Her heart constricted as she realized his behavior was actually… anger. As for why he would be like this, she suddenly didn’t dare think too much, quickly walking to the corner to sit down without speaking further. But this cell was truly cold and damp. With major acupoints still sealed and unable to circulate energy to resist the cold, she couldn’t help but hold herself and shiver slightly.

Thinking about it now, last night hadn’t been bad at all.

A muffled sound came from the ground – she could tell it was the sound of Wuqing falling down. She couldn’t help but turn to look.

“With this injury and no crutch, walking is still somewhat inconvenient for me.” Wuqing sat up from the ground somewhat awkwardly, speaking coolly to her.

“If you know you’re crippled, don’t wander around everywhere.” She spoke with vicious tongue.

“I wanted to come over to your side.”

Hearing his answer, she trembled slightly, then said coldly: “What are you coming over for?”

“Aren’t you cold? I could come over to keep you warm.”

“You want warmth yourself – don’t drag me into it. Don’t come over, I don’t want to stay together with you!” Her heart jumped again as she immediately turned away, no longer looking at those eyes that were originally like deep snow and bitter cold, but now held traces of affection.

Wuqing said nothing more, but she still heard muffled sounds from the ground. Little Zhou suddenly got up and walked to his side. Seeing blood faintly seeping through his abdomen, she frowned and wordlessly helped him back to the bars.

Wuqing also said nothing, his eyebrows sparse and distant, but his large hand pulled her into his embrace.

She struggled a few times, feeling the dampness under his abdomen, and finally stopped moving, letting him hold her.

Though the two had always viewed each other as formidable enemies, they rarely had such quiet moments. His embrace was solid and warm. She thought: Though my suspicions of him have decreased now, I still can’t completely drop my guard. If he’s just Li Huaisu’s guard with no other complications, that would be fine. But if he’s an enemy, I won’t spare him!

Thinking this, she said something not entirely related: “I looked yesterday – your leg might be treatable.”

“Mm, help me treat it when we get back.”

“Impossible. Find someone else to treat it.”

“I’ve looked, but temporarily no doctor can treat it.”

His voice remained light, as if this disability had nothing to do with him. But she thought of the deformed misalignment of his leg bones, of the scars covering his chest, of his endurance through most of the pain last night.

“Huaisu has a good relationship with His Majesty. Have Huaisu ask His Majesty to send imperial physicians to examine you. If even palace physicians can’t help, then there’s no solution.”

This time, Wuqing didn’t answer. She had been looking down, but felt his burning gaze from the side. Her heart grew more chaotic when he suddenly lifted her chin. He looked deeply at her, his eyes like black obsidian, his handsome lip line now shadowed with stubble. His breathing quickened as he lowered his head.

Reaching her lips, his hand tightened on her shoulder. She only felt pain as he took advantage to pull away.

Like her, in his heart she was still an enemy! She raised an eyebrow with a smile and suddenly bit down on his neck. Wuqing held her tight, his gaze becoming clear and bright as before, but he didn’t avoid her bite.

When Huo Chang’an entered the room, it was already mid-morning.

Lian Yue lay sideways on the couch with her cheek propped up, looking lazy and languid. Seeing him enter, she quickly put on her shoes and stood up, walking to his side with a gentle voice: “You’re back?”

She didn’t ask where he’d been, only helped him remove his outer robe. With some reproach yet careful concern, she asked: “You were out all night – your eyes are bloodshot. Do you want to rest in bed for a while or shall I have food brought up?”

Huo Chang’an grasped her hand, his sharp gaze searching her face. Lian Yue blushed and lowered her head. His rough hand pinched her cheek: “Not asking where I went? You stayed up all night waiting for my return?”

Lian Yue shook her head: “What man likes women asking too many questions? You’ve treated me extremely well all these years – I really have nothing to ask about. I waited for you because I wanted to…”

Huo Chang’an suddenly sneered coldly, gripping her jaw tightly and leaving red marks: “Knowing I have her in my heart, you’re still willing?”

“Yes…”

Huo Chang’an’s gaze darkened as he swept her up in his arms, striding to the bed and pulling down the gauze curtains.

Lian Yue endured his intensity, her whole body convulsing and trembling as she said hoarsely: “Chang’an, let me bear you a child…”

Suzhen stared at the ceiling all night with her eyes open. After losing track of the mysterious person last night, she had returned to the courier station.

With countless matters filling her mind, she couldn’t sleep at all.

Leng Xue returned at midnight, still without news of Wuqing and the other. Suzhen told him to sleep next door – no need to guard her here.

She dressed and got out of bed, but her gaze immediately fixed on the floor.

