Across the street from the mansion, Qing Xiao leaned against the carriage, holding his sword while watching the women gradually departing from the entrance.

Inside the carriage, the incense clock burned to the designated mark, and the bronze ball dropped, making a crisp striking sound.

It was already the third quarter past noon, but the young lady had not yet emerged.

Qing Xiao looked up at the sky, waited another cup of tea’s time, then grimly instructed his subordinate: “The young lady has exceeded her time, there might be trouble. You two split up—go fetch the eldest young lady and the Prince of Nanyang quickly!”

At the Princess Imperial of Deyang’s residence, in the meditation chamber.

Ning Dan waited until his mouth was parched. Fanning himself with a paper fan, he took another gulp of tea and asked, “What’s that noise?”

The young eunuch tilted his ear to listen for a moment, then bowed and answered, “In response to Your Highness, it seems to be a cat in heat.”

“Annoying.”

Ning Dan had already lost his patience and scolded, “Why haven’t you brought the person over yet!”

Just as he was fuming, the door opened, and the dispatched little eunuch hurriedly slipped in carrying a bundle containing a woman.

“Your Highness, the second daughter of the Yu family has been delivered to you.”

The woman was placed on the couch. The little eunuch wiped his sweat and fawningly said, “To prevent her from harming Your Highness, we administered some medication. Please mind the time, Your Highness, don’t indulge too long. If she’s missing for too long and someone notices, things will become complicated.”

“I know, I know.” Ning Dan tugged at his collar and impatiently waved his hand to dismiss the attendants.

Once the room was empty, Ning Dan swallowed and reached out to lift the brocade blanket wrapped around the woman, revealing a delicate face.

His hand paused as Ning Dan pondered that something wasn’t quite right.

Could it be that he, a man who had seen countless women, had misjudged this time?

But since she was delivered to his doorstep, how could he not partake? That stubborn old Yu Yuan had refused to submit to him for so long and even seemed to be getting along well with other princes. He had long been displeased.

Today he would have some fun with his precious daughter, first enjoying the younger one, and later marrying the elder one.

Ning Dan revealed a frivolous, playful smile and impatiently undid his belt.

……

Fuyu Observatory was a secret pleasure den, and the female Taoist priests inside were all clandestine prostitutes.

At this moment, two female Taoist priests wearing robes so thin they revealed their flesh beneath, were leaning against the back door chatting listlessly.

“Miao Zhen, what do you make of that man and woman in the storehouse?” one of the Taoist priests asked.

The one called Miao Zhen cracked a melon seed and spat, saying: “The man must be acting out of hatred born from love! If he can’t have her, he wants to destroy her. Otherwise, why would he use Blissful Fragrance on a respectable young lady?”

This type of aphrodisiac incense was originally used by them in the Realm of Desire to keep customers. What made it powerful was that after a person smelled it, they would have an episode once every ten days, three times in total, with each occurrence more severe than the last. Only after a month would it naturally dissipate, thus ensuring long-term business from customers.

Thinking of this, a trace of contempt flashed across Miao Zhen’s numb, vulgar face: indeed, all men were beasts, and that poor young lady’s life was probably ruined forever.

But what could be done? They were under others’ control, with no freedom of their own.

In the back courtyard.

The storehouse was cramped, with no windows.

Only a small iron window over ten feet high was open, barely letting in some fresh air.

But it was still hot, very hot.

This time, the unusual feeling was different from the dizziness after the banquet. Yu Lingxi felt a fire burning inside her body. Ning Yin before her appeared in double vision. She felt like a boneless vine, uncontrollably seeking support.

“Wei Qi…”

Yu Lingxi’s gaze was hazy, her eye corners tinged with alluring red, her breathing rapid as she said, “I feel… I feel something’s wrong…”

With arms firmly supporting her sinking waist, Ning Yin raised his hand to disperse the lingering smoke. In the dimness, a pair of eyes contained a cold light.

