“Then why are you here?”

Leng Xue asked in return, then glanced at Little Zhou: “You have even more hidden motives.”

Little Zhou laughed heartily: “Aren’t you the same? We might as well be together. Originally, our Huaisu might not be a good person either – otherwise, why would there be so many bad people around her?”

“If you dare slander her one more time, don’t blame me for being impolite, Zhu Little Zhou!” Leng Xue flicked his wrist, and all the golden needles between his fingers embedded deep into the ground.

Little Zhou finally changed his usual demeanor, putting away all his smiles and saying softly: “Leng Xue, Huaisu said she was going to find you, but now you appear here alone – what does that mean? I thought you were a loyal dog, but unfortunately, you seem no different from Wuqing. Just better at pretending.”

His words were cutting.

In that moment, in the light and shadow, all three men appeared unclear and hazy. At this moment, Wuqing didn’t refute Little Zhou, but instead blocked Leng Xue with his crutch: “Now you must explain why you wanted to kill Lian Xin, no matter what. If something happens to Lian Xin and people discover it was you, since you’re one of Huaisu’s people, Huaisu would also bear great guilt.”

Leng Xue gave a cold laugh: “Previously, when Huaisu disguised herself to secretly investigate the Huang residence and didn’t return for half a day, I explored at night and discovered the emperor and the Huang residence’s masters in confrontation. The situation was critical then – Huaisu was trapped on the Huang residence’s side, and Lian Xin actually told the emperor not to save her. Fortunately, the emperor didn’t listen at that time. Huaisu recruited two bailiffs, and knowing the emperor would return to the yamen, I’ve been pretending to be a runner these past few days with their help, gathering information about Huang Tianba to assist her. That’s why I’m here. You think I wanted to kill Lian Xin? No, I just wanted to teach her a lesson. She’s repeatedly almost gotten Huaisu killed – how could I just stand by and watch?”

Both Wuqing and Little Zhou were surprised by this turn of events, their expressions changing slightly. Wuqing paused and said: “You should go check on Huaisu. She went out looking for you. Leave Lian Xin to me.”

Leng Xue’s lips had been tightly pressed, but hearing “she went out looking for you,” his eyes finally softened slightly. He gathered his energy and leaped away, his figure quickly disappearing over the roof tiles. Little Zhou couldn’t help but praise quietly: “What excellent skills.”

After speaking, he discovered Wuqing had also vanished without a trace. He let his eyelids droop: “The dead cripple walks quite fast! Good people? Neither of them are probably good people.”

Lian Xin returned to her room. That Li Huaisu showed no fear toward her, and Lian Yu completely ignored her – she felt deeply hurt and sad.

She wanted to find wine to drink but didn’t dare, fearing that if Lian Yu found out, he would be even angrier. She had always been used to doing as she pleased. After brief consideration, she called a servant in, made him strip off his clothes, put them on herself, disguised as a man, and left the courier station.

After turning down a long street, she didn’t see a single good wine house. She didn’t know this was an official area where the government didn’t allow good taverns to be built to prevent accusations of civil servants being extravagant and lustful.

She walked for quite a while before seeing a cluster of wine houses and eateries. At the street corner was a red-light district. She had heard about such romantic establishments in the palace before and couldn’t help being curious. But due to her status, she naturally couldn’t freely leave the palace to see them. She had only seen them during the Pei Fengji case, but that place had already been arranged as a courtroom, so she didn’t see the bustling nightlife. Now seeing it, she wanted to go in and explore – there would be wine to drink inside anyway.

By now it was past noon, nearly evening – exactly when these places prepared to conduct business. Brothel keepers solicited customers while courtesans with heavy makeup and bright smiles emerged from the buildings in graceful procession, as various men began arriving in endless streams.

However, when those women approached her, Lian Xin felt annoyed, thinking how this wasn’t as interesting as Ninth Brother had said. She requested a private room and began drinking alone in depression.

Before she was thoroughly drunk, someone knocked on the door outside.

Intoxicated and excited, she immediately shouted: “This palace… this young master said no one needed to serve me. Understand? Get lost!”

“No, you’re exactly in need of service.”

The person spoke softly and pushed the door open, moving cleanly and efficiently.

Looking up, she saw it was actually one of Li Huaisu’s constables – that man Wuqing whom she particularly detested. She was even more furious, pursing her lips and breathing like frost: “Cripple, get out!”

“I’m afraid I cannot comply.”

Wuqing spoke coolly, waving his hand. Where his force reached, the two door panels suddenly closed shut.

He slowly walked toward her, his eyes cold as blooming flowers, carrying desolate killing intent. His face was extremely handsome yet extremely cold, truly living up to his name. Only now did Lian Xin realize her fear – that terror seemed to seep from her heart. She remembered he had once used his sword to cut off her hair.

