Compared to Concubine Fang’s shocked and incredulous expression, Ren Yaoqi’s face was calm. She walked to within five steps of Concubine Fang and stopped.

Even at this point, Concubine Fang hadn’t removed the veil from her face, and her hair and clothes were still meticulously arranged, as if she didn’t want people to see her in a disheveled state.

“Was all of this arranged by you?” Concubine Fang stared fixedly at Ren Yaoqi and said, “Did you collude with them to have me captured?”

Ren Yaoqi ignored the accusation in her words and said in a calm tone, “What else do you want to confess?”

Hearing this, a flash of crazy malice appeared in Concubine Fang’s eyes. She said through gritted teeth, word by word, “I never expected that I misjudged you. A truly biting… mmph…”

Before Concubine Fang could finish her curse, she suddenly bent over and covered her lips. Crimson blood seeped through her veil. She coughed a few times, pulled off her veil, and spat two front teeth and a peanut mixed with bloody saliva into her palm.

Ren Yaoqi turned back to look – the door was still open, but there was no one there.

Concubine Fang moaned a few times and looked up toward the door in terror. Someone had just used a peanut to knock out her two front teeth.

Ren Yaoqi turned back around, wondering in her heart who had just made that move.

Now that Concubine Fang had removed her veil, her mouth full of blood, and the crisscrossing scars on her face made her look truly miserable and extremely disheveled.

Concubine Fang glared at Ren Yaoqi with a mixture of anger and fear, but no longer dared to open her mouth to curse.

After a long while, she gave a bitter laugh: “Good! Very good! I underestimated you! I’m not as skilled as you!”

With two front teeth missing, Concubine Fang’s speech had a whistling sound that was somewhat comical, but Ren Yaoqi didn’t laugh. She just looked at the disheveled Concubine Fang with complex emotions.

Concubine Fang looked up at Ren Yaoqi again: “When did you start plotting? I didn’t notice at all! Or was your previous show of trust in me just an act? You, like Ren Yaohua, hate me so much you wish I were dead, don’t you?”

Ren Yaoqi was silent for a long time before speaking in a flat tone: “When my mother and sister were sent to the estate by you, I fell ill. During that time, I had a dream, a very long dream.”

Concubine Fang looked at Ren Yaoqi mockingly.

Ren Yaoqi ignored this and continued in the same flat tone: “That dream showed me too many tragedies that could have been avoided. So when I woke up one day, I examined myself and suddenly realized I had unknowingly done so many wrong things.”

Concubine Fang had swallowed several mouthfuls of blood earlier, and her throat was uncomfortable. After coughing several times, she said, “It seems your ending in that dream wasn’t good.”

Hearing this, Ren Yaoqi thought about it, then smiled slightly and shook her head: “Whether it’s good or not depends on what one seeks. My ending wasn’t necessarily bad, but yours wasn’t necessarily good either.”

Ren Yaoqi had thought about this later. Her ending in her previous life wasn’t that bad. After escaping from Eunuch Lu’s hands, Master Pei had treated her very well. Although nominally she was his concubine, from beginning to end, he had treated her as a student, teaching her various knowledge personally and never crossing any lines.

As for Concubine Fang, even though she had contributed to the court and finally took refuge with her brother, she had lost her husband’s family. Ren Yaoying and Ren Yihong had lost their paternal clan and were merely guests in the Fang family. Ren Yaoqi didn’t believe she would live much better than herself.

The reason Ren Yaoqi hated Concubine Fang wasn’t because of how she had harmed her in the previous life, but because of what happened to her parents and sisters.

But Ren Yaoqi didn’t plan to explain these details to Concubine Fang.

Concubine Fang stared at Ren Yaoqi with a cold smile. Now that she thought about how today’s outcome was caused by Ren Yaoqi playing the pig to eat the tiger and secretly plotting, she wanted to devour her flesh. She touched the dagger she had been keeping close to her body. If possible, she wanted to slash Ren Yaoqi’s face a dozen or twenty times.

But the peanut that had just knocked out her two front teeth told her that someone was watching them from the shadows. If she dared to make a move, the person in hiding would kill her without hesitation. So even though Concubine Fang had a weapon and felt she could easily subdue a young girl, she didn’t dare act rashly.

Her mouth was numb with pain. She thought that these people seemed to value Ren Yaoqi quite highly. If she used the dagger to take her hostage, what were her chances of escaping?

If this were Wanfu Lane, then as long as she could escape through the door and call for help, these people definitely wouldn’t dare chase her openly.

Ren Yaoqi saw her shifty gaze and knew she wasn’t thinking anything good, but somehow she wasn’t afraid. Perhaps it was the peanut that knocked out Concubine Fang’s teeth that gave Ren Yaoqi a sense of security, or perhaps it was because she knew who was standing behind her.

