Reincarnated as the daughter of my mortal enemy, all I want is to ascend the throne.

Uncle Yu sat opposite Li Qingyan and translated the contents of the letter bit by bit.

Li Qingyan watched every single word, and the more she read, the more alarmed she became.

The former dean was actually from the north.

These letters are all correspondence between the Duke of Xicheng, an old noble family in the court, and the Marquis of Ping'an, a new noble family.

It mentions how they exchanged rankings for money and valuables, but doesn't record the details of how much was traded.

Li Qingyan's eyes widened.

This means that in the spring imperial examination of the fifth year of Yuan'an, most of the officials were appointed to the examination.

and……

Zhao Ke was not on the list through favoritism or fraud, but was one of the people who were exploited.

They originally planned to replace Zhao Ke's exam paper with someone else's so that Zhao Ke would fail the exam, but Zhao Ke, who lived in Changning Academy, discovered it.

It's unclear what exactly Zhao Ke had gotten into the dean, but the dean had no choice but to replace Tao Jiannan's exam paper with Zhao Ke's, making Tao Jiannan the one who failed the exam.

To prevent Zhao Ke from discovering more of their activities, they only gave him a seventh-place ranking and sent him back to his hometown to take up a post. Since Zhao Ke wanted to exonerate his father, returning home was exactly what he wanted, so he naturally had no complaints.

Zhao Ke's original exam paper was replaced by the second-place finisher's paper.

Li Qingyan's face grew increasingly gloomy. The correspondence was one aspect, but another was the list of people and accounts from back then.

Scientific expeditions became their business.

That's really impressive.

and……

Li Qingyan looked at the list in her hand and told Uncle Yu not to tell anyone, then folded it up and put it in her sleeve.

Li Qingyan was running out of patience. "Flying Fork, use points to redeem it. I need to see where the ledger and list are."

【…】

[Host, you need to think this through. This will cost you one-third of your points.]

Li Qingyan's face was grim. "Exchange! These bastards, how many truly talented students have they ruined through favoritism and corruption? How many people have they killed?"

"These old and new nobles have actually gotten together."

Li Qingyan wished she could kill all of these people, and that muddle-headed emperor emeritus as well.

In order to balance the relationship between the old and new noble families, the retired emperor arranged for the families of Duke Xicheng and Marquis Ping'an to marry.

In the years leading up to their marriage, the children from both families were very close, but unexpectedly, in just two years, the two became a resentful couple.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, the couple died together after stabbing each other in the neck.

From then on, the two families became enemies.

Can……

When Li Qingyan saw the dates on the correspondence, she almost cursed out loud.

Their relationship began two weeks before the deaths of their children. After their children stabbed each other to death, their interactions with the hospital director became even closer.

Li Qingyan even suspected that the deaths of the young couple were a setup by the Duke of Xicheng and the Marquis of Ping'an.

Therefore, from then on, everyone in the capital knew that the two families had a bad relationship.

Who would have thought that two families with blood ties would collude in such a corrupt way?

What harm is there in sacrificing a child for the greater good?

Li Qingyan's hands were trembling.

[This...this item appears to be in Zhao Ke's wife's possession...]

"Zhao Ke's wife? Didn't Zhao Ke's whole family die?"

[Sorry, host, my permissions are limited; I cannot check whether someone I haven't been in contact with is dead.]

Li Qingyan's face grew increasingly gloomy.

"Your Highness?"

Yan Li noticed that she was in a bad mood and tried to help her, but she shook him off.

"Take Uncle Yu to the White Tiger Camp or the Banquet Mansion first. This matter is of great importance, so as to prevent anyone from harming him."

Li Qingyan gave the order directly.

"Red Rain, take me back to the Yan Mansion."

Hongyu immediately picked up Li Qingyan and headed straight for the Yan residence. It must be said that Hongyu was faster than a Ferghana horse, and Li Qingyan arrived at the Yan residence in a quarter of an hour.

