At dusk of that day, Commandery Princess Ningtai was poisoned to death after drinking the nutritious soup which was served by Princess Yang.

Everyone in Prince’s Mansion of Xihe knew how much Princess Yang adored her daughter. And Commandery Princess Ningtai had been in a good mood waiting to get married. So, she couldn’t have committed suicide.

Besides, a dozen of servants who were there at that moment could swear on their lives that Commandery Princess Ningtai was talking and laughing with Princess Yang right before she was dead. She definitely didn’t look like she wanted to commit suicide!

So, Commandery Princess was surely murdered.

And the murderer…Princess Yang ordered a nanny to carry her daughter whose body was still warm and brought almost everyone in her yard with her. She rushed into Senior Concubine Bian’s yard and dragged defenseless Senior Concubine Bian out of her bed to the yard. She kicked her in the chest, “Vicious b*tch! You incited Prince into hurting my son. Jinzhu took pity on her brother and went to you to demand an explanation. Even it was rude, it was reasonable! But you dare to murder her. I must kill you for my poor daughter today!”

Princess Yang took action after making a plan. She arranged some people to guard the door when she went into the yard. Senior Concubine Bian’s people couldn’t go and report to Qiu Mengmin. And she instructed her maids in private. They didn’t even listen to Senior Concubine Bian’s plea. A crowd of nannies rushed forward holding cudgels. They gave her a flurry of blows. Senior Concubine Bian came from an ordinary family. But after being the senior concubine for these two years, she had been spoiled. How could she stand this kind of blows? Her cries grew fainter after a short while!

“Don’t beat her to death just yet!” Princess Yang stood on the winding corridor and coldly looked at the floor tiles which were stained red with Senior Concubine Bian’s blood. Some smart maids got her implication. As long as she was still breathing, breaking her legs or feet was okay, right?

With two screams of anguish coming from Senior Concubine Bian, a tender cry came from the inner chamber behind Princess Yang, “Mother! Mo…”

The voice stopped abruptly!

“Your Highness! Your highness! I’m sorry! Please show mercy on Mao…” Senior Concubine Bian was at her last gasp. Hearing the voice, she was scared out of her wits. She struggled crazily trying to beg for her son. But the answer she got was a blow on her head coming from a grim-faced old maidservant, “B*tch! You’ll reunite with your son soon!”

When Mistress Tian brought Qiu Mengmin there, he saw Senior Concubine Bian lying in a pool of blood and his wife sitting on the corridor holding Qiu Jinzhu’s body in silence.

Qiu Mengmin knew what happened just by the look of it. His body began to shake violently, “You…you dare to!”

Princess Yang said slowly without looking at him, “Prince, this vicious b*tch murdered our daughter. Our only daughter! Are you here to give me an explanation?”

Mistress Tian was so frightened seeing her cousin looking like that. She stumbled to Senior Concubine Bian holding her up and felt her breath. She was still breathing. Mistress Tian couldn’t help being happy. She fell heavily on her knees and was about to burst into a rage of tears. But she felt that her cousin was pulling her sleeve. She whispered near Senior Concubine Bian’s ear while crying, “Prince is here. Hang in there! Prince will seek justice for you!”

“Mao…Maozhi!” Senior Concubine Bian was dying. She said those two words with almost all her strength. Then her head slumped to the side and her breathing dwindled rapidly!

“Prince!” Mistress Tian was stunned for a moment. She felt her pulse and barely felt anything. She was horrified and angry. But she just let out one scream. Two old maidservants behind Princess Yang rushed towards her. They both slapped her with their cattail-leaf-fan-like hands, “So noisy!”

“Drag her out!” Princess Yang ordered flatly.

Mistress Tian looked at her in disbelief. Since her cousin became a senior concubine, Princess Yang had never treated them like that, let alone treat them like that in front of Qiu Mengmin!

Thinking of Qiu Mengmin, it suddenly struck her that why he who had been growing impatient with Princess for these years and even hit her in public remained silent all along?

