Chapter 143 Step by step, drawing people into the trap

Liu Ruolan's heart skipped a beat when she saw Shen Qingci's murderous gaze, and she subconsciously frowned: "What keepsake?"

She reached out and yanked the heavy hairpin off her head, examining it with disdain and contempt in her eyes: "You mean this? This is your mother's keepsake?"

After receiving Shen Qingci's nod of confirmation, Liu Ruolan acted as if she had touched something dirty. With a flick of her hand, she disgustedly threw the magnificent phoenix hairpin onto the cold ground!

"unlucky!"

She raised her eyes, looking at Shen Qingci with a sarcastic smile, a wicked grin playing on her lips: "Your Shen family were traitors and rebels, executed along with your entire family, your property confiscated. What's so strange about a mere hairpin ending up somewhere?"

"Perhaps your dead mother pawned it before she died!"

"Insolence!" Shen Qingci shouted sharply, his eyes flashing with cold light. "My mother is a second-rank noblewoman, a gift personally bestowed by the late Empress Dowager. How dare you slander her like this!"

She slowly stepped forward, emanating a chilling aura, her gaze like a knife piercing Liu Ruolan's heart: "The Shen family's property was confiscated and seized, but from beginning to end, your Liu family has absolutely nothing to do with this. So why is it that my mother's personal belongings have ended up on your head, the daughter of the Prime Minister?"

"This really makes me, the princess, think a lot."

Shen Qingci's voice was not loud, but every word was piercing and clearly reached the ears of everyone present.

"I'm wondering, what we see today is just this small hairpin. But in places unseen by everyone, in your Liu family's storeroom, are there... many more treasures belonging to my Shen family hidden away?"

"I'm still wondering, since your Liu family hasn't openly interfered in the Shen family's affairs, how did these things end up in your hands? Did Prime Minister Liu secretly send people to search for something after the incident at my Shen family? Or perhaps..."

Her voice suddenly turned cold, filled with a deadly sense of oppression:

"From the very beginning, your Liu family was the one instigating this treason case involving the Shen family! Was it all so that you could legitimately seize certain things from my Shen family for your own use?!"

"You're talking nonsense!" Liu Ruolan retorted sharply, her face pale. "The Shen family's treason is undeniable; there's ample evidence and witness testimony. It's an ironclad case! How dare you spout such baseless accusations!"

"Is that so?" Shen Qingci lowered her eyes and smiled slowly, a smile colder than ice and snow. "Conclusive witness testimony and physical evidence? But who can guarantee that the so-called 'witness testimony' and 'physical evidence' are genuine?"

Her words were like a thunderclap, exploding in everyone's hearts!

Just then, as if in response to her words, a series of hurried footsteps suddenly came from outside the hall!

A steward from the Ministry of War rushed in, looking flustered, and hurriedly reported to the wife of the Minister of War: "Madam! Something terrible has happened! A man covered in blood has arrived outside the gate, claiming to be... Nan Zhu, the personal bodyguard of the late Marquis of Yongning, Huo Yunting!"

"He said... he said he had extremely urgent business and requested to see the Regent's wife!"

"He also said that he has solid evidence to prove... prove that the Huo brothers killed each other! And... that the Shen family's treason case is a huge injustice! That someone framed them!"

"What?"

These words shocked everyone present!

The Huo brothers turned on each other? Was the Shen family innocent? Was they framed?

These messages are a hundred times more explosive than the farce we just witnessed!

All eyes turned to Old Madam Huo, whose face had turned deathly pale!

Old Madam Huo had already guessed who the so-called personal guard was. She suddenly stood up from her seat and screamed vehemently, "Absurd! Utterly absurd! Today is the Minister's wife's birthday banquet, why do all sorts of messy people and things have to be brought here?"

Shen Qingci slowly turned her head and looked at her with an extremely surprised expression: "Madam, who are you talking about?"

"Wasn't it Lady Hou who started the provocation and used foul language?"

"Isn't it Lady Hou who wears my mother's belongings on her head and parades around in public?"

"Now, someone has come to the door, claiming to be the personal bodyguard of your eldest son, Huo Yunting, to seek justice for the Shen family and to expose the inside story of the fratricide. This fratricide... could it be that the death of my ex-husband, Huo Yunzhan, in battle was... was the work of the Marquis of Yongning?"

Shen Qingci's eyes were filled with just the right amount of shock and grief: "They...they are brothers!"

"But you... as their mother, upon hearing this, why did you show no grief or curiosity whatsoever? Instead... you reacted with such intense anger and a desire to stop it? You... seem completely unsurprised, and even... indifferent to the truth?"

"This...is really a bit strange, isn't it?"

The wife of the Minister of War, who already had a burning gossip spirit, felt even more suspicious after hearing Shen Qingci's analysis, and could no longer sit still!

She immediately said to everyone, "It's alright, these flowers won't fade in a day or two anyway, so we can admire them whenever we want."

"Since people have already made a scene at the gate, we should go and see for ourselves whether it's true or not. Gentlemen, why don't we... come with me and see what's going on?"

The others, already burning with gossip, could no longer contain themselves and immediately nodded in agreement.

"The Minister's wife is right! This matter is of great importance, and we should go and investigate!"

Amidst the murmurs of the crowd, Shen Qingci was the first to slowly stand up.

She raised her hand and gently wiped away non-existent tears from the corner of her eye with a handkerchief, her voice carrying just the right amount of grief and resolve:

"It concerns my husband who died tragically, it concerns the innocence of my entire Shen family. No matter what, Qingci... must go and see!"

After she finished speaking, she didn't wait for anyone and walked ahead towards the gate of the mansion.

Upon seeing this, a group of noble ladies immediately followed closely, like cats that had smelled blood.

Liu Ruolan deliberately pulled along Old Madam Huo, who was already trembling with anger, and left her at the back of the line.

She lowered her voice and asked urgently, "Mother! What exactly is going on?! That Nan Zhu... wasn't he already dead? How could he suddenly reappear?"

"How would I know what happened!" Old Madam Huo gritted her teeth, her eyes flashing with panic and resentment. "It must be that bitch Shen Qingci's doing!"

She gripped Liu Ruolan's hand tightly, her nails almost digging into her flesh, her voice squeezed out through clenched teeth: "Listen! No matter what that Nan Zhu says later, we'll only have one thing to say—we will never admit it!"

"Just keep insisting he's a fraud! It was Shen Qingci who hired him to slander our Huo family and Yun... Ting!"

Liu Ruolan suddenly stopped in her tracks.

She looked up in surprise at the old woman beside her, whose eyes were darting away.

She had been married into the Huo family for nearly two years, and had far more contact with her mother-in-law than Shen Qingci.

She knew that although Madam Huo was shrewd and calculating, she was usually calm and composed even in the face of adversity, and rarely lost her composure or panic.

unless……

Unless what Nan Zhu is about to say touches on her deepest fears and secrets!

The person who arrived was Huo Yunting's personal bodyguard, who was there to expose a fratricidal conflict...

A terrifying thought, like a venomous snake, instantly coiled around Liu Ruolan's mind—

Could it be that Huo Yunting, who actually died on the battlefield, did not die accidentally, but was actually killed by Huo Yunzhan?