"Father, your actions will only lead to misunderstandings. I cannot agree with them. Now that I have the ledger, the truth should be made public."

Qian Fu fell silent.

"The sovereign you care so much about has probably forgotten you even exist."

"Fan Ji, the sovereign is heaven. That is a point you will never understand," Qian Fu said, shaking his head and sighing.

"Father, don’t interfere in this matter. I know how to handle it."

’The sovereign is heaven?’

In his heart, Qian Fanji answered to no one!

"Even if you intend to make it public, the Emperor’s birthday banquet is imminent. The envoys of the three nations are all in the Capital City. You must reconsider."

"Yes," Qian Fanji nodded.

"Those assassins in Four Directions Town yesterday... who did it?" Qian Fu had sent men to investigate that morning. One side had died miserably, while the other showed no signs of a struggle.

An expert of that caliber was rarely seen in the martial world.

"I don’t know."

"You don’t know?"

"I don’t."

"The assassins were all top-tier experts. Who could kill so many in an instant? We must have someone investigate who is hiding in the Capital City. With the envoys from the three nations here, it would be trouble if this person decides to sneak in and kill someone." If something happened to an envoy in the Capital City, it could trigger a war between nations.

"There’s no need. She wouldn’t kill without reason."

"’She?’ Who? Fan Ji, be honest with your father. You know who it is, don’t you?"

"I don’t know."

"..."

’He clearly knows but won’t tell me!’

Qian Fu knew his son’s temperament well enough. For him to be so certain that this person wouldn’t kill needlessly meant he trusted them completely.

"Father," Qian Fanji said suddenly.

Qian Fu looked up and saw his son’s extremely serious expression, feeling a little dazed. "Are you injured somewhere?"

’Why so serious?’

"There is something I’ve been thinking about, and I feel I must tell you." Qian Fanji had thought about it many times on his way back. Ye Qianning was his daughter. There was no mistake.

"Go on, your father can take it." Qian Fu silently walked over to a table, leaning on it with one hand while fiddling with his Buddha Beads with the other.

"I have a daughter."

"..." Qian Fu’s hand slipped, and he nearly fell under the table. "You’re not even married! Where did a daughter come from?"

"It’s from that incident in Nanyuan seven years ago. The child is six years old now."

"...You’re not joking with me, are you?"

"It’s true," Qian Fanji said, his expression grave.

Qian Fu steadied himself. His shock turned to excitement, then to absolute joy. "The child, then? Where is the child?"

’Excellent! I thought he was such a quiet one, but it turns out he gets big things done without a word.’

"You’ve met her."

"I have? Where?" Qian Fu hadn’t left the residence for over half a month since returning to the Capital City. Where could he possibly have seen her?

"Lou Mountain Academy."

Qian Fu racked his brain until he suddenly recalled a little girl. "It couldn’t be that little tyke Dean Chen just accepted, could it?"

"Yes."

"I remember her being Xiang Minghou’s daughter, don’t I? How did she become yours? What on earth is going on?" Qian Fu was a little confused.

"It all started seven years ago. Father, do you remember when we returned from Nanyuan, heavily injured? If it weren’t for Ye Qian—that is, Ye Qianning’s mother—if she hadn’t saved us, we never would have made it back to Beili alive..." Qian Fanji recounted the events from Nanyuan, piece by piece.

Though he had been uncertain before, his heart had already begun to change.

When he saw the killing aura on that little girl yesterday, he had wondered, ’What kind of cruelties must a person endure to possess such an aura?’

In that moment, his heart changed completely. He ached for that child and wanted to dispel the coldness that clung to her, even if just a little.

Qian Fu’s expression went from that of a curious bystander to shocked, then twisted, and finally to utterly bewildered. He was left speechless.

’No wonder he was like a different person after returning from Nanyuan, cooping himself up in his room for months. If the Qian family hadn’t faced a crisis back then, the boy probably would have stayed despondent for a whole year.’

The story was bizarre, but the granddaughter was real.

"She doesn’t want to acknowledge me, and I have nothing to say to that. I was wrong about the Immortal’s Kiss back then," Qian Fanji said, his expression bleak.

"If you made a mistake, you must atone for it. She is a child of the Qian family, after all. We can’t just let her grow up in another family." Qian Fu was still delighted at the thought of that plump little girl.

"But..."

"Alright, alright, you stay out of this. If I leave the child’s matters to you, who knows when my granddaughter will finally acknowledge her ancestors." Qian Fu decided he needed to make a trip to the General’s Estate himself.

"Father, I’m afraid she won’t be willing," Qian Fanji said.

"So you’ll do nothing just because she’s unwilling? Where did all your usual cleverness go? She’s lacked familial affection since she was little. She traveled thousands of miles to the capital and finally found her father, only for you to not acknowledge her. Never mind her not acknowledging you now—if I were her, I wouldn’t want anything to do with you either." When Qian Fu heard him describe the scene with the Immortal’s Kiss, he wanted to land a couple of punches on him.

’Children are the most fragile, and they are stubborn. If the first impression is bad, all future impressions will be bad too.’

’Those two from the Zhan family and the Gu family are idiots, too. Three grown men ganging up on one child... that’s not something a normal person would do.’

’Serves them right she doesn’t want to acknowledge them!’

Qian Fanji understood in his heart. ’Atone?’

’Ye Qianning isn’t like other children. Atoning will be very difficult.’

"In a couple of days, I’ll go see the child. If she’s willing, I’ll bring her back to the Qian family and teach her myself."

Qian Fanji didn’t speak, his expression one of tacit agreement.

Qian Fu was overjoyed. It seemed the Qian family was about to welcome a young miss.

—

「Capital City, The Posthouse」

The East Shu envoy listened to his guard’s report, his face a mask of shock. He staggered a few steps and collapsed into a chair, still in disbelief. "All... all of them killed?"

"Yes, sir. Not a single person we sent out was left alive. Furthermore, one group of assassins died in an even stranger manner. There were no signs of a struggle. The fatal wound was to the neck; they all had their throats slit by a thread-like weapon."

"A thread-like weapon? Has anyone in the martial world ever been known to use such a weapon?"

"Never."

The East Shu envoy’s face was grim. ’To think there’s such a master hidden in the Capital City. Wiped out completely... is this supposed to be a warning to us?’

"What about the ledger?"

The guard shook his head.

"Go investigate at once! Secretly have men keep an eye on the government offices." The East Shu envoy’s eyes darted around. If the ledger fell into the hands of a court official, the proof of East Shu’s collusion with Beili officials would be exposed.

If the Beili Emperor found out, it was uncertain whether the East Shu delegation would even leave Beili alive. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

—

News of the incident outside Four Directions Town reached the ears of the other two nations’ envoys that same day. The Beili Emperor also learned of it, and patrols and defenses within the city were doubled.

At the same time, a secret investigation was launched to find out who was responsible for such a bizarre method of killing. For every day the culprit remained undiscovered, the people grew more uneasy—especially those who had done wrong. They spent sleepless nights in fear.

They were afraid of being silently eliminated in their sleep.

Within a single day, many people in the Capital City began hiring experts from the martial world as bodyguards, offering commissions so handsome they made others’ eyes water with envy.

The Beili Emperor also increased the number of his personal guards, adding a dozen more Hidden Guards as well. After all, the rumors were so fantastical that one couldn’t help but be cautious.

On the day before the birthday banquet, Sang Qi and Sang Zhi once again came to the General’s Estate. Just as the two of them stepped out of their carriage, before they could even enter the gate, another carriage pulled up.

The carriage stopped, and Qian Fu alighted.