Chapter 50: Recognizing the Wrong Savior

Huai Ze couldn’t be bothered to listen to her self-assured words. He curled his lips in dismissal but didn’t doubt her.

Then, something else came to mind, and he asked, “Your eldest sister is returning soon.”

“Have you thought about how to subtly hint to your mother about what happened at the poetry gathering—how the second household conspired against her?”

Qin Xuan, who had been speaking with Xu Wanyin, nearly lost her composure upon hearing this.

She clenched her teeth, suppressing the fury surging within her chest, her eyes slightly reddened.

So it was true—Xunli’s suspicion had been correct. Zhiyi’s troubles were indeed caused by the second household.

Was there anything those beasts wouldn’t do?

Her daughter had been harmed, yet for the sake of reputation, she had to suffer alone—forced into a hasty marriage, left with no choice but to resign herself to fate.

Why?

The ones who schemed should be the ones facing public condemnation, the ones paying the price.

Sensing the shift in Qin Xuan’s emotions, Xu Wanyin asked her if she was alright.

Qin Xuan merely said she was feeling discomfort in her abdomen and needed to rest for a while. Xu Wanyin didn’t press further.

Meanwhile, Er Er proactively sat beside Xu Wanyin and started chatting with her.

Qin Xuan took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. She closed her eyes, focusing on the voices in her mind.

After a moment of contemplation, Fang Yuean replied lazily, “Of course not. The evidence is too obscure—even if I spelled it out, it’s not something that can be explained in a few sentences.”

She and Huai Ze had already discussed how the second household had schemed against Fang Zhiyi, and she had listened to Huai Ze recount every detail.

Suddenly, Fang Yuean’s tone shifted, becoming gritted with frustration.

“Speaking of which, I’m still mad about this. I was laying the groundwork for this matter during the recognition banquet, but that Prince Qi—he’s as dense as a rock! He didn’t pick up on anything.”

Huai Ze rolled his eyes dramatically. “You think just drawing a pattern from the jade pendant was enough for him to figure out that the pendant belonged to your eldest sister, Fang Zhiyi, and not Fang Zhenzhen? No normal person would make that connection.”

Qin Xuan was growing increasingly confused.

A jade pendant? What jade pendant belonged to Fang Zhiyi?

Weren’t they talking about how Zhiyi had been framed by the second household? Why bring up a jade pendant?

She racked her brain, recalling all the jade pendants Fang Zhiyi had owned, but none seemed particularly significant.

Huai Ze’s voice rang out again, pulling her back into focus.

“It’s a good thing Prince Qi didn’t catch on. Otherwise, you would’ve practically handed him the truth on a silver platter.”

That time, Huai Ze had nearly worn his tongue out trying to stop Fang Yuean from blurting out the truth about the jade pendant.

“This is my final warning: If you can’t complete your mission, then you’ll have to rely on your mortal form to drive the changes needed. Otherwise, forget about rewriting your family’s fate—you won’t even be able to keep your own life.”

“One bolt of heavenly lightning will strike you into nothing but black smoke.”

Fang Yuean side-eyed Huai Ze. “So what if I turn into smoke? Why black smoke, specifically? Just because I was once a demon doesn’t mean I have to be black smoke.”

She huffed. “In the original fate, Prince Qi kept backing the second household, which is why they got so bold in harming my elder brother and mother. If he loses years off his life for it, he deserves it.”

Huai Ze sighed, too weary to argue.

Her thoughts kept straying in all directions, but Qin Xuan had managed to piece together a few truths.

Lately, she had overheard many strange mentions of celestial beings and gods in these stray voices.

From what she gathered today, she reached a shocking conclusion:

Her daughter had once been a demon.

She had done something wrong and was punished by being sent into the cycle of reincarnation to complete a mission—having already gone through a hundred lifetimes.

That’s why she’s so remarkable, why she possesses so many skills…

Qin Xuan opened her eyes, gazing at Fang Yuean with a complex expression.

A bittersweet feeling welled up in her heart.

Her daughter—so adorable, so endearing—how could she have been a demon?

Every night, she would eagerly listen to bedtime stories.

At every meal, she would aggressively shovel food into her mouth, savoring every bite.

She always overslept, scaring her multiple times.

When the game of catching roosters became popular in the capital, she begged Qin Xuan to take her to the gatherings.

Her sweet little girl would say at least a dozen times a day, “Mother, you’re so beautiful! I love you so much!”

This is my daughter. Not some demon.

Based on celestial lifespans, her daughter was currently at the equivalent age of a child.

Yet, she had returned in tattered clothes—just to change her mother’s fate.

Feeling tears prickle in her eyes, Qin Xuan quickly closed them again.

She didn’t know how to love her daughter better than she already did, but she vowed to give her all—to pour into her every ounce of a mother’s love.

After a brief silence, Fang Yuean huffed in frustration. “That Prince Qi must be blind. If not for my elder sister, he would have drowned. And yet, he managed to mistake his savior.”

Huai Ze replied, “That happened so many years ago. Of course, he chose to recognize the pendant he thought was his. Who would have guessed that Fang Zhenzhen had stolen it?”

At this, Qin Xuan finally recalled which jade pendant it was.

When Fang Zhiyi was eight, she had come home soaked to the bone, scaring Qin Xuan half to death.

It turned out she had saved a drowning person on her way back to the city on horseback.

While changing Fang Zhiyi’s clothes, Qin Xuan had found a jade pendant of extraordinary quality—one she had never seen before.

After her bath, Fang Zhiyi had casually explained its origins and tossed it into a drawer, looking utterly unconcerned.

She had even said, “I didn’t save him for a reward.”

Qin Xuan listened as Fang Yuean declared, “I think we should start with the jade pendant. First, we need to make Prince Qi realize he’s been deceived. Once he loses trust in Fang Zhenzhen and the second household—perhaps even turning against them completely—it will be much easier to push the truth into the open.”

She continued confidently, “Once the story spreads, people will see that the second household had a clear motive to frame my elder sister. Their guilt will be more obvious, making it much easier for me to steer events toward the truth.”

Fang Yuean nodded to herself in satisfaction.

She was even a little excited. “When Prince Qi realizes that the woman he poured his heart into is actually a fraud, it’ll be quite the spectacle.”

She recalled that in Qin Xuan’s fate records, it was noted that Prince Qi adored Fang Zhenzhen to an extreme degree.

Huai Ze had even mentioned that not only did Prince Qi refuse to take concubines while he was a prince, but even after becoming emperor, he remained devoted to Fang Zhenzhen, bringing immense glory to the second household.

Meanwhile, the entire first household—Fang Yuean’s family—had long since perished.

For a man capable of such deep attachment, how could he tolerate being deceived?

After all, he had grown up in the palace. Even if he had only ascended the throne because Consort Liang had fought for it, he was by no means as mild and gentle as he appeared.

Fang Yuean concluded, “The key to everything still lies with Prince Qi.”

“I need to figure out the best way to push him toward the truth.”

As the voices in her mind quieted again, Qin Xuan mulled over Fang Yuean’s words.

The jade pendant and Prince Qi—indeed, they were the perfect leverage.

She quickly formulated a plan.

Later, she would drop a hint to her daughter, sparing her the trouble of wracking her brain over it.