However, Huo Shiqian couldn’t stay at home for long. Guo Jiumin was arrested, Xia Lan was caught, and there were many things that needed Huo Shiqian’s attention.

A few days later, something completely unexpected was discovered on Huo Shiqian’s side—the kidnapping of Xia Chuyi back then was actually linked to Guo Jiumin!

It turned out that Guo Jiumin, being the youngest child born in old age, wanted to leverage Old Master Guo’s affection for him to compete with Guo Jiacheng’s father for the position of the Guo Family Patriarch.

At that time, Guo Jiacheng’s father and Mr. and Mrs. Ou Zhen Ting were at the border.

So, Guo Jiumin devised a plan to have someone kidnap the Ou family’s child, then feign assistance in finding the child to win the support of the Ou family couple.

Unexpectedly, something went awry mid-way. The child disappeared but did not end up in Guo Jiumin’s hands either.

Thus, Guo Jiumin couldn’t employ any tactics.

Instead, Old Master Guo got wind of the matter and, fearing the wrath of the Ou family, helped Guo Jiumin cover it up.

Because of this incident, Guo Jiumin completely lost the position of the Guo Family Patriarch.

That’s one of the reasons why, when Guo Jiumin discovered Xia Chuyi supposedly shared the same abilities as Xia Lan, he wanted to capture Xia Chuyi.

Guo Jiumin was convinced that if Xia Chuyi had fallen into his hands back then, he would have surely secured the patriarch position.

Now, if he could get Xia Chuyi, he would undoubtedly make a comeback—he firmly believed Xia Chuyi was the Chosen Daughter.

When Huo Shiqian informed the Ou Family about this, they were all deeply astonished.

Besides this, Huo Shiqian had another matter to tell Xia Chuyi separately.

"Chuyi, regarding the border incident, Guo Jiumin, for his own selfish reasons, secretly sold intelligence to a foreign country, causing Guo Jiacheng to be trapped at the border." Huo Shiqian stated, "This is an act of treason."

"And Xia Lan, being an accomplice, is also a traitor."

"Additionally, the incident where Xia Lan poisoned Cao Cuixia was also uncovered."

Upon hearing this, Xia Chuyi was shocked and said, "What, Cao Guihua didn’t commit suicide, she was poisoned by Xia Lan?"

"Yes." Huo Shiqian nodded and said, "Even the poison Lian’er used earlier was supplied by her."

"Like you, she carried ’secrets,’" stated Huo Shiqian, "which allowed her to gain the upper hand in many affairs."

"But unlike you, she was too reliant on her ’secrets,’ constantly comparing herself to you, and ultimately strayed off course."

"Last time, we gave her a chance and spared her.

"This time..." Huo Shiqian’s gaze turned deep, "She must not be spared."

Previously, Xia Lan was allowed to live because of concerns that Xia Lan and Xia Chuyi shared secrets and were somehow connected.

In short, they previously let Xia Lan live fearing if anything happened to her, Xia Chuyi would also be affected.

But now, it has come to light that Xia Lan revealed Xia Chuyi’s ’secret’ to others, so she absolutely cannot be spared.

Otherwise, sparing Xia Lan merely out of concern for a speculative ’connection’ would be letting her off too easily.

Most importantly, with the current circumstances, keeping Xia Lan around would pose endless trouble.

"Thus, Xia Lan and Guo Jiumin, along with several other key subordinates of Guo Jiumin, have all been sentenced to death," Huo Shiqian stated, his gaze becoming even deeper.