Square and neat – damn, another letter.

Looking carefully, the doors and windows were all secure – it had been slipped under the door.

What more did Li Zhaoting want?

She frowned with anger and walked over. The envelope was snow white with no addressee written, much less a signature.

Taking it in hand, she was startled again – feeling inside, it was actually a thick stack of papers.

Zhaoting, what exactly do you want to say? Aren’t we already done with each other? What more do you want?

She gritted her teeth and opened the letter.

Looking at it was completely beyond her expectations.

First, this wasn’t a letter from Li Zhaoting. The handwriting wasn’t his – the entire text was carelessly flowing, with bold, rough strokes that seemed like a man’s writing, yet the strength was gentle, also resembling a woman’s hand.

This person had done this deliberately – not only could she not tell who it was, she couldn’t even determine if it was male or female.

The content was even more incredible.

These pages recorded the situation of the various women’s case investigations and interrogations over the past few days. In other words, this was actually a record.

Her heart filled with doubt like heavy clouds – who had secretly delivered this in the dead of night without her noticing at all! Though there were officers guarding inside and outside the courtyard at night, she wasn’t as important as the emperor or imperial consorts, so only two or three guards were stationed outside. If this person wanted to take her life…

Thinking this, she broke out in a cold sweat. She first glanced through it briefly, then couldn’t help but read it carefully.

The scenes she hadn’t experienced these past days suddenly appeared before her eyes.

It turned out the wager between Lian Yue, Wuyan, Shuangcheng, Miao Yin, and Murong Xi had already taken effect, with Lian Xin excluded. Originally she would have been included too, but now she was essentially excluded by the emperor, and she frankly didn’t want to interfere in this matter anyway.

The first case: four household heads conspired to kill the accountant who came with money to negotiate.

Though these four families committed murder and the household heads were the main culprits, this happened in broad daylight while gathered at one of the homes to discuss compensation money. For them to suddenly kill for money, didn’t their family members notice anything?

The several women had separately visited the homes of the three cases’ families, questioning their relatives, hoping to find a breakthrough.

The victims were the accountant’s family and his master, the benevolent Liao.

This was a conflict between a demolition office and nail households that eventually evolved into the nail households committing murder for money.

On the way to visit those four neighboring households, Lian Yue raised the first doubt: “I carefully read the court records earlier. These four houses were located at the village head of the entire area being developed. That means this accountant’s master, benevolent Liao, had to get these four households’ consent to build houses there and construct a street of gambling houses and eateries. Otherwise, they couldn’t even build the beginning – the rest would be meaningless.”

“But the problem lies precisely here. This benevolent Liao was said to be wealthy and powerful, having only the name of benevolence while actually being a tyrant. He wanted to compensate each household with fifty taels of silver – not a small amount, enough to buy land elsewhere. You’d say some of these four families demanded more money like opening a lion’s mouth – that’s not strange. But there should be people intimidated by his wealth and power who wouldn’t dare resist, just taking the silver and being done with it. Yet the result was they united as one, even becoming murderous at the sight of money, conspiring together to kill the accountant and bury the body. Isn’t this rather odd?”

“Moreover, we’ve always heard of those seizing land acting wickedly, but never seen common people making trouble,” Shuangcheng added. “Never mind four households – even if one or two really had ideas of raising prices on the spot, that would be rare. The people don’t contend with the wealthy, the people don’t fight officials. Unless pushed to extremes, who would dare grow such bold hearts to cause trouble, much less commit murder?”

What both said gained everyone’s agreement. Even Lian Xin, accustomed to doing evil, had great experience in this. After thinking silently for a while, she also nodded somewhat awkwardly. This seemed obvious and couldn’t serve as evidence, but it was reasonable.

However, when they reached their destination, they discovered these four households were completely empty – not a single family member remained.

Though the heads of these families were sentenced to death and not yet executed, the families had already disappeared without a trace. They neither saw them off nor paid respects – wasn’t this too inhumane?

The houses had accumulated some dust. Questioning the neighbors, an old woman with a toothless mouth looked fearfully at the group and accompanying officers, sighing as she said quietly: “They left long ago, saying they feared the wealthy would hold grudges and make trouble for them later. The men were sentenced severely and couldn’t be saved – what were they waiting for if not to leave?”

They questioned several more people – men, old folks, women, children – all giving the same account. Before leaving, the families had all said goodbye to neighbors, seeming to flee together in panic on some deep night for mutual support.

This sounded reasonable enough, but everyone felt heavy-hearted. They asked the neighbors if they knew where these four households had gone.

A man smiled bitterly: “If they’re fleeing for their lives, how could they tell us where?”