She barged straight into Yan Xu's room, calling out, "Yan Xu... Yan Xu... I..."

The moment I opened the door, I saw blood everywhere. "Yan Xu?!"

The stench of blood filling the room made Li Qingyan's pupils shrink slightly. She suddenly saw Yan Xu pierced through the heart by a thousand arrows.

"Your Highness!"

Hongyu quickly helped her up.

At this moment, Doctor Liu came in from outside with medicine. "It's not General Yan, it's that brat Tao Jiannan."

Upon hearing that it wasn't Yan Xu, Li Qingyan took a deep breath and calmed down.

She frowned. Tao Jiannan had been dressed as a man and thrown into a brothel to hide. Only she and Yan Xu knew his location. How could he have been injured?

She drew back the curtain and saw Tao Jiannan lying face down on the bed with several arrows stuck in his back. The imperial physician, Zhao, pressed on the wounds and kept applying medicine, but the usually eloquent physician couldn't help but curse.

"That's a hexagonal arrow, it's aimed at Tao's life. Old Liu, hold him down here quickly."

Doctor Liu rushed over to help press the wound, and as the two shouted "one, two, three" and pulled out the arrow, Hongyu covered Li Qingyan's eyes.

But Li Qingyan still saw the scene of blood splattering.

I wouldn't say I was scared, but I did feel uncomfortable in my stomach.

Tao Jiannan extended his hand, "Your Highness, an assassin..."

He fainted before he could finish speaking.

The tattered cloth slipped from his hand, and blood seeped up the veins until the entire piece was soaked.

Li Qingyan picked up the piece of cloth.

"Yanli should be back soon too."

Her face turned completely cold.

"Hongyu sent Yanli with his assassins to investigate."

Hong Yu took the things and disappeared from the house. With Physician Zhao and Doctor Liu treating Tao Jiannan, Li Qingyan was at ease.

She hurriedly went to find Yan Xu.

"Your Highness, the General is currently in the Imperial Guard camp. Would you like to wait a while?"

The butler followed behind, trying to persuade him. He had raised Yan Xu and was now almost sixty years old.

Li Qingyan couldn't get angry with him.

"Don't worry, Grandpa Butler, I know what I'm doing."

She immediately shouted for a soldier who could ride a horse to take her. She had already taken out the dragon-patterned jade pendant; who would dare disobey her orders?

Horses trampled the roads of the capital.

As the street scene receded, Li Qingyan's expression grew increasingly cold.

Her actions were impulsive and dangerous, but the fact that the other party could even find Tao Jiannan meant that she wasn't completely protected.

If the action is slow, even more people will likely die.

They were so sure she was too young to make a move, weren't they?

Then let me show you what speed really means.

What about impulsiveness?

You want to kill people, but the people who will kill you are on their way.

Let's see if you can kill people faster than you can be killed.

"A heavily fortified military camp..."

As soon as the guard extended his red-tasseled spear, he saw the white jade dragon-patterned waist plaque.

"I am the Third Princess, get out of the way at once."

Who would dare disobey the Third Princess when she held the Emperor's token?

As Yan Xu listened to his subordinates' report inside the camp, he immediately heard the commotion outside. "What's going on?"

The soldier immediately rushed in, "General, the...the young prince has arrived."

Upon hearing that Li Qingyan had arrived, Yan Xu hurriedly stood up.

But all they saw was Li Qingyan entering holding the token.

"Feast order is to be followed."

Yan Xu paused for a second, then knelt down with the people behind him.

"Your subject Yan Xu shall obey your command."

Li Qingyan took a deep breath, holding the token and searching for someone. No matter what happened, she would have to bear it all alone.

"Lead the Imperial Guards to surround the residences of Duke Xicheng and Marquis Ping'an, and arrest Duke Xicheng and Marquis Ping'an and imprison them."

These words struck like a thunderclap.

Yan Xu suddenly looked up. "What is this child trying to do?"

This kind of crazy energy is just like Li Yan.

This is going to cause a huge uproar.