At this moment, Serena Feng was completely absorbed in her work, utterly oblivious to the actions of the three men behind her—let alone the hopeful looks in their eyes.
If Serena knew what childish ideas those three were harboring in their heads, she’d probably crack their skulls open with a scalpel just to see what’s inside—how could they be so bored?
Serena picked up the blood bag and walked over to the separator, pulled a chair out from under the workbench, sat down, and then...
Ahem... and then nothing.
With her back to everyone, no one could see what Serena was doing. At that moment, Simon Sun remembered his own duties, poured a cup of plain water, took out two pills, and handed them to Mr. Owen Yuan, signaling him to take them.
Sleeping pills!
By the time Serena finished separating out the hematopoietic cells, the sleeping pills and anesthesia should have kicked in. Even if they hadn’t, it didn’t matter—they could wait until the medicine took full effect!
While Serena was buried in the operating room, Jada and Mira Tang were just as busy outside. For some reason, things were going far more smoothly than expected—news kept coming in, and in just two days, they had nearly uncovered everything.
Serena took this matter very seriously; she’d thrown all her resources into the investigation and even borrowed the Wang family’s strength. But even so, it shouldn’t have been so easy to get everything so quickly.
If events from over a decade ago were really this easy to dig up, Serena wouldn’t have been left in the dark for so long. There had to be something off about this—Jada and Mira simply didn’t believe otherwise.
"Should we keep digging?" Mira Tang asked Jada. She was sure the information they’d found was genuine, but... who had handed it to them, and what was their motive?
Yes—someone had prepared everything they needed. The spies didn’t have to work at all; the information came easily, and they even found witnesses.
If something’s too easy, there’s always a catch. They couldn’t sleep easy until they got to the bottom of it.
Jada nodded, "Of course we keep digging. Our lady wants the truth about the past, but she doesn’t want to be used. Whoever gave us this intel—friend or foe—undeniably means to use her. Even if it helps us, if they want to use our lady, it’ll be on her own terms."
After so many years with Serena, Jada hadn’t picked up everything, but she’d definitely absorbed most of her innate pride.
"You’re right. Even if we’re being used, it has to be by our own choice. It’s already noon and our lady won’t be out soon, so let’s dig as much as we can before she finishes. She cares about this case a lot."
Outside, the snow was falling hard, but Mira didn’t care. She tightened her cloak and plunged into the snowdrifts. Jada did the same, blowing on her hands and heading off in the other direction...
The people of Feng Manor have never been soft persimmons—no one can squeeze them at will!
The snow was so heavy that the Emperor canceled morning court, but the Crown Prince didn’t rest. As usual, he rose, ate breakfast, and convened his advisors.
With snow like this, most of the poor would see their thatched roofs collapse and many would freeze to death. As Crown Prince, even if he didn’t care about the people, he had to act for his own reputation and use the disaster to earn goodwill.
The advisors put forward many suggestions; a few seemed workable to the Crown Prince. After a long discussion, everyone was tired, so they paused for hot tea and switched topics.
"Your Highness, by now the people at Feng Manor should have received the intelligence. I wonder how Serena Feng will respond." A tall, thin middle-aged man cradled his teacup, looking calculating—almost as if he wanted everyone to notice his scheming.
"Serena is someone who can’t tolerate a grain of sand in her eye. Just look at how she stared at Reid Yale that day—you could see how much she cares about her parents. With this case tied to them, from what I know of her, she’d rather kill by mistake than let the guilty go." The Crown Prince was quietly confident; he’d spent a whole year preparing for this move.
He’d been wondering how to reveal the information ever since he got it, but never expected Reid Yale would hand him the perfect opportunity.
"Your Highness is wise. With Serena charging ahead, we don’t need to do anything but sit back and reap the fisherman’s profit. Still, I worry she’ll trace the clues back to us. If she finds out we’re using her, will she turn on us instead? Serena is a tough thorn to handle." The tall advisor had studied Serena and Ninth Royal Uncle, so he raised the concern.
After all, no one likes being used as a pawn, even if the goal aligns with their own. Given Serena’s ruthless nature, it wasn’t impossible.
"You’re overthinking it. The intel I gave her is all true. Even if she’s being used, she’ll do it willingly. I haven’t forced her—just handed over the truth. If she hates being wielded as a knife, she can simply choose not to act."
The Crown Prince didn’t think he’d done anything wrong. In his eyes, providing Serena with intel and letting her strike at their common enemies was a win-win—there was no question of exploitation.
With the Crown Prince so certain, no one dared argue. One after another, they praised him: "Your Highness is wise," "Your Highness is brilliant," "That borrowed-knife kill was masterful"...
Yet while the Crown Prince’s camp was full of praise for feeding Serena intel, Prince Samuel Manor was in chaos—grandfather and grandson nearly shouting at each other.
Dominic Zhai stormed into the study, driving everyone out and posting guards outside. Once he was sure no one could overhear, he confronted Prince Samuel Zhai: "Grandfather, is it true?"
"True or not, what does it matter?" Prince Samuel was in the middle of calligraphy, but Dominic’s outburst ruined his work. Frustrated, he tossed his brush aside and glared at his grandson, finding him more and more irritating.
Dominic ignored it, face flushed and neck stiff. "Grandfather, stop pretending. Just tell me—is it true or not?"
"What does it matter if it’s true or false? What can you do about it? Look at yourself—panicking at every turn, you don’t act like a proper heir at all. You’re not even as steady as Serena, and she’s just a woman. Yet you want to meddle in her affairs? Who do you think you are?"
He used to think Dominic was decent, but after seeing William Wang’s bloodless tactics, Holden Cui’s quiet lethality, Ninth Royal Uncle’s deep calculations, and Serena’s unyielding pride, he suddenly realized his grandson had no real strengths—just a tendency to shout at every crisis.
"So you’re saying the intel you gave Serena is true—her father really died because of it?" Dominic didn’t care about the criticism; he’d heard it all before.
He was who he was; no matter how much his grandfather disapproved, he’d never become someone like William Wang. He just couldn’t.
"So what if it’s true?" Prince Samuel glared at Dominic, his weathered eyes flashing with pain.
General Feng Zhan’s death was unjust, but so what? There were plenty of people in this world who died just as wrongly...
Don’t worry, Uncle Nolan will get out. Even in prison, there’s always a delay in receiving news. Once Nolan is released, Serena can punch and kick him all she wants!