Help! The cunning and treacherous minister and I were reborn together!

Luo Mei was surprised to see Yuan Zhi suddenly stand up and exclaimed, "Miss?"

Yuan Zhi raised her hand, signaling her to keep quiet.

"Find a pair of scissors."

Luo Mei nodded blankly, went to the sewing box in the outer room, took out a pair of scissors, and handed them to the young lady.

Yuan Zhi cut open the pillow along the line and pulled out a lustrous and delicate jade pendant from the buckwheat hulls.

The jade pendant is of superior quality and exquisitely carved; it doesn't look like something a concubine would own.

Her mother had said that she was from Shuozhou, and that her parents had died early, leaving her family in poverty. In the first year of the reign of Emperor Zai, Shuozhou suffered a flood, and she met her father, who came to provide disaster relief. The two fell in love and secretly pledged their lives to each other.

The jade pendant couldn't possibly be a family heirloom from her mother. If it was a gift from her father, there would be no need to hide it.

My mother is of pure and kind nature, and she would never steal other people's property. So where did she get this thing? And why did she sew it into her pillow so that no one would see it?

Luo Mei clutched the jade pendant, lost in thought. With keen insight, she retrieved the sewing box and restored the pillow to its original state.

Yuanzhi carefully put away the jade pendant, and Luomei took out the crumpled paper money from her bosom. "Miss, why don't you ask your aunt?"

Yuan Zhi burst into laughter through her tears, "You brought this with you? Let's go outside and burn it."

Yuan Zhi lit the paper money with a tinderbox and put it into the copper basin.

Luo Mei urged from the side, "Miss, ask her a question!"

"I won't ask anymore. We can investigate once we have a clue. I don't want my mother to have to work so hard for me over there."

After the two finished and walked out of the courtyard, they ran into a servant who had come to patrol after smelling the smoke. The servant's lips moved, but he didn't say anything.

In the deep courtyards of a mansion, it was forbidden to offer sacrifices to the deceased concubines. However, since Yuan Zhi had already married out of the family and into a higher social class, the Yuan family knew about it but couldn't do anything about it.

After lunch, Yuan Zhi and his party headed back home.

The wheels rolled across the ground, and Luo Mei served tea to the young lady, finally voicing the question she had been holding back for so long.

“Master is unhappy that the son-in-law did not attend the homecoming banquet. Why doesn’t Miss just say that the son-in-law was acting on the Emperor’s orders? Instead, she argues with the First Madam and the Fourth Miss. Master has always favored the mother and daughter. Even if they are wrong, he will not punish them severely.”

Yuan Zhi took a sip of tea, her eyes narrowing upwards.

"I haven't revealed to my husband where he's going or how long he'll be gone. If this matter involves secrets, I might ruin his plans if I just say it."

“My husband didn’t show up for the homecoming banquet, which makes it seem to outsiders that I’m out of favor. But my father has been in officialdom for many years, and he can’t hide anything from him. If he investigates and His Majesty discovers that he’s spying on the Emperor’s intentions, that would be a crime punishable by the confiscation of my property and the extermination of my entire family!”

"Miss, you've done so much for the Yuan family, yet they won't appreciate it!" Luo Mei changed the subject. "You should focus more on your son-in-law; you'll enjoy endless wealth and honor then, which is much better than feeding ungrateful wolves."

Yuan Zhi smiled and said, "That makes sense."

However, Xiao Zong is a stubborn and difficult person to deal with. She can't very well pretend to be his childhood sweetheart and lure him into a trap, can she?

Thinking of that wooden beauty, Yuan Zhi looked utterly hopeless; she couldn't even begin to learn from her!

*

Evening, outside Jingzhou city.

Thick clouds churned and a fierce wind blew.

Sand and dust flew everywhere, blinding people.

Xiao Zong pulled out a stick from the bucket, his fingertips trembling slightly.

He steadied himself, applied a little force, and the stick that was as heavy as Mount Tai to him was thrown out lightly.

"cut!"

At a single command, thousands of prisoners were decapitated.

Xiao Zong leaned on the table and stood up shakily. Looking around, all he could see were mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

Having finally avenged two lifetimes of hatred, he wanted to laugh out loud, but no sound came out. Only the violent beating of his heart in his chest resonated with his body, joining in this grand celebration.

