Xie Sidu was also in the study.

Xie Sidu held a jade slip in his hand.

He had been in contact with Xie Ziyuan during this time. He couldn't just say that Xie Ziyuan had stolen something. Besides, the matter of the jade slip was of great importance and couldn't be publicized everywhere.

He tried to probe indirectly, but Xie Ziyuan remained respectful on the surface, never revealing a single clue in her words.

He asked a few more questions, but unfortunately Ding Huizhu overheard him. That really stirred up a hornet's nest. Ding Huizhu angrily hung up the phone and blocked him.

Xie Ziyuan contacted him privately and reasonably said that if Xie Sidu needed it, she would send back the jade slip that she had taken to the Xie family.

Now, the jade slip is in Xie Sidu's hand. He looks at it from left to right, but he can't see anything strange about it. It's just an ordinary jade slip for praying for blessings.

Seeing Xie Li enter, Xie Sidu handed her the jade slip, saying, "Take a look."

Xie Li glanced at it and shook his head. "It's not this one."

Xie Sidu and Grandpa Xie were not surprised; it would be strange if they could get it back so easily.

Grandpa Xie sighed: "This time, Ziyuan is probably really up to no good."

Previously, they had also speculated that Xie Ziyuan might have mistakenly taken the jade slip. After all, if it weren't for Xie Li, even the old master Xie, the head of the family, would have thought it was just an ordinary prayer jade slip.

Unlike Xie Li, Xie Ziyuan was not exceptionally gifted and had no way of knowing the secrets within the jade slip.

However, these days of probing have made Xie Sidu feel a strong sense of crisis about his adopted daughter.

Xie Ziyuan's responses were so impeccable that it was impossible to guess her purpose or intention.

Perhaps Xie Ziyuan has already discovered the secret within the jade slip? But that doesn't make sense. If Xie Ziyuan had that ability, she could have directly cured Old Master Xie back then, thereby consolidating her position in the Xie family.

Xie Li thought for a moment, "Xie Ziyuan may not be able to open the jade slip and find out its contents, but she definitely knows that such a jade slip exists."

When Xie Li first learned that Xie Ziyuan had developed the "Heart-Fluttering Soup," he had his doubts.

The Fragrant Heart Soup is not something that can be developed simply by having Sacred Heart Fruit.

The difficulty in processing Sacred Heart Fruit is beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

When she first came to Jiangcheng with the Sacred Heart Fruit, she remembered Shen Tiezhu's instructions to bring a gift on her first visit to show her sincerity and courtesy.

Considering that Sacred Heart Fruit is difficult to handle, she prepared it in advance before bringing it over.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have made Xie Shiyou wait two extra days.

After all, it requires a lot of internal energy and skill, and it does take a lot of time.

The soup Xie Ziyuan made was actually about 60-70% similar to the original recipe.

To reach this point, one must know the recipe.

Of course, Xie Ziyuan probably missed some of the recipes she knew.

The reason for this 30-40% dissimilarity is that it's not just a matter of not being willing to use Sacred Heart Fruit; it's because the recipe is incomplete and many details are missing.

That's why she said that the "Heart-Fluttering Soup" had no effect on Grandpa Xie, and it really didn't have much of an effect.

A slight difference can lead to a huge error; this is why alchemy is so difficult to learn.

Grandpa Xie: "I knew she had ulterior motives long ago. It turns out she really was after the 'Xie Family Herbal Compendium'!"

Xie Sidu's expression changed. To be honest, even though he and Ding Huizhu had fallen out to this point, he still cared about Xie Ziyuan to some extent.