My house was confiscated and I was exiled. I emptied the emperor's warehouse and fled.

As the mutiny failed, all the members of the branch tribe were thrown into prison.

In the next few days, signed confessions were presented to Qin Mu's desk one after another.

One of them confessed: Yin Ruoshu's maid A'man asked the tribe members about Qin Mu's news. He was instructed by Qin Hongyi to leak the rumor and hinted that the fetus in Su Yunwan's belly was Qin Mu's. He took the opportunity to use Yin Ruoshu to destroy the brotherhood between Qin Junyi and Qin Mu.

After a busy day, Qin Mu sat in the study, reviewing the interrogation results by candlelight.

When he saw the confession written on the paper, he suddenly broke out in a cold sweat and his hand holding the confession began to tremble unconsciously.

However, he soon calmed down after experiencing countless storms, ordered people to find Yin Ruoshu's whereabouts, and personally interrogated the person who made the confession.

In the dead of night, shrill wails echoed throughout the prison. The imprisoned tribesmen huddled in the corner of the cell, trembling, fearing that they would be the next to be punished.

That night, all three tribesmen involved were caught and died painfully under severe torture.

After dawn, the sun rises slowly.

Qin Mu washed his bloody hands and walked out of the cell. The warm sunlight sprinkled on his body, but it did not take away a trace of warmth.

He returned to the study in the front yard and threw the confession into the brazier.

The paper sparked from the heat and gradually began to burn.

At this moment, Uncle Qin knocked on the door and walked in. "I heard that you stayed in the prison all night last night. What new discoveries did you make?"

"No, has Second Uncle had breakfast?" Qin Mu stood up, greeted Second Uncle Qin and welcomed him in, intentionally blocking the brazier behind him with his body.

"Uncle and your grandmother have eaten together. What happened to the three people who died in the prison?"

"My nephew suspected that they were colluding with foreign forces, but they were met with stubborn resistance and I was unable to stop for the time being."

"Oh? Where are their confessions? Show them to me."

Qin Mu turned around and took out the confessions of two of them. "There is another one. My nephew accidentally caught fire when he was burning waste paper just now. But I remember the content on it, so I will write it down."

Uncle Qin: "......"

Qin Mu faced the sharp gaze, gathered his thoughts, picked up the pen and wrote down the confession line by line.

Of course, there is no information about Yin Ruoshu.

After reading it, Uncle Qin nodded without comment and left with an excuse.

In the morning, the people sent out to look for Yin Ruoshu came back. They brought back the news that Yin Ruoshu and her servant had already left Jizhou and headed west. At the end, they said, "Third Master, shall I continue the search?"

Qin Mu did not respond immediately, but lowered his eyes in thought.

Even if a large amount of manpower is spent to find Yin Ruoshu and imprison her, there is no guarantee that she will keep silent. Instead, it will make one appear guilty and push the situation into a deeper vortex.

Only the dead can keep their mouths shut forever.

A hint of murderous aura spread from him, and then disappeared after a moment, as if it was an illusion.

"No need, just let her be."

After saying this, he looked toward the horizon for a long time without moving.

Shu'er, you'd better "tell" only to my eldest brother. If you spread rumors outside, I will kill you with my own hands.

In fact, just as the Qin clan members only dared to spread rumors within the family, Yin Ruoshu never thought of spreading rumors to strangers.

Regardless of whether anyone believed it or not, and whether her identity would be exposed, she would never do that simply out of her instinct to seek profit and avoid harm.

Given Qin Junyi's care for Su Yunwan, once the incident became a hot topic, he would never let go of the person who damaged Su Yunwan's reputation, even if she really did something shameful.

At noon, Qin Mu rarely went to the third aunt's courtyard and had lunch with her.

When the Third Aunt saw that he had dark circles under his eyes, she felt so distressed that she kept picking up meat and vegetables for him, and reminded him to get enough sleep no matter how busy he was.

A warm current surged in Qin Mu's cold heart, "Don't worry, auntie, my son will pay attention."

The third aunt nodded happily: "That's good."

After saying this, she didn't know what she was thinking about, and there was a hint of sadness in her smile.

Qin Mu asked, "Auntie, have you encountered any difficulties?"

The Third Aunt sighed and repeated the same old tune: "It's not difficult to say, I just feel that when you are busy, you can't take care of your body at all. If there is someone in the room who understands your temperature, he can take good care of you."

After she finished speaking, she saw that Qin Mu remained silent and did not reject her outright as before, so she could not help but feel happy and tried to test him: "Brother Mu, I will choose a few maids for you to share the room with."

"Ahem..." Qin Mu put down the bowl of soup, looking helpless, "Aunt, aren't you afraid that your daughter-in-law will have a grudge when she gets married in the future?"

"What's the big deal! What rich family's son doesn't have several wives? As long as they don't have children before their legal wife, it's fine. Wait, you said daughter-in-law?" The third aunt was surprised and happy, and grabbed Qin Mu's arm, "Are you willing to get married?"

Qin Mu showed a faint smile on his face, but his eyes were desolate, "You decide."

The Third Aunt did not notice and only clapped her hands and cheered: "Great! Aunt will go and discuss with the princess in a moment and will definitely choose a marriage that you like."

"Aunt, there is no need to ask my sister-in-law about this matter. You can decide it yourself."

"How can this be possible! Auntie has few connections and doesn't know many girls. Besides, don't forget that no matter which girl you choose, it must be approved by the prince."

The first person that the Third Aunt thought of was Zhao Keyan, but no matter how much she liked her, she did not forget to fulfill her duties and the difference in social status between the two families.

Unexpectedly, Qin Mu's face changed slightly after hearing this, "As long as my son agrees, I won't have any objections."

"That's different! You can't take advantage of your favor and become arrogant and commit the sin of usurping power." The third concubine's expression changed and she gave a serious warning.

Now that the head of the family has officially become king, his ambition to compete for the Central Plains is obvious, and he needs countless capable people to conquer the world together.

The marriage of unmarried young people in the Qin family has become an extremely limited source of capital for marriage alliances.

Didn’t you see that the eldest son of the second house, Qin Junluo, married the daughter of Zhu Chengping, the commander of the Jizhou camp, to consolidate the relationship between the two families?

"Brother Mu, you are the eldest son of the family, and although you are born out of wedlock, you are a favorite of the prince. Your marriage has long been related to the prince's great cause, so you must not act recklessly.

But don't worry, Auntie will ask the princess to do more research and will definitely choose a wife for you who is both talented and beautiful and suitable for the family."

Qin Mu rubbed his forehead with a headache, "My son doesn't want to marry a daughter of a rich family."

As far as he knew, those girls of noble birth were more or less arrogant and spoiled.

If after you marry your husband, your wife looks down on her mother who was a concubine, and is unwilling to submit to her sister-in-law who has no support from her natal family, then what's the point of doing that?

The Third Aunt keenly guessed his thoughts, and felt bitter in her heart, "Are you worried about Aunt? As long as you live well, it doesn't matter what happens to Aunt."

Qin Mu denied it flatly: "Aunt, my son is impatient to coax people."

All he wanted was to give an explanation to his elder brother through the marriage.