Suffering unspeakable, I will bring Seventh Sister into the palace, and from then on, I will reveal my true face...

As everyone stared at Meng Yu, whose neck had been snapped by Chu Yening, some were horrified, while others ignored it.

Soon, Tao Qingyun pulled Jiang Yuanfu, whose face was covered in tears, into the house.

Qin Weixi looked at Jiang Yuanfu, who was sitting on the ground in a daze. Tao Qingyun suddenly spoke a sharp word in his ear, as if she was saying with great difficulty: "Jiang Yuanfu... I gave you a chance."

She had glimpsed a painting lying in a corner on the riverboat as she lay dying. She knew it was someone coming to confirm her identity and her death.

Furthermore, even though she clearly sensed danger, she destroyed all the Qin family lanterns on the riverboat and replaced them with lanterns bearing the character "Jiang." Jiang is the imperial surname, and although there are many people with the surname Jiang throughout the world, a well-trained assassin would certainly have some degree of apprehension towards this surname.

But not that night.

The ships that were quietly approaching her and the several assassins on board paid no attention to the Jiang-surnamed boat sailing on the river.

She was far too familiar with Kang Won-bok.

As a child, Afu loved to draw and write, and she loved to copy the calligraphy of the late emperor. Her brushstrokes could make butterflies fly out of the paper, make magnolias bloom with fragrance, and make the sworn brothers of the Peach Garden seem like vivid people who had stepped out of the painting. The lifelike quality of her brushstrokes was her innate talent.

Her portrait is just like that.

Tao Qingyun's eyes were red, her gaze lowered, and she fell silent for a moment. Only the three of them were in the room at that moment.

Tao Qingyun looked up at Qin Weixi standing under the window, and choked out again, "Seventh Sister... back then..."

“I know,” Qin Weixi suddenly said.

"What?"

Her expression remained calm. She quickly looked up at Tao Qingyun, who was staring in astonishment, and forced a smile, saying, "Third Brother, I know."

Fa Cai, who was standing under the eaves, suddenly burst through the door and knelt down in front of Qin Weixi with a thud, sobbing, "...Miss, the young master has also suffered in silence all these years. This servant has watched helplessly as the blisters on the corners of his mouth keep appearing one after another."

“Back then, when you rescued me from those bandits, after seeing that you were unharmed, you went to check if the assassins were still alive. On the ship, you saw a painting, and you entrusted it to me to keep safe.”

"Since then, after returning to the capital, the young master has locked himself in his room for quite some time. I have personally witnessed that the young master cannot sleep at night, and his temper grows stronger day by day. I tried to ask him about it, but the young master did not say a word. I know that the young master has something stuck in his throat."

“When you returned to the capital in the spring, the young master was very happy. That day, he rewarded us servants with a lot of the silver he had saved up to buy wine and food. The young master got drunk because of this and that's when he told me about it.”

"Later, I learned from you, young lady, that you shot a bandit with an arrow that day. All these years, I have been wondering whether that person was really dead, and whether he also floated downstream with your body and was buried in the river."

"For this reason, you have lived in unease for so many years because of the matter that you have kept in your heart."

“Painting…” Jiang Yuanfu, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke, her eyes darting back and forth between the two of them.

Qin Weixi looked at Tao Qingyun, whose eye had a single tear hanging down, and quickly wiped it away with his sleeve.

Seeing this, she walked over, then bent down slightly and looked up at Tao Qingyun, who had her eyes downcast.

Their eyes met, and she smiled gently, "Third Brother, is this how boys cry? Why are you crying?"

"Seventh Sister, I didn't cry."

After returning to Beijing in the spring, she frequently saw mouth ulcers on his lips, and later, during their trip to Baoping Temple, the young novice monk said, "Too much attachment will inevitably break the heart."

Now she understands.

Qin Weixi extended a fingertip and quickly ran it across Tao Qingyun's eye, then brought it up to his eyes to examine it carefully, and laughed, "Really? Third Brother, why does this taste salty to me?"

