Zhu Kongshan nodded her head in a daze. She could understand what Xuan Tianmo meant. Conserve her strength until there comes a day when she could feel proud and stage a comeback. Like that, the people she wanted to protect would receive the best protection. The Zhu manor in Peng Zhou would also need to take orders from her.

  Xuan Tianmo stepped forward and helped her up from the ground before taking the next step: “In this world, there are many times when you can only obtain something by holding back. Learning to endure will allow you to withstand future attacks. Your future cannot be assessed, but is it something that a measly Zhu manor can do anything about? There’s no need to be afraid of suffering some humiliation now. Just take note of the people and the things they’ve done. There will come a day when you can get revenge. Nobody will be able to escape from you. Have you forgotten what I told you about the Feng family’s second young miss?”


  When he brought up the Feng family’s second young miss, it was naturally Feng Yuheng. Zhu Kongshan thought back. Back when she had just arrived in the capital, Xuan Tianmo had told her about Feng Yuheng’s series of plots to seek revenge upon returning to the capital. At that time, she had been completely immersed in the story. It was as though Xuan Tianmo was speaking about something that had happened in a story; however, she also understood that all of the events were real. A child that had been sent to live in the mountains at a young age, and she had a fortunate meeting over there. After returning home, she began to carry out a vicious series of strategies on those who had caused her harm in the past. In the end, it caused the Feng family to be completely scattered. It truly was a legendary tale!

  When she thought of Feng Yuheng’s situation, a bit of annoyance and hatred reminiscent of what Feng Yuheng felt toward the Feng family began to fill her heart. She clenched her fists, took a deep breath then finally nodded and said: “Cousin, I understand. Don’t worry. I won’t be rash. I will be patient and wait. I will wait for the day when I can soar, and the Zhu family will sob under my feet.”


  “Good! Good!” Xuan Tianmo began to laugh, “This is what my, Xuan Tianmo’s cousin should be like. Only a cousin like this is worthy of being at my side!”


  Zhu Kongshan was advised to go back out and continue her work in the northern part of the city. As for the eighth prince in the study, he watched this parting figure with a shady smile.

  There will come a day? The Empress? No, it had to be said that he really thought of making this cousin his empress, but once he discovered the importance of reputation, after this sort of thing had happened, Zhu Kongshan was no longer within his considerations. His future empress definitely could not have any problems with their reputation. He wanted to place a pure deity on the empress’ seat, and this deity could not be a deity on her own. Her background needed to be pure white. Liu shi had ruined Zhu Kongshan, and he needed to find a new target.

  Zhu Kongshan never could have imagined that she had already been discarded. On the contrary, after being “brainwashed” by the eighth prince, she began working at 120 percent kindness once more. This caused A-Huan and A-Ruo to feel extremely perplexed.

  As for the Zhu family’s side, Zhu Xinjie had already been pressed by the head madam into writing a letter. The contents were his decision to divorce a concubine.

  Normally speaking, concubines did not need to be divorced. If they were no longer wanted, they could just be left frozen in the manor, or they could just be demoted to servants. Or, for those who did something as bad as Liu shi, even being beaten to death was normal. But Zhu Xinjie was deadset on disgusting the Liu family. He wanted to divorce a concubine, and he wanted to send Liu shi back to the Liu manor. To the Liu family, this would be a great humiliation.

  But so what if it was a humiliation? What Liu shi had done had already spread all over. Zhu Xinjie had caught her in bed. Even if the Liu family did not want to acknowledge it, it was impossible. When the letter was sent to the Liu manor, the Liu family immediately entered a state of crisis. First, they sent people to the Zhu family’s side to inquire about Zhu Xinjie’s mood. At the same time, they immediately sent people to the capital to discuss this matter with the eighth prince.

  Of course, the Liu family knew about Zhu Kongshan having gone to the capital, and they were very clear about Noble Lady Yuan and the eighth prince’s intentions. They were very interested in the matter. Once the eighth prince succeeded, the Liu family would be an existence above all but one. In the entirety of Da Shun, would there be a family that could compete with them? At this critical juncture, absolutely nothing must happen to Liu shi. She needed to preserve herself, and that would be the same as preserving Zhu Kongshan.

  The person who had been sent to the Zhu manor discussed things with Zhu Xinjie for a bit. In the end, they understood what Zhu Xinjie meant. It was fine to not divorce the concubine, but the Liu family needed to show good faith. As for this good faith, it would naturally be a great benefit to the Zhu family.

  Thus the person sent by the Liu family to the capital received this information and immediately went to the eighth prince to bring up using an official position to stuff the Zhu family’s mouth. In any case, this matter would be settled first.

  Unfortunately, the eighth prince, Xuan Tianmo, became even more annoyed by the Zhu family after hearing this. He told his own uncle, who had been sent by the Liu family: “The Zhu family will try to gain a foot after being given an inch. This sort of family will eventually become a burden.”


  Liu Wannian sighed and said: “Everyone understands this logic, but if Zhu Xinjie’s anger is not settled first, he will divorce that daughter of a concubine and have her sent back. The Liu family cannot lose this face!”


  “Divorce?” Xuan Tianmo sneered, “Uncle, that Liu shi is nothing more than a daughter of a concubine. She is nothing more than yours and imperial concubine mother’s younger sister of a concubine. There aren’t too profound of a relationship, right?”


  Liu Wannian nodded: “Naturally. Ever since she entered the Zhu manor, our family has never concerned itself with her. I’ve already roughly forgotten what she looks like.”


  “That’s the way it is.” Xuan Tianmo waved his hand, “What’s the point of keeping this sort of person around? To even give Zhu Xinjie a chance of divorcing the concubine? It’s truly something that he is capable of coming up with. Uncle, when I succeed, the maternal family that this prince will recognize is the Liu family, not the Zhu family. This is something that other families must understand.”


