The journey from the estate to the capital took two days at the fastest, three at most. Wang Yushi advocated frugality and didn’t use the soft sedan chair arranged by Qian Wanli, only ordering two horse carriages. Of Jiang Ruan’s three trunks, two had already been sold for banknotes, leaving one trunk of books to be loaded onto the carriage, saving considerable space.

The accompanying maids were Bai Zhi and Lian Qiao, and Lu Zhu was also brought along. Before departure, Lu Zhu had actively requested to serve Jiang Ruan. Originally, Jiang Ruan had also planned to bring Xiao Yuan along—these two girls were clever and intelligent, rarely bold. But Xiao Yuan was a household-born servant who was unwilling to leave her parents and politely declined Jiang Ruan’s kind offer. Jiang Ruan didn’t force her and left a sum of silver for her as repayment for her assistance.

Lu Zhu was a maid bought from outside. After her parents died, she was sold to human traffickers by relatives. Having traveled north and south and seen many people, she was very clever. After brief interaction, Bai Zhi and Lian Qiao had already become quite close to her.

Because there were female family members like Jiang Ruan, Qian Wanli specially arranged for Li Mi and another officer to escort Jiang Ruan back to the capital to please Wang Yushi. The journey was peaceful. Lu Zhu was lively, telling stories of the strange things she had seen during her days traveling north and south with the human traffickers. Perhaps naturally optimistic, everything she said was full of interest, showing no trace of dejection. Only she herself knew the bitterness within. Bai Zhi and Lian Qiao naturally understood this too. One was gentle, the other outgoing, and the three chattered away merrily. Jiang Ruan leaned against the carriage wall, holding a book, living quite contentedly.

Most of the two-day journey had passed. After tonight’s rest, they might reach the capital by noon tomorrow.

Li Mi and the other officer, Xiao Ma, followed Wang Yushi in another carriage. As evening fell, Li Mi learned there was a temple ahead. Seeing wilderness all around and finding an inn would be difficult, he asked Jiang Ruan’s opinion and decided to stay overnight.

The temple was quite large but not very popular with worshippers. Perhaps because it was located deep in the wilderness, very few people came to burn incense, and there weren’t many monks coming and going either.

Bai Zhi and Lian Qiao hadn’t entered a temple in a long time. When Zhao Mei was still alive, she often brought Jiang Ruan to Putuo Temple to pray for blessings. After Zhao Mei’s death, when Jiang Ruan went to the estate, life became increasingly harsh. She had neither time nor money—incense money was still money, and asking Buddha for protection required payment.

Lu Zhu was not unfamiliar with temples. While Bai Zhi and Lian Qiao were tidying the room, she had already circled the entire temple at Jiang Ruan’s instruction and brought back some vegetarian dishes. While urging Jiang Ruan to eat while hot, she described the temple’s layout in detail.

Night had fallen. Wang Yushi and the three men were arranged to stay on the other side of the temple since they were male. Li Mi hesitated somewhat, but thought that a young lady’s reputation was ultimately important, and though the temple was spacious, if anything happened, help could arrive in time.

Lian Qiao trimmed the overgrown wick in the oil lamp with scissors, making the light brighter. Jiang Ruan put down her book and rubbed her temples.

“Miss, it’s so late. Shouldn’t you rest?” Bai Zhi asked. On previous days at this time, Jiang Ruan would already be sleeping, but today she was very alert, showing no intention of going to bed.

“No rush. There’s still a good show tonight.” Jiang Ruan smiled slightly. She remembered asking Li Mi in the carriage earlier: “Sir, is this temple on the necessary route back to the capital?”

“Yes,” Li Mi had answered: “And within dozens of miles, this is the only temple.”

Returning to her thoughts, she heard Lian Qiao ask curiously: “What good show?”

“Lu Zhu,” Jiang Ruan called.

Lu Zhu pushed the door open and entered, smiling: “Everything’s ready, Miss.”

In the deep winter night, darkness poured down like ink, and the temple fell into deathly silence, with only the sobbing sound of bitter wind.

All lights had been extinguished, leaving only pale moonlight from a crescent moon reflecting on the snow. Suddenly, thick dark clouds drifted over, blocking that weak moonlight completely. Between heaven and earth, only darkness remained.

In the heavy darkness, several sneaky figures suddenly appeared in the courtyard. After confirming something among several rooms, they filed into one of them.

The courtyard was completely silent, with only the faint sound of bells ringing once or twice.

The girl in the darkness opened her eyes, a trace of coldness flashing in them. She smiled slightly and whispered: “Lian Qiao, Bai Zhi.”

Both maids nodded, got up, and pushed open the door to walk outside.

Jiang Ruan stood in the room. Everything in the neighboring room had been arranged by her. She had never slept in that room, hiding in this adjacent room for so long, finally catching the turtle in the jar.

In her previous life when returning to the residence, she had also stayed in such a temple. That memory was too vague—she only remembered that the monks and abbot in that temple, whether intentionally making things difficult or not, provided extremely harsh vegetarian food and sleeping quarters. She didn’t understand why at the time, but thinking about it now, it should have been Xia Yan and her daughter’s handiwork. It was just that they still needed her as a chess piece to enter the palace then, so they only made things difficult briefly before letting her go. Now that she had transformed and was returning to the Jiang residence so boldly with the status of a legitimate daughter, Xia Yan and Jiang Susu probably wouldn’t be too pleased.

On this last day, they would definitely try to be a roadblock on her way back to the residence. Only this time, what they wanted was her life!

The temple had few worshippers. Having taken Xia Yan’s silver to do her bidding, the “few” monks remaining here “considerately” separated male and female quarters thinking of Jiang Ruan’s reputation. Once something happened, she would have no one to turn to for help and could only bear it herself!

But now, she was originally an evil ghost returning from hell—it was always her turn to claim lives!

Light bell sounds came from the neighboring room—that was the signal. Very good. She had placed large amounts of sleeping smoke in the room, and Lu Zhu had taken the antidote in advance. Once the people Xia Yan sent entered the room, they would only be at others’ mercy. Tomorrow morning, she would throw these people’s corpses before the temple’s Buddha statue. Li Mi was an officer and would naturally investigate thoroughly. As for how the abbot would explain, let them figure out their own story.

Jiang Ruan straightened her skirt, preparing to push open the door to check the neighboring room. Just as she reached the door, it was suddenly pushed open and a figure flashed in from outside. Jiang Ruan was startled and quickly stepped back several paces. The other person also seemed not to expect anyone in the room, their movement slightly hesitating. In that brief moment, Jiang Ruan retreated too quickly and accidentally stepped on her oversized skirt hem, leaning backward and about to fall.

The other person moved quickly too. Seeing her about to fall, they instinctively reached out to embrace her waist. In an instant, their bodies were pressed very close together. Jiang Ruan’s face touched the other person’s cold black scaled-pattern fabric. She froze. In that instant, the dark clouds retreated and moonlight streamed through the latticed window. Jiang Ruan looked up and met a pair of eyes like cold stars.