I am the villain in the book

About half an hour later, Little Xu's reply confirmed that it was indeed her hairpin.

According to Xu Qingwan, she had always carefully kept this hairpin in a hidden compartment, and had never worn it since her wedding night, only occasionally taking it out to look at.

Many other pieces of jewelry were stored with the hairpin, but now only this golden hairpin was missing.

Naturally, Little Xu felt extremely distressed about losing the hairpin, which held great sentimental value, and repeatedly asked in her letter how Wei Changtian knew it was gone.

However, Wei Changtian didn't have time to think of reasons to explain all this, so he instructed Li Zimu to smooth things over and then left with Zhang San.

Now that the hairpin was real, it was highly likely that his guess was also real.

And this also meant that the Sword of Damocles was once again hanging over his head.

Since Xiao Feng's death, Wei Changtian hadn't felt this sense of crisis for a long time.

Facing such a powerful enemy, whose identity was still unknown, he was undoubtedly at a disadvantage being out in the open.

If he wanted to turn the situation around, at least to ensure that he wouldn't be "caught off guard", then Wei Changtian also had to find the other party's weakness as soon as possible.

Just like nuclear deterrence in his previous life, only when he could also threaten what the other party truly cared about would he not be led by the nose.

It sounded simple, but it was not easy to do.

And now, his only breakthrough was that most special Child of Destiny, Huo Tianyang.

"Young Master, where are we going?"

Zhang San's expressionless voice quickly came from the front as he bent down and got into the carriage.

Wei Changtian turned his head to look at the scenery outside the window, then closed the curtain and said indifferently:

"Linchuan Prefectural Office."

"Everyone, quiet! Quiet!!!"

Linchuan Prefectural Office, council hall.

Just as Wei Changtian was riding towards this place, the people in the room were discussing how to plot to keep this living Yama in Linchuan forever.

The spacious hall was noisy, and all the important figures in Linchuan Prefecture were present, but the four people from the Nine Truths Sect were missing.

Obviously, after learning that the four had most likely defected to Wei Changtian, Su Qi would naturally not allow them to participate in this meeting.

And their absence added another layer of gloom to this council.

The Heavenly Dog Army stationed outside the city, and the 200,000 "hostages" in their hands.

Yesterday's assassination was completely unplanned.

Wei Changtian changed the date of the city massacre from ten days to five days.

The four Nine Truths Sect experts suspected of betraying.

All of the above were like huge rocks pressing on everyone's hearts, making this meeting extremely depressing and chaotic from the very beginning.

Everyone had their own ideas, and everyone had their own interests to represent.

Although everyone was a citizen of Great Qian, and indeed understood the principle of mutual dependence and that they would all be unlucky if Wei Changtian didn't die.

But no one was willing to sacrifice more in this great chaos that was destined to be bloody.

Even at this time, some people still proposed the absurd suggestion of "negotiating peace with Wei Changtian at all costs", which was enough to see how scattered people's hearts were.

Actually, Su Qi couldn't really be blamed for this.

He couldn't even completely control the people sent by the Great Qian "official", let alone the folk forces who came to help from various sects and factions.

Everyone nominally took him as their head, but in reality, they each had their own little plans.

Therefore, they discussed all morning today without coming to any conclusion, but instead, they quarreled more and more fiercely among themselves, with a bit of a meaning of wanting to start an internal strife first.

"You, you all..."

Looking at the leaders of the various forces, some glaring angrily, some cowering; listening to the words that were superficially high-sounding, but actually selfish and self-serving.

At a certain moment, Su Qi, who had been enduring all morning, finally couldn't bear it any longer, and disregarding everyone's face, stood up angrily and shouted:

"Everyone shut up for this official!!!"

"..."

The noise stopped abruptly, and along with this angry roar, the council hall instantly became dead silent.

Everyone's eyes were focused on Su Qi, whose face was flushed red, with expressions of surprise, disdain, and so on.

And Su Qi was just standing there straight, his face gradually changing from red to white, and finally lowered his head as if exhausted, and slowly said in a tone that could not be more disappointed:

"Everyone, are you really willing to see my Great Qian become another Great Hui?"

"..."

A breeze passed through the window, swaying the brocade robes in the room.

Everyone was stunned for a moment when they thought Su Qi would burst into a rage under extreme anger, but instead heard such a sentence.

Faced with such a question, the answer in everyone's heart was undoubtedly the same.

But the key was that each of them had to leave a way out for themselves and the forces behind them.

No one wanted Great Qian to be destroyed.

But if there was really such a day, they always had to live, right?

The struggle in their hearts turned into slight sighs, lowered eyes, and helpless shakes of the head.

And how could Su Qi not understand what everyone was thinking?

He raised his head with a wry smile, scanned the hall, and said in a voice that was not loud, but from the bottom of his heart.

"Everyone, even if you haven't seen Wei Changtian's methods, you should have heard of them."

"In Great Hui, he killed the entire family of Lü Yuansong and Lü Xiangshan in just two days."

"Yes, other than that, he didn't kill too many people in Great Hui."

"But everyone must know that it was because no one in Great Hui dared to disobey him at that time."

"Except for Lü Yuanjin, all the forces in Great Hui were silent, allowing him to do whatever he wanted in Great Hui, and that's how they exchanged for a way out."

"But what about you?"

"From the moment you walked into this council hall today, do you think Wei Changtian will let you go?"

"..."

Pairs of eyes suddenly widened, and when Su Qi pointed out the difference between the situation of Great Qian and Great Hui, everyone suddenly felt a sense of being calculated.

And the fact was indeed like this.

The reason why Su Qi summoned everyone so openly today to discuss the plan to kill Wei Changtian was actually to cut off all escape routes.

"Everyone, this official has no choice."

In the midst of angry gazes, Su Qi shook his head: "If it weren't for this, we would never be of one mind, and in the end, we would be defeated."

"And now, since we are all on the same boat, why not work together and give it a try?"

"If we win, we will all be meritorious officials of Great Qian, and we will surely be remembered in history."

"Even if we lose, we can be considered worthy of our hearts, worthy of His Majesty and the tens of millions of people of Great Qian."

"This official can't guarantee that we will win."

"But I do know that since ancient times, evil has never prevailed over good."

"Everyone, just treat it as this official begging you this once..."

With incomparable determination and sincerity, in the midst of everyone's extremely complicated gazes, Su Qi closed his eyes and softly uttered the last sentence.

"Don't let future generations not know my Great Qian."