Xie Jing Xing saw that her expression was different so he lifted her chin and looked carefully, “Oh?” He then continued, “So moved to such a state? Why not repay me with yourself?”

Shen Miao pushed him and scolded, “What nonsense are you spouting. How do you plan to deal with the Ye family?”

Xie Jing Xing thought for a moment, “This is not difficult. Since the Ye family is not our Imperial family’s people, then naturally they are with the Lu family. Once one is able to find evidence of the two families’ private exchanges, the Ye family would fall into misfortune if anything happens to the Lu family. Aren’t you usually smart? How could you not even know how to frame now?”

Shen Miao looked at him stunned. Xie Jing Xing could actually speak of framing others a serious crime in such an upright and frank way. Those who did not know would think that he was doing something that was aspiring big matter. Moreover it was not such a simple matter to frame a Prime Minister of a country.

“The Ye family…”

“It is actually better to deal with the Ye family than the Lu family. The Ye family have nothing more than a complicated power dynamics in the circle of the civil officials but once something happens to the Lu family and the Ye family gets implicated, those civil officials would make clean up their relationship with the Ye family since they are not fools. For so many years, the two confidants that Emperor Xiao Wu left behind had lost much strength and glory than before.”

Shen Miao thought about it and said, “It is not that their strength has been worn out but your strength has grown to a point that it is no longer restrained by them.”

The cubs had finally grown up to be the king of beasts thus all those clowns that were jumping around in the mountains and forest should now be individually cleaned up.

Xie Jing Xing looked at her and teased, “You respect me so much?”

Shen Miao said expressionless, “Respect those that can be respected.”

“Since Furen is so supportive then one has to serve Furen well.” Xie Jing Xing said solemnly before flipping over and pressing Shen Miao under him.

Shen Miao, “…”

*****

In the Ye residence.

Ye Mei and Ye Ke were chatting in the room.

Ye Mao Cai was a self-proclaimed scholar, thus the furnishing of the room was naturally elegant. In every turn, there would be paintings, books and orchids around but upon careful inspection, all the books and painting were famous masterpieces and the orchids were all of highest grades. Even the paperweight on the table was also valuable. It could be seen that the wealth of the Ye family was not false. It was true that they were scholars but it would not be true that all scholars were poor.

There were delicate snacks on the table.

Ye Mei was wearing a embroidered lotus robes that had an inner crystal yellow top. Be it the material or the workmanship of the clothes, they were both of top-notched. She had been born with an outstanding looks so when she wore as such, she looked more noble that those noble ladies in the Palace. With a natural romantic bearing, she was very charming and seductive.

Ye Ke sat across from her. His clothes were also as simple as before but there was another layer of fabric, it was obvious that the Ye family treated the siblings quite well.

“Older Sister, what did you mean with those words?” Ye Ke asked with a frown.

Ye Mei picked the teacup up from the table and took a sip before speaking faintly, “Previously Ye Furen was searching for females and insisted that I was her daughter. This entire thing was confusing and messy that one did not know if it was real or not. However it is a good place for us to go. After Father and Mother died, one is no longer able to look after the store and being a Young Lady of an official family is much better than being a daughter of a merchant. It is also the same for you. With Prime Minister Ye as a Father, your official career would be much smoother.”

Ye Ke smiled bitterly, “I naturally know of this truth but doesn’t Ye Mao Cai not believe our identities?”

In the past, Ye Mei and Ye Ke would not believe that there were free things that fell from the skies but after person from Ye family came to search for relatives came, both siblings could only believe that there were such good things in the world. One heard that a few decades ago, Ye Furen was harmed by veiled characters and her daughter was stranded outside. Finally when searching for relatives, they had found Ye Mei. As for whether it was true or not, from Ye Mei’s perspective, this was definitely not real.

Because Ye Ke and her were siblings that were born together.

However people would always be prejudiced, for example that Ye Furen, who looked very normal, was insistent that Ye Mei was her daughter and no matter how others persuaded her, she did not listen and insisted on bringing Ye Ke to the Ye residence due to Ye Mei’s relation.

