"Xu Yingrong, you and Wei Yingzi are in cahoots, you're so ruthless!"

The drifting sounds and the flashing white shadows terrified Xu Shi.

She was about the same age as Xu Zhiyan, but whether Xu Zhiyan was alive or dead, she was afraid of her from the bottom of her heart.

What's more, there are ghosts in front of us.

"Elder sister, don't blame me. It's the Empress, it's Her Majesty the Empress who wants to harm you. Please go find her."

"You're the one who drugged me!"

"She forced me to do it, otherwise she would have told everyone..." Madam Xu shut her mouth in fear and kowtowed again, "Elder sister, please be magnanimous and spare me, remember we grew up together? I'll build a shrine for you, I'll burn incense for you every day..."

Xu Zhiyan floated around for a while, then suddenly chuckled, "Ah Rong, you don't have to tell the truth. If you want to kill my child, I'll take revenge on your children!"

The voice was filled with overwhelming resentment, and Madam Xu desperately kowtowed and begged for mercy.

"Big sister, no, please don't! I beg you! Haven't you always been good to Arong since we were little? Please let me go."

"Elder sister, before I married the master, Wei Anyuan ruined my chastity. I dare not tell anyone, and Father does not agree to my marriage into the Wei family... I have no choice, elder sister, only the Empress can help me."

Premarital virginity loss?

Xu Zhiyan was also stunned!

"Slap slap"

Two claps rang out, and Madam Xu looked around in surprise, noticing the candlelight that had been lit at the entrance to the study.

It illuminated the study and the person at the door.

The person holding the candles at the door was Xie Anfeng's guard. Xie Anfeng stood at the door with his hands behind his back, looking at her with disgust.

"You, sir?"

Madam Xu watched Xie Anfeng walk in slowly, then looked at the drifting "Xu Zhiyan".

There was no Xu Zhiyan, only Gu Shaoyu in black clothes and Xie Zhaozhao in white.

Just now, Gu Shaoyu used his lightness skill to hug Xie Zhaozhao's waist and pretend to be a ghost in the study.

Xie Zhaozhao simply tied her hair up.

Gu Shaoyu handed her a damp cloth and wiped off the excess white powder from her face. He looked at Xu Shi coldly, his eyes almost dripping with ice.

Ms. Xu collapsed to the ground, saying in fear, "You...it's all of you? You're bluffing me?"

"If I didn't deceive you, how would I know that my mother was poisoned to death by you?" Xie Zhaozhao sneered. "Xu Yingrong, you are heartless and treacherous, unworthy of being a daughter of the Xu family and a wife of the Xie family."

Since Xie Zhaozhao opened the air route to Haixi Kingdom last year, she has obtained the medicine to relieve headaches, along with the accompanying poison.

Numerous clues had led her to suspect that the poison from the Western Kingdom was the culprit behind her mother's death.

To verify this, she gave the antidote prepared by the royal family of Haixi Kingdom to Granny Xu, and found that her headache was significantly relieved.

This indicates that the diagnosis was correct; the mother died from poisoning.

The person who poisoned her was none other than Madam Xu, who had the advantage of being close to Xu Zhiyan. She was Xu Zhiyan's half-sister and pretended to be so honest, but in reality, she harbored evil intentions.

She looked at Xu Shi with a desire that made her want to skin her alive.

"Father, my husband and I will go back now."

"Hmm." Xie Anfeng didn't say a word more. He was a dignified clan leader and a high-ranking official in the imperial court, equivalent to a vice prime minister.

Xie Zhaozhao made a quick decision to end her intimidation of the Xu family because it would have been too embarrassing to continue.

The second wife had actually lost her virginity before marriage.

His wife, whom he had married, was poisoned and killed by this vicious woman who had always acted like a timid fool.

shame.

Xie Zhaozhao and Gu Shaoyu quickly left the study and did not stay at the Xie family's residence. Xie Anfeng asked Xie Yu to send them back to Qingpu Garden.

The horse-drawn carriage, with its resounding clatter, was particularly loud on the streets late at night.

