Chapter 76 Zhao Yan, her surname is Lu!
Why did you do that?
Although he had already guessed the answer, hearing Zhao Yan say it aloud still made Grand Secretary Zhao tremble with anger.
"Zhiheng treated you like his own aunt! That child has been close to you since he was little! Closer than to his own parents! How could you be so heartless as to take his life?"
Zhao Yan curled her lip in disdain and scoffed, "You yourself said you're her aunt, but I'm not her aunt after all, am I?"
"Besides, if I treat him badly, why would he be close to me? To put it bluntly, it's just that I, his 'aunt,' am of interest to him."
"Is this what you really think of Zhiheng?" Grand Secretary Zhao was heartbroken.
"Otherwise what?" Zhao Yan sneered. "If there wasn't something to gain, would you have tolerated Zhiheng's closeness to me all these years?"
"I tacitly approved of Zhiheng's closeness to you because... because..."
Grand Secretary Zhao looked grief-stricken, but ultimately couldn't bring himself to say it.
To put it bluntly, he had his own calculations.
However, Zhao Yan spoke for him what he didn't say.
“I know that you wanted Zhiheng to get close to me so that I would feel less hatred and more belonging to the Zhao family. Even if I don’t feel a sense of belonging, at least I can feel less hatred towards the Zhao family because of Zhiheng.”
A look of shock and panic flashed across Grand Secretary Zhao's face. "You figured it out!?"
"After what happened to my father, do you think there's any scheme I can't see through? And what scheme could possibly succeed against me?"
Zhao Yan looked at Grand Secretary Zhao with sarcasm, "You wanted Zhiheng to get close to me, hoping to use kinship to influence me? Ha, but you didn't expect to end up losing more than you gain, did you? You never imagined that I could turn the tables on you and ruin Zhiheng, did you?"
Grand Secretary Zhao's face was extremely ugly. All the truths he didn't want to face were laid bare before him. "So, Zhiheng became like this on purpose?"
"So, you did this just to get revenge on me? To get revenge on the Zhao family?"
"Just because I stood by and did nothing in your father's case back then?"
"Zhao Yan, how cruel you are!"
"No, perhaps I should call you Lu Yan!"
"After all these years, you still remember what happened back then!"
At this moment, Grand Secretary Zhao felt as if his heart was being torn apart.
He was wrong after all!
Zhao Yan, whose original name was Lu Yan, was Lu Shanglin's youngest daughter.
Lu Shanglin was his most outstanding student! He was also the youngest Grand Secretary in the Dayan Dynasty! He was highly regarded by the late emperor! His prominence even surpassed that of his teacher.
However, Lu Shanglin was still too young back then!
A common problem among young people is pride and arrogance.
He proudly believed that he could easily control Marquis Min Ji of Xuanping at the time, and thus control the entire Marquis of Xuanping's mansion.
He arrogantly believed that, given the late emperor's high regard and reliance on him, pulling the Xuanping Marquis's family back from the brink of losing their title would be a piece of cake.
However, the truth is that the Marquis of Xuanping's household survived. But he himself completely ruined his future!
At that time, he was barely fifty years old! It was the prime of his career, the time to strive for advancement in his official career!
However, he was ordered by the late emperor to "retire and return to his hometown".
What an ironic reason!
Zhao Qian is now eighty years old and still shining brightly in his position as Grand Secretary. But Lu Shanglin, who was not yet fifty at the time, was asked to retire and return to his hometown!
Overnight, Lu Shanglin plummeted to rock bottom. Unable to accept the blow, he died of depression less than two years later.
Upon hearing the devastating news of Lu Shanglin's passing, he didn't sleep a wink all night. He felt a deep sense of sorrow and grief.
However, after reflecting on his experience, he became even more vigilant, reminding himself to be cautious in his words and actions and to nip problems in the bud.
Because, just as Lu Yan said, this is what he owes Lu Shanglin!
When Lu Shanglin was disliked by the late emperor because of the Xuanping Marquis's affair, everyone stood by and watched coldly, and no one stood up to plead for him! Including his teacher.
Besides fearing that pleading for mercy would anger the late emperor, everyone was also because Lu Shanglin had been too prominent in those years, overshadowing everyone else.
Even his teacher occasionally felt a bit envious and jealous of him.
Therefore, his decision to remain silent after Lu Shanglin's incident may have had ulterior motives.
Therefore, when Lu Yan came to him, he simply couldn't refuse.
Therefore, Lu Yan became Zhao Yan.
Because Lu Yan was raised in her hometown since childhood, no one in the capital had ever seen her. Even he only recognized her through a token left by Lu Shanglin.
Over the years, no one has known Zhao Yan's true identity.
Everyone believed their fabricated story, thinking that Zhao Yan really was his late-life daughter.
But only he remained clear-headed, knowing that Zhao Yan's surname was Lu! She entered the palace to exact revenge! To take revenge on the Marquis of Xuanping's mansion! And to take revenge on the royal family!
In the blink of an eye, more than ten years have passed.
Over the years, Zhao Yan has always been law-abiding and has not done anything extreme.
Just when he thought Zhao Yan had forgotten the past and was going to live a good life, Zhao Yan dealt him a heavy blow.
"Ha, it would be abnormal if you didn't remember, after all, that person is my father!"
Zhao Yan sneered, "The royal family is ruthless. The emperor clearly wanted to deal with the Marquis of Xuanping's family! But what happened? My father is dead! Yet the Marquis of Xuanping's family has survived to this day!"
"More than ten years have passed, why has my Lu family completely declined, while the Marquis of Xuanping's family has been able to rise again and even be given important positions by the imperial court! Tell me, why?"
Zhao Yan's eyes were filled with boundless hatred. She suppressed it, suppressed it, and finally couldn't bear it any longer and roared in a fierce voice: "The royal family is heartless, and the Marquis of Xuanping's mansion is even more unrighteous!"
“My father risked his future and his life to save the Xuanping Marquis’s family! But when my father left the capital, they didn’t even bother to see him off!”
"Before the Lunar New Year, my nephew came to propose marriage between our two families, but he was kicked out by the people from the Marquis of Xuanping's residence! Afterwards, the Marquis of Xuanping's residence forcefully broke off the engagement!"
"This is the Marquis of Xuanping's residence! This is the Marquis of Xuanping's residence that my father risked his life to protect!"
"Despicable and shameless! Heartless and ungrateful!"
Looking at Zhao Yan, who was emotionally agitated and appeared delirious, Grand Secretary Zhao sighed silently.
The Marquis of Xuanping's mansion was indeed too heartless, and the deceased Marquis Min Ji was certainly not a kind person to be trifled with.
But Lu Shanglin may not be innocent!
If he hadn't been so arrogant and conceited, and hadn't been so driven by desires, he wouldn't have been taken advantage of by Min Ji!
It can only be said that every effect has a cause.
However, it was obvious that Zhao Yan wouldn't listen to his reasoning.
Zhao Yan only believes the facts she sees.
What she saw was that her father lost everything, even his life, for the sake of the Marquis of Xuanping's mansion. Instead of being grateful, the Marquis of Xuanping's mansion avoided Lu Shanglin when he got into trouble, and years later even wanted to break off the engagement with Lu Ming.
The more prosperous the Xuanping Marquis's mansion became, the deeper Zhao Yan's hatred grew.
This is something that an outsider like him can't advise on.
Grand Secretary Zhao was still lamenting the cruel twists of fate when he saw Zhao Yan staring coldly at him, her eyes full of sarcasm and mockery. "And you, Grand Secretary Zhao!"
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