After the empress transmigrated, she became the judge of the entertainment industry.

"..."

Ye Sanqing did not answer, but simply raised his hand, gesturing for him to speak.

"Do you really want to talk about this in front of the children?"

The man glanced at the little circle that was watching them curiously from the side.

"You say your woman is immature, but I think you're the immature one," Ye Sanqing sighed.

For Xiaoyuan, she was no longer at an age where she was unaware of life and death.

Ye Sanqing knew that some people might be keeping the truth from Xiaoyuan out of good intentions, but others were taking advantage of the situation. The man in front of her probably belonged to the latter group.

“Xiao Yuan,” Sheng Hanyu understood Ye Sanqing’s thoughts, and he waved to Xiao Yuan, “You need to be mentally prepared.”

He couldn't say Ye Sanqing was wrong. Some things can't be kept secret forever. There are no secrets that stay hidden forever. Compared to finding out later under uncertain circumstances, at least they are still here now and can do something about it.

Xiao Yuan tilted her head slightly, looking a little lost.

“My brother… he was Xiaoyuan and the others’ father,” the man said with difficulty, “has passed away.”

"..." Xiaoyuan didn't make a sound, as if she was still thinking about what the word "passed away" really meant.

"How could you just say that!" The woman patted the man's back urgently from behind.

"Then tell me?" the man snapped impatiently. "I've already said this won't work, but you insisted..."

“I don’t want to hear about your family matters, hurry up and get to the point,” Ye Sanqing said.

This man's behavior is nothing but shirking responsibility. What a joke!

When there are no problems, he is the head of the family, but when problems arise, he always blames women, right?

If there's a problem, they're both at fault; neither of them is innocent.

"Your cousin and his wife, right?" Sheng Hanyu confirmed.

“Yes, it was a scaffolding accident…” Since he was going to talk about it, the man didn’t hide anything anymore. “They were working on the construction site when the accident happened one day. Both of them died.”

Xiao Yuan stared at him blankly.

The man forced a smile and said, "So... he didn't die on the spot. When my brother went to the hospital, he was still breathing. He grabbed me and asked me to take care of his child..."

"It's all your fault! It's all your fault for causing all this trouble!" Before Xiao Yuan could even shed a tear, the woman started crying out.

The woman now realized that they seemed to have offended someone very powerful, but she didn't know how they had gotten involved. It must have been this brat causing trouble outside!

She glared fiercely at Xiaoyuan, then unleashed her most effective tantrum.

She knew that usually, if things got out of hand, these people of status would find it troublesome and stop bothering them.

"Shut up," Ye Sanqing said calmly, glancing at her.

The woman's instincts preceded her reason, and she shut her mouth.

The young woman before me... for some reason, exuded a terrifying aura, but it seemed like an illusion, appearing for only a moment before disappearing.

"Why should I?" the woman asked.

She's so young and has such a high status, she must never have experienced the hardships of life. She must need to be toughened up to be so arrogant!

"Why should I?" Ye Sanqing retorted.

She recognized that look; it was all too familiar—that defiant look, regardless of race, age, or gender.

When I felt she was unworthy, when I felt I shouldn't have been defeated by her.

But what about that?

What can you do besides look at me and ask me questions?

Because I am Ye Sanqing.

"..." The woman really shut her mouth, her eyes full of resentment.

The man, unaware of the meaning behind their exchanged glances, continued before Xiaoyuan could react, "Well, since my elder brother entrusted his son to me on his deathbed, I have no reason to refuse..."

Sheng Hanyu: You make it sound nice, but anyone who didn't know better would think you were Zhuge Liang. I've never seen you dedicate yourself to the cause until your dying breath.

"And then, you take care of them?" Ye Sanqing continued to ask.

“Yes! I didn’t neglect anything,” the man swore, pointing to the sky. “They didn’t leave behind much money, but it was enough for the children to eat… I figured I only told Xiaoyuan about the money and the truth after she finished junior high, so there probably wasn’t much left…”

"Is it just the money they left behind?" Sheng Hanyu asked.

“Yes!” The man’s eyes darted around.

"Are you kidding me?" Sheng Hanyu said. "Which construction site? They won't pay compensation after an accident? Tell me the name, and I'll go find them."

His words were so confidently stated that the man had no room for doubt. "This, this..."

"Tell me, isn't there any compensation?" Sheng Hanyu pressed. "You're not going to make me investigate myself, are you?"

The man had no idea what kind of trouble he had gotten himself into today. He thought that complaining and playing the victim would make things go away, and he didn't think that these big shots cared about such a small amount of money. So he just planned to fool them, but now his attempt to fool them had failed.

"Yes." The man nodded.

"How could you!" The woman dared not speak loudly this time.

"Tell me, which construction site is it?" Sheng Hanyu knew he was still trying to hide it when he hesitated.

No amount of trickery or deception can fool him.

"The Zou Group..."

The man told him the name and location of the construction site.

Sheng Hanyu felt that the name seemed familiar, so he took out his phone and checked the news.

This matter wasn't concealed; it was reported in the news. At the time, the Zou family paid the compensation they were entitled to and did everything they were supposed to do...

But for some reason, no condolences were offered to the victim's family, so Xiaoyuan was completely unaware of it. Perhaps the man in front of her was a family member at the time?

Or perhaps their grandparents knew, but instinctively kept it from the children, and then passed away too quickly to tell them.

This Zou family… Sheng Hanyu thought of someone with great reluctance.

"The compensation should have been given to the old man back then," Ye Sanqing said, having also thought of this.

“Yes…” The man couldn’t escape Sheng Hanyu’s gaze. The young man in front of him seemed to be telling him that it was useless for him to continue trying to hide it. He might as well be open and honest as soon as possible, since the mistake wasn’t that serious yet.

"So, the compensation was given to the old man, who was devastated and passed away, and then it was entrusted to you?" Sheng Hanyu asked.

“That’s how it is, there’s no one else in our family…” the man explained, “They were an only child, and my father died young. We grew up together, so there’s not much difference between us and my own brothers. That’s why my uncle, Xiaoyuan’s grandfather, entrusted the children to me…”

"Sigh." The woman began to wipe away tears behind his back.

"Do you have any children in your family?" Ye Sanqing asked abruptly.

If someone can't feel sorry for these children, then they must be either inherently cold-blooded or ruthless, meaning there's a conflict of interest involved.

“We don’t have a son.” The man turned and glared at the woman, seemingly wanting to blame her for not being able to give birth to a son, but he dared not cause any trouble at this moment.

"Wow--!"

Xiaoyuan understands now.