“Because the young lady has been drugged,” he said.

Sitting upright, looking at the scorching, soft young woman in his arms, the corner of his mouth lifted in slight mockery, “Aphrodisiac incense.”

Yu Lingxi bit her lip, feeling like she wanted to kill Zhao Xu.

The emotional turmoil made the burning heat even more intense, surging in waves that assaulted her fragile rationality.

To make matters worse, at this moment, there was a young man in his prime right beside her.

Yu Lingxi couldn’t forget the many ways Ning Yin had tormented her in her previous life. She struggled to maintain her rationality and moved further into the couch to prevent herself from making any mistakes while not in her right mind.

As the softness in his arms departed without mercy, the smile at the corner of Ning Yin’s mouth disappeared.

He remained motionless, quietly looking at Yu Lingxi’s wine-flushed face buried in the crook of her arm.

After a moment, he stood up and, under Yu Lingxi’s bewildered gaze, undid his belt and outer robe.

The ochre-colored servant robe fell on the edge of the couch, causing Yu Lingxi to tense up and ask curtly: “What are you doing?”

“The young lady is uncomfortable, and I’m the only one here who can help,” Ning Yin said.

Ning Yin’s voice was low and deep, but to Yu Lingxi’s ears, it sounded like a thunderclap.

“Wei Qi, you…” Yu Lingxi’s eyes widened in shock. “Do you know… what you’re saying?”

“I do.” The young man knelt on one knee on the couch and drew closer. His eyes were like ink, showing neither lewd playfulness nor lustful desire. His voice was as light as if he were announcing today’s menu.

“I’ve never tried with a woman before. I hope the young lady will bear with me.”

His slightly cool lips approached, sealing Yu Lingxi’s burning breath.

Yu Lingxi’s mind went blank for an instant. She held her breath for a long moment before the pain in her jaw brought her back to her senses.

Ning Yin gripped her jaw and looked at her with slightly raised eyebrows, just like in her previous life, and asked softly: “Does the young lady intend to suffocate herself to preserve her virtue?”

Only then did Yu Lingxi exhale a long breath, resuming breathing, and her tense body softened again.

Virtue?

When a person has experienced the pain of family destruction, tasted the bitterness of dependence on others, and lived with a ruthless, unrestrained madman for two years…

One should know that reputation is merely a shackle imposed by others, and nothing is more important than survival.

The handsome, familiar face was right before her eyes, seemingly clear yet also blurry. Yu Lingxi looked into his deep eyes and heard from the depths of her heart a sound of giving up completely.

It’s not the first time anyway, what is there to fear?

Her consciousness was muddled, completely unable to distinguish whether these reckless, frivolous thoughts were her true feelings or the effects of the drug.

“Wei Qi.”

Yu Lingxi hesitantly raised her hand to touch Ning Yin’s cheek, holding it, then suddenly smiled and said lightly as if drunk: “Your kissing technique is still so poor.”

Ning Yin frowned.

Before he could ask where this “still” came from, he saw the young woman who had just been shrinking back now kneeling up, lowering her gaze to gently lick the tip of his nose.

The movement was practiced, unexpected.

The world fell silent, and Ning Yin’s breath momentarily halted.

He slightly opened his eyes, looking at the peach blossom-like, alluringly dazed young woman a hair’s breadth away. The bottom of his ink-black eyes seemed to roil with hot magma.

The sweet touch parted instantly, yet it stole away Ning Yin’s proud self-control.

He had been force-fed many poisons since childhood, and by reason, the incense line should have not affected him. Yet somehow, at this moment, it generated a small, insatiable restlessness.

Novel, yet not unpleasant.

He pursed his thin lips, slightly narrowed his eyes to savor the moment, then reached out to hold the back of Yu Lingxi’s head and approached once more.

After all, beasts never concern themselves with morality or shame; they only follow instinct.

A pain on her lips jolted Yu Lingxi back from her dreamy entanglement, forcibly reclaiming a thread of rationality.

