Han Yan didn’t care what the Seventh Prince thought of her. She just turned around with a smile and addressed Prince Wei: “Such major events have occurred in the Zhuang mansion today, even involving royal relatives. Han Yan truly doesn’t know what to do except turn to the authorities. Everyone here is a witness – I trouble Prince Wei to also bear witness. Please, all of you bear witness to everything that has happened in the Zhuang mansion today!” Without waiting for a response, she called out sharply: “Mu Yan!”

“At your service!” Mu Yan appeared instantly. Having witnessed everything, he was thoroughly impressed by Han Yan. If before he had only seen her intelligence and cunning, today’s events showed incomparable scheming ability. He saw nothing wrong with this – being naive in Prince Xuan Qing’s mansion would have been fatal many times over.

Those around His Highness needed decisiveness and courage, and Han Yan had given him quite a show today. While everyone was gathered at Concubine Mei’s door, Mu Yan followed Han Yan’s instructions, finding the red package in Qing Qiu Yuan that the Zhou sisters had used to frame Han Yan, removing its contents and replacing them with Elder Madam Zhou’s undergarment, hiding it in Zhuang Shi Yang’s room – which had certainly added drama to today’s performance.

Involving the authorities meant making everything public, including Elder Madam Zhou’s affair with Zhuang Shi Yang, but Mu Yan had already departed swiftly. Han Yan’s tone left no room for doubt – she had planned this all along.

Everyone’s attention focused not on the crying Concubine Mei, the disheveled Elder Madam Zhou, or the collapsed Madam Zhou, but on Han Yan. She calmly observed everything, giving orderly instructions to the servants. People couldn’t help feeling a strange sensation – this young woman was acting as the mansion’s master. Despite the succession of outrageous events in the Zhuang mansion, she hadn’t even furrowed her brow and often maintained a smile. That smile seemed genuine yet never reached her eyes; a deep look would chill one’s heart.

Zhuang Yu Shan gripped her arm tightly, nearly exploding with anger. Han Yan had even asked Prince Wei and others to bear witness – witness what? Evidence of her relatives harming others. Han Yan! But she couldn’t act rashly now; Zhuang Yu Shan had grown much smarter than before, gritting her teeth and swallowing her anger.

Concubine Mei glared at Han Yan, now realizing everything was Han Yan’s doing. But how could she have such capability? She had somehow known her plan, even about her fake pregnancy. This seemed impossible – nobody except her closest maids knew about this plan.

If Concubine Mei had been a bit smarter, and more observant, she would have noticed that Jiao Meng, who had always been by her side offering advice, hadn’t given her any suggestions today. Even when Zhuang Shi Yang was beating her, she just stood aside with a lowered head, saying nothing.

Those who betray you are always the ones you believe would never betray you. Unfortunately, Concubine Mei didn’t understand this principle, while Han Yan had learned it through last life’s bloody lesson, paying with her life to understand this truth.

For a long time afterward, Han Yan wasn’t sure if her decision had been right.

After that day’s events in the Zhuang mansion, Madam Zhou was driven out for adultery, branded with the character of “lust” on her face. Walking through the marketplace, pointed at by others, Elder Madam Zhou, who had never been treated this way in her life, became mentally unstable. In her madness, she got into an argument with someone and fell into the city moat during the struggle. No one tried to save her, and she died just like that.

Madam Zhou fared no better. For conspiring with Concubine Mei to frame Han Yan, they were both imprisoned. Being imprisoned essentially meant they would never see freedom again. Han Yan knew this was less about official punishment and more about Fu Yun Xi’s doing. He must have arranged something with the authorities, as, despite the Zhou sisters’ many noble connections, no one could help them.

As for the Seventh Prince, he was an unexpected gain. The Emperor reproached him for leaving the mountain where he should have been praying for the people’s welfare, instead sneaking to the Zhuang mansion and inviting a fraudulent character like Taoist Jing Xu, declaring this deserved correction. Thus, the Seventh Prince was temporarily confined.

Someone like the Seventh Prince needed to taste some hardship. With the Emperor handling him this way, many court officials who had supported him began to waver, wondering if the Emperor’s actions suggested the Seventh Prince had fallen from favor – perhaps the Crown Prince was the better bet?

With the Seventh Prince confined, Wei Ru Feng naturally couldn’t contact him. In fact, after the Zhuang mansion incident, Prince Wei began deliberately lying low. Too many people were involved; only a fool would push forward at such a sensitive time.

This time, Han Yan had achieved complete victory. All her threatening opponents would be unable to trouble her for a long time. Especially the Zhou sisters – they likely would never recover in this lifetime. When news of Elder Madam Zhou’s death arrived, Han Yan spent a long time alone. She felt no joy or satisfaction, only that she had completed something she had to do, leaving an emptiness in her heart. In this life, she had come for revenge. As her enemies fell one by one, her burden lightened, but she became increasingly unsure of her direction. If one day all Han Yan’s opponents were eliminated, why would she remain in this world?

Lost in thought, Han Yan murmured to Shu Hong beside her: “Shu Hong, what meaning do I have in this world?”

Shu Hong didn’t understand why Han Yan suddenly asked this, but she knew that lately, Han Yan hadn’t been happy at all. Even after exposing those people’s schemes, even with no one left in the Zhuang mansion to threaten her, her young miss was truly unhappy. Since Han Yan had awakened a year ago, Shu Hong often couldn’t understand what her young miss was thinking. They had grown up together, sharing everything, and before this, Shu Hong could easily guess her miss’s thoughts. But now it was different. Her miss’s eyes were like those of someone who had lived through many stories – stories that neither she nor Ji Lan had been part of.

Han Yan was usually steady and calm, rarely showing such confusion and bewilderment, like a lost child that made one’s heart ache. Shu Hong thought carefully before answering seriously: “Young Miss doesn’t need to think about what her meaning is. As long as Young Miss lives happily, that’s enough. If we must speak of life’s meaning… Young Miss can think of His Highness.”