Chapter 351: Chapter 352

The following day, the two of them went to the Wei Family’s mansion with Jian Qingyue to celebrate the New Year. The entire Wei Family was overjoyed. All the members came out to welcome them.

It took Song Yixiao much time to finish up with Elder Lady Cao and other elders. Then she finally got a chance to talk to Wei Chan alone in her room.

“Why have you lost so much weight these days?” She was already suspicious before she came here. When Song Yixiao met Wei Chan, she almost exclaimed. Wei Chan, who was preparing for her marriage, had somehow become so sick and bony that she didn’t look like a new bride who should be overflowing with joy and shyness. If Song Yixiao didn’t know it, she would have thought Wei Chan was a terminally ill patient who was waiting for death!

Was there really something wrong with the lake?

But why was she safe and sound after having seen Princess Consort of Yi’s floating corpse, while Wei Mengying and the others who were in the capsized boat years later became in trouble?

When they entered the inner room, Song Yixiao was not even in the mood for polite formula. She directly asked, “You are about to get married. How can you not relax and take care of yourself, but instead get into this state?”

“It’s not like you don’t know what happened to me in the past. While I’m happy to have a lifelong trust, how can I not be worried?” Wei Chan saw that there were only two of them in the room and that Jian Qingyue, whom Song Yixiao was holding in her arms, was still young and ignorant, so she didn’t avoid mentioning the thing. She sighed, “How can I tell my husband about such a thing? Even if I tell him, how can he accept it?”

Song Yixiao was relieved to hear it. With Wei Chan’s early experience, it was no wonder that she had been feeling ill before she married.

But she also didn’t know how to deal with this thing. So, she could only say some words of comfort.

Although this trip didn’t help to enlighten Wei Chan, it did help to decrease her own fears about the lake below Cuihua Mountain.

“Chan, don’t be scared!” But Song Yixiao didn’t know that when she left with Jian Xubai and Jian Qingyue, Madam Mu, who had been smiling brightly the moment before, hurriedly gave her trusted servants a few orders and then rushed to Wei Chan’s room at the back, without dealing with the remnants of the feast. She looked at her daughter with worry, who was huddling in the tent and shivering, and said, “January will soon pass. You are going to get married next month. Your aunt has not made a move for so long. Apparently, she also fears the reputation of having killed her ex-husband with her own hands, and does not dare to take a reckless action!”

She sat down on the edge of the bed and reached out to hug her daughter, “After you get married, I will talk to Song Yixiao for you to make Jian Xubai find a job for Cheng Chongjun, far away from the imperial capital! After all, your aunt is only a native of the imperial capital. As long as you leave this place, what can she do to you?”

“Why does she need to send someone out of the city to harm me?” Wei Chan leaned her head on Madam Mu’s arm. Even though Wei Chan was wearing her thick winter coat, Madam Mu still clearly felt her daughter’s jagged bones under the coat, which broke her heart. She heard her daughter choke out, “She just…just needs to privately tell my husband what I have experienced in the prince’s mansion back then! Mother, what do you think will be my end?”

“She wouldn’t dare.” Madam Mu held back her heartache. She settled her mind and continued to coax Wei Chan gently, “Song Yuan’s death happened in the middle of last year. But Song Yixiao doesn’t know anything about it by now. If she knows it, with her husband’s current power, it will only be a matter of words to trouble us. So, why would she bother to act diplomatically with us, let alone pay us a visit in person?”

“So your aunt didn’t tell her anything at all!”

“She knows that someone wants to kill her, but she doesn’t even dare to reveal it to her own daughter. You can tell how apprehensive your aunt is. Maybe she is even more distressed than you are!”

Madam Mu did her best to comfort her daughter, “After all, Song Yuan was Song Yixiao’s biological father. Even though he had never treated her well before, a few days before his death, there was a tendency for them to reconcile. If he were alive, he would have been Song Yixiao and her mother’s backer! But her father was actually killed by her own mother. If she knows the truth, how will she not blame your aunt?”

“Even though she will resent Aunt, she would resent me even more, wouldn’t she?” Wei Chan buried her head in her lap and cried out in despair, “After all, if we hadn’t plotted to harm Aunt, this would not have happened. Mother, do you know? Even Madam Lu, Song Yixiao’s stepmother, said the same thing!”

“She?” Madam Mu laughed coldly at her words and said pointedly, “She said that? She got the nerve to say that! If it weren’t for the fear that word would get out, I’d go to the Song Family’s mansion to ask her about it. She’s been married to the Song Family for years, and she’s had three kids. But she still can’t keep her husband’s heart with her. Song Yuan insisted on ending up with his ex-wife. Marquis Yuan had it all well planned. If it weren’t for the fact that he had to kill your aunt with his own hands…”

Speaking of this, Madam Mu took a breath, then she continued to say with hatred, “How would things have been this way?”

