After her mind was read, the spoiled brat became the darling of the whole group.

Xie Mansion.

Xie Ansheng, Xie Yuhe, and Xie Yuze sat in the study, all of them with worried expressions on their faces.

The famine did indeed come as Xie Xing had predicted.

It wasn't just famine, but also epidemics.

Next, the emperor will send Xie Yuhe south to provide disaster relief, and then, as the emperor has foretold, Yuhe will meet with misfortune.

"Father, have you really decided to take action against the Seventh Prince and Mingzhu?" After a moment of silence in the study, Xie Yuhe spoke slowly, looking at Xie Ansheng with some hesitation.

Xie Ansheng said, "Only by killing these two people can our Xie family survive."

“But Mingzhu…” Xie Yuze said, “After all, you watched Mingzhu grow up with your own eyes. Can you really bear to kill her?”

Xie Ansheng's eyes were bloodshot. He stood up and looked at Xie Yu and the other two: "What a sin! What a sin!"

“If I don’t kill her, she will murder my entire Xie family. Haven’t you thought this through yet?”

"Are you going to wait until she actually kills one of you brothers before you take action?!"

Xie Yuhe and Xie Yuze fell silent immediately.

Xie Yuze looked at Xie Yuhe.

Among the Xie brothers, Xie Yuhe was the first to get into trouble. Now that his life is in danger, how could they not be terrified?

Why can't things be changed?

Why do these things always happen to them?

Xie Yuhe asked, "What does Father intend to do?"

Xie Ansheng's face was grim: "Although we have already confronted Prince Jin, there must still be things he is hiding from us."

"We can't rely entirely on Prince Jin."

“I have already reminded the Crown Prince, hoping that he will notice that in the struggle for the throne, besides the Sixth Prince who is a threat to him, there is also the Seventh Prince.”

Xie Yuhe shook his head and said, "Compared to the Sixth Prince, the Seventh Prince is really not worth mentioning."

"He doesn't have a good family background, nor does he have the support of any powerful forces in the court. Why would the Crown Prince take him seriously?"

"Moreover, this person is good at hiding his true nature."

Xie Yuhe recalled the scenes of his encounters with Luo Hanfeng.

If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, he would have seemed like a completely different person.

To outsiders, he was just a weak and useless seventh prince. Who would believe that?

"Regardless of what the Seventh Prince does, we must deal with Mingzhu first."

Xie Ansheng said coldly, "I have already sent people to poison Mingzhu's food. Let's see if it works."

……

Return to the palace.

Luo Mengfei ran off to see the Empress Dowager.

Xie Xing and Xie Mingzhu sat at a round table, with tea and snacks prepared by their maids in front of them.

The two sat in the pavilion in the Imperial Garden.

Xie Xing rested his chin on one hand and turned his head to look at the pool.

"Xie Xing." Xie Xing used her chopsticks to pick up a piece of pastry from Xie Xing's plate. Her eyes curved as she looked at Xie Xing and said, "Although you are the real heiress of the Xie family, I am the one who has lived in the Xie family for more than ten years."

"In terms of my relationship with my brothers, I am naturally closer to them than you are."

Xie Xing turned around and looked at Xie Mingzhu with a puzzled expression: "Didn't you just say a few days ago that you wanted to return the Xie family to me?"

Xie Mingzhu paused.

She said, "This is my plan. Don't worry, I will leave the Xie family soon."

"Leave the Xie family?" Xie Xing was truly stunned this time.

She looked at Xie Mingzhu with a puzzled expression: "Where else can you go if you leave the Xie family?"

Xie Mingzhu said firmly, "Isn't my leaving the Xie family exactly what you wanted?"

"I've taken your identity, so you must resent and hate me, right?"

Xie Xing looked quietly at Xie Mingzhu.

At this moment, her expression carried an air of superiority, as if she had seen through everything and wanted to bestow everything upon her.

"Are you judging others by your own standards?" Xie Xing asked. "I've never thought that way."

She wasn't the original owner of the body, so she didn't care much about whether her identity was real or fake.

To put it bluntly, her true home isn't here, so naturally she won't develop any feelings for anything here.

"It's just the two of us here." Xie Mingzhu didn't believe her. "You don't need to lie to me."

"I've said it before, I will leave the Xie family, and I will return everything that belongs to you to you."

Xie Mingzhu said, "I can teach you how to please your mother and brother, and even the position of Crown Prince and Crown Princess can be given to you."

Xie Xing: ?

【What is she saying? 】

Xie Xing doubted his ears.

Has something unexpected happened to Xie Mingzhu recently? Why would she suddenly tell her these things?

System: [I don't understand. Could it be because the Xie family's attitude towards her has changed, and she's starting to think about leaving the Xie family?]

Xie Xing remained silent.

She wanted to hear what Xie Mingzhu was going to say.

Xie Mingzhu picked up a piece of pastry with her fingers, preparing to put it in her mouth.

Just then, a white cat suddenly leaped into the air and pounced straight at Xie Mingzhu.

"what!"

Xie Mingzhu screamed.

She staggered to her feet, the pastry in her hand falling to the ground, where it was picked up by the white cat.

The white cat ate the pastry.

Xie Xing was also startled by this sudden situation, and she stood up.

A moment later, a palace maid rushed over, picked up the white cat, and repeatedly apologized to Xie Xing and Xie Mingzhu: "Ladies, I'm so sorry."

"This cat is unruly; it belongs to Consort Lin. Please, ladies, calm down."

Xie Xing shook his head.

Xie Mingzhu forced a smile across her pale face, shook her head, and said, "It's nothing."

"It was a false alarm."

"Meow!"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the white cat suddenly let out a piercing scream.

Everyone was shocked.

Suddenly, the cat jumped from the palace maid's hands to the ground, rolled twice in pain, and finally spat out blood from the corner of its mouth before dying.

Xie Xing's eyes widened.

Xie Mingzhu's legs went weak, and she collapsed to the ground, staring at the cat in disbelief.

The palace maid's face turned deathly pale. "Cat, cat..."

"Heavens! Quickly, summon the Imperial Concubine!"

The palace maid screamed and immediately turned and ran away.

Xie Mingzhu was trembling with fear. She looked at the pastries on the table, then at the cat whose face was ashen. There was nothing she didn't understand.

Is there poison in this pastry?!

Is someone trying to harm her?

How can this be?

Xie Xing realized what was happening and quickly removed the silver hairpin from her hairpin, poking at the pastries in her bowl.

A silver hairpin went in, a black hairpin came out.

This plate of pastries is poisonous.

Someone wants to kill them both?

Before long, Consort Lin arrived in a hurry with her entourage.

"What's going on?" She swept her phoenix eyes around, her gaze landing on Xie Mingzhu and Xie Xing.

Xie Mingzhu was still feeling lingering fear.

I dare not imagine what would have happened if she had eaten that pastry.

Xie Xing realized what was happening, bowed to Consort Lin, and said, "Your Highness, someone has poisoned these pastries."

She explained the whole story.

Consort Lin's expression changed drastically: "How could this be?"