After seeing clearly, Gu Tingyuan was struck by lightning. He staggered back two steps with tears in his eyes.

"It's true...it's true..."

Zhixia is actually his biological daughter!

But then, Zhixia continued, "But so what?"

She slowly put down her sleeves and said in a cold voice: "For the past eighteen years, I have lived an upright life in the palace, and the princess has treated me like a sister. But Gu Xiang..."

She glanced at Gu Tingyuan's face, which was shaking with shock. "You raised such a cruel and shameless daughter, and now you have the nerve to come and claim her as your biological parent?"

"Please go back, there is no Miss Gu here, only Zhixia, the maid of the princess's mansion."

Her tone was calm and her attitude was decisive.

Upon hearing this, Li covered her face and burst into tears.

Gu Tingyuan's face looked pale, as if he had aged ten years in an instant.

Gu Yanran’s failure in education has always been a common pain in the hearts of both husband and wife.

"Child...it was your fault before, you..."

"Prime Minister Gu, please be careful with your words!" Zhixia reminded him, "How can a humble servant like me be worthy of being the daughter of the Prime Minister?" She deliberately emphasized the word 'servant' and watched with satisfaction as Gu Tingyuan's face turned three points grayer.

Li suddenly stepped forward and tried to grab the corner of Zhixia's clothes: "Zhixia, mother knows that you feel wronged, but I only ask you to give us a chance to make it up to you..."

"Mrs. Gu, you are too kind." Zhixia took a half step back without leaving a trace, "I said before that I have no grievances and I don't intend to have any relationship with the Gu family.

Instead of wasting time here arguing about their relationship, they should go back and investigate why Gu Yanran brought abortion pills to the banquet and why she escaped through the secret passage—"

Gu Tingyuan's forehead broke out in cold sweat when he heard this.

He had just heard the news from the prince that Gu Yanran disappeared at the piano concert and her life or death was unknown. Without thinking too much about it, he brought people to the princess's mansion to try to get an explanation from the princess.

Because he knew that when Gu Yanran was in the Qi family before, she had caused a lot of trouble for the princess, so it was not impossible that the princess intended to retaliate against her this time.

Now that we know that she actually brought abortion pills to the party, the intention behind this is worth pondering.

If things go wrong, the entire Gu family will be implicated and convicted by Gu Yanran.

After all, framing a royal princess would result in exile at the very least.

…

At this time, Chu Lang, who was in the teahouse opposite, saw that there was no movement here and couldn't help feeling confused.

"Gu Tingyuan, this old man, why doesn't he take action yet?"

It seemed that the situation between the two sides was about to break out, but they have been hesitating for such a long time. Why does the situation seem a little wrong?

At this time, a servant came upstairs and reported: "Your Highness, there is a situation across the street..."

Then, the servant briefly told the story of Li's sudden arrival, public recognition of Zhixia at the gate of the princess's mansion, and the revelation of Zhixia's identity.

After hearing this, Chu Lang opened his mouth in shock and his eyes widened.

"What!?"

That damn girl Zhixia is actually the real daughter of the prime minister?

So Gu Yanran is a fake?

It has to be said that this dramatic turn of events left Chu Lang completely confused.

What should I do now? Is it possible that all my efforts today have been wasted? Can I not watch the show?

"Bang!"

Chu Lang threw the teacup to the ground in agitation and roared, "Waste! You are all a bunch of waste!"

Upon seeing this, the eunuch Qiu Yuan waved his hand to dismiss the servants, hunched over and said, "Your Highness, please calm down. I have an idea."

His voice was sinister. "Minister Gu has raised that fake daughter for more than ten years. He should have feelings for her even if he were raising a dog. If he knew that Gu Yanran had been tortured to death and no remains were left, I'm afraid he would..."

"Hmm?" Chu Lang narrowed his eyes.

Qiu Yuan wiped his neck and said, "Why don't we send someone to tell Prime Minister Gu that... Gu Yanran was abandoned in a dilapidated temple and was abused in every way. Even her body was eaten by wild dogs..."

After Chu Lang heard this, the gloomy look on his face disappeared completely.

“Hahahaha!” He laughed a few times. “Killing two birds with one stone.”

He closed his folding fan and ordered, "Go, send someone to prepare immediately, and then take something that can represent Gu Yanran's identity and send it to the other side!"

At this time, at the gate of the princess's mansion, Li wanted to continue persuading her, but at this moment, a maid from the Gu mansion stumbled out.

"Oh no! The bodies of the master, the lady, and the young lady were found in a ruined temple outside the city..."

The maid was holding a package in her hand and crying heartbreakingly.

After seeing Li, she opened the package with shaking hands, and inside was a torn dress, which was exactly the one Gu Yanran wore to the banquet today, and it was stained with a lot of filth and blood.

Li almost fainted after just one look.

Gu Tingyuan's hands were shaking, and it was unclear whether he was angry or something else.

The maid continued to cry, "I don't know what kind of disaster the young lady encountered before she died. When I found her, her body was already incomplete. If it weren't for this skirt and handkerchief, I simply couldn't believe what kind of hatred or grudge could have caused someone to do such a cruel thing to a weak woman like the young lady!"

When the onlookers heard this, they were shocked for a moment.

Some of the timid ones even turned pale with fear.

"Oh my God, this is too tragic!" A woman covered her mouth, her face turning pale with fear.

"I heard that Miss Gu is pregnant. This... is a sin!"

"What do you think? Could it be that Miss Gu offended someone before? That's why..." One of them quickly glanced in the direction of Chu Qingluan.

Many people knew that Chu Qingluan had a husband among the common people before. Coupled with the incident that Qi Che caused in front of the princess's mansion last time, many people knew about the past grievances between Gu Yanran and Chu Qingluan after asking around a little.

After these words were spoken, many people present looked at Chu Qingluan with a look of both caution and fear.

Zhixia was so angry that she was shaking all over, and her eyes were like knives stabbing at the maid from the Gu Mansion.

She suspected that this girl was here to cause trouble.

The maid's name was Cui'er. She was bought after Gu Yanran returned to Beijing. She had just entered the courtyard and had been serving for less than a month, so she was easily bribed by the people arranged by Chu Lang.

As for the dress in her hand, it was the same style found in Gu Yanran's closet. The bloodstains and other things were all faked. She wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to provoke Gu Tingyuan and his wife, so as to create a rift between the Gu family and Chu Qingluan.

When Cui'er saw Zhixia glaring at her, she immediately shrank back, as if she was threatened by something, and cried even harder.

"Master, the young lady originally wanted to come here to apologize to Her Royal Highness today. She said that she had offended Her Royal Highness before and she has always felt bad... But who would have thought that it would lead to such a tragedy!"

After saying that, Cui Er seemed to suddenly remember something, and hurriedly covered her mouth, shaking her head and explaining: "This servant deserves death. This servant is not doubting Your Highness, but... This servant really can't figure out who would be so capable as to kidnap the young lady from the banquet."

Sure enough, after hearing Cui'er's words, Gu Tingyuan's face suddenly changed!