“You… what did you say?”

Those words struck Qin Yiliu like a heavy club to the head.

The smug look on Qin Yiliu’s face froze instantly. She staggered, her delicate and dignified face turning white inch by inch.

She clenched her teeth, a dawning realization flashing in her eyes, transforming arrogance into fear, then disgust, and finally back into fear, laced with disbelief and unacceptance.

Trembling, she abruptly looked up at Xie Jin Yan, shaking her head violently, laughing and crying, “No… impossible… impossible! Your Highness, you… you’re lying to me, right? You think you can scare me into not reporting you to His Majesty?”

“You think you can frighten me with such words? I’m not that stupid! I’m telling you, I’m not that stupid!”

Qin Yiliu was on the verge of madness. Despite her attempts at composure, she couldn’t hide the fear in her eyes.

Xie Jin Yan folded his arms, watching her like a clown, and sneered, “Qin Yiliu, if you weren’t so stupid, how could you live this life so miserably even after being reborn? A fool is a fool, even after ten lifetimes, you'll still be a fool.”

“You… Ahhh!” Qin Yiliu was already on the verge of collapse, and Xie Jin Yan’s words pushed her over the edge, exposing her original foolishness. She flew into a rage, her voice shrill, pointing at Xie Jin Yan and shouting, “You… in your past life, you protected that bitch, leaving me a widow for life. In this life, you let a beggar ruin me! Xie Jin Yan, may you die a horrible death! May you and that bitch both die horrible deaths!”

“I already followed her path, so why… why don’t you like me! Why do you still protect her!”

Qin Yiliu screamed hysterically, but after her outburst, she froze.

What had she just said?

Qin Yiliu looked up, trembling, at the man before her, praying that he hadn’t heard her words.

But Xie Jin Yan wasn’t deaf. She had shouted so loudly that it was impossible not to hear.

However, her outburst helped Xie Jin Yan understand, and he suddenly realized why Qin Yiliu had been targeting Yu Qingwu all along.

It seemed that this Qin woman had entered his crown prince’s residence in her past life and had been constantly suppressed by his shijie (senior female apprentice), probably ending up with a miserable fate.

Come to think of it, his shijie had always been vindictive and ruthless towards outsiders, repaying them tenfold, except for her fellow disciples.

Someone like A-Yue, only repaying in kind, was considered lenient.

He could easily imagine the fate of a woman like Qin, full of scheming thoughts, in his shijie's hands.

And judging by her attitude towards him, he must have loathed her in his previous life.

Looking at Qin Yiliu’s pale face and trembling lips,

Xie Jin Yan couldn't help but laugh, teasing, "Don't worry, I'm not interested in taking your life over a few words."

He curled his lips, took a few steps closer to Qin Yiliu, and sized her up with a playful look in his eyes. Seeing her shrinking back even more, he stepped back and sneered, “With your looks and stupidity, you must have entered my crown prince's residence through dirty means in your previous life, right? After entering, you were self-righteous, constantly opposing my shijie, but you never won, and your life only became more miserable, right?”

Xie Jin Yan smiled, his tone calm.

However, the more he spoke like this, the more frightened Qin Yiliu became.

Although she rarely saw Xie Jin Yan in her previous life, she knew his temperament somewhat.

When she was caught giving Yu Clan an abortive medicine, Xie Jin Yan had the same expression and had her legs broken.

Remembering the events of her previous life, the pretense that Qin Yiliu had carefully maintained for many years became increasingly unsustainable. She huddled on the ground, trembling, and cried, "You… don't guess wildly. I had nothing to do with you before I was reborn. I just didn't want you, a wise ruler, to die at the hands of that demonic woman, Yu…”

Her upper and lower teeth chattered, desperately trying to shift the blame onto Yu Qingwu.

Earlier, Xie Jin Yan had been somewhat suspicious because of Xiao Fengyun.

But now, he didn't believe a word of it.

He simply looked down at Qin Yiliu and said to himself in a dark and sinister tone, “Let me guess, why did you marry Shen Lin but seduce Shen Ke? You originally wanted to marry Shen Ke, right? But because he cared about his reputation and refused to bear the infamy of abandoning his fiancée to marry you, you settled for Shen Lin, and while you were lovey-dovey with Shen Lin, you also seduced Shen Ke…”

“But, what's the reason you said that?"

Xie Jin Yan smiled, a sharp glint flashing in his phoenix eyes, staring at her intently, "You said just now that you followed her path. So, whose path did you follow? You followed shijie’s path, right? You kept reminding me that I robbed you and made the Shen family lose face. So, in your memory, shijie must have married Shen Ke, and because I hated Shen Ke and the Shen family, I forcibly took his wife to make them uncomfortable?"

Xie Jin Yan’s words left Qin Yiliu completely dumbfounded.

She had always known that the crown prince was shrewd, but she never expected him to be so astute that he could guess the whole story with just a few words.

At that moment, Qin Yiliu’s heart grew even colder. She looked at Xie Jin Yan in horror and shook her head vehemently in denial.

But even though she tried her best to hide it, her eyes betrayed her.

For some reason, Xie Jin Yan suddenly felt a little grateful to her.

He tilted his head and said in a certain tone, “Seeing your reaction, I guessed correctly? Then I really have to thank you. If it weren’t for your interference, my shijie would have become a second-marriage woman, and it wouldn’t have been so easy for me to make her my crown princess.”

“Oh, right, there’s one more thing. Is it possible that I robbed another man's wife not to oppose the Shen family and Shen Ke, but simply because I wanted to rob A-Wu, because I wanted her as a person?"

“So, even if you follow her path, I won’t give you a second glance.”

After speaking, Xie Jin Yan didn’t give Qin Yiliu a chance to say more and had her thrown far away.

On the way back to the main courtyard, he couldn’t hide the joy on his face.

Yu Qingwu had just changed into casual clothes and was somewhat puzzled and uncomfortable to see Xie Jin Yan so elated.

He clearly said he hated that Qin woman, so why was he so happy after seeing her?

She stepped forward, took Xie Jin Yan’s outer robe, hung it on the rack, looked at him twice, wanting to ask something, but swallowed it back.

Looking up again, seeing that he was still beaming with joy, she finally couldn't help but ask him in a somewhat sarcastic tone, "Why is Your Highness so happy? Did that Qin woman tell you some good news?"

Seeing Yu Qingwu stammering for a long time before blurting out this sentence, with her brows furrowed, Xie Jin Yan’s smile became even brighter. He moved closer to her and asked in a teasing tone, "What's wrong, Yu Qingwu, are you jealous? Didn't you ask me to talk to her? Why are you changing your tune again?"