Upon hearing this, Tao Qingyun looked up and saw the girl before him with an unperturbed demeanor, a stark contrast to the resolute death he had witnessed on the vast river years ago. He suddenly smiled through his tears, followed by a soft hum.

Seeing that he smiled for a moment, Qin Weixi said, "My third brother saved me back then, and he has done me a favor. But this favor is not mixed with anything else, because we are siblings."

She then looked coldly at Jiang Yuanfu, whose face was as pale as paper, and sighed softly after a moment: "As for Afu, she is the daughter of Third Brother's aunt. Third Brother lost his father at a young age, and none of us don't want to treat this clever young man who can make people smile with his words well."

"The Empress and Grandfather Tao raised you, Third Brother, together, and I can't let you be in a difficult position."

"After I woke up in Jiangnan that year, I saw Xiaoxing holding a clay doll in her arms, standing in front of me. She smiled sweetly at me. I thought that since I was not sure, since I was still alive, and since we had never been separated since the Oath of the Peach Garden, I would keep this matter in my heart and let no one know it forever."

"But I never expected that my third brother would also see that painting..."

Jiang Yuanfu suddenly smiled faintly: "Seventh Sister... I didn't expect you already knew."

No wonder, no wonder that on that day in Penglai Xiaoding, her seventh sister, who was no less than her since childhood, looked at the magnolia trees in the distance and asked her if their friendship would be like that of their grandfather.

She tilted her head back, trying to hold back her tears, and forced a smile, saying, "Seventh Sister, you know how close we used to be. Back then, I often thought it would be wonderful if one day you became my sister-in-law, and we grew up together in the palace. But you also know that I was very stubborn even as a child. Gradually, looking at everything around you, I suddenly had an idea..."

"Seventh Sister, I hope you are doing well, but not better than me."

A soft, clear voice surrounded them: "From childhood to adulthood, everyone has revolved around you. None of your older brothers dislike you, and your fourth brother also likes you, but I've known since I was little that your fourth brother's affection for you is different."

"That year, he got into a fight with Cousin Pei's brother and knocked out one of his front teeth without any mercy. I saw it with my own eyes. Do you know why? It was because Cousin's brother stood up for Liang Lang and said you were a barbarian woman that no one in the capital would dare to marry in the future."

"For this, my fourth brother beat him."

"It was all because of this one small matter."

Jiang Yuanfu suddenly shifted her gaze from the window to Qin Weixi's face: "When I was young, there was a devil, a monster, living inside me. She always said to me, 'Why does the Qin family get all the good things?'"

“Those tourmaline earrings are yours, your fourth brother is yours, your brothers and sisters are yours, and all of your grandmother’s love is yours. Uncle Qin and Aunt Qin cherish you like a treasure, and all I see is affection for you.”

“When we go out together, stroll around, or go to Xiaguang Peak, everyone thinks you are the master, and I am just a casual stroke on that beautiful painting. Everyone says that I am a princess of a country, and I can have whatever I want, but all the wind and rain are given to me by you.”

"Seventh Sister, how about I become a daughter of the Qin family, and you become a princess of the imperial family? What do you say?"

Jiang Yuanfu, trembling slightly, suddenly let out a cold laugh: "Everyone says I have an extremely noble destiny, born on the same day and month as my brother, but who among you knows, who among you knows? I later learned that my mother forced me to give birth before my due date in order to please my grandparents and secure my position as Crown Princess and future Empress."

"The honor belongs to my brother, and the respect everyone gives him also belongs to my brother. I have nothing, and I have to be put behind everyone else in everything."

Qin Weixi looked at Jiang Yuanfu, who was crying silently, and listened to her words, each one like a sharp blade stabbing into her heart. After a moment, she said, "Afu, over the years, the care that our brothers have given us has never been biased. Back then, Third Brother braved the wind and rain to buy you food, and Fifth Brother secretly slipped out of the palace to play with us time and time again to cover for you. Every time your elder brothers saw you, they would call you 'Little Afu' and bring you the best candy and the best fruit to watch you eat."

"What about Fourth Brother? Chu Yening?" Jiang Yuanfu suddenly turned her head and asked sharply.