Earlier, when Yuan Xuepei had the desire to kill Wei Mengying, he had secretly contacted Song Yuan, Wei Chan and the others, who had personal grudges against Wei Mengying. Then he lured Lu Chai’er and Cao Lianxiu to operate from within with money and other benefits in order to get away with the attack.

He had done this for the sake of safety. Lu Guanyun and his two siblings were too young, so they could be ignored for the time being. The only people who would be investigating Wei Mengying’s death were the Wei Family, Song Yixiao and the Prince of Hengshan’s Family.

If he dragged Wei Chan and Lu Chai’er down with him, the Wei Family would only cover this thing up for him. Even if Prince of Hengshan noticed something, he would probably turn the big problem into a small one for the sake of his daughter. As for Song Yixiao, she could not reveal her own father.

In this way, even if something happened, he would have a chance to mediate.

With such a meticulous mind, there would be no major problems with his arrangement. When the boat capsized, he would make Wei Chan and Lu Chai’er, who had secretly learnt to swim, drown Wei Mengying in the lake, and that would be the end of it!

This plan was simple and brutal, but was also very straightforward.

Jian Qingyue had just recovered from her illness, and Song Yixiao, a new mother, was so nervous about her daughter that she even turned down Cao Lianxiu’s invitation. If Wei Mengying had died right then and there, even if Song Yixiao wanted to investigate the cause, she would not have been able to do her utmost for she was distracted from her daughter!

In that case, Yuan Xuepei and the others would have been able to muddle through and bury the truth in the lake once and for all!

Song Yuan had already agreed with this plan. But after he met with Wei Mengying by chance outside the residence and had a private conversation, he suddenly requested that he should take action himself! No one knew how he had been stimulated.

Yuan Xuepei refused the request without hesitation. At that time, no one would have thought that Song Yuan would be killed by Wei Mengying instead of killing her. Yuan Xuepei opposed it purely because he thought there would be too much trouble to deal with in the aftermath. After all, after the boat capsized, Lu Chai’er and Wei Chan swam to Wei Mengying and they could say that they were trying to save her. The failure to save her was, of course, an accident.

Without proof, who would dare to say that Wei Mengying’s niece and a concubine daughter, who apparently had no conflict of interest with her, would harm her?

But Song Yuan, as Wei Mengying’s ex-husband and a man, would be suspicious if he approached Wei Mengying in full view of the public. So if Song Yuan had to do it himself, he couldn’t choose the lake as the place where he would kill Wei Mengying!

And it was impossible for a Princess Consort to die without a plausible reason!

Prince of Hengshan was not like Prince of Yi. He was not as close as Prince of Yi in respect of bloodline. But he was much better than Prince of Yi in terms of power and status.

If his step-wife, whom he had always loved, was gone, how could he not investigate this case?

To concoct a reason that would convince Prince of Hengshan would not only be troublesome, but also unnecessary when there was a better plan!

At last, Song Yuan didn’t get what he wanted by pestering Yuan Xuepei. But before the attack, Song Yuan contacted Wei Chan and Lu Chai’er under the guise of Yuan Xuepei and changed Yuan Xuepei’s arrangement!

In fact, Madam Mu was wrong to put all the blame on Song Yuan, because it was not likely that Wei Chan and Lu Chai’er didn’t notice Song Yuan’s deception at that time. After all, they knew Yuan Xuepei’s style of dealing with matters after nearly a year of contact. Marquis Boling would never change his arrangement at the last moment!

The problem was that although both of them didn’t care about Wei Mengying’s life, whether out of habitual fear of Wei Mengying or the tender hearts of the young ladies, they were afraid of drowning Wei Mengying with their own hands anyway.

So when they heard that Song Yuan was willing to do this, they were more or less relieved. In this state of mind, they pretended not to figure out Song Yuan’s deception.

Therefore, after the boat capsized, they didn’t listen to Yuan Xuepei’s advice to drown Wei Mengying, but followed Song Yuan’s request to save her ashore. They tricked her into the valley and then left. They thought that Song Yuan was at least a man in his prime, and even if he didn’t arrange for his guards to help him in the dark, he wouldn’t have any problems facing Wei Mengying alone.

So when they saw the former couple reunite, they quickly walked away to figure out what to say after Wei Mengying’s death.

Who would have thought that the dead one was not Wei Mengying, who was defenseless and fell into the trap, but Song Yuan, who was armed with a sharp blade and full of murderous intent?

