“The fragrance of this special herb is very distinctive. According to the ‘Youyang Zazu,’ this scent can last for days or even months without dissipating, and it doesn’t mix with other fragrances. Legend says that in certain places, this fragrance is called ‘lover’s scent’—during gatherings, young ladies would use it as a marker so their lovers could find them quickly.”
The conversation with Xiao Zhixuan once again surfaced in Yuanxi’s mind. She tried hard to recall what Xiao Zhixuan had done after she finished explaining this. She seemed to have snatched the small jar from Yuanxi’s hands, hugged it to her chest with a bright smile and said: “Such a rare thing—could Sister-in-law lend it to me?” Then she opened the lid and sniffed lightly, staring at her as if joking: “If I ever disappear in the future, Sister-in-law must find me!”
These words suddenly exploded in her mind, yanking Yuanxi from her memories. At the time, she had thought it was just a young girl’s playful nature acting up, never noticing the hidden determination and desolation in her words.
Only at this moment, smelling this familiar scent in the Princess’s room, did she suddenly understand: from that time, Xiao Zhixuan had already considered using her own life as bait to exchange for the truth!
Yuanxi took a deep breath, but her hands began trembling uncontrollably. Seeing her standing dazed in the corner, Xiao Du quickly walked over and asked quietly: “What’s wrong?” Yuanxi turned her head, tears already welling in her eyes. She raised her trembling finger toward the wall: “The Buddhist hall… the Buddhist hall was just a decoy. The entrance to the secret chamber is in the Princess’s room!”
As soon as these words were spoken, not only did Xiao Du’s expression change, but even the Princess was so shocked she stood up, shouting loudly: “Insolent! Searching the room isn’t enough—now you want to tear down walls? Who gave you such audacity!”
But Yuanxi pushed past Xiao Du and stared directly at the Princess with burning eyes: “It was Xuan’er—Xuan’er told me herself. You never expected that Xuan’er would rather sacrifice herself to see you convicted. She deliberately took risks to let you capture her, calculating that you wouldn’t dare take her out of the manor during this critical time and would definitely hide her in that secret place first. So she rubbed herself with a fragrance that only I could identify—wherever she went would leave this scent. All evidence can be hidden, but smell doesn’t lie.”
The Princess trembled all over with rage, glaring daggers at Yuanxi. But despite her lifelong toughness, under this firm and stern gaze she gradually showed signs of defeat. Finally, she could no longer maintain her previous coldness and composure. Her body softly leaned against the wall, gasping for breath as if suffering from an old ailment, yet still coldly declared: “Without my permission, no one is allowed to touch my room!”
Nanny Yu quickly stepped forward and gripped her arm tightly, signaling her not to appear too panicked. But Xiao Du and Yuanxi had already read everything from her reaction. However, with the Princess blocking the way with her body, no one dared act rashly. Just as the situation in the room reached a stalemate, a voice suddenly came from outside: “If I say it can be moved, then it can be moved. If the lady is dissatisfied, she’s welcome to report my crimes to the Emperor.”
The Princess’s eyes widened as she listened to this person she had yearned for half her lifetime mercilessly demolish all her defenses, as if hearing the final judgment from heaven above. She slowly turned around, staring at Xiao Yunjing as he approached with a cold face. Her expression changed repeatedly before she finally gave him a desolate smile: “Very well, everything is at the Old Master’s discretion.”
With the Old Marquis’s directive, the shadow guards no longer hesitated. Before long, a wall came crashing down, and behind the falling bricks and dust appeared a bottomless dark hole. Xiao Du and Yuanxi exchanged glances, both showing excited expressions, while the Princess simply slumped down in defeat, as if all life had been drained from her, numb as a dried corpse.
Several people looked at the entrance, preparing to enter and investigate, when Xiao Yunjing suddenly waved them away and stood before the Princess, saying quietly: “I’ll leave you with one last bit of dignity, as long as you can lead me to find Xuan’er.” But the Princess seemed to hear nothing, still staring ahead with empty eyes.
Xiao Yunjing looked at her coldly, his expression unreadable. He gestured for Xiao Du and Yuanxi to follow, then said coldly to the terrified Nanny Yu: “Bring your mistress and lead the way!”
Nanny Yu was so frightened she fell to her knees with a thud, her legs trembling so violently she couldn’t move an inch. Just then, the Princess’s face took on an eerie smile. She stood up, straightened her clothes and hair, and when she raised her head again, she had recovered her usual cold demeanor, saying lightly: “Since the Old Master is so eager to see, this concubine will lead the Old Master to look.”
The Old Marquis had the shadow guards guard the Princess’s room while the group entered through the hole one by one. Xiao Du held a lantern in one hand and Yuanxi’s hand in the other as they walked ahead, but the weak light only made the path appear more sinister. From the darkness ahead came a faint odor that became more obvious the closer they got: the stench of rot and putrid flesh.