Qin Weixi suddenly remembered the New Year's Eve dinner yesterday, which ended in a bad mood.

She suddenly realized.

"You're in love with Fourth Brother?"

Jiang Yuanfu suddenly smiled and said, "He is the emperor's favorite son, and his father is a great general with outstanding military achievements who is admired by the world. As for me, I am a golden branch and jade leaf, a daughter of heaven. We should be the golden boy and jade girl that my grandmother talked about, so why not?"

"Seventh Sister, I want to take everything you have. I'll be overjoyed with it."

"So you want to take everything I have. Ah Fu? Right? But... this isn't love."

Tao Qingyun listened to these words with trembling hands. Just as she was about to speak, a shrill scream suddenly came from the corridor. The group looked towards the small window and saw that Liang Xi had been bound by a hemp rope and was hanging from the crossbeam of the corridor.

The hem of her dress was stained with blood, which dripped onto the cold ground.

Luo Chen and Que She and the others watched this scene from a distance, seemingly oblivious to it. Meanwhile, Chu Ye Ning was leaning against the balustrade under the corridor pillar, one leg slightly bent and placed on the chair, the other dangling to the ground. He held a short dagger in one hand and used the fingertips of his other hand to wipe the blood left on the blade.

Liang Xi cursed repeatedly: "Chu Yening! I want my brother to kill you, you little tyrant! You unruly wolfhound! You should have been wiped out like Qin Shuoguang back then..."

Chu Yening smiled slyly, looked at the pair of feet dangling in front of him, and took out his short dagger to slash her knees again.

The people inside came out when they saw this.

Chu Yening looked at Liang Xi with her charming, smiling eyes, but her hands were doing the most painful thing.

Seeing the group of people emerge, his smile vanished, replaced by a contemptuous and arrogant expression as he looked at Jiang Yuanfu. Meanwhile, he continued to twirl and toy with the short blade in his hand.

After a moment, he suddenly smiled: "Jiang Yuanfu!"

Jiang Yuanfu's pupils contracted slightly in an instant, and she stared intently at him.

She chuckled lightly, "Chu Yening, you like Seventh Sister, so she can become a weapon to hurt you! Chu Yening, she is your weakness, we all know that!"

Liang Xi's curses and shrill screams still echoed from above.

"Princess, please save me—"

Qin Weixi looked at Liang Xi, when Luo Chen suddenly walked over and greeted her with a smile and a fist salute: "Heroine, what are you thinking about?"

Qin Weixi turned around and smiled, then seemed to fall into deep thought: "I was wondering what Liang Shuwen would do if he knew that his son couldn't become a princess and his daughter couldn't enter the Crown Prince's palace, but his heart belonged to our good elder brother?"

She looked up at Liang Xi, whose face was flushed and who looked disheveled, and smiled gently: "You have to copy everything I do, even your name has to sound the same. Why don't you learn from me how my family was ruined in the tenth year?"

"Qin Weixi, how dare you..."

"My father is a high-ranking official in the current cabinet. If I cannot leave here alive today, my father and brother will take your lives!"

"And then?" Qin Weixi asked.

"To report to the Imperial Family that I am still alive, so that I will once again become a villain hated by everyone, just like I was ten years ago?"

"It doesn't matter."

“My Qin family is clean and honest. Even if you leave this old Qin family mansion today, even if the high and mighty Di family inflicts upon me the torture of being slowly sliced ​​to death, scraping off my flesh piece by piece, I will still say that my Qin family is upright, honest, and upright!”

Suddenly, a hand grabbed her from behind, and then she heard a voice in her ear: So what if she is a weakness? I, Chu Yening, will follow her to the death.

A sharp shout suddenly rang out from behind them.

"Ah Fu!"

The group turned around and saw that Jiang Yuanjun had come alone, and they didn't know how long he had been standing outside the garden. He was holding the black box that Chu Yening had just left outside Qingliang Garden, which hadn't been hidden from the girl and had destroyed in time. He walked over quickly and smashed the black box on the ground.