Since Xiao Jingxi had allowed her to enter the room alone to see Concubine Fang, he must have made arrangements.

Concubine Fang didn’t know what Ren Yaoqi was thinking. She assumed Ren Yaoqi had come to see her because the young girl wanted to show off in front of her. While calculating in her mind, she said, “Since I’m now in your hands, let me die knowing the truth. Who exactly is behind you? What have you been doing these past few years?”

Ren Yaoqi looked at Concubine Fang without speaking. She had no need to be led by Concubine Fang’s topics.

Looking at Ren Yaoqi’s expression, Concubine Fang suddenly remembered something. She said suspiciously, “Could it be that you were also behind what happened between Lin Shi and me?”

When Concubine Fang said this, she was just trying to get Ren Yaoqi to talk so she could find a weakness. She didn’t believe Ren Yaoqi had this capability. But seeing the calm, unruffled expression on Ren Yaoqi’s face, an inexplicable fear rose in her heart.

If all these things were step-by-step designs by Ren Yaoqi that ultimately led to mutual destruction between her and Lin Shi, then her scheming was far too deep.

Concubine Fang’s gaze toward Ren Yaoqi changed from suspicion to the pale terror of seeing a ghost: “It was you? How is this possible?”

Originally, she and Lin Shi had become enemies because Lin Shi’s mother and daughter had pushed Ren Yaoying into the latrine, causing great embarrassment. Lin Shi’s mother and daughter had targeted Ren Yaoyu because the witchcraft incident had caused Ren Yaoyu to fall out of favor with Old Madam Ren. But she had originally planned to frame Ren Yaohua, yet in the end, Ren Yaohua was completely unharmed. She had thought it was because Ren Yaohua or Li Shi had grown wise.

“You helped Ren Yaohua back then and made Lin Shi’s mother and daughter my enemies? The last incident with Nanny Gui being exposed was also your doing?” As Concubine Fang spoke, she staggered to her feet, then unexpectedly lunged fiercely at Ren Yaoqi.

Concubine Fang had calculated well. She had just chosen her angle to use Ren Yaoqi’s body to shield herself, and her lunging motion was very quick. Even if someone outside was watching them, they couldn’t hurt her past Ren Yaoqi. Ren Yaoqi would become her human shield.

Through her earlier conversation with Min Wenqing, Concubine Fang had realized that the other party wouldn’t let her go. With Ren Yaoqi hating her so much, she would be secretly killed by them. So she wanted to fight desperately, taking Ren Yaoqi hostage to see if she could escape.

If she couldn’t escape, dragging Ren Yaoqi down with her wouldn’t be bad either.

Ren Yaoqi had been on guard against Concubine Fang. When she lunged toward her, she reacted quickly and retreated rapidly.

But at the same time, Concubine Fang moved and Ren Yaoqi retreated, someone moved even faster than both of them. Before Concubine Fang could touch Ren Yaoqi, her body flew sideways at a very strange angle with a “thud,” her temple hitting heavily against a square table, then sliding down the table leg to the ground.

Concubine Fang was in such pain that her vision went black, but she couldn’t lose consciousness. Blood from her head flowed down past her eyes, dyeing her vision red and blurry. Concubine Fang felt extreme pain, but didn’t know where she was injured.

She sensed a man walking in from outside, walking straight to Ren Yaoqi, and then a very pleasant, unfamiliar voice sounded in the room: “Did she hurt you?”

Concubine Fang didn’t hear how Ren Yaoqi answered. She tried hard to blink, wanting to see clearly who this man was. She had a premonition that the person who could truly control her fate had appeared.

But the man didn’t even glance at her, only instructing someone somewhere: “Take her away first. Don’t dirty the place.”

Someone walked in from outside, bowed, and said, “Yes, Young Master!”

When the person removed Concubine Fang’s dagger and grabbed her arm to take her out, she finally realized who this so-called “Young Master” was.

“Xiao… are you Second Young Master Xiao?” Concubine Fang struggled and murmured.

Xiao Jingxi didn’t look at her. He was looking down at Ren Yaoqi, wanting to see if she had been hurt anywhere.

Concubine Fang’s eyes suddenly lit up. The person who had seemed near death just moments ago suddenly came alive, struggling violently while calling toward Xiao Jingxi: “Second Young Master Xiao, save me, save me! I can help you! My brother Fang Yacun has already gained the trust of the Empress Dowager’s people. I can ask him to work for you.”

One had to say Concubine Fang had some quick wit. At least at this moment, she still knew what method to use to move Xiao Jingxi to save herself.

Xiao Jingxi waved his hand, and Tonghe, who was about to drag Concubine Fang out, stopped and stood to one side holding her.

Xiao Jingxi didn’t turn around, only lowered his head and said gently to Ren Yaoqi: “You go out and wait for me. Leave this to me, all right?”