Water Reflects Peach Blossoms

"It's my fault." Master Yue faced the guilt of betraying the palace and confessed, "I discovered that the Herb Extract in Yun Que had been replaced with poison. I was afraid that Yun Que would be poisoned if she ate it, so I secretly replaced the poison with real Herb Extract."

"It's you?!" Gong Yuanzheng glared at Master Yue. If it weren't for Gong Shangjiao's suppression, he would have rushed over to beat him!

If Master Yue had not been blinded by the Wufeng Assassin, Dianzhu would have been killed by his sister two years ago!

After comforting Gong Yuanzheng, Gong Shangjiao suddenly thought: "Not only did she replace the herbal extract on Yunque with poison, but Sister Yunzheng also has a backup plan."

"Three years ago, she asked me to bring her a Gu worm. Now that I think about it, she must have placed the mother Gu worm on Yunque, putting it into a dormant state."

"The mother Gu will only awaken when it encounters someone who has been poisoned. It will instantly transfer from Skylark to the poisoned person's body and will not leave until they die. This Gu is not harmful to the human body and is extremely difficult to detect. It will only continuously emit a special smell that only the child Gu can smell towards those who come into close contact with the mother Gu holder."

"As for the child Gu, once they smell this scent on someone nearby, they will wake up and point in the direction of the mother Gu."

By the time Gong Shangjiao said this, Gong Yunzheng's plan had become very clear.

Gong Ziyu's voice deepened. "So Sister Ayun's plan was that, under Gong Yuanzheng's care, she would practice forbidden techniques and gain inner strength in a short period of time. Then, she would threaten Master Yue to create an elixir and use Skylark to poison the Wufeng leader. The poisoning plan failed, but the Gu worm plan hidden behind it successfully allowed the mother Gu to parasitize the Wufeng leader Dianzhu's body."

"That's right." Gong Shangjiao agreed with Gong Ziyu's conclusion. "Next, she just needs to find someone who has close contact with Dianzhu, and the plan will be successful."

"The palace gate's selection of brides is a perfect opportunity that Wufeng will definitely not miss to plant an assassin. What Wufeng can think of, the palace gate can also think of, and Yunzheng will naturally think of this as well."

"I think her original plan was to use the Wufeng assassin to lure Wufeng into attacking the palace gates, allowing her to find Dianzhu. Unfortunately, just as her plan began, Lao Zhiren and Gong Huanyu were killed. After being assassinated, she realized that Gong Huanyu had faked his death. Faced with this sudden situation, Yunzheng had no choice but to make a choice."

"She chose to give up the chance to find Dianzhu. After removing Wufeng's assassin at the palace gate, she focused on dealing with Gong Huanyu, who for unknown reasons suddenly turned against her own family. She protected the palace gate for twenty years without worry. She also prepared to pass her internal energy to me, so that I wouldn't fall into danger from Wufeng's attacks while traveling outside, and would have enough strength to suppress Wufeng."

"The next variable is me." Gong Ziyu's hands on his knees clenched the delicate fabric, plucking the carefully ironed material to create wrinkles. He felt a little guilty, but even more so, he felt guilty towards Gong Yunzheng: "I trusted Yun Weishan too much. When Sister Ayun suspected me, I used my identity as a blade to protect her, forcing her to be soft on me, forcing her to deal with Gong Huanyu and Wufeng at the same time."

"You're right, but not entirely." Gong Shangjiao looked at Gong Ziyu. "Although Yunzheng has a soft spot for you, she would definitely choose Gongmen over you. The most important reason she backed down and dealt with Wufeng and Gong Huanyu at the same time was probably because she saw an opportunity."

"Chance?" The playboy was a little confused. "In this dangerous situation with tigers in front and wolves behind, where can there be any chance?"

Xue Zhongzi spoke in a clear voice, "She wanted to train Zhi Ren through certain things, and at the same time, let Zhi Ren see for himself that Gong Shangjiao and Gong Yuanzheng weren't who he claimed they were."

