For two lifetimes, Yu Lingxi had prided herself on her integrity and honesty, never having wronged Ning Yin in any way.

She told herself she could refrain from hatred and resentment, but she couldn’t forget what she had experienced.

Yet, when someone repeatedly reminds themselves of past grievances, how could they possibly remain unbothered?

She had naturally taken in Ning Yin, using him as a stepping stone to protect the Yu family. She warned herself not to follow her previous life’s path and develop any feelings beyond their “mutually beneficial” arrangement…

But in the end, unraveling everything, she realized she was both a victim and a tool for murder. The one truly without guilt was this brazenly wicked madman.

Yu Lingxi knew the fault was not hers. She merely felt a great irony about her blindness and prejudice over the past half-year.

“Nobody bullied me.”

Yu Lingxi’s nose reddened slightly, her eyes moist as she looked at him. She pressed her lips together and softly added, “In the future, no one will bully us again.”

She said “us,” with inscrutable emotions swirling in her eyes, different from before.

Strangely, Ning Yin didn’t dislike these words.

“What exactly did the Young Miss hear from the medicine vendor?” he asked.

“The poison Zhao Yuming ingested is called ‘Hundred Flower Kill,’ a rare poison used by the surrendered tribes through a ‘beauty scheme’ to assassinate the previous dynasty’s emperor.” Yu Lingxi repeated what the medicine vendor had told her, striving to steady her wavering voice.

Ning Yin, interested in all manner of malicious things, remarked: “This poison sounds intriguing.”

“It’s not intriguing at all.”

Yu Lingxi’s expression turned solemn as she clenched her fingers and said, “Using an unsuspecting living person as bait to poison someone else is extremely vicious.”

Ning Yin observed Yu Lingxi for a long while. The hand gripping her chin loosened slightly, his fingertips moving upward to wipe away the moisture at the corner of her eye.

The man’s knuckles were hard, his touch not particularly gentle, yet it provided an unprecedented sense of stability.

“Then why is the Young Miss so concerned about this poison?”

Yu Lingxi’s damp eyelashes trembled slightly.

If Ning Yin knew that in her previous life, she too had been a vessel for this poison, and had vomited blood all over him after their intimate encounter… he would probably snap her neck and leave her corpse in the secret chamber once more.

She shook her head, no longer continuing this topic.

In two lifetimes, she had rarely shed genuine tears, yet each moment of weakness had been in front of Ning Yin.

She stepped back, sniffled, and when she raised her head again, she had regained some composure.

Ning Yin knew nothing of her previous life, but she couldn’t forget. Some matters needed resolution.

“Zhao Yuming was poisoned the day before entering the palace. Could someone be using her to harm the Crown Prince?”

Yu Lingxi pondered internally. In her previous life, Ning Yin had made too many enemies; those wanting him dead were as numerous as ants crossing a river, making it impossible to investigate them all.

But if the poisoner was also the Crown Prince’s fierce rival, someone who could simultaneously have connections with the Ning, Zhao, and Yu families, then the scope of the investigation would be much narrower.

As she was thinking, Ning Yin’s low, languid voice reached her: “If the target were the Eastern Palace, they wouldn’t have let that woman collapse before entering the palace.”

Yu Lingxi felt Ning Yin’s reasoning made sense.

Perhaps only a “villain” could best understand another villain’s thinking.

With this thought, Yu Lingxi turned her head and asked, her voice still slightly nasal: “What do you think Zhao Yuming did to invite such a fatal disaster?”

Ning Yin heartlessly thought: What reason does one need to kill?

Kill someone when in a good mood, kill someone else when in a bad mood—it’s no big deal.

But perhaps because Yu Lingxi’s expression was too serious at that moment, or perhaps because her tearful demeanor was too compelling, Ning Yin swallowed the cold words on the tip of his tongue and slowly said: “Perhaps she stood in someone’s way, or learned some secret she shouldn’t have known.”

Yu Lingxi nodded. This answer might only be revealed after discovering whom Zhao Yuming had met before her death.

“Young Miss!” Hutao’s anxious call came from the distance.

Yu Lingxi hurriedly wiped her eyes with her sleeve and composed herself before turning around to see Hutao approaching with guards from beneath the temple wall.

“Let’s go back, Wei Qi.”

Fearing the attendants would become suspicious, Yu Lingxi stepped forward to leave, but her sleeve was caught.

She traced the long fingers holding her sleeve upward to Ning Yin’s handsome, profound face, tilting her head in confusion.

Ning Yin absently played with her soft, thin sleeve between his fingertips. His pitch-black eyes were bottomless. After a long while, he leaned forward slightly.

“Don’t forget, Young Miss, Wei Qi is always at your service.”

As the wind rose, his deep voice, accompanied by fluttering bamboo leaves, fell upon her ears, creating ripples in her heart.

…

“This Jinyun Temple has a strange aura,” Hutao said while fanning Yu Lingxi in the carriage, grumbling irritably, “Otherwise, why does the Young Miss always become odd whenever she visits?”

Yu Lingxi ignored Hutao’s muttering. Her mind was filled with thoughts of the two dead goldfish and the properties of the “Hundred Flower Kill” poison.

She simply took the silk fan from Hutao’s hand and began fanning herself, trying to focus on the matter at hand.

“Hutao, tell the steward to raise Wei Qi’s monthly allowance by two grades. Also, get some comfortable fabric to make him several sets of summer clothes.”

Yu Lingxi thought this was what Ning Yin deserved.

Hutao, however, was thinking of something else.

Since that handsome beggar had entered their household, the Young Miss had not only taken him in and given him a name but had also granted him freedom beyond that of an ordinary guard. Several times when the Young Miss had disappeared, she had eventually reappeared alongside this “Wei Qi.”

