Situ Haonan refused to explain anything, offering only one line: he’d been waiting a long time for Jun Beiyue, ready to accept whatever punishment he saw fit?

Yelu Qianqian, still crying, suddenly stopped, her eyes fixed on the dagger in Jun Beiyue’s hand, her heart pounding wildly — she was gripping Ziqing’s hand so tightly it nearly broke the skin.

Silly girl — did she really think they might actually do something to Situ Haonan?

Ziqing understood what Situ Haonan had done, and she had long since forgiven him. Before the tornado had struck, when he and Ziqing had stood together to face Mr. and Mrs. Situ, she had already forgiven him then.

In truth, Ziqing had never really blamed him at all.

But what about Jun Beiyue?

“Nothing to explain?” Jun Beiyue asked, raising an eyebrow.

“That’s right, nothing to explain. I wronged my brother — deal with me however you see fit!” Situ Haonan declared with solemn conviction.

To everyone’s surprise, Jun Beiyue actually began drawing the dagger from its sheath, causing Yelu Qianqian to grip Ziqing’s hand even tighter, trembling with fear.

“You deceived me — you tricked Ziqing into going to Mingsha Mountain,” Jun Beiyue said seriously, studying the dagger with a cold eye, its blade gleaming sharp enough to reflect light. Heaven only knew how much a stab from that blade would hurt.

“Yes!” Situ Haonan nodded.

“Ziqing defeated everyone in Nangong City, and then your father stepped in? You took a blade for her?” Jun Beiyue asked further.

At this, Situ Haonan was startled. How did this man know all that?

Could Ziqing have told him? But surely they hadn’t had time to talk about so much already, had they?

Seeing Situ Haonan’s confusion, Jun Beiyue continued, “You’re not explaining now, but during the time I was unconscious, you explained every single night. Honestly… it got a little annoying.”

At this, Situ Haonan froze in shock, and in an instant, his pale face flushed bright red like an apple!

Yelu Qianqian and Ziqing froze as well — so he hadn’t really been unconscious the entire time after all! He’d known everything all along!

Suddenly, Ziqing burst out laughing, and Yelu Qianqian, through tears, laughed as well. “Hahaha, Situ Haonan, you’ve been caught out! Hahaha!”

Situ Haonan was truly mortified — of all the embarrassing moments in his life, this was surely the worst.

While Jun Beiyue had been unconscious, Situ Haonan had spared no effort in explaining himself, pouring out heartfelt confessions night after night — and mind you, when a grown man starts speaking from the heart, he can be even more sentimental than any woman! And he’d been doing it every single night, right at Jun Beiyue’s bedside.

Situ Haonan couldn’t bear to even look at Jun Beiyue anymore. He turned and walked away, putting on a show of cold indifference. “Since you’re awake now, I’ll go back to searching for Bai Mengmeng. I’ll leave everything here to you!”

With that, he really did walk off without a backward glance.

Yelu Qianqian was practically doubled over with laughter, immediately cornering Jun Beiyue. “What exactly did he say to you every night?”

“He said if Ziqing didn’t come back, he wouldn’t marry you,” Jun Beiyue said matter-of-factly.

Yelu Qianqian froze, her face immediately flushing red. In other words — now that Ziqing was back, Situ Haonan actually intended to marry her?

Ziqing couldn’t help laughing out loud. “You’d better hurry up and go ask him about it.”

Only then did Yelu Qianqian let go, scrambling foolishly after him.

Ziqing shook her head with a helpless laugh. Jun Beiyue was staring at her intently, clearly wanting to pick up where they’d left off.

Ziqing pretended not to notice, quickly turning away. “Come on, let’s go interrogate Physician Gu! This consort has come back to settle scores!”

Jun Beiyue smiled fondly. Tonight, he would finally have her in his arms again as they slept — certain other matters, he could hold off for now…

The two of them made their way toward the dungeon, with Jun Beiyue filling Ziqing in on everything that had happened after she’d fallen into the Poison Beast World, while Ziqing told him about everything inside the Poison Beast World, including Xiong Bao’s unusual constitution.

It had to be said — Xiong Bao’s constitution was the matter that concerned Jun Beiyue most of all. Such a constitution clearly defied common sense, and as for the Lone Island, they would need to continue investigating that thoroughly. But for now, there was only one thing to be done: settle the score!

