Princess, she is the one who facilitated the extradition.

"You're saying my mother was the Duke of Zhenguo's mistress?"

Chai Shiyue's face was full of shock. "This, how is this possible? Then I..."

Is she the daughter of the Duke of Zhenguo?

Gui Yao handed her a portrait.

"The Duke of Zhenguo kept a mistress on his estate outside the city many years ago."

This is the news Chen Can told her.

Chen Can's father was an imperial censor and had access to a lot of gossip. During the years when Chen Can shut herself away, her father would occasionally tell her gossip from the capital as stories to coax her.

Yesterday, when she mentioned the Chai family's affairs, Chen Can was present. At that time, I had suspicions in my mind, but I was also afraid that I had remembered it wrong.

After confirming with Chen's father at home and receiving a clear answer, he rushed back to Xuanji Tower to tell Gui Yao as soon as he woke up today.

Gui Yao was also taken aback at the time.

A merchant's wet nurse and a powerful Duke Zhenguo—if Mao Dan hadn't discovered Zhang Tuo's investigation of the Chai family, it would have been difficult to connect the two.

But she still went to the estate where the Duke of Zhenguo kept his mistress, and in a secret room in that estate, she found a portrait of a woman.

The portrait is of Ms. Chai in her youth.

"There are quite a few portraits like that in that secret room."

Gui Yao said, "I compared this with a painting by the Duke of Zhenguo, and it is indeed his work."

Ordinary people don't easily get their hands on paintings by the Duke of Zhenguo, but her father, the Emperor, did.

For this reason, she even went to the palace, and was almost certain that Lady Chai was the mistress that the Duke of Zhenguo was keeping.

Otherwise, why would the Duke of Zhenguo have painted so many portraits of Lady Chai?

The seventeen years between when Lady Chai left the capital with her son and when she reappeared in the capital coincided with the time when the Duke of Zhenguo kept a mistress.

Chai Shiyue lowered her eyes to look at the portrait. She was very familiar with the woman in the portrait.

"If my mother was the Duke of Zhenguo's mistress, how could she have given birth alone in a dilapidated temple?"

She gently stroked the portrait with her fingers. "Mother never mentions the past, she must have been unhappy."

When the Marquis of Cheng'an wanted to take me as a concubine, my mother held me and said, "I would rather marry into a poor family as a wife than be someone's concubine."

The young lady and the master were kind-hearted and rescued me, so my mother made me disguise myself as a man…”

She used to think her mother was wary of the Tong family, but now it seems that her mother might also be wary of the Duke of Zhenguo.

She looks so much like her mother when she was young; looking at this portrait is like looking in a mirror.

"He's the one who ruined my mother."

Chai Shiyue's fingers gradually curled into a fist. "My mother is not a vain person who would be willing to be someone's mistress."

Otherwise, with her looks, she could have easily entered into a wealthy family in Shu Prefecture. Why would she have traveled all the way to the capital to abide by the marriage contract and marry into the poor Wu family?

"It must have been him who took a fancy to my mother, that's why he killed the Wu family and took my mother as his mistress."

As for whether she was the son of the Duke of Zhenguo, Shiyue felt it was no longer important.

Since the Duke of Zhenguo sent someone to lead his mother to the riverbank, it shows that he already knew where his mother was, but never thought of acknowledging her as his daughter, and even caused her mother's death.

To her, he had only one identity: the enemy who killed her mother.

However, "if we investigate further, won't it implicate the princess and the young lady?"

And the husband's family.

In the eyes of the Duke of Zhenguo, their lives were probably as insignificant as ants.

Gui Yao truthfully replied, "That possibility cannot be ruled out."

The Duke of Zhenguo is no good either.

Shiyue's breath hitched, her gaze shifting to her mother's coffin, her vision blurring once more.

She wanted revenge, but didn't want to implicate others.

She was unwilling to accept that her mother had died under mysterious circumstances, and she already had a lead on her brother. Should she just give up?

Shiyue was caught in a dilemma, and tears streamed down her face.

Gui Yao handed her a handkerchief, "Even if you don't want to investigate now, I'm afraid the other party has already set their sights on you."

If the Duke of Zhenguo was responsible for Lady Chai's death, he would definitely be keeping a close eye on Shiyue and the Zhao family's every move.

This also explains why those men in black from the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion went straight to Xuanji Tower last night.

The Duke of Zhenguo knows that she accepted Chai Shiyue's request and will investigate the matter.

He also knew that Zhang Tuo was investigating this matter, which is why there was an ambush in Zhang Tuo's courtyard yesterday.

