Disguised as a man, she became the biggest villain in the book.

A few days later, Scholar Ji, along with his grandson Ji Beichen, went to the Grand Commandant's residence to propose marriage to Wen Nanwan. The marriage proceeded very smoothly and was quickly settled; their wedding was scheduled for the following spring.

Scholar Ji has always been a neutral party member and has never participated in the disputes between other parties in the court. His grandson, Ji Beichen, is just twenty years old this year and is also a handsome young man.

Actually, Ji Beichen didn't know how that kind of thing suddenly happened that day.

He only remembered that someone led him to a courtyard, and when he pushed open the door, he saw a woman changing her clothes. This scene was witnessed by a palace maid from the Empress Dowager's entourage who had come looking for him.

Ji Beichen was raised with strict discipline and was known for his integrity and uprightness. After this incident, he felt he had to take full responsibility for the woman. He was also known in the Imperial Academy for his stubbornness, single-mindedness, and strong sense of justice.

Ji Beichen knew he might have been set up, but since it had already happened, he still had to take responsibility.

Wen Nanwan had accidentally spilled tea on her clothes and wanted to change, but for some reason there were no palace maids guarding the door, which led to this incident.

She had only met that man for the first time that day, and now she was going to marry him. Wen Nanwan was completely devastated.

Since that incident, Wen Nanwan has been hiding in her room and hasn't come out. Ji Beichen also heard about it and thought that Wen Nanwan was unhappy because of him, so he often bought things and sent them to the Grand Commandant's mansion, but Wen Nanwan would often throw them out.

.............

Inside the Prime Minister's Mansion

Zheng Luoqi was playing with the parrot in the room, feeding it birdseed. The parrot then made a couple of seemingly authentic sounds, saying, "Delicious! Delicious!"

At this moment, a guard came to report to Zheng Luoqi about the recent events that had occurred in the Wen family.

Zheng Luoqi smiled after hearing this, thinking to herself, "It seems Chen Xianlin didn't go too far! I just wonder if Wen Nanwan will accept her kindness!"

Just then, Boyu walked in hurriedly and reported to Zheng Luoqi, "Young Master, we have some leads regarding Miss Yueji." He stood with his hands clasped in a respectful manner.

While continuing to feed the parrot, Zheng Luoqi asked casually, "Have you caught the person?"

Boyu lowered his head and answered cautiously, "We caught them, but... they're already dead!"

Zheng Luoqi suddenly stopped, his eyes coldly fixed on Bo Yu, and asked, "What exactly happened?"

Boyu took a deep breath and said truthfully, "There were two people who came to pick up the items. It was nighttime, and they were completely covered up. The original plan was to capture them alive. However, when they realized they were surrounded, they chose to commit suicide by poison without hesitation, without any intention of resisting."

Then, Boyu added, "Furthermore, after I removed their masks, I found a very strange symbol on their faces. I have never seen this symbol before."

"Where is the body?" Zheng Luoqi asked.

“The dungeon!” Boyu replied respectfully.

"Go check the dungeon, and remember to go and collect your punishment!"

"Yes"

Zheng Luoqi went straight to the dungeon and came to the two corpses. She lit a torch and shone it on their faces. Both of them had green symbols carved on their left cheeks. The pattern was very strange, like an hourglass.

Could it be some kind of religion? Or perhaps some kind of gang in the martial arts world? Zheng Luoqi pondered.

Then he turned to Boyu and asked, "Do you know what kind of poison they took to commit suicide?"

Bo Yu shook his head and replied, "Young Master, I've never seen this kind of poison before."

Zheng Luoqi had no clue either, so she went to find Zheng Yuxiang.

"Father, do you know what this pattern means? I remember Mother was a member of the martial arts world, did she mention it to you?" Zheng Luoqi handed the pattern she had drawn to Zheng Yuxiang.

Zheng Yuxiang took it and looked at it, his brows furrowing as he asked, "Where did you find this pattern?"

“There’s someone in the backyard who’s connected to the person with this pattern on their face. This person was caught last night, and their body is still in the dungeon,” Zheng Luoqi said.

Seeing Zheng Yuxiang staring at the pattern, Zheng Luoqi asked in confusion, "What's wrong? Father, do you know what this pattern represents?"

Zheng Yuxiang shook his head and replied, "I don't know, I just feel like I've seen it somewhere before, but I can't remember where. I feel like I saw it many years ago."

Zheng Yuxiang suddenly remembered something, put the blueprints aside, and said, "There's some progress on the matter of the rebel army last time. There are indeed people in the imperial court, and I've already sent people to keep an eye on them. As for what Wen Lian said about the Wen family's relationship with the previous dynasty..."

"I have already sent people to investigate. The previous dynasty was more than a hundred years ago. The founding emperor of the Great Xia Kingdom, Xue Gaozu, overthrew the previous emperor, Wen Shi."

"The Wen family? The Wen family? Qi'er, do you think there's a connection between them?" Zheng Yuxiang asked, keeping everyone in suspense.

"More than a hundred years have passed, and they still haven't given up? Could it be that they're secretly amassing troops? If they don't plan to make a move yet, why expose that rebel army?" Zheng Luoqi asked, puzzled. He was also a bit confused.

"Qi'er, you've got it wrong. The rebel army and Wen Lian's matter are not the same thing. The rebel army was just a smokescreen. The real reason that rebel army cooperated with that secret agent in the imperial court was to monopolize the iron and gold mines, amass wealth, and strengthen their own power. They originally wanted to cultivate their own faction."

"But that rebel army was originally from the mountains and could not amount to anything. It didn't take long for them to expose themselves. They were just short of issuing a proclamation to tell others that they were going to rebel. I guess the secret agent in the court did not expect that the rebel army to be so insignificant."

"Wen Lian has nothing to do with them. Wen Lian was almost abandoned by the Wen family because of something that happened twenty years ago. But in order to save himself, Wen Lian lied and said that he had the imperial seal of the previous dynasty. So the Grand Commandant Wen hid him for twenty years."

"Currently, the matter of the rebel army and Wen Lian's matter have nothing to do with each other, but the Wen family may indeed be descendants of the previous dynasty," Zheng Yuxiang explained with a smile.

After listening, Zheng Luoqi sorted out her thoughts and continued, "Now, there is a third thing. These people with special patterns on their faces may be some kind of organization, most likely people from the martial arts world. Why would people from the martial arts world interfere in the affairs of the imperial court? They have even planted spies in the Prime Minister's residence."

"Moreover, the information we extracted from the spies in the backyard revealed that the group of people with patterns on their faces kept a large number of women, all of whom were trained and mainly sent to various powerful and wealthy households as concubines. It is estimated that they also extracted a lot of information from other powerful and wealthy people and sent it out as well."

"Then these people with tattoos on their faces must have caught a lot of powerful people in their dirt."