Suddenly feeling his arms full, “Huo Chang’an” was also stunned for quite a while. When he realized he had instinctively half-circled this person with his arms, he suddenly trembled slightly and flung her away.

Suzhen was suddenly thrown by a force, dizzy and disoriented. She swayed for a while before standing steady. Thinking of what she had done, she wished time could flow backward. Finally, she stood to one side, stammering, face red and ears hot as she looked at the man before her.

“Dare to fool around again, and this marquis will kill you!”

Swept by those dark eyes containing depths, Suzhen shuddered, clearly hearing him grinding his teeth slightly.

She nodded hurriedly, seeing an arc cut through the air. She instinctively reached out to catch it—a small bottle.

“This is good palace medicine. Apply it to your knees and they’ll heal quickly. Use it carefully—with your terrible temper, you can use it again next time.”

“Huo Chang’an” coughed lightly, pondered briefly, then added rather viciously. Suzhen listened with both shame and annoyance, but after he finished speaking, he had already quickly opened the door and left, not knowing whether he had finished giving her all the instructions he intended.

Clang—

The sound of a flower pot being knocked over came from outside the courtyard.

Suzhen covered her face, clutching the bottle, rolling back onto the bed in extreme joy. For a moment she was anxious—would Zhaoting think she liked Huo Chang’an? Then she felt sweet again—he had embraced her just now…

On the other side, “Huo Chang’an” got into a carriage with Steward Huo. After traveling some distance to a deep alley, the carriage stopped. Another carriage was waiting ahead.

Steward Huo respectfully lifted the curtain to help “Huo Chang’an” down. “Huo Chang’an” said, “Thank your master for me and tell him I owe him a favor.”

Steward Huo was startled and waved his hands repeatedly, “Absolutely not, absolutely not.”

At this time, “Huo Chang’an” had already removed his mask, revealing the face of the current Son of Heaven.

Lian Yu walked a few steps, then suddenly turned to ask, “Is Marquis Huo extremely close friends with that Li Huaisu? Has Marquis Huo recently stopped loving women and started playing with male courtesans?”

This question made Steward Huo break out in cold sweat. What kind of question was this?

Originally, having someone ask such a question was already inconceivable to him, let alone that the person asking was the Son of Heaven.

In the other carriage, Qinglong and Baihu exchanged glances. Baihu felt somewhat embarrassed and turned his head away. Getting no support, Qinglong turned to look at Xuanwu, who had also come out tonight. Xuanwu maintained his decades-unchanged expression of nose-watching-mouth, mouth-watching-heart vigilant alertness. Qinglong was disappointed, but suddenly Xuanwu’s voice rose coldly by his ear, “Could it be that master also has such intentions? Then am I in great danger?”

Qinglong’s mouth twitched: “…”

Baihu: “…”

Over there, Steward Huo could only stand more uneasily. Finally, he carefully smiled apologetically, “The marquis is not like his younger days. Now he keeps to himself, let alone male courtesans—he doesn’t even visit those red-light districts.”

But unexpectedly, he heard Lian Yu say indifferently, “Tell him this for me: rabbits don’t eat grass near their burrows. The child is fooling around, but he’s an adult and shouldn’t join in the nonsense. If he wants to try something fresh, fine—if he has any needs, he can go outside and find a male courtesan to cool off. But that person—he absolutely cannot touch.”

The Son of Heaven seemed not to have heard what he said at all, speaking on his own. Even though Steward Huo considered himself a smooth operator, he was now speechless, somewhat unclear about his meaning yet not daring to ask more, fearing to anger him and bring disaster to the marquis’s household. He could only nod and bow as he respectfully sent him away.

As for Suzhen, the next day she received Lian Yu’s decree temporarily exempting her from court duties for these few days, telling her to quickly prepare for the national case. The trial would begin in three days, and Prince Zhennan would soon visit Zhou. At that time, he would listen to the trial together with several high officials dispatched by the court.

On the day of the trial, the streets would certainly be empty as everyone gathered to watch. Suzhen was greatly shocked—only three days, with such pressing urgency… She was caught between a rock and a hard place, unable to fathom Lian Yu’s thoughts. She wrote a letter asking whether to handle it according to law.

On the other side, like a duck being forced onto a perch, she began preparing for the first lawsuit of her life.

First, she hoped to understand the truth of this case.

Even though the case seemed not particularly complex on the surface, its complexity lay in the ramifications behind it.

At this time, in the Huo family’s quiet separate residence, she invited Mochou out to learn about what happened during the incident. Lengxue and the others stood guard nearby, also listening intently.

Mochou had cleaned off her makeup and changed clothes, but her face bore many bruises. Her eyes and brows were stained with the weariness of worldly experience, her former radiance long gone.

Looking at Suzhen, she smiled guiltily. In just a few short days, the world had changed dramatically. For her, suddenly, she couldn’t find words to speak.

Seeing this, Suzhen sighed softly and couldn’t help but reach out to cover her hand, patting it gently for comfort.

“Li Huaisu, you fool, how could you take on this case…”

At this time, a delicate scolding came from outside. Someone rushed in energetically but then stopped in confusion, “What are you all…”

Looking up, Suzhen thought, oh my, how did Princess Lian Xin come here! Lian Xin had already raised her willow eyebrows, coldly staring at Mochou, “Little slut, you want to seduce Li Huaisu!”

Mochou smiled bitterly. Suzhen saw Lian Xin cursing viciously and about to push Mochou, so she immediately stood up to pull her away, shouting, “Lian Xiaoxin, if you cause trouble again, I’ll throw you out. Or do you want to sit nicely and watch Huaisu work?”

Lian Xin was about to shout back when her palm suddenly warmed—Suzhen was pulling her to sit beside “him.” Her heart jumped, feeling somewhat weak, thinking she’d settle accounts with that brothel’s little vixen later!

Rolling her eyes, she saw Wuqing sitting to one side. Remembering he had cut off her hair, she bared her teeth at him and cursed, “Dead cripple!”

Wuqing wasn’t like Suzhen. While Suzhen would argue with Lian Xin, Wuqing didn’t even glance at her or grunt, treating her as completely transparent.

Lian Xin was annoyed, but seeing Suzhen’s warning look, she pouted and thought she’d temporarily spare this dead cripple. Then she dragged her stool between Suzhen and Mochou’s seats, raising her eyebrows at Mochou.

Suzhen also looked at Mochou with determined eyes, “Mochou, let’s reconstruct the case. Begin.”