Qiu Mengmin didn’t have time to care for his two concubines at that moment. Even if he really did like Senior Concubine Bian, he didn’t even have time to ask if Qiu Maozhi was alive!

He let Princess Yang’s maids drag Mistress Tian out. Then he sent all the servants away with a fierce tone. Step by step, he trod on Senior Concubine Bian’s blood and reached the foot of the steps. He stared steadily at his daughter whom his wife was holding in her arms. After a long time, he smiled sadly, “You…you…you are so ruthless!”

“You forced me!” Princess Yang still didn’t look at him. She just stared at her daughter in her arms dully. Qiu Jinzhu was not as stunning as her cousin Qiu Yelan. But she still could be counted as pretty. Although her body was getting stiff and the color of her skin was changing, the childish look was still on her face.

That was her only daughter. She gave birth to her after ten months’ pregnancy. Qiu Jinzhu in her swaddling clothes seemed to be visible before the eyes. In the twinkling of an eye, she was already a dead girl.

The body in Princess Yang’s arms grew colder little by little just like her heart. She said indifferently, “Everyone can say that I am ruthless but you… You don’t deserve to!”

Her words struck Qiu Mengmin like lightning!

Princess Yang didn’t know that her words made her husband wrongly believe that she knew about the truth of Lu’s death. Instead, she thought, “If you weren’t obedient to your mother and let that b*tch Qiu compete with me for power, and then you adored b*tches like Bian and Liu, which made my life miserable in the harem, and even my daughter was criticized a lot, how could I teach my daughter to be vixenish and audacious? If she weren’t audacious, how could she dare to see Kuang Qingwu in private? If you were good and we had a happy life, how could I not teach my daughter to be tender and well-behaved? If so, how could such a catastrophe happen?”

“If so, how could I have to bury my own daughter? And it was me who…”

It was your fault!

“Bian ended up like this. I assume that Maozhi is dead too, right?” After a violent mood swing, Qiu Mengmin looked at her with hatred, “Do you want to drag Hongzhi into this too? Are you insane? You made such a mess. Our family…”

“It’s your family!” Princess Yang finally looked up. She looked at him with a poker face. They looked at each other. There was no emotion in either of their looks, “Since the day I married into your family, I have been the hostess in name only. But actually, how many days have I been in charge of this family? First, it was those two b*tches, Lu and Qiu! And then Bian and her cousin! What did those b*tches do for you? What about my family? My brother betrayed Prime Minister Xue because of you! If not, even Yishi and Yifu misbehaved, my brother has been demoted for so many years, how could Prime Minister Xue not get him back?”

Qiu Mengmin sneered, “Don’t you force me to favour others more? If you were generous and virtuous, I would be happy to let you manage the harem! Baozhu is my first wife’s daughter. What threat could a girl pose to you? Besides, her mother died so that you could be my wife! But you still tried every means to torture her. So, you tell me, how could I not help your enemies?”

“You and your mother murdered Li. It happened before I married into your family. How could you blame me?” Princess Yang smiled out of anger, “Besides, it was fine that you guys did it. But you guys couldn’t hide it from Qiu Baozhu. I have to be your firstborn son and daughter’s mother since I married you. She looks at me with hatred every day. Why shouldn’t I punish her?”

“Now it has come to this. It’s pointless to argue whose fault it is!” Qiu Mengmin took a deep breath and took a few steps forward. He lowered his voice and rebuked coldly, “Be honest, what do you want?”

Princess Yang gave him a contemptible look, “What do I want? My daughter was murdered. Of course, I want to look into it and find out who is the murderer! She was not just the Commandery Princess of the Prince’s Mansion. She was also the future daughter-in-law of Marquess Zhang! How could I let it go so easily?”

“You…” Qiu Mengmin looked at her furiously, “Look into it? Isn’t what you’ve done enough?”

