87: I don't hate you, it won't stop your whole family from dying.

"Mo Yingqi, that is your half-brother!" Zhang Jiawen clenched his hands, looking up and staring intensely at this younger son who resembled him in neither appearance nor personality.

Mo Yingqi's appearance was a near-perfect replica of his mother's; there was truly not a single similarity between them. In truth, he could not deny that Mo Qingyu's beauty alone was enough to make anyone lose their soul.

But he was even more aware that beauty and wealth were nowhere near as secure as true power. Furthermore, marrying Mo Qingyu in the first place had always been for the sake of her dowry.

"Regarding what happened back then, I admit that I failed you and failed your mother, but I do not regret it." Zhang Jiawen's tone carried a hint of composure. "You must understand..."

"I know your mother."

Mo Yingqi interrupted Zhang Jiawen with a sneer and a curse: "You used my mother's dowry to heavily support those Imperial Examination Candidates, providing them with money and supplies, only waiting until they passed the examinations to become pawns for your dear father-in-law. My mother's dowry of several hundred thousand was squandered by you in no time at all. You deceived her for money and affection, and in the end, you say you do not regret it? Have all your Four Books and Five Classics, all the rites and laws of the sages, been read into a dog's belly?"

"You certainly had a good scheme. You bought a reputation without spending a dime of your own money. The Mo family's reputation rose among the merchants, and they were wealthy. With this first sum, you could find ways to get a second. Oh, right, the deficit you owed the national treasury back then—I'm afraid that's how you paid it off, isn't it?"

Zhang Jiawen was left red-faced by Mo Yingqi's words, yet he still stiffened his neck, unwilling to admit it: "Everything you say lacks actual evidence..."

"You, sir, I suspect that even if you were burned to ashes, your mouth would remain perfectly intact." Mo Yingqi clicked his tongue. "The Pacification Bureau monitors all officials, and there are many files regarding you in the archives. Yet our Pacification Commissioner merely seized them and never destroyed them."

At this point, Mo Yingqi looked at Zhang Jiawen with a gaze of scrutiny and inquiry: "Guess why that is? Given his position in the Pacification Bureau, it wouldn't be difficult for him to wipe these away for you. But he merely kept them privately and sealed them in the files. When I first saw them, I was also curious. Why not help you destroy the evidence, nor bring you to justice? What is the point of keeping these things?"

"Don't try to scare me. If this matter were brought to light, I wouldn't be the only one to suffer." There was a hint of panic in Zhang Jiawen's tone. Even though he still looked calm, his eyes had become somewhat evasive. "If there really were files, even if Zhao Jiguang were inclined to favor me, I would have long been taken into the Imperial Prison by you all!"

"That is true, but unfortunately, it is clear that this matter was not his doing alone." Mo Yingqi seemed to have guessed he would ask this. "Before the late Emperor passed away, he suddenly dismissed the former Commander. Furthermore, after the new Emperor ascended the throne, he did not value Zhao Jiguang highly. Instead, it was my direct superior, Commander Fang, who has been responsible for cleaning up the remnants of the Rebel Prince over this past year."

"One can guess that the late Emperor was likely long aware that the former Commander was one of Grand Chancellor Zhou's men. The Pacification Bureau, an agency directly under The Emperor, had also been contaminated by the Grand Chancellor. Therefore, I fear your case was also suppressed by that former Commander in collusion."

"Without orders from above, which Centurion or Commander would dare to truly investigate? Moreover, look at how impressive you are, Lord Zhang: husband to the only daughter of Grand Chancellor Zhou. Although your wife is dead, you still have a son. You, Lord Zhang, are self-disciplined, taking no concubines, and your relationship with your in-laws remains consistent."

As Mo Yingqi said this, his left hand, gripping the blade, slowly tightened. He truly wished he could kill him with one strike. If he could, he would rather not have been born than have his mother die of depression after learning the truth.

Furthermore, the reason he favored the son of himself and his late wife was not because he loved his wife so much, but because that child was considered part of the Zhou family—the only grandson of Grand Chancellor Zhou.

How could a son born to a merchant's daughter be as valuable as the child born to his precious, high-born late wife? Moreover, it wasn't that they couldn't afford the money; they simply didn't want to spend their own.

A good reputation, a promising young talent—it was all theirs. And they still wanted to continue using the Mo family's wealth to pave the way for their own plans. Every time Mo Yingqi thought of this, he was so angry he could laugh. For someone to stoop to this level, calling him shameless was a compliment.

"You didn't lose out. Back then, my mother only asked for a divorce and did not take back a single cent of the dowry she brought into your Zhang family. The common people do not fight with officials. No matter how much money a merchant has, they are still commoners. They cannot fight you, and they certainly cannot fight your good father-in-law, who held power over the imperial court and whom even the late Emperor feared." Mo Yingqi's voice grew colder and colder, and the smile that had been on his face slowly disappeared. "You were certain that even if my mother made a scene, my grandfather could not defeat you, even if he exhausted his entire fortune. Seeing that my mother did not pursue the matter and only wanted a divorce, you simply went along with it..."

"But you should never, ever have sent people to silence my mother and me. If not for my master arriving in time, I fear we would have been killed by the assassins you sent! Even so, because of excessive fear and the depression that plagued her over these years, my mother's health became impossible to restore, and she eventually passed away in the Northern Frontier."

"Do you really think my mother and I wanted to go to the frozen Northern Frontier? If we had stayed in the south, I fear my mother and I would have been killed by you hypocritical, dressed-up beasts!"

If, regarding the previous matters, Mo Yingqi only wished to beat him up, the incident with the assassins could be said to be the sole cause that made Mo Yingqi and Zhang Jiawen mortal enemies.

Back then, he and his mother were already preparing to leave. They didn't expect that as soon as they left the city by carriage, they would be intercepted by assassins. All the servants and maids following them were killed. If Xie Qingfeng hadn't arrived, entrusted by his grandfather, he and his mother would have truly died under the blades at that moment.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Jiawen's pupils suddenly dilated, his eyes filled with doubt and confusion. Mo Yingqi was not surprised to see his reaction, only sneering: "Rest assured, I know it wasn't you who did it. I fear it was someone worried that if my mother made a scene, even if it were difficult to handle, it would cause some trouble."

"And I also guessed why that person knew when my mother and I would leave your Zhang family... So, from that point on, I never believed in that nonsense about 'at birth, people are inherently good.' Some people are born as bad seeds."

After speaking, Mo Yingqi turned slightly to make way: "Provincial Governor Zhang, I have said everything I needed to say. I don't care how things turn out now; you must die, and your son must die..."

"As for your father-in-law, rest assured, he will also go down to accompany you."

"You don't need to look at me like that. Rest assured, I stopped hating you long ago. Hatred is too much of an honor for you; it's unnecessary... Of course, that doesn't stop me from wanting your entire family to die, to leave you with nothing, to let everything you have painstakingly built... collapse overnight!"