Zhou Mao pushed her away and sat back down on the desk. He tried to pick up the teacup with shaking hands, but his hands were shaking so badly that he couldn't lift it.

Upon seeing this, Wen rushed forward to help him, but in her haste, she accidentally knocked over the pen holder and knocked over the neatly placed books on the desk, making the desk suddenly a mess.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's all my fault, it's all my fault..." Wen apologized while bending down to pick up the book on the ground. As she picked up the book, a tear fell on it. Then, her tears kept coming and soon wet the cover of the book.

"I'm so useless. I can't even tidy up. I'm so useless..." She cried in self-blame. Another book in her arms fell out, and her tears became more and more.

The crying sounded like a needle piercing Zhou Mao's heart. His eyes were red and before he knew it, tears welled up in his eyes.

He trembled his hands and reached out to pull his wife who was squatting on the ground. Wen took the opportunity to hold his hands, buried her face in his palms, and tears flowed freely.

"I'm sorry, it's all my fault. I failed to educate our daughter well and taught her the responsibilities of being a child and a wife. It's all my fault..."

Zhou Mao trembled and said, "How can you be the only one who is wrong? We are all wrong, all wrong..."

Wen couldn't hold back any longer and threw herself into his arms, crying bitterly.

It was not until the lights were turned on that Zhou Chang returned, exhausted.

He didn't understand what had happened to his father. He had been planning for so long, and things were going so smoothly. It seemed that he would be able to succeed in sowing discord between the Crown Princess and the Duke of England's Mansion in the near future, and Wei Chenglin was about to fall into the trap they had set. Yet at such a critical moment, his father actually gave up!

He sighed and rubbed his forehead with a headache, feeling that everything he had done recently was in vain.

Zhou Mao had also been waiting for him, and when he saw him come back, he asked about what he had been instructed to do.

Zhou Chang replied: "It's all put on hold. Without my father's permission, no one dares to make any move."

"It's not about putting it on hold, it's about stopping it completely."

Zhou Mao emphasized.

"But, father, why? We have spent so much energy, and it would be a pity to give up just like this, wouldn't it?" Zhou Chang was unwilling.

Zhou Mao smiled bitterly for a moment, suppressed his inner sadness, and told him everything he had heard from the waterside pavilion of Prince Ping's Mansion.

Finally, he said, "If Murong Tao is six points wrong in this matter, but your sister is also four points wrong, how can we have the face to put all the blame on Murong Tao?"

"Now that the mistake has been made, I, your father, have already shouldered this blood debt... Wei Chenglin, please stop!"

Zhou Chang's feelings were also quite complicated. He never dreamed that his usually docile sister would do such a bold thing.

He was speechless for a long time. What else could he say? If his sister did it on purpose, then the fact that she was captured was nothing but a figment of her imagination. Perhaps his sister asked Murong Tao to take her to find Wei Chenglin, so she acted like this.

The father and son looked at each other in silence for a long time.

After a while, Zhou Chang whispered, "Father, I just learned that the Crown Princess's medicine had already been replaced with abortion-preserving medicine, and our people did not succeed in the replacement."

Zhou Mao's face changed, and then he murmured, "Has it changed? It's good to change it, it's good to change it..."

"Father, what do you think is going on? Logically, if the Crown Princess gets that prescription, she shouldn't..."

Zhou Mao forced a smile that was uglier than crying: "What does this prove? It proves that our plan failed early on."

Zhou Chang's face also changed, and he heard his father sighing, "The only thing to be thankful for is that we had no intention of touching the baby in the Crown Princess' belly, otherwise..."

Otherwise, even if his father didn't say anything, he knew the consequences.

Conspiring to murder the royal heir is a capital crime, and no one can save him.

However, Wei Junhang soon discovered that something was wrong. He sat at the head with a frown, listening to his subordinates' reports.

"I have investigated carefully and found that someone did try to replace the Crown Princess' medicine that day, but somehow gave up. I secretly followed him and got the dregs of the medicine and asked the imperial physician to examine it. I found that it was just a common pregnancy-preserving medicine prescribed by the imperial physician in the palace, and it was not something sinister."

"Perhaps I am mistaken. That person gave up changing the medicine midway. Could it be that he found out that the medicine the Crown Princess was taking was nothing more than the medicine prescribed by the Imperial Physician to help the baby stay healthy?"

Wei Junhang frowned even more tightly, and he also found it very strange. He actually thought his subordinate's guess was reasonable.

But who went through so much trouble and what was his purpose?

He was puzzled, but suddenly another subordinate came in, came up to him and whispered a few words. His face changed drastically, and he asked hurriedly: "Is there anything wrong with the prince?"

"It's strange. I don't know why that person didn't take action at the most critical moment. Could it be that he repented?"

Wei Junhang finally breathed a sigh of relief.

But the next moment, his expression became solemn.

There were some strange things about both piles, which made him feel uneasy no matter how he thought about it. He always felt that he had overlooked something.

He made a bold assumption about what would happen if the two events continued along their original tracks.