The further they walked, the more terrible their expressions became. They dared not imagine whether Xiao Zhixuan could have any chance of survival in such a place. Only the Princess maintained a smile filled with destructive intent.
Just then, a weak groan suddenly came from ahead. Everyone froze upon hearing it, but Xiao Du reacted first, rushing forward with the lantern and shouting: “Xuan’er!”
The lantern fell to the ground with a “crash,” and in the flickering firelight, a pale young lady in yellow clothing lay curled on the ground. Behind her was a row of opened fans. The fine sandalwood fan frames held not silk or brocade, but human faces stretched as skin!
Everyone was horrified by the scene before them, standing stunned for a moment before recovering from the shock. Xiao Du quickly rushed over to help up Xiao Zhixuan from the ground, checked her breathing, then nodded joyfully to the Old Marquis and Yuanxi. The heavy weight in everyone’s hearts finally lifted, but soon they felt the surrounding chill pressing in, feeling that this place was even more terrifying than the Asura hell.
Only the Princess walked gracefully to the row of fans, running her jade fingers over the stretched faces as if caressing the finest silk, murmuring: “Young girls of fourteen or fifteen have the most tender and lustrous complexions—truly treasures that cannot be found anywhere in the world. It’s just that in a few more years, even the most tender skin will age and wrinkle. So I preserved their best years here, which is the greatest mercy I could show them.” Her finger touched the last empty fan frame, and she sighed wistfully: “What a pity you came too early. Otherwise, Xuan’er’s place should have been here—her face would certainly have been the most beautiful among them.”
A heavy slap interrupted her words. The Old Marquis’s trembling hand stopped in mid-air as he stared at her with bloodshot eyes and roared: “You! You poisonous woman! It’s all my fault for indulging you too long and letting you harm so many people!”
The Princess covered her face and began laughing, but the laughter grew increasingly shrill and mournful. She raised her head, glaring at the Old Marquis with fierce eyes: “Is that so? I’m a poisonous woman! Then what are you? A devoted lover? Who made me into what I am today!”
Her face contorted continuously as she spoke, tears finally breaking forth. She cried herself hoarse, bending over to clutch her stomach, her voice growing ever more desolate: “I fell in love with you at first sight when I was sixteen and married you regardless of everything. But what did you do to me? Have you ever truly looked at me all these years! When you said you wanted to take concubines, I let you take them. Except for our wedding night, you never even entered my room, and I endured it all. But why did you have to bring back that woman of unknown origins and even allow that servant to kill our child! Just to give that woman’s child a legitimate status?”
Hearing these words, Xiao Du’s head shot up, his vision seeming to turn blood red. He handed Xiao Zhixuan in his arms to Yuanxi, walked to the Old Marquis, and asked in a trembling voice: “The child she mentioned—is that me? Where is my birth mother? What happened to her?”
“She’s dead!” the Princess shouted loudly. Seeing Xiao Du’s face suddenly turn agonized, a triumphant gleam entered her eyes, her voice becoming even shriller: “That woman died right after giving birth to you! That was her punishment, retribution for that servant causing me to never have children again. Otherwise, how could I possibly agree to raise you under my name? You don’t know how painful it’s been all these years, putting on an act with a bastard child. Every time I had to play the loving mother in front of you, I felt so disgusted I wanted to vomit. I never wanted to see you at all—every day I wished you would die!”
“Silence!” The Old Marquis swung another slap. The Princess staggered from the blow, and seeing the Old Marquis’s face full of disgust and anger, she finally covered her mouth and spat out blood. She wiped the blood from her lips, her voice suddenly softening as she looked up miserably: “Xiao Lang, from our first meeting until today, my feelings for you have never changed. I’ve devoted my heart to you so completely—even a stone should have warmed by now. How could you be so heartless toward me! Now, can you tell me one honest truth: who is the person you’ve kept in your heart all this time!”
The Old Marquis’s body trembled, and the cold, hard expression he had struggled to maintain finally showed cracks, followed by infinite grief and pain. He staggered back a step, squeezed his eyes tightly shut, and said: “Fine! Since you want to know, I’ll tell you. From our first meeting until now, there has indeed been only one person in my heart—she was your former servant, Qingyue!”
The Princess’s head shot up, her face suddenly showing extreme terror, as if all the previous events combined couldn’t compare to the depth and weight of this single blow. Her steps unsteady, she collapsed heavily to the ground, her hair completely disheveled, pearls and jade ornaments scattering across the floor with pinging sounds. But she only shook her head with vacant eyes, continuously crying: “This is impossible! This absolutely cannot be!”
The Old Marquis crouched down, gripped her chin, and forced her to meet his gaze. His eyes contained the pleasure of revenge as he said coldly: “Now you should understand what a ridiculous thing you did back then!”