Now she was raising his wages to beyond that of a guest official, showing extreme trust…

Could it be that the Young Miss genuinely had feelings for him?

Hutao felt somewhat conflicted.

Emotionally, as the Young Miss’s maid, she would support whoever her mistress liked from the bottom of her heart.

Rationally, the Young Miss was a precious lady raised in luxury, and Hutao hoped she would marry someone of equal status who could protect her.

Although Wei Qi was handsome, he was still a servant of unknown origin who couldn’t provide the Young Miss with a sufficiently comfortable life!

If he were merely poor, it would be no great concern, but what if he had ill intentions and was deceiving the Young Miss to gain access to the General’s household power…

The more Hutao thought, the more worried she became for her mistress, hesitating whether to speak.

Upon returning to the General’s mansion, Madam Yu was inspecting the banners, umbrellas, and fans that the steward had purchased.

In just over a month, it would be Yu Huanchen’s wedding. As he was still providing disaster relief in Luozhou, these matters were handled by Madam Yu on his behalf.

Yu Lingxi came forward to help select invitation styles and silk fabrics. Madam Yu gently stroked her damp temples and asked, “Why is Suisui’s face so red? Don’t trouble yourself anymore. Mother will take care of things here, go and rest.”

Yu Lingxi put down the invitation and touched her cheek with the back of her hand, and indeed it was very hot.

She seemed to hear Ning Yin’s words again: “Always at your service.”

She knew what Ning Yin meant: tomorrow would be the final episode of poisoning.

She had been fine until this was mentioned, but now her cheeks burned, and amid the restlessness was also a trace of inexplicable fear.

She didn’t know what she was afraid of.

Unable to even eat dinner, Yu Lingxi returned to her room to rest.

She fanned herself faster and faster. After some thought, Yu Lingxi opened the door and called the maid waiting outside.

With a soft voice lacking strength, she instructed: “Go prepare the cool pavilion. I’ll sleep there tonight.”

The maid was somewhat surprised. It was only early summer, and the nights were still a bit chilly. Why would the Young Miss want to move to the cool pavilion?

However, seeing Yu Lingxi’s flushed face, truly looking overheated, the maid didn’t try to dissuade her and hurried off with a bow to make arrangements.

Yu Lingxi’s decision to move to the cool pavilion had a reason.

Her bedroom was adjacent to Yu Xinyi’s, very close together. She feared that if she lost control at night and made noise, it would disturb her sister, who might see her in an embarrassing state.

The cool pavilion was quickly prepared. Just as darkness fell, Yu Lingxi loosened her clothes and lay on the bed.

With each drop of the water clock, she could feel turbulent currents within her body, not knowing when they would breach and ravage her.

After lying down for an hour, unable to sleep, she got up and pushed open all the windows of the cool pavilion, letting the night breeze disperse the heat from her body.

Hutao knocked on the door and said: “Young Miss, the calming soup you requested is ready.”

Yu Lingxi hugged herself, rubbing her arms, and said quietly: “Leave it at the door. You needn’t attend to me tonight.”

Hutao responded with “Yes” and placed the tray down before going to the side chamber.

Yu Lingxi opened the door, took up the still-warm calming soup from the ground, and drank it all in large gulps.

A good sleep would help.

Once asleep, she would feel nothing.

She reassured herself, closed the door, returned to the bed, quietly curled up, and closed her curled eyelashes.

Yu Lingxi had a dream.

In the dream was the grand bedchamber of the Regent Prince’s mansion from her previous life. Everything appeared hazy and enchanting, with floral lanterns and red gauze curtains outlining luxurious colors.

She walked barefoot on the soft Persian carpet, approaching the man who was lazily reclining on the bed, reading a book.

With each step, her heart trembled a bit more. When she reached the bed, she raised her hand to remove her thin night clothes and slipped under the covers.

The silky bedding clung tightly to her delicate skin, absorbing the soft warmth from her body.

When the bedding was warm enough, she carefully moved over, offering the warmed spot, and stretched out her white, slender fingers to grasp the hem of the man’s clothes: “Your Highness…”

The man glanced at her with his handsome, slightly raised eyes and put down his book.

His lips moved slightly, his pale hand grabbing a corner of the blanket.

With a lazy flick, Yu Lingxi’s entire snow-white, undulating body was exposed to the air, making her shiver.

The warm nest grew cold again, but the man didn’t care. He merely half-lowered his eyes, casually scrutinizing her.

From head to toe, inch by inch, as if inspecting his territory.

Yu Lingxi tried hard to resist the urge to chatter her teeth, the corners of her eyes turning a beautiful peach red. Just as she was about to freeze, a more scorching body covered hers…

When Yu Lingxi awoke with a start, her legs were clamped around the bedding.

The previous dream and her current behavior, like seeing plums to quench her thirst, made her feel deeply ashamed.

But the heat remained intense.

The desire suppressed by the calming soup now rebounded doubly, surging forth, making her head dizzy and her limbs as soft as boiled noodles.

She knew the day of the third poisoning had finally arrived.

Neither early nor late, it had to be now.

Her consciousness blurred, her entire being swaying. Yu Lingxi couldn’t distinguish whether she was in a dream or awake.

She clutched the bedding uncomfortably, wrinkling the fine Shu embroidery. But it was useless; her body trembled uncontrollably, every inch of skin clamoring for comfort.

She thought of Ning Yin, wanting to see him, as if enchanted, wanting to follow the wild abandon of her dream.

Once suppressed, her body felt ready to explode, more painful than having flesh scraped from the bone.

Yu Lingxi reached for the cooling tea prepared on the table, but her hand had no strength, and she spilled it all.

She pressed her palm until it bled, bit the corner of the blanket, and tossed and turned for a long time before finally staggering out of bed and opening the door.