Ye Mei and Younger Brother were vigilant and had high defenses but afterwards Ye Mao Cai came to see them. Compared to Ye Furen, Ye Mao Cai was much more sober and spoke frankly that Ye Mei and Younger Brother was not Ye Furen’s children. However because of Ye Furen’s insistence, Ye Mao Cai did not want to obstruct and because of Ye Furen’s health, he was willing to conceal this lie and give both of them the identity of the Ye family’s children.

Ye Furen was an exceptionally astute person so she would not jump into the fire easily without knowing the pros and cons about the matter. She thought of ways to enquire about the Ye family’s situation and learned about the current delicate position of the Ye family and Imperial family. In addition, the Ye family had a unhealthy Young Master and was considered to have no qualified successors to carry on one’s undertaking. Thus Ye Mao Cai needed a pair of ‘siblings’ to block the mouths of the world.

Mutually benefiting from each other and with each taking what one needed plus a handicap person would not be able to create any storm, won’t the wealth of this Ye residence end up in Ye Ke’s hands? Moreover with the name of the Ye family, it would be a smooth matter for Ye Mei to marry into noble families without a care for jaded food and brocade clothes. Even if Ye Mao Cai had other ideas, both siblings were not fools and could to think of ways to get what they wanted.

Thus Ye Mei and Younger Brother entered the Ye residence and became the Young Lady and Young Master of the Ye family. Ye Furen trusted them and Ye Mao Cai guarded against them but this was no different for Ye Mei and Younger Brother. The Ye family was just a springboard and a backing that could help them move faster in the future.

Ye Mei said, “It is not important if one trust the identities or not. You and I are from a merchant family so just treat him as a businessman. It is just that this business looked like a loss. I had not thought that it would become like this.”

“Like this?” Ye Ke did not understand, “Older Sister, do speak clearer.”

Ye Mei said, “Previously I had thought that the Ye family was strong in Long Ye and one did not need to worry about anything. Even though there is a delicate relationship with the Imperial family, one could still balance it off. However in recent days, one felt that something is off. The Ye family is not as good as I have thought and seemed to be in a precarious position. One step forward would be living with a peace of mind but if the step was taken wrongly, it would be an abyss that one would suffer a double loss.”

When Ye Ke heard of it, his expression became a bit unsightly, “You are saying that the Ye family’s situation is dangerous now?”

“I do not know if it is dangerous.” Ye Mei smiled coldly, “Ye Mao Cai, that old fox, concealed it very tightly and is unwilling to let us know about the Ye family’s predicament. Even though Ye Furen trusts me, she trusts Ye Mao Cai more so it is even more difficult to gain information from her than mounting to Heavens. However the more it is so, the more one’s intuition is uneasy. One always felt that this Ye residence is not good.”

“Perhaps you have thought too much.” Ye Ke thought about it and shook his head, “The Ye family is after all the Prime Minister of Great Liang so how could it be like what you have said? As for the Ye family to be wary of us, it is most likely because of the short time period. After all, we are all on the same boat and at the beginning didn’t you suggest to get people to assassinate Rui WangFei? Else the Ye family would not have agreed with it. It was a pity that Rui WangFei is fortunate and was actually saved by that scholar and avoided that calamity.”

Ye Mei’s eyes hang down and she suddenly laughed, “She really have a good fortune and is really lucky.”

“But Older Sister,” Ye Ke looked at her, “At that time why did you want the Ye family to kill Rui WangFei? Is it truly because to enter the residence of Prince Rui? I felt that this decision was rash and there were much to consider.”

Ye Mei paused a little and thought for a while before speaking, “If I tell you that when I first saw her, I did not want the to live in this world, would you believe it?”

Ye Ke was startled but Ye Mei had fallen into her own deep thoughts.

When she reached Long Ye with the Ye family, it was just when Xie Yuan returned from the Imperial hunt Ye Mao Cai gave her the antidote and wanted her to put up an act of lending a helping hand upon seeing the reward list. Naturally for the Ye family to be able to have the antidote, one feared that they were involved in how Prince Rui was injured. If Ye Mei use the identity of the Ye family to help, one would inevitably suspect the Ye family. It was better and logical to say that one was looking for relatives and subsequently the Ye family discovered them.

