Holding a lantern, guiding souls across, Lady Hou comes from the underworld.

Shen Li was seething with anger, his gaze sweeping over everyone in the room.

Ultimately, the focus shifted to Xia Ximo.

The woman stood coldly to one side, hardly saying a word.

But those eerie eyes, gleaming with a ghostly light, were truly more terrifying than any ghost.

The next second, his eyes met those of his deceased wife, Lingling.

"If you weren't guilty of something, why would you need a sorcerer to 'suppress the soul'?"

"Do you think I didn't know what you said to the midwife when I was giving birth?"

Shen Li shuddered again.

Ling Ling looked at him and sneered: "Back then, the baby was breech, and the midwife asked you, 'Save the mother or the baby...'"

"But you told the midwife that if it was a boy, it must be kept, but if it was a girl, then so be it."

Hearing this from the side, Shen Yue's eyes darkened, and she involuntarily clenched her hands into fists.

"I know that back then, you didn't want my daughter to live, and you certainly didn't want me to live!"

As Ling Ling spoke, resentment surged around her, and her face became ferocious.

Looking at his deceased wife's horrifying appearance, Shen Li was so frightened that cold sweat broke out on his back. He dared not look at her and could only defend himself: "A-Ling, it's not like that..."

"At the time, I only wanted you to have a son, so... there wouldn't be any need for..."

He only realized he needed to leave room for maneuver halfway through his sentence, but Qin Shu instantly understood what he meant.

If I give birth to a son, what business is it of my own?

A person like him only thinks about his own interests from beginning to end.

Wife, son, daughter—all are born for profit, and can be "abandoned" for profit.

"son?"

Ling Ling found it laughable. "My father only had me as his daughter. After my mother passed away early, he never thought of remarrying or taking a concubine to have a son."

"Why is it that you insist on having a son? Ask yourself honestly, without the Ling family, what are you, Shen Li?"

"Where would you be if it weren't for me, Ling Ling?"

Shen Li was completely speechless when asked the question.

At this moment, the half-incense stick's time was almost up, and the transformation talisman that Yan Zhengchu had attached to Ling Ling was gradually losing its effect.

As she saw her figure fade, she knew that her time to speak was running out.

She turned to look at Ren Fengjue and Yu Lang not far away and raised her voice, "My lords, Shen Li was originally a son-in-law brought into the Ling family, but he is wicked and has not only seized all of the Ling family's property for himself, but is even suspected of murdering his wife and daughter!"

"I, Ling Ling, swear to divorce my husband. Even in death, I will sever our marital ties. Otherwise, I will not rest in peace in the afterlife!"

"This letter of divorce was written by my daughter, Ling Yue. I implore you, gentlemen, to uphold justice for me."

As she spoke, her spirit knelt on the ground and bowed deeply in their direction.

When she looked at her daughter again, her eyes were filled with tears, and her figure quickly disappeared into the courtyard.

"Mother..."

Ling Yue, whose surname had been changed, couldn't help but shout out.

This cry of "Mother" moved most of the people in the room, and when Lingling, who was a ghost, heard it, she was overjoyed and wept.

The resentment that had been lingering around me began to slowly dissipate…

Yan Zhengchu looked on with satisfaction and couldn't help but turn to Ren Fengjue, saying, "Young Marquis, although it's said to be entrusted by a ghost, this man surnamed Shen is indeed no good. You won't just ignore it, will you?"

His address of "Young Master" startled everyone at Yuelai Manor.

Shen Li was also completely shocked.

He surmised that among the four founding marquises, the son of the Marquis of Jing'an was in the Dali Temple.

However, since being enfeoffed, the Marquis of Jing'an has distanced himself from the court and the country, neglected political affairs, and held no real power, so he is not a threat.

As he was thinking this, he heard Ren Fengjue sigh softly and say loudly in a deliberately helpless tone, "Even so, this is their family matter after all, and we shouldn't interfere."

These words shocked Yu Lang. "Even if it's a family matter, he's suspected of 'murdering his wife and daughter,' which is no small crime."

Ren Fengjue countered with, "Where's the evidence?"

Yu Lang was taken aback by his question.

Are we to have Ling Ling's ghost come to court to testify?

Thinking about it this way, Yu Lang was worried for him.

Just as Shen Li was feeling smug, Qin Shu suddenly stepped forward and said, "I can testify!"

He seemed to be going through a great internal struggle, his face tense: "Back then, Shen Li wrote a letter to my mother..."

Shen Li's smug expression, before it could fully materialize, was immediately withdrawn.

"you--"

He pointed at Qin Shu, his anger threatening to burst forth from his pupils.

Despite the pressure from him, Qin Shu continued, "The letter was written before Miss Ling... was about to give birth. At that time, I had only recently started learning to write, and Shen Li trusted me, so he asked me to read the letter on his behalf."

"But after reading only half of it, my mother started trembling and hid the letter."

"I never understood its meaning. Later, when I was older, I secretly took the letter out and read it again, and I learned a secret."

Qin Shu paused slightly before continuing, "In his letter, he said that Miss Ling is about to give birth, and he has bribed the midwife. Once it's done, he'll take us to Ling Family Manor to live a good life!"

After saying this, Shen Li was immediately enraged and reached out to grab Qin Shu's shoulder.

Ren Fengjue could tell that Qin Shu had some skill in his move, so he quickly stepped forward and pulled Qin Shu aside.

Qin Shu had never practiced martial arts, and he stumbled, almost falling on the vase next to him, but Yu Lang caught him in time.

Yu Shaoqing: "I'll save you this time, since you're going to 'atone for your sins' by becoming a witness."

Qin Shu: "..."

Ren Fengjue moved closer and, in the blink of an eye, exchanged several blows with Shen Li, which surprised him slightly.

Unexpectedly, Shen Li, who was over fifty years old, possessed remarkable martial arts skills. Not only were his moves fierce and ruthless, but they were also quite formidable.

After a moment's thought, he deliberately created an opening in front of him.

Shen Li's eyes gleamed, and he slapped him on the shoulder.

Ren Fengjue pretended not to notice, but gathered his strength and took the blow squarely.

Seeing this, Yu Lang and Yan Zhengchu involuntarily took a step forward, their hearts pounding in their throats.

Xia Ximo, standing to the side, also frowned slightly.

She thought Ren Fengjue could evade, so she didn't make a move in secret.

As a result, he actually let himself take a slap.

What surprised everyone even more was that Shen Li suddenly revealed a dagger hidden in his sleeve and took Ren Fengjue hostage.

Yu Lang cried out in surprise and was about to step forward when Xia Ximo pulled him back.

"Young Master Marquis?"

"You must be the son of the Marquis of Jing'an?"

"I thought you could be all that capable just because you're in the Dali Temple? Is that all you've got?"

While mocking him, Shen Li brought the dagger another half inch closer.

However, at that moment, the gate of the manor was kicked open, and Ge Chuan, the magistrate of Kaiming County, and his subordinates rushed in.

When Magistrate Ge saw that Shen Li had taken Ren Fengjue hostage, he shouted in fright, "Shen Li, have you lost your mind? How dare you take the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice hostage?!"

Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice?

Shen Li's hand trembled, and the dagger fell to the ground. "You're actually the son of Marquis Renxuan?"

Ren Fengjue coldly glared at him: "Hijacking and seriously injuring a high-ranking official of the imperial court is a capital offense, without exception."