I made the villain right.

Kyoto is crowded with people and the noise is endless.

Li Zhi led the horse and walked towards the city gate.

Today, he decided to go to Fengyun Pavilion. In order to hide his whereabouts, he asked for leave and said he was going back to Lingzhou to visit his mother.

Li Muci walked side by side with him to see him off.

When they reached the city gate, Li Zhi stopped and said to Li Muci with a serious look, "During the time when I'm not in Kyoto, you must be careful when you are alone. If you encounter an emergency, or Qin Yixian comes to cause trouble again, you can go to Changliu Villa to find King Jing'an. Your father has already informed King Jing'an in advance, and he will protect you and keep you safe."

Li Muci nodded slightly, with a smile on his face, and responded: "Okay, Dad, be careful on your journey and everything goes well."

Li Zhi reached out and gently patted Li Muci's shoulder, comforting him: "Okay, don't send me off again, go back."

After saying this, Li Zhi nimbly jumped onto the horse, flicked the reins, whipped the horse, and galloped away, leaving behind only a cloud of flying dust.

Li Muci stood there for a long time, watching his father go away without blinking, until his figure completely disappeared from the end of his sight. Then he slowly retracted his gaze, turned around and walked into the city.

Suddenly, a loud noise attracted Li Muci's attention. He couldn't help but stop and watch.

An old man was holding a portrait and asked everyone he met. He stopped a young man passing by and asked solemnly, "Have you seen the person in the portrait? This is my son, who has not been home for several days."

The young man took a look at the portrait and shook his head slowly, "I've never seen it."

Seeing no results, he asked the next person.

There were two old men not far away who seemed to be familiar with him. They said, "Old Wang's son is very filial. Old Wang has a leg disease, and all the money he earned from work is used to buy medicine for Old Wang. But it's strange that one day he took out 20 taels of silver and gave it to Old Wang. After that, he never showed up again and his whereabouts were unknown. Could it be that he met with an accident outside?"

The old man in black cloth had a solemn expression on his face and sighed, "I hope not. Old Wang is already old, but he still looks for people every day. I'm really worried that his body can't take it."

The old man suddenly recalled something and said, "I heard that several people in the neighborhood have gone missing. The world is not peaceful lately."

The old man in grey cloth heard this and said seriously: "Then I must take good care of my son and make sure he doesn't go out as much as possible."

After hearing this, Li Muci lost interest in reading any further and turned away.

The next day.

There were only Shi Jin and Zhi Lu in Fengming Palace, and Fan Hua was nowhere to be seen at this moment.

During the time when Fan Hua was away from Fengyun Pavilion, there were many unresolved matters in the pavilion. As soon as he came back, he went to deal with the affairs of the pavilion.

When Zhilu was sorting the luggage that Shi Jin brought back, he saw a painting, so he opened it with confusion, but he didn't expect it to be a picture of a beauty. The woman was stunningly beautiful, dressed luxuriously, holding a long sword, and looking heroic. The most eye-catching thing was the beauty's curved mouth.

"Miss, who is the person in this portrait?" Zhilu asked puzzledly.

Shi Jin opened his mouth and said: "It's my mother-in-law. Isn't she beautiful?"

Just at this moment, Shi Wei and Shi Sheng walked in, and these words fell directly into their ears.

When Shi Wei heard that it was Fan Hua's mother, he was slightly surprised, but more curious.

Oh no... Shi Jin secretly cried out inwardly, "Oh no!"

My father must know Princess Shengqing, but Ayu is unwilling to reveal her identity, and my father and brother are still unaware of it. If she reveals it behind his back, it would be disrespectful to him.

After Shi Jin realized what was happening, he said, "Zhilu, put the painting away..."

Before he uttered the word "put it away", Shi Wei had already leaned forward to look at the portrait.

When Shi Wei's eyes fell on the person in the portrait, his expression suddenly changed, as if he was lost in some memories.

After a moment, he withdrew his gaze, his eyes became more complicated, and there was something on his mind between his brows.

When Sheng wanted to come over to take a look, Shi Jin had already put the painting away.

Shi Sheng saw this and asked in confusion: "Why did you put it away? I haven't read it yet."

Shi Jin did not notice Shi Wei's thoughtful look. His attention was all on Shi Sheng. He said casually, "Brother, I'll show you next time."

"Zhilu, you go down first." Shi Wei, who was silent, suddenly spoke up and asked Zhilu to leave.

