I, the one in the heavens, am here to protect my bottom line in all realms.

Chapter 366 Arrangements After Unraveling the Mystery
He said, "Cheng Zhaorong, you must have killed him. I will make you pay for it."

Zhang Chengyuan was speechless. What kind of nonsense is this? They're just randomly blaming others. Shouldn't they be looking for the reasons within themselves?
Am I the one who got killed?
That's so strange, it made me laugh.

However, that's what Yu Qingyuan thought. How could someone who longed for family so much abandon his brother and commit suicide? He must have been forced to do so. He had just had someone poison him, and then the person died. He couldn't think of anyone else but her.

After understanding his thoughts, Zhang Chengyuan felt like he'd been tricked into something that was neither shit nor filth.

Little Paper Doll No. 1 kept adjusting its angle at Yu Qingyuan's feet, trying to kick him off the hillside.

Jiang Si noticed this and, feeling a jolt of excitement, quickly poked the second paper doll to signal her to look.

Paper Doll No. 1 was already raising its foot to gather strength, which startled Paper Doll No. 2, who pounced and rolled several times with it, moving away from the spot.

On the other side, the man in black reburied the coffin, returned to report, and then carried Yu Qingyuan back to the palace.

Once everyone had walked away, Little Paper Doll No. 1 asked unhappily, "Mom, why did you pounce on me?"

Paper Doll #2, hands on hips, didn't answer but instead asked, "I haven't even asked you yet, what are you planning to do? Have you considered that your kick will expose us?"

Paper Doll Number 1 said aggrievedly, "But he wanted to kill you, so I just wanted to teach him a lesson, not kill him."

Zhang Chengyuan couldn't be angry; the child was also protecting his mother.

“You’re too young to handle these things, but I’m still very happy that you’re protecting your mother.”

Paper Doll #1 instantly stopped feeling wronged and started hugging Paper Doll #2, twisting around shyly.

Jiang Siyou felt a warm feeling in her heart as she watched this scene: "Alright, stop being so affectionate, let's go."

Paper Doll No. 2 dragged Paper Doll No. 1, who was clinging to him and refusing to get up, back onto Jiang Siyou's shoulder, and back to his residence.

On the way, the two little paper figures whispered to each other, and in the end, paper figure number 1 also decided to keep this paper figure so that it would be convenient to talk to his father in the future.

After saying goodnight to each other, the three went to rest.

The next morning, after the emperor left, Zhang Chengyuan opened his eyes, glanced at the emperor, turned over, and went back to sleep.

She maintained her sickly persona, not only fading from the sight of the palace but also gaining many special privileges. For example, she didn't have to get up to help the emperor dress, didn't have to pay her respects to anyone, and didn't even have to care about him; he would have people take good care of her.

When I woke up naturally, it was already midday.

As soon as she made a sound, the servants outside came in.

After getting ready, she had someone help her to the small ancestral hall, and before leaving, she checked all the servants over.

Oh dear, they're all the emperor's men. How suspicious they are of her, keeping such a tight watch on her.

Upon arriving at the small ancestral hall, Zhang Chengyuan dismissed everyone and sat on a soft couch, pondering the current situation.

Yu Qingyuan is putting the blame on her, and he probably wants to kill her. This is a potential problem and will have some impact on the cooperation.

The emperor saw her as nothing more than a useful tool; he didn't have much affection for her. His imperial paranoia made him suspicious, but that didn't matter. It all depended on how long he lived. If he could outlive the emperor, he might even become the empress dowager.

Another hidden danger is Consort Liang. Tsk, she is really a big problem. During the selection of concubines, she met the Empress Dowager and learned a secret after the examination: the emperor was not the Empress Dowager's child, but Consort Liang's. This explains why the Empress Dowager favored Consort Liang more.

The emperor probably had some suspicions, but he couldn't possibly hand over the throne. Another threat was the empress, though she wasn't hostile towards him for the time being; she, however, was eager to kill Consort Liang.

Next, she'll just wait for Yu Qingyuan to come and ask her for a collaboration. After all, they say, "A business that's too eager to be won't succeed."

Having sorted out his thoughts, Zhang Chengyuan resumed his laid-back lifestyle.

But then she thought of her daughter and became worried. She had never been a female general before, so how should she teach her daughter? Maybe she should send her daughter to learn from an experienced veteran general.

The more she thought about it, the more she felt it was a good idea, but she needed to carefully consider the choice of the veteran.

As for the veterans she chooses who are unwilling to teach, she has plenty of ways to deal with them.

That night, Paper Doll No. 3 set out, driven by Zhang Chengyuan, to search the entire capital for suitable teachers.

After much deliberation, she chose a 66-year-old general who had been enjoying a life of leisure at home for three years. This man had an impressive resume, having gone to the battlefield at the age of 15 and rising to become a legend. He had participated in 358 battles, large and small, throughout his life, with few defeats.

He rose to power during his father's reign and, during the emperor's generation, managed to protect his family and retire unscathed under imperial authority, without ever becoming too powerful to threaten the emperor's authority. This demonstrates his wisdom and resourcefulness.

It's almost impossible to find any weaknesses to exploit, but that doesn't mean there are no weaknesses. We still have the herbs we collected last time, so we can get some medicine for Jiang Siyou to recover, and also some medicine to repair her body and strengthen her constitution.

After all, that old general was still human; he could get injured and bleed, and had many ailments left on his body. If he hadn't been so physically strong, he would have been dead long ago.

While there's still some time, I'll finish making the pills and take my daughter to become an apprentice tomorrow.

Before going to sleep, she was still marveling at how good it is to know a lot, and now it came in handy. Luckily, she had specifically studied these things beforehand.

Time flew by and it was already late at night. Zhang Chengyuan took Zhang Yijiang out of the palace and made a note of a substitute puppet to maintain a normal life.

Learning a skill cannot be completed in a short time, and one cannot go out every night; the risk of exposure is too great. It is better to separate the two from the beginning to ensure that no one will suspect anything.

She's even prepared disguise pills, so she can just change her face and live a normal life, then return to the palace after mastering her skills.

After giving her daughter a disguise pill to change her appearance, she also took a specially made disguise pill herself, which only lasted for two hours.

With everything prepared, the mother and daughter arrived at the general's mansion quietly, found the old man, and used acupressure to silence them before waking them up.

After some friendly exchanges, the old general compromised.

There was no other way but to compromise. Zhang Chengyuan woke the man up, and when he saw that he was struggling, he knocked him unconscious. Then he used silver needles to wake him up. After repeating this more than thirty times, the old general resigned himself to his fate. Otherwise, he might have died tonight.

He figured out that the two men had come to him with something, but they were too naive and didn't say a word from beginning to end.

The first thing he did after being jerked awake was to make a stop gesture, finally ending the torture.

Zhang Chengyuan finally released his pressure points, and then he said, "Since you two have come to visit so suddenly, please speak frankly."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Chengyuan immediately said, "General, could you please teach my daughter? I want her to become a female general in the future."

Zhang Yijiang also watched eagerly, his eyes full of anticipation.

The old general opened his mouth, speechless for a moment, yet he also wanted to curse loudly to vent his anger.

Zhang Chengyuan smiled and handed over two jade bottles, saying, "This is your reward. With your status, you don't lack anything. I have some medical knowledge and have specially prepared some pills for you to restore your body and strengthen your constitution."