"My son—I've finally found you!"

The old man strode over to Chen Jin'er, and seeing her bewildered expression, he paused, then looked closer and roared, "Who hurt you?!"

As he spoke, he grabbed Chen Jin'er's wrist, and a domineering current rushed from her wrist straight to her heart. She felt a sharp pain in her chest, and a strange memory instantly flooded into her mind.

She remembered.

She was the little princess of the Southern Frontier, the younger sister of Consort Yun. Her mother died early, and her older sister raised her. When her older sister met the emperor, she was out searching for Gu worms. When she returned, her older sister was gone.

She found out where her sister was and went out to look for her.

Who knew—

She encountered an assassination attempt on the road. That's right! She didn't encounter ordinary bandits, but an assassination attempt... When she woke up, she had lost her memory and become the modern-day Chen Jin'er. She then encountered the Jin family's caravan, became the goddaughter of the Jin family's matriarch, and even entered the palace by a twist of fate.

She even remembered... her past life!

After entering the palace, she lived a quiet life, neither vying for favor nor seizing power. However, she could not escape the schemes of the harem. Because of a jade pendant, she was falsely accused of having an affair with the third prince and was executed. She thought she could travel back to the modern world after death, but unexpectedly, she became a ghost and became sisters with Jiao Jiao, Twelve, and Little Crybaby.

"Father...Father King..."

Chen Jin'er opened her mouth, and a voice filled with grievance rose instantly, tears streaming down her face, "I couldn't find my sister, they killed her..."

The old man embraced his youngest daughter, who had been missing for many years, his face filled with grief and anger. "Who—who is it! I will make her wish she were dead!"

In the crowd.

The prefect's wife quietly retreated.

But then she saw Chen Jin'er look up, her red eyes fixed on her, "It's her—"

"She told me where my sister was going, and only she knew the route I took, so she could ambush me on the way! It was also she... who conspired with the Empress to poison my sister with a deadly curse while she was pregnant and weak, causing her to die in childbirth. Even... even Ayan was poisoned by the deadly curse, and was weak from childhood, with a short lifespan!"

In this life, if he hadn't met Jiaojiao and received the inheritance of the Xue family's divine physician, he... would still have died from the torment of Gu poison just like in his previous life.

She only learned all this after she died in her previous life, when she overheard the Empress and her entourage talking privately at night.

"Deadly Gu—"

The old man was filled with resentment, which was like a violent storm. It turned out to be the Deadly Gu, which was listed as a taboo in the Southern Xinjiang region!

The Deadly Gu left no trace, but after being infected with it, all other Gu worms on the body would be instantly devoured, including the Life Gu. No wonder he couldn't find Yun'er no matter how hard he tried, even with the Life Gu. By the time he received the news and went to the palace, Yun'er had already passed away, leaving only a frail infant.

After discussing it with the emperor, he sent the child out of the palace to be raised. To avoid attracting attention, they dared not get too close to him, leaving only the witch doctor Qin to guard him.

Following the direction Chen Jin'er pointed, the old man spotted the prefect's wife who was preparing to flee. He clenched his hands, and the prefect's wife, like a puppet, instantly lost control of her body and knelt down with a thud, step by step, as he approached her.

The King of Southern Xinjiang's expression changed drastically, and he cried out urgently, "Father—"

"I have no son like you!"

The old man roared, "Back then, because of my daughter's disappearance, I ruined your marriage, but I took great care of you, and even—adopted you as my son and entrusted the entire Southern Frontier to you!"

"But you—how dare you harm my son!"

"What I gave you, I can take back!"

Accompanied by the old man's majestic voice, a golden Gu worm flew out from the chest of the Southern Xinjiang King and landed in the old man's notebook. The Southern Xinjiang King immediately collapsed to the ground like a lump of mud, his face instantly withered, his beard and hair turned white, and his face became like withered wood.

His eyes widened, his lips trembling, "You...you've never treated me like your own son! Never...never..."

As soon as he finished speaking, his head lolled to the side, and he fell silent.

The golden Gu worm in the old man's palm happily burrowed into his hand. In an instant, the old man's snow-white beard and hair turned black again, and the wrinkles and haggardness on his face disappeared, turning him into the familiar King of Southern Xinjiang in Chen Jin'er's memory.

The surrounding Southern Frontier Gu people all knelt down, their expressions fervent and devout, "Greetings, King of Southern Frontier—"

The governor's wife was filled with terror and struggled desperately, but it was like an ant trying to shake a tree; she couldn't budge it at all!

This scene stunned everyone.

In the blink of an eye... the King of Southern Xinjiang was dead?

Prefect Mei panicked and shouted, "Old King of Southern Frontier... there must be some misunderstanding! You must not believe one side of the story!"

"If you won't listen to my son, why should I listen to you?"

The King of Southern Xinjiang glanced at him, and Prefect Mei immediately stiffened and felt cold all over, as if something was crawling inside his body. It hurt so much!

He immediately spat out a mouthful of blood and knelt down in agony!

"He's been cursed with a curse that kills offspring? No wonder he has no children. It's been going on for twenty years, and he's been completely drained."

These words were spoken.

Magistrate Mei's eyes widened in disbelief. He then turned to the side and stared intently at his wife. Twenty...twenty years?!

But his daughter is only eighteen this year!

"Pfft—"

Magistrate Mei spat out a mouthful of blood, desperately rushed towards his wife, bit down on her face, and tore off a chunk of flesh, screaming, "Tell me—whose daughter is she? Whose!"

The prefect's wife's face was covered in blood and flesh, and she let out a shrill scream.

Her eyes instinctively drifted to the dead King of Southern Xinjiang. Following her gaze, Prefect Mei went completely mad, shouting, "Hahaha—his! Hahaha—it's his! You were siblings! Blood siblings!"

"ah--"

"puff--"

Magistrate Mei let out a scream and bit down on his wife's neck. Half of the blood that spurted out went into his mouth, and the other half spurted out, startling the guests into screaming.

The prefect's wife stared wide-eyed, her breath barely a whisper.

"Throw him into the Ten Thousand Gu Cave!"

The old king of Southern Xinjiang looked grim; he couldn't let her die so easily.

Immediately, someone leaped out, kindly slipping her a life-saving Gu, and picked her up and left, determined to make her suffer the torment of countless Gu poisons until she died!

"Die—you all must die—"

Magistrate Mei, his mouth full of blood, screamed wildly like a murderous maniac, exuding a murderous aura!

Jiang Jiaojiao frowned, something was wrong...

Just then—

A guard came stumbling in, shouting, "My lord, something terrible has happened—"

"The private soldiers were intercepted by miners and civilians outside the city! They have already laid down their weapons and surrendered!"

Another guard rushed in screaming, "My lord, something terrible has happened—"

"The gunpowder you buried has been dug up by the servants and commoners of the manor!"

"Pfft—"

Magistrate Mei looked up and spat out a mouthful of blood, his eyes wide open, dying with his eyes still open.

The room erupted in an uproar.

Prefect Mei actually prepared a private army? And gunpowder? Was he planning a desperate, all-or-nothing gamble?

Those officials who had just been praised and received by Prefect Mei for their loyalty and the gifts they had presented were now trembling with fear, practically wetting themselves in terror…

It's over, it's completely over.