The chick felt the unfamiliar touch and immediately hid its head in Lin Wanwan's small hand.
"Little sister, can I borrow this chick to play with?"
"Little sister, where did you get this chick?"
"Wow, I want to play! I want to play!" Ye Yuqi cried and begged to play as soon as he saw it.
Xie walked over and gave him a hard knock on the head. "You brat, if you want to play with chicks, go buy them yourself."
"Mom, your son wants to play with this. Can the chickens at the market compare to this one? It doesn't even look like a chicken."
Ye Yuqi pointed to the rooster's comb on its head, which was slightly tinged with gold.
Madam Xie leaned over, looking left and right, then struck her hard again, "At such a young age, you've already learned to lie, haven't you?"
"I'll beat you up."
Upon hearing this, Ye Yuqi covered his head and ran away immediately.
"Mother, Mother, what your son said is true. How could your son dare to lie?"
"Mother, your son isn't blind..."
"Help!"
The old lady and the old general shook their heads after hearing this.
This scene plays out several times a day.
With her eldest son away at war, her wife has been raising the children alone at home all year round, which must have been tough on her.
"Let's go in."
As the group walked into the front hall, the maids began to serve tea in an orderly fashion.
The old general sat in the main seat, looking at his children and grandchildren with tears in his eyes.
The Ye family's children, sons and grandsons, are all healthy.
Only the daughter... is still in the wolf's den.
He laughed and laughed, but then he couldn't laugh anymore.
These days, everything in the Zhenbei Marquis's mansion is under his control. Although the Zhenbei Marquis has frequently caused problems, his life is uncertain as long as he stays in the wolf's den.
"Lanyin, if you're not happy with your life together, why don't you get a divorce sooner rather than later?"
Ye Lanyin knew what her parents were worried about, so she smiled and reassured them, "Don't worry, everything is going according to plan."
Having received his daughter's affirmative answer, the old general felt somewhat relieved.
Recalling His Majesty's favor towards Lin Wanwan last time, and the fact that Lin Wanwan possessed a magical talisman, he looked worried.
Ye Lanyin saw through his thoughts and turned to the two maids, saying, "Huaxin, Huamei, take Wanwan and her brothers and sisters out to play for a while."
"Yes, madam."
Ye Lanyin said, "Father, please speak frankly."
The old general nodded to Ye Wennan, who then took out a jade pendant from his pocket.
Then he walked over to Ye Lanyin and handed it to her.
Ye Lanyin took the jade pendant and looked down at it. "Second brother, where did this jade pendant come from?"
"Little sister, I found this jade pendant by chance when I passed by a pawnshop."
"Take a close look at the words above."
After hearing this, Ye Lanyin carefully examined the jade pendant in her hand, her gaze deeply drawn to the words on it.
"Zhu?"
"The Zhu family?" Ye Lanyin exclaimed in surprise.
Ye Wennan nodded, "Not bad."
"The other day, you asked me about the Zhu family, and I actually found out."
"That day I happened to pass by a pawnshop and overheard some noise inside, so I stopped and listened for a few minutes."
"Unexpectedly, when I heard that it was about the Zhu family's jade pendant, I went inside immediately."
"It was a man in his thirties who pawned it, saying that someone had redeemed it for him."
Ye Lanyin recalled that she had overheard Zou Shuang'er and Zhu Yikang's conversation next door today. Didn't he say that he didn't have any pawned items?
"Second brother, does that guy have a mole on his face? He's a little chubby, and he walks with a slouching gait?"
Ye Wennan nodded. "Yes, how did you know?"
Ye Lanyin smiled.
It came to me without any effort at all.
"Second brother, to be honest, I saw this person today."
"oh?"
“This jade pendant wasn’t redeemed by someone else at all. He is clearly the son of the Zhu family, Zou Shuang’er’s older brother, and Lin Shixuan’s maternal uncle.”
"What?" Ye Wennan was shocked.
The old general was also taken aback.
The Zhu family committed grave sins and should have been executed long ago. How could they have been spared?
"Lanyin, are you sure?"
“Father, today I followed Zou Shuang’er and overheard their conversation. The man’s name is Zhu Yikang, the eldest son of the Zhu family.”
"He said he saved the Zou Shuang'er sisters, but the older sister is already dead."
"Father, do you know how many children the Zhu family has?"
The old general had a deep gaze, as if he were deep in thought.
He reached out and stroked his white beard, and said in a daze, "The Zhu family can be considered a family with a history of hundreds of years, but the strange thing is that the eldest son, Minister Zhu, was the one in that generation."
"The first wife had one son and two daughters in total, and the son was the second eldest son."
"The eldest son passed the imperial examination at a young age and became a third-ranked scholar. Unfortunately, he was extremely ambitious and had a wicked mind. He corrupted the second and third sons. They conspired to embezzle tens of thousands of taels of gold, indiscriminately killed innocent people, and used young boys and girls to make an elixir of immortality. This is a capital offense."
"Back then, it was rumored that even the royal children could not escape their control. It took the late emperor more than ten years to gather evidence of their crimes before he wiped them all out. I never expected there would still be omissions."
This incident shocked the entire Holy Kingdom back then. No fewer than a hundred children died under their swords, and countless people were heartbroken.
The late emperor was furious. All members of the Zhu family who were ten years old or older, regardless of gender, were beheaded, and all those under ten years old were exiled to the border. It is said that those people died on the way to the border.
Ye Lanyin pondered.
Her father's words matched the conversation she had overheard between the two people earlier that day.
In the private room, Zhu Yikang addressed Zou Shuang'er as "little sister," as they both had a deceased older sister.
Twenty-nine years ago, they were not even ten years old, and naturally became exiles.
Who would care whether a child dies or goes missing on the way to exile?
Ye Lanyin smiled slightly, "So, Zou Shuang'er is the daughter of a disgraced official."
The Minister of State more than twenty years ago truly had a limitless future.
Ye Wennan gasped, "If this matter is handled well, we might not even need to lift a finger to destroy the entire Marquis's mansion."
Ye Lanyin remained noncommittal.
Zou Shuang'er went to great lengths to send the child to her, all for a good education, a good background, and the hope that the child would rise above his circumstances and clear the Zhu family's name.
Lin Shixuan had the best chance of becoming a close advisor to the emperor.
While gaining the emperor's trust, he was also able to find out the emperor's true nature.
Wanwan said that Lin Shixuan was the male lead's strategist. He conspired with the male lead to kill the emperor, and the male lead naturally ascended the throne.
The male lead is the son of Consort Zhao, but not the Emperor's biological son. Therefore, the male lead has a reason to help Shixuan deceive the Emperor and restore the Zhu family.
It must be said that Zou Shuang'er made an excellent bet.
But then again, whose child is the male lead, and why would he be willing to help a newly appointed Lin Shixuan who has no connections?
Is it merely because of his status as a strategist?
"Second Brother, do you remember the Crown Prince's attempt to assassinate the Emperor at the banquet in the main hall last time?"
Ye Wennan's gaze was deep and unfathomable.
"Remember."
"Whose child is that prince?"
Ye Wennan looked at Ye Lanyin, "You mean..."
"Sister!" the two exclaimed in unison.
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