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Lu Lizhang, suddenly recalling something that made him feel guilty, retreated a step back. Gazing at the princess consort’s beautiful and serene face, he fled the scene in a panic.

The princess consort sighed and walked into the room.

Once upon a time, the princess consort, Lu Lizhang, and General Fan’s younger brother, Fan Changtu, were very close friends, growing up together.

The princess consort and Fan Changtu developed a secret affection for each other, mutually in love. Just when they were discussing marriage, war broke out, and Fan Changtu had to leave for the battlefield. The war was brutal, and Fan Changtu was severely injured, remaining unconscious for half a year before he finally recovered.

Knowing about Fan Changtu and the princess consort’s relationship, General

Fan immediately wrote a letter to the princess consort, informing her of Fan Changtu’s condition.

However, Lu Lizhang accidentally came across this letter, read it, burned it, and then falsely claimed that Fan Changtu had died in battle.

The princess consort, heartbroken, later married Lu Lizhang. When Fan Changtu learned of this, he married a woman on the frontier out of sorrow and settled there, returning to the capital only a few times over the years.

The princess consort remained unaware of this truth even until now…

The night sky was filled with stars.

In the General’s Mansion.

In the kitchen, Tang Jinghong lifted dumplings out of the pot onto a plate for

Chu Qingzhi, “I made these especially for you. Try them.”

Chu Qingzhi smelled them, “Aren’t you supposed to be someone who can’t make dumplings?”

“I just learned.” Tang Jinghong served himself a plate, but Lu Yichen suddenly appeared and snatched it away, “Ever since you met Qingzhi, you’ve practically become a master chef.”

Tang Jinghong had no choice but to serve another plate, “Can’t you do it yourself?”

Lu Yichen sat down at the table, “As the fearsome Third Master Lu of the underworld, when have you ever seen me get my own food?”

“Do you need me to feed you too?”

Lu Yichen offered his chopsticks to Tang Jinghong with both hands, “If it’s not too much trouble for you, I wouldn’t mind.

Tang Jinghong took the chopsticks and handed them to Chu Qingzhi. “You’re pushing your luck.”

Lu Yichen grabbed another pair of chopsticks and passed one to Tang Jinghong, “I never pass up a chance to take advantage of my brother!

Tang Jinghong retorted, “Want to take a knife for me too?”

Lu Yichen replied, “A plate of dumplings isn’t worth taking a knife for, right?

Tang Jinghong then mentioned, “I heard Lu Lizhang has a shipment of sulfur arriving at Xishan for a handover tomorrow. I want to know who the buyer is.” “So, you’ve been waiting for me,” Lu Yichen realized, “Leave it to me.

Tang Jinghong turned to Chu Qingzhi with concern, “How’s the investigation at the Ning residence going?”

“We’ve figured out the matter with the cotton seeds and the sachet,” Chu Qingzhi shared, “Also, there’s something I haven’t told you. It’s very likely that Yuting’s parents were murdered.”

Tang Jinghong’s brow furrowed, “Murdered?”

“Yes…” After Chu Qingzhi relayed what Xu Hehua had told her, she added, “1 plan to visit the site of Yuting’s parents’ accident tomorrow to determine whether it was truly an accident or foul play.”

Tang Jinghong offered, “I’ll go with you.”

Chu Qingzhi declined, “No need. I’ve arranged for Third Brother and Lihua to accompany me. You focus on your matters.

“Just be careful,” he cautioned.

“Yeah.”

At the Chu Residence.

After breakfast, Li Qingyu stopped Chu Qingzhi, “Qingzhi, mom and dad have decided to go back home.”

“When are you leaving?”

Li Qingyu, anxious to return home, had already packed, “We’ll leave in a bit.

I’ve packed everything.”

Chu Qingzhi didn’t hold them back. Having been away for nearly half a month was already their limit, “Then I’ll escort you out of the city. I need to leave the city as well.”

“Okay, I’ll go grab our things.”

Once everything was loaded onto the carriage, they set off. Before leaving the city, they went to bid farewell to Chu Qingyue.

Chu Qingyue, reluctant to part with her family, accompanied them for a long distance before returning.

Now, only Chu Qingzhi, Chu Xujin, Ge Lihua, Chu Qingning, and Wu Yaqing remained in the capital.

Chu Qingzhi led Chu Xujin, Ge Lihua, and Xu Hehua to the mountain path where Ning Yuting’s parents had their accident.

Chu Qingzhi asked Xu Hehua to describe the scene of that day.

The harrowing moment was something Xu Hehua, despite her mental instability, could never forget.

She looked up at the slope, moved to where she had jumped from the carriage, and recounted, “The carriage was here when I saw the boulder rolling down. I jumped to the side while the carriage continued forward…”

After describing the incident, she walked towards a boulder, “This is the rock that hit the carriage.”

Then she pointed to a damaged tree, “This mark was made by the crashing carriage.”

Finally, she indicated a direction on the slope above, “Someone ran down from behind that cluster of wild chrysanthemums.”

“Let’s go up and take a look.” Chu Qingzhi flew up the slope.

Chu Xujin, looking at Ge Lihua for help, saw Ge Lihua take his hand and fly up with him.

Chu Qingzhi, noticing their intertwined hands, smiled. Had they finally come together?

“It’s unlikely that such a large rock was moved from elsewhere; it must have originally been on this slope…” She hadn’t finished speaking when she spotted a large pit, matching the size of the boulder. This pit was where the boulder had been.

Chu Xujin jumped into the pit, its edge as high as his waist, “Assuming the boulder rolled down on its own, how heavy a rain would it take to loosen the soil this much?”

Ge Lihua added, “It would require conditions for a mudslide, but there was only a few hours of heavy rain…”

Chu Xujin looked around and concluded, “So, the assumption doesn’t hold. This must have been done by someone.”

Chu Qingzhi agreed.

Chu Xujin expressed concern, “Sister, it’s been over a year since the incident, and there are few clues left at the scene. It’s going to be very difficult to investigate.”

Chu Qingzhi remained silent. They would need to take an unconventional approach to solve this.

Several military officers arrived on horseback. The leading officer dismounted and greeted her, “Miss Chu Qingzhi, a headless body was found in the Ruan River. The lord has requested your assistance in the investigation.”

Chu Qingzhi nodded, “Let’s go and take a look.”

At the Ruan River.

A crowd had gathered to watch as a headless corpse lay on the riverbank. “Make way, make way…” The officers cleared a path for Chu Qingzhi to approach the body.

Ren Buqing greeted her, “Thank you for your assistance, Miss Chu Qingzhi.” Chu Qingzhi replied, “No need for formalities.” She then got straight to the point, “Have you identified the victim?”

“Without a head, it’s difficult to confirm,” Ren Buqing said, somewhat helplessly. “We haven’t received any missing person reports recently, making it hard to identify.”

Chu Qingzhi turned to Chu Xujin, “Third brother, could you bring Da Bai here?

“Right away,” Chu Xujin quickly left to fetch Da Bai.