Chapter 419: Everyone Knows Now, You Have Another Child

Chapter 419: Chapter 419: Everyone Knows Now, You Have Another Child

Xie Yuanjiu met the stern gazes of everyone around her. She looked toward Shen Ningning, her eyes red with resentment.

"I see now. You’ve been trying to ruin me all along." Her voice was bone-chillingly cold.

Shen Ningning was completely unafraid, meeting Xie Yuanjiu’s gaze with her own dark eyes.

"Stop making false accusations. If you hadn’t tried to harm someone in the first place, you wouldn’t have been hoisted by your own petard."

A pained expression crossed Second Master Xie’s face.

He lifted his robes, knelt down, and requested a decree from the Emperor.

"Your Majesty, since the day this girl was born, I can say with a clear conscience that I have never wronged her. Although I have no feelings for her mother, I have always striven to fulfill my duties as a father."

"But I never imagined she could hate me so deeply. Since that is the case, I implore Your Majesty to issue a decree granting me a divorce from my wife, Mrs. Jiang. I also ask that Your Majesty bear witness that once Xie Yuanjiu and her mother leave the Xie Mansion, they will no longer carry my family name."

The Emperor was startled, his expression turning grave.

Shen Ningning, however, was not surprised by her Second Uncle’s actions.

Xie Dizhi was completely disillusioned by Xie Yuanjiu. He had only refrained from divorcing Second Madam Xie in the past out of consideration for their child.

Now, he wanted nothing more to do with Xie Yuanjiu. He not only wanted a divorce, but he also intended to have her name struck from the Xie family registry.

The implications were enormous.

Throughout history, for an unmarried woman to be cast out of her family by her own father... If word of this got out, she would never be able to show her face in the Capital City again.

The Emperor sighed. "You should reconsider. Even if I wished to resolve this with a heavy hand, it is ultimately a private family matter."

Second Master Xie kowtowed. "I have made up my mind. I implore Your Majesty to issue the decree."

Nearby, Second Madam Xie was crying wretchedly. "Second Master... Second Master, if you cast me aside, how will I ever survive?"

Looking at her, Second Master Xie closed his eyes. "I will give you a considerable amount of silver and some land deeds. Take them and leave the Capital City."

Tears streamed down Second Madam Xie’s face as she gasped for breath. Fang Qingdai watched her with a very complicated expression.

Xie Yuanjiu let out a cold sneer.

Suddenly, as if she had made a decision, she lifted her head to look at the Emperor.

"Your Majesty, I have more to say! Even if I hadn’t acted today, my father, Xie Dizhi, would have eventually driven Mother and me out of the Xie family for General Fang’s sake."

"You saw it yourself. Shen Ningning deliberately set a trap to lure me into making a mistake, and my father couldn’t wait to seize the opportunity. Not only to divorce my mother, but also to drive me out of the Xie Mansion."

"Your Majesty, this was all planned in advance!"

Xie Suzhi was furious. "Silence! How can you still be so unrepentant and spout such nonsense at a time like this?"

’She can say whatever she wants about anyone else, but not about my daughter.’

Though there were still tear stains on her face, Xie Yuanjiu’s laughter became shrill and wild.

She stared at Fang Qingdai and Second Master Xie. "How could I be spouting nonsense? Oh, Father, I bet you don’t know that when General Fang left the Capital City all those years ago, she was pregnant with your child. And she gave birth to it!"

The two brothers, Xie Suzhi and Xie Dizhi, froze. They both turned in unison to look at Fang Qingdai, who was kneeling nearby.

By the time Xie Yuanjiu had finished speaking, all the color had drained from Fang Qingdai’s face.

"That missing Jade Pendant for the third son of the Xie family? General Fang took it with her long ago! All these years, the vacant position of the Third Young Master in the Xie Mansion was actually being saved for her child!"

After she finished, Second Madam Xie stared at Fang Qingdai in astonishment. "What? You... you were pregnant back then?"

Second Master Xie’s expression was even more complex, a mixture of shock and disbelief.

His eyes met Fang Qingdai’s.

’If it’s true... then it must have been from that night years ago, on the way back from the National Temple. We were overcome with passion, and we...’

The two of them had been certain they would marry, but after things went wrong, they had, by unspoken agreement, never mentioned that reckless night again.

