He Qing suddenly felt disheartened.
She had originally thought that as long as she took out the key, Feng Linyuan would be tempted and agree to her subsequent requests.
However, to her surprise, the key had no effect on Feng Linyuan at all.
By this point, it was impossible to take the thing back. Reluctantly, she placed the key on the edge of the table, lowered her head, and knelt there dejectedly.
Bai Zheng, who had been sitting leisurely on one side watching the show, finally spoke up, "Just now I heard you say that you want to avenge the old marquis?"
He Qing abruptly raised her head and replied firmly, "Yes!"
Bai Zheng shifted into a more comfortable sitting position, crossing her right leg over her left. With a gentle curve of her lips, she asked, "Then how do you plan to take revenge?"
Hearing this, He Qing narrowed her eyes slightly and looked ahead with a grim expression. "I've been by that scoundrel Zhao Yujin's side for so many years. I have plenty of his dirty secrets in my hands. As long as the marquis gives the order, I can cooperate with the marquis from the inside and uproot the Zhao family completely."
Bai Zheng casually glanced at Feng Linyuan. Seeing that his expression remained calm, she pretended to be confused and asked, "Madam doesn't understand. What does the old marquis's revenge have to do with the Zhao family?"
"He Qing said, "Madam may not know that back then, in order to marry that scoundrel Zhao Yujin, I stayed by his side for a long time. I found out that the Zhao family had long been working for the emperor, trying to help the emperor eliminate the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion, which was a big concern for him."
"So, the Battle of Yan City was the doing of the Grand Preceptor's Mansion?" Bai Zheng exclaimed.
He Qing nodded. "Before the Battle of Yan City, Zhao Yujin received an order from the emperor to go on a mission to the Western Liang. On the surface, it was to discuss opening three border cities for trade with the Western Liang. In fact, the emperor wanted to join hands with the Western Liang to wipe out the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion and the Changping Army!"
These words were exactly the same as what Feng Linyuan had guessed before.
But Bai Zheng still put on a good act of looking like it was the first time she had heard this. She opened her mouth wide in surprise and said, "The emperor actually... had the intention to destroy the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion a long time ago?"
Mo Li, on the side, caught another key point in the words. He felt his anger rising like a fierce fire about to burn violently. He roared, "Since you knew about this a long time ago, why didn't you tell the old marquis!"
His eyes were bloodshot as he glared angrily at the woman in front of him.
Her father was a personal guard of Feng Zhen. When she was a child, she must have played and frolicked with the other children under Feng Zhen's command in the barracks of the Changping Army.
She was a child who had grown up safely under the protection of the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion, but when it came to choosing between her own selfish desires and the marquis mansion, she didn't hesitate to choose to fulfill herself!
What an ungrateful and selfish woman!
He Qing knew she was in the wrong. She lowered her eyes, constantly wringing the corner of her sleeve with her fingers, and blinked her eyes nervously. "I... I begged him not to go. But he refused!
He said that as long as I could steal the Qianji Map of the marquis mansion for him, he would tell the emperor that he was ill and not go to the Western Liang to frame the marquis mansion.
I had no choice but to ask my father to steal the Qianji Map. But no matter how I forced my father, he didn't agree! Finally..."
"Finally, he still went to the Western Liang," Feng Linyuan said calmly.
"I've begged everyone I could. I really did my best!" He Qing cried out in a fit of desperation. She looked up, with tears glistening in her eyes. "It wasn't until later that I threatened to go on a hunger strike, and my mother also threatened to kill herself for my sake. Only then did my father have no other choice but to steal the key first."
"Did you ever tell He Dong the real purpose of Zhao Yujin's mission to the Western Liang?" Feng Linyuan asked.
Hearing this, He Qing immediately felt guilty. She shook her head. "Such a thing... How could I tell my father? He was just a little personal guard. Besides worrying in vain, what could he do?"
"What could he do? What do you think he could do!"
Mo Li was really outraged. After holding back the impulse to kick her twice, he finally exploded. He stepped forward and kicked her hard to the ground. "If you had told him, he would have informed the old marquis, and the old marquis wouldn't have gone to battle alone with only 100,000 soldiers of the Changping Army!"
Who would have thought that the strongest defender of the Great Zhou and the firmest shield of the common people would be destroyed by a short-sighted woman.
Bai Zheng closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and clenched her fists to stop the slight tremor.
She had originally thought that He Dong's betrayal was intentional, but she didn't expect there to be such a hidden story behind it.
Perhaps, in the hands of an emperor who was jealous of his subordinates' high achievements, the destruction of the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion and the Changping Army was an inevitability.
But if it weren't for He Qing's infatuation with Zhao Yujin, would the result have been so tragic?
If Feng Zhen had known about Feng Linche's intentions earlier, he could have led the Changping Army to start anew during the war, or he could have taken Feng Linyuan to live in seclusion in the mountains.
How could it have led to the death of 100,000 soldiers of the Changping Army in a foreign land, Feng Linyuan falling seriously ill, and the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion almost being destroyed?
Everyone fell into a heavy silence. In the main hall, there was a long moment of stillness.
He Qing, who had been kicked to the ground, was already in tears.
These days, the more she looked at that jade pendant, the more her heart ached.
She still remembered that when she was a child, she often went to the barracks where her father was stationed to play. At that time, everyone would laugh and tease her.
She also remembered that old marquis, with his booming laughter and a pair of smiling eyes that seemed to be able to speak. When her father scolded her for being rude, he would protect her behind him.
But such a person had died because of her wrong judgment and infatuation.
She had never regretted so much!
She sat up and crawled in front of Feng Linyuan. Holding onto the corner of his robe, she cried, "Marquis, I was wrong! It's all my fault... Please have mercy on me and give me a chance to atone for my sins! I want, I want to avenge the marquis mansion! I know a lot about Zhao Yujin and the Grand Preceptor's Mansion..."
Over the years, Feng Linyuan had always sent people to keep an eye on the Grand Preceptor's Mansion. How could he not know the so-called dirty secrets that He Qing mentioned?
His face was cold as ice. He stared intently at He Qing, who was kneeling in front of him, crying and repenting. His eyes were cold, like a heavy snow in the cold winter that froze all the living things within his sight.
After a long time, he slowly said, "If you really want to take revenge, go back to the Grand Preceptor's Mansion. Just act as if today's incident never happened."
He Qing immediately stopped crying and opened her eyes wide. "Does the marquis... not trust me?"
Bai Zheng shook her head. "We trust you. But you've been out for quite a while. If you don't go back soon, those servants who always follow you will notice something is wrong."
He Qing had managed to find out what she wanted to know in just five or six days. It was obvious that she had come up with many ways over this period to get rid of the people that Zhao Yujin had sent to keep an eye on her.
Coming to the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion in the middle of the night now would only risk alarming the enemy.