Each word was like a steel needle stabbing into Yan Sanhe’s heart.

Yes.

Standing in Xie Daozhi’s position, in order to prevent the Emperor from deposing the Crown Prince, for the stability of the realm and state—what was wrong with reporting that Zheng Yu was harboring the late Crown Prince’s orphan?

She laughed bitterly.

“A loyal minister indeed—should be recorded in history books, his name immortalized for eternity!”

Xie Daozhi could hear the thick mockery in those words, his expression utterly serious: “Miss Yan, I have a clear conscience.”

“What a fine ‘clear conscience.'”

A voice cut in from the side. Xie Daozhi’s face changed drastically. He never expected these words would come from the mouth of his most beloved Third Son.

Xie Zhifei gripped the armrests with both hands, struggling to stand, and walked step by step before Xie Daozhi.

“Father, I ask you—that single cry of an infant, could you distinguish whether it was male or female?”

Xie Daozhi was stunned by his question. After a long while, he shook his head.

“Since you couldn’t distinguish male from female, then among the dragon-phoenix twins at Haitang Courtyard, can you be certain which one was the late Crown Prince’s orphan?”

Xie Daozhi coughed dryly: “Third Son, this matter…”

“Since you couldn’t determine whether the late Crown Prince’s orphan was male or female, then…”

Xie Zhifei’s tone suddenly hardened, though his face grew increasingly pale. “Why did the late Emperor exterminate the entire Zheng family?”

Pei Xiao’s eyes suddenly widened. He sprang up, his hand pointing at Xie Daozhi.

“I understand now. When you informed the Emperor, you said the late Crown Prince’s orphan was the male child of the twins.”

Li Buyan slammed her fist on the table, grinding her teeth in hatred:

“A girl couldn’t seize the throne, couldn’t become Emperor. Emperor Yonghe could easily turn a blind eye, spare her life, spare the Zheng family. But a boy was completely different.”

Huang Qi stretched his neck forward, muttering in his fastest speech: “Boys can become Emperor.”

Exactly.

In this world, only men counted as heirs—they could continue the family line, inherit the family estate, enter the ancestral hall to worship and make offerings to ancestors.

When the deposed Crown Prince’s heir grew up one day, learned of his own identity, learned of his father’s wrongful death, learned that these magnificent rivers and mountains that should have belonged to him were forcibly stolen…

Would he not hate? Would he not resent? Would he not think that one day he must reclaim these rivers and mountains?

Everything was possible!

Moreover, the person who adopted him was Zheng Yu.

Zheng Yu held military authority, commanded extremely high prestige in the army. The Zheng Family Army had strict discipline and was invincible.

A former Crown Prince’s orphan, a high minister holding military power—if these two combined forces, what kind of situation would they create for Hua Kingdom in the future? Would Emperor Yonghe dare gamble on it?

Emperor Yonghe absolutely didn’t dare gamble, and wouldn’t gamble.

Because his throne had been seized through conspiracy and schemes to begin with—its origins were improper, so his heart was guilty.

What did a guilty-hearted person fear most?

He most feared having his wrongdoings brought up, most feared having the power in his hands seized by others.

Releasing the tiger back to the mountain brought endless future troubles.

Emperor Yonghe could only go all in—kill everyone who threatened his throne, which led to the massacre of all one hundred eighty members of the Zheng household.

Yan Sanhe walked heavily before Xie Zhifei.

“Xie Daozhi, I want you to tell me with your own mouth—did you or did you not tell the Emperor that the late Crown Prince’s orphan was the male child of the twins?”

At this moment, everyone’s gaze fell on Xie Daozhi.

He had nowhere to hide, could only steel himself to admit: “Yes!”

Yan Sanhe’s gaze instantly became sinister to the extreme. “What if it was a girl?”

“At this point, does it matter whether it was a boy or girl?”

Xie Daozhi suddenly grew irritable, blurting out: “I needed it to be a boy, so he had to be a boy.”

You needed?

You needed!

You needed!!!

“Did you ever think…”

Yan Sanhe trembled all over from anger.

“Just because you didn’t investigate the truth, deliberately said it was a boy—one hundred eighty members of the Zheng family died unjust deaths?”

Xie Daozhi’s entire body stiffened like stone. “Miss Yan, those who accomplish great things don’t concern themselves with trifles.”

“Great things?”

Yan Sanhe roared: “What are great things?”

Xie Daozhi gritted his teeth: “Supporting the Crown Prince to ascend, ensuring the Crown Prince’s ascension—that’s a great thing, a monumentally great thing.”

Yan Sanhe’s voice was exceptionally shrill: “So the one hundred eighty lives of the Zheng family are trifles, are ants, deserved to die?”

Xie Daozhi looked at the madness in her eyes and suddenly deflated: “Miss Yan, to achieve one’s purpose, someone must always be sacrificed, isn’t that so?”

Achieve one’s purpose?

Someone must always be sacrificed?

Tears burst from Yan Sanhe’s eyes, rolling down. She grabbed Xie Daozhi’s front lapels and shook him forcefully.

“By what right was it the Zheng family who was sacrificed? By what right? Every single one of you—by what fucking right?!”

A large hand came around, drawing Yan Sanhe into a broad chest. Then that large hand moved up, pressing her head.

Xie Zhifei brought his chin over, gently rubbing the top of her head, once, twice, as if telling her: Girl, don’t cry, stay steady.

Yan Sanhe’s face pressed against Xie Zhifei’s heart. She could sense the tension in his body, could also sense the abnormal fierceness of his heartbeat.

She reached out to embrace his back, like a drowning person desperately clutching a piece of driftwood, never wanting to let go.

Yan Sanhe couldn’t stay steady.

Even though those eight years held no memory, just thinking of those relatives in the Zheng family, especially those at Haitang Courtyard—her nominal father, mother, older brother—the tears wouldn’t stop.

When Father closed his eyes in that moment, did he finally feel hatred toward this daughter he’d raised for eight years? Hatred that she brought disaster upon the entire Zheng family?

When Mother closed her eyes in that moment, did she think of that biological daughter who came from her own body—whether she was dead or alive?

And older brother?

His soul floated in Haitang Courtyard, yet could never wait for her to come. Was he disappointed?

In this world, some lived in tall buildings, some in deep ditches. As for fate, don’t speak of fairness.

But still that question: By what right was it them?

This was the first time in front of everyone that Xie Zhifei and Yan Sanhe embraced.

No one spoke, much less stepped forward to warn about impropriety. Li Buyan and the others all felt that Third Master’s embrace was exactly right.

At least it could make Yan Sanhe’s tears flow a little less.

Xie Zhifei lowered his head to glance at the young woman in his arms, then looked up at Xie Daozhi, staring blankly.

This person—he called him Father.

On the fifteenth day of the seventh month of Yonghe Year Eight, his soul fell into Third Master Xie’s body. For a full ten years, he had called him Father.

Before, he felt Heaven treated him well. When he was Zheng Huaizuo, Father loved and cherished him.

When he was Third Master Xie, Father also loved and cherished him.

But now…

Xie Zhifei felt Heaven had been truly cruel to him. For ten years, he had all along been recognizing a traitor as his father.

How ironic.

Xie Zhifei asked in a calm, almost cold tone:

“Regarding the Zheng family matter, you did two things: First, you informed on them; second, you secretly sent news of the Zheng family’s massacre to the old general’s hands. Am I right?”