When Lang Jiuchuan slipped quietly back into the residence, she was caught red-handed by a few little scoundrels from the household. The half-grown children, each clutching a ball of snow, stared blankly as she dropped from the sky.

Jiangche: “Well, well — what’s that expression, caught in the act?”

Lang Jiuchuan climbed up from the ground without a flicker on her face, looked at the group of boys, and said, “You saw nothing.”

Lang Caizhao and the others: “!”

Watching her drop that one line and saunter away with perfect composure, the group exchanged glances. Lang Caizhao said, “Do you think she takes us for fools? Why else would she say something like that?”

Everyone: You make a fair point!

Lang Caizhao hurled her snowball in Lang Jiuchuan’s direction. “Infuriating — who does this country bumpkin think she is, acting so righteous? And she’s gone and caused trouble again.”

“Come on, let’s go find her.”

And so, under the accusations and complaints of the little scoundrels, Lang Jiuchuan learned that the Qi family had marched over to make demands — and she rushed to the front flower hall, arriving just in time to catch the tail end of Lady Zhang’s words.

“Upbringing I have plenty of, but are you worthy of me showing it to people like you?”

Lang Jiuchuan walked in, her haughty and disdainful bearing no less formidable than Cui Shi’s had been moments ago.

Lady Zhang and the others hadn’t expected this Lang Ninth Young Lady to truly be so delicate and frail — her complexion pale and greenish, her frame thin and gaunt, so weak she looked as though she might not last much longer.

The very picture of a beauty with a short fate.

“You are Lang Ninth Young Lady? You really are as crude and vicious as our Fourth Sister described.” Lady Zhang let out a contemptuous snort.

Lang Jiuchuan said, “However crude and vicious I may be, it is nothing compared to your Fourth Sister. She rode her horse recklessly down the street, injuring people, and nearly startled my carriage. The horse, possessing some sense, veered away — and ran straight into her own carriage instead. I had no desire to pursue the matter with her, yet she blocked my path and tried to hold me accountable. The Guiyang County Princess fancies herself the supreme authority here. She was clearly in the wrong, yet she seeks to pin the blame on a commoner — does she think she can simply demand accountability from anyone she pleases?”

Cui Shi and Wu Shi, hearing this for the first time, both furrowed their brows. So that was how it had happened?

Lady Zhang’s expression cycled through several rapid changes, left thoroughly speechless.

“What a sharp tongue on Lang Ninth Young Lady — no wonder our County Princess was frightened into illness by you—”

Lang Jiuchuan let out a cold laugh and looked at the maidservants standing behind Lady Zhang. “Your County Princess was clearly the one who rode recklessly and caused injury. Rather than reflecting on yourselves, you come here to stir up trouble and force me out to face you. I am the one who was frightened.”

As she spoke, the energy seemed to drain from her. In an instant, the color drained from her face, turning ashen as gold paper — her body swaying as though it might collapse at any moment. She pressed a hand to her chest, breathing in short, labored gasps. She looked even worse than she had a moment ago, as though she might stop breathing entirely.

Wu Shi was startled. She crossed the distance in two large strides and caught her. “Ninth Sister, are you all right?”

Cui Shi’s expression changed as well, her fingers tightening on the armrest.

“Don’t you dare bully our residence too far — do you think the Marquis residence has no one to stand up for it?” Wu Shi glared at Lady Zhang and her companions.

Lady Zhang stuttered, “I — we haven’t done anything. Don’t try to pin this on us. She’s clearly faking.”

“Then you go ahead and fake it for me to see. Our Ninth Sister has a frail constitution — the physician said she must be carefully nurtured.”

Lady Zhang was at a loss, glancing toward Liao Nanny. What do we do?

She truly didn’t look like she was faking — she looked like she was genuinely on her last breath. And that complexion — it had changed in an instant, right before their eyes. It was undeniably real.

If Lang Jiu actually died, would they become the culprits who had come to the Marquis residence and hounded one of its young ladies to death?

Even Liao Nanny felt a moment of panic, forcing a composed expression. “What remarkable dramatic talent the Ninth Young Lady has — she was perfectly vigorous just moments ago—”

Lang Jiuchuan let out a moan, her eyes rolled back, and she went limp, collapsing softly into Wu Shi’s arms, her face like gold paper.

Jiangche, watching from outside, was dumbfounded. Even it hadn’t known this woman had this trick in her arsenal. What an absolute drama queen!

