Qin Meiying slowly closed her eyes, and a tear rolled down her cheek.

Startled, Lan Shanyang quickly pulled Qin Meiying tightly into his arms. "No! You're not allowed to regret this! You absolutely can't regret this! And you're absolutely not allowed to leave me! You can say whatever you want! Confiscate our property, exterminate our family, clear our names, anything! Just don't say things like that again! If you say that, I really don't know how I'll face you! I absolutely can't lose you again!"

Qin Meiying leaned against Lan Shanyang, tears streaming down her face.

“Shanyang, I don’t regret anything now. I only regret one thing: I had already started to be wary of Hu Tianyong. But why was I so naive to think that it was all just my own overthinking? How could I be so foolish? I thought of you and our son, but I didn’t think of the Qin family! Hu Tianyong is so eloquent. He not only deceived you, but also made me lower my guard because he saved Linxue once, which led to the final disaster!”

Seeing Qin Meiying's increasingly heartbreaking cries, Lan Shanyang immediately felt helpless. He tightly embraced his wife and whispered, "Don't cry! Don't cry! It's not your fault, it's all my fault! I blame myself for being so careless back then. I never imagined that Hu Tianyong's so-called bandit suppression was actually aimed at the Qin family! I should have killed him the moment he submitted his memorial to me speaking ill of the Qin family! I thought those memorials were just trivial matters, that the old man was just jealous of the Qin family's good reputation at the time! But he actually went and killed the Qin family like this! I'll go kill him now, Meiying, don't cry! I'll go kill him now to avenge you!"

Qin Meiying immediately looked up at Lan Shanyang and shook her head, wiping away her tears as she said, "What are you saying in anger! More than ten years have passed and I still haven't been able to persuade Hu Tianyong. At this moment, I don't want anyone else to touch him! I want our Qin family to personally kill our enemy. Only in this way can we appease the spirits of our Qin family ancestors and lessen my sins!"

Lan Shanyang nodded repeatedly, then helped Qin Meiying sit down on a chair while whispering comforting words in her ear. He then quickly poured tea, carefully tested the water temperature on his cheek before gently placing it in Qin Meiying's hand.

Qin Meiying gently raised her hand to wipe away her tears, then lowered her head and carefully sipped her tea.

If Qin Kou'er was beautiful with a touch of allure, then Qin Meiying could be described as having unparalleled elegance in every move and every smile.

Seeing that Qin Meiying had finished drinking, Lan Shanyang considerately took the teacup from her and then gently wiped her eyes with a handkerchief. He didn't like her to have tears, not even a single one.

Qin Meiying took the handkerchief and said softly to Lan Shanyang, "Shanyang, tell me about this Kou'er! I want to hear more about her!"

Qin Meiying mainly wanted to know whose child this was.

"Hmm. I only started paying attention to Qin Kou'er after Lin Xue went to Jiangnan. Humph, I get angry just thinking about it! That little beast Lan Lin Xue, before the imperial carriage even arrived in Yangzhou, she ran there herself, and then caused such a ruckus that even the Dragon Guards I had secretly brought for her had to be used. She burned down the courtyard and even dragged out Shi Mengjian's head! And the next day, she let the imperial carriage enter Yangzhou in a grand manner, and the Lanting Garden where they stayed was Qin Kou'er's property! That's when I learned about this girl."

"Lanting Garden? You said her courtyard is called Lanting Garden?" Qin Meiying stared intently at Lan Shanyang, her eyes showing a hint of anxiety and tension.

Lan Shanyang nodded, "Yes! It's called Lantingyuan! I can't be wrong about that!"

How could Lan Shanyang possibly remember something wrong after watching it dozens of times?

Qin Meiying's eyes flickered instantly, her expression a mixture of sorrow and joy. Then, a smile slowly appeared on her lips, which gradually grew wider and wider until she burst into a loud, triumphant laugh.

Lan Shanyang had never seen Qin Meiying like this before, and was terrified. He went over and hugged Qin Meiying, "Mei'er, Mei'er, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell? I'll have Jing Quan get a royal physician! After he examines her, I'll gouge out his eyes, and I promise I won't tell anyone! Can you let someone take a look? Mei'er, Mei'er, don't scare me!"

Qin Meiying laughed for a long time, tears welling up in her eyes, before finally, as if she had no strength left, she gently pushed Lan Shanyang away, shook her head softly, and looked at him, saying, "No! Don't call anyone! I'm fine! I'm really fine!"

Lan Shanyang stared at the peerless face in front of her with suspicion and tension, seemingly not believing at all that she was alright.

Qin Meiying sighed deeply, "I just feel that Heaven is truly playing tricks on us! Back then, my father saved Hu Tianyong, but he repaid kindness with enmity by wiping out my entire Qin family. Yet, he saved another person, only to have his descendants avenge our Qin family! This is the will of Heaven, the cycle of Heaven, the retribution of cause and effect! It's just that Heaven has been too cruel to my Qin family! Lantingyuan, have you forgotten? You were the one who personally named Lantingyuan back then!"

Lan Shanyang stared at Qin Meiying for a long time before suddenly realizing what was happening. He glared at Qin Meiying and murmured, "Could this be... this is the Lanting Garden that my second brother used to live in!"

Qin Meiying gave a bitter smile: "Where in the Qin family is there another Orchid Pavilion Garden! Back then, my second brother filled the whole courtyard with orchids to please my sister-in-law. You, in order to please me, actually stole the most precious orchid from there, which made my second brother so angry that he chased you all over the courtyard! In the end, it was only after you left a calligraphy scroll that my second brother let you go! This Kou'er must be the little girl who was born later!"

Thinking back to those days, Qin Meiying's tears fell again. "My second brother was kind and gentle, and my second sister-in-law was beautiful and kind. They only ever saved people. My second brother could have left back then, but because I married you, he stayed with my sister-in-law to protect the Qin family for me! I never thought that in the end, he would still be implicated and die because of me!"

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