He had been confined in the other residence for over a month, his mood unbearably irritable, constantly thinking of leaving, of escaping back to Xuanzhou. But at this moment, he remembered that Nancy King was a maidservant assigned to him by his second uncle Daniel Foster, and that Jack Sullivan was a family servant also sent by his second uncle Daniel Foster. Even the incident three years ago, when he caught Nancy King in an illicit affair with his cousin John Foster, had been inadvertently revealed by that wretched servant Jack Sullivan.

Henry Foster's hands and feet were icy cold, and even after taking several sharp breaths, he could not suppress the shock in his heart.

In the dream, the man Simon Blake not only experienced countless schemes and betrayals in his short life, but even the historical books he liked to read were filled with all sorts of incredible plots and intrigues.

Perhaps the dream was too real—so real that it felt as if Henry Foster had lived an alternate life within it, so real that the memories of Simon Blake in the dream seemed to have fused into his very bones, making him instinctively consider problems from perspectives he never would have before.

This made him, for the first time, seriously reflect on his six years in Xuanzhou, and he was so startled that his hands and feet turned cold.

His second uncle Daniel Foster was by no means as gentle and harmless as he had imagined.

At only twelve years old, he had naturally never witnessed the darkness of human nature. Before this, how could he have imagined that his six years of wasted time, his current incorrigible unruliness, were all deliberately orchestrated by his second uncle Daniel Foster?

……

……

Henry Foster sat in a daze for a long time. As daylight brightened, he vaguely heard shouts from afar. He knew this was the family soldiers living in the manor coming out at dawn to practice martial arts and horsemanship.

Emperor Tianyou relied on great generals and powerful clans to accomplish his goals and lay the foundation of the Chu state. With the newly established Chu surrounded by powerful enemies, Emperor Tianyou dared not easily change the military system, and would even occasionally grant military households as rewards to meritorious ministers.

Therefore, it was common in these times for noble families to have their own private soldiers.

The Han family was, of course, no exception.

The Han family's private soldiers, aside from a few left in Xuanzhou under the command of his second uncle Daniel Foster, mostly followed his eldest uncle Dylan Foster, who was now serving as the governor of Chizhou.

However, in recent years, his father David Foster had also served in local posts and personally earned the reward of twenty military households.

These people were all veteran soldiers who had gradually come to follow David Foster in recent years.

When his father David Foster took up a post in the capital, the house they had in Jinling was too small to accommodate many people, so he bought a manor outside the city to settle most of the family soldiers and their families there...

Family soldiers!

"Attempting to raise troops in the ancestral land of Xuanzhou, but on the way, the family soldiers handed him over to the authorities, and he was executed by dismemberment in the marketplace..."

Thinking of this line from the dream, the veins on Henry Foster's forehead throbbed uncontrollably, and he thought to himself that all his usual curses at old dogs like Charles Grant were truly not misplaced.

These family soldiers, eating his family's food and using his family's resources, in the end, when the Han family faced upheaval, not only did they fail to loyally escort him to Xuanzhou, but actually handed him over to the authorities for execution on the way. If that wasn't the behavior of ungrateful, master-biting mongrels, what was?

At this moment, Henry Foster wished he could take up the Black Cloud Bow and rush out to shoot down every one of the manor's family soldiers.

Henry Foster was so furious that his chest ached, and he wanted nothing more than to smash everything in the study to vent his anger.

After a long while, Henry Foster gradually calmed down.

At this point, no upheaval had yet occurred in his family, and the family soldiers had not yet betrayed him. Not to mention killing all these ultimately useless family soldiers, even if he wanted to drive them all out of the Han family, his father David Foster would never agree.

What could he say now? That one day within the next four years, his father would be caned to death by Emperor Tianyou in front of the Wen Ying Hall, and he himself would be betrayed by these family soldiers while fleeing to Xuanzhou?

He couldn't even be sure whether all the family soldiers would betray him in the future!

Thinking of this, Henry Foster couldn't help but recall in detail the many events of the night when Yvonne Bailey came to poison him.

That night, the ugly maid Ethan Carter had first been driven out by his temper. After nightfall, Yvonne Bailey suddenly came to visit, prepared wine in the study to drink with him, and then he was poisoned, collapsed onto the desk, and lost consciousness, falling into that strange dream.

When he woke up, his mind was still a bit hazy, but he did hear a few key sentences.

Yvonne Bailey and that man had gone to such lengths, not simply to poison him, but also to create the appearance of a sudden illness?

Yvonne Bailey and that man were startled away by Charles Grant and others who heard the commotion and rushed over. Judging from Charles Grant's reaction afterward, they seemed to have no idea that Yvonne Bailey had come to visit that night?

In the manor, Henry Foster lived alone in the east wing, and because his father feared he would become obsessed with women, even the ugly maid Ethan Carter was forbidden to enter the east wing at night. So as long as there wasn't a loud disturbance, it was indeed possible that Charles Grant and the others didn't know about Yvonne Bailey's nighttime visit.

However, how did Yvonne Bailey know all this, so that she dared to calmly walk into the study and drink with him, unafraid of alerting others in the manor?

Was there someone among the family soldiers or servants in the manor who tipped off Yvonne Bailey?

His father was still a court minister and had not yet been caned to death by Emperor Tianyou. Henry Foster did not believe that all the family soldiers had already betrayed his family, but who among them was so bold as to secretly collude with Yvonne Bailey and pass on information?

Henry Foster took a deep breath, feeling that worrying about the future now was useless—he had to first resolve the crisis at hand!