The whole family was brutally murdered? The ruthless heiress's eldest daughter went berserk aft

Murong Lian continued, "Although I am only an adopted daughter of the Murong family, Madam Murong has taken good care of me. Although I cannot access the core business of the Murong family now, I am still considered a member of the Murong family. Even if I want to get something, it is more convenient for me than for others."

Jiang Lingyun looked at Murong Lian meaningfully, "So you mean I want to marry you? What is your purpose?"

Murong Lian looked up at Jiang Lingyun with a determined gaze. "As Murong Xuewei just said, when you saved me, you had already looked me over. Now, who knows what rumors are circulating outside? So, for the sake of my reputation, I hope you will stay."

Jiang Lingyun stared intently at Murong Lian, trying to find evidence of a lie on her face. But no matter how she looked at it, Murong Lian's expression remained firm, as if she really wanted to keep Jiang Lingyun only for the sake of her reputation.

"I came to the Murong family with a mission," Jiang Lingyun said, her tone softening slightly.

“I can help you,” Murong Lian said anxiously.

"But I already have someone I love, so I can only let you down."

Murong Lian's heart skipped a beat, and she felt as if she had fallen from the clouds.

Murong Lian forced a smile and interrupted, "I just wanted to cooperate with you, young master. You should know that I am an ambitious person. The reason I cooperated with you before was to compete with Murong Xuewei for the Murong family."

Upon hearing Murong Lian mention this, Jiang Lingyun immediately held Murong Lian in higher regard.

I originally thought that Murong Lian's reluctance to annul the engagement was just a young girl throwing a tantrum, but I never expected that Murong Lian would have such thoughts.

“After the matter is settled, I will naturally separate from you, so you don’t need to worry about me causing trouble.”

Jiang Lingyun pondered for a moment and thought Murong Lian's method was feasible, so he nodded.

"Since Miss Murong is willing to gamble with her innocence, then I have no reason to hesitate."

Jiang Lingyun also changed her way of addressing Murong Lian from "you" to "Miss Murong".

Seeing that Jiang Lingyun had been persuaded, Murong Lian felt a great weight lifted from her heart.

As long as Jiang Lingyun is willing to marry Murong Lian, he doesn't care at all about Murong Lian, the woman he claims to love.

Jiang Lingyun himself was just a poor scholar, and the woman he loved was not from a prominent family.

If that person is sensible enough not to come looking for her, then so be it. But if she does come looking for her, the Murong family's prestige and influence will surely make them back down.

The two discussed the details of their collaboration for a while, and then Murong Lian asked Jiang Lingyun to leave, saying it was getting late and she needed to rest.

As soon as Jiang Lingyun left, a black figure flashed out from the side of Murong Lian's house. After glancing at Jiang Lingyun's departing figure, it headed towards the Qimeng Pavilion where Murong Xuewei was.

At this moment, Murong Xuewei had not yet rested. When Liuli returned, Murong Xuewei was looking through the account book.

“Miss.” Liuli stood respectfully to the side.

"How is it going?" Murong Xuewei drew a line on the ledger and looked up to ask Liuli.

"Just as Miss predicted, Young Master Jiang really went to find the Third Miss."

"What did they say?" Murong Xuewei remained calm, showing no surprise at what Liuli said.

"Young Master Jiang seems to be very familiar with the Third Miss, and he keeps telling her to go to Madam to break off the engagement." Liuli recounted everything she had heard.

"What did the Third Miss say?" Murong Xuewei continued to ask.

"The Third Miss seems very reluctant to annul the engagement, and judging from her appearance, she also seems a little afraid of Young Master Jiang."

Murong Xuewei sneered, "Of course Murong Lian doesn't want to annul the engagement. After all, how could she give up a chance to climb to a high position!"

"High position? What high position, Miss? Isn't Young Master Jiang just a poor scholar? What high position can you get by marrying him?"

When Murong Xuewei thought of Jiang Lingyun's true identity, her heart ached with hatred, and she wished she could eat his flesh and drink his blood.

“He’s not some poor scholar. If Murong Lian marries him, she might actually become an official’s wife.”

Liuli looked at Murong Xuewei with some surprise, "Miss seems to have known all along that they were in cahoots?"

Murong Xuewei sneered, "Do you really think that a random temporary servant found on the street can freely enter and leave the inner courtyard, especially at my elder brother's wedding banquet? You should know that the guards and servants here are specially hired by me."

Liuli recalled that yesterday, Murong Xuewei suddenly asked her to secretly guide the guests of the wedding banquet to the backyard.

Looking at Murong Xuewei with an expression of admiration, she asked, "No wonder Miss suddenly asked me to go to the front yard yesterday. When did Miss find out that these two were in cahoots?"

Murong Xuewei felt a little guilty looking at Liuli's adoring gaze.

How could she possibly explain this? She couldn't exactly say she knew it from a past life!

Murong Xuewei's eyes darted away as she awkwardly flipped through a page of the ledger. "Well, I noticed something was off with Murong Lian before, so I had someone investigate."

Liuli looked at Murong Xuewei with admiration, "Miss is indeed incredibly resourceful. You were able to uncover so much just by noticing a little something amiss."

Murong Xuewei continued to look through the ledgers. "Keep having someone keep an eye on Murong Lian and Jiang Lingyun. You don't need to go yourself. If there's nothing else, Liuli, you can leave now. I'll rest after I finish looking through these ledgers."

"How long will it take to look at all these ledgers! Why don't you rest first, Miss, and look at them tomorrow morning?" Liuli said with some concern.

Murong Xuewei shook her head. In her previous life, after Murong Xuewei was rescued by Jiang Lingyun, the two got engaged. Murong Lian also used various means to take over the shops under Murong Xuewei's name in conjunction with Jiang Lingyun.

In the end, they all became tools that Jiang Lingyun and Xiao Wanning used to deal with the Murong family.

Although she escaped this life and the betrothal was changed to Murong Lian and Jiang Lingyun, given Murong Lian's greedy nature, she would definitely not give up the Murong family's businesses.

Therefore, Murong Xuewei had to prepare for both possibilities and keep all the shop ledgers and key personnel in her own hands before Murong Lian interfered in the Murong family's business.

"Some things can't be delayed," Murong Xuewei murmured to herself.

Although Liuli didn't understand what Murong Xuewei meant, she still obediently went out.

After Liuli left, Murong Xuewei lost interest in looking at the account books.

Murong Xuewei stood up, wanting to get some fresh air by the window. As she stood up, a token fell out of her sleeve pocket.

Murong Xuewei bent down to pick it up, brushed off the dust, and when she recalled how Gu Ye had handed her the token, the corners of her mouth unconsciously turned up.

"General Gu, what are you doing now?"

Murong Xuewei turned the token over and gently stroked the words on it with her slender fingers.

These two characters are a bit strange. They don't resemble the character "顾" (Gu) nor the character "烨" (Ye), but they do look somewhat like the character "皇甫" (Huangfu).

Why is Huangfu engraved on Gu Ye's token?