Yan Sanhe answered resolutely.

“That’s right. That’s exactly what he believed.”

Young Master Pei looked at Yan Sanhe, still looking incredulous.

How young was this child to have such thoughts?

Which concubine in a great household has an easy life?

Those who pamper concubines and destroy wives are, after all, a minority.

Like the Xie family—no matter how much Concubine Liu is favored by Xie Daozhi, when she sees the Madam, doesn’t she still have to be submissive?

This is the proper place of a concubine.

“Yan Sanhe, could it be coincidence?”

“In the main hall of Jietai Temple, quite a few Bodhisattvas are enshrined. Right in front are three, and on both sides are several more.”

Yan Sanhe’s gaze turned cold. “Young Master Pei, why did he only worship Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva hidden in the back?”

Young Master Pei: “Maybe he’d already worshipped all the ones in front?”

Yan Sanhe shook her head. “Remember what the Madam said at the time? She said her mother was worshipping over there, and she couldn’t sit still, so she looked around here and there in the main hall.

Turning to the back of the Buddha hall, she saw a young master in white robes, hands pressed together, kneeling on a meditation cushion with eyes closed, murmuring prayers.”

Young Master Pei immediately understood.

Worshipping Bodhisattvas is actually quite quick—kneel, make a wish, add some incense money, and you’re done.

Lady Mao had looked here and there and seen nothing, yet only at the back of the Buddha hall did she see the young master. This meant the young master had gone specifically for Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva.

Moreover, he had worshipped there for quite a while.

Young Master Pei exclaimed: “Good heavens, he really believed Concubine Fu was suffering in hell!”

Yan Sanhe: “Is the Zhu family hell?”

“Absolutely not.”

Young Master Pei: “Without the Zhu family, Concubine Fu’s life would be miserable. In the Zhu family, she at least had no worries about food and clothing.”

“But Zhu Xuanjiu insisted it was.”

Yan Sanhe: “From this we can see that at such a young age, because he didn’t fully enjoy all of Concubine Fu’s love, Zhu Xuanjiu’s thinking was abnormal compared to ordinary people, his heart was twisted.”

Only a person with a twisted heart would do things ordinary people couldn’t imagine.

“So Zhu Xuanjiu knelt before the Bodhisattva, praying that the Bodhisattva would let Concubine Fu’s illness improve, praying that the Bodhisattva would protect him so he could successfully rescue Concubine Fu from hell.”

Yan Sanhe: “And the only way to rescue Concubine Fu was to become the Zhu family head. When the mother rises through the son, Concubine Fu wouldn’t have to look at anyone’s face, wouldn’t have to wrong herself.”

Young Master Pei: “And to become the Zhu family head… he’d have to eliminate the obstacles in his way.”

Li Buyan: “Second Uncle and Third Uncle were mediocre in talent, not real obstacles. He could spare them. But First Uncle and Fifth Uncle were different.”

Xie Zhifei opened his eyes. “So he secretly made his move.”

It all connected!

Everything connected!

Poor First Uncle and Fifth Uncle—to their deaths they didn’t know that their lifelong fortunes had been secretly altered by their half-brother.

Especially Fifth Uncle—such a talented person, so dedicated to his studies, yet in the end leaving behind orphans and widows, meeting an early death.

Truly tragic!

Thinking of how good Fifth Uncle had been to him, Zhu Yuanmo’s heart ached greatly.

“Miss Yan, I still have to ask that question—how did someone so young learn these devious methods?”

“I don’t know.”

Yan Sanhe: “Not only don’t I know, regarding this point, I don’t even have a single clue.”

This statement suddenly quieted the room.

Young Master Pei’s thoughts stirred. “Could Concubine Fu have taught him?”

“Right!”

Li Buyan’s imagination suddenly opened wide. “Concubine Fu was actually from the Xing family?”

Zhu Yuanmo shook his head. “Miss Yan, even when our Zhu family takes a concubine, we investigate three generations of ancestors and divine the eight characters.”

