She is after our lives.

Tan Yun and Chen Yueru were still standing at the entrance of the Prince's Mansion. Seemingly caught off guard by the sight of Tan Yunge, Tan Yun wore a rather grim expression.

Chen Yueru, standing beside him, looked as though she wanted to save Tan Yunge. Yet, powerless and of low standing as merely Tan Yun's wife, she could do nothing. She only stared at Tan Yunge with tear-filled eyes, then turned her head back to Tan Yun. "Master."

Tan Yun's face remained taut as he walked step by step toward Tan Yunge.

Tan Yunge hurriedly blurted out, "Father, please believe me! I truly didn't poison Tan Qingjiu. Why don't you go and bring Tan Qingjiu here, and make her let me go?"

"I don't even know what I've done to make her keep targeting me like this, why she always bullies me."

Tan Yun let out a cold laugh. "She keeps targeting you? She always bullies you?"

"Don't you have it backward?"

Tan Yunge's eyes widened in disbelief. "Father, why would you say that? Do you not believe me?"

"Clearly, it was her—"

"Enough. Whether it was six years ago, or what happened after Qingjiu returned to the Tan residence recently, I am well aware of it all. I am not a fool; I can see and hear."

"It's just that before, I thought you were the elder sister and would know how to conduct yourself with propriety. Besides, Qingjiu has a more reserved temperament and never made a scene in front of me, so I chose to turn a blind eye and pretend I saw nothing. Who could have known that you would become increasingly presumptuous and outrageous?"

"And you still dare ask me to bring Qingjiu here? Do you think I am ignorant? Qingjiu is still unconscious to this day because of the poison you administered! It was Prince Duan who uncovered that you were the mastermind behind this. And it was Prince Duan who reported the case to the authorities."

"Qingjiu's life is still hanging by a thread, yet you expect her to come and say she is willing to let you go?"

Tan Yun's words were utterly merciless. Not only Tan Yunge, but even Chen Yueru could not help changing color. "Master!"

"Master, this is your own daughter!"

"And is Qingjiu not my daughter?"

The surrounding crowd, which had just quieted down, began to whisper among themselves once more. "Even Tan Yun says so, then those rumors from before must be true nine times out of ten."

"Could Tan Yunge really be such a person? Does that mean all these years she was merely putting on an act? Heavens, a woman like this is utterly terrifying."

"Do you remember? Earlier, the courtesan Yinxue from the brothel mentioned that Tan Yunge only pretended to be virtuous. She would take the women favored by the Prince of Ding, especially those courtesans, back to her detached courtyard under the guise of having them serve the Prince, and those women would never be seen in public again. It must be because Tan Yunge had already disposed of them."

"Put that way, what Yinxue said earlier is extremely likely to be the truth. It's simply... too chilling to contemplate."

Tan Yunge took a sharp breath, her heart feeling as though it were being violently gripped—wracked with agonizing pain and bitter hatred. Suddenly, as if remembering something, she whipped her head up and cast her gaze toward the spot where Tan Yun had been standing earlier.

She had been far too overjoyed upon seeing them earlier to notice that the exact spot where Tan Yun had stood happened to be where Shen Xiao had posted the letter of divorce.

Tan Yunge's face turned ashen. So, Tan Yun had seen the letter of divorce.

So, Tan Yun knew she had been cast aside by Shen Xiao, and therefore believed she was of no further use to the Tan family—which was why he was discarding her completely as a worthless pawn at this very moment?

Tan Yunge clutched her chest as tears welled up in her eyes. "Father, is it because I was cast aside by Shen Xiao that you are treating me this way?"

"Is it because I am no longer of any use to you, whereas Tan Qingjiu is now the Princess Duan?"

Tan Yunge gritted her teeth tightly, her vision blurred by tears. "But Father, have you ever seriously considered why we treated Tan Qingjiu that way six years ago, and why she came back?"

"Tan Qingjiu has returned purely for revenge! She is here for revenge! She wants our lives!"

Tan Yun scoffed. "Spare me your inflammatory nonsense. You say Qingjiu came back for revenge?"

"If she had returned for revenge, when my illness flared up earlier, all she needed to do was turn a blind eye. As long as she ignored it and no physician could cure me in time, I would have breathed my last right then and there."

"Yet she did not. She saved me."

"Not only did she not harm me, but she saved my life. And you dare claim she came for revenge?"

Tan Yunge bit her lip hard. Seeing that Tan Yun remained stubbornly deluded, she urged frantically, "She really did come for revenge, but her goal isn't just to make us die."

"She doesn't just want us dead; she wants us to lose everything we have, and die in absolute agony."

Tan Yun no longer wished to listen. "You have lost your mind."

The bailiff on the side stepped forward two paces. "Lord Tan, do you have anything else to say to Tan Yunge? The hour is getting late, and we must return to handle the case."

"We only granted Lord Tan's face to let you exchange a few words with her. Lord Tan, look here..."

Tan Yun simply stepped back two paces, his expression tranquil and unruffled. "Take her away directly."

"Do whatever must be done according to the law. You must investigate the matter of the Princess Duan being poisoned thoroughly and clearly."

"That goes without saying." The bailiff smiled. "Lord Tan may not know this, but Prince Duan truly dotes on the Princess Duan to the utmost. We went to the Prince Duan's Mansion earlier as well; upon learning that the Princess Duan had been poisoned, the Prince was practically beside himself with rage."

"I hear that even the servants in the Prince Duan's Mansion who accepted bribes from Tan Yunge to pass messages were all severely dealt with by Prince Duan."

"We wouldn't dare show any favoritism, otherwise..."

"What kind of person is Prince Duan, and what is his temperament? Surely we don't need to spell that out for Lord Tan. After all, Lord Tan is, when all is said and done, Prince Duan's father-in-law, so you naturally understand him better than we do."

Tan Yun nodded. Naturally, he knew. And precisely because he knew, he could not afford to save Tan Yunge.

After all, the Prince of Duan was fiercely unhinged; should he be implicated or blamed as a result, his own official career would be ruined.

Having said his piece, the bailiff gave Tan Yunge another shove. "Move along, move along, stop dawdling. No one can save you. Unless you can produce evidence that you didn't poison her."

"Ah!" Tan Yunge shrieked in terror. "Get away, get away from me, don't you touch me."

"Look at this Tan Yunge—even in this state, she's still so arrogant. Tsk, just how foul must her temper have been on ordinary days?"

Chen Yueru's face was painted with panic. "Master, Master, we cannot simply stand by and watch them take Yunge away..."