A thunderclap resounded throughout the heavens and earth, and a torrential downpour began.

Xiao Zong was drenched in the cold autumn rain, yet his body temperature was frighteningly high. The blood flowing through his veins seemed to ignite a raging fire, tearing and howling wildly…

Rain and tears streamed down his face, and Xiao Zong's expression was a mixture of crying and laughing, as if he were going mad.

The men below dared not approach, all remaining silent in fear.

"Ah sneeze!"

Dou Zhao had followed Xiao Zong since childhood and was bolder than others. Worried that his master would get wet in the rain and hurt himself, and knowing that he wouldn't listen to advice, he deliberately made some noise to remind him.

Upon hearing the sound, Xiao Zong's reason gradually returned.

His lips moved, and after a long while, he finally uttered two words.

"Go back."

Upon arriving at the villa, the prefect sent someone over, saying that he had prepared a small feast at home to bid farewell to Xiao Zong, and hoped that Xiao Zong would do him the honor of attending.

Xiao Zong wasn't interested, so he asked Dou Zhao to attend in his place and went back to the backyard alone.

As he walked under the eaves, the rain lessened compared to when he was at the execution ground. He stopped and looked at the fallen petals scattered on the ground.

In his past life, he was unable to kill his enemy, nor was he able to catch this rain.

If it weren't for the bloodstains all over him, Xiao Zong would have thought it was all just a pipe dream.

Heaven took pity on him; although it couldn't send him back seven years to save his father, it gave him a chance to take revenge.

Wang Dun, that old scoundrel, is the emperor's maternal uncle, yet he does not share the emperor's burdens. Instead, he forms cliques for personal gain and preys on the people.

Years ago, to protect the peace of the region, my father killed two members of the Wang clan who had committed evil deeds. However, Wang Dun falsely accused him of killing innocent people and taking credit for them, which led to the entire Xiao clan being exiled to Liangzhou.

Later, he saved the emperor's life and the Xiao family's wrongful conviction was overturned. The emperor wanted to punish Wang, but he tolerated it several times out of consideration for the Empress Dowager. However, when the Jingzhou government office was burned down, Wang Dun openly obstructed the emperor's new policies, which aroused the emperor's suspicion.

Xiao Zong remembered very clearly that the day His Majesty issued the decree to eliminate the Wang family in his previous life was the same day he married Yuan Zhi in this life.

The two visits to the palace differed greatly in time, method, and outcome.

In his previous life, he entered the palace at dusk that night and later accompanied the Censor to Jingzhou. Before his departure, His Majesty gave him an oral decree: if he encountered resistance, he could execute the enemy first and report later.

He was determined to get rid of the villain as soon as possible, but the censor obstructed him. The two argued and could not reach an agreement, so they had no choice but to send the Wang clan to the capital first.

Later, due to the Empress Dowager's intercession, His Majesty treated the entire Wang clan leniently, and the Wang family quickly rose again. Wang Dun became even more ruthless, selling official positions and acting with impunity, plunging the court into chaos and ultimately leading to the country's collapse and teetering on the brink of ruin.

In this life, after lifting Yuan Zhi's veil, he returned to his study to await the Emperor's summons. However, after sitting idly all night, it wasn't until the early hours of the next morning that the Emperor finally summoned him to the palace.

This time, he had even prepared an explanation for refusing the censor's company, but His Majesty did not mention the Censorate at all, and even bestowed upon him an imperial sword, allowing him to do as he pleased.

It's so abnormal!

Xiao Zong's gaze pierced through the rain, looking towards the capital, his heart filled with doubts.

In his previous life, he and Yuan Zhi died at almost the same time, so on the first day of his rebirth, he suspected that Yuan Zhi had also died and been resurrected.

That woman was cold-blooded by nature and would do anything to advance her career. He was worried that Yuan Zhi would enter the palace with memories of two lifetimes, and that Xiang Xiang would be no match for her. So he immediately arranged a betrothal to the Yuan family and married her.

If someone is under your watchful eye, they can't cause trouble.

During this time, he found Yuan Zhi's behavior suspicious and repeatedly tested her to see if she was hiding her rebirth in order to save her own life. However, she always managed to find an excuse to cover it up.

Judging from the current situation, he can't help but wonder if he has targeted the wrong person.

Could it be that His Majesty is the one who was reborn?