Although Su Ruoyun no longer cared whether Lu Wenzhao had divorced Shen Qingwan, she was still worried that the woman might go crazy and actually kill Lu Wenzhao.

So, she tugged at Lu Wenzhao and persuaded him, “Give her the divorce papers. This woman is mad. Just give them to her and calm her down. I want her dead.”

Su Ruoyun lowered her voice and looked at Shen Qingwan with venom in her eyes.

Although Lu Wenzhao was reluctant, he was genuinely worried that Shen Qingwan might go mad and lash out at him.

He reluctantly signed the divorce papers.

After receiving the divorce papers, Su Ruoyun once again asked about the whereabouts of Lu Tianyang. Shen Qingwan simply replied, “When my daughter returns, your son will return.”

Su Ruoyun felt despair in her heart.

She hated herself for not paying attention to the whereabouts of that little girl back then, which led to her son, Yangyang, being missing now.

In early March, the new emperor ascended the throne.

At the same time, Prince Liang and Prince Huainan were rescued by assassins and brought back after being imprisoned for half a month.

Their bodies were covered in wounds.

If it weren’t for Beichen Yuan fearing that they might be killed by their own men, they would probably have been tortured to death by now.

After Xiao Ruiyi ascended the throne, he quickly cleaned up the court and began to build his own power.

With Beichen Yuan’s support, the princes who had been eager to make a move were now obedient.

The third prince, who coveted the throne and had killed the crown prince, was eventually executed. Consort Liu was also given a white silk ribbon.

The Liu family was completely implicated, and after this event, everyone had a new opinion of the second prince.

Previously, people thought Xiao Ruiyi was a gentle sheep, but now they realized he was a fierce tiger that had awakened.

All the officials said the new emperor was kind-hearted but had the means of a thunderous strike and was not easy to deceive.

Beichen Yuan also admired Xiao Ruiyi’s approach.

Originally, with Shen Qingwan’s status, Beichen Yuan could have only asked for a title like a county princess for her, but now that she had become the eldest daughter of the General’s Mansion, a mere county princess title seemed insignificant.

After General Gu’s victory over the Western Yue, he had not been summoned back to the capital, but with the new emperor now on the throne, it was time for General Gu to return to report to the court.

General Gu had made great contributions in the war against the Western Yue, so requesting a title of princess for Shen Qingwan was not a big deal.

Beichen Yuan was the first to approach Xiao Ruiyi to request the title.

Xiao Ruiyi naturally would not refuse him, especially after learning about Shen Qingwan’s contributions in the northern lands.

He couldn’t help but think back to the image of her at the spring banquet.

It was a pity that she seemed to have been married before and was now divorced.

She had been with Lu Wenzhao, a man whose reputation had recently become tarnished.

Although Xiao Ruiyi didn’t plan to do anything to Lu Wenzhao, it was clear that his career had come to an end.

Su Chengxiang was an old fox, and he was in league with the third prince. Beichen Yuan had kept him around because of his vast connections with other officials.

They couldn’t remove all of them, considering that the third prince’s plot had implicated half the court officials.

If they completely removed Su Chengxiang, it would destabilize the entire court.

At present, internal strife had not been fully resolved, and external threats loomed.

Beichen Yuan had just ascended the throne and had to be cautious with every step.

Although Beichen Yuan had requested a title for Shen Qingwan, the imperial decree was taken by him and he planned to personally deliver it to her once he had completed his other affairs.

Shen Qingwan had no idea that Beichen Yuan had requested a title for her.

After receiving the divorce papers, she began to plan how to kill Lu Wenzhao and his wife. From the beginning, she had no intention of letting them off.

The only reason she hadn’t acted sooner was that she hadn’t yet obtained the divorce papers.

Now that she had them, there was no more connection between her and Lu Wenzhao.

Additionally, during this time, she had been busy trying to find out news about Xiaoyu, which had delayed her plans to deal with them.

