The three sisters waited anxiously for news, too worried to pay attention to anyone else.

Shi Chun took the opportunity to secretly bring Wu Jinliang to the backyard, into the room where Fan Wuzhe lived, and had Wu Jinliang lift the floor tiles to escape underground.

Before he left, Shi Chun reminded him again, "If the City Guard doesn't come, that's fine, but if they do, have Huang Yingying turn herself in according to my instructions immediately."

"Don't worry, be careful, I'm off." Wu Jinliang said, then went underground.

Shi Chun quickly restored the floor tile to its original state…

The body couldn't be stuck on the wall of the pit forever; it eventually had to be retrieved.

A deal that played out like a mantis stalking a cicada, unaware of the oriole behind, ended almost anti-climactically after a tumult of undercurrents.

In the dim wilderness, standing amidst the undulating blades of grass with her back to the scene of the bodies being collected, Li Xianghong's long hair drifted in the wind. She gazed into the distance, not believing that this upheaval had ended in collapse. Perhaps someone had already achieved their goal, like the person who sent the Mother-child Talisman…

Standing on the city wall, watching the last of the light disappear on the horizon, the Inner Court Captain Lou Xiu toyed with a Mother-child Talisman in his hand, mumbling, "To think you mastered Li Xianghong's secret actions. Who are you really?"

The owner of the Mother-child Talisman said Dong Wenshu knew the whereabouts of Huang Yingying, and Fan Wuzhe claimed it was Dong Wenshu who compelled him to make the deal. So, does Dong Wenshu have any connection to that behind-the-scenes manipulator?

Regardless, he no longer intended to investigate. This matter was over, having sacrificed Mei You to clear his name; he did not wish for any further entanglements.

Po Yuan returned to the city with Li Xianghong, and upon arrival in the city mountains, a female attendant brought Fan Wuzhe over for explanation.

Fan Wuzhe had been tortured, and severely so.

Because of Fan Wuzhe's stubbornness, refusing to confess despite everything, if not for being caught by Mei You's setup, he would never have agreed to Mei You's plot against his own kin.

Now he was even more unwilling for anyone to know he was betraying his own family, so he gritted his teeth and endured.

However, this place would not be polite to him, unable to deceive us, you rode away from the city gates with the fine Lin horse, and along the way threw something for the deal, all facts. How could you say you knew nothing and expect us to stop? They tortured him mercilessly.

How many can withstand such harsh punishment? He hovered between life and death several times, the skin and flesh of his limbs were peeled off, and eventually, he couldn't hold out, he confessed.

The issue began in Yao Yue City, on Fan Wuzhe's family's side. He lost control and defiled a City Guard's family member, and in panic, killed her to silence her. Afterward, he vaguely realized he had been drugged, but having committed the murder to silence, he couldn't turn back.

Later captured across regions in Dazhi City by Mei You and interrogated, assumed he secured silence through a deal, he suspected the behind-the-scenes manipulator was Mei You.

The reason he married Dong Liangyu was to enter Chao Yue Hall to assist secretly, to leave loopholes in the taxes for Mei You to exploit as leverage against Chao Yue Hall. Then Dong Wenshu, whether he wanted to or not, would have to give up the ancestral house, either save people or lose both people and the house, what other choice?

The Mother-child Talisman that manipulated Fan Wuzhe to ride to the East City Gate for the transaction was presented to Li Xianghong, showing no talisman linking to Fan Wuzhe was found on Mei You.

Logically, this was unlikely; Mei You was caught unexpectedly, with no time to hide evidence. According to Fan Wuzhe's confession, he was in communication with Mei You during this period. The other talisman should have been on Mei You.

But indeed, it was not found.

So they used the 'Mother and Child Magic Plate' to verify the talisman on Fan Wuzhe, but no trace of the other half of the talisman was found; it likely was either destroyed or taken out of Juku State.

Po Yuan, listening, wasn't clear on the details due to the incidents involving two of his trusted lieutenants; he paid close attention and questioned for details.

