“Allow me to ask you, Mrs. Liang, did you personally hear Duke Lou say this verse was for divining Liang Wan’s fate from her birth chart?”

Mrs. Liang froze, then honestly shook her head. “…No, but, but I—”

Zhou Yun cut her off with a laugh. “So, not only did you hear this through the grapevine, Mrs. Liang, but you only have a partial understanding. You don’t even know the whole story, yet you want to sentence someone to death based on half a phrase!”

Mrs. Liang’s face went white, and she could only stammer.

Feng Qingyue exclaimed in surprise, “Half a phrase? How could it be half a phrase? There was clearly only that one line!”

Zhou Yun raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Oh? Could it be that you were present when the Duke was performing his divination, Lady Feng?”

“I… I wasn’t there, of course, but… but that can’t be right—”

Feng Qingyue’s face crumpled. Other than denials, she was at a loss for words. ‘How could it be different from what I was told? Were they deliberately hiding something from me…?’

Chancellor Cao asked, puzzled, “What is the second half of the verse?”

“The second half,” Zhou Yun said slowly, “is: *Reborn from nirvana to soar on high, whose family will ultimately decide the fate of the world?*”

‘Reborn from nirvana?’

‘What could be described as achieving nirvana? And… deciding the fate of the world?’

All eyes fell upon the face of the woman who had been beaten so badly she could barely stand.

Chancellor Cao’s heart jolted. He stared at Liang Wan, his brow deeply furrowed.

Mrs. Liang looked as if she’d seen a ghost, staring blankly at Liang Wan, her mind reeling in disbelief.

Liang Wan explained, “When I saw the Duke that day, he mentioned this verse. He said it was his regular divination for the fate of our nation, Daqi, not to read my birth chart. I never imagined it would be twisted and misunderstood, let alone spread as a malicious rumor.”

She fought through the pain, and though her voice trembled, every word was clear.

The crowd erupted in a flurry of discussion.

Chancellor Cao glanced at Liang Wan, and the anxiety in his heart subsided. He was relieved it wasn’t about her personal fate.

But then he furrowed his brow, lost in thought. ‘If it doesn’t refer to an individual, does it mean that Daqi will be revitalized after this war?’

‘Unfortunately, the Duke has passed away, so we can’t ask him for the truth.’

Feng Qingyue snapped back to her senses and pointed at Liang Wan. “You’re lying! The Duke obviously wanted to kill you!”

Liang Wan’s eyes narrowed. ‘Feng Qingyue knows quite a bit!’

She lowered her gaze and smiled faintly. “And who told you the Duke wanted to kill me?”

Feng Qingyue scoffed. “Stop putting on an act. How do you explain being carried out of the Duke Mansion on the day of Lou Xu Ru’s funeral?”

Liang Wan raised her eyes, her gaze cold. “The Duke said he and I were fated. Knowing his time was near, he summoned me to give me some words of guidance. He even began to personally teach me the art of divination. Unfortunately, my old shoulder injury flared up, and I fainted when he was only halfway through the lesson.”

“Divination?” Feng Qingyue laughed as if she’d heard the funniest joke in the world. “And since when do *you* know anything about divination?” she sneered.

Chancellor Cao and the others also looked at Liang Wan in astonishment.

Liang Wan didn’t flinch, meeting their gazes openly. “Is the art of divination something one can master in a single lesson?”

She then turned to Chancellor Cao. “Your Excellency must have wondered how I had a solution for every problem. This is the reason. The relief grain for the disaster, the herbs for the epidemic—I had them all prepared long in advance.”

As she spoke, Liang Wan beckoned to Qiuxi, who had been waiting a long time at the edge of the crowd.

“Liang Ji.”

Qiuxi, who could no longer contain herself, was the first to push through the crowd. Feng Ting followed close behind her, along with several workers carrying two large wooden chests.

The crowd watched this strange development with curiosity.

Qiuxi’s face was a mask of anxiety. She rushed straight to Liang Wan, her eyes welling with tears of distress. Suppressing her anger, she turned to Chancellor Cao.

“Your Excellency, I was originally Liang Ji’s personal maid. When she learned that Jinye might face such a crisis, she grew worried. Fearing that news of it would leak and cause a panic, Liang Ji granted me my freedom and had me secretly prepare grain and medicine in advance for when they would be needed.”

