The crossbow’s speed was fast, but Ye Lingxue was still a beginner and wasn’t very skilled.

After a few dodges, Shen Qingwan had already approached her.

Ye Lingxue’s crossbow was kicked to the ground by Gu Qingwan.

Ye Lingxue felt a numbness in her arm but panicked and stepped back. “How is this possible? How can you be so powerful?”

“When you tried to harm me and replace me and my mother, you should have known this day would come,” Shen Qingwan replied coldly.

As an educated modern person, she should hate mistresses the most.

But Ye Lingxue had encouraged her mother to steal another woman’s man, even going so far as to kill to help her mother climb the social ladder.

“I didn’t want this! I had no choice, I didn’t want things to turn out like this,” Ye Lingxue said in a panic.

She, after all, was a transmigrator too, and she wanted to be a person of justice.

But she had transmigrated into Ye Lingxue’s body, and she was a fetus transmigrator, witnessing her mother being driven mad by jealousy over her own sister, becoming unrecognizable.

“I didn’t want to become a bad person. But when I saw Shen Qingwan, someone even more beautiful than me, I couldn’t help but feel jealous, so I intentionally lost her when she was young.”

Back then, she did feel guilty, but she only wanted her mother to live well.

What was her fault?

If she was to blame, it was for transmigrating too early, and seeing the world’s multiple wives and the unfairness of fate, she had been gradually assimilated.

Shen Qingwan didn’t bother to waste words with her.

She quickly shot out a few silver needles.

Ye Lingxue instinctively tried to enter her space, but found her body stiff, unable to move at all.

She tried to touch the ring on her hand but realized she couldn’t.

ShenQingwan smirked, “I knew it.”

Ye Lingxue could only use the space by touching the symbol on the ring.

As long as she didn’t touch it, she couldn’t enter the space.

“How could this be? When did you poison me?” Ye Lingxue wasn’t stupid.

She could feel the poison in her body, but she didn’t understand why she hadn’t felt anything.

“It was when I saw you. The poison was already released,” Shen Qingwan explained.

It was a neurotoxin that could be dispersed in the air. As long as she inhaled a little, her body would stiffen for three hours.

After saying this, Gu Qingwan drove a dagger straight into Ye Lingxue’s chest. Ye Lingxue stared at her in disbelief, her pupils dilated.

“Who are you?”

Just as Shen Qingwan was about to stab her again, she heard someone approaching.

She quickly removed the ring from Ye Lingxue’s finger and left the scene.

After dealing with Ye Lingxue, Shen Qingwan visited the Ye family.

Although she couldn’t kill Ye Minghui yet, to prevent any retaliation, she fed Ye Minghui a brain-damaging drug.

Even if Ye Minghui didn’t die, she would become a fool, at least no longer able to harm anyone.

With these two major threats eliminated, Shen Qingwan felt an unprecedented sense of relief.

Three days later, Shen Qingwan prepared to leave the capital.

She was heading back to Suzhou, where her true home was.

To search for Xiao Yu, Shen Qingwan drew a few portraits of him and asked Qin Xiuzhu and Bai Erye to help.

Their families had businesses spread throughout the Daxia empire, so they were likely to find him faster than she could on her own.

If she couldn’t find Xiao Yu in a day, Gu Qingwan would feel uneasy.

As for Lu Tianyang, Gu Qingwan had decided not to pursue him anymore.

Whatever his fate, it was his own destiny.

When Ye Minglan learned her daughter was leaving, although reluctant, she understood that Shen Qingwan had her own matters to attend to.

If there were no wars, she and Old Madam Gu could have accompanied Shen Qingwan to Suzhou to live. But now, with the war situation in Daxia, as the families of military generals, they couldn’t all leave the capital.

Officially, they were there for protection; in reality, they were like hostages.

When Gu Tingyi returned victorious, the Gu family would rise to new heights.

If Gu Tingyi died in battle, as long as Daxia remained, the Gu family would still be honored.

But if Gu Tingyi betrayed them, then the family in the capital would be used to control him.

So, despite Old Madam Gu’s wish to go with her granddaughter to Suzhou, reality didn’t allow it.

Shen Qingwan hadn’t realized this until Old Madam Gu suddenly said she wouldn’t be accompanying her. It was then that Shen Qingwan realized she had to eliminate that mother and daughter pair.

She wouldn’t gamble her family’s safety on someone else’s conscience.

On the day Shen Qingwan left, Old Madam Gu kept reminding her, and Ye Minglan’s eyes were red, clearly having cried for a long time.

Shen Qingwan reluctantly bid farewell to her family, and then, together with Old Lady Lu, Xiao Chen, and the Rong siblings, she left the capital.

As the carriage reached the outskirts of the city, urgent hoofbeats came from behind.

“Jiao Jiao, Jiao Jiao,” Jiang Chao’s voice came from behind.

Lu Jiao Jiao opened the curtain and saw it was indeed Jiang Chao.

She felt a mix of emotions.

She liked Jiang Chao, but she also understood rationally that he wasn’t a good match for her.

She had to sever this entanglement.

Shen Qingwan didn’t expect Jiang Chao to chase after them.

It seemed he wouldn’t give up until he saw Lu Jiao Jiao.

But Shen Qingwan understood what kind of man Jiang Chao was.

Lu Jiao Jiao, a girl just starting to fall in love, was no match for him. If she didn’t act decisively, Lu Jiao Jiao wouldn’t be able to reject his relentless pursuit.

“Jiang Chao, you and Jiao Jiao are not suited for each other. If you keep pestering her, don’t blame me for being ruthless,” Shen Qingwan warned coldly.

Jiang Chao was stubborn, though, and refused to back down.

“Unless Miss Gu kills me, I, Jiang Chao, will never marry anyone but Jiao Jiao. Wherever she goes, I’ll go.”

In order to win a wife, one had to have a bit of shameless determination.

Jiang Chao understood this well and wasn’t about to give up easily.

Shen Qingwan signaled to Rong Yunfei, who rode ahead to block Jiang Chao’s path.

Rong Yunshuang cracked the whip and sped up the carriage.

Shen Qingwan rode ahead, and Lu Jiao Jiao watched as Rong Yunfei pulled Jiang Chao off his horse and gave him a beating.

Jiang Chao still refused to leave, gritting his teeth in defiance.

Lu Jiao Jiao couldn’t bear to watch, so she closed the curtain.

After Rong Yunfei finished beating Jiang Chao, he caught up with them.

Thinking about how Jiang Chao refused to give up even after such a beating, Rong Yunfei couldn’t help but feel a bit of admiration for him.

“This kid’s tough. After getting beaten like that, he still won’t leave. I reckon he’ll catch up soon. Miss, do you want me to take care of him?”

“Let him be,” Shen Qingwan replied with a wave of her hand. “Let’s speed up.”

Rong Yunshuang cracked the whip again, and the carriage accelerated.

Compared to earlier, Gu Qingwan seemed more somber, but Rong Yunfei and Rong Yunshuang were in much better spirits, as they had avenged their great hatred.

The Third Prince had already received his deserved punishment.

Although they hadn’t personally taken revenge, their enemies were dead, and they felt no regret.