After clarifying the context, he glanced at the wretched Fan Wuzhe, saying, "You claim Mei You likely had no chance to destroy the evidence, the other talisman wasn't found on Mei You; surely something went wrong. Overall, there are only three possibilities: this guy is lying, someone leaked the capture plan on Mei You in advance, rendering your assumption of no chance to destroy false, or at the time it simply wasn't on Mei You."

Li Xianghong, looking at Fan Wuzhe lying on the ground, said, "He has confessed even to that filthy act, no need to lie about this. If someone really leaked beforehand, Mei You would know that destroying the talisman is pointless, what he should do is flee immediately…"

So, only the third possibility remains; she suddenly froze, thinking of something, pacing to stand over Fan Wuzhe, asking condescendingly, "Is there a secret code between the talismans you and Mei You have?"

Fan Wuzhe rolled his powerless eyes weakly, "Yes."

Li Xianghong asked, "At the time of the incident, did you ever have a mismatch of secret codes with Mei You?"

Fan Wuzhe mumbled weakly, "No." Suddenly, thinking of something, his eyes widened a bit.

Everyone saw the abnormality, Li Xianghong asked again, "Was there, or wasn't there?"

Fan Wuzhe gasped heavily, "Before the incident, there was once, once, he forgot to provide the code…" Stating laboriously how he was scolded by Mei You due to untimely code communication at that time.

Suddenly, Po Yuan directly requested the evidence mother and child talisman, squatted down in front of Fan Wuzhe, and asked, "Before Mei You gave you the talisman, did you have any talisman?"

Fan Wuzhe: "No."

Thus, Po Yuan showed him the side mark of the talisman, "The first time I obtained this talisman, I examined it thoroughly; I bet you did too, right? Look closely, is this the talisman Mei You gave you?"

Fan Wuzhe focused his attention hard to look closely, after seeing the mark, his eyes widened immediately, breathing rapidly, clearly agitated, "No, no, this isn't mine…"

Po Yuan impatiently stood up, showing the talisman to the handmaid, "Are you sure this was found on him?"

The handmaid hurriedly replied, "Sir, I am sure; it wasn't just me during the interrogation, it was public evidence-taking, delivered all along, with everyone's eyes on it, no mistake."

Everyone immediately understood, someone had swapped Fan Wuzhe's talisman; seeing Fan Wuzhe suddenly gasping, obviously, he realized it too.

Li Xianghong's face showed a twisted expression, staring at the talisman in Po Yuan's hand for a while before turning to Fan Wuzhe, coldly saying, "You couldn't even notice an issue with just one talisman on you, and Dong Wenshu willing to marry his daughter to you, truly a True Heart wasted on a ghost!"

Po Yuan tossed the talisman back to the handmaid, saying indifferently, "Can't blame him. Unless specially customized, all talismans look similar outside. With a guilty conscience, he wouldn't dare let anyone around spot the talisman on him, not always taking it out to examine. Any discovery would be unintentional. The one who swapped, bold, detailed, daring, must be an old hand at wrongdoing; otherwise they wouldn't dare try such rudimentary means. You or I would be too cautious to use such crude tactics."

He then glanced at the ground-bound Fan Wuzhe, "What needs to be done now is find the person who made the swap. You probably wouldn't dare let it leave your body, needing to touch you for the swap, you must have some inkling of when it happened?"

With the hint to this point, Fan Wuzhe immediately thought of something, grumbling hoarsely, "After seeing Mei You before, no one touched me, only this morning woke up with a heavy head, strange to sleep so heavily last night, if there's a problem, it's last night…"

Gasping heavily, he continued.

No need to say more, everyone understood, Po Yuan and Li Xianghong exchanged glances.

Just then, someone rushed in to report, "City Lord, the head of Chao Yue Hall, Dong Wenshu, has come, requesting to see you."

Po Yuan said, "What a coincidence, he's here to see you, are you well acquainted with the hall master?"

Li Xianghong: "His ancestors were teachers of the Demon Queen, Chao Yue Hall holds many books; sometimes I would sneak in to browse, we count as old friends."

"Since it's not the first time, what harm in browsing books again, if nothing is clear, then everyone in the library becomes suspect, detain them all!" Po Yuan's tone was unequivocal.

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