A person's cunning and depth of calculation often grew with age. Even when they knew perfectly well that someone was lying, they still would not expose them to their face. Xue Lingjun had grown accustomed to this-playing along, showing one face while hiding another. Her sincerity had long since been buried beneath her alluring, affectionate exterior; even she had forgotten what sincerity looked like. For all manner of reasons, she had to keep up the disguise. Yet she had also discovered that being too clever was not necessarily a good thing for a woman. Men generally disliked women cleverer than themselves, but now, even if she tried her hardest to play the fool, no one would believe her.
"Could this have been a performance staged by the Black Hu people themselves?" Xue Lingjun sneered inwardly. Hu Xiaotian had first pointed the spear at her, then, once the Black Hu Envoy Group had left, turned around and struck back, laying the blame on Black Hu. This fellow truly was sinister.
Hu Xiaotian shook his head and changed the subject. "Sister Jun, have you heard anything about the Prince of Yan?"
Xue Lingjun was slightly taken aback. Did Hu Xiaotian mean that her second brother was connected to this affair? She slowly shook her head. "I haven't heard from him in a long time. He plotted against Mother and tried to overthrow the Imperial Court. Great Yong has long since ceased to tolerate him. I don't know where he has fled now." It was true that Xue Lingjun did not know Xue Shengjing's whereabouts, but even she did not believe these trumped-up charges. She had witnessed everything that happened at Benevolence Garden from beginning to end and naturally understood it perfectly. Xue Shengjing was certainly no good man, but who among those