"You were carrying our child? Is it Liang Yici?" Second Master Xie shot to his feet, a storm raging in his dark eyes. He grabbed Fang Qingdai’s arm, desperate for her to confirm it.

Fang Qingdai violently shook off his hand. "I don’t know what nonsense you are all talking about! General Liang and I loved each other deeply. Yici is his child, of course!"

But as she spoke, she turned her head, refusing to look at Second Master Xie’s face as her hand nervously tucked away a stray strand of hair.

Knowing Fang Qingdai all too well, Second Master Xie instantly recognized her tell. ’She always does that when she’s lying.’

’The child... it’s really mine!’

’I have a daughter!’

Shen Ningning shook her head and sighed.

’I didn’t stop Xie Yuanjiu from revealing the truth because I wanted Second Uncle to know.’

’But looking at his face, he doesn’t look ecstatic. All I see is deep guilt and self-reproach.’

’He must be thinking about how hard it’s been for Aunt Qingdai all these years, raising a child all on her own so far from home.’

At that moment, Mo Lingwei placed a small dish of shelled sunflower seeds in front of Shen Ningning.

"Eat up," he said, his thin lips curving into a faint, cool smile as he glanced toward the center of the hall. "Xie Yuanjiu’s performance isn’t over yet."

"Liang Yici isn’t your only daughter. You also have a son. General Fang gave birth to twins!" Xie Yuanjiu sneered.

’I’m going to expose every single one of their past scandals today.’

’If my life is ruined, then I’ll destroy any chance of Fang Qingdai and Xie Dizhi rekindling their old romance!’

"If you don’t believe me, you can send someone to investigate a certain person. The Jade Pendant was in his possession before. And my second brother, Xie Ming’an, definitely knows about this as well."

Xie Suzhi froze for a moment, then frowned.

’Ming’an knew all along? Then does my own clever little daughter know too?’

Xie Suzhi lifted his head and looked toward Shen Ningning, only to see the little one casually eating sunflower seeds and sipping herbal tea.

On her fair little face, her large dark eyes showed not the slightest hint of surprise.

’She really did know...’

Xie Suzhi sighed and helplessly pinched the bridge of his nose.

’I’m the most clueless one in the entire family.’

Second Master Xie was utterly dumbfounded. Fang Qingdai, however, in a complete change from her earlier demeanor, rushed up to Xie Yuanjiu.

She grabbed Xie Yuanjiu by the collar. "You know where my son is? Where is he? He’s not dead?!"

Xie Yuanjiu knocked her hand away, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "The child General Liang raised for you for years turned out to be another man’s. Does General Liang know? Do the people on the border, who worship him like a god, know?"

"If you wanted to find your son, you should have stayed away forever! Why did you have to come back to the Capital City and destroy my family!" Xie Yuanjiu shrieked, her voice sharp and piercing.

Fang Qingdai’s eyes reddened. Oblivious to the sting of those words, she focused on only one thing—her son’s whereabouts.

"Tell me! Please, I’m begging you, tell me!"

Xie Yuanjiu kept her mouth shut, a smug look on her face. She was intentionally tormenting Fang Qingdai; seeing these people beg her was extraordinarily satisfying.

’Even if Xie Ming’an knows Xu Jingxi’s identity, he isn’t here right now.’

’I’ll make Fang Qingdai suffer for as long as I possibly can!’

’Besides, even if Fang Qingdai finds out who her son is, it’s useless. All she’ll find is a corpse!’

Just then, Shen Ningning cracked open a sunflower seed. CRACK.

Her sweet, soft voice drifted over. "Aunt Qingdai, you don’t have to beg her. I think I might know."

"Your and Second Uncle’s son is named Xu Jingxi."

The expression in Xie Yuanjiu’s eyes changed to one of pure shock.

’How could Shen Ningning possibly know?!’

The Emperor, who was familiar with Xu Jingxi, was also exceptionally surprised. "Him?"

Shen Ningning nodded obediently. "And what’s more, he’s in my big brother’s Zichen Palace right now. I was worried Xie Yuanjiu would send people to hurt him, so I brought him into the palace for safekeeping!"

Hearing this, Xie Yuanjiu looked as though she had been struck by lightning.

’Shen Ningning brought Xu Jingxi into the palace?!’

’Doesn’t that mean the assassins I sent went there for nothing?!’

The Emperor waved his hand. "Bring him here at once."