“This isn’t right…” she seemed to suddenly awaken and push Ning Yin away.

She was bewildered for a moment before her vision focused.

Yu Lingxi’s lips were crimson as she looked at Ning Yin with his obscure gaze, breathing rapidly as she murmured: “It can’t be like before.”

It had nothing to do with reputation; without love, it was merely copulation.

Ning Yin did not understand the five senses and disdained morality, but she understood.

In her previous life, she and Ning Yin had already walked down an erroneous path of no return. This life should not begin the same way.

Displeased by her stopping, Ning Yin slightly tilted his head: “Young lady?”

“You… stay away from me.” Yu Lingxi hugged her knees, curling up on the couch, and said with difficulty.

Ning Yin’s eyes darkened slightly.

After thinking for a moment, he asked: “Does the young lady dislike me?”

“This isn’t right, not right…” Yu Lingxi repeated this phrase, shook her head, and her muddled consciousness gradually cleared.

“Then what is right?” Ning Yin’s figure loomed over her, his voice hoarse and deep. “Is it right for the young lady to torture herself to death?”

As the drug’s effect seemed to have subsided a bit, Yu Lingxi still had the strength to glare at him.

Ning Yin was displeased and raised his hand to touch the spot on the tip of his nose where she had kissed him.

Tsk, when she took the initiative to tease him earlier, she didn’t seem this stubborn.

“Humans differ from beasts. Such things should naturally be experienced with someone you love,” Yu Lingxi said, her cheeks red.

Love?

Ning Yin found it laughable: he didn’t possess such a thing.

“After inhaling this fragrance, without that…”

The young woman’s voice, difficult to articulate, came through, interrupting his thoughts, “Will I die?”

Ning Yin thought for a moment and said: “No.”

Yu Lingxi noticeably breathed a sigh of relief.

“You’ll just wish you were dead,” Ning Yin added.

A breath that hadn’t been fully released suddenly tensed again.

Ning Yin sat on the edge of the couch in his snow-white inner garment, coldly silent for a long while, then couldn’t help saying: “If the young lady is unwilling to take the shortcut, then endure it.”

Yu Lingxi softly responded with an “Mm” and hugged herself even tighter.

Ning Yin raised an eyebrow, not expecting her to be so resolute, preferring to endure alive rather than touch him.

For a long time, the storehouse was so quiet that only one rapid and one slow breathing could be heard.

Originally intending to see how long Yu Lingxi could endure, in the end, the one who grew increasingly empty and impatient was himself.

The cold light from the skylight slanted down, falling on the young woman’s thin, trembling shoulders.

Yu Lingxi’s breathing shook terribly, half her face buried in the crook of her arm. Ning Yin thought she would cry.

But she only bit her lip hard, relying on pain to get through the most unbearable moments, her eyelashes fluttering, her eyes full of struggle and determination.

A trickle of blood congealed on her lip, then suddenly rolled down her fair jaw.

That speck of bright red stung Ning Yin’s eyes, and his knuckles resting on his knee paused.

Hiss, wanted to drag Zhao Xu’s corpse from the bottom of the pool, chop it into pieces, and feed it to the dogs.

He stood up, grabbing the scattered ochre outer robe from the ground.

Yu Lingxi immediately stiffened, raising her water-rippling almond eyes to vigilantly watch him.

Ning Yin’s hand holding the robe paused, and then he proceeded with a normal expression to shake off the dust.

“The clothes were stolen, they’re a bit dirty,” he said. “The young lady will have to make do.”

The robe covered Yu Lingxi’s shoulders like a cloud, hiding the slightly disheveled ties of her jacket and skirt across her chest.

The robe was large and warm.

Yu Lingxi hadn’t shed tears during her most embarrassing and dangerous moments, but now, wrapped in Ning Yin’s outer garment, she felt inexplicably sour for some reason.

The drug’s effect had receded considerably but was still quite tormenting.

