I’ve thought for a long time and can’t figure out how she and I ever had any connection—

These words struck the three people more devastatingly than a thunderbolt from heaven.

Xie Zhifei: How could there be no connection? When resolving Yan Xing’s heart demon, you spoke so many words with the old lady?

Pei Xiao: How could there be no connection? The old lady’s most precious treasure was your Xie Wu Shi!

Li Buyan: How could there be no connection? When we left the Xie residence for the villa, the old woman cried so miserably!

Xie Zhifei didn’t know if it was nervousness or fear—even his voice sounded off.

“Do you know Xie Daozhi?”

“Your father.”

“What about Pei Yu?”

“Mingting’s father.”

“What’s my older brother’s name?”

“Xie Erli.”

“What about my sister-in-law?”

“Zhu Weixi.”

Xie Zhifei looked blankly at Pei Xiao and Li Buyan. Isn’t this fine? She remembers them all!

Li Buyan had a flash of inspiration: “What about Du Yiyun?”

Yan Sanhe’s body visibly trembled. After a long silence: “Who is she?”

“Someone who schemed to harm you, and harmed you quite badly.”

Li Buyan stared at her intently: “You truly don’t remember at all?”

Yan Sanhe stood dazed for a moment. “There’s no such person in my mind.”

How could this be?

Li Buyan turned to look at Pei Xiao.

Pei Xiao knew what she meant—have his father come take her pulse. But taking her pulse couldn’t diagnose who she remembered and who she’d forgotten.

“Yan Sanhe, when did you stop remembering these people?”

Yan Sanhe: “Just recently.”

Pei Xiao: “Could it be because investigating the Zheng family case has exhausted you?”

Li Buyan thought about her schedule: “Possibly. She only sleeps two or three hours a day and often doesn’t sleep at all through the night.”

Xie Zhifei didn’t think that was the reason. “Do you know my little sister? What about her birth mother?”

“That’s Concubine Liu. She also has an older brother named Xie Buhuo.”

Yan Sanhe looked at the three people’s worried expressions. She wasn’t as frightened as when she first discovered she didn’t know who the old ancestor was.

“Perhaps there are too many things stored in my mind, and those unimportant people have been purged.”

These words gave Xie Zhifei some relief.

Not caring that people were beside them, he rubbed her head. “From now on, think less. Don’t let there come a day when you’ve purged all of us too.”

Li Buyan’s willow-leaf eyebrows shot up: Surname Xie, your crow’s mouth!

Pei Xiao glared: Surname Xie, wish Yan Sanhe well!

“I won’t.”

Yan Sanhe’s tongue tip touched her teeth. “You’re all my most important people.”

From someone habitually aloof, suddenly saying such warm words—the impact was imaginable.

Especially for Xie Zhifei.

The unimportant people Yan Sanhe had purged happened to be the most important people to him. His heart felt somewhat bitter about this.

But these words completely suppressed that bit of bitterness without a trace.

“Then rest well for two days.”

“I can rest, but you cannot.”

Xie Zhifei: “Speak. What do you need me to do?”

Yan Sanhe didn’t rush to continue, but once again asked solemnly: “Are you all certain you want to continue investigating with me?”

Xie Zhifei: “Absolutely.”

Pei Xiao: “Definitely.”

“Very well.”

The warmth in Yan Sanhe’s eyes flashed past like a dragonfly touching water, then revealed coldness.

“The war horses are dispirited and connected to the Zheng family. After the Emperor proclaimed the Zheng family’s wrongful case to the world, half the war horses recovered to normal, while the other half remain half-dead and half-alive.”

Her gaze turned toward Xie Zhifei.

“As for the reason behind the other half, I dare confirm it lies in the cause of the old general’s death.”

“Cough cough cough…”

Pei Xiao suddenly choked on his own saliva, coughing earth-shakingly.

Xie Zhifei patted his back, recalling how when he first heard this news, he had coughed even more severely.

Li Buyan brought over a tea cup and handed it to Pei Xiao. Pei Xiao pushed it away, coughing while saying painfully:

“Yan Sanhe, the old general died in battle… cough cough cough… under everyone’s eyes, this absolutely cannot be faked… cough cough cough… where’s the mystery?”

A cold smile floated to the corners of Yan Sanhe’s mouth.

“Chengyu, do you remember the question I asked you last time?”

Xie Zhifei’s face turned pale. “I remember. You asked me one thing—before the old general died, would he have already known his family was massacred?”

“So the general’s death has two possibilities.”

Yan Sanhe looked directly into Pei Xiao’s eyes, extending two fingers.

“One possibility is he didn’t know about the massacre. Then the general died in a hundred battles—the proper end for someone who fought in military campaigns. The other possibility is the general knew about the massacre.”

Hearing this, Pei Xiao instantly understood where the mystery lay.

“He knew he had committed the crime of deceiving the sovereign, an unforgivable offense. Add to that all the Zheng family members were dead, so he became disheartened and simply went along with them.”

“There’s another possibility.”

Yan Sanhe’s eyes carried some deep hatred.

“Someone deliberately leaked the information to him, forcing him to die, or schemed for him to die. The difference between the two is—one is suicide, one is murder.”

“Cough cough cough…”

Pei Xiao clutched his chest painfully, coughing uncontrollably again.

This time, no one came to pat his back.

Xie Zhifei stood motionless there, his eyes suppressing panic and bewilderment.

Zheng Yu, styled Qiming.

In youth his family was poor, relying on a Zheng family blade to command awe among the three armies.

At twenty he rushed to the battlefield, fighting enemies bravely.

Thereafter he repeatedly faced life and death, saving the nation from peril, accumulating military merit upon merit, and scars upon scars.

If it was suicide, so be it. But if it was murder…

Xie Zhifei felt all the blood in his body go cold. He bit out: “Yan Sanhe, speak. What do you want me to do?”

“Of those who accompanied Old General Zheng on that campaign, there were four personal guards. I want to know if they’re still alive. If so, find a way to locate them. If not…”

Yan Sanhe said with unusual calm:

“Third Master, can you investigate which people went on that campaign in Yonghe Year Seven? Among them, how many were on good terms with the old general?”

Xie Zhifei forcibly suppressed his emotions. “Leave this matter to me. You just rest well at home.”

Yan Sanhe shook her head: “I can’t rest. There’s one more matter that requires all of us to brainstorm together.”

Xie Zhifei: “What?”

Yan Sanhe: “I don’t want to reveal my identity to Zhao Yishi for now. Think about what method we can use to cover it up.”

One sentence frightened Pei Xiao into stopping his coughing. Just as he was about to speak, he heard Xie Zhifei say:

“Not temporarily—unless absolutely necessary, we absolutely cannot reveal it.”

“Even if it becomes absolutely necessary, we still cannot reveal it.”

Concerning Yan Sanhe’s safety, Li Buyan dared not take any risks.

“If he were only Huairen, we could trust him. But he’s surnamed Zhao, so we must guard against him. Hearts are separated by flesh—Third Master, Young Master Pei, we should be more careful about this matter.”

Pei Xiao looked at Li Buyan in trepidation, beginning to doubt whether she had ever truly had feelings for Zhao Huairen.

Why guard against him so thoroughly?

But Xie Zhifei suddenly felt that Hero Li actually had brains—she just used all her brains on Yan Sanhe.

So then, what kind of reason should they find to successfully deflect him?