Qiucao looked at the clay pot, her face the very picture of composure.

In the past, she had been quite afraid of Er Yitai — after all, she was the Young Marshal’s birth mother and the one who managed the back courtyard of the Shi Mansion. But now, the entire Shi Mansion was firmly under Shi Guang’s control. This Luo Huaimeng was nothing more than a fish in a barrel.

Why would Qiucao, as things stood now, fear an Er Yitai who had neither soldiers at her command nor anyone to rely on at her back?

“Er Yitai is so kind-hearted, to have made me nourishing soup — Qiucao is truly overwhelmed with gratitude.” Qiucao smiled. “I accept Er Yitai’s goodwill with thanks. Qingmei, take the soup.”

“Hot soup should naturally be drunk while it’s still hot.” Luo Huaimeng said coldly. “Once it goes cold it won’t taste good.”

“Er Yitai really does think of everything.”

“How could I compare to you?” Luo Huaimeng looked at Qiucao. “You are the one who plans so thoroughly and leaves no room for others to breathe.”

Er Yitai gave Xiaojun a look. Xiaojun set the clay pot on a nearby table, then lifted a small porcelain bowl from the tray.

After the clay pot was opened, steam still rose from within, and a fragrant aroma drifted out.

Xiaojun ladled out a bowl of soup and presented it respectfully before Qiucao. “Qiucao, please have your soup.”

Qiucao stared at that bowl of soup, a venomous light flickering in her eyes. How could she not know what was in it?

Her first thought was: Honghua had betrayed her.

“What’s wrong? You won’t drink it, or you don’t dare?” Luo Huaimeng taunted coldly. “Or perhaps you know full well that this soup cannot be drunk?”

“Er Yitai, what are you saying?”

“Isn’t what I’m saying exactly what you know in your heart?”

“It’s not that I don’t dare drink it — it’s that I’m afraid this soup has a problem.” Qiucao tried to brazen it out. “What if Er Yitai has put something in it that shouldn’t be there? How would we handle that?”

Luo Huaimeng said: “Qiucao, you have a guilty conscience, don’t you? The medicine was added by your own hand — of course you don’t dare drink it.”

“I don’t know what Er Yitai means.”

“Well, Qiucao — still playing dumb with me here? You heartless woman. To think that you are about to be a mother, and you could still bring yourself to do such a thing.” Luo Huaimeng was furious, pointing squarely at Qiucao. “Xiaojun, make her drink this soup. Make her drink it.”

Though Xiaojun was frightened, she summoned her courage and stepped forward at Luo Huaimeng’s command.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Qingmei immediately stepped in front of Qiucao and cried out sharply: “Er Yitai, Qiucao is Second Young Master’s concubine. You cannot treat her in such a manner. Whatever grievance you have, it must go through Second Young Master’s approval first.”

Qingmei moved forward to snatch the bowl from Xiaojun, but Xiaojun was nimble and did not let her succeed. The guard who had been watching the spectacle finally came to his senses and rushed forward to intervene.

Just as the scene was descending into chaos, a furious shout rang out: “What are you all doing?”

The moment Qiucao saw that it was Shi Guang who had arrived, she rushed toward him and threw herself against him, bursting into sobs. “Second Young Master, please stand up for me! Er Yitai is trying to harm me.”

Shi Guang looked toward Er Yitai and said in a heavy voice: “Er Yitai, what is going on here?”

Seeing that Shi Guang had come, Luo Huaimeng said coldly: “Shi Guang, you’ve arrived at exactly the right moment. This concubine of yours has a vicious heart — she put poison in the soup that the servants made. If it hadn’t been discovered in time, there would already be two deaths on her hands.”

Shi Guang looked at the woman in his arms. “Is this true?”

Not yet sure what Shi Guang was thinking, Qiucao had no immediate answer. Her mind was racing at full speed.

Before she had finished working through her thoughts, she heard Shi Guang say: “Er Yitai claims that Qiucao put poison in the soup. Do you have evidence?”

“Of course.” Luo Huaimeng said. “The maid she ordered to act has already been bound and brought here. You may confront them face to face.”

Shi Guang gave the guard a glance. The guard stepped out.

“Er Yitai, when you say two deaths — who do you mean?”

“Shi Guang, are you still playing games with me? If it were not on your orders, would Qiucao have the audacity to do such a thing?”

Luo Huaimeng was beside herself with rage.

“Qiucao bribed Nanny Wang’s daughter Honghua and had her put medicine into Yan Qing’s soup. When Honghua slipped out in the middle of the night, she happened to be seen by Xiaojun. Xiaojun followed her in secret and witnessed her with Qiucao’s maid Qingmei. Xiaojun lay awake the whole night without sleeping, and the next morning she reported what had happened to me. At the same time, you were kind enough to permit me to visit Yan Qing. So Honghua put the poison into the soup Nanny Wang was brewing — and all of it was observed clearly by Xiaojun, who had been quietly watching her.”

Luo Huaimeng looked at Shi Guang with fury blazing in her eyes. “Shi Guang — though you and I have no bond of mother and son, I have never once harmed you. Why would you be so ruthless?”

Shi Guang listened quietly until she finished, then smiled. “Er Yitai, when I was a child, you often played with me and treated me as your own. I remember all of that. But Er Yitai, the times have changed, and so have our positions. Do you still hope to negotiate with me on the basis of old favors?”

“Shi Guang, you—” Luo Huaimeng’s face flushed crimson with fury, her lower lip clenched between her teeth.