Ye Mai Cai wanted to use Ye Mei to be related to the residence of Prince Rui. With Ye Mei’s beauty and in addition that she was Xie Yuan’s benefactor, the longer she stayed in the residence of Prince Rui, the more natural things could happen.

Ye Mei saw Prince Rui, Xie Yuan, at that time.

Towards men, love was not worth mentioning to Ye Mei. She was one with ambitions and means and males were just tools to achieve her goals. If there was a better and more outstanding, she would just change to another one. To her, it was like a beauty has to be matched with gorgeous clothes, precious jewelry and wealthy house so naturally one would want a noble husband.

Xie Yuan was the best one she had seen from when she grew up.

He had great powers even though he was young and he had a beautiful appearance. Even just laying down quietly, he was filled with a nobility air and caught others’ eyes. What was more was that Ye Mei heard from Ye Ke that Xie Yuan was one who was powerful and had means. It was normal for her to want such a great person like that and Xie Yuan’s coldness made her want to conquer him.

One had heard that Xie Yuan had a consort but Ye Mei had not seen her before. She came to know that the female was a daughter of a Ming Qi’s General and disapproved of it. A daughter of a General was rude and rough and she only came alone from afar, without any backing, so Ye Mei did not even think that the other party had the qualification to be her opponent.

It was until the moment she saw Shen Miao.

There was even some dirt on Shen Miao’s clothes, her hair was not very neat and she had a travel worn expression but when she stood in front of Ye Mei, she had a dignified and majestic manner as if one was a ruling and overbearing beast and declared one’s sovereignty.

It was clearly Ye Mei that was the most glamorous and Shen Miao was in a sorry state.

But at that moment, Ye Mei had a ridiculous feeling. It was as if even she exhausted all her energy and strength, she was not be able to snatch any single strand of thing from this female’s hands.

In the days that followed, Shen Miao was quite cold to her and occasionally Ye Mei could feel the light disgust and hate from her.

Since ancient times, female’s feelings would oppose. Not only did Shen Miao felt uncomfortable with her, Ye Mei also felt uncomfortable with Shen Miao.

Hearing that Shen Miao has the doting love from parents, care from her Eldest Brother, good friends and sisters and even have the love from Xie Yuan. Even though there was a cold war, the on-looker saw everything clearly. If there was no feelings and love then why was there a need for a cold war? It was obvious that one loved her to the bones that every move would implicate one’s own emotions.

The more one compared, the more Ye Mei could not be reconciled. For what reason does all the good things in the world be enjoyed by Shen Miao only? She does not know how to act coquettishly so for what reason could she gain Xie Yuan’s favour?

The most irreconcilable thing was that someone inferior living better than her. Ye Mei was jealous and felt disgusted. She loved to snatch other’s things and make them belong to hers. But Shen Miao’s things looked too difficult to be snatched.

Then what could be done? Make Shen Miao disappear.

Therefore Ye Mei told Ye Mao Cai that only with Shen Miao death, there would be an empty Consort position for Prince Rui and she would have the capability to grasp Xie Yuan’s heart.

Instead of saying that Ye Mei wanted to snatch Xie Yuan away, it was better to say that Ye Mei just did not want to see Shen Miao living better than her. Ye Mei did not want to lose to Shen Miao.

Ye Mao Cai already had thought of getting Ye Mei to climb up to the residence of Prince Rui so he agreed to it finally.

But no one had expected that Shen Miao did not die and there was even someone who was willing to protect Shen Miao with their lives. And because of the rash action from the Ye family, Xue Yua seemed to have some suspicion and watched the Ye family very tightly. Ye Mao Cai was angered by Ye Mei because of this matter.

In Ye Mei’s life, she had never fail in getting what she wanted before. She would make use of everything and everyone, until everything was smooth and she was able to snatch the other person thing over. No matter if it was a thing or person or one’s heart.

However, she had run up against a snag with Shen Miao.

She was unable to snatch Shen Miao’s man, unable to take Shen Miao’s life and could not rob Shen Miao’s fortune away.