Chapter 290

"No... that's not right!"

Chen Tongyuan's body, which had been lying on the ground, suddenly stiffened, as if stung by something.

His brain, which had just been drowned in regret and shock, suddenly had a sliver of clarity forced into it. He questioned: "A mere handwritten letter couldn't have convinced them; Chen Xiangqi isn't stupid!"

"And there was no seal of mine on the letter..."

Chen Xiangqi couldn't have been left in the mansion by the Old Master if he were brainless, and he certainly wouldn't lack the ability to discern.

How could he have been easily convinced just because of a letter with forged handwriting?

Who are you trying to fool, a three-year-old?

"A seal? That's simple."

Chen Yan shrugged nonchalantly: "For the Embroidered Attire Envoys under my command, wanting to enter the Duke of Wei's mansion to take something is as easy as reaching into a bag..."

He paused, his brows slightly raised, and said with a half-smile: "Chen Xiangqi isn't stupid, but he wouldn't suspect the person who delivered the letter!"

If Chen Tongyuan could think of this layer, how could Chen Yan not have thought of it?

It's just that there was no help for it; this person was just too perfectly suited...

"Gubai?"

"It's not Gubai!"

Chen Tongyuan immediately aimed his suspicion at his third son, but quickly rejected it himself, muttering: "He wants to inherit the title more than anyone; he hates you so much he wants you dead. It's impossible for him to be in cahoots with you..."

"Then who could it be?"

At this point, the figures of one concubine-born son after another flashed before Chen Tongyuan's eyes, but he couldn't lock onto anyone.

"Chen Tongyuan, do you really want to know the answer?"

Chen Yan still had that faint arc on his lips, but the playfulness in his eyes hadn't dissipated; he looked as if he were smiling, yet also as if he were watching coldly from the sidelines.

That expression, poised between mockery and indifference, was more chilling than pure teasing.

"Which wolf-hearted, dog-lunged, unfaithful, unfilial wicked obstacle sold out his father for glory and secretly defected to you!"

Chen Tongyuan suddenly sprang up from the ground, the iron chains clanging wildly as he moved, and a terrifying light suddenly erupted in his bloodshot eyes.

He roared, his voice cracking like firewood crushed by a giant rock.

Now that things had reached this point, even if Chen Tongyuan were stupid, he knew that a damn traitor had emerged from among his own concubine-born sons!

The knife that stabbed him the deepest had come from his own son...

"Since Chen Tongyuan wants to see you so much..."

Upon hearing this, Chen Yan stopped teasing and whetting appetites, smiling: "Then let's fulfill his wish—show yourself!"

As he spoke, he raised his hand and clapped lightly.

"Is it Chen Yuanshuo or Chen Zhengjie..."

The sound of footsteps outside the Death Prison approached from afar, steady and incongruous with this gloomy place, each step feeling like it was treading on Chen Tongyuan's taut nerves.

The vibration of the iron chains had not yet subsided when the darkness outside the iron bars was suddenly broken by a figure.

The person who arrived was dressed in embroidered silk, with a tall, upright stature and a handsome face that bore a five or six-part resemblance to his own.

He held an oil lamp in his hand, the dim yellow halo spreading out beneath his feet, illuminating the damp water stains on the stone path.

Chen Tongyuan suddenly raised his eyes, his blood-stained face still frozen with lingering madness, but the moment he saw the person's face, he looked as if he had been struck by a thunderbolt, all his roaring stuck in his throat.

"Chen... Bo... Qiao?!"

Chen Tongyuan's voice trembled uncontrollably.

This was a concubine-born son he had never suspected...

"Your child greets Father!"

"May Father be in good health and may everything go according to your wishes!"

Chen Boqiao set down the oil lamp he was carrying, faced Chen Tongyuan, and bowed respectfully.

"Why is it you!"

"How is it you!"

Chen Tongyuan couldn't believe it; he stared fixedly at that face, questioning hysterically.

"Father, why shouldn't it be your child?"

Chen Boqiao, however, was unconcerned, asking back in a slow, unhurried manner.

He paused and continued: "It was your child who poisoned Chen Cijiu, and it was also your child who forged the letter to mobilize Chen Xiangqi!"

"Father has treated you well!"

"Cijiu was even extremely close to you!"

"How could your heart be so cruel? Why could you commit such unfaithful, unfilial, unbenevolent, and unjust acts!"

Chen Tongyuan suddenly let out a sneer, the laughter wrapped in shards of ice, more piercing than the cold wind of the Death Prison.

