"Is the Marquis of Wenyuan's mansion also involved?" Jiang Shuwan asked.

"Ha, no, he's just a son of a concubine, not favored by the late Marquis, and has no power whatsoever. What right does he have to divide up our Zhennan Prince's Mansion? But Lord Yun got involved. That old scoundrel didn't want any money, all he wanted was the unification of Jing Kingdom. How laughable, how utterly laughable! I only regret that I didn't kill him back then..."

Li Chengyun frantically pounded the ground with his palms.

Jiang Shuwan remained silent for a long time before speaking, "The aristocratic families have mastered all kinds of technologies and knowledge. If you were to wipe out all the aristocratic families and their upper-middle-class members, the entire Jing Kingdom's national strength would regress by twenty years."

"What does the decline of Jing Kingdom's national strength have to do with me? The previous dynasty was cruel and incompetent. Our Zhennan Prince's Mansion wanted to kill the enemy. My maternal grandfather's nine brothers were either killed or crippled, and in the end, only my maternal grandfather was left. Later, all one thousand people in the Zhennan Prince's Mansion were beheaded. Where are those people who benefited from the kindness of our Zhennan Prince's Mansion? Where are they!"

Li Chengyun sat by the window.

Snow was falling heavily outside the window, and dark clouds were rolling in.

It was daylight, yet it was darker than night.

“Wanwan, all my relatives are dead, only my cousin and I are alive.”

“My younger sister was only two years old. Like you, they also loved to eat sweet tofu pudding and hibiscus cake. They were so young, but when they died, no one spoke up for them.”

"No one is speaking up for them."

"I can't find a reason to let those enemies go, because no one came to my rescue back then..."

Jiang Shuwan walked out, her steps uneven, one step deep and one step shallow.

Li Chengyun's courtyard was never tended to; it was overgrown with weeds that grew wildly.

His inner world, like this courtyard, has long since grown wildly into something unimaginable to ordinary people.

His words kept echoing in her ears.

“Wanwan, you’re just like me.”

"Don't you also think that Ye Jingyi killed so many people but didn't have to die?"

"Look, we're on the same path."

**********

Braving the wind and snow, as soon as Jiang Shuwan returned to the Marquis's residence, she sensed that something was wrong. Qingxing, who was supposed to be on leave today, was standing at the door waiting for her.

"Miss, something terrible has happened! The old Marquis is back."

"The old Marquis was escorting the old lady back to the Yun family's old residence. They were about to board the ferry when he heard that the second master had been sued by the heir apparent, so he immediately returned to the mansion."

"The young master and the old marquis are both in the ancestral hall right now, along with the madam. The matter of the imperial examination has also been exposed..."

Jiang Shuwan lifted her skirt and hurried toward the ancestral hall. Before she even got inside, she heard the old marquis's angry voice coming from within.

"That's your own second uncle... He's your only second uncle..."

"He held you when you were little, and he watched you grow up. Don't you care about family ties at all? Don't you want to save him?"

Do you know what doing this means?

"That's right. I've always misjudged you. You knew your mother was framing you for cheating in the imperial examinations, yet you still went along with it. Is she even human?"

You are unworthy of being a son!

"Mothers are not mothers, sons are not sons, what misfortune has befallen our Pei clan?!"

Inside the ancestral hall, the old Marquis pointed at Pei Yanzhi, his whole body trembling with anger. Madam Wen shrank to one side, also terrified, but seeing Pei Yanzhi kneeling and suffering, she felt a sense of satisfaction.

After scolding Pei Yanzhi, the old Marquis rested for a while. Suddenly, he thought of something, his whole body stiffened, and then his eyes turned to Pei Yanzhi.

"Was the poison that the old lady was in truly from His Majesty?"

Pei Yanzhi remained silent.

"Ha!" The old Marquis laughed bitterly and slapped him across the face.

Pei Yanzhi didn't dodge and took a solid slap.

The old marquis pointed at him as if he were seeing this son for the first time.

"Fine, you really are my good son. You sent your uncle to the guillotine, poisoned your grandmother, and were unfilial to your own mother. You are disloyal and unfilial. All the propriety, integrity, loyalty to the emperor, and patriotism you learned before have been wasted..."

"You've been hiding this from me all this time, but I'm your biological father!"

After a moment of silence, Pei Yanzhi wiped the blood from his mouth and asked, "What does Father want to say to me?"

“Since His Majesty the Yuan Emperor passed away and His Majesty the current Emperor ascended the throne, nine out of ten of the military families who followed the Yuan Emperor in conquering the country have lost the Emperor’s favor and fallen from the ranks of the newly noble families to the bottom. Our Marquis’s family also faced great difficulties after my grandfather’s death, especially since you were not favored by my grandfather at that time.”

“If it weren’t for His Majesty’s favor, you would have had a hard time even inheriting the title, let alone now that you hold great power.”

“You were promoted by His Majesty. His Majesty poisoned your grandmother, and you were heartbroken, but you still followed His Majesty’s wishes and took your grandmother back to your hometown.”

"Shouldn't it be so? Without His Majesty, there would be no Marquis's Mansion today!" the old Marquis roared, his face ashen. He pointed angrily at Pei Yanzhi, "The Emperor's will cannot be disobeyed! I am a subject of the Great Jing..."

"Therefore, I am different from my father."

Staring at the old Marquis, Pei Yanzhi slowly stood up from the ground. The old Marquis was so intimidated by his imposing aura that he took a step back. He never expected that after all the setbacks, Pei Yanzhi would not only show no remorse but also dare to stand up.

Staring at his father, Pei Yanzhi was as calm and frantic as a bloodthirsty demon.

The facade of a gentleman he had always maintained, his gentlemanly demeanor, was finally ripped off at this moment, revealing his darkest and most cruel side.

“I am different from my father.”

“I am not a subject of the Great Jing, but a subject of all people under heaven.”

I will not make the same mistake twice.

"No one can stop me!"

After saying this, Pei Yanzhi walked out. The old Marquis roared and cursed him as a "rebellious son," but before he could finish the curse, he was driven away by several guards.

"Let me go! How dare you! I am the patriarch of the Pei clan! Let me go!"

"Send your father back quietly, without letting anyone know."

Straightening his clothes, Pei Yanzhi walked out of the ancestral hall, where he saw Jiang Shuwan, whose shoulder was covered in snow, her face serene.

The moment he looked at her, Pei Yan paused subconsciously, and the next second he raised his hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth.

He shouldn't have wavered...

After all, in his previous life, it was he who tricked Jiang Shuwan into burning down the Pei family ancestral hall and destroying the old lady's memorial tablet.

Jiang Shuwan knew all too well how despicable and shameless he was.

However, he still subconsciously avoided Jiang Shuwan's gaze at that moment.

Then, he saw Liu Yunyan huddled to one side, almost paralyzed with fear.

"Why are you here?" The man looked down at her, his eyes devoid of any warmth.

“Cousin…cousin…” Liu Yunyan was almost crying. She huddled up in a ball, terrified that Pei Yanzhi would kill her to silence her.

The Pei Yanzhi she knew was always gentle and refined. Although he didn't talk much and seemed rather aloof, he was the most illustrious and elegant young master from a prominent family in the capital.