"That makes sense." Hua Gongzi nodded. "When Zhi Ren first started, he had a lot of opinions about Gong Shangjiao and Gong Yuanzheng, and he couldn't stand hearing anyone say anything good about them."

"Ahem!" Gong Ziyu clenched his fist and coughed awkwardly: "That was because I was young and ignorant. Look how good our relationship is now."

Gong Yuanzheng didn't appreciate his kindness: "Who is on good terms with you?"

"Not good?" Gong Ziyu immediately stretched out her hand to him: "If not, return the hidden weapon pouch that I asked Hua Gongzi to design for you."

Seeing the two brothers bickering, the atmosphere in the hall eased a little.

Hua Gongzi looked at Gong Shangjiao and said, "Master Jiao, is what Xue Zhongzi said right?"

"One of them," Gong Shangjiao explained, "Besides being soft-hearted towards Gong Ziyu and unable to bear to see him driven from his position as a bladeless assassin, there's another reason. Yun Zheng saw an opportunity for Ziyu to turn against Yun Weishan."

"Brother Zi Yu is a sincere person. If he likes someone, he will do his utmost to treat her well and protect her. He will even line up behind that person at the gate of the palace. After Yun Zheng discovered this, combined with future events, she deduced that in the future competition between Jiao Palace and Zheng Palace and Yu Palace and Shang Palace, Yun Weishan will most likely be moved by Gong Zi Yu's protection. Shangguan Qian will then be the one to lead Wu Feng into the palace after Yun Weishan betrays him. This coincides with her plan to eliminate Wu Feng."

"Just like Xue Zhongzi said, Yun Zheng wants to train Zi Yu and eliminate the gap between him, me, and Yuan Zheng. This gap can't be changed by her telling him the truth. Given Gong Zi Yu's stubbornness, he won't believe Yun Zheng even if she tells him the truth. So we can only let him slowly explore and see clearly through what is happening."

Hua Gongzi was puzzled again: "Where's Gong Huanyu? Are they just going to ignore him?"

"I didn't tell Zhi Ren because I was afraid he wouldn't believe it. But the Second Miss has already told the three elders about Gong Huanyu's fake death. Why don't you discuss it with you, Master Jiao? One more person means a better chance of victory."

"It might be true for others, but not for Yunzheng." At this point, Gong Shangjiao's tone darkened. "She knows us too well. Yuanzheng trusted her wholeheartedly, but still, on the night Elder Yue was murdered, he realized that Yunzheng was hiding something from him. He even came to me specifically to ask about it. At that time, I was preoccupied with Ziyu's life story and Wuming's murder of Elder Yue, and had no time to spare."

"If I knew, like the three elders, that Gong Huanyu had faked his death and Wuming was Mingwuji, then I would have noticed something was amiss the moment Yuanzheng came to question me, and would have been able to investigate Yunzheng's entire plan."

"You mean, Sister Ayun is on guard against you?" Gong Ziyu couldn't believe it.

Sister Ayun and Gong Shangjiao have always had a deep brother-sister relationship, and Gong Yuanzheng even treats Gong Shangjiao as his own brother.

Suddenly realizing that Gong Yunzheng had been on guard against Gong Shangjiao's intelligence and sharpness, and was using things to delay him, Gong Ziyu subconsciously didn't believe it!

"Yes." Gong Shangjiao's eyes darkened. "She needed Wufeng's spies to act as a smokescreen for her plan. Gong Huanyu also blocked her way, preventing us from being caught in the trap of Wufeng and Gong Huanyu, and from noticing any part of her plan. This must have been something she had already thought of when she decided to retreat from the women's courtyard."

"She didn't want any of us to know about the plan until it was complete. She didn't want us to bear the burden of our loved ones' impending death, and she also didn't want her plan to be ruined by our disagreement."

"So she chose to cooperate with the three elders. Not only does this allow her to obtain the latest intelligence, but she also receives support in terms of power. When necessary, the elders can use their absolute power to suppress the situation. Looking at the overall situation, cooperating with the elders is Yun Zheng's best option."