The family members in the prison carts pleaded desperately, begging the princess to spare Su Zhen.

Lian Xin sneered coldly, “What a rebellious commoner. If I don’t kill you, I’ll take your surname.”

She rode her horse closer and whipped Su Zhen repeatedly. Su Zhen didn’t struggle, lying on the ground motionless, letting her lash her several times. Lian Xin struck viciously, and the pain almost made Su Zhen cry out.

The common people looked at each other uncertainly, knowing this disaster star treated human lives like weeds and not daring to plead for mercy. Only the few scholars who had spoken earlier continued to beg for Su Zhen’s pardon.

The purple-clothed woman seemed to be a reasonable person, but because Su Zhen had publicly defied the law, she didn’t stop Lian Xin. She only frowned at Su Zhen and said softly, “You seem like a clever person—how could you be so reckless?”

The red-clothed woman and the Third and Fourth Princes supported Lian Xin, only quietly advising the purple-clothed woman not to persuade the princess.

Su Zhen quickly looked toward Huo Chang’an with a fawning expression—this man was different from these people.

Huo Chang’an glanced at her and finally looked slowly toward Lian Xin, saying, “Time is running short, and we still need to travel. As your elder brother, I’ll help you vent this anger. Have someone lock this fellow in the Ministry of Justice prison for several months. How about that?”

Lian Xin smiled at him, but suddenly, swift as lightning, she drew the long sword hanging from her horse’s belly and thrust it toward Su Zhen’s neck.

Huo Chang’an was obviously startled but could no longer stop her. Some onlookers had already cried out, expecting blood to be spilled on the spot.

However, Su Zhen had been watching Lian Xin’s movements from the moment Huo Chang’an began speaking. She understood this malicious girl’s thoughts very well—she had done plenty of this kind of underhanded mischief since childhood.

So she rolled away on the spot, avoiding the strike.

At this point she was going all out. She deliberately rolled under Lian Xin’s horse, and Lian Xin obviously cried out in surprise, not yet reacting when Su Zhen had already leaped onto the horse’s belly, holding her dagger horizontally against Lian Xin’s neck.

Then the scene was clearly out of control, with everyone staring at her in stunned silence.

Huo Chang’an and his men’s faces had changed completely.

The dagger was something her brother had tucked into her clothes before leaving, telling her to use it for self-defense. She hadn’t expected it to come in handy—it truly seemed to fulfill that saying about heaven’s vast net.

When Lian Xin was whipping her earlier, she had quietly gotten it into her hand. When she showed weakness to Huo Chang’an, she had considered that if he successfully pleaded for her, she wouldn’t need to use it. This thing was for defending against petty people, not gentlemen. Acting this way was to guard against Lian Xin’s dirty tricks. Indeed, this dead girl had been exactly as she predicted. Whether horizontal death or vertical death, since you want to act like a beast, I have no choice but to be worse than a beast.

Lian Xin glared at her sideways in shock and fury, shouting, “Release this princess immediately, or I’ll kill you and exterminate your nine generations.”

Su Zhen smiled, “You were going to kill me anyway, and as for nine generations, go ahead.”

She was now Li Huaisu, alone in the world—what nine generations? Kill away as you please.

Lian Xin was speechless. The two princes had already ordered their men to quickly surround her, shouting harshly, “Quickly release the princess! We can leave you with a whole corpse, otherwise not only will you be guilty, but disaster will befall your entire family.”

She looked directly at Huo Chang’an, “One precious golden life in exchange for two worthless lives—mine and my friend’s.”

Huo Chang’an’s gaze turned cold, no longer resembling his earlier demeanor. Su Zhen knew she had angered him, but she saw him nod without hesitation, saying coldly, “Fine, this marquis agrees! Don’t let me catch you again next time, or I absolutely won’t spare you.”

Everyone was shaken, and Lian Xin had already begun screaming, “Brother Huo, you can’t let her go, no—”

She couldn’t say “no” for long. Su Zhen said nothing but pressed the dagger, drawing some blood on her neck, and she immediately shut up, finally showing some fear in her eyes.

Su Zhen secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Lian Xin didn’t know that it was actually her… hand trembling. She had grown up without even slaughtering a chicken, and now she was instantly upgrading to killing people. How easy was that for her? >_<

Hello everyone, long time no see, I missed you all. The first eighteen chapters have been revised, with major changes to chapter two. It may take a day or two for the system to display the updates, so please go back and reread them then. Updates will begin today. Happy birthday to those celebrating today, wishing you happiness and joy!