“Swish!” In an instant, Jun Beiyue’s whip cracked out again — but this time, Ziqing caught it. A flicker of amusement crossed Jun Beiyue’s eyes as he stood still, saying nothing.

Whether or not Jun Beiyue had done it on purpose, Ziqing certainly had. She smiled and said, “Physician Gu, you know very well the Prince has no patience. Why don’t you just come clean with me now?”

Come clean now?

With her asking it like that, could Physician Gu possibly say no?

Physician Gu wished he never had to look at Han Ziqing again, never had to exchange another word with her — but faced with the malevolent look in Jun Beiyue’s eyes and Ziqing’s pointed question, he had no choice but to answer her, and only one answer would do. Yes.

He didn’t even have a chance to hesitate before the words tumbled out of him. “Yes, yes! I’ll talk, I’ll talk! Bai Mengmeng is in the Imperial Medical Bureau! I’ve kept her hidden there the whole time!”

“Where in the Imperial Medical Bureau!” Jun Beiyue finally spoke, his voice cold as ice.

“In the back courtyard, in a hidden chamber… a hidden chamber within a hidden chamber. My lord, this old servant knows he was wrong, this old servant begs—”

Physician Gu didn’t even get the chance to beg. Before he could finish, Jun Beiyue tossed the whip aside without so much as another glance at him and turned to walk out.

“Haonan, keep an eye on him for now. Wait for me to come back,” Ziqing said briefly before quickly following after Jun Beiyue.

Cross her, or beg her — it made no difference. This debt with Physician Gu certainly wasn’t going to be settled so easily.

This had only been an interrogation, after all — not yet the punishment!

But even more than Physician Gu, it was Bai Mengmeng who left them with no patience left to wait.

Jun Beiyue arrived at the Imperial Medical Bureau, with Ziqing right on his heels. The two exchanged a glance in perfect understanding, saying nothing more — but just as Jun Beiyue reached to open the door of the hidden chamber, Ziqing grabbed his hand and said in a low voice, “Let me.”

Jun Beiyue turned to look at her and froze for a moment. He had never seen such an expression on Ziqing’s face before — not coldness, but pure ruthlessness, every bit as fierce as any hardened man’s.

Even he had to admit, if only to himself, that he was momentarily taken aback. This woman had truly come back for revenge.

Ziqing didn’t open the door right away. Instead, she knocked several times — “knock, knock, knock.”

A moment later, an anxious female voice came from inside. “Who’s there? Physician Gu, is that you? Is there news? Has Han Ziqing come back?”

“Has she come back?”

“Open the door! Hurry!”

…

Getting no response, the person inside began pounding on the door frantically. “Open the door! Physician Gu, open this door right now!”

Ziqing said nothing at all. Slowly, she pushed the door open.

As the door swung open, from Ziqing’s vantage point, Bai Mengmeng’s pale face and slender, delicate frame gradually came into view. She stood barely five steps from the entrance, her hair disheveled and unkempt, her expression full of urgent excitement!

But the instant she saw Ziqing standing in the doorway, that excited expression froze in place. The words caught in her throat; she didn’t even manage to close her mouth, utterly stunned, unable to process what was happening!

Han Ziqing!

She had actually come back — she had actually found her way here!

What did this mean? And where was Physician Gu?

Bai Mengmeng stood there in a daze, staring at Ziqing in shock, while Ziqing herself remained perfectly clear-headed. This woman — perhaps she had seen her before, without paying any particular attention to who she was. But that day at Mingsha Mountain, she would never forget it for the rest of her life!

This woman had been the one draped over Jun Beiyue, nestled against his shoulder, smiling provocatively at her!

Was there any provocation more unbearable to Ziqing than that? There was not!

That gesture, that position — those belonged to her, and her alone, for the rest of her life. How dare anyone provoke her by taking such liberties? And worse, this woman hadn’t just deceived her — she had wounded Jun Beiyue as well!

Before the misunderstanding had been cleared up, Ziqing had already wanted to tear her to pieces. Now, there was even less chance of letting it go.

“You… Han—”

Before Bai Mengmeng could finish speaking, Ziqing lunged forward and grabbed her by the collar!

