"Xiao Xue, have you been doing well in the palace?" Su Chen asked with concern.
"Pretty well. With all those palace stories you told me, Brother Su Chen-Story of Yanxi Palace, Beyond the Realm of Conscience, and the rest-Xue Ye, Xue Xing, and Xue Beng are nothing but small dishes on my plate," Qian Renxue said with a smile.
"Xiao Xue, how did you end up impersonating Xue Qinghe?" Su Chen asked, though he already knew the answer.
"Originally, this wasn't part of my plan. My plan was to infiltrate the Heaven Dou Imperial Family and spark internal strife. At first, thanks to those stories you told me, Brother Su Chen, I successfully became Xue Qinghe's personal maid."
"Over the course of a year, I often secretly advised Xue Qinghe and devised strategies for him. That earned me his trust, and he entrusted me with important responsibilities. More than once, I tried to use him to spark conflict within the Heaven Dou Imperial Family. But he actually rejected those schemes that seemed to benefit him. In his words, they were all family, and he couldn't bring himself to strike his brothers with a poisoned hand."
"At last, my chance came. The Heaven Dou Imperial Family's annual hunt began!"
"So you took advantage of the hunt to kill him in secret and take his place?"
Su Chen couldn't help interrupting with a question.
"No."
Qian Renxue shook her head. "He didn't die by my hand. Strictly speaking, I wasn't the real killer!"
Puzzled, Su Chen asked, "It wasn't you?"
He knew fifty thousand years into the past and fifty thousand years into the future. Su Chen knew perfectly well that Xue Qinghe had died at Qian Renxue's hands.
"That's right."
Qian Renxue nodded and explained in detail. Only then did Su