Finally, they got to the point. The Marquis of Pingyang rose to his feet again, bowed to Cang Xuan, and said,
"Father and I have come here unannounced today for the same thing. We would like to ask His Highness the Prince of Cang to do a divination for us."
The Marquis of Pingyang said seriously, "I know the rules for asking His Highness the Prince of Cang to do a divination. No matter what the cost, I have no complaints."
"Divination?"
Cang Xuan raised his eyebrows and said, "So that's the reason why the heir has been insisting on seeking an audience with me for the past month. It seems that the matter you and the heir are asking about must be of great importance to the Marquis's Mansion."
Su Zeqian pursed his lips, bowed to Cang Xuan, and said, "Please, Your Highness the Prince of Cang."
"When I left seclusion, you and the heir happened to arrive. This is the will of Heaven. Since it is the will of Heaven, I naturally won't refuse. I wonder what you and the heir would like to divine about? Future prospects? Wealth? Destiny? Or marriage?" Cang Xuan asked.
Su Zeqian looked up at Cang Xuan and said, "I wonder if Your Highness the Prince of Cang has ever heard of Su Yuanyuan, the legitimate second young lady of the Marquis of Pingyang's Mansion?"
"She is my own younger sister. For some unspeakable reasons, she married the criminal Lu Chuan before. Unfortunately, she suddenly passed away when Lu Chuan's family was raided. After her death, because she was a criminal, her body was unfortunately thrown into the mass grave."
"Half a year has passed since Lu Chuan's incident. My mother wants to retrieve her body from the mass grave and bury it in the ancestral tomb. However, I've searched the mass grave for several days but haven't found my younger sister's bones. So I've come here especially to visit Your Highness the Prince of Cang and ask Your Highness to help me divine the location of my younger sister's bones."
For some reason, when Su Zeqian finished speaking and looked up again, Cang Xuan's eyes in front of him became extremely terrifying.
Those light amber eyes were filled with boundless killing intent, as if the next moment, he would stab his jet - black jade fan through his throat.
But Cang Xuan quickly put away that murderous look. It was so fast that Su Zeqian thought what he had just seen was an illusion.
"Oh? Su Yuanyuan of the Marquis of Pingyang's Mansion?" Cang Xuan softly uttered that name. "I've heard a little about her."
"However..." Cang Xuan looked at the Marquis of Pingyang and said, "I heard that you, my lord, have announced to the outside world that you've severed the father - daughter relationship with Su Yuanyuan. Now, why are you two trying to find her bones?"
"Do you regret it?"
Hearing the words "do you regret it", the Marquis of Pingyang's throat went dry, and his heart was filled with mixed feelings.
He didn't know what was wrong with himself. Clearly, not long ago, when he heard the news about his second daughter from Mrs. Tong, he was still extremely angry.
But... somehow, he would suddenly recall the past when he got along with his second daughter, remember her fiery personality, and would inexplicably walk into the courtyard where his second daughter used to live and sit there for a while when he was in a bad mood.
But he never dared to tell anyone about his inner unease, let alone say the word "regret" out loud.
After all, when he announced that he had severed the relationship with his second daughter, his attitude was so firm. Presumably, even Mrs. Tong thought that with his personality, he would never forgive his second daughter.
Sighing softly in his heart, the Marquis of Pingyang said,
"My wife has always been dreaming about our daughter's experience in the mass grave recently. The content of the dream is so real that my wife feels it as if she were there herself. She is extremely sad and can't sleep at night. As a result, she has fallen ill in bed."
"My wife knows that this is because our daughter is unwilling and has come back to haunt the family. We've also invited Taoists to perform rituals to guide the soul and offer salvation, or set up a memorial tablet in the ancestral hall and a long - burning lamp in the temple, but it's all in vain. In desperation, we thought of retrieving her bones."
"Although she has done many wrong things, she is still a daughter of the Su family, with the blood of our Su family flowing in her veins. We really can't just let her bones lie outside and become a lonely ghost. So, please, Your Highness the Prince of Cang, for my sake, help us divine the location of our daughter's bones so that she can be buried in the ground as soon as possible."
Cang Xuan's voice turned a bit cold: "So, you're trying to find her bones just because you've been haunted by nightmares recently and want to find peace of mind? Instead of realizing that there's another truth and that you've misunderstood her, so you want to repent and atone for your sins?"
Su Zeqian suddenly raised his head, his lips slightly parted: "Mis... misunderstood?"
Even the Marquis of Pingyang changed his expression: "Why does Your Highness the Prince of Cang say so?"
What had they misunderstood about her?
Wasn't everything she had done before a fact?
They had seen with their own eyes how she had framed her older sister several times and tried to make her older sister lose face in front of others to set off herself. There was no way it was false.
She had also stubbornly defied her elder brother and parents several times after being caught, and had long lost her true nature.
Yes, perhaps at the Empress Dowager's birthday banquet, she was not really willing to have an affair with Lu Chuan, nor was she willing to become a concubine in the Lu Mansion.
But her intentions were even more sinister. She intended to ruin her legitimate older sister at that banquet. Just thinking about this made the Marquis of Pingyang filled with an uncontrollable anger.
Although this second daughter had an unruly personality, she was also lively and cute, always making people smile. But in the end, how could she have become like that because of jealousy?
In other families, sisters were harmonious and loving. Why was there always so much trouble in their Marquis of Pingyang's Mansion?
Seeing the changes in the expressions on the Marquis of Pingyang's and Su Zeqian's faces, Cang Xuan knew that they still held the previous prejudices against Su Yuanyuan and had never delved into the reason why a good - natured woman had suddenly changed her personality.
Coming to him was just an act out of desperation.
At this moment, Cang Xuan couldn't help but be glad that the little girl wasn't here. If she saw the attitudes of her former father and elder brother, she would surely be sad.
"Some people have eyes but are as blind as the blind when it comes to recognizing people. Forget it. It's useless to talk too much with stupid people. I can help you divine the location of Su Yuanyuan's bones." Cang Xuan said. "However..."
Hearing Cang Xuan's drawn - out tone, the Marquis of Pingyang immediately understood and said, "If you want a reward, Your Highness the Prince of Cang, just say it. As long as I can do it, I'll spare no expense to meet your requirements."
"Ten million taels of gold." Cang Xuan said.
The Marquis of Pingyang gasped and couldn't help but say, "So much? Your Highness the Prince of Cang, are you joking with me?"
Cang Xuan propped his chin up, looking lazy: "Do you think I'm joking?"
Su Zeqian said anxiously, "Even several princes couldn't come up with ten million taels of gold, let alone our Marquis's Mansion?"
Below, the Marquis of Pingyang and his son both looked as if they would never be able to produce so much money.
Cang Xuan smiled and said, "My lord, you're not sincere. You just said that you would accept any conditions I set. Why do you go back on your word as soon as I set the condition?"
"Is it really that the Marquis of Pingyang's Mansion can't afford so much money, or do you think that your daughter's bones aren't even worth ten million taels of gold?"
Cang Xuan looked down at the Marquis of Pingyang with coldness in his eyes.