"Dead?!"
The three of them were stunned. Steward Fang didn’t understand why they were so fixated on a dead person and said in confusion, "Yes, she complained of feeling unwell that day and asked for leave to rest at home. The next day, her son Sun Cai came to inform us that his mother had passed away. Lady Xie was so heartbroken that she gave their family a generous compensation!"
Yan Zheng narrowed his eyes. "Did you see the body?"
"No. Sun Cai claimed she died of an epidemic and had her cremated overnight at the charity cemetery outside the city."
Chu Ruoyan and Yan Zheng exchanged glances.
Without seeing the body, there was a high chance it was a fake death.
Yan Zheng called out, "Shadow."
A young man appeared silently.
"Find Granny Sun—alive or dead. You and Old Xu go together, and make sure you locate her as soon as possible!"
The young man bowed and vanished from the room in an instant.
Yan Zheng pondered for a moment before adding, "Meng Yang, go to Yan Lin’s residence and find out who met with Grandma Yan these past two days."
He didn’t believe in coincidences, especially not at such a critical moment!
Meng Yang acknowledged the order and left, leaving only the two of them in the hall.
Chu Ruoyan said, "You think someone else is also investigating the truth from back then?"
"Exactly. And if they thought to question Grandma Yan, they must already know about Granny Sun."
"If that’s the case, time is of the essence. Should I go to Bai Xiao Pavilion?" Chu Ruoyan stood up, but Yan Zheng reached out and stopped her, shaking his head slowly.
"Young Master Lang is only an ally of convenience. It’s best not to involve him in this."
Chu Ruoyan realized he was right. Back on Cuiping Mountain, Young Master Lang had betrayed them the moment Imperial Son-in-law Cao offered him a deal.
He was far from trustworthy...
They waited until afternoon when Meng Yang returned first. "Young Master! It was Fourth Miss!"
His face twisted with anger as he continued, "She’s gone mad! She went straight to Grandma Yan, claiming your background is fabricated, and begged her to intervene. Now she’s searching everywhere for Granny Sun!"
Chu Ruoyan felt a chill in her heart.
This blatant provocation was clearly an attempt to leave Yan Zheng no way out!
Yan Zheng’s eyes turned icy as he asked calmly, "Did Grandma Yan go along with it?"
Meng Yang clenched his fists and nodded bitterly. "And Second Master. He’s mobilized all the family’s connections, offering a hundred taels of gold to anyone who finds Granny Sun!"
Chu Ruoyan scoffed.
What kind of monsters were left in the Yan family?
None of them stepped up when trouble arose, but when it came to stirring up chaos, they were all experts—worse than the filth in the gutters!
"We can’t just sit here and wait. With such a commotion, your enemies in Prince Yu’s Mansion will catch wind of this soon!"
She stood abruptly. "Compared to them, I’d rather trust Young Master Lang! Meng Yang, prepare the carriage—take me to Bai Xiao Pavilion!"
Before Yan Zheng could respond, Shadow suddenly returned.
He made a hand signal, and Meng Yang exclaimed in relief, "You found her? She’s in the outskirts?"
Yan Zheng’s voice was grim. "Let’s go."
At a farmhouse on the outskirts of the capital, Old Xu was already waiting.
His expression was grim, his gaze distant. Yan Zheng felt a foreboding unease. "Did you get answers?"
Old Xu snapped out of his daze, his usually smooth speech now hesitant. "You... you should hear it from her yourself."
Chu Ruoyan immediately pushed Yan Zheng inside.
Meng Yang and Shadow moved to follow, but Old Xu grabbed them and shook his head meaningfully.
Meng Yang’s heart sank. Could the young master and his wife’s worst suspicions be true?
Inside, the room reeked of medicinal herbs.
A gaunt man lay on the sickbed—likely Granny Sun’s son, Sun Cai.
He coughed violently upon seeing them, and suddenly, a shrill voice shrieked from the corner, "I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything! Just don’t hurt my son! It was all my doing!"
They turned to see Granny Sun, her hair white as snow, cowering in the corner, her face twisted with terror—clearly broken by Old Xu’s methods.
Her eyes landed on Yan Zheng, and a complicated, bitter smile crossed her face. "Young Master Yan Zheng... I knew this day would come..."
Yan Zheng stared at her impassively.
Granny Sun shuddered and kowtowed hard, her forehead hitting the floor. "I betrayed Lady Xie! I betrayed the Yan family! When the landslide happened, I was too busy saving myself and didn’t look after you... It was the Princess’s people who rescued you..."
Chu Ruoyan’s breath hitched.
Granny Sun had referred to him as "him," not "you." Their worst fears had come true.
"But the Princess went into labor prematurely. I was busy delivering her child and didn’t check on you. By the time the baby was born... you had already stopped breathing—"
Her voice cracked. Yan Zheng closed his eyes.
"After you died, I was terrified Lady Xie would punish me. The Princess’s maids were all outside guarding the door, so no one was in the room... That’s when I got the idea—since the Princess had miscarried, no one would know if the child was alive or dead. So... I switched the babies. I told the Princess her son was stillborn... and brought you back to Lady Xie, pretending you were hers. That way, no one would ever know!"
Chu Ruoyan demanded sharply, "How could Lady Xie not recognize her own child? You expect us to believe she wouldn’t notice?"
Granny Sun explained, "The landslide destroyed the roads. By the time we reunited with Lady Xie, days had passed. A baby changes so quickly at that age—how could she tell?"
She looked at Yan Zheng, her eyes filled with remorse. "I stayed by your side afterward, afraid the truth would come out. If Lady Xie ever suspected anything, I could smooth things over. Years passed... but you were so different from the other young masters—cold, quiet, never fitting in. I was terrified she’d realize one day, so I faked my death and fled... but I couldn’t escape this reckoning!"
"I wronged you... You... you are the Princess’s son!"
The room fell into dead silence.
The air itself seemed to freeze.
Chu Ruoyan saw the veins in Yan Zheng’s temples bulge, his clenched fists trembling as blood seeped between his fingers...
"Yan Zheng!"
She called his name, but he didn’t react—his eyes dark and hollow, like a lifeless well.
It was just like when they first arrived in the capital—that same aura of death clinging to him...
Chu Ruoyan’s heart ached, but what could she say?
If he truly was the Princess’s son... then the one who slaughtered his family—the one he had sworn vengeance against—was his own mother.
How could anyone bear such a truth?
Her mind raced, and suddenly, she whirled back to Granny Sun. "If what you say is true, then the Princess never knew?"
Granny Sun nodded, but Chu Ruoyan’s eyes flashed with realization.
Impossible!
An Sheng had lured them here deliberately to uncover the past. There was no way the Princess was ignorant!
Before she could press further, Grandma Yan’s shrill voice cut through the air outside—
"You bastard! Come out here this instant!"