Zhilu retreated after hearing this.

Then Wei's face suddenly became serious and he said, "Jin'er, I have something to ask you." After he said that, he found a seat and sat down.

Looking at Shi Wei's serious expression, Shi Jin muttered inwardly: Why do I feel like the atmosphere is not right?

Shi Jin hesitated for a moment before sitting down next to Shi Wei, feeling a little nervous.

"Dad, what do you want to ask?"

General Shi hesitated for a long time, but finally spoke.

"How did you get a portrait of the Shengqing Princess? And why did you say it was your mother-in-law? What is the relationship between Fanhua and the Shengqing Palace?"

The louder Wei spoke, the more excited he became.

At this moment, his heart was full of doubts and confusion, as well as some vague uneasiness.

Fan Hua is just the head of Fengyun Pavilion, how could he be related to Shengqing Palace?

Shi Wei's reaction made Shi Jin feel strange, and there was a hint of doubt in his eyes.

Why did Dad react so strongly? Did he discover Fan Hua's other identity?

Shi Jin's eyes dodged. She was thinking about how to answer this question, hesitating: "This..."

When Shi Wei saw this, his heart tightened and an ominous premonition came to his mind.

His expression became more serious, and he pressed on: "Jin'er, tell me the truth! Don't hide anything."

Shi Sheng, who was sitting next to him, saw that Shi Wei was in an abnormal mood. He showed a sharp look in his eyes and realized that something was wrong. He looked at Shi Jin and said in a serious voice: "Jin'er, what's going on? Are you hiding something from us?"

Shi Jin realized that he could no longer conceal the matter and could only tell the truth.

"Dad, big brother, don't be angry. I'm telling you this. In fact, Ayu has another little-known identity. He is actually the prince of Shengqing."

As soon as these words were spoken, Shi Wei felt as if he was struck by lightning. His head was buzzing and his eyes were filled with a complex emotion of shock, confusion, and embarrassment.

After hearing this, Shi Sheng's face was filled with shock and disbelief.

As far as he knew, the Prince of Shengqing had already died in a fire. How could Fanhua be Xu Zhinan?

Shi Jin went on to explain, "We didn't mean to hide it from you. Ayu only learned his true identity not long ago and didn't know how to tell you the truth. When we were trapped in Kyoto, Ayu and I were helped by the Yunbo Marquis Mansion and lived in one of their private houses for a long time. The painting was taken from there. If Ayu misses his mother, he can look at it."

Shi Sheng frowned when he heard this. "Didn't the prince of Shengqing die in a fire more than a decade ago? How could Fan Hua be him? Who said this?"

"Lanzhi, the maidservant of Princess Shengqing, said that she and Ayu escaped from the palace and were chased all the way to a cliff. She had no choice but to jump off the cliff. Fortunately, she survived and was rescued by a scholar. However, he also lost all his memories and has been living as Fanhua ever since."

Shi Jin took off the hairpin on her head and said, "This hairpin is a token of trust. Lanzhi recognized Ah Yu with this token..."

Shi Jin told her everything she knew.

After hearing this, Shi Sheng said with some emotion: "So that's how it is. It's a blessing in disguise that my brother-in-law is still alive today."

After realizing it, he said, "Marquis Yun has always been indifferent to the affairs of the court. He was able to help this time. Did he know Fan Hua's identity?"

"No, A Yu has not yet told them his identity. Queen Yun is willing to help us partly because of Li Muci, and partly because A Yu made a deal with Marquis Yun in exchange for the information about the whereabouts of the Prince of Shengqing."

The brother and sister were talking to each other, but Shi Wei listened without saying a word the whole time. He was extremely quiet, and something seemed wrong.

So she asked, "Dad, why are you so quiet? Don't you have anything to ask me?"

Shi Wei frowned slightly and said in a low voice: "No"

"Then I have something I want to ask Dad."

"What's the matter?"

"Dad said that he had no choice but to let me stay alone in Fengyun Pavilion for four years. Can you tell me the reason?"

Hearing Shi Jin mention this, Shi Wei's heart tightened. He raised his head and looked at her with his deep and dark eyes, with a hint of guilt and sadness in his eyes.

He sighed and said after a while: "At this point, there is nothing to hide."

Shi Wei's eyes gradually became profound, as if he was trapped in the past.

"This matter starts with the Jiangnan corruption case back then..."