Li Ze enjoyed his daughter's comfort and squinted his eyes as he said, "Please tell me in detail. Although she is the 'eldest princess' of this family, she is still a junior. It would be inappropriate for me to take the initiative to ask about her affairs. Since you are both juniors, you should be able to talk to her more or less."

Li Qiushuang shook her head and said, "I think she's... weird."

Li Ze said, "Is it because I haven't seen her for many years that she has become different from the little follower she used to be?"

"Actually, I've had a vague feeling about her since she was very young. I've never told you, but I didn't understand it before, and the feeling was vague." Li Qiushuang said softly, "After so many years, when we met again after such a long separation, I finally figured out what this feeling was."

"It's fear."

Li Ze raised his head slightly, a little surprised.

No one knows a daughter better than her father. From outsiders' perspective, his two children are both somewhat worrying, especially Li Qiushuang. If the second generation who were conquered by her in the early years through racing, drinking competitions, and even physical violence knew that there was someone Li Qiushuang was afraid of, I wonder how surprised they would be.

Only Li Ze knew that her fearless character was something she had deliberately cultivated. She had cultivated herself to be fearless and it was much easier for her to do things with the reputation of being reckless.

Could there have been some conflict between the two of them that could have caused a daughter like her to utter the word "afraid"?

Facing her father's gaze, she smiled bitterly and said, "She is the beloved daughter of Emperor Wanghai, and I accompany the emperor to study. There is absolutely no conflict between us. On the contrary, she respects me as her elder sister very much and will tell me anything she wants."

"But," Li Qiushuang emphasized the key point, "If you think about it carefully, she's really too obedient. She's like a worm in my stomach. She understands what I mean without me even having to finish my words, and she even finishes what I'm saying."

"In that case, Dad, you might think it's nothing." Li Qiushuang said, "She's changed since she came back this time. She doesn't seem as smart as before, listening to every word I say before reacting. But that feeling hasn't diminished at all; she still knows everything."

"Later, when I thought about it carefully, I realized that I was actually just obeying her every command."

Li Ze listened in silence, initially unimpressed. In his mind, Wang Jinling had always been a delicate puppet, unexpressive and obediently waiting by the side of adults. Reading expressions and being demure and elegant wasn't a significant skill.

But for some unknown reason, he thought about the recent turmoil in the Wang family, and only this girl was left out of the storm, just as always.

Even though Wang Kai caught and exposed her secret connection with Zhang Keqi's old subordinates at the dinner table last time, it was finally confirmed that this was just normal behavior for a girl living in such a family.

This is very abnormal.

How could he always believe that a "prince" who "secretly controls the troops" is a pure and harmless white lotus?

There was no evidence, yes, because there was no evidence that she had interfered in family affairs in any way, so Wang Kai's punishment of her was only superficial. Even because of a series of events later, these superficial punishments were shelved.

Li Ze's back suddenly began to itch, and a crazy idea started to grow in his mind.

If the people fighting in this family now are not only Li Ze and Ai Chunxiao, or even not only Wang Kai, then what is the situation of this family now?

He stood up suddenly, startling Li Qiushuang. Her fiery red curls trembled, and she asked in confusion, "What's wrong with you?"

Li Ze took a deep breath and said solemnly, "Prepare the car. I'm going to see Zhang Keqi."

"Zhang Keqi? But if you want to see him now, you can only do it through visitation, which is a bit..."

"In order to give Zhang Keqi a good end, going to him now would be a bit against the rules and would break our tacit understanding. I know." Li Ze interrupted his daughter and said, "I almost forgot that he was in prison, not dead."

"The changes in Wanghai Wang's family started with him, so the answer should be found in him."

......

......

Zhang Keqi didn't seem surprised to see Li Ze. This former mountain king, with a shaved head, didn't look very ambitious. Instead, he looked like a hermit monk, with a calm expression and aloofness.

Zhang Keqi held the microphone and said calmly, "You broke the rules, but I've known for a long time that once you're on this boat, talking about a good ending is simply deceiving yourself.

The fact that I can live to see the New Year is a blessing that you still have a good conscience, and it is something I have earned by burning incense and praying to Buddha.”

Facing the accusations, Li Ze remained indifferent and instead fought back: "Those little tricks you did, your family turned a blind eye. Don't think that you can do things perfectly. There is no such thing as an impenetrable wall in the world."

Zhang Keqi smiled slightly and said sarcastically, "If there really is no such thing as an impenetrable wall, then why did you come to see me? I'm just a poor soul trapped in a cage. You can kill me or chop me up with just a word. There's no need to come all the way here. Tell me, what do you want to know?"

He got straight to the point, but Li Ze was not in a hurry and instead brought up an irrelevant topic: "There have been a lot of rumors at home recently, and some people said they wanted to punish you, but I stepped in to suppress them.

If you think about it, you'll know that our relationship isn't actually bad. Not to mention, saving you is equivalent to saving our retreat. Who will stand on top and who will fall into the water in the future? Neither you nor I can tell, and those idiots simply don't understand."

Zhang Keqi looked at him and suddenly laughed, but he didn't say a word. This smile was also puzzling.

"I know you're a man of integrity." Li Ze continued, "So I've already made arrangements for your people. I've protected everything I could. Your assets are still theirs. Except for the part that Brother Wang specifically requested, so that your people can have enough to eat, I haven't touched a single thing."

"The problem is, people are always limited." Li Ze suddenly changed the subject and said, "There are also people in my position who can't keep it, such as Cui Lixue."

Zhang Keqi's expression darkened.

Li Ze said, "I used to think he was just throwing dirty water on that woman, just like the one at home did to you, but the more I thought about it, the more it seemed wrong. If he was trying to sow discord, then he was using too much force. What if I pushed that woman down directly? What would he do?

After thinking about it, there is only one possibility: someone else instructed me to do this. So now I want to get an answer from you: was this done by you?

"Or let me ask this another way. Which hill did you jump into to save your life?"