For Gu Qingchi, she held gratitude in her heart. Perhaps due to her life experiences, she had always shown a slight bias towards everything related to her.

She turned her head to look at Xue Jinqiao, who was playing with Duanming, her eyes dark and seemingly lost in thought.

“Sister, what’s wrong?” Xue Jinqiao was sensitive and immediately noticed something off about Shen Xihe’s expression.

“Qiaoqiao, you and your father…”

“I don’t have a father.” Before Shen Xihe could finish, Xue Jinqiao cut her off coldly, then added somewhat awkwardly, “Now… now I don’t have a father.”

She disliked Xue Kui. Xue Kui had used her thoroughly, and she had already repaid the debt of life she owed him over these years.

She liked Shen Xihe’s father. Since her betrothal to Shen Yunan, the Prince of the Northwest would always bring gifts for her whenever he brought presents for Shen Xihe, never forgetting her. No one had ever remembered her so constantly. After being raised by her grand-uncle and grand-aunt, she had never been separated from them for long.

Therefore, the Prince of the Northwest and Shen Yunan were the first people who would bring her gifts on every holiday and think of her when they obtained precious new items. This feeling of being constantly remembered in someone’s heart was wonderful, and she grew to like her sister and her sister’s family more and more.

She couldn’t wait to come of age tomorrow, so she could become part of the Shen family sooner.

Thinking about becoming part of the Shen family, Xue Jinqiao asked, “Sister, after I marry your brother, can I stay in the capital to keep you company?”

“Weren’t you going to the Northwest to take care of him for me?” Shen Xihe didn’t understand why Xue Jinqiao suddenly wanted to stay in the capital.

“I want to be with Sister… and also want to receive gifts often.” Xue Jinqiao said the latter part very quietly.

Shen Xihe still heard it clearly and smiled gently. “I’m getting married next year, and after that, I’ll be living in the Eastern Palace. I won’t be able to leave the palace easily, and it wouldn’t be proper to summon you into the palace every day. You’d be too lonely staying at the Princess’s mansion, and I would worry about you.

When you go to the Northwest, I’ll still often send you gifts, and you can send gifts back to me too.”

Xue Jinqiao thought about it and felt this seemed even better, so she nodded with a smile, unable to resist propping her chin in her hands: “I wish we could get married sooner.”

Her face full of longing and anticipation made Shen Xihe laugh.

“Qiaoqiao, Sister might have to deal with your… Minister Xue.” Shen Xihe changed her words, not wanting to hurt her relationship with Xue Jinqiao, and giving her advance notice to avoid putting her in a difficult position.

“Really?” Xue Jinqiao’s eyes sparkled like stars. “Sister, how are you going to deal with him? Will you make him lose his position or have him beheaded?”

Shen Xihe: …

This eager, excited expression, ready to participate with anticipation, left Shen Xihe both amused and helpless.

“Let’s have him lose his position,” Shen Xihe said helplessly. “If he’s beheaded, you’ll have to observe mourning and won’t be able to marry my brother sooner.”

Xue Jinqiao had been adopted, but the fact that Xue Kui had given birth to and raised her couldn’t be erased. If Xue Kui died, even if Xue Jinqiao didn’t observe three years of mourning, she would still need to observe at least one year to fulfill her filial duties.

“Then we can’t let him die,” Xue Jinqiao hurriedly said. She didn’t want to observe mourning for Xue Kui.

After she gets married, if Xue Kui dies then, she won’t have to observe mourning!

She hated Xue Kui, hated him so much she wanted to kill him herself.

Back then, when she was treated that way, he didn’t stand up for her and instead used the incident to gain favors from the clan. After getting what he wanted, he wouldn’t allow her to hold grudges about it, fearing others would call him greedy and untrustworthy.

To prevent her from going mad over that incident, he controlled her, scolded her, and even starved her!

Just thinking about these things made her want to die together with him. If she hadn’t met her grand-aunt, she would have killed her father and then herself.

“Qiaoqiao.” Xue Jinqiao’s mood suddenly changed, her eyes deep and dark, her whole body emanating intense hostility.

Shen Xihe pulled her into her embrace. “It’s alright, it’s alright, Sister is here. I’ll get revenge for how he bullied you.”

Under Shen Xihe’s gentle consolation, Xue Jinqiao finally calmed down, holding onto Shen Xihe vulnerably and pitifully, leaning in her embrace, staring fixedly at one spot like a frightened rabbit, with Shen Xihe’s embrace being her safe harbor.

Shen Xihe felt somewhat regretful. It seemed there were many grievances between Xue Kui and Xue Jinqiao that her investigations couldn’t uncover. She couldn’t ask about them either, as that would be reopening Xue Jinqiao’s wounds. She could only be more careful in the future and avoid mentioning this person in front of her.

Xue Jinqiao’s reaction gave her more confidence – there was no need to show any mercy to Xue Kui.

Xue Kui had held the position of Minister of Personnel for five years. During these five years, he had taken plenty of bribes and appointed many incompetent people.

He thought he had done everything perfectly, but that was only because he had the Xue family’s backing, and since there were no major mistakes, naturally no one opposed him.

Shen Xihe quickly found a corrupt official in the local government who had bribed Xue Kui. This official had received excellent evaluations year after year because of the bribes, and in just six years had become a prefecture governor, even if only of a lower-ranked prefecture.

As she arranged things, there was no way to escape the watchful eyes of Xiao Huayong, who was constantly paying attention to her. When Xiao Huayong noticed she was moving against Xue Kui, he was quite puzzled – Xue Kui was Xue Jinqiao’s birth father after all.

Not knowing the reason, Xiao Huayong simply invited someone to the Eastern Palace and asked directly: “Why is Youyou setting up Xue Kui?”

Shen Xihe lowered her eyes and remained silent for a while before saying, “The late Princess Xin and I were close friends. I am where I am today largely thanks to her guidance.”

Early on when she entered the capital, she knew that when it came to matters related to the Gu family, she couldn’t simply ignore them. She needed a reasonable justification to take action.

“You’re doing this because of Princess Xin?” Xiao Huayong was still confused and hadn’t figured it out. “Because Xue Kui was disrespectful to Lord Gu, you want to move against him out of gratitude to Princess Xin?”

The Shen Xihe he knew was an extremely decisive and cold person. Even in matters concerning Bu Shulin, unless Bu Shulin came asking for help, she might not actively intervene. Of course, this might have been because she felt Bu Shulin could handle things, but it was also due to her cold personality.

Princess Xin was deceased, and she felt no one was standing up for Gu Zhao. Even though Xue Kui ultimately didn’t succeed in making Gu Zhao take the blame, she still couldn’t swallow this anger.

How important must Princess Gu have been to her, that someone of her personality would stand up for the Gu family like this?

“Your Highness, the late Princess Xin was someone who gave me a second chance at life,” Shen Xihe could only say this much.

Seeing this, Xiao Huayong didn’t probe further: “What do Youyou plan to do with Xue Kui?”

“He is Qiaoqiao’s birth father. I don’t want to take his life, just let him lose his position and live out his days in mediocrity.”

This might be even more severe than taking Xue Kui’s life because Xue Kui was someone who cared extremely about his official career and had an especially strong desire for fame and recognition.

“Youyou probably don’t know, but Prince Xin has also made his move. He wants Xue Kui’s life,” Xiao Huayong said.