Zhu Yuanzhao: “Moreover, the Old Madam had known Concubine Fu since childhood.”

“It couldn’t be Concubine Fu.”

Yan Sanhe: “If she had this ability, would she need to compromise and accommodate in the Zhu family?”

Young Master Pei: “Then who could it be?”

Li Buyan: “Who the hell knows!”

One mystery solved, only to be met with an even bigger mystery.

The room fell silent again.

So quiet you could hear a pin drop.

After a long while.

Zhu Yuanhao spoke: “Then how did he target my mother? And why does he hate my mother so much?”

When the topic came to the Madam, that would be a long story.

Yan Sanhe picked up her tea bowl and drank all the warm tea in one gulp.

Seeing the bowl empty, the old steward quickly refilled it with hot water.

Yan Sanhe cleared her throat.

“The Madam and Zhu Xuanjiu’s first meeting was at Jietai Temple. Buyan, do you still remember why the Madam went to Jietai Temple?”

Li Buyan: “I remember. When the Madam first came to the capital, she heard her cousin say that Jietai Temple was most efficacious for disaster relief, prayers for blessings, and avoiding calamity. Her mother took her there.”

“The Madam also said something else.”

Yan Sanhe: “She said her mother called her to go to the abbot to draw fortune sticks, and she quickly forgot about meeting Zhu Xuanjiu.”

“Fortune sticks?”

Young Master Pei stood up excitedly.

“Wukong said Jietai Temple used to have an old monk called Liaoliao who was most accurate at interpreting fortune sticks. Unfortunately he died many years ago. Otherwise, Jietai Temple’s incense offerings wouldn’t be in the half-dead state they are now.”

Yan Sanhe: “Young Master Pei, how does one interpret fortune sticks?”

“It depends on what the person asks.”

Pei Xiao: “Ask about marriage, interpret marriage. Ask about prospects, judge prospects. Ask about fortune and misfortune, divine fortune and misfortune. You shouldn’t ask me this—ask Eldest Brother Zhu. He’s most knowledgeable about this.”

“Miss Yan, this is the simplest method of fortune-telling. The fortune texts are actually all the same, placed in a cylinder. It depends on who draws them.”

Zhu Yuanmo: “Most monks aren’t deeply accomplished—they just scare people into adding more incense money. I’ve heard of Monk Liaoliao. He interpreted fortune sticks based on the eight characters of the person drawing.”

Yan Sanhe: “Eight characters paired with fortune texts—isn’t that very accurate?”

Zhu Yuanmo: “Seventy percent accurate.”

“I think the Madam must have drawn an excellent fortune stick. When interpreting it, she gave her birth date and time. The birth date, time, and interpretation content were inadvertently overheard by Zhu Xuanjiu.”

Yan Sanhe looked toward Zhu Yuanhao and suddenly smiled.

“Zhu Xuanjiu had studied this trade since childhood. When an exceptionally rare excellent set of eight characters appeared before him, he would naturally pay attention. Third Master Zhu, am I right?”

“Yes!”

Zhu Yuanhao thought of his own childhood experiences learning fortune-telling.

“Not only would he pay attention, he’d go back and write down these birth characters, arrange them, calculate them, and study them.”

“Jietai Temple is very small. With a bit of silver to make inquiries, one could easily find out Lady Mao’s true identity.”

Yan Sanhe sighed softly.

“I think at this first meeting, what Zhu Xuanjiu remembered wasn’t Lady Mao as a person, but her birth date, time, and special fate.”

Li Buyan patted her chest, somewhat alarmed: “From now on, we can’t casually tell our birth dates and times to others.”

Young Master Pei strongly agreed: “The speaker means no harm, but the listener has intent.”

Ding Yi: “If someone with bad intentions uses it to do bad things, it could be fatal.”

Huang Qi: “Hair and fingernails must also be hidden away carefully.”

Having spoken, the four looked in unison at Zhu Yuanmo: Your Zhu family is exactly this kind of person with bad intentions.