After rebirth, she became the favorite of the powerful minister.

A hundred years ago...

Yuan Ge turned around and found a small stool to sit on. With a frown on his face, he reached out to touch the luxuriant plant. Before his fingertips even touched the small, dark red fruits, he was slapped on the back of his hand. The old man glared and scolded, "It's not a good thing. Just look at it, why do you keep touching it?"

The shot was not heavy, but not light either.

Yuan Ge touched the back of his hand, but didn't insist. He retracted his hand and said softly, "Whether it was hysteria or poisoning, such a large-scale death must be collectively cremated after death. But the prince's status is precious, and his body cannot be easily damaged. I wonder how the final arrangements were made?"

The little girl was beautiful, with gentle and calm features. At this moment, with her head lowered and whispering in a trance, she looked compassionate to the world that did not belong to her age... That was the compassion that Yuan Ge did not have before.

The old man sighed silently, looking away as he straightened the open books on the floor. "Yes," he said, "according to historical records, all the bodies of those who died in this unidentified poison were dumped in a mass grave outside the western suburbs of the capital and burned. Thick smoke hung over the capital for a long time... The treatment of the prince's body was never mentioned, probably because they avoided the topic. I do remember a piece of unofficial history that said the favored concubine died of grief after her son died at sea. The emperor was deeply saddened and posthumously named her Imperial Noble Consort. However, the historical records also record that the Imperial Noble Consort had only one child, who died from Wei Rui's illness."

Death at sea?

Murong's ancestral home is right by the sea, could it be...

"It's just some unofficial history and biographies, don't take it seriously." Feng Qingtan said casually, and when he turned around and met Yuan Ge's particularly serious eyes, he didn't know why his heart tightened, and his throat tightened. He opened his mouth for a long while before carefully asking, "What's going on?"

The little girl's frown and thoughtful look were too obvious.

Yuan Ge pursed his lips, glanced at the old man again, and finally told the truth, "I just met with Zhan Yanfeng, and he said that the Murong family got their start by robbing tombs. Even though they've been doing that for years, Old Man Murong contracted a strange illness while robbing tombs, and even after years of searching for famous doctors, they couldn't cure it. You just mentioned that you haven't heard of this luxuriant fragrance in many years, so I wondered if it might have been brought out from underground."

"Now you've mentioned that although we don't know where the sick prince is buried, rumors say he died at sea. Furthermore, according to Zhan Yanfeng's information, the Murong family's ancestral home is in a small seaside town called Anshi. Don't you think... isn't this a bit too much of a coincidence?"

Feng Qingtan was stunned. Before she could react, she saw Yuan Ge staring at her with a pair of dark eyes, the color of which was as dark as ink. Her voice was gentle, as if she was afraid of disturbing someone's dream. She asked, "If this is really the case, teacher, can you cure it?"

Feng Qingtan's fingertips, holding the book, trembled slightly. He looked at Yuan Ge with equal seriousness. After a long while, he sighed softly, avoided Yuan Ge's gaze, looked up at the sky, and said softly, "Knowledge gained from books is always shallow. In my life, I have made countless poisons and detoxified even more, but I have only seen this Wei Rui Sheng Xiang in books. If it is really this poison, it is just that Wei Rui is hard to find. But if it is not... Girl, there are more than one or two people poisoned on Zhixuan Mountain. This price is too high. Or, whose life do you want to gamble with?"

Feng Qingtan turned around and looked at her.

There was a rare seriousness in his nearly cloudy eyes. He examined the little girl before him. Although their features were somewhat similar, Yuan Ge, who had returned in a new guise, sometimes still made people feel like a completely different person. There always seemed to be something hidden in those eyes, veiled behind the mist, making it difficult to see clearly. There seemed to be a bit more calculation in his words... But now, looking at Yuan Ge, who was silent and looking at him openly with a slightly clenched back tooth, Feng Qingtan understood the other party's intentions in an instant. Suddenly, he was shocked and almost jumped up with his old bones that were about to fall apart. His fingers trembled as he pointed at her, and his voice trembled. "You, you... don't tell me that you are going to use yourself as a bet?! I tell you, old man, it's impossible!"

The angry Feng Qingtan put one hand on his waist and pointed at Yuan Ge with the other. His chest was heaving with anger and his gray beard was shaking. He looked like if Yuan Ge dared to nod, he would split his head open to see what kind of nonsense was inside.

But the pretty little girl was sitting on the small stool with an innocent look on her face. When she looked up at him, her eyes were calm and peaceful, and she looked very well-behaved - but it was just "appearance".

Feng Qingtan snorted softly, and as expected, he pursed his lips, maintaining his deceptively obedient demeanor and speaking softly, "Someone has to take the risk... Teacher, you know someone has to take the risk. If that's the case, why can't it be me?"

"Someone has to take the risk... Why does it have to be you?! Why does it have to be you?! There are so many people on Zhixuan Mountain, even if we go by seniority, it's not your turn as a teenage girl to take this risk!"

Feng Qingtan was so anxious that his eyes were bloodshot. He raised his hand and pointed in a certain direction behind him, and roared at Yuan Ge, who seemed to be fine, almost incoherently, "Yes! They are innocent! Then are you not innocent?! Besides, there are also those who are not innocent. Even if the third brother and his manager are alive, they will never leave that prison in this lifetime. Besides, these things were caused by them in the first place. Every grievance has its perpetrators! Why should a little girl like you take this risk!"

He was really angry. After saying these words, he put his hands on his hips and gasped for breath. He didn't even know what he was angry about.

He worried that the girl, after experiencing the power and lust of Shengjing, would become cold and indifferent, turning a blind eye to innocent lives. But emotionally, he didn't want the girl, who had finally returned from a near-death experience, to be put in danger again. Everyone said she was a child of destiny, a girl blessed by heaven, smart, beautiful, and well-fed. But only Feng Qingtan knew that if there really were gods who controlled one's life, then this child would be the one abandoned by heaven.

Her life, just a dozen years, had been far more eventful and difficult than that of others. Yet, she herself was completely unaware of this. In the midst of a desperate situation, she developed a pure heart of compassion for all living things. Her eyes were gentle yet resilient. She said, "Teacher, you know, there's no one more suitable than me..."

Of course he knew.