Jun Beiyue shared much of what he’d learned from Situ Haonan, including the entire situation regarding Longyuan, the matter of Physician Gu poisoning him, his Meng Clan bloodline, and Xuanyuan Lige’s departure for Nanzhao.

When it came to the other matters, Ziqing occasionally asked a question or two. But when the topic turned to Xuanyuan Lige, Jun Beiyue held nothing back, while Ziqing fell quiet, her clear eyes lowered and unreadable — one could not tell what she was thinking, only that her small hands had clenched tightly.

A debt of gratitude as heavy as a mountain, a fated hardship tied to a woman’s beauty — how was one to face such things?

A’Li — since we have already met in this life, then let it be that in the next, you may be fortunate enough never to meet me again.

As they spoke, the two of them arrived at the entrance to the dungeon, where Yingzi stood personally waiting, holding the door open.

He and Situ Haonan had wanted nothing more than to break every old bone in Physician Gu’s body, but given his status, given Prince Baxian’s position, there had been nothing they could actually do — all they could manage was to make his life difficult, day after day.

But mere harassment was nothing compared to what he deserved. Considering the half a year Situ Haonan had spent unconscious because of him, considering the crime of hiding Bai Mengmeng — making him cough up blood from harassment alone wouldn’t even come close to satisfying their anger, not even a little!

Now, at last, the rightful master had returned. Now they would see just how tough this old bag of bones really was, just how tightly that mouth of his could stay shut!

Not long after Ziqing and Jun Beiyue entered, Situ Haonan and Yelu Qianqian arrived as well. There were plenty of things they might miss, but this was one thing they absolutely could not!

They had waited far too long for this day!

If Ziqing and Jun Beiyue grew tired from the interrogation, the two of them would certainly step in to take over — they’d wear Physician Gu out to death if it took every last one of them to do it!

Inside the dungeon, Physician Gu hung suspended by his wrists, pressed against the wall, one foot touching the ground, the other — its bone still unhealed — barely brushing the floor.

Seeing Jun Beiyue and Ziqing approach, Physician Gu immediately lowered his head, muttering to himself over and over, telling himself not to say anything, not a single word!

As long as he said nothing, no one would ever learn of Bai Mengmeng’s whereabouts. As long as he kept his mouth shut, Han Ziqing couldn’t truly do anything to him!

Alas — when facing death, people always fear it, yet always forget that death itself isn’t the most painful thing. Far more painful is a fate worse than death.

And Ziqing, as it happened, had no intention of letting Physician Gu die at all!

Once inside the dungeon, Jun Beiyue pulled up a chair and sat down calmly off to the side, crossing one leg over the other, coldly eyeing this servant he had once trusted most.

He truly hadn’t expected the most terrifying betrayal to come from someone so close to him. If Xuanyuan Lige hadn’t discovered Situ Haonan had been poisoned, if Situ Haonan hadn’t woken up—

Physician Gu had drugged Situ Haonan, keeping him in an eternal slumber — what good intentions could possibly lie behind that? What had he been planning to do next?

If Jun Beiyue himself hadn’t woken up when he did, and things had truly gone as Physician Gu intended, dragging on for another year or two — what would have happened if Ziqing had returned during that time?

That old misunderstanding from years ago — who else knew of it?

Jun Beiyue couldn’t even bear to imagine what fate might have befallen Ziqing and their son, alone and unprotected, if that misunderstanding had truly been allowed to fester.

And given Ziqing’s temperament, if she had returned to the palace and encountered Bai Mengmeng — what then?

He didn’t dare imagine it, and he would absolutely never allow such a thing to happen.

Yet this was precisely what Physician Gu had hoped for — everything he had done had surely been in preparation to move against Ziqing.

Though Jun Beiyue sat silently off to the side, his cold, sharp eyes remained fixed on Physician Gu. If looks could kill, Physician Gu would have been reduced to nothing but bones by now.

As Jun Beiyue took his seat, Ziqing stopped walking. The room fell silent. Situ Haonan, Yelu Qianqian, and Yingzi all stood off to the side, waiting, none of them daring to make a sound.

Ziqing stood directly facing Physician Gu, and calmly opened her mouth…

What would her first words be?