Yuan Xuepei, in order to extricate himself from suspicion, didn’t send people to the lake that day. Only when news of the capsized boat of Wei Mengying and the others spread to Cuihua Mountain did he realize that he had been trapped by his teammates. Then he began to remedy the situation in a flurry. However, when his people arrived in the valley, Song Yuan was dead and Yu Shiheng and the others were searching the area.

It was not too late to kill Wei Mengying. But what should he do afterwards?

If the former couple died in the valley at the same time, even a fool would know that there was something inside.

Yuan Xuepei’s people could only watch as Wei Mengying waited at the entrance of the valley for Yu Shiheng’s group to arrive.

Fortunately, Wei Mengying was scared and also covered up the fact that she had killed Song Yuan. Then Emperor Xianjia died. In this way, both sides had been calm so far. However, everyone knew that such peace couldn’t last for long!

“What’s the use of talking about this now?” Wei Chan clutched her head and shouted hysterically, “I should have listened to Marquis Yuan’s advice. There is no regret medicine in the world. Aunt won’t let me go! She has been silent for the past six months, just like last time. She wants me to die, but she also wants me to suffer enough before I die and to die in disgrace at last. She won’t be satisfied unless the Wei Family is dragged into this case!”

“Kid, listen to me!” Madam Mu bit her lip, hugged Wei Chan tightly and sneered, “Don’t you understand by now? Your aunt will never dare to tell the truth!”

She analyzed the matter, “If the truth is revealed, it will be justifiable for her to kill that trash Song Yuan. But how could she, a pampered noblewoman, be so capable of killing Song Yuan and get away with it after that?”

“Marquis Yuan personally checked the place after he arrived. He said that Song Yuan was killed because…” Wei Chan’s subconscious reply was interrupted by Madam Mu, “The traces in the valley have been destroyed by Marquis Yuan. Even Song Yuan is claimed to have died in the old mansion in the imperial capital. What can your aunt use to prove that she killed Song Yuan with a few long blades of grass and a hairpin?”

Madam Mu laughed coldly, “Although Song Yuan was from a scholarly family and entered the court as a proper civil office, he was a descendant of Jiangnan Hall! How could the only son who would inherit the family’s legacy not have learnt a few battle skills to defend himself? Not to mention that Song Yuan was carrying a blade at that time!”

She said meaningfully, “Your aunt was able to kill him. Anyone who thinks about it can only assume that she took advantage of their former affection as a couple and Song Yuan’s constant longing for her to seduce him! Then she was able to kill him in turn when Song Yuan ignored the situation and became careless!”

“Think about it. What kind of situation were you in when you entered the valley? You had just come up from the lake!”

“Her dress was wet!”

“Wasn’t the reason you used to coax her into the valley that you were afraid that she would be seen in an indecent manner?”

“In that situation, who knows what would happen when they were in the valley alone and Song Yuan had hatred against your aunt because of his love?”

“The people who brought her back that night were the guards from the mansion of Duke of Yan!”

“She changed her clothes and jewels and went back neatly dressed!”

“Who knows what she looked like when the guards found her? Maybe she was not fit to be seen. But those guards were from Song Yixiao’s mansion. How could they not help cover up for the mother of their hostess?”

Madam Mu followed this logic and spoke more and more fluently, “You aunt only has two backers. One is Prince of Hengshan, who favors her. The other is your cousin, Song Yixiao!”

“But she killed your cousin’s biological father with her own hands. She hasn’t even told Song Yixiao about it so far. So it is hard to say whether Song Yixiao will still be willing to be her backer once word of this matter spreads!”

“As for Prince of Hengshan, he really favors her. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have allowed her to stir up trouble in his own mansion for all these years!”

“However, no matter how enchanted Prince of Hengshan is, if he suspects that she has cheated on him, even if that person is her ex-husband, will he just ignore it?”

“Your aunt was extraordinarily beautiful when she was young and she had both Song Yuan and Prince of Hengshan in her pocket because of this. But how old is she now? Although Prince of Hengshan is older than her, he has always been strong and healthy. If there is no accident, he will live another twenty years!”

“Even if she keeps on coaxing Prince of Hengshan, it is questionable whether she will always be favored alone for the rest of his life!”

“Not to mention if her loyalty is suspected!”

Madam Mu stroked her daughter’s hair and looked at her as Wei Chan gradually stopped sobbing. Madam Mu was relieved in her heart and said softly, “So, kid, why should you be so afraid of her? She is also afraid of us now, isn’t she? The worst situation will at most be that we turn against each other and no one lives a good life. But your aunt waited so long for Dowager Consort of Hengshan to die. Then Lu Guanlun, who was supported by Dowager Consort of Hengshan, was adopted by others. The way to be the heir of the prince that she has paved for her son is about to succeed. Do you think she is willing to destroy her life together with us?”