At the entrance of Qingpu Garden, Xie Yu dismounted, watched them enter the courtyard, and then returned to the Xie residence.

The Xie residence will not be peaceful tonight.

Two days later, Xie Yu saw that Gu Shaoyu had been summoned to the Emperor's study to discuss important matters, so he immediately rode his horse to Qingpu Garden.

Xie Zhaozhao dismissed all the servants, and the brother and sister stayed alone in the tea room.

“Sister, Madam Xu has confessed everything.” Xie Yu’s eyes were red. “Mother was poisoned to death by her. She used a colorless and odorless poison imported from Haixi Kingdom, and she did it extremely carefully, smearing the poison on the rim of Mother’s bowl and sprinkling it on a handkerchief…”

What's even more terrifying is that this poison's effects are concentrated in the head, unlike the internal organs which are easily detected.

It is said that Xu Zhiyan initially had a slight headache, but the pain gradually became so severe that she banged her head against the wall. In order to give birth to Xie Zhaozhao, she endured the pain every day.

“My mother was extremely thin,” Xie Yu said. “I vaguely remember that when my mother passed away, she was emaciated, and her cheeks were bulging out.”

What's even more infuriating is that Madam Xu kept studying medicine diligently in front of Xu Zhiyan, claiming it was to cure her sister's illness.

Both brother and sister shed tears.

The Xu family were all great scholars. Xu's aunt was also an honest woman. Xu Zhiyan was kind-hearted and helped her half-sister, giving her resources in every way.

Who would have thought that the Xu family would be so vicious?

It is clear that the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children and superior and inferior children cannot be abolished. There is no need to cross class boundaries to do good deeds, nor is there any need to shorten the class distance in good faith.

Sometimes, kindness doesn't bring gratitude; it only gives unscrupulous people an opportunity to take advantage.

Using your opportunity to shorten the gap between social classes as a springboard to achieve a so-called reversal of fortune, their faces are full of jealousy and petty smugness. They will use extremely ruthless means to trample you underfoot and gain the pleasure of "success".

Because she seemed so harmless, took such good care of Xu Zhiyan, and doted on Xie Yu, Xu Zhiyan thought that Xu Yingrong would treat her two children well.

Therefore, before his death, he recommended his half-sister to Xie Anfeng as his second wife.

The medicine that harmed Xu Zhiyan was given by the Empress, and the idea came from the Empress.

With the two major leverages of losing her chastity before marriage and causing the death of Xu Zhiyan, Xu Shi would only obey the Empress for the rest of her life.

Xu was the Empress's spy in the Xie family.

The fact that Consort Xi miscarried so many children was also partly due to Lady Xu's actions, as it was also the Empress's decree.

Xu wanted to replace Xu Zhiyan and marry Xie Anfeng, hoping for a lifetime of glory. Therefore, she could only obey the Empress and gradually walked further and further into the abyss, with no way to turn back.

The more Xie Anfeng prioritized Xu Zhiyan, the more Xu hated Xie Zhaozhao to the bone. Unable to hate the Empress or Xie Anfeng, she could only target the weaker, younger children.

After Xu Zhiyan's death, Xie Yu was taken to the front yard and raised by Xie Anfeng.

Xie Zhaozhao was handed over to her aunt Xu in the backyard. Thanks to Xu Mama's protection and Xu Zhiyan's plan before her death, she entrusted all of her dowry to Xu Mama for management.

Otherwise, in the Xu family's inner quarters where the Xu family held absolute power, I'm afraid neither Xu Mama nor Xie Zhaozhao would have survived.

Three days after dressing up as a ghost in the study, Xu, who went to Huguo Temple to pray for the Crown Prince's concubine, had an accident and fell from the mountain.

The Xie family searched for a long time and finally found it somewhere.

This fall was devastating: every bone in my body was shattered, including my skull.

Because of the hot summer weather, maggots swarmed into the fractured skull, densely packed, crawling in and out of the brain matter—it was truly horrifying. (＿＿)ノ｜