Wei Qingyan shook her head slightly at him.
She turned to Du Laofuren with a cold sneer, “You wanted him to marry Guan Yu’er, then instructed Guan Yu’er to kill Xiaoxiao, the legitimate eldest daughter, to make way for a child with your Guan family bloodline, didn’t you?
Once Guan Yu’er gave birth, you would repeat the same method, eliminating Du Xueyi, so that Anyuan Houfu would once again fall under your control.”
“You’re talking nonsense…” Lady Guan rebuked.
Wei Qingyan ignored her and continued, “From the beginning, your chosen granddaughter-in-law was Guan Yu’er, but Lady Fang’s dowry was too tempting.
When this marriage was arranged, you had already decided to scheme for wealth and commit murder. Lady Fang was merely a stepping stone all along.
Yet she was a kind and virtuous woman who treated you extremely well, but that still didn’t earn her the slightest pity from you.
You knew Xueyi valued loyalty and would not easily suspect his wife, so you swapped his contraceptive medicine, making him believe the child wasn’t his. That’s why he believed your lies, isn’t it?”
Du Laofuren shook her head, looking at Du Xueyi, “Good grandson, don’t listen to her nonsense. Grandmother swapped the medicine because I wanted you to have a child sooner. I was blinded by hatred and took it out on your parents and sister, but I never intended to harm you.
Lady Fang truly behaved improperly; otherwise, why would I have waited until half a year ago to take her life?”
“That’s because she served you with such filial piety that you enjoyed her care. Xueyi was far away at the Wudan border and couldn’t marry Guan Yu’er into the household, so you waited until he was about to return to the capital to act.
This time, you didn’t use poison but instead destroyed her reputation because you not only wanted to kill her but also eliminate her daughter along with her.
Only if Xueyi believed the child wasn’t his would he pay no attention to her, allowing you to torment the child to death.
Lady Guan, as long as you live, Xiaoxiao will never be safe.
But you celebrated too soon on one point: you assumed Xueyi could do nothing about you, but with me…”
Wei Qingyan quickly cut her finger and traced a pattern on Du Laofuren’s forehead, her tone icy as she uttered each word deliberately, “The wicked shall perish!”
Du Laofuren scoffed, “Mystifying tricks…”
Before she could finish, she suddenly felt as if someone were strangling her neck, unable to make another sound.
Wei Qingyan stared at the dense black aura swirling around Du Laofuren and declared sternly, “Lady Fang, repay grievances with grievances, settle debts with debts. At midnight tonight, I will guide you to where you belong. You must no longer linger in this world.”
Lady Fang?
Du Laofuren believed in ghosts and spirits, but having committed many wicked deeds in her life without facing retribution, and having regained consciousness after fainting earlier, she was convinced that ghosts and demons could do nothing to her.
But now, she felt a bone-chilling cold all over, as if she could hear Lady Fang’s mournful cries in her ears. Neither Du Xueyi nor Wei Qingyan had touched her.
It was Lady Fang!
She had come to claim her life!
An indescribable fear surged from the soles of her feet to the top of her head. Du Laofuren’s pupils dilated, her face ashen.
The strangling force on her throat loosened at some point, but the chill grew even more intense. Her entire body felt as if being sliced by a thousand knives, and she could no longer control her body or consciousness.
She tumbled off the bed, shouting, “Don’t come for me, Lady Fang! I’m not afraid of you! If I could kill you once, I can kill you again…
I was wrong, Lady Fang! I shouldn’t have schemed for your dowry and plotted your death! I shouldn’t have deceived Xueyi…”
Du Xueyi felt his scalp go numb, gritting his teeth tightly, when he saw Wei Qingyan’s tall, straight figure sway slightly. He hurried forward to support her. “Boss, what’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing.” Wei Qingyan shook her head, swallowing the metallic taste in her throat.
As a Yinduren, interfering with karma inevitably brought backlash.
She had told Lady Guan these things to stir up Lady Fang’s Yuanli.
Then, using a curse technique, she dispersed the noble aura from Lady Guan’s body. This way, without Du Xueyi needing to lift a finger, Lady Guan would not survive the night.
“One thing she said is correct: we cannot hand her over to the authorities, nor can she die by your hand. Even if not for yourself, you must consider Xiaoxiao.
If Xiaoxiao is not well, even if Lady Guan dies, Lady Fang’s resentment cannot be resolved.”
Having been comrades for over a decade, she also did not wish to see Du Xueyi sacrifice his future, or even his life, for Lady Guan.
“I understand.” Du Xueyi looked at Wei Qingyan’s pale face, guessing that she must have done something for him. “What should I do?”
