A flicker passed through Ling Jingshu’s eyes, and her expression remained composed. “I have already made myself quite clear. Elder brother, with your intelligence and discernment, you should have understood by now.”

What Ling Jingshu had said was not difficult to grasp. Anyone who gave it a moment’s thought would understand her meaning.

Ling Ting pressed his lips together, his face shifting in the candlelight.

“Li Shi is our common enemy. With the strength we have now, dealing with Li Shi directly is no easy task. We can only strike at what she depends on most — which is also her greatest weakness.”

Ling Jingshu spoke unhurriedly. “A child of only six years old — he might trip while walking, choke on his food, accidentally fall into the pond while playing too near the water’s edge, or out of curiosity insist on learning to ride a horse, only for a usually gentle horse to suddenly turn wild… Any manner of accident could cause a young child’s death. No matter how carefully the servants watch over him, there will always be moments when their attention slips. Elder brother, would you not agree?”

Ling Ting: “…”

Ling Ting drew in a sharp breath of cold air. The look he gave Ling Jingshu was that of someone gazing upon a complete stranger.

Was this still the gentle and docile Ling Jingshu he had known? She spoke of these dark and ruthless schemes so lightly, as though they were nothing at all — enough to send a chill creeping through one’s heart.

Ling Jingshu did not look at Ling Ting. As though speaking only to herself, she continued. “Li Shi holds Father’s favor for one reason only — because she bore him a son of the legal wife. If she were to lose that son, she would be devastated, and her greatest source of confidence would be gone. Even if she wished to try again later, there is no guarantee she would be lucky enough to bear another son — and even less certainty that any child would survive to adulthood.”

“I am bringing A’Xiao to the capital for treatment. If his eyes are healed, I will enroll him in the finest academy available. If the divine physician Wei cannot cure his condition, I will seek out other renowned physicians. In any case, my brother and I will not be returning to Dingzhou.”

“With us gone, you will be the only son left at Father’s side. Even if you were born of a concubine, no one would dare to look down on you any longer. In the future, the family inheritance of this Fifth Branch would all be yours.”

“This inheritance is laid out before you. It only depends on whether you have the courage to take it.”

Ling Ting’s chest heaved heavily. The right hand clenched into a fist trembled slightly. His expression was complex beyond description.

After Ling Jingshu finished speaking, she fell silent.

After a moment, Ling Ting finally made up his mind. He released a long, slow breath. “You and A’Xiao truly do not intend to return to Dingzhou?”

Without waiting for Ling Jingshu’s answer, he went on of his own accord. “Perhaps you have only come to deceive me — and once I have truly been moved to act and followed through, you will expose everything to Father. At that point, I — a concubine-born son who dared to plot against his own brother — would face certain death. And the Fifth Branch would have only you two siblings left. This would be quite an elegant scheme of killing two birds with one stone.”

Ling Jingshu did not deny it. She even smiled slightly. “Elder brother is indeed thorough and cautious in his thinking. All these years, you have kept your head down and deliberately played the role of the mediocre — and you managed to deceive everyone around you.”

Now that everything was out in the open, there was nothing left to hide.

Ling Ting simply dropped all pretense and admitted it outright. “You are correct. I had long harbored private suspicions that Li Shi was the mastermind behind the incident all those years ago. But without evidence, and with no standing to speak, if I had spoken carelessly I would only have brought trouble upon myself.”

“Everything you have said just now — I am genuinely tempted. And yet — how am I to know that you are not trying to use me, and then betray me once it is done?”

She truly had not misjudged him.

Ling Ting, at sixteen, had cunning, ambition, and a calculating mind. What he lacked was only the opportunity to put them to use.

Because the Lu Family members were here, she did not wish to stay in Dingzhou any longer than necessary. In order to deal with Li Shi, Ling Ting was precisely the right person.

Ling Jingshu raised an eyebrow, her lips curving in a smile that was not quite one. “If I were to swear a grave oath this very moment — pledging that A’Xiao and I will never return to Dingzhou and that we relinquish all claim to the Fifth Branch’s inheritance — would you believe my oath?”

Ling Ting’s eyes flickered and shifted for a long moment before he finally let out two words. “I would not.”

Words cost nothing and leave no trace. If vows carried any weight, there would not be so many faithless and treacherous people in the world.

Ling Jingshu gave a slight shrug, her tone careless and unconcerned. “If you do not believe me, there is nothing I can do about that. Let us simply set aside everything spoken tonight, and elder brother may consider himself as never having come.”

Ling Ting: “…”

Was she playing games with him?!

