Nanyi seemed to have had a long dream. Strangely, she hadn’t dreamed of Zhang Yuehui for a long time, and his appearance had become blurred. Yet after she had abandoned the thought of searching for him, she had finally returned in her dreams to those years when she first met him.

Her mother had died two years earlier, and with no one left to care about her meals, she wandered the streets all day, picking up odd jobs. She had been observing this young master for several days already – every day he would get completely drunk, and sometimes when he couldn’t afford the wine money, he would be thrown out of the tavern, looking even more wretched than the homeless beggars on the street.

After sobering up, he would randomly pawn things from his person for money, then continue his drunken stupor.

She felt somewhat sympathetic toward this young master. After he got drunk, there were always dishonest tavern attendants who would steal loose silver from his purse, or even overcharge him for several jars of wine. Since he was unconscious anyway, he couldn’t argue about it.

She thought this money might as well be earned by her instead.

So after he got drunk again, she helped him scold off the attendants who wanted to take advantage, paid the proper wine fees, then expended great effort dragging and hauling him back to his room.

Thinking that with such extravagant spending, even if he had money, his finances couldn’t be too comfortable, she only asked him for ten wen as compensation.

Gradually, they became familiar with each other. He said he was a scholar who didn’t like studying, forced by his family to go to Kaifeng to take the imperial examinations. After leaving home, he had toured mountains and waters along the way, spent all his travel money, and was too ashamed to return home to face his family, so he had stayed in this small town.

She advised him to go home, but he said his family didn’t like him and would be delighted if he died outside.

She didn’t ask further, only felt that he too was very pitiful and lonely.

After having someone to chat about everything under the sun, he drank less wine and stayed sober for increasingly longer periods. He said he liked this small city and wanted to settle down here.

She was very happy, because she finally had a companion and was no longer alone.

People certainly need something to rely on – living alone in this world, one cannot live well.

They built two thatched huts themselves, erected a bamboo fence wall, and shared a small courtyard. He was skilled in music and rhythm – even with just some pots, bowls, ladles and basins arranged together, he could strike out pleasing melodies. She would rest her chin on her hands and lean on the table listening, letting spring flowers fall on her face.

Those were her most beloved days.

Even though she vaguely knew there were things he hadn’t told her, she wouldn’t ask. She instinctively avoided the side of him that was hidden away, intuitively feeling this would destroy their peach blossom paradise.

As long as he truly enjoyed living with her, those hidden things were all harmless.

Who doesn’t have a few secrets?

She also wouldn’t tell him that sometimes when they really couldn’t make ends meet, their food money came from her stealing.

She truly thought the days would continue like this forever. Sunlight scattered in flowing water, with gold sand and silver powder covering the mountains and fields – everywhere was today.

Nanyi could hardly distinguish between dream and reality… What night was this night? She had the illusion – could it be that those cruel years after Zhang Yuehui left were the dream? Had she just awakened from a great dream and returned to that year’s peach blossom paradise?

Then a basin of cold water splashed her awake harshly. She shivered and opened her eyes, the swaying candlelight stabbing her eyes painfully.

A strange and gloomy dungeon, surrounded by the stench of bloody rotting meat that made one want to vomit. Different torture instruments were arranged on the walls, sinister and terrifying.

Her limbs were all bound and tied to a rack. Nanyi fearfully lifted her head to face a strange face.

“Who are you?”

“Young Madam, our master wants to ask you about some things. If you cooperate and confess truthfully, naturally you won’t have to suffer.” Luo Ci spoke very politely.

Nanyi felt as if she had fallen into an abyss. This person knew her identity yet had captured her like this… what did they want? Who was this master he spoke of? This was a scenario she had never envisioned. Unknown fear gradually gnawed at her sanity, but she tried her best to delay for a bit of time, giving herself room to organize her thoughts.

“Ask about what?” She pretended to be confused, very cooperative.

“The day before the Lantern Festival, Madam suddenly fell seriously ill and went to the Xie family’s estate outside the city. Why did she then appear in Tiger Kneel Mountain?”

Nanyi stared at this person. She naturally knew what he wanted to ask. She rapidly considered what attitude she should use to respond. Should she continue being a fence-sitter like before?

She hesitated. She didn’t want to betray the Yucheng Army, nor did she want to betray Song Muchuan.

She found an excuse to muddle through: “I didn’t want to remain a widow in the Xie household, so I thought of a way to escape and hide in the mountains.”

“Who was helping you?”

“No one was helping me. I ran away myself.”

“Then how did you encounter the Yucheng Army?”

“What Yucheng Army? I don’t know.”

“It seems Madam is unwilling to tell the truth,” Luo Ci sighed. “Then we can only see how stubborn Madam can be.”

Luo Ci’s gesture fell, and he stepped back.

The torturer expressionlessly dipped the whip in water and cracked it in the air, producing a sharp whistling sound.

She wasn’t without experience being beaten – she had lived through rough skin and coarse flesh since childhood, and she was very clear about what she was about to face. But people always forget their pain once the scars heal. She had been too long without experiencing this kind of real and primitive physical suffering. When the whip struck, her whole body instantly tensed, and she sharply drew in a breath.

The air seemed to contain cold sharp knives, scraping the flesh from her nasal cavity to her chest.