Bai Mengmeng flinched, then immediately began struggling, snarling furiously, “What are you doing? Let go!”

Thanks to Physician Gu’s treatments, her strength was considerable. She gripped Ziqing’s wrist with both hands, wrenching viciously as she shouted, “Han Ziqing, let go, let go of me!”

This woman was fierce, but Ziqing had never been one to back down — why would she fear her?

Ignoring Bai Mengmeng’s desperate struggling, Ziqing tightened her left hand’s grip on her collar, glaring at her with fury, refusing to let go, refusing to speak.

In this moment, Ziqing was like a phoenix on the verge of erupting into rage, her phoenix eyes blazing with boundless fury.

She wanted to get a good, long look at this woman — to see exactly what she had that gave her the audacity to try to steal Jun Beiyue from her, the audacity to scheme, deceive, and hurt both her and Jun Beiyue this way!

In truth, there was no need to look closely at all. Aside from a bit of decent looks, Bai Mengmeng had absolutely nothing else going for her. If it hadn’t been for that massive tornado, if it hadn’t been for what she and Situ Haonan had said, leading Jun Beiyue to mistake Bai Mengmeng for the Gu Nanny, she never would have been able to create that misunderstanding in the first place!

That misunderstanding hadn’t been the result of any skill on Bai Mengmeng’s part — it had been an oversight on the part of Ziqing and Jun Beiyue themselves!

Ziqing, with some interest, tilted her head slightly, raising an eyebrow as she coldly studied her. Bai Mengmeng’s struggling proved useless, so she finally gave up and simply glared back at Ziqing directly. But the moment her eyes met Ziqing’s phoenix gaze, she couldn’t help but feel a stab of guilt, instinctively wanting to look away. At that exact moment, Ziqing tightened her grip, yanking Bai Mengmeng forward hard enough that she was forced to tilt her head back, staring directly into Ziqing’s eyes!

“You’re Bai Mengmeng?” Ziqing said coldly.

Though afraid, Bai Mengmeng’s voice rang out even louder, full of righteous indignation. “That’s right! So what?”

The moment the words left her mouth, Ziqing’s right hand shot up without warning and came crashing down in a vicious slap — “Crack!” — the sound sharp and unmistakably loud.

Bai Mengmeng’s eyes went wide, and she let out a shrill scream. “Han Ziqing! How dare you hit me!”

“How laughable!” Ziqing scoffed coldly, her hand already rising again for a second brutal slap. “That’s exactly what I intend to keep doing!”

Just two slaps left Bai Mengmeng’s cheeks a swollen, bloody red. She went wild with fury, no longer caring that her collar was still gripped, lunging forward with both hands at Ziqing. “You bitch, I’ll kill you! Even Jun Beiyue doesn’t dare hit me — how dare you lay a hand on me!”

Bai Mengmeng was far too full of herself. Jun Beiyue hadn’t killed her out of consideration for General Bai’s reputation — not because he didn’t dare.

She had never noticed that Jun Beiyue was standing right outside the door — but he had seen everything happening inside. His lips curled with impatience; if it weren’t for the fact that Ziqing wanted to handle this herself, he would have already walked in and killed the woman with a single blow, if only to spare himself the disgust of seeing and hearing her.

“Jun Beiyue doesn’t dare lay a hand on me?”

Ziqing suddenly felt an urge to laugh. She truly did.

Even she herself didn’t know of anything in this world that Jun Beiyue wouldn’t dare to do. Where did this woman get the nerve to say such a thing?

“That’s right! Han Ziqing, let me tell you — Jun Beiyue loves me. At Mingsha Mountain, it was me he saved, not you!”

Bai Mengmeng had no idea how Han Ziqing had gotten here, nor what had happened to Physician Gu, or why he hadn’t come yet.

But Physician Gu had already promised her — the moment Han Ziqing returned, the two of them would join forces to drive her away.

Physician Gu had assured her that Jun Beiyue wouldn’t wake so easily. This was the imperial capital of Da Zhou — as long as Jun Beiyue remained unconscious, everything would be decided by Prince Baxian. No matter how fierce or reckless Han Ziqing might be, one person alone could never stand against an entire capital!

All they needed to do was sever every last one of her hopes concerning Jun Beiyue for good.