Mu Zhenfeng was in his room when Lian’er informed him that Madam Liu had come to see him. Recalling her past actions, he coldly refused to meet her.
Despite his refusal, she soon appeared before him on her own.
“My lord, I know I was wrong. I shouldn’t have done those things to you. But it was all for Xia’er’s sake. Now I truly regret it. I know you don’t want to see me, nor do you trust me anymore. But I sincerely repent. If you can forgive me, I’ll do anything you ask.”
“If you won’t forgive me, then I have no choice but to atone with my death. I only hope that after I’m gone, you’ll remember our years as husband and wife and treat Xia’er and Jun’er well. I—”
Seeing Mu Zhenfeng’s irritated expression, Madam Liu cursed inwardly, clenching her fists at her sides. Yet with pleading eyes, she knelt and crawled toward him, tears in her voice. When he still ignored her, she suddenly pulled a hairpin from her hair and stabbed it toward her own heart.
“What—what are you doing?!”
Mu Zhenfeng was genuinely furious at her deceit and poisoning, but when he saw her actually attempt to stab herself, the hairpin sinking into her chest and blood instantly staining her clothes, his anger faltered. Despite his rage, he rushed forward and grabbed her wrist, urgently stopping her.
“I know what I did to you was unforgivable. Death would be too light a punishment. But someone forced me to do it! Yet Xia’er is your flesh and blood, my lord. You can blame me, even divorce me, but Xia’er is innocent—”
At his urgent question, Madam Liu looked at him with sorrowful eyes, tears streaming as she pleaded.
Seeing her like this, Mu Zhenfeng recalled his investigations into the Liu family. Though she hadn’t confessed, her current state left him conflicted.
“My lord, Xia’er is naive, and what happened before was orchestrated by someone else. Please, for the sake of all these years together—if you still won’t forgive Xia’er, I—”
Noticing his hesitation, Madam Liu tightened her grip on the hairpin and yanked it toward her heart again.
“Stop! Put it down first. Get up. Tell me—who forced you to do those things? What exactly happened? Explain everything clearly, or I’ll banish both you and Xia’er from the manor!”
Her words reminded him that she wasn’t the real Liu family’s eldest daughter—the true one had been kidnapped. Though Mu Zhenfeng didn’t know the full motive or her true identity, he recalled the Liu family’s warning to proceed cautiously and protect the real eldest daughter. Steadying himself, he grabbed her wrist again, pulling her up.
Ignoring her wound, he pressed her for answers, gripping her shoulders urgently. Seeing her hesitation, he hardened his tone.
“It—it was the Grand Preceptor. He forced me to do it.”
Though Mu Zhenfeng had stopped her suicide, he made no move to tend to her injury. Madam Liu’s heart chilled—though this was a ruse, the pain was real. Gritting through it, she weakly met his gaze.
“The Grand Preceptor? Why would he target Qiuxiang?”
Thinking of the innocent woman who had died unjustly, Mu Zhenfeng frowned, eyes locked on her.
“It was him. I don’t know all the details, but I later heard it was because of Qiuxiang’s connection to Consort Hui. My lord, you must know—Consort Hui and the Grand Preceptor share a past. Though there are no public scandals, rumors say they had a relationship before she came to our kingdom. They even had a child. Perhaps the Grand Preceptor was enraged when she married into the royal family. What man would want his woman wed to another? Though Consort Hui refused to acknowledge the child, she still entrusted it to Qiuxiang…”
Madam Liu spun her tale, mixing half-truths with outright fabrications.
“They had a child? Older or younger than Prince Ning?”
Recalling the letter Qiuxiang had left before her death, Mu Zhenfeng was stunned but pieced things together.
“Younger, my lord. Likely conceived after Prince Ning, when the Grand Preceptor came to the capital. That child… is none other than Wanqing.”
Her words struck him like thunder.
“You mean—Wanqing is their child? Then what happened to Qiuxiang’s own baby?”
Madam Liu smirked coldly. “Qiuxiang’s child died during one of her palace visits. The current Wanqing is the child Consort Hui entrusted to her. My lord, I swear this is the truth—”
Seeing Mu Zhenfeng lost in thought, she pressed on, feigning distress while inwardly relieved. Her wild claims seemed to have struck a chord.
“So you’re saying Wanqing is the child Consort Hui secretly placed with Qiuxiang? But if the Grand Preceptor was involved with her, why would he order you to harm them?”
Though reeling, Mu Zhenfeng kept his voice steady.
“Such affairs are forbidden in the palace, but as the Grand Preceptor’s agent, I knew. After Consort Hui married the Emperor and bore Prince Ning, she doted on him. But when the Grand Preceptor reappeared, he pursued her relentlessly. Once, after a quarrel with the Emperor—isolated in a foreign land—she turned to him for comfort. They became intimate, and she conceived. When the Empress learned of it, she poisoned the Emperor’s mind.”
“Though the Emperor feigned ignorance, he planned to expose the child’s parentage after birth. Consort Hui, realizing this, switched babies with Qiuxiang, whose own child had died. When investigated, she claimed her child had perished. With no proof, the Emperor let it go but grew distant.”
“After Consort Hui’s death, the Grand Preceptor discovered the switch and that Qiuxiang knew the truth. So he sent me to eliminate them. My lord, this is a crime punishable by death—I had no choice!”
Under Mu Zhenfeng’s stunned gaze, Madam Liu spun her web of lies and half-truths, watching carefully for his reaction.
(To be continued…)
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