The eldest daughter's scheming, the crown prince's exclusive favor to the venomous concubi

Chu Tianyi's skin crawled with goosebumps. Because the occasion was inappropriate and He Xinle was speaking softly, he couldn't hear what she was saying at all. He just instinctively wanted to shake off the thing stuck to his body.

However, instead of shaking him off, the person pressed even closer to him, his face turning ashen, on the verge of exploding.

"open."

A cold voice rang out, carrying a chilling aura. Even though He Xinle had heard such a voice before, she still felt a sense of fear in her heart. She looked at Chu Tianyi, and in the end, she reluctantly let go of his hand.

"Brother Xiao Yi, don't be angry. Look what they're going to do?"

Chu Tian glanced coldly at He Xinle, then looked in the direction she was pointing and saw Zhang Sitong had already walked to Jian Yue's side. He frowned and looked at the calm woman.

Zhang Sitong stood before Jian Yue, cupped his hands, and said, "Miss, did you understand our argument just now?"

Jian Yue raised her eyes and nodded. There was no fear or shyness in her eyes. Her calm demeanor made Qiu Zhenzhou feel uneasy. Sun Shi, who was standing to the side, also saw it clearly and was anxious to step forward, but Qiu Lingfeng held her back.

"Mother, no!"

Sun said anxiously, "Damn Zhang Sitong, why did he have to ask that girl? I have a feeling that something is wrong with her today."

"Something is wrong indeed."

As Qiu Lingfeng spoke, she frowned as she looked at Jian Yue. She saw a sense of unfamiliarity in the eyes of the person she had only met a few times, which made her uncomfortable, especially when she saw Murong Chuan's eyes fixed on Jian Yue.

Upon hearing Qiu Lingfeng's words, Madam Sun became even more anxious. She paced back and forth, saying, "What should we do?"

"I don't know. We'll have to see what she says before we can come up with a good plan. But don't worry, Mother, His Highness the Crown Prince will definitely not let anything happen to Father."

As the two were talking, they stared at Jian Yue, unaware that Qiu Lingrong had already disappeared from the spot and headed towards Chu Tianyi, thus attracting more chaos and accelerating the demise of the Qiu family.

Over there, Zhang Sitong was waiting for Jian Yue's reply when he saw Bai Jianan slowly stand up, glancing sideways and smiling, "What is Lord Zhang asking? Don't you think I'm making a fool of myself?"

"You were gossiping about my fiancée, arguing incessantly at my welcoming banquet, and now you've come to disturb my future princess consort. I'd like to ask you, did you even ask me first?"

Zhang Sitong remained calm and said solemnly, "Your Highness, please calm down. I only asked this because I was concerned about the old general's descendants. However, Lord Qiu argued endlessly about it, and I really couldn't get any information out of him. I thought that since you are the person involved, you should understand your background and know the cause and effect. That's why I came forward to bother you."

Bai Jianan raised an eyebrow: "Oh? In that case, I should also get to know her better. After all, she is now my fiancée, and I am in charge of her."

After saying that, he turned to look at Jian Yue, his eyes filled with a mocking glint.

Jian Yue raised her eyes, smiled, and first bowed to Murong Qianqiu, who had not spoken, before looking at Zhang Sitong, curtsying back and saying, "Thank you for your concern, sir. My mother's health has improved and she will recover soon. I am grateful for your concern today and will definitely come to your door to express my gratitude in the future."

After he finished speaking, everyone's expressions changed. Qiu Zhenzhou's face changed immediately. These words clearly admitted that he was Shangguan Linglong's daughter.

He immediately looked at Jian Yue, his eyes filled with anger, but at this moment, he could not step forward to say anything.

After Jian Yue finished speaking, she walked towards Shangguan Ting and smiled at him, who was trying to maintain his composure: "Grandfather, Jian Yue greets you."

"Ah."

Shangguan Ting blinked, holding back the tears welling up in her eyes. Seeing this, Shangguan Hanque frowned and said, "You always talk about your granddaughter, why are you so tense when you see her?"

Upon hearing this, Jian Yue lowered her eyes, covered her mouth, and laughed. Shangguan Ting's face immediately turned red, and he glared at Shangguan Han Que, saying, "Shut up."

The fact that the three of them were so calm and composed in recognizing their relatives had already caused an uproar among the crowd.

General Shangguan was not surprised at all. Did he already know that this woman was his granddaughter?

How can this be?

Upon seeing this, Murong Qianqiu suddenly smiled and said, "It seems there are many hidden stories behind this? Qiu Zhenzhou, explain to me what exactly is going on? How did the child born to your maid become the old general's granddaughter?"

The one who was least likely to believe it was Qiu Zhenzhou. What Jian Yue had just said had completely put him in dire straits. Now that the Emperor had spoken, if he couldn't give a perfect explanation, he would have no chance of escaping being beheaded.

With a thud, he knelt on the ground, at a loss. Seeing this, Madam Sun quickly knelt down with him and cried, "Your Majesty, spare us! Your Majesty, forgive us! This matter is not my master's fault at all. It's that brat! It's her! She's not a child of our Qiu family at all! She's an imposter!"

Murong Qianqiu raised an eyebrow: "Oh? An imposter?"