Thinking of Zhang Tuo, Gui Yao added, "Zhang Tuo doesn't have a birthmark on the back of his neck."

If it's not Zhang Tuo, then it could be Zhang Ming. She needs to find an opportunity to investigate Zhang Ming.

Zhang Ming is also trying to find Gui Yao.

After his ability to see ghosts was activated that day, he couldn't stop seeing them. Although he wasn't afraid of ghosts, seeing them so often made him uneasy, and it also affected his sleep.

Therefore, he arrived before the Crown Prince with dark circles under his eyes.

"Your Highness, may I be taken to see Gui Yao?"

That day, he encountered the Crown Prince on his way back from the west of the city.

As the Duke of Zhenguo said, the Crown Prince was indeed pleased to see him after several years of companionship with the Emperor.

He had met with the Crown Prince several times in the past few days, and their relationship had returned to the familiar one they had at the Imperial Estate.

Unable to find Guiyao, he thought of asking the Crown Prince for help.

"Looking for Gui Yao?"

The crown prince was slightly surprised. "What do you want with her?"

He wondered to himself, how did Zhang Ming, who had just arrived in Beijing, get involved with Gui Yao?

Zhang Ming didn't hide anything and told them about how the Duke of Zhenguo had sent him to the mass grave to test Gui Yao.

"I never expected that girl to be so capable. She just brushed her finger across my eyes and I was able to see ghosts."

This is far more effective than the fake Taoist priests I've encountered outside.

The crown prince's eyes darkened, and he picked up his teacup and took a sip. "Grandfather knows how formidable she is."

But why send Zhang Ming to test Gui Yao?

In the time since Zhang Ming returned, he has already found out almost everything about Gui Yao.

He pressed his tongue against his cheek and leaned slightly closer to the prince.

"Your Highness, let me tell you a secret."

The prince paused in his tea-drinking motion. "What secret?"

"The reunion between this humble subject and Your Highness was deliberately arranged by this humble subject."

Zhang Ming knew that the Duke of Zhenguo was using him, but he had no choice but to comply in order to repay the debt of gratitude.

But he also knew that the Duke of Zhenguo's purpose was probably not as simple as he had said, and Zhang Ming did not want to offend the Crown Prince and get involved in more trouble.

Therefore, he chose to tell the truth.

"Isn't Uncle Ming afraid that his maternal grandfather will find out?"

"Afraid."

Zhang Ming smiled and said, "But compared to being resented by him, I have something else I'm more afraid of."

He leaned in slightly closer. "Let me tell Your Highness another secret."

The Crown Prince looked at Zhang Ming.

In his eyes, Zhang Ming was still as pure as before, and he didn't fawn over or praise him like others did just because he was the crown prince.

Even though he was over forty, his eyes were still bright and clear, without any hidden scheming.

He put down his teacup. "Uncle Ming, what other secrets do you have?"

Zhang Ming's eyes softened. "I'm married and have a daughter. She's very fair-skinned, with arms like lotus roots, a round face, and she can blow bubbles and giggle. She's very cute."

As soon as he learned to call me "Daddy," he would climb onto me while I slept at night, and occasionally he would stomp his toes on my face.

She would also leave her meager rations for the common people to eat. When the common people angered his wife, she would hug her mother's neck and plead for the common people.

I never want to be separated from her, and I want to accompany her as she grows up. My wife is someone I have loved since I was young.

"Your Highness, their lives are more important than my own."

Therefore, he would not help the Duke of Zhenguo act recklessly. He already had the happiest life in the world and the most precious wife and daughters.

However, he was raised by the Duke of Zhenguo and was already labeled as a member of the Zhang family.

After spending a few days with him, he found that the Crown Prince was still the same as before; although he had some human flaws, he was still a kind person.

Therefore, he told the Crown Prince the secret that he had a wife and daughter, expressing his determination to stay out of it.

"Your Highness, I have only told you this secret. In a few days, I will break free from my adoptive father's surveillance and leave the capital completely."

But before that, I must shut this dark eye, otherwise, I won't sleep well every day, and I'll age quickly.

A hint of happy helplessness crossed his face. "You don't know, my wife values ​​appearance very much. If I become ugly, I'll be disliked when I go back."

Seeing his sincerity, and having also experienced sleepless nights haunted by wandering spirits, the Crown Prince nodded. "I can take you to see her, but whether she helps you lock her up or not is up to you."

He himself had gone to great lengths to find Gui Yaoguan Yinyan, so he wasn't confident he could help Zhang Ming.

However, he also understood that Gui Yao had deliberately messed with him before, but he didn't know why she suddenly had a change of heart.

The crown prince was puzzled and decided to ask his father, the emperor.