First of all, the most obvious one is the eldest son, who will suffer a "serious accident" during the exercise with General Xia. At the very least, he will fall off his horse and be injured, and at worst, his life may be in danger.

The second is the pregnancy-preserving medicine for the Crown Princess. If that person really changed the medicine, and the Crown Princess took the pregnancy-preserving medicine prescribed by the imperial physician, it would not seem to have any adverse effects on her fetus. Does that mean that the other person is not targeting the Crown Princess and the baby in her belly?

Somehow, the words that Shen Xinyan had said when analyzing the 'secret recipe for having a child' that day echoed in his mind again, and he suddenly had an idea.

As if possessed by some unknown force, he thought of Murong Tao who lost both legs in an "accident", and then he thought about the accident that should have happened to his eldest son but did not happen, and finally he had a guess.

If everything he guessed came true... Unconsciously, an undisguised anger gathered on his face.

This simply doesn't make sense!

He slammed the desk so hard that the brush on the pen holder made a slight sound of collision.

The next day, Zhou Mao had just left Honglu Temple and was about to get on his sedan chair to return home when he suddenly heard someone calling him from behind.

"Master Zhou!"

He turned around and recognized that it was the Duke of England, Wei Junhang. His eyes flickered slightly, but he quickly concealed it.

"My Lord!"

"I have a few words to say to you, sir. Why don't we find a quiet place?" Wei Junhang stated his purpose. His tone sounded as if he was asking for his opinion, but the expression on his face clearly said, 'I have to go even if I don't want to.'

Zhou Mao didn't know if he knew something, but he wasn't afraid. He replied calmly, "If that's the case, let's go. I remember there's a nice wine shop not far ahead. If you don't mind, let's meet there!"

"Just let Lord Zhou arrange it." Wei Junhang knew that he just wanted to take the initiative, and he didn't want to argue with him about this, so he nodded in agreement.

The two of them got into their sedan chairs and soon arrived at the restaurant Zhou Mao pointed out.

They found a very quiet box on the second floor and sat opposite each other. Their followers all retreated to guard outside the door to avoid being disturbed by any ignorant people.

"My Lord, please feel free to speak your mind." Zhou Mao took a deep breath, poured himself a glass of wine, and said in a calm tone.

Wei Junhang was unwilling to beat around the bush and came straight to the point: "My son almost suffered an accident earlier, but I never thought that at the critical moment, he managed to survive."

Zhou Mao's eyelids jumped: "Master, you are blessed with great fortune, congratulations."

"It's not my son's luck, it's Lord Zhou who showed mercy! Come, I'll toast you a glass and thank you for your magnanimity in sparing my son's life!" Wei Junhang smiled as he refilled his glass and poured himself another one. Then he raised the glass, clinked it with him, and drank it all in one gulp.

Zhou Mao had a stern face, with no expression on his face, as if what he said had nothing to do with him.

Wei Junhang didn't care, and sneered and said: "With Lord Zhou's protectiveness, he ruthlessly cut off General Murong's legs that day, but now he would let my son, the 'culprit', go. It's really surprising!"

The more he spoke, the more annoyed he became. He gritted his teeth and said, "But, Lord Zhou, aren't you going too far?! The dispute between your daughter, my son, and General Murong, could it be that my son and General Murong are the only ones at fault? Is your daughter really innocent and without any fault at all?!"

"Although young General Murong has his faults, he was raised by adults and has taken good care of Miss Ling since she was young. Even though he has made mistakes, he is sincere to Miss Ling. Why did he end up with such a ruined future?"

"That time, did you want to break my son's legs, or destroy his hands? Or even take his life?!"

Zhou Mao turned pale after hearing his words. He could no longer keep his composure. His lips trembled as if he wanted to say something in rebuttal, but Wei Junhang didn't give him the chance.

"But at the critical moment, why did you stop? Let me guess, it seems that you found that the reason for your resentment was not valid at all, and you began to feel guilty for a rare time."

Zhou Mao was hit in the heart by him, his expression became even uglier, and a trace of regret flashed across his eyes.

"Are you regretting? What are you regretting? The big mistake has already been made. How can you compensate General Murong, whose life you have ruined?"

"You ruined someone else's most beloved child for the sake of your beloved daughter! What are you regretting?! Do you dare to personally go to the Zhenbei Marquis's Mansion to pay tribute and apologize?! Admit that you were the one who destroyed General Murong's leg!"

"No, you don't dare. You are afraid of facing the wrath and crazy revenge of the Zhenbei Marquis's Mansion. What you regret now is not that you were cruel to General Murong, but that you can't face the fact that your daughter, who you think is innocent, is actually not innocent!"

"What you dare not face is your own incompetence! You are so incompetent that you cannot even distinguish the most basic right from wrong. It is not wrong to protect one's shortcomings, but it is a big mistake to protect one's shortcomings to the point of blindly blaming others and never thinking about your own mistakes!"

"Zhou Mao, you, as a father, are a bigger failure than I am! But you don't even dare to admit your failure, but cover it up with ridiculous regrets!"