The wound was suddenly compressed, making the pain even more tormenting. Suzhen gritted her teeth and endured, sweat dripping into her eyes. Under the painful stinging, she couldn’t help squirming slightly in his embrace, saying softly: “It hurts…”

But he held her even tighter, almost kneading her into his bones and flesh.

“If you like me, then tell me—where did you see me five years ago, and why did you like me?”

Suzhen jolted: “…”

“Li Huaisu, oh no, that’s not really your name… Pain can confuse people, but it can also awaken them. Since you know pain, you should think carefully about why I didn’t threaten you with the people from the Ministry of Justice, but chose to ask you directly. Yet you have no conscience.”

Cold laughter fell beside her ear. Suzhen was so frightened her teeth chattered again, but his strong arm had already relaxed, placing her back on the bed. He pulled the brocade quilt over her lower body and walked away.

Through the half-drawn gauze curtains, she saw him go to the table to get something, then pace back.

When he sat on the bed’s edge again, his hands held a tray with gauze, tweezers, medicine bottles… everything complete.

She looked at his eyes in terror. The intimidating gloom in his eyes had vanished, and wrinkles even appeared at the corners of his eyes as if he were smiling, but there wasn’t a trace of warmth in his gaze.

This was even more frightening than before.

If earlier he had clearly told her he might kill her, now she had no idea what he was thinking.

Father had said the most terrifying thing wasn’t knowing how bad someone was or that they were plotting against you, but not knowing at all who around you wanted your life. Would he?

She had no bargaining chips to negotiate with him. Before the case was resolved, she absolutely couldn’t tell him she was a Feng family survivor. If the imperial edict to execute the Feng family had indeed been issued by him, her only fate was death. Perhaps he would grant her an intact corpse out of past appreciation, but when the nest is overturned, how can any eggs remain whole? What about Leng Xue? Even Wu Qing and the others might be innocently implicated.

She wanted to preserve her life. Instinctively, she had told him a monstrous lie to deceive him. Now her only hope lay in his affection for her.

But he had seen through it and even found her clumsiness distasteful, no longer wanting to play along, directly exposing her.

At this moment, his lips were coldly pressed into a line. His hand reached out, placing the tray on the quilt over her knees, and with slight force, he pulled her undergarment slightly open.

Suzhen’s hands desperately gripped the bed sheets on both sides, her heart beating as if it would burst from her chest, her face burning as if blood would drip from it.

Lian Yu’s eyes swept sideways over her hands, sneering: “Since you like me, and I’m a normal man, we’ll eventually… what does this matter?”

Suzhen was both shocked and embarrassed. Under her stare, Lian Yu moved closer, slightly lifting her hands and completely removing the half-open undergarment.

Suzhen bit her lip tightly, feeling the coolness on her body—her entire upper body was exposed to his view.

She understood what he was going to do…

The chest binding that had been removed during earlier treatment had already been replaced with layers of wound dressings. She looked down, staring deadly at his clean white fingers moving around her chest. His fingertips occasionally touched her skin, making her body tremble constantly. Finally, when the blood-stained cloth strips fell onto the cotton quilt and her snow-white breast and the hideous wound above it were completely revealed before his eyes without concealment, his breathing roughened. Even though she had decided to submit completely, scalding tears still fell silently onto the hand that suddenly cupped her breast.

That hand trembled as if burned and quickly withdrew.

“Liking someone yet being so disgusted—that must be difficult.”

Lian Yu’s lips curved as he stared at her with a cold smile, then swept his sleeves and left through the curtains, slamming the door heavily.

Wasn’t he going to humiliate her? Why did he stop in the end…

Suzhen stared at the doorway in a daze for a long while, then proceeded to treat her wound herself. She was quite knowledgeable about medicine and pharmacology, pouring some medicinal powder on her wound and wrapping it with gauze herself. Her movements were practiced, but this exertion ultimately affected her injury, and she couldn’t help crying out softly in pain.

In her embarrassed state, someone pushed the door open—it was White Tiger.

She was startled: “Tiger…”

White Tiger, dressed smartly, glanced at her indifferently, quickly took the scattered gauze from her body, efficiently wrapped and tied it properly before saying: “The medicine is still brewing. When it’s ready, this servant will bring it to you. This servant will go out first and guard outside. The master has ordered that you may call this servant anytime if needed.”

The address “sir” was obviously sarcastic. Suzhen smiled self-deprecatingly but still gratefully said: “Tiger, thank you.”

White Tiger said coldly: “Tiger is what our master calls me. You should call this servant White Tiger instead.”

Suzhen understood. White Tiger had been ordered to guard outside all along—she might have heard everything between her and Lian Yu just now.

Even she thought herself devious, let alone White Tiger.

She sighed slightly. White Tiger’s hostility toward her was deep. After tidying the medical supplies on the bed, she left almost immediately.

Suzhen lay half-reclined on the bed, smiling bitterly.

Zhuangzi’s butterfly dream—they say life is like a dream. How wonderful it would be if this were really a dream.

She and Lian Yu were enemies, yet he said he liked her. Now she had laughably said she liked him too. If everything could start over, she would rather have died with the Feng family. For someone like her to talk about revenge was truly laughable—rescuing from execution grounds, trying Fengji, fighting the Prime Minister, even having feelings of respect and affection for Lian Yu.

Now, how could she make Lian Yu spare her and still keep her by his side?

Her heart was bitter and melancholy. In her agitation, regardless of her wound, she let out a long whistle.

The wound ached sharply, but this suddenly reminded her of a key point.

Lian Yu had just mentioned five years ago and asked if her approach and kindness were deliberate.

What exactly happened five years ago? Had she really seen him?

But she had absolutely no memory of him. If she had seen him, such a man, she could never have forgotten. She frowned tightly, thinking hard.

Well, five years ago, she had gone on a long journey with her brother and Leng Xue.

Green mountains and clear waters, the so-called jianghu—during that journey, she had indeed met many people, but there weren’t many she had been kind to… Could it be him?!

Thinking of this, she was greatly alarmed. Covering her chest, she gritted her teeth and got up, stumbling out.