“Wait.” After saying this, Wei Qingyan sat down cross-legged, as if entering a deep meditative state like an old monk.
Meanwhile, Lady Guan had already run out of the courtyard, still shouting the same words over and over, heading straight for the main gate.
The gatekeeper, seeing the Old Madam—who had been ill just moments before—now sprinting with vigorous strides yet appearing deranged, was stunned and unsure what to do. Lady Guan flung open the Marquis’s mansion gate and darted out like a nimble monkey.
At this time, it was not yet curfew, and there were still pedestrians on the street. Lady Guan’s shouts quickly drew everyone’s attention.
“Marquis, the Old Madam has gone outside,” a guard reported from outside the gate.
Wei Qingyan slowly opened her eyes and pointed at Du Xueyi’s head. “Smear some chicken blood on it. You need a reason for appearing only now.”
Having worked with her for many years, Du Xueyi quickly understood her meaning. “Alright, I’ll go do that now.”
“Xueyi, this matter concerns the Late Emperor. For now, we cannot reveal the truth about your family’s murder to the world. Does that feel humiliating?”
Humiliating!
But under imperial authority, this was already the best solution.
If the truth were made public, people would investigate why Lady Guan committed murder, and digging deeper would implicate the Late Emperor.
Involving the royal family’s dignity, the Emperor and Empress Dowager would not spare Anyuan Houfu.
Moreover, the General had already paid an unknown price for this.
How could he let her down!
Just as he was about to reply, he heard Wei Qingyan add, “As long as the green hills remain, there will be other possibilities.”
The frustration in his heart dissipated, and Du Xueyi nodded heavily.
By the time he reached the main gate of the mansion, the crowd was already pointing and discussing Lady Guan.
“How vile! To murder someone just to seize her granddaughter-in-law’s dowry.”
“No wonder. Lady Fang handled the Old Marquis’s funeral, yet within days, she was said to have died of illness. So she was actually murdered.”
“I heard that as soon as Marquis Anyuan returned to the capital, this Old Madam brought her grandniece from her maternal family and used filial piety to pressure him into marrying her. Marquis Anyuan got drunk several times at Yu Yan Lou over this.”
“Speaking of Marquis Anyuan, don’t you find it strange? The Old Madam has been out here for so long, yet he still hasn’t appeared…”
Just as someone asked this, Du Xueyi stumbled out, his head covered in blood.
“Grandmother, murder demands retribution. Do not think that feigning madness can help you escape punishment. Even if you beat your grandson to death, you must face the law.”
“So Marquis Anyuan was beaten like this by the Old Madam…”
“Ah! Look!”
Before the speaker could finish, a startled cry from someone nearby made him instinctively turn toward the direction they were pointing.
The deranged Du Laofuren lay on the ground, red and white fluids flowing together from beneath her head.
To the onlookers, it appeared she had tried to flee but lost her footing. Coincidentally, there was a large, sharp, hard stone on the ground, and when she fell, her head struck the stone heavily. After struggling twice, she ceased breathing…
…
In the illusory realm.
A bald, plump man with a sorrowful face muttered incessantly at the phantom mirror, “How could she interfere with mortal karma? She’ll suffer backlash.”
Behind the man stood two young women. One of them said, “I think Third Sister did the right thing. Lady Guan is utterly wicked—if she doesn’t die, she’ll only harm more people. By helping Lady Fang kill her, Third Sister is effectively saving others. This is clearly an act of merit.”
“Right Envoy Xie Jiu is blatantly showing favoritism,” the middle-aged man muttered softly, then cast a resentful glance at the other woman. “Changshi…”
The woman addressed as Changshi nodded slowly. “Second Sister is right. Third Sister is performing a meritorious deed. Thus, merits and faults cancel each other out, so the backlash can be waived, right?”
“Two envoys, the mortal realm has its order…”
“Little Judge, if not for your negligence allowing that person to wreak havoc in the mortal realm, how could Third Sister have suffered such misery? Speaking of which, when I was in the mortal realm as Ye Xiaojin, your ‘contribution’ was no small matter either…”
The man hurriedly raised his hands in surrender. “Waived, waived.”
These two formidable ladies before him, along with the one currently undergoing trials in the mortal realm, were the envoys overseeing merits and virtues across the Sanjie. They were notoriously protective of their own and held grudges fiercely.
When Changshi was in the mortal realm as Ye Xiaojin, he had impersonated the system “Xiao Mu” to manipulate her in order to restore order in the Yinsi. She had seized evidence of this, and even after thousands of years, she still brought it up to settle old scores.
However, Wei Qingyan’s death in battle was indeed a responsibility he could not shirk…