She knocked over the wine pot and stood up abruptly, her whole body trembling: “What do you want to do?”

“Whatever you did to Huaisu, I’ll do to you.”

The man answered slowly, his eyebrows even carrying a hint of smile. Lian Xin was even more frightened, gripping the table edge with both hands: “Dead cripple, don’t you dare mess around… I never did anything to that little wretch.”

“Little wretch…” The man was slightly stunned: “You know her identity…”

But Lian Xin didn’t notice the strangeness in his words at all, just kept backing away… Finally she screamed and tried to rush around the table toward the door.

The man flicked two fingers, and a fragment fell from her body.

Lian Xin felt her throat suddenly hoarse – she could no longer make any sound. She understood her mute acupoint had been struck… She had known long ago that this crippled man was extremely skilled in martial arts, able to escape from Chao Huang, who had few rivals in the world, and had cut her hair.

She touched her neck, tears of fear flowing out – but she was soon overwhelmed by the next terror. He approached her with his crutch and lifted her with one hand, then placed her on the bed.

She kicked wildly trying to break free. He brushed lightly, and half her body became paralyzed – she couldn’t move at all.

He placed his crutch beside the bed and stared at her for a moment, then suddenly tore open her waist sash with one hand and ripped off both her sleeves, exposing smooth, tender white skin.

Back at the Imperial Academy, he had cut off her hair with one sword stroke, and she had always harbored fear of this man in her heart. Now… what did he want to do?

Large tears rolled down from her eyes.

Wuqing seemed to know what she was thinking. Clear disdain flashed in his eyes. The moment his fingers touched her body, he mocked: “Even the filthiest courtesan here might interest me, but you alone… even if you begged me to take you, I’d consider it beneath myself.”

Lian Xin felt humiliated and ashamed in her heart, but apart from tears flowing more fiercely, she could do nothing.

Wuqing took out a brocade box from his waist and opened it.

Her whole body stiffened as she saw several insects writhing in the box – they had red-black bodies with thin wings and vivid, colorful appearances. She silently screamed “no,” but he poured the insects onto her arms. Whatever these insects were, they rolled and writhed on her arms, flapping their red wings. The wings were extremely light – some even fell onto her hands. She was already frightened and found this situation disgusting and nauseating, feeling inexplicable terror. But these creatures had stingers on their tails that pricked her skin…

Instantly, it felt like thousands of insects were simultaneously writhing and burrowing through her entire body. It wasn’t pain, but enormous itching – ten thousand times worse than being whipped. If her acupoints weren’t sealed, she would certainly be rolling all over the bed. But he still sat leaning against the bed rail, coldly watching her tears and snot flow together.

“Let me go, please let me go, it’s so painful, release me…”

She hoarsely begged for mercy, crying pitifully. But he remained unmoved, watching her silent lip movements until she bit her lower lip bloody. Only then did he say coolly: “I’ll now unseal your acupoints. If you dare scream, I guarantee there are even more unbearable methods to deal with you. Understand?”

“I know you’re unconvinced. I want you to swear that you’ll never make things difficult for Li Huaisu again. If you dare harm her again… you’ll suffer pain a hundred times worse than this in the future. Do you agree or not?”

Looking at his handsome yet coldly demonic face like a ghost, Lian Xin desperately blinked her eyes to show she understood. She had never imagined this cripple had such a fierce and ruthlessly cold side.

Her resentment toward Li Huaisu deepened – why did that little wretch deserve so much protection from so many people!

Wuqing, Wuqing… well done!

When her acupoints were unsealed, she violently shook off the insects on her arms and shrank into a corner of the bed, sobbing: “I swear, I will never dare make things difficult for Li Huaisu again, otherwise…”

Hearing her complete the oath word by word, Wuqing slowly supported himself on the bed edge and stood up, took his crutch to support his legs, and walked toward the door.

“Wuqing, come back. I have something to show you, about Li Huaisu.”

As he reached the door, he suddenly heard a cold voice behind him. His heart stirred as he slowly turned around. A sharp wind brushed past his abdomen, followed by severe pain in his belly.

He struck Lian Xin away with one palm. Lian Xin clutched her chest and fell to the ground, pursing her lips and looking down to see a dagger deeply embedded in his abdomen, half his white robe stained red.

She had picked up the fruit-peeling knife from the table and stabbed him.

Lian Xin sat on the ground but didn’t feel the pain on her body, couldn’t help being shocked, and saw the man ahead staring intently at her.

She finally felt great terror and couldn’t even scream. But he gave a low grunt, reached out to pull out the knife and threw it on the ground, simply saying quietly: “Lian Xin, please remember your oath,” then covered his abdomen with one hand, supported himself with his crutch with the other, opened the door and left.

She thought he would kill her—