Marry my elder sister? Fine! I'll give you the letter of annulment and marry someone else.

Song Zhi sat upright in the hall, looking at the person in front of him crying bitterly.

"My Lady Empress, I really didn't realize I was deceived. It turns out you never abandoned me."

Zhang Liu's face was filled with regret. "I was blinded by anger at the time, and I thought it was you who put me in this situation, but I didn't realize that the problem was with the people around me."

He recalled the scene when he met his former confidant in the land of exile.

Although he was not from a wealthy family and all his property had been confiscated, his most trusted housekeeper suddenly became a wealthy man.

At first he was unwilling to believe this fact, thinking that maybe the housekeeper had some opportunity after coming here and became rich.

As a result, after asking around carefully, he found out that the housekeeper had always been Mu Yuanzhi's man.

Moreover, the housekeeper’s ancestral home is here. It’s not that he was exiled, he was clearly returning to his hometown.

He was so angry that he wanted to go up and argue with him, but when he thought about how he had nothing now, he calmed down and asked the secret guard to sneak into the housekeeper's mansion to look for clues.

It would have been fine if he hadn't looked for it, but once he did, he found all the letters that Li Yan and Song Yang had sent him during this period of time.

It turned out that all the letters were intercepted and hidden by the housekeeper, who fabricated the illusion that Zhang Liu was abandoned by his allies.

In this way, Zhang Liu will be eroded by hatred and will spare no effort to help Mu Yuanzhi.

After learning the truth of all this, Zhang Liu could no longer bear it.

He took advantage of the dead of night to have his secret guards abduct the butler and bring him before him. He angrily asked, "Why? I've always trusted you and never wronged you. Why would you betray me?!"

No wonder Mu Yuanzhi knew about his "inability", it turned out that it was the butler who leaked it.

It had never occurred to him before to doubt him.

Just because they grew up together.

The butler's father was the old butler of the mansion, and when the butler grew up he took over his father's position.

He thought he could completely trust such a person who knew him so well, and even felt guilty many times for standing on the wrong side and causing his exile.

Unexpectedly, someone had already stepped on him to get to the top.

Seeing his face full of confusion and anger, the butler laughed. His laughter became louder and louder until tears came out of his eyes.

"Zhang Liu, I admit it. I was the one who betrayed you. I knew you would come looking for me sooner or later, but I didn't expect it to happen so soon."

After laughing enough, the butler spoke word by word.

"Why!"

Zhang Liu gritted his teeth, it would be fine if he treated him badly.

But he entrusted the entire Zhang Mansion to him with confidence, and even Yueyin's salary was uniquely high in the entire capital. How could he have done anything to let him down!

The butler's expression remained unchanged, and there was no emotion in his voice.

"You don't really think I like being a servant."

Suddenly, the butler raised his eyes and looked over, "I have always trusted you and never treated you unfairly..."

"Because of this, do I have to be completely devoted to you and accept my status as an inferior person and devote my whole life to you? Even if I can, do I have to let my children continue to be servants in your family and never be able to stand up?"

The butler sneered, "Why?"

Even when the secret guard held a knife to his neck, the butler showed no fear.

"Actually, I hate you. I've hated you since we were little. We're the same age, but you're the young master, and I can only be a servile servant who has to cater to everyone's faces. Just because you're more capable of reincarnation than me, I'll always be under your feet."

"My father is your father's servant, and I am your servant. I really, really don't want my children to be your children's servants anymore."

When he said this, his expression was extremely sincere.

"So I also want to try to turn the tables and become the master. To put it bluntly, there's no reason why. If a man doesn't work for himself, he will be punished by heaven and earth. So why can't I plan for myself?"

Zhang Liu was stunned for a moment, as if he had not expected the butler to be so frank, so frank that there was not even a hint of deceiving or fooling him.

The housekeeper continued, "What you call being good to me is just the kindness of a master to his servants. I am not satisfied with this."

He looked into the distance. There was the mansion he had risked everything for. His children and grandchildren would have a new start here and they would never be someone else's servants again.

"I'm sorry. If you want to kill me, I'll admit it. Anyway, I've accomplished what I wanted to do, and even enjoyed this period of 'blessings'. I haven't lost anything."

After saying this, the butler closed his eyes and waited for death.

In Zhang Liu's imagination, after the housekeeper knew that he had discovered the truth, he should be frightened and make excuses to exonerate himself, or kneel down and beg for his forgiveness so that he could keep a chance to live.

But the butler in front of him had a calm face and did nothing, as if they had no friendship of growing up together and were not afraid of death at all.

He felt a tightness in his chest and felt very uncomfortable.

Seeing the rage burning in his eyes but no action, the butler opened his eyes and sighed, "Kill me, that way I'll feel better."

Zhang Liu's voice choked with sobs, "Death is so easy, living a life worse than death is the greatest punishment for you!"

The butler didn't want to waste any more time, so he stepped forward and thrust his neck towards the sword that the secret guard was holding against his neck, and blood immediately spurted out.

Zhang Liu watched the butler fall to the ground.

For a moment, he even forgot how to react.

He was clearly here to exact punishment, but if he hadn't intercepted the letter and hadn't met Li Yan who came to find him that night, he wouldn't have been exiled to become a beggar and suffered so much.

But when he saw the butler's relieved look, he suddenly felt a lump in his throat.

"you……"

"Master."

The butler interrupted him weakly and spat out a mouthful of blood.

"I can be your steward forever, but my descendants should be taught to behave themselves."

There was a smile on his lips, as if he was not saying goodbye, but just chatting about family matters when they still trusted each other.

"I'm sorry, Master. I'm really sorry."

He sighed, and at that moment, pain appeared on his face.

"This is the path I've chosen, and I won't regret it. Don't get angry with yourself over a disloyal and treacherous servant like me. I've secretly saved your family and sent them to the Phoenix Kingdom. Just rest assured and follow the Empress of the Phoenix Kingdom back."

Zhang Liu squatted down and asked, "How do you know that I met the Queen of Phoenix Country?"

"Huh."

The housekeeper's breath was getting weaker and weaker. "To be honest, when you first arrived in Liucheng, you couldn't get any food, so I had people bring it to you. As soon as you set out from Liucheng, I knew you were going to come find me..."

As he was speaking, the butler could no longer hold on and closed his eyes forever.

Zhang Liu stood up hesitantly. He looked at the butler's body standing there motionless in silence, wondering what he was thinking.

After a long time, he withdrew his gaze and said to the secret guard: "You can take me back to Liucheng to apologize to Song Zhi."