Madam Fang had once thought she had already witnessed all the evil people in this world, and in fact, that was indeed the case. For example, Old Madam Qin, whom Song Chuning had warned her about just a while ago, had indeed discovered some clues.

Madam Rui’s chronic bedridden condition turned out not to be due to poor recuperation, but rather chronic poisoning.

As for who had administered the poison, there was hardly any need to guess. Old Madam Qin was nearly driven to her grave with fury—if she hadn’t acted as matchmaker, Qin Zhi would never have been able to enter the Prince Duan’s manor, yet instead of being grateful, she had actually harmed her own cousin.

Outside the room, the wild wind continuously beat against the windows, and the faintly swaying tree shadows fell through the thin paper of the latticed window into view. She closed her eyes and unconsciously retreated a couple of steps, her voice barely audible.

“But he’s your father.” Madam Fang opened her mouth, yet didn’t know what exactly she was saying. “If he falls into misfortune, how does that benefit you?”

She had never seen anyone who could be evil to this extent, killing whoever stood in their way, whether human or divine. Song Jue and Song Chuyi from before could barely be explained as having old grievances, but now Song Chuning actually wanted to make a move against Song Yi, which made her feel somewhat incredulous and unacceptable.

How Song Yi treated her was plain for all to see. While not extraordinarily good, he could still be called an indulgent father who granted her every wish. Yet even such a father—Song Chuning could now bring herself to strike at him!

Song Chuning’s eyes were red and swollen. She narrowed them slightly to conceal those eyes of hers that, though beautiful, frightened people. She hummed indifferently and seemed quite puzzled as she asked back, “So what?”

So what if he was her father? So what about her mother?

Whether it was Song Yi or Li Shi, which of them had ever treated her as a person? Li Shi treated her as a bargaining chip, a piece to tie down Song Yi so she could marry into the Song family.

And Song Yi? At that time, all his tenderness had been used to compensate Song Chuyi and Song Yan.

No one cared about her, no one wanted to know her thoughts. Even when she had a high fever for three days, it was the nanny and the eldest young mistress who discovered it. Where were her father and mother then?

They were all keeping vigil at Song Chuyi’s side without leaving for a moment.

With such parents, why should she acknowledge them? And why should she worship them like bodhisattvas?

Madam Fang was stunned by her cold, emotionless question. She sighed, not knowing how to respond. At this moment, the fear and terror in her heart exceeded her anger—living to this age, she had never encountered someone as cold-hearted and unfeeling as Song Chuning, and truly didn’t know how to deal with her.

“This time when I return to the capital, I’m facing certain death.” Song Chuning opened her eyes to look at her, lazily resting her head on the pillow. “He doesn’t care whether I live or die, so why should I still consider his interests? Unless I’m no longer useful to you all, otherwise shouldn’t you all be helping me?”

Madam Fang found herself at a loss for words—after the incident with Madam Rui, Old Madam Qin practically worshipped Song Chuning as a deity, speaking endless praise of her before Prince Duan. Now Prince Duan valued this little girl with great fortune who could foresee the future even more highly. How could he possibly think she was useless?

“Those two plots of land in Yongzhou can be used to create problems.” Seeing Madam Fang raise her head with an attentive expression, Song Chuning curved her lips slightly. “These two plots were given to him voluntarily by that wealthy landowner after a case was decided. You go stir up trouble and make things clear—that landowner will probably understand.”

Madam Fang gasped, finally believing that Song Chuning wasn’t joking but truly wanted to bring misfortune upon Song Yi. She knew about those two plots of land—the two maids currently by Song Chuning’s side were both her people.

These two plots of land were something Song Chuning had specifically advised Song Yi he could accept, saying that going through a brokerage firm to formalize the sale transaction would suffice.

At that time, she had already planned to use this against Song Yi?!

She felt the hair on her arms standing on end, the cold wind rushing into her enlarged pores making her shiver.

“Don’t look at me like that.” Song Chuning frowned. Seeing Madam Fang avert her gaze like a startled rabbit, she said in a low voice, “Also, instruct that Landowner Huang to send over a few beauties in a few days.”

Song Yi was, in all other respects, quite the upright gentleman, but he had a particular weakness for beautiful women. When superiors or subordinates sent him beauties, he never refused them.

Madam Fang was somewhat puzzled. “But this is very common in official circles—just giving beauties to each other.”

“Who said they were given?” Song Chuning laughed coldly. “Did I say they were given? My father forcibly seized them from that family—decent daughters from a good family. And this decent daughter, unwilling to submit, killed herself by smashing her head in the rear courtyard of the prefect’s office. Landowner Huang had his land stolen and his daughter seized—don’t you think he should file a complaint?”

Madam Fang looked at her as if seeing an evil ghost crawling up from hell, her eyes widening as she retreated two more steps.

This girl who would only be seven years old after the New Year always wanted people dead at the slightest dissatisfaction. This time she was even more deranged, wanting to destroy even her own father, and the reason was merely that Song Yi had agreed to her entering the palace to compete for the position of companion reader. Besides fear and terror, Madam Fang’s heart also began to surge with deep disgust.

Even in her most difficult times, she had never harbored thoughts of wanting Madam Wei dead. But Song Chuning always regarded human lives as worthless as grass. She not only harbored eternal malice toward unrelated people, but also bore open disgust and murderous intent toward her own biological parents and relatives.

Such a person—if she herself made any misstep in the future, Song Chuning would certainly think of killing her, even killing Wei Yanzhao.

She was truly too vicious. She lowered her head and remained silent for a long while.

Song Chuning didn’t care. Back when Nanny Yu, Li Shi, and others looked at her with such gazes, she had seen it so often that she no longer felt anything. She merely continued coldly with her instructions. “Also notify Old Madam Qin and tell her about my entering the capital. I know the imperial decree cannot be disobeyed even by the prince, so entering the capital is inevitable. But if you don’t want to lose me as a still-somewhat-useful chess piece, you’d better quickly think of a way to ensure my safety.”

Madam Fang agreed and stood up to leave. The ground was covered with a layer of thin ice. She carefully skirted around it, able to hear her own heart pounding thunderously.

Song Chuning was going to enter the palace, and she actually felt relieved—she was Fang Deng’s wife and definitely couldn’t return to the capital. Staying by Song Chuning’s side was truly too dangerous, and she was always scared half to death by her. Now, thinking she could escape from this malevolent star, she actually felt somewhat secretly happy.