She pointed to the chests the workers were holding and ordered them opened. “Inside are all the records of procurement and stockpiling from when I first started the grain and medicine shops. Anyone with doubts is free to inspect them!”

Some in the crowd were curious, but with Chancellor Cao and other officials present, they didn’t dare to step forward. They could only crane their necks, trying to peek inside the chests. ‘Did she really receive the Duke’s guidance?’

With a faint smile, Liang Wan walked to the chests, bent down, and casually picked out two ledgers. She handed them to Chancellor Cao. “Perhaps Your Excellency could check them for everyone.”

Chancellor Cao glanced at the crowd before calmly taking the ledgers. As he flipped through the pages, his brow furrowed ever more tightly. The dates and times of the transactions recorded within could not be falsified. The preparations had indeed begun long before the drought and the epidemic…

‘Can it be that she truly had the approval of Duke Lou Jing?’

Chancellor Cao closed the ledgers and nodded. “They are indeed authentic.”

Instantly, the crowd erupted as if a hornet’s nest had been kicked, their buzzing discussions filling the air.

‘So, not only did Liang Wan not curse the Duke to death, she was actually favored by him?’

Zhou Yun, perfectly at ease, let his peach-blossom eyes curve into a smile. “Does anyone have any further questions?”

The crowd stared at him, bewildered, not understanding his meaning.

The smile vanished from Zhou Yun’s face. He looked toward a figure who had been standing behind the crowd for some time and called out clearly, “Jiang Hujun, if you would!”

The people, puzzled, followed his gaze. They were shocked to discover that, at some point, they had been surrounded by the Imperial Guard.

The Central Guard commander, his demeanor as hard as black steel, spoke in a frigid tone:

“By order of His Majesty: anyone stirring up trouble and maliciously spreading false rumors here today is suspected of being a spy sent from Beizhou, taking advantage of the situation to sow chaos. Their intent is to demoralize our troops and incite unrest among our people during this time of war. Such intentions are truly vile!”

With a wave of his hand, he commanded, “Take them all away! Interrogate every last one!”

The Imperial Guard answers only to the Emperor.

All distinctions between noble and commoner vanished. The air filled with suppressed cries and wails.

Feng Qingyue’s face was ashen. She couldn’t understand how the situation had turned so drastically, and she stared blankly as the imperial guards began making arrests.

It wasn’t until a guard seized her by the arm that she snapped out of it. She began to shriek, one moment screaming for Cao Luyun, the next reviling Liang Wan.

Cao Luyun looked as if her soul had fled her body. She was deathly pale and seemed on the verge of collapse.

Chancellor Cao and the others gave Cao Luyun a strange look, wondering why Feng Qingyue was calling out to her.

Liang Wan glanced at the pale, frozen figure and sighed inwardly. ‘What a shame. I was so close.’

She walked up to Feng Qingyue, her voice ringing out over her cries for Cao Luyun. “No one can save you now!”

The sight of Liang Wan made Feng Qingyue’s eyes burn with hatred. She began to curse like a madwoman as the imperial guard struggled to restrain her.

Liang Wan lowered her voice and said softly, “I warned you before. The one protecting me isn’t Prince Guangping…”

‘Entrusting yourself to a man like Prince Guangping was truly an unwise move!’

Humiliated and enraged, Feng Qingyue shrieked, “You bitch! I hope you die a horrible death—”

Liang Wan just smiled, unfazed. “This time, I’m afraid you’re the one who won’t be dying a good death.”

‘After all, I’ve seen with my own eyes the torture that female assassin endured.’

That confident, victorious smile stung Feng Qingyue to the core. She screamed herself hoarse, struggling with all her might.

Liang Wan took a step back and gave her a long, deep look. “Weren’t you ever curious why I haven’t had any guards with me lately?”

Feng Qingyue fell silent, her mouth hanging open as she stared, dumbfounded, at Liang Wan.

‘So, she was waiting for me to make a move all along…’

Just then, the Central Guard commander approached Liang Wan, his attitude now quite respectful.

“His Majesty has said that we will require your cooperation, madam, to identify suspicious persons later on.”

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