Yu Lingxi feared she wouldn’t be able to maintain her train of thought, so she said with a trembling voice: “Wei Qi, keep me company and talk to me.”

His voice, calm as still water with a slight hoarseness, replied: “About what?”

Yu Lingxi frowned, enduring the surging emptiness and desire, adjusting her breathing: “Anything, even telling me a story would do.”

Ning Yin sat in the darkness, only his profile silhouette visible, his expression indiscernible.

After a while, his flat voice came through: “Once upon a time, there were many lamb kids in the wolf country.”

Yu Lingxi hadn’t expected Ning Yin would make up a story for her.

She was so intrigued that she forgot the discomfort in her body and asked: “If it’s wolf country, why are there lamb kids?”

Ning Yin glanced sideways at her, then continued coldly: “In wolf country, only one wolf is allowed to exist; the rest must be docile and ignorant little lambs. If the big wolf discovers any other wolves exist, it will mercilessly bite them to death.”

“One day, the smallest lamb in the kingdom discovered it had grown fangs and claws. Its fangs and claws were exceptionally sharp, even sharper than the big wolf’s. It turned out the little lamb was a wolf. The little wolf’s mother was terrified, fearing being pounced on and killed by the big wolf, so she cried as she took iron pliers and, one by one, painfully extracted the little wolf’s fangs and claws, confining it in a cage, thinking this would hide everything.”

The indifferent voice, the bloody story—Yu Lingxi finally detected something amiss.

Intuition told her that Ning Yin’s story must be related to his past.

“What happened next?”

“Later, the little wolf gradually grew up, and the nature to eat meat couldn’t be concealed. One day, a piece of meat rolled into the cage. The little wolf was extremely hungry and grabbed the meat to eat, not knowing that someone had deliberately poisoned the meat…”

This story was enough to make Yu Lingxi’s drug effects completely subside, sending chills down her spine.

“Is the little wolf still alive?”

“It was lucky not to die, but it did expose the fact that it was a wolf.”

Ning Yin seemed to truly be just telling a story, continuing unhurriedly: “The big wolf sent subordinates to capture the little wolf and its mother, then threw a dagger in front of them. Those people told the little wolf’s mother that between her and her son, only one could live…”

“The big wolf is truly despicable.”

She strove to steady her voice, pretending to know nothing, and asked, “What happened next?”

But Ning Yin didn’t continue.

A long silence followed, and Yu Lingxi couldn’t see his expression.

“The young lady’s breathing has become much more stable; it seems the drug’s effect has subsided.”

He suddenly laughed and stopped discussing the topic of wolves and sheep, standing to ask, “Can you walk?”

Yu Lingxi felt slightly disappointed, not having heard the continuation of the story.

But pursuing it now would certainly arouse Ning Yin’s suspicions.

She tried moving her hands and feet, then painfully supported herself against the wall to stand up, taking a deep breath and saying: “I can walk.”

Ning Yin nodded in acknowledgment, then walked to the tightly closed storehouse door and kicked it.

His leg was long, and his kicking motion was fast and fierce.

Yu Lingxi had thought in her previous life that if Ning Yin’s leg had never been injured, he would have been exactly this spirited and dashing figure before her.

With a loud bang, the entire door panel along with the lock was kicked down, raising a cloud of dust.

Dazzling light flooded in.

Outside the door, two female Taoist priests heard the commotion and immediately ran over: “What’s happening…”

Before they could see Ning Yin’s movements, the two female Taoist priests widened their eyes and then softly collapsed to the ground.

Yu Lingxi watched in astonishment, supporting herself against the wall as she approached: “You…”

“They’re not dead,” Ning Yin said, hands behind his back.

Yu Lingxi was startled, then helplessly said: “That’s not what I meant. I meant, if you could open the door, why didn’t you take me away earlier?”

