Having her thoughts guessed, Madam Geng stared fixedly at Shen Xihe.
“It’s not worth it, Madam.” Ignoring Madam Geng’s cold gaze, Shen Xihe lowered her head to smooth the sleeves laid flat across her knees. “Would you believe that as soon as you hang yourself at the prince’s mansion gate, I can immediately have people move you to the mass grave, making everyone think you were too ashamed to show your face and disappeared?”
Madam Geng trembled instantly: “You…”
Tilting her head slightly and raising her eyebrows, Shen Xihe gave Madam Geng a charming smile and said, “Don’t waste your efforts. If you want to die, I’ll grant your wish. Once you leave the prince’s mansion, you won’t live much longer.”
“If I die, it will prove your prince’s mansion silences people by murder!” Madam Geng growled.
“Unfortunately, you’ve already made one scene about dying. For such a repeat offender, no one will think that way,” Shen Xihe replied with some regret.
“You’re not the Princess, you’re not the Princess—” Madam Geng suddenly shouted hoarsely, “The Princess would never be so…”
Madam Geng had raised Shen Xihe, and though the time wasn’t particularly long, it wasn’t short either. While Shen Xihe possessed such intelligence and wit, she hadn’t had such a cold heart. The person before her now was too unfamiliar.
“Heh…” Shen Xihe laughed softly, “Madam Geng hasn’t even seen herself clearly, yet thinks she sees through others.”
“What did you say!”
“I never understood why Uncle Geng would betray my father. At his age, with no son to inherit his legacy, even if his schemes succeeded, it would only bring momentary satisfaction. How many years could he be the Prince of the Northwest?” Shen Xihe’s bright gaze fell on Madam Geng’s face. “Taking such a huge risk, becoming estranged from everyone, ruining his reputation – all to pledge allegiance to His Majesty. It wasn’t like Uncle Geng’s nature, unless…”
Shen Xihe deliberately paused. Madam Geng’s pupils contracted slightly, confirming that her guess wasn’t wrong: “It was you. You couldn’t bear the pain of losing your son, crying every day, whispering in Uncle Geng’s ear day after day, personally injecting the demon into his heart. His deep love for you led him down this path of no return.”
“You’re talking nonsense!” Madam Geng shrilly retorted, and then her gaze became blank. “I didn’t, you’re talking nonsense, it wasn’t me!”
“Geng Zhongji deserved his death. How many innocent people did he kill? You always tried to solve everything with money – did you never have nightmares about it?” Shen Xihe couldn’t understand why some people could disregard others’ flesh and blood relationships for the sake of their own.
Willfulness was inherently selfish – she understood all this. But for a couple who had once been so upright and honest to become completely different people because of this long-lost child, disregarding human life and violating morality – it was something she, having never experienced it, found difficult to comprehend.
“I only had Zhong’er, this one child. He was lost because both his parents had to protect his home and country. He fell into kidnappers’ hands, was trafficked through many places, and suffered greatly. If he hadn’t been lost, if he had stayed by my side, how could things have turned out this way?” Madness and obsession filled Madam Geng’s eyes. “We owed him all this, the people of the Northwest owed him. They only lost a daughter, we saved their whole family!”
Shen Xihe quietly looked at the deranged woman before her. How could someone who was once gentle and virtuous become so unreasonable, so frighteningly obsessed, merely because of the pain of losing a child?
She had a bold guess in her heart. She stood up: “Since you miss him so much, go be with him then.”
Dropping these words lightly, ignoring Madam Geng’s shudder, Shen Xihe turned and left.
She returned to her bedchamber where Xiao Huayong was sitting by the window in the outer room, holding a book. It was Shen Xihe’s book about rare flowers, plants, and trees, with her annotations. Xiao Huayong was reading it with great interest.
“Confirmed?” When Shen Xihe returned, Xiao Huayong asked abruptly.
Others wouldn’t understand, but Shen Xihe did. She nodded slightly: “Confirmed without a doubt. If nothing unexpected happens, we can capture them tonight.”
The Geng couple understood the Shen siblings, but how could Shen Xihe not understand them as well? Geng Liangcheng’s sudden ambition when pledging allegiance to His Majesty – was it just because of Geng Zhongji?
Madam Geng was a woman of the inner court. The inner courts of the Northwest were generally simple. Due to warfare, very few families had multiple wives and concubines. Most were monogamous because many couples had experienced life and death together. Combined with the Northwest’s previous poverty, they didn’t have much inclination for pleasure. Therefore, someone like Madam Geng was unlikely to have complex thoughts.
Her appearance today holding Geng Liangcheng’s memorial tablet had seemed somewhat abrupt to Shen Xihe. Though people might show some cleverness or extreme behavior when grieving and angry, it wasn’t unreasonable. Shen Xihe had only grown suspicious, which was why she went to probe.
Geng Liangcheng’s betrayal was indeed due to Madam Geng’s constant reminders, allowing his dissatisfaction to grow secretly until it became unstoppable, leading him to turn to His Majesty.
Then Shen Xihe suspected there might also be someone behind Madam Geng, occasionally reminding her of Geng Zhongji’s death, gradually diluting the evil in her heart about Geng Zhongji while intensifying his tragic fate, which then influenced Geng Liangcheng through her.
This person was also the one giving Madam Geng ideas. Shen Xihe had deliberately gone to threaten Madam Geng’s life. People were all the same – they could bravely sacrifice themselves, ending their lives without blinking, but when others threatened their lives, they would become afraid. Once afraid, they would instinctively seek their spiritual support.
“Seeing the big picture from small details – Youyou, I’m impressed.” Xiao Huayong hadn’t thought of so much.
“You just don’t understand them.” Shen Xihe didn’t think she was particularly remarkable. Her thoughts went further, “Beichen, I even suspect that Geng Zhongji wasn’t the real Geng Zhongji.”
So from the beginning, it was all carefully planned to make Geng Liangcheng – the person Shen Yueshan would least expect to betray him – turn traitor.
“This is very much like His Majesty’s style,” Xiao Huayong closed the book and pondered for a moment, giving Shen Xihe a confirming answer.
Emperor Youning was most skilled at the unexpected.
“So, there are still His Majesty’s spies in the Northwest Prince’s city,” Shen Xihe said softly.
“Probably not many.” After all, it wasn’t easy to plant spies right under Shen Yueshan’s nose. “This time we can follow the trail and root out these remaining fish that slipped through the net.”
“After capturing them, behead them all and send them to His Majesty’s desk,” Shen Xihe’s eyes gleamed coldly.
Xiao Huayong couldn’t help but laugh softly, pulling Shen Xihe into his arms and holding her tightly with great fondness: “My Youyou, you truly entrance me…”
Every side of her made his heart pound, unable to control its accelerating beats.
He had truly been poisoned, and this poison was called Shen Xihe – incurable, penetrating deep into his very being.