In an instant, Hu Bai's breathing seemed to have stopped.
Xue Zhiyi casually picked up a piece of official record on the table and said slowly, "I'm from Xiyang Village, Shili County, Cenzhou. I was born on the third day of the fourth month of the twenty-fourth year of the late emperor... You don't recognize this official record, do you?"
She smiled slowly: "White Tiger?"
"Third Miss..." Hu Bai's voice trembled: "How did Third Miss get this?"
"You don't need to know that." Xue Zhiyi said calmly, "I also know that sixteen years ago, you committed a serious crime. You attempted to rob a peasant girl from a neighboring village, but were beaten by her father and failed. Holding a grudge, you murdered her entire family at night and then fled. To obtain a new identity, you deliberately let yourself fall into the hands of a human trafficker, thereby obtaining slavery and using the alias Hu Bai."
After that, she chuckled and said, "Am I right?"
Hu Bai stopped talking. In the silence, the atmosphere became strange and chilly.
Xue Zhiyi seemed oblivious as she casually sipped her tea. "Second Young Master and Concubine Rong don't know about this, right? So, if this were to become known to others—how long would you be able to live?"
"Third Miss." Hu Bai said solemnly, "Don't be too extreme."
This was the second time she had heard this today.
Hu Bai's words were full of threats, and he was completely different from the humble and obedient servant just now.
Beside Xue Zhiyi, Qiuyun and Suyue were already pale.
But she had died once before and couldn't be easily disturbed by such threats.
"I'm saying the same thing back to you, Hubai. You don't think we're the only ones in Jiangxuexuan, do you? You can try to kill me."
Hu Bai snorted sullenly, "What does the Third Miss want?"
"No need to do anything." Her fingers moved leisurely on the teacup: "I don't even need you to be enemies with Fei Luxuan."
She smiled faintly. "You can continue to take the money from me, my father, and Aunt Rong, and make them all think that you belong to them. But in fact, you can only be loyal to me and obey me, because only I hold the secret of your identity. Only in this way can you have a chance of survival."
Then, her voice suddenly turned cold: "Otherwise, the crime of exterminating the entire family will result in death by slow slicing, followed by burning and whipping of the body. You should know this better than I do."
Suddenly, she raised her lips and smiled, and even her voice regained its previous emotion: "Don't be so nervous, I will only ask you a few questions when necessary, and I won't make it too difficult for you, okay?"
Looking at the figure on the screen, Hu Bai clenched his hands and kowtowed heavily: "Hu Bai will follow the Third Miss's lead!"
"Very good." Xue Zhiyi smiled. "I will put the monthly money under the bluestone outside Jiangxuexuan on time. Remember to take it away in time."
Hu Bai bowed again before leaving Jiangxuexuan.
Su Yue's legs went limp and she fell to the ground, her face turning pale with fear.
"Miss... is there anyone else in Jiangxuexuan?"
"No." Xue Zhiyi picked up the teacup and drank it all in one gulp.
"No?!" Su Yue almost fainted: "Miss, you are too brave!"
Xue Zhiyi thought for a moment and said, "It's okay."
Qiuyun's hands were shaking. She trembled as she picked up the official document. When she opened it, she was stunned. "Miss... isn't this your official document?"
"It's mine." Xue Zhiyi's expression was calm: "I just lied to him."
"Huh?" Su Yue's mouth opened wide: "Miss, are you... getting something for nothing?"
Then, the little girl shook her head again: "No, that requires everything Miss said to be true, for him to take the bait... Miss, how do you know all these things?"
The corners of Xue Zhiyi's mouth slowly drooped.
She did not have Hu Bai's official record, as it was in Cenzhou and was too far away to get, so she could only use her own to make up the number.
But she knew Hu Bai's identity in her previous life.
In her previous life, when she was in Chunfeng Tower, she had been trying to investigate the truth behind the Xue family's confiscation of property in order to strive for redress.
Speaking of this, we have to mention her second brother Xue Tingliu.
Xue Tingliu, a talented person who passed the imperial examination before the age of twenty, is rare in our dynasty. Compared to the eldest son, this illegitimate son is the child that Xue Zhentong values the most.
Xue Tingliu did live up to everyone's expectations. After the Xue family was ransacked, only Rong's family was not implicated and even rose to prominence.
When Xue Zhiyi was in Chunfeng Tower, he followed this clue all the way to investigate and found out that Hu Bai had actually been an insider in Rong's room all along.
The evidence of Xue Zhentong's guilt was provided by Hu Bai to Xue Tingliu.
Xue Tingliu's road to success was built on the flesh and blood of other members of the Xue family from the very beginning.
Fortunately, she was reborn in time. At this time, Xue Tingliu still relied on money to bribe Hu Bai to find out Xue Zhentong's preferences and whereabouts.
It would take about half a year for Xue Tingliu to know Hu Bai's identity.
But sorry, in this life, she got the upper hand.
Xue Tingliu probably never thought that this crucial insider would be her, Xue Zhiyi's, man for the rest of her life.
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