assassin too,” Qin Chang Ge smiled. “I kept the pill instead of giving it to Su Xuan because I wanted to test their capabilities. If Su Xuan can’t find any leads, then this ally isn’t worth having – they’d just get in the way.”

Undoubtedly, Su Xuan’s major southern expansion to become an imperial merchant was to avenge this benefactor of his. Though she couldn’t remember what favor she had done for him, Su Xuan’s intentions were now clear. However, uncovering the truth sometimes wasn’t necessarily helped by having more people, especially since the Blazing Flame sect was a large, conspicuous target. If they really got entangled together, it might create obstacles everywhere and potentially expose the Phoenix Alliance as well. Qin Chang Ge was always cautious – before the Blazing Flame sect demonstrated capabilities useful to her, she didn’t care about their good intentions and would rather politely decline their goodwill.

“Well, let’s do what needs to be done. When there are enough clues, there will always be a time to find the main thread,” Qin Chang Ge tapped the table. “It’s time to clarify the matter of Chu Feihuan.”

At the mention of Chu Feihuan, Rong Xiaotian immediately showed anger and said heavily, “A dead man, and a traitor at that – why ask about him again!”

“Xiaotian!” Qi Fan shouted. Rong Xiaotian rolled his eyes, knowing his tone was inappropriate, and sullenly closed his mouth.

Qin Chang Ge wasn’t angry, only said gently but firmly, “I heard the late Empress say that Chu Feihuan, though cold and taciturn with a proud nature, was definitely not a treacherous villain. For him to betray right after the Empress’s sudden death is truly suspicious.”

“Miss Ming,” Qi Fan frowned, “Chu Feihuan was one of our Phoenix Alliance’s three heroes. Though he wasn’t particularly close to us, he was still a brother. If we didn’t have solid evidence pointing to him, how could we have taken lethal action against him? As they say, seeing is believing – what we saw with our own eyes surely can’t be false.”

Is seeing necessarily believing? Qin Chang Ge smiled. You haven’t seen the video editing technology of later generations – even ghosts can be faked, let alone people.

“So then, what exactly did you see?”