“You are right. This was something I had Qiucao do.” Shi Guang patted Qiucao’s shoulder, but the look he turned on her made Qiucao’s heart seize — dark with unmistakable warning and rebuke.

Qiucao understood. Shi Guang had never liked anyone defying his will. He had told her to administer the medicine and remove the child, yet expressly forbidden her from harming Yan Qing. But Qiucao had acted on her own initiative, intending to kill Yan Qing along with the child.

But at this moment, with Er Yitai watching, Shi Guang would not hold Qiucao accountable.

Shi Guang continued: “Er Yitai, you may not know this, but the seventh has already been surrounded by the elite forces of Xi Nan’s army. He has only a guard unit at his disposal — no more than twenty men at most — while Xi Nan’s elite forces number over two thousand. They outnumber him a hundredfold.”

“You — what are you saying?” Er Yitai’s face went pale with shock. She felt her chest lurch, her vision swimming.

“The seventh’s encirclement was already two days ago. Reckoning by time, by now he should have…” Shi Guang said with a smile. “Either he was shot dead by Xi Nan’s forces, or he has been taken prisoner. Though I would rather he died on the battlefield than be captured — our Shi family cannot afford to lose that kind of face.”

“Is it you who colluded with Xi Nan’s forces from the inside?” Luo Huaimeng stared at Shi Guang in disbelief. “You who opened our gates to the enemy? You who betrayed us to outsiders?”

Something suddenly flashed in her mind. Her eyes flew wide. “The Marshal — did something happen to the Marshal? Did you orchestrate it? Did you kill the Marshal?”

From Shi Guang’s reaction, Luo Huaimeng had already confirmed her suspicion.

She shook her head, her eyes reddening. “Shi Guang, you are not even human. It was not enough to kill your own father — you had to harm your own younger brother as well. And now, you won’t even spare your brother’s unborn child. How could you sink to such a bestial level? Has your conscience been devoured by dogs?”

Faced with Luo Huaimeng’s torrent of accusations, Shi Guang’s expression did not change at all.

“You are correct. This is something I had Qiucao do.” Shi Guang patted Qiucao’s shoulder, but the look he directed at her made Qiucao’s heart seize cold — in it lay a heavy warning and rebuke.

Shi Guang continued: “Er Yitai, you are right, that is what I did. And I have always regretted that I did not marry Yan Qing. Since heaven has now given me the chance, I will not let it slip away again. Once I have achieved my ambitions, I will take her as my wife — make her the true Marshal’s wife. But she cannot be carrying another man’s child. That child, as he grows, may one day seek revenge on behalf of his father. If I keep him, would that not be raising a tiger that will turn on me?”

“You — you—” Shi Guang’s words left Luo Huaimeng thunderstruck. She stared at this man before her — outwardly composed, well-mannered and refined as Shi Ting himself — yet beneath that veneer of propriety lay a heart more wicked than any devil’s.

What Shi Guang had done lay far beyond the bounds of anything Luo Huaimeng had ever known. She considered herself to have seen all manner of people, yet Shi Guang surpassed them all. This man, most likely, had no heart.

When she had learned that Qiucao had put poison in the soup, her first instinct had been to come find Qiucao directly. She had known that if Qiucao dared to do such a thing, Shi Guang must have been aware of it. She had harbored a foolish hope that Shi Guang might have some remnant of conscience — that he might relent, for the sake of her care for him in his childhood, and abandon this insane scheme.

But she had been wrong. Utterly wrong. Shi Guang had no conscience at all, and no heart. How could he possibly spare Yan Qing?

Not only would he not spare the child in her belly — he actually intended to marry his younger brother’s wife. That obsession was like an evil seed that had taken root and sprouted within him, and once it grew, there was no longer any way to contain it.

“Er Yitai, I feel great sympathy for you — losing your husband and your son. But rest assured. Out of regard for the care you gave me in my childhood, I will see that you live out your years in comfort. I will send you to the countryside and buy you a small courtyard, with food and drink to last you the rest of your days.” Shi Guang’s eyes narrowed slightly as he smiled. “However, I imagine Er Yitai is not the sort of person who enjoys simply lingering on. With your husband and your son both gone — what meaning is there in living alone?”

Luo Huaimeng stared at the demon before her. Even his smile was hideous. A sweetness rose in her chest, and before she knew it she had coughed up a mouthful of blood.

“Er Yitai.” Xiaojun cried out in alarm and rushed to support the swaying Luo Huaimeng.

“See that your Er Yitai is taken care of.” Shi Guang said coldly. “The weather is cold — have her return to her own courtyard. We can’t have her catching a chill in the wind.”

“Shi Guang.” Luo Huaimeng, her face deathly pale, asked with what seemed like her last breath: “What do you intend to do? Don’t you dare touch Yan Qing. If you dare lay a hand on her, I swear I will fight you to the death.”

Shi Guang laughed. “Er Yitai, don’t make me laugh. Look at yourself — what do you have to fight me with? You can barely hold on to your own life.”

Shi Guang signaled to the guard, who immediately came forward and took hold of Er Yitai. By now she had no strength left to resist, and could only fix Shi Guang with a gaze blazing with fury.

Shi Guang ignored her eyes entirely, and turned instead to Qiucao, who stood to one side looking somewhat flustered.

After the guards had helped Er Yitai away, Qiucao immediately fell to her knees — though pregnant and bundled in thick winter clothing, her movements were painfully slow, and she made a deliberate show of looking pitiful to elicit sympathy. The whole thing resembled a scene played back in slow motion.

“Second Young Master, it was Qiucao’s fault. It was Qiucao who acted without authorization. Please punish me as you see fit.”