People might ask why they fully believed in Han Xiang's words... there was also a reason behind it --- not only because Han Xiang was Xiao Fang's good friend. It was also because of her handwritten blood letter.

There was a phrase that could describe this belief. 'Lies written in ink can never disguise facts written in blood' [1]. The tradition of writing in blood was especially present in Buddhism and the Han people were a full believer of this tradition. That was also why Han Xiang resolutely left a blood letter, despite the need to bear the pain while writing in between her last breaths.

Han Xiang wanted to tell the world the ugly truth of that disgusting man and she needed an irrefutable proof for them to believe her side of the story. Thus, she dared to take her life as a gamble. Besides, she couldn't live that long anyway. Why didn't she use her life to save other people's lives?

Uncle Qiu said with a hurt expression, "I always know that the Emperor is a paranoid man, but I never know that he is going to try to eradicate so many people all at once. Does he really want to put his own puppets to become his ministers and become a sole ruler? That is one crazy idea because it will ruin our kingdom!"

Uncle Qiu knew if this continued, he would die out of anger. This Han Emperor seemed to become more and more unreasonable. He knew that a monarch always felt paranoid that someone would try to take his position, but this farce and this plan... he was quite speechless and felt at a loss.

The Han Kingdom wasn't in a stable condition for a long time already because of its poor weather and scarce resources. They needed to curry favor to the Shu Kingdom to get important resources ah~! The Shu Kingdom was so powerful that it could actually crush their kingdom easily if there was no Qin Kingdom to balance the three kingdoms. The Shu Kingdom was strong enough to destroy one kingdom, but not two kingdoms at once.

If they were having an internal struggle around this time, wouldn't it become this kingdom's loophole? It could become a chance for the other kingdoms to wreak havoc. Other kingdoms would be able to attack them because their defense became weak ah~!

How could he be so selfish?! He wanted an endless power and his greed would only ruin his own kingdom. Didn't he care about the civilians?

Uncle Qiu believed they needed two parties who balanced each other in the court and they were needed to make suggestions and give pieces of advice whether it was good or bad for the Emperor. He would be able to make a decision with a clear understanding of the pros and cons. However, if it was only the Emperor's own decision, it would be dangerous for their kingdom because there was a chance that the Emperor would be blinded by power and use it unwisely.

The Han Emperor wanted to become a tyrant.

Was that his sudden decision? Or someone had influenced him?

Xiao Fang looked at Uncle Qiu and didn't know how to say the next bit of news. Uncle Qiu saw her hesitation and decided to ask, "Why? Do you have something else to say to me?"

"G.o.dfather..." Xiao Fang said weakly. Xiao Fang knew that she couldn't hide her thought away from him…

Uncle Qiu asked softly, "My name is on the list too, right?"

Xiao Fang closed her eyes and nodded, "Yes..." She knew that Uncle Qiu would certainly feel disappointed --- not only Uncle Qiu but her father too…

Uncle Qiu laughed in disbelief. "I have secluded myself here for quite some times and he still tries to eradicate me! Such a hypocrite!" It seemed like this kind of Emperor would be dangerous to keep, but he didn't want to plan treason. After all, it would lead to an internal struggle. Besides, this Han Emperor was also quite powerful in his own ways.

Was it so easy to plan treason out of nowhere?

The answer was no.

The quartet didn't know what to say to comfort the man and they could only keep their silence. They didn't know how deep the feelings of Uncle Qiu towards the Han Emperor and they were afraid to say something --- just in case they said something wrong and made him feel more hurt.

Uncle Qiu sighed and finally said, "Princess Han Xiang indeed did the right thing. She gave out those important lists and with so many people already knew about it, the Han Emperor wouldn't dare to kill the people on those lists. If he really did that, he would admit his wrongdoing towards Han Xiang too... He wouldn't dare to smear his own image any more than this."

The quartet nodded in agreement. The Han Emperor would definitely need to abandon this plan or he would make a lot of people revolt. In the end, he wouldn't get any benefits too.

Xiao Fang didn't notice these points before and she admitted that Han Xiang was actually very smart. Why didn't she notice this before? Did she plan all this at the little time when she was sober from the drugs? If that was true, her heart was aching for her.

Not only Xiao Fang, but the trio also started to realize this point and they also admired Han Xiang for her sharp mind.

Xiao Fang decided to ask Uncle Qiu one more thing, "Uncle… do you know my real ident.i.ty?" This part… Xiao Fang hadn't told him yet.

Uncle Qiu was taken aback by her sudden question. "I don't know… I only know that your father found you by accident." After that, he furrowed his eyebrows and asked, "Is there something more?"

If Xiao Fang said yes, he didn't know if his heart would be able to take it.

Xiao Fang saw that Uncle Qiu was tired and she decided not to tell him for now. He had been bombarded by so many truths all at once and it was enough for now.

From Uncle Qiu's expression, it seemed like he didn't know that she was the Ce Fei's daughter. Did her father not know about this matter too? She started to feel suspicious because his father would never let her go out if she didn't cover her face with veil.

Besides, the trio confirmed that she looked a lot like the Ce Fei. She shuddered at the thought the Han Emperor would find out about her ident.i.ty! What if he was crazy enough to treat her just like her mother --- by making her as her mother's subst.i.tute?

That would be so disgusting!

It would be better if Uncle Qiu didn't know about this matter until the end --- otherwise, she would also implicate him if one day… the Han Emperor found out about her real ident.i.ty.

After that, they decided to go in separate ways. Xiao Fang accompanied Uncle Qiu and decided to talk happier things about their past. The trio didn't want to intrude and they decided to go back into their own room.

Yao Ying and Yao Ling didn't tell Lin Jian about their plan at night. They wanted to do this by themselves. When they arrived at their own room, Xiu was already there and he wanted to give them the result of his investigation.

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[1]. This phrase came from the 20th-century Chinese writer Lu Xun. Here the phrase "written in blood" is metaphorical — Lu Xun was talking about the killing of student protesters — but resonates with Chinese history, as China does actually have a tradition of writing in blood.