Chapter 101: Just Pretend This Daughter Was Never Born

After the slap, the courtyard fell suddenly silent for a moment.

Tan Qingjiu couldn’t help but lift her head. What had Tan Yunge just been about to say? Tan Yun had arranged for her to marry the crown prince of Ding Wang. What did Tan Yun want?

Tan Qingjiu narrowed her eyes slightly, quietly taking note of this.

Tan Yunge suddenly widened her eyes in disbelief. “You hit me? You actually hit me?”

She took a deep breath, her eyes bloodshot, glaring at Tan Yun for a long moment before inhaling deeply again. “I understand that because Prince Duan has been close to Tan Qingjiu lately, repeatedly saying he wants to marry her, you, Father, have shown her some favoritism. But I never imagined you would hit me for that little wretch.”

“Fine then. Am I completely useless now? Now that you have Qingjiu, Father, you can trample over me at will, just for her?”

“Well, it’s true. I’ve been married for eight years. This Tan residence no longer has a place for me.”

Tan Yunge took a couple of steps back, covering her face as she sobbed. “If that’s the case, then I don’t have to come back anymore. Father, just consider that you never had a daughter better than me.”

Tan Yun’s face darkened further. “How did you become so unreasonable like this?”

“Yes, I’m unreasonable!” Tan Yunge practically shouted. “All these years, Father, you never said I was unreasonable. The moment Qingjiu returned, I suddenly became unreasonable. Ha…”

“Fine, then consider me unreasonable.”

Furious, Tan Yunge stormed out toward the door.

Chen Yueru’s face was pale as well. “Master, how could you treat Yunge like this? How could you… hit her? She was just overwhelmed with anger.”

“Master, you don’t even know what people outside are saying about Yunge. Anyone falsely accused and slandered like this would be furious, wouldn’t they?”

“I believe, Master, you would never do such a thing. After all, Yunge is your daughter. You wouldn’t frame her with baseless charges just to clear Qingjiu’s name.”

“There must be some misunderstanding.”

Only then did Tan Yun’s expression soften slightly. “Even you know there’s a misunderstanding, yet she didn’t hesitate to accuse me, saying I should act as if she never existed? Listen to yourself—does that make sense?”

Chen Yueru took a deep breath. “Yunge was provoked terribly. Sitting at home, disaster strikes from the sky. To be falsely branded as someone who slanders her own sister’s purity—anyone would find it hard to stay calm and composed in such a situation.”

She glanced at the silent Tan Qingjiu standing nearby. “Yesterday, Qingjiu quarreled with Yunge at the teahouse, accusing her of pushing her into the water and bullying her before. These two incidents combined—how do you expect outsiders to view Yunge, Master?”

Tan Qingjiu raised an eyebrow. “Madam thinks this is my fault? But those things, truly, Sister did them, didn’t she? Is Madam asking me to lie?”

“Besides, those rumors came from the servants and the storytellers. They have nothing to do with me since I am the one who was bullied. If Madam wants to blame someone, it should be herself for failing to manage her household properly.”

Chen Yueru’s face shifted, but she forced down her anger. “Let’s set yesterday’s matter aside for now. If you didn’t arrange today’s incident, Master, but someone else said it was so, then there must be something suspicious.”

“This matter needs to be investigated thoroughly.”

“Investigate!” Tan Yun took a deep breath, still looking displeased. “But the person has already been beheaded and displayed publicly. Where can we even investigate now?”

Chen Yueru shot another glance at Tan Qingjiu, biting her lip silently. “I think the investigation is simple: look at the whole situation and see who benefits the most from this. That will reveal everything.”

“The mastermind wouldn’t go to such lengths just to annoy Yunge. There must be a reason they think this benefits them.”

Tan Qingjiu stood quietly to the side, secretly amused. Chen Yueru was no fool; she had come up with quite a clever method.

It was basically saying outright: who benefits here?

She was the only one who stood to gain from this whole affair.

Tan Qingjiu blinked. “Madam wouldn’t be suspecting me, would she?”

She laughed softly. “Indeed, I benefit more than anyone. After all, Father’s scheme was meant to clear my name from a few years ago. But his original plan already achieved our goal. Now someone deliberately pointed fingers at Sister—that’s just overdoing it.”

“This seems more like someone seeking revenge, trying to make Sister miserable. Madam should have Sister think carefully about who she has offended over the years. Who is most likely behind this…”

Tan Qingjiu met Chen Yueru’s gaze and continued, “More importantly, we need to see who has the means to pull this off.”

“Father found that person only in the past few days. After that, the person was probably caught and thrown in jail, right? To get into prison and then be persuaded to change their story—this isn’t something just anyone can do.”

Tan Qingjiu tilted her head. “Though I am the head of the Healing Pavilion, in the end, I’m just a physician.”

“A physician with no such far-reaching power? Madam thinks highly of me.”

Tan Yun’s eyes twitched slightly. Though he hadn’t said so before, when Chen Yueru mentioned looking at who benefits most, he had harbored some suspicion toward Tan Qingjiu.

But after she spoke, he dismissed those doubts.

Tan Qingjiu was right. No matter how capable she was, she was just a doctor. She couldn’t have orchestrated this.

Though she was close with Prince Duan, he never meddled in such affairs, and His Majesty was wary of the prince’s dealings with ministers. The prince wouldn’t be involved.

Tan Yun narrowed his eyes, looking at Chen Yueru. “You go to the crown prince’s residence and ask Yunge if she has offended anyone.”

Chen Yueru bit her lip. “Who could Yunge possibly have offended?”

“That’s not certain. With her temper, offending people wouldn’t be unusual.”

“You go ask her yourself.”

A flash of resentment passed through Chen Yueru’s eyes. She smiled bitterly. “Yes, I’ll go ask.”

Then she glared sharply at Tan Qingjiu before lowering her head and retreating.

Tan Yun frowned in silence for a moment, then looked back at Tan Qingjiu. “So you really had nothing to do with this? Did you tell Prince Duan about it?”