Her thoughts were seen through, and Lady Geng stared fixedly at Shen Xihe.
"It's not worth it, my lady." Ignoring Lady Geng's icy gaze, Shen Xihe lowered her head and smoothed the water sleeves draped over her knees. "Do you believe that if you hang yourself at the palace gate, I can have you moved to the mass graves immediately after, making everyone think you vanished out of overwhelming shame?"
Lady Geng trembled violently. "You..."
Tilting her head slightly and raising an eyebrow with a radiant smile, Shen Xihe said, "Don't waste your efforts. If you wish to die, I'll grant your wish. Once you leave the palace, you won't last long."
"If I die, it will be the palace silencing me!" Lady Geng snarled.
"Unfortunately, you've already made a scene about dying once before. No one would think that way about a repeat offender." Shen Xihe spoke with a hint of regret.
"You're not the princess! You're not the princess—" Lady Geng suddenly shrieked, "The princess would never be like this..."
Lady Geng had raised Shen Xihe for a time—not briefly, yet not too long either. Shen Xihe possessed such intelligence and wit but not such a cold, hardened heart. The person before her was far too unfamiliar.
"Heh..." Shen Xihe chuckled softly. "Lady Geng can't even see herself clearly, yet you believe you've seen through others."
"What did you say?!"
"I've never understood why Uncle Geng would betray my father. At his age, with no son to inherit his legacy, what would he gain from such elaborate schemes? Even if he succeeded, it would only bring fleeting satisfaction. How many years could he truly reign as Northwest King?" Shen Xihe's piercing gaze settled on Lady Geng's face. "To take such a great risk, at the cost of betraying all and ruining his reputation in old age, just to pledge allegiance to Your Majesty—it doesn't align with Uncle Geng's character. Unless..."
Shen Xihe deliberately paused. Lady Geng's pupils contracted, and Shen Xihe knew her conjecture was correct. "It was you. You couldn't bear the pain of losing your son, weeping day after day, whispering incessantly by Uncle Geng's pillow, planting the seed of madness in him. His love and respect for you drove him down this path of no return."
"Nonsense!" Lady Geng retorted sharply, then her eyes grew vacant. "I didn't... You're lying! It wasn't me!"
"Geng Zhongji deserved to die. How many innocent people did he harm? You always used wealth to evade consequences, but did you never once suffer nightmares?" Shen Xihe couldn't comprehend how some could disregard others' familial bonds for the sake of their own flesh and blood.
Selfishness came naturally—she understood that. But for a couple once so upright and honorable to become so distorted, callous, and immoral merely because of a long-lost child... It was something she, having never experienced such a loss, found difficult to grasp.
"A'Zhong was my only child. He was lost because both his parents were devoted to defending the nation. He fell into the hands of traffickers, endured suffering across many places. If he hadn't been lost, if he had stayed by my side, how could he have turned out this way?" Lady Geng's eyes burned with madness and obsession. "We owed him this. The people of the northwest owed him! They only lost a daughter—we saved their entire family!"
Shen Xihe watched quietly as the deranged woman before her—once gentle and virtuous—now rendered unreasonable and terrifyingly obsessive, all by the agony of losing a child.A bold suspicion took root in her heart. She rose to her feet. "Since you miss him so deeply, go and keep him company."
After indifferently uttering these words, Shen Xihe stood up and left, paying no heed to Madam Geng's cowering.
Returning to her bedchamber, she found Xiao Huayong seated by the window in the main room, engrossed in reading one of her books—a volume documenting rare flora, annotated in her own hand. He seemed thoroughly absorbed.
"Confirmed?" Xiao Huayong asked abruptly upon her return.
Though others might find the question cryptic, Shen Xihe understood perfectly. She gave a slight nod. "Beyond doubt. Barring unforeseen circumstances, we'll capture them tonight."
While the Geng couple knew Shen Xihe and her brother well, Shen Xihe was equally familiar with them. Could Geng Liangcheng's sudden ambition after pledging allegiance to the Emperor truly stem solely from Geng Zhongji's death?
Madam Geng was an inner-quarter woman. Households in the northwest tended to be simpler—due to wartime turmoil, few men kept multiple concubines. Most marriages were monogamous, forged through shared survival, and the region's former poverty left little room for frivolous pleasures. Thus, women like Madam Geng were unlikely to harbor complex schemes.
Her sudden appearance clutching Geng Liangcheng's memorial tablet struck Shen Xihe as peculiar, though grief could drive people to clever or extreme acts. Shen Xihe had only grown suspicious and decided to test the waters personally.
Geng Liangcheng's betrayal had indeed been nurtured by Madam Geng's constant harping, allowing his resentment to fester until it spiraled beyond control, driving him into the Emperor's arms.
Shen Xihe now suspected someone behind Madam Geng—someone who periodically reminded her of Geng Zhongji's death, gradually erasing his misdeeds from her memory while magnifying his tragic end. This influence then seeped into Geng Liangcheng.
This same person must have advised Madam Geng. By explicitly threatening her life, Shen Xihe had provoked her. Human nature dictates that while one might bravely face death on their own terms, having their life threatened by another sparks fear. And fear drives people to seek their pillars of strength.
"Perceiving the profound from the subtle—Youyou, you never cease to amaze me." Xiao Huayong admitted he hadn't deduced so much.
"You simply don't know them well enough." Shen Xihe didn't consider herself remarkable. Her thoughts drifted further. "Beichen, I even suspect Geng Zhongji might not have been the real Geng Zhongji."
From the very beginning, this had been a meticulously laid plan—all to make Geng Liangcheng, the last person Shen Yueshan would ever expect to betray him, turn traitor.
"This bears the Emperor's signature tactics." Xiao Huayong closed the book, pondered a moment, then confirmed Shen Xihe's suspicion.
The Youning Emperor excelled at the unexpected.
"So, the Northwest King's city still harbors the Emperor's spies." Shen Xihe's tone was cool.
"Likely not many." After all, under Shen Yueshan's watchful eye, infiltration wouldn't be easy. "This time, we can follow the trail and uproot these remaining stragglers completely."
"Once captured, behead them all and deliver their heads to the Emperor's desk." A chill glinted in Shen Xihe's eyes.Xiao Huayong couldn't help but chuckle softly, pulling Shen Xihe into his embrace and holding her tightly with rare affection: "My Youyou, you truly bewitch me..."
Every facet of her made his heart pound like a drum, beating uncontrollably fast.
He was truly poisoned by a toxin called Shen Xihe—incurable, penetrating deep into his very being.
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