At that moment, he finally looked towards where Senior Concubine Bian was lying. It was already dusk by that time. The lanterns on the corridor were dim. Although the curvy body which he loved was in a pool of blood, the body posture showed that she was trying to crawl to the room. But Qiu Mengmin just looked at her in silence for a while. Then he turned around and asked Princess Yang, “Who do you want to look into? Me? Do you want to become the old Princess?”

“Old Princess? I can’t be that,” Princess Yang said flatly, “Do you think me as a fool? Empress Dowager wishes Jinzhu’s death could cause a big fuss which would let everyone know that she died because of the in-fighting in the Prince’s Mansion. And her death has nothing to do with Kuang Qingwu! But if it makes too much of a fuss… Princess Qi just made Prince of Qi hang himself a few days ago. Empress has been busy dealing with it. How happy will she be if I give her this chance to obscure her issue?”

She said in a cold tone, “So, Jinzhu’s death only has something to do with your harem. And we need to deal with it rapidly, decisively, and cleanly!”

“What do you think about it?”

Qiu Mengmin stared at her for a moment and then flipped his sleeve, “She is already dead. Who cares what she’s accused of?”

He almost said that calmly. After walking out of the door, his calm face turned at once, “Vicious b*tch! She could kill her own daughter. How hard could it be for her to kill her husband? If I don’t get rid of her, she will be my doom some day!”

At the same time, Princess Yang touched her daughter’s cold cheeks gently. She looked at the door which was half open squinting her eyes. Her look was serious, “No matter who sent Wei here, she was right about one thing. Will Yinzhi inherit the Prince’s Mansion for sure if he becomes the Young Prince? How much did you adore Bian back then? Just a few hours ago, you nearly beat Yinzhi to death because of her and Qiu Maozhi’s complaint and you didn’t even go check on Yinzhi! You’re such a ruthless thing. My family didn’t know your true colors when they married me to you back then!”

“So, what’s the use of getting rid of Bian and others? You’re still in the prime of your life. You’re living a great life and you don’t have any diseases or accidents. Who knows how long you’ll live? Becoming the old Princess is the only reliable way!”

She lowered her head and rubbed her cheek against her daughter’s. She whispered, “Jinzhu, I’m sorry… But compared with your father who is worse than a beast, I’ve racked my brain for you. If you could hear me in heaven, please bless your brother to take over the Prince’s Mansion safely. This is what your father owes you guys!”

Duke of Xihe couple fell out completely and had already been in a life-or-death struggle. This kind of news surely couldn’t be hidden from the snoopers who pried day and night.

“Qiu Mengmin is the Prince after all. Even if his mistakes need to be dealt with, the procedure won’t be finished in one day or two. A long delay may cause trouble. No need to take the risk,” in the study, Jiang Yashuang said gently after hearing the report, “Qiu Yinzhi is young and ignorant. Yang Family is now in decline…”

The subordinate got his implication, “I’ll stop Duke of Xihe from killing Princess Yang and her son!”

“His eldest son’s wife is Ding Family’s daughter. Ding Yiming is dignified and magnanimous. He adores his kids very much,” Jiang Yashuang instructed after nodding, “You don’t need to take care of Miss Ding’s husband and son. But if she needs help, do help her.”

This subordinate didn’t know the treaty of alliance between Xue Chang and the Jiang Family. But he still went away at the command.

Jiang Yashuang did it for fear that the neutral party might discover something later. And when they needed them in the future, it might cause unnecessary enmity.

Of course, if he wanted to give them a big favour, he should protect Qiu Feng as well. However, in consideration of his brother-in-law’s origin, Jiang Yashuang thought it would be better that there was no male heir left in Prince’s Mansion of Xihe. Otherwise, when Qiu Jinglan wanted to restore his identity in the future, people might think that the Jiang Family supported their relative to take over other’s titles.

Empress Dowager’s party didn’t need to bring shame on them. Because one of Jiang Family’s relatives really did so before!