Chu Yening suddenly stood up, snatched the sharp sword from Queshe's arms, and slashed at the wooden box in an instant.

The wooden box and the large Afu that had once been entrusted with blessings were instantly torn to pieces.

In a few breaths, Chu Yening pointed the sharp sword in his hand at Jiang Yuanfu.

Qin Weixi stared blankly at the box and the mostly broken Da Afu. Just as she was about to bend down to pick it up, a tall and strong figure blocked her way.

"Qin Luo, don't look. But I still want you to know that people in this world are treacherous, so don't trust anyone. Including me! You should only live for yourself."

Jiang Yuanjun, his face cold and deep, looked at his lovely younger sister, whom he had watched grow up since childhood. Then, he glanced at Meng Yu, who was lying on the ground in a terrible state, and Liang Xi, who was lying under the eaves covered in blood.

"I ask you, why did the Empress Dowager secretly execute a group of people back then, and afterwards only tell me that she had failed in her duties?"

He hadn't heard anything about the past events that the people in that room had mentioned, but he had a vague feeling about it.

He continued, "Seventh Sister nearly lost her life in the river back then. Was it Empress Dowager's plan that helped you? Meng Yu was one of the lucky ones who survived, right? Were those people who were secretly executed by Empress Dowager back then a group of assassins she kept who didn't go to Jiangnan but learned about Meng Yu's plan and were ordered to be killed by Empress Dowager?"

Jiang Yuanfu glanced blankly at Jiang Yuanjun, then suddenly smiled: "Yes. So what?"

"A-Fu, how could you?" Jiang Yuanjun looked down at her knees and remembered that snowy night ten years ago, when this younger sister knelt before their father's palace and had been plagued by leg problems ever since.

He suddenly spoke with a laugh: "I was wrong. My mistake was not to rest in peace with my brother Ashu back then."

Then Jiang Yuanjun looked at the girl in front of her, whose eyes were filled with frost and snow, just inches away. No, she wasn't like this before. She would smile. Every time she met her, that little girl with pearl flowers in her hair and dressed in silk would have a smiling face as bright as a pearl, and she would also show joy, anger, sorrow and happiness.

He had heard everything that had just been said.

He suddenly remembered that torrential rainy night when the little girl from Xia, who had been harmed by traitors and whose family had been destroyed and whose life had been cut short, still smiled and asked him: "Fifth Brother, if that day really comes, what identity should I have?"

Yes? In what capacity?

Will his respected and admired elder brother, Ashuo, one day return to his homeland and see all the things he has done for the Qin family over the years as insignificant?

It's a joke, just a joke.

"Ah Xiao!" he shouted again.

Jiang Yuanjun, who had come alone, was followed by another figure emerging from outside Qingliang Garden shortly afterward.

Before Ah Xiao could answer, Jiang Yuanjun said, "Take Zhenhui away!"

Jiang Yuanfu gave a cold laugh: "Brother?"

However, Jiang Yuanjun turned her back to her and gave another order: "Take her back to her palace!"

"From this day forward, I have no sister!"

Chu Yening suddenly stood in front of A Xiao with a sword in hand, and laughed, "Did I say she could leave?"

"Do you think I'm so easy to talk to now?"

Tao Qingyun stood there, her eyes filled with sadness.

Jiang Yuanjun turned around and slowly walked towards the girl in front of her, who was dressed in a pale yellow brocade but whose eyes were full of frost.

After a short while, he said, "Ye Ning, today you and Qing Jun took those palace guards out of the palace. Father Emperor must already know that. Moreover, Liang Shuwen's daughter also left the palace with Zhen Hui. Today is the day when all officials enter the palace to offer their congratulations. I'm afraid some people with ulterior motives will suspect this."

“I will bring my seventh sister into the palace, and from then on, I will walk in this world with my true face and dignity.”

Chu Yening chuckled lightly, then withdrew the sword that had been blocking A Xiao's path: "And then?"

"If anyone tries to stop us, kill them—"

"Anyone who gets in the way, kill them—"

"If anyone harms me, I will protect them with my own body—"