"The village chief said that someone wanted to kill the entire Wujiazhuang village, so we can't stay in the mountains any longer."

He led the surviving villagers northward along the mountain path, but the flood came too suddenly.

The village chief reacted quickly enough to save only a small number of people; there was no time to take any valuables with him.

Penniless, they could barely survive on wild animals while in the mountains, but once they left the mountains, they could only earn a little food by doing hard labor.

However, they are unregistered migrants, and few are willing to hire them, so they have to work illegally at even lower prices.

But their journey of fleeing famine had taken a toll on their health, and they could only obtain very little food in exchange.

“My older brother has to support us and he also wants to work illegally, but he is too young and people don’t want him.”

The village chief then asked my eldest brother to look after his children, using this as an excuse to distribute some grain to my siblings and me.

The uncles and aunts had no objections, but as time went on, the aunts started to complain. The village chief, who was close to my grandfather, couldn't bear to see us starve, so he saved his own rations..."

He starved himself to death.

"Before he died, he asked my elder brother to take us away because news of your presence in the capital had spread, and some people began to suspect that the disaster in Wujiazhuang was caused by you."

He stared at his father, "Some people even say that you regained your memory and returned to a life of wealth, and you didn't want anyone to know about your plight in Wujiazhuang, and you didn't want to acknowledge the existence of my mother and me, so you wanted to kill us to silence us."

Grandpa Village Chief was worried that the villagers would take their anger out on us three siblings, so he had no choice but to let us leave.

But actually, the village chief had guessed from the beginning that the flood was related to you.

So when we were fleeing famine, he made us change our names and told others that we were his family's children.

Grandpa Village Chief was protecting them from the very beginning.

Han Zijin shook his head repeatedly, "I never wanted to acknowledge you. In fact, I didn't lose my memory at all back then."

This is a serious crime of deceiving the emperor. In order not to marry Kang Le, he only told Kang Le about it. Now he is in a hurry to explain to the child, so he can't care about anything else.

“Your grandmother treated me well, and the simplicity of Wujiazhuang made me want to stay. I married your mother because I admired her.”

But I was recognized. I had been betrothed to Princess Kangle by the late emperor, and escaping the imperial marriage would implicate the entire Duke of Lu's mansion.

I was thinking of returning to the capital to apologize to the royal family and break off the engagement, but Kangle promised in front of the Emperor that she was willing to take you and your son in…”

He suddenly remembered Xie Tingzhou's reminder.

He hadn't previously connected his wife and children's misfortune with Kang Le because the timing didn't match.

During the flood at Wujiazhuang, on his way back to the capital, he had not yet mentioned to Kang Le and the Duke of Lu's mansion that he had already married in Wujiazhuang.

Since they were unaware of his wife and children's existence, they naturally avoided suspicion.

But what if Fu Jiang's rescue of him was itself a conspiracy?

Assuming that Fu Jiang had already recognized him, found out about his activities in Wujiazhuang, and promptly notified the capital.

Therefore, Kang Le knew about the existence of his wife and children much earlier than he thought.

This explains why Kang Le went to great lengths to save Fu Jiang; they had been in cahoots for a long time.

Having figured this out, he was overwhelmed with a mix of frustration, anger, and remorse, and finally asked, "How did your mother die?"

Outside, Ye Zhen and Xie Tingzhou exchanged a glance, and they saw two words in each other's eyes.

Fu Jiang!

Xie Tingzhou immediately sent people to the county town where Wujiazhuang was located. If they could obtain evidence that Fu Jiang had harmed the people, even the emperor could not protect him.