Upon hearing this, Bai Jianan joined in the fun, saying, "Did your Qiu family provide me with an imposter?"

Madam Sun immediately shook her head, her face full of terror, and said, "No, no, Your Highness, we didn't."

Bai Jianan, jutting his chin, looked thoughtful: "That's strange. You keep saying it's a fake, then you say it's not. Which of your words should we, the young master and the emperor, believe?"

Madam Sun was taken aback, and then saw Bai Jianan looking at her with a half-smile. She was so frightened that she didn't know what to say. Seeing this, Qiu Lingfeng could only step forward and kneel down beside Madam Sun and say, "Your Highness, please calm down. My mother is terrified and that's why she is talking incoherently. Please let me tell you about this."

Bai Jianan narrowed his eyes, looked at her a few more times, and said, "Are you the eldest daughter of the Qiu family?"

Qiu Lingfeng stiffened, lowered her eyes and nodded. Jian Yue blinked darkly, giving Bai Jianan a look that said, "Just wait and see." Bai Jianan caught a glimpse of this out of the corner of his eye and immediately smiled, his eyes curving into crescent moons.

He laughed and said, "Indeed, you are a beauty of unparalleled grace. Well then, considering how good-looking you are, tell me, what exactly did your mother mean?"

"Yes."

Qiu Lingfeng said, "After Sixth Sister was born, her birth mother had already passed away. Before Sixth Sister was born, her birth mother was constantly ill. Therefore, after Sixth Sister was born, her body followed her mother's, so she was sent to the countryside to be raised. Because she was about to come of age, she was summoned back to the mansion."

Therefore, everyone in the Qiu family knew that Sixth Sister had returned to the capital, but no one knew what the Sixth Miss Qiu, whom they hadn't seen for fifteen years, looked like. So, when Sixth Sister returned with the letter from Father, we naturally recognized her. As for whether she was truly Sixth Sister, we had no idea.

After Qiu Lingfeng finished speaking, she looked at Jian Yue, who was also looking at her with obvious interest in her eyes, which made Qiu Lingfeng's heart skip a beat.

However, she remained expressionless and continued, "If the sixth sister in front of us is the daughter of the missing young lady of the Shangguan family, then our Qiu family would also like to ask, young lady, what exactly is your intention in impersonating our sixth young lady?"

She'd seen thieves cry "stop thief!" before, but she'd never seen anyone so arrogantly shout "stop thief!" Jian Yue narrowed her eyes and retorted, "What are you saying, elder sister? Has your memory of seeing me off from the Qiu residence five years ago disappeared? Even if I've changed a lot in these five years, I wouldn't be so different that you wouldn't recognize me. Your words are hurting the bond between us sisters."

Qiu Lingfeng remained expressionless and said, "What do you mean by that, young lady? When did our Qiu family send anyone away five years ago? If we did, I believe they were just maids or servants who had made mistakes. As for my sixth sister, everyone in our Qiu family can confirm that she was raised on the estate shortly after she was born."

She spoke with such confidence that it was impossible to tell she was lying. Even Bai Jianan had to admire her; if this woman had used her brain for good, she would have been so intelligent. However, she still couldn't compare to his Yueyue.

At this moment, Qiu Lingfeng's words immediately made Qiu Zhenzhou and his wife stand up straight. Qiu Zhenzhou continued, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. It was this old minister who was confused and should not have brought his daughter back to the mansion without verifying her identity."

Old Chen dared to ask: what exactly is the Shangguan family's purpose in wishing such a thing upon my Qiu family? If I am not given a clear answer today, I, Qiu Zhenzhou, am willing to feign death right here in this imperial palace to prove my innocence.”

Lady Sun also chimed in, "Your Majesty, we beg Your Majesty to make the decision."

After saying that, she glared fiercely at Jian Yue, as if she could tear a layer of skin off Jian Yue at any moment.

Jian Yue remained calm; she was already used to such gazes and even thanked Yue Leyun for teaching her to control her emotions in advance.

Thinking about it, Jian Yue turned around and her gaze quickly caught Yue Leyun's presence.

At this moment, Yue Leyun was gazing intently at Murong Chuan, completely unaffected by what was happening before her.

She smiled slightly, then suddenly realized that ending it now wouldn't be fun.

Seeing Jian Yue smile, Qiu Zhenzhou felt flustered. He then saw Jian Yue say, "Lord Qiu, please calm down. I did not mean to deceive you. It is just that when I woke up back then, I had lost my memory, but I had a letter in my pocket written by Lord Qiu. The letter was written to a steward, and the gist of it was that when I got there, I should not be killed."

I didn't understand the specifics. After all, I was just a child at the time and had lost my memory, so I naturally assumed that I was that child and went to that village according to the address.

Then, some time ago, I received a letter from the Qiu family, asking me to return. So I went back to the Qiu family, and finally met Young Master Shangguan, who was on an inspection tour in the capital. Only then did I learn that I wasn't actually a child of the Qiu family.

At this point, Jian Yue stared at Qiu Zhenzhou with a smile, her eyes full of laughter, which made Qiu Zhenzhou feel a chill down his spine, as if he were being stared at by a venomous snake.