Eighty Thousand Souls have absolutely no connection with Dongdi; people like Yun Ge, Hong Fei, and Liu Yan are absolutely trustworthy.

So, how was the Old Lady’s whereabouts leaked?

This spy, is it from the Old Lady’s side, or is it from Yixuan’s side?

The three of them looked grave.

Dong Huiying let out a heavy sigh: "Actually, maybe we are overthinking. There’s no wall that doesn’t let the wind through, it could have been that the Old Lady’s secret return to Dongcui City was accidentally discovered by someone along the way. Moreover, the Old Lady is magnanimous and straightforward, she directly reserved an inn; perhaps it’s not because there’s a spy within the team, but due to lack of caution in actions."

Yixuan shook his head, thinking it impossible, as he knew the Old Lady’s temperament too well. "Even though Grandma Qin booked the inn, it was managed by her trusted subordinate. They were careful enough when staying at the inn; her people were all in disguise, dressed normally, so no one could guess their identity."

Therefore, the problem might really lie on Yixuan’s side.

"I have sent some people to secretly protect Grandma Qin and the others. If there’s a spy on my side, then many things in Dongcui City might really be deeply connected to Dajin."

...

There’s no hatred without reason. So no matter what, Yixuan decided to shift his focus to the Qin family, because even if the mastermind is not from the Qin family, it’s definitely connected to them. After all, in recent years, Old Lady Qin has only had enmities with some people within the Qin family.

That night, Yixuan returned to the Qin family, planning to delve further into their affairs. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Dong Huiying wasn’t idle either; she visited the Old Lady every day to extract poison from her and the two children, checking their pulse morning and night, constantly monitoring their recovery progress.

Two days later.

As Dong Huiying came out of the inn and returned to the courtyard, she saw Yixuan taking out a roster.

"The Qin family has ten Elders in total, among whom the Second Elder can initially be cleared of suspicion in this matter, as such methods are not her style; she doesn’t possess such a meticulous mind."

This leaves nine. But most of these people are either not handling affairs, or they’re on Old Lady Qin’s side. Rather, the Third Elder appears somewhat suspicious.

"I suspect it’s her."

Yixuan shared his deduction: "When Grandma Qin was young, she was engaged to a family. Later, some incident broke off the engagement, and ever since then, she never considered marriage again, remaining single and childless her entire life."

Yixuan opened the roster. Besides the names of a few Elders, it also contained these people’s life records.

"The Third Elder is Grandma Qin’s half-sister from a different father, originally born out of wedlock. Going back decades, Grandma Qin’s fiancé once fancied this Third Elder."

The Old Lady once flew into a rage over this, and in her youth, exterminated the entire family of her fiancé.

"Exterminated?"

Dong Huiying looked incredulous. She couldn’t believe such a thing was done by the Old Lady. Having known her for so long, she knew her character—no matter what, even if her fiancé had wronged her, she would only target him alone, and wouldn’t indiscriminately eradicate the innocent family members.

Yixuan’s expression was complicated, "I don’t believe it either; it doesn’t seem like something Grandma Qin would do, but what I found cannot be wrong."