Ning Yin smiled and said softly: “The young lady was overwhelmed by the drug earlier, could you have walked? I wouldn’t mind carrying the young lady through the streets, but I feared the young lady couldn’t bear the loss of face.”

Such sophistry.

Yu Lingxi shot him an annoyed glance, exhaled several long breaths of turbid air, and then said more clearly: “Call for a carriage and take me back to the Princess Imperial’s residence.”

Ning Yin looked at her, his eyes showing added depth.

This delicate young woman, having just experienced such danger, didn’t first react by hiding at home in tears but dared to return to the princess’s residence to confront the conspiracy…

This was becoming more and more interesting.

Going back was good; they could still catch a grand show.

……

On the small path in front of the Buddhist hall at the Princess Imperial’s residence.

“That cat was bestowed upon me by His Majesty. If it’s lost, wouldn’t that be a great offense?”

A dozen or so women surrounded a palace-dressed lady with an anxious expression, as everyone searched for something among the flowers and trees.

“Don’t worry, Princess. The cat probably found the noise bothersome and hid somewhere quiet,” someone comforted.

“Find more people to search!”

Princess An Ning was so anxious her voice carried a sob. Suddenly she heard something and held her breath, saying, “Shh, did you hear a cat meow?”

“I think so.”

“I heard it too.”

“It seems to be coming from behind the Buddhist hall, let’s go look.”

“Shh, everyone is quiet! Don’t scare it away!”

Princess An Ning led a group of anxious people through the stone path toward the Buddhist hall.

Just as they were about to climb the stone steps, they saw two dozing little eunuchs spring up, saying anxiously: “Oh, ladies, you can’t enter here!”

Yu Xinyi and the Prince of Nanyang heard the commotion and arrived just in time to see a group of women arguing with two eunuchs.

Since her sister was late and it wasn’t clear if she was in trouble, or if the matter involved Princess Imperial Deyang, Yu Xinyi didn’t dare openly request a search for her sister.

She could only follow the pre-arranged plan and find Ning Zizhuo to help her sneak into Princess Imperial’s residence.

The palace maid said the second Miss Yu and Miss Zhao were resting in the side hall, but when she rushed to the side hall, neither her sister nor Zhao Yuming was there. She only found her sister’s red jade flower hairpin on the soft couch.

Her worry intensified; she was almost certain her sister was in trouble.

In the entire residence, only the Buddhist hall was the last place that hadn’t been searched.

Without hesitation, she strode toward the Buddhist hall.

“Officer Yu, this place can’t be entered casually,” Ning Zizhuo’s fair face showed some anxiety as he scratched his sideburns and said, “Why don’t I go ask for permission from Imperial Aunt?”

“There’s no time,” Yu Xinyi pushed Ning Zizhuo aside and barged in.

“Hey, that lady!” The two little eunuchs tried to block the noble ladies looking for the cat while also trying to stop Yu Xinyi, sweating profusely and saying, “You can’t go in there! You can’t!”

All this concealment must hide something fishy! Could Sui Sui…

Yu Xinyi didn’t bother with words, brushed aside one eunuch with her hand, and the other lunged at her but was grabbed from behind by Ning Zizhuo.

“Officer Yu, hurry!” Ning Zizhuo suddenly switched sides, firmly holding the eunuch while his face turned red from exertion.

Yu Xinyi quickly climbed the stone steps and pushed open the door to the meditation chamber.

The wind suddenly gusted in, lifting the hanging gauze, and revealing two naked, entangled figures on the bed to everyone’s eyes.

“Who…”

The man turned his head—it was none other than the Crown Prince, Ning Dan!

And the woman beneath him, in a dazed state, was actually…

“Zhao… Zhao Yuming.” The daughter of the War Ministry’s Vice Minister recognized her and stepped back in disbelief.

There was a moment of dead silence, followed by girls covering their eyes and turning away, exclaiming in shock.

“What’s causing such a commotion?”

From the corridor, the authoritative voice of Princess Imperial Deyang steadily carried over.