Unfortunately, although the General’s Mansion had sent out many people to search for Xiaoyu, no news had been received. Rong Yunfei was also searching for Xiaoyu but had not found anything.

Feeling irritated, she decided to relieve her frustration by killing the couple that night.

However, before she could take action, Lu Wenzhao struck first.

Unable to wait any longer for news of Lu Tianyang, Su Ruoyun hired assassins from the martial world with a large sum of money to kill Shen Qingwan.

If it weren’t for the fact that all her and Lu Wenzhao’s wealth had been stolen, she wouldn’t have had to rely on the Prime Minister’s Mansion to afford these assassins.

Although the Prime Minister’s Mansion had also been robbed, its power still surpassed that of others, and Su Chengxiang could easily gather the necessary funds.

The group of assassins solved the problem without alerting the General’s Mansion. Under the cover of night, Shen Qingwan headed straight for the Lu family’s residence.

She immediately guessed who had sent the assassins.

After all, there were only a few people who were her enemies, and Ye Lingxue and her daughter had recently been focusing on getting close to Beichen Yuan, so they hadn’t targeted her.

Besides Ye Lingxue, the only other suspect was Lu Wenzhao and his wife.

When Shen Qingwan sneaked into the Lu household, Lu Wenzhao had already gone to sleep.

She pushed open the door and saw only Lu Wenzhao lying on the bed. Her movements weren’t particularly quiet, but Lu Wenzhao didn’t wake up.

The room was filled with the scent of calming incense, suggesting that he had fallen into a deep sleep due to being exposed to it.

Shen Qingwan approached and slapped Lu Wenzhao across the face. He woke up abruptly and opened his eyes to see her.

“Still sleeping? I’ve come to kill you,” Shen Qingwan said, slapping him again.

Lu Wenzhao was stunned. Shen Qingwan didn’t mind killing someone in their sleep, but she simply didn’t want him to die too quickly.

“Shen… what do you want?” Lu Wenzhao clutched his face and looked at the gleaming dagger in her hand, trembling with fear.

“What do I want? Of course, I’ve come to kill you. You sent people to kill me, but I didn’t die. Now… it’s my turn to kill you,” Shen Qingwan spoke with a sinister smile, looking like a demon from hell.

Lu Wenzhao panicked and quickly denied, “I didn’t! I didn’t send anyone to kill you! What evidence do you have that it was my men? It wasn’t me!”

Shen Qingwan sneered, “Evidence? What do I need evidence for? Only the capital’s magistrate needs evidence to judge a case. I don’t need proof to kill. Whether you admit it or not is irrelevant.”

She said, and with a swift motion, she stabbed the dagger into his chest.

Lu Wenzhao, somehow finding strength, grabbed the dagger and begged desperately, “I swear it wasn’t me who sent them! It was Su Ruoyun! She hired the assassins from the Prime Minister’s Mansion! Please, don’t kill me.”

“You and I were once married,” he continued, “I am the father of Xiaoyu and Xiachen. If you kill me, they will hate you. If you spare me, I will treat you well. I’ll marry you properly, and I’ll divorce that poisonous woman, Su Ruoyun. We can live happily together.”

Lu Wenzhao was truly terrified and was desperate to appease Shen Qingwan. But after hearing his words, Shen Qingwan’s murderous intent grew even stronger.

“You bastard, even at death’s door, you still want to disgust me,” Shen Qingwan hissed as she stabbed the dagger into his chest.

Lu Wenzhao didn’t have time to speak again and just stared at her in disbelief, his eyes filled with terror.

Want to marry me? He was dreaming!

Shen Qingwan wiped the blood off the dagger and coldly turned away, not sparing him another glance.

After killing Lu Wenzhao, she didn’t find Su Ruoyun.

Shen Qingwan searched the courtyard for a while, thinking that Su Ruoyun might not be at the mansion today.

But she unexpectedly found Su Ruoyun in a side room.