  Liu Wannian was startled then understood what Xuan Tianmo meant. That was right! In the future, once he succeeded, it would be better if Zhu Kongshan did not take the empress seat. Once she did take that seat, there would be a Zhu family to contend for this world! How could the Liu family allow the Zhu family to insert itself? “Your Highness is right.” Liu Wannian took a deep breath, “What sort of thing is the Zhu family? Our Liu family must not share this glory with the Zhu family. That lowly daughter of a concubine can no longer be kept around. The Zhu family’s insatiable relationship can no longer be kept. Hmph! Speaking of, that slut Liu shi has always been a loose person. If it was not for her sullying her body in a private affair, the Liu family would not have married her into the Zhu family as a concubine.”


  “That’s why-” Xuan Tianmo spread his hands, “The way a mother is will dictate how the daughter is. This prince initially thought that Zhu Kongshan was a good one, but now it seems that she cannot be kept. Uncle, this matter will be left to you to handle. This prince will not intervene. It can be considered the Liu family tidying up its own mess. But you must remember to do it without being noticed. You must not let the Zhu family see through anything. The person must die in the Zhu family, and it would be best if it was staged to look like a suicide to clear her name.”


  Liu Wannina understood what he meant and nodded. He did not remain in the capital and returned to Peng Zhou the same day.

  At this time, Liu shi, who was still locked inside the firewood storage room was hoping that her daughter and her nephew, a prince, would help support her; however, little did she know that a person in black clothes would sneak into the Zhu manor’s firewood storage room three days later. First, they knocked her out then found a spare rope in the storage room. The rope was tied to a beam in the room, and a chair was placed below. Once all of this was in place, he bit open Liu shi’s finger and wrote a large “innocent” character on the ground in blood. He then hung Liu shi from the beam, only leaving after ascertaining that she was definitely dead.

  The person in black’s work seemed to have been done without anyone noticing; however, it had all been seen by Wang Chuan. It was just that she did not care. After the person in black left, she quietly followed him for a while and saw that person enter the Liu manor. There, she saw him report to someone in the Liu manor. Only then did she leave.

  Wang Chuan did not return to the Zhu manor. With things as they were now, the Zhu family no longer had any value to her. She rushed to Hundred Herb Hall overnight and hid.

  In regards to all of this, nobody in the Zhu family noticed. It was only dawn the next day when a servant went to deliver food to Liu shi that they let out a scream.

  Liu shi’s death caught the Zhu family by surprise. The only thing that they could do was to suppress the information then begin to scramble for what to do.

  But before they could think of a concrete idea, someone from the Liu family came to visit. They said that they could accept the divorce, but they first needed to see Liu shi and ask to ascertain the situation.

  How could the Zhu family manage to get her out. The two families just remained in a deadlock like this for many days. In the end, for the sake of spreading the influence of this a bit more, both sides decided to take a step back. It was announced that Liu shi had passed from an illness, and the Zhu family would be conducting the funeral.

  The Zhu family’s head madam and eldest young miss, Zhu Kongyue, were very dissatisfied with this, but they did not dare to be too rude in front of the Liu family. After all, that was the true family of Imperial Concubine Li and Noble Lady Yuan. If they acted unreasonably and flipped out, their Zhu family might disappear without a trace in just a single night. It was just that there was something that they truly could not understand. Liu shi was the type to be deathly afraid of dying, and she had truly been with the housekeeper. Why would she suddenly gain the courage to hang herself? She even wrote the character for “innocent.” Could it be that there was something wrong with her mind?

  However, nobody could investigate the truth of the matter. Of course, there was nobody to investigate it. The Zhu family prepared to conduct the funeral, and this matter came to an end with this funeral. But the head madam and the eldest young miss were unable to swallow this displeasure, especially when they thought of how Zhu Kongshan was still in the capital and was still at the eighth prince’s side. They felt nervous and uneasy, and they could not feel at ease.

  Zhu Kongyue said to her mother: “What if that girl, Zhu Kongshan, succeeds in the capital. Sooner or later, she will seek revenge. Even if she does not, our Zhu family no longer has her mother. In the future, she will definitely cast us to the back of her mind.”


  “Hmph!” The head madam snorted coldly, “Is there any need to wait for the future? Even now, she does not think about us.”


  “Mother, that’s why we need to think of something.” Zhu Kongyue reminded the head madam, “We can’t allow that little slut to continue mingling with noble people in the capital. What if she gets along great. That would leave us with nothing but a bitter life. Mother, how about we use this funeral as a chance to get her back. After she gets back, we will get her an engagement and just marry her off to be done with it. Either way, Liu shi was just a concubine. The young misses of the manor do not need to stand vigil for a concubine. Even if it’s her own mother, it’s no good. As long as she gets married, she can no longer return to the capital. At worst, we will continue living our lives the way we did before; however, we will not be threatened by the nobility in the capital.”


  The head madam felt that her daughter was very correct. They would bring Zhu Kongshan back and marry her off. This was indeed an idea that would settle things for good, thus they went to bring this idea up with Zhu Xinjie. Zhu Xinjie immediately agreed: “Alright! This will be left to you to handle. Immediately send a letter to the capital. This funeral will be delayed a few days. Either way, it’s winter. If a brazier is not placed in the mourning hall, the corpse will not change. When the time comes, just give the Liu family an explanation!”


  The Zhu family had made a decision, and a letter was immediately sent toward the capital. They managed to avoid the Liu family and keep anyone from finding out. It was only after Zhu Kongshan received this letter and found out about Liu shi’s death that she suffered another breakdown despite having been brainwashed every few days by the eighth prince……