“Ninth Sister!” Wu Shi cried out in alarm and looked toward her senior maidservant, Nong Mo. “Quickly, go and summon Physician Chen!”

Cui Shi came down from her seat. At the sight of Lang Jiuchuan lying pale and lifeless in Wu Shi’s arms, her chest tightened. Her nails dug deep into her palm — as though some painful memory had surfaced — and her eyes turned to ice as they fixed on Lady Zhang and the others.

Lady Zhang’s face went pale.

The woman’s gaze looked ready to cut someone down.

“Second Madam, the First Madam of the Gong Family has sent you a reply.” Mo Lan walked in from outside at that moment, carrying a letter, its cover bearing the Gong Family’s distinctive clan emblem — something like a talisman pattern, yet with the character for “Gong” woven within it, impossible to forge.

The clan emblem was rendered in purple-gold, highly conspicuous. Lady Zhang and the others all caught a glimpse of it as Mo Lan passed by.

Each of the great Xuan clans had their own distinctive emblem, and Lady Zhang’s group recognized them all — they would not have mistaken the Gong Family’s mark. And precisely because they had recognized it clearly, their expressions grew even more unpleasant.

This widowed woman of the Lang Family actually had a personal acquaintance with the First Madam of the Gong Family!

Cui Shi did not even glance at the letter. She coldly instructed the servants to show the guests out.

Lady Zhang and her companions departed in some disarray. They had arrived with their chins in the air; they left with their tails between their legs. If word of this got out, they would be laughed at until their faces turned yellow.

As they were leaving the front courtyard, Physician Chen came hurrying toward them with a medicine chest on his back, following a maidservant, muttering as he went: “This old physician has said it — Ninth Young Lady’s constitution must be tended with the utmost care; she absolutely cannot be provoked to anger—”

He caught sight of the strangers and fell silent.

A young lady’s health was not to be spoken of carelessly in front of outsiders — it could harm her marriage prospects.

Lady Zhang’s heart sank at the sight. Surely that short-lived wretch hadn’t actually been driven to some ill consequence by them?

Yet from the time they had met to the time they were leaving, only a few words had been exchanged. If they were to be saddled with such a charge, that would be intolerably unjust.

This kind of injustice — it had not visited her since her own eldest sister-in-law had become one of the Xuan clan’s people. To encounter it now, after so long — the gap was not a small one.

Inside, Physician Chen was brought before Lang Jiuchuan. One look at her complexion and the near-imperceptible rise and fall of her breathing gave him a fright.

Was she not dying?

“Physician Chen, please examine Ninth Sister quickly — she suddenly became like this.” Wu Shi was visibly anxious.

Physician Chen quickly retrieved his pulse pillow and set it on the small side table.

Jiangche, watching the scene, spoke up: “All right, the Qi family has left. There’s no one else here. You can stop pretending.”

As it turned out, Lang Jiuchuan’s brow furrowed, as though she was suppressing something, and she said, “I’m not pretending.”

“?”

The hand tucked in her sleeve formed a hand seal. “Someone is performing a Soul-Binding Curse on me.”

Jiangche was startled. It immediately retreated into its spiritual platform to look — and sure enough, her soul showed signs of being dragged away from her body.

Alarm rose within it — followed swiftly by a spark of delight.

If she left her body, then only it would remain in the spiritual platform. This physical form — it would belong entirely to it.

Jiangche’s tiger eyes gleamed and flickered, calculating the possibility.

Lang Jiuchuan’s eyes were half-open, their expression unreadable, as though she were waiting for something.

She gripped her Panguan brush — holding off the unknown threat with one hand, while keeping her guard up against the ungrateful Jiangche with the other.

The struggle took its toll. Her soul, which had only just steadied somewhat, weakened once more. Jiangche watched it happen and felt conflicted.

Dying again and again — this is beginning to seem a bit too tragic.

Jiangche thought of the moments the two of them had spent together, and of how she had exhausted herself for the sake of this body — the sight of her bent over her work drawing talismans, how much effort she had poured into all of it.

Fine. I am the king of all beasts. I am not the sort of vile and shameless little tiger to do such a thing!

Jiangche pounced on Lang Jiuchuan’s soul.

Lang Jiuchuan’s eyes sharpened, and her hand moved — then relaxed — because Jiangche’s spiritual power was already wrapping around her.

The ghost of a smile entered her eyes. She said to Wu Shi: “I need to return to my courtyard immediately.”