The blood that had been frozen by shock just moments ago now turned into bone-chilling cold, rushing straight from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

His questioning voice rose sharply, his hoarse tone quenched with endless disappointment.

Because of his relationship with Gubai and Cijiu, he had never suspected this wicked obstacle from beginning to end!

But he hadn't expected it, hadn't expected it...

"Treated well?"

"Close?"

"Unfaithful and unfilial?"

"Unbenevolent and unjust?"

"Hahahaha!"

Chen Boqiao found it amusing and raised his head; there was finally a clear emotion on his face, but there wasn't a shred of guilt in it—instead, it was steeped in thick mockery.

"Wicked obstacle, what are you laughing at!"

Chen Tongyuan was startled and asked sternly.

The dim wall lamp shone on Chen Boqiao, and the resentment that flashed in the depths of his eyes: "Father, do you still remember how my mother died?"

"She... she..." Chen Tongyuan was speechless upon hearing this.

He had absolutely no impression of it.

"Father is indeed a noble who forgets things easily!"

"Then let your child help you recall..."

Chen Boqiao took half a step forward, his voice rising sharply, as if he wanted to pour out more than ten years of forbearance: "My mother was molested by a drunken Chen Cijiu. You caught it in the act, but you chose to shield Chen Cijiu, banishing her to a manor on the outskirts of Chang'an, where she eventually died of grief!"

"She couldn't even be entered into the genealogy!"

"This woman who bore children for you is truly pathetic and pitiful!"

Chen Boqiao truly felt heartache for his mother.

After listening to the cause of his eldest sister-in-law's death outside the prison, he felt a stronger resonance with his eldest brother.

His mother had also been killed by this bastard!

"Chen Boqiao, you betrayed your father just for her?" Chen Tongyuan found it hard to accept.

He couldn't accept that his son had betrayed him because of an insignificant woman.

"Yes."

Chen Boqiao nodded without hesitation, but then shook his head, snorting coldly: "No, how can you call it betrayal?"

"It's just making Father pay the price he deserves for what happened back then!"

"And I have to thank Eldest Brother for giving me this opportunity!"

Having said that, he bowed respectfully toward Chen Yan on the side.

His eyes were full of gratitude.

Chen Boqiao was truly fortunate.

Fortunate that he had met Eldest Brother; otherwise, he wouldn't know how many years he would have had to wait for revenge...

Chen Tongyuan suddenly realized the truth and gritted his teeth: "So, it was supposed to be Chen Yan and Ning Chuyou lying together, waiting to be caught in bed, but it turned into Gubai and her—that was also you tipping them off, right?"

Everything made sense in an instant.

"It wasn't just passing the message..." Chen Boqiao held his head high, saying playfully, "The wine that Eldest Brother and Chen Gubai drank was also swapped by me!"

The wine pot had a double-layered design.

There was a mechanism on the handle.

Pressing it would pour out the liquid from the inner layer.

As long as the poisoned wine and the non-poisoned wine were swapped, Chen Gubai would be lifting a rock only to drop it on his own feet.

"How did I give birth to such a heartless and unrighteous bastard!"

"Both of you are wicked obstacles!"

"I should have strangled you both to death long ago!"

Chen Tongyuan roared, his voice cracking like a broken gong.

The blood surging in his chest rushed to the top of his head, and his vision went black in waves.

Blood surged into his throat, and he coughed violently, spraying a mouthful of fresh blood onto the iron chains, staining the crisscrossing rust red.

Chen Yan, who had been watching quietly for a long time, suddenly spoke up and asked with a smile: "By the way, Chen Tongyuan, do you know how your second brother, my good second uncle Chen Kaiyuan, died?"

"He hanged himself out of fear of punishment..." Chen Tongyuan coughed lightly, and after blurting it out, he immediately said hideously: "I'm afraid you ordered someone to strangle him!"

"What kind of talk is that..."

Chen Yan smiled indifferently and corrected him righteously: "It was clearly he himself who hung his head from the rafters!"

"Hah!" Chen Tongyuan snorted coldly at this shameless nonsense.

"Then do you know how your sister, my good aunt, Chen Zhiyun, died?" Chen Yan asked again, a flash of darkness in his eyes, half-smiling.

Murdered by her most beloved biological son, Fan Yihang... Chen Tongyuan muttered to himself, his back suddenly turning cold. As if realizing something, he said sternly: "What exactly are you trying to express!"