In an instant, she seemed to return to those former days of insufficient clothing, where stealing a meal meant getting a beating.

Even she thought she would be defeated by the pain, unable to resist kneeling and begging for mercy. But ever since putting on human skin, learning etiquette, and beginning to know self-respect, what surged up more after the pain was a sense of shame and anger.

Did they think this would make her bow her head? She was no longer that little thief from before.

What she could endure now was far more than they imagined!

This anger quickly spread through her body, becoming a force that supported her broken body. She had already died once – it was merely dying again.

They could never expect to get a single piece of information from her mouth.

Her face was deathly pale, veins at her temples throbbing prominently, blood-red color surging in her eyes. She glared at Luo Ci and bit out stubbornly: “I am the Young Madam of the Xie family! You torture me with private punishment without distinguishing right from wrong – is there no law?!”

“The Young Madam of the Xie family has already fled with no trace to be found. Who would know you are here?”

Luo Ci tried to break down her defenses, telling her no one would come to rescue her. But he saw not a trace of fear in her eyes. Obviously she could still glare defiantly and resist now, gritting her teeth and enduring, which showed she was far from collapse.

Luo Ci glanced at the torturer, signaling to continue.

Whip after whip fell on her flesh. The woman’s cries of pain were unending. Gradually, her voice became hoarse and weakened bit by bit.

Luo Ci was Zhang Yuehui’s most capable subordinate. Zhang Yuehui was an elegant person who disliked this kind of dirty work, so these matters were all handled by Luo Ci. People interrogated under Luo Ci’s hands numbered in the hundreds if not thousands. Intelligence had to be gathered not only from wall cracks but also squeezed out of flesh and blood.

From his experience, women were the least able to withstand pain. Beaten to only half a breath remaining, she should give in now, right?

He ordered someone to press Nanyi into water, forcibly reviving her.

Nanyi gasped heavily, water dripping down from her temples, making it even more painful to open her eyes.

“Madam, since you don’t like this question, why don’t we chat about something else? For instance, how did you join the Torch Bureau?”

Nanyi weakly answered: “I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

“Xie Queshan, Master Xie – isn’t he your contact person?”

After a few seconds of silence, Nanyi struggled to lift her eyes. Luo Ci clearly saw a trace of confusion in them.

Nanyi had thought he would ask about Song Muchuan, but unexpectedly he asked about Xie Queshan.

She even breathed a sigh of relief. Telling the truth was easier than lying – how could Xie Queshan possibly be her contact person?

“Master Xie… he is my deceased husband’s younger brother.”

Luo Ci’s voice suddenly rose, unusually stern: “You both disappeared from Li Du Mansion on the same day, then he returned to the city while you went to rescue the Yucheng Army. Clearly you two were secretly collaborating!”

“That was him trying to kill me. I wounded him and barely escaped with my life!” She struggled to maintain her breath, hoarsely shouting back.

“Why would he want to kill you?”

“A widow fleeing… how could a prestigious family tolerate it? He wanted to kill me as early as his elder brother’s burial day, just never had the opportunity.”

Half truth, half lies – Nanyi could only answer this way. She didn’t know what stance the person before her held, but if traced back to Xie Hengzai’s funeral day, it would inevitably involve Prince Ling’an entering the city.

Worst of all, she still knew where Prince Ling’an was hiding. If she let something slip here, wouldn’t these people skin and debone her inch by inch to torture this information out of her?

She had to keep it secret to the death – she had nothing to do with these matters.

“Lies! As soon as you heard news of his death, you rushed to Li Du Mansion regardless of everything. What exactly is the relationship between you two?”

The relationship between them? How could anyone suspect their relationship?

Apart from that insignificant bit of camaraderie, what else was there between them? He still wanted to kill her. They were enemies.

These people’s investigation direction was fundamentally wrong.

But suddenly, Nanyi caught a trace of something unusual. How did they know she went to Li Du Mansion because of news of Xie Queshan’s death?

Could his death be just a trap?

Nanyi suddenly lifted her head. Her exhausted body instantly burst forth with fierce eyes: “So Xie Queshan isn’t dead?”

Luo Ci was startled. He clearly felt this gaze contained intense hatred.

“Master Xie is naturally still alive and well. Why are you so concerned about his life and death?”

Nanyi laughed, her facial expression becoming somewhat sinister – she hadn’t gotten to see his death, but had gotten herself trapped instead. Once again, she was the fool.

Good, very good indeed.

She was suffering here, but how could someone like him be safe and sound, living a long life?!

She was so angry she wanted to go mad. She wanted to drag him down to hell with her, just as he had once done to her.

“I hate him! Because I only wanted to live, yet he used his power and abilities that put him above me to kill me… wanting to see one’s enemy die, isn’t that perfectly normal?”

Luo Ci was shocked by these words.

The mystery in his heart grew larger and larger. He could feel that at this moment she wasn’t lying. She hadn’t come to Li Du Mansion out of concern for Xie Queshan… it seemed she really came wanting revenge.

The relationship between her and Xie Queshan didn’t seem to be what his master had guessed. What was the truth?

Luo Ci furrowed his brow tightly. Could this woman be too good at acting?

It had to be so – he had underestimated this woman.

He raised his eyes toward the torturer, signaling to apply severe torture.