Fanggu, upon hearing this, let her eyes droop in defeat, tears falling one by one. Not daring to look at Wu Shi in the ancestral hall anymore, she cried, “It was the First Madam. All of this was done by the First Madam.”

“You’re lying!” Wu Shi’s voice became shrill. “It was clearly Eldest Miss who did it. Why are you framing me?”

“Mother—” Zhao Hewan knelt on the ground, moving forward on her knees two steps, looking at Wu Shi in disbelief and asking, “Mother, are you trying to force me to death? Are you trying to force me to death?”

“Shut up! You’re a descendant of the Zhao clan with Zhao blood in your veins. Your grandfather won’t watch you die. He’ll protect you, he’ll definitely protect you. But I’m different, I’m different! You foolish girl, why don’t you understand?”

“Mother,” Zhao Siniang quickly rushed into the ancestral hall and knelt before her, tightly gripping her hands. “Please stop talking nonsense. It’s not Elder Sister’s fault. How could Elder Sister wrongly admit to it? Third Sister, Third Sister only wants the truth. Please just tell her.”

Wu Shi stared wide-eyed in disbelief at this most beloved youngest daughter. Enraged, she struck her face with a slap. “You shut up! What truth? The truth is that your elder sister was jealous of Sanniang and therefore lured Erlang out of the city, then deliberately told Sanniang, causing her to fall from her horse outside the city…”

“Is that so?” Zhao Hanzhang glanced at Zhao Siniang, laughed heartily, then turned to ask Fanggu, “Is what she said true?”

Under her gaze, Fanggu didn’t dare say it was true and said through her tears, “No, it’s not…”

Fanggu closed her eyes and said in one breath, “It was the First Madam. The First Madam told Eldest Miss that the Old Master wanted to arrange a prestigious marriage for Third Miss, and after the betrothal was set, she would have Second Young Master inherit the family business, with Third Miss and her prestigious son-in-law supporting Second Young Master together, and that they would separate our second branch…”

Wu Shi crawled up and rushed forward to interrupt, shrieking, “You’re lying—”

Ting He, who had come with a tray, saw this and thrust the tray into Zeng Yue’s hands. Taking three steps as two, she rushed forward and grabbed Wu Shi’s hands, pushing her backward and directly knocking her to the ground.

Fanggu continued, “The First Madam hinted to Eldest Miss that as long as Third Miss’s reputation was ruined, this marriage couldn’t be made. The remaining Second Young Master wouldn’t be enough to worry about, and this way the whole family could still live together.”

“At that time, the First Madam kept talking beside Eldest Miss about how there were many refugees outside the city and it was very chaotic. If any young lady went out of the city and was bumped into by those refugees, even if just touched, her reputation would be damaged. Though nothing serious would happen, a prestigious marriage would be impossible.”

“Or if she encountered something while leaving the city and lost an arm or leg, she definitely couldn’t marry into a prestigious family.”

“Then Eldest Miss began finding excuses to quarrel with Second Young Master, provoking him to leave the city, and had a maid inform Third Miss.”

Zhao Hanzhang listened quietly. Seeing she had finished, she asked with a smile, “Is that all?”

Hearing her gentle voice, Fanggu shuddered and hesitantly shook her head.

Zhao Hanzhang raised her eyes to look at Ting He.

Ting He went out, took the tray from Zeng Yue’s hands, knelt down, and presented it to Zhao Hanzhang.

Zhao Hanzhang took a medicinal herb from the tray and waved it before Fanggu. “Although the stable hand who fed the horses died back then, you know, my grandfather wasn’t incompetent either. He learned some interesting things from the stable hand’s mouth and even found some items in his room. Does this money pouch look familiar?”

Fanggu’s lips trembled in terror. “There’s, there’s more. The First Madam, the First Madam bribed the stable hand to feed medicinal herbs to several horses. Even if Third Miss was cautious and didn’t ride her own horse when leaving the city, she would use other horses.”

“Come, tell my dear uncle and brothers and sisters—what was the effect of that medicinal herb?”

Fanggu said, “It, it could make horses go mad. If they encountered loud noises or pain, they would become even more crazed. Third Miss had practiced martial arts since childhood and was skilled in riding and archery. The First Madam said this was the only way to ensure success. Even Eldest Miss didn’t know about this.”

The three Zhao daughters collapsed to the ground, faces pale. Even Zhao Yi knelt down, looking at Wu Shi in the ancestral hall with disbelief.

Only then was Zhao Hanzhang satisfied. She stood up and tossed the medicinal herb onto the tray, turning to leave. “Let’s go and report this matter to Shuzu.”

“Wait,” Zhao Ji had already recovered and looked at Zhao Hanzhang with reddened eyes. “What do you intend to do?”

Zhao Hanzhang turned her head to look at him and said gently, “I’ve already obtained the truth. The rest is naturally for you, Uncle, and Shuzu to handle.”

Zhao Hanzhang said, “I await your disposition to smooth over my grievance.”

With that, she led her people away from the ancestral hall.

The personal guards in the ancestral hall quickly dispersed, leaving only soldiers guarding the road outside.

Zhao Hanzhang stopped. “Zeng Yue, guard the ancestral hall well. If even one word of what happened here leaks outside the residence, I’ll hold you responsible.”

“Yes!”

Satisfied, Zhao Hanzhang turned and left.

Only after Zhao Hanzhang departed did Zhao Ji slowly approach the ancestral hall. Wu Shi lay prostrate on the ground weeping. Seeing Zhao Ji enter, she quickly crawled forward to embrace his legs, looking up at him with tears streaming down her face. “Husband, husband, save me, save me. I know I was wrong, I know I was wrong. I, I’m willing to live with only lamp and ancient Buddha, eating vegetarian and praying to Buddha for life. Please plead with Father-in-law on my behalf. I beg you, I beg you.”

She cried, “Father-in-law will kill me, he’ll kill me.”

Zhao Ji kicked her away, pulled her before him, and said viciously, “So you know you were wrong! If not for you, why would Uncle have secretly left her so many personnel and family assets? Do you know that all of that should have been mine!”

“Who was I doing all this for? I did it all for you and Dalang! Look at how vicious she is now—clearly she was pretending before. If you had been willing to help me back then and had the physician finish her off directly, why would we have so much trouble today…”

“Mother!” Zhao Yi, kneeling outside, couldn’t help but cry out to interrupt her words. He clutched his head in pain. “Even now, don’t you know where you went wrong?”

Wu Shi broke free from Zhao Ji and stumbled out, throwing herself on Zhao Yi. “Yi’er, Yi’er, I did this all for you! You’re the only legitimate male heir of the main branch. Erlang is an imbecile—he’s no threat at all. It’s just her, just her. If not for Zhao Hezhen constantly backing up her brother, this household would have been yours…”

“Mother, stop talking, please stop talking…”

Zhao Hewan asked through her tears, “This household belongs to little brother—what about us, Mother? Could you harm us to death for little brother’s sake?”

“Shut up! How could you die? You’re of Zhao blood. Your grandfather won’t watch you die.”

Ting He asked Zhao Hanzhang, “Young Lady, how will the Second Elder Master handle them? Will he execute the First Madam?”

Zhao Hanzhang stopped walking and exhaled. “Who knows?”

“Then why did Young Lady hand them over for their judgment? Isn’t this, isn’t this letting them act with favoritism?”

Zhao Hanzhang smiled slightly and said, “I’m betting he won’t act with favoritism.”

—