Starting with being handed over to the Imperial Concubine, building a family with a thousand-year hi

The incident of Xu Shan'er's assassination attempt on Lin Wen had long been forgotten after the downfall of the Situ family, and no one mentioned it anymore.

Su Mu didn't care about this matter at first—the library was usually deserted, and no one would come to search it. In addition, with him and Xiao Anran in charge, even if someone came to investigate, they would only ask a few simple questions and would never search in depth, much less find that hidden basement.

But when he learned that Xu Qian'er had attempted to assassinate Lin Wen, he sensed something was wrong and couldn't help but connect it to Xu Shan'er and the basement in the kitchen. He had enough time to completely erase all traces of Xu Shan'er, but after careful consideration, he decided against it.

He wanted to use this incident to observe the reactions of all parties—to observe Xiao Anxun's attitude, to observe Lin Wen and Wei Zhongxian's scheming, and to observe the bottom line of the royal family's trust in him, so as to determine how he should proceed in the future.

He didn't expect that Wei Zhongxian and the others would arrive so quickly, actually find the hidden basement, and even find Xu Shan'er's belongings and ashes.

"As expected, they were well-prepared. It seems they've had their eyes on the library for a long time." Su Mu remained calm, showing no sign of panic, as if he had anticipated all of this.

At this moment, several skilled investigators had reached the second floor of the library. Upon seeing Su Mu, they quickly bowed and greeted him, "Greetings, Elder Su!"

"No need for formalities, continue the search." Su Mu waved his hand calmly, then turned and went downstairs. He came out of the library and went to the gatehouse at the entrance of the courtyard. He knew that Xu Shan'er's belongings and remains had been found, and even if he didn't go, Wei Zhongxian and the others would take the initiative to call him over for a confrontation.

As soon as he reached the door, he saw a guard carrying a package, hurrying towards him. Inside the package were the items that had been searched from the basement: a tattered invisibility cloak that still retained a little luster, a short dagger with scratches all over its blade, a jade hairpin that was charred but still showed its exquisite patterns, and some grayish-white ashes of corpses.

Wei Zhongxian quickly stepped forward, took the package, opened it, and bowed to Xiao Anran, saying, "Your Highness, look, this cloak was worn by the assassin who attempted to assassinate the Empress in Shude Palace; the damage to this dagger is exactly as the Empress described; and the ashes in the kitchen basement, after my identification, are the remains of that female assassin."

Before Xiao Anran could speak, Su Mu spoke first, his tone calm and without any concealment: "This assassin is from the Situ family, named Xu Shan'er, and is Xu Qian'er's older sister."

Upon hearing this, everyone turned to look at Su Mu, their expressions varying – some were surprised, some were puzzled, and some even had a hint of calculation in their eyes.

Su Mu remained calm and slowly said, "After Xu Shan'er failed to assassinate the Empress, she fled to the library and confessed her identity to me. She then died from her injuries. I knew that Xu Qian'er and Xu Shan'er were very close sisters, and I was worried that Xu Qian'er would be implicated in this matter and suffer a fatal disaster. So I hid Xu Shan'er's body in the basement and burned it to destroy all traces."

"Later, Xu Qian'er left the Imperial Wardrobe and went to work at the Shude Palace. She also came to the library in private to inquire about Xu Shan'er's whereabouts. I did not tell her the truth, but lied and said that I had never seen Xu Shan'er."

He spoke frankly, without any concealment, but deliberately hid the crucial truth—Xu Shan'er did not die from her serious injuries, but was killed by his own hands.

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire room fell into dead silence; everyone was speechless.

Wei Zhongxian never expected that Su Mu would so easily admit to hiding and destroying the assassin's remains! He thought that Su Mu would try to deny it in every way, or even try to stop him, but he didn't expect Su Mu to be so calm.

Undeniably, Su Mu's reasons were reasonable—he hid the remains and destroyed evidence to avoid implicating Xu Qian'er. However, reasonable does not equate to legal, much less to compliance with royal rules.

Regardless of the reason, harboring a killer or concealing a killer's remains is a serious crime. If it were anyone else, they would have been apprehended on the spot and severely punished.

After a long silence, Xiao Anran broke the silence first, speaking up to defend Su Mu: "Xu Shan'er was already dead at the time. Old Master Su was afraid of being implicated in this matter, so he resorted to this desperate measure. He did not intend to protect the assassin, so it is understandable."

Li Lianqing, who was standing to the side, also wanted to speak up in defense of Su Mu, but he swallowed his words back. Protecting an assassin was a serious crime, no small matter. Even if he wanted to defend him, he dared not speak rashly, for fear of getting burned.

He knew in his heart that with Su Mu's current status and power, as well as his merit in suppressing the Situ family rebellion, this matter would most likely be dropped, and even if the emperor knew about it, he would not pursue it too much.

A hint of resentment flashed in Wei Zhongxian's eyes—he had originally intended to use this incident to completely bring down Su Mu, but Su Mu readily admitted it, and with Xiao Anran stepping in to protect him, and without direct evidence proving that Su Mu was involved in Xu Shan'er's assassination attempt, he simply couldn't bring Su Mu to justice.

After a moment's thought, Wei Zhongxian put on a fake smile, bowed, and said, "The princess is right. Elder Su was confused for a moment, which is understandable. I came here to search for the remaining members of the assassin group, not to pursue past matters. I believe His Majesty will not hold it against me. I have many important matters to attend to, so I will take my leave now."

He could only temporarily abandon his schemes and leave—this matter was already beyond investigation, and continuing the stalemate would only offend Xiao Anran and Su Mu, which would be a loss. It would be better to go back first and find another opportunity to find evidence of Su Mu's collusion with the Divine Judgment.

Seeing this, Xiao Anran quickly replied, "Steward Wei is right. This is a trivial matter and there is no need to trouble Your Majesty. Let's leave it at that."

"Yes, this old servant understands." Wei Zhongxian bowed respectfully, then waved to the people behind him, "Withdraw!"

The group of martial arts experts and royal family members stopped their search and followed Wei Zhongxian as they left the library in a grand procession.

Only after Wei Zhongxian and the others had completely disappeared did Xiao Anran turn to look at Su Mu, her tone tinged with helplessness and reproach: "Old Su, you were far too careless! Why didn't you tell me about such an important matter sooner? If the Emperor had known, even if he didn't pursue the matter, he would still have been displeased."

Su Mu shrugged and said casually, "At the time, things happened in a hurry, and I was only concerned with protecting myself. In a moment of panic, I made this decision without thinking too much about it or trying to hide anything."

"Now that the Situ family has been destroyed and Xu Shan'er is long dead, even if people find out about this, it won't cause any trouble and it's not a big deal," Xiao Anran said dismissively.