A plot of such gravity — touching on a human life, on the future inheritance of the Fifth Branch, on his own prospects and his future — could not be treated as mere sport!

Ling Ting’s expression was none too pleasant, but his feet did not move a single step toward the door.

“If elder brother does not believe me,” Ling Jingshu asked, feigning ignorance, “why not turn and leave?”

The corner of Ling Ting’s mouth twitched several times before he managed to squeeze out a few words. “It is not that I disbelieve you. It is only that with a matter this serious, I cannot be at ease without some form of documented proof.”

Hearing this demand, Ling Jingshu showed no surprise — yet she refused without a moment’s hesitation. “That will not do. For something like this, there absolutely cannot be any written evidence. If you were to act clumsily and be discovered, or if you were to use such a document to go to Li Shi and report us for merit, my brother and I would become fish laid out on a chopping block.”

“You do not dare to trust me — and why should I trust you any more readily? If we are to proceed with this mutual suspicion between us, then tonight’s discussion is better left unsaid.”

“I despise Li Shi and do not wish to see her live comfortably. And you want far more than that. You want the Fifth Branch’s inheritance. You want Father’s favor. You want others’ respect. You desire so much — and yet you do not wish to take on the slightest risk. Does any such fortunate situation exist in this world?”

With that, Ling Jingshu’s lovely face cooled, and a trace of coldness entered her voice. “I have said everything I have to say. Whatever choice is made — that is entirely up to you.”

This time, Ling Ting was silent for a very long while.

He thought of Xia Yinniang’s wretched state at the moment of her death. He thought of the bleakness of life as a concubine’s son. He thought of Li Shi’s occasional glances at him — full of contempt and disdain. He thought of his father’s tenderness toward his youngest child…

All the resentment and unwillingness that had been buried deep in his heart for years came surging up now — converging into a fierce current that churned without ceasing inside him.

His birth mother had been killed, indirectly, by Li Shi’s hand. The years of frustration and suffocation he had endured were all Li Shi’s doing as well. Was he really going to go on living under someone else’s thumb for the rest of his life?

Such a fine opportunity lay before him now — why should he not dare to seize it with both hands?

Ling Ting’s heartbeat grew faster and faster. His palms were damp, all the blood in his body rushing up to his head. His fairly handsome face was flushed a deep red.

Ling Jingshu’s heart, meanwhile, was slowly growing still.

If Ling Ting were unwilling, he would already have turned and walked out. This long hesitation and indecision meant only one thing — he had been moved by the idea.

Fortune favored the bold. Ling Ting would say yes. She was certain of it.

“Sister, I have one final question.” Ling Ting spoke at last. “You will eventually marry — and when you do, you will have your dowry. But what of A’Xiao? How can you be certain he would be willing to give up the family inheritance here?”

Ling Jingshu answered without a moment’s pause. “After A’Xiao goes to the capital, he will have a far brighter future ahead of him. In your eyes, this family inheritance may be worth its weight in gold. In the eyes of my brother and I, it is little more than something fit to be discarded.”

Then she lifted her gaze back to Ling Ting. “Elder brother, if you have made up your mind, let us form our alliance here tonight — each swearing a solemn oath. Whether or not the matter succeeds, both of us will keep absolute silence and never breathe a word of tonight’s conversation to anyone.”

Ling Ting gritted his teeth, and answered resolutely: “Agreed.”

Ling Jingshu let every trace of expression fall from her face and swore solemnly. “With Heaven above as my witness, I, Ling Jingshu, hereby swear this oath. So long as elder brother fulfills what he has promised, A’Xiao and I will never return to Dingzhou for the rest of our lives, and we willingly relinquish all claim to the Fifth Branch’s inheritance. Should I ever violate this oath, may I, Ling Jingshu, be struck by lightning and die a wretched death.”

Ling Ting steadied himself, and swore his own oath in turn.

Once they had each sworn their vows, the alliance was sealed. From that point on, their conversation carried no more twists or roundabout phrasing.

“You and A’Xiao are truly leaving tomorrow?”

“All the clothing and luggage is already packed. Tomorrow morning we set off with the First Branch household.”

“Do the Lu brothers know you are going?” Ling Ting asked on instinct.

Ling Jingshu’s expression was indifferent. “What does my departure have to do with them? Why should they need to be told?”

So it appeared Ling Jingshu truly felt nothing for the Lu brothers. She might even have concealed the news of the journey to the capital precisely in order to keep it from them.

The thought flashed through Ling Ting’s mind, but he did not linger on it. He lowered his voice again and said, “Sister, when the matter is done, I will send word to you.”