After the villain left, Zhu Jiyue remained shaken and unsteady, collapsed on the ground, staring at the precious sword she had originally intended to gift to Li Mu to curry favor. Her heart filled with both shame and resentment. After a long while, she gradually came to her senses and tried to stand, but her hands and feet were weak. She called for maids to help her, but still received no response. Knowing those people had all gone off to slack or were secretly meeting with guards, she gritted her teeth and forced herself to stand, grabbing a nearby celadon flower vase and hurling it hatefully toward the window.

The porcelain vase fell to the ground with a shattering crash that sounded particularly jarring in the quiet night.

Finally footsteps could be heard outside, as if someone was climbing the stairs.

“Where have you all died off to? Get in here and serve me!”

Zhu Jiyue’s face was full of rage as she shouted angrily toward the door.

The door had been half-closed, and at her call, it was slowly pushed open, revealing a figure in the doorway.

The room’s lighting was dim. It was precisely because of this that Zhu Jiyue hadn’t seen the visitor clearly earlier, mistaking that ugly brute for Li Mu and suffering such humiliation.

But at this moment, with just one glance, she could see clearly who stood outside the door.

It was none other than Eldest Princess Xiao Yongjia!

Zhu Jiyue was greatly shocked, her level of surprise no less than when she had suddenly seen that hairy face turn toward her.

She shuddered, continuing to call loudly for people while rushing to the window. Looking down, she could dimly see several people guarding the entrance below – clearly brought by Xiao Yongjia.

Zhu Jiyue froze momentarily, unable to move, watching helplessly as Xiao Yongjia stepped inside and walked toward her step by step, finally stopping before her.

She stood ramrod straight with an icy expression, her gaze like two hooks digging into one’s heart and liver, boring into her.

“Eldest Princess, what wind brings you to my—”

Zhu Jiyue finally composed herself and smiled, but before she could finish saying “place,” without warning, Xiao Yongjia raised her arm and with a resounding “slap,” delivered a solid slap across her face.

Along with the stinging pain, Zhu Jiyue was initially stunned, then quickly reacted, covering that side of her face and angrily saying: “Are you mad? You dare hit me—”

Before she could finish, another “slap” rang out as the other side of her face burned with pain from another resounding slap.

Xiao Yongjia wore several rings on her fingers, and the hard metal scraped across Zhu Jiyue’s face. Though it didn’t break the skin, it left several deep red marks on her face that stung fiercely.

Having lived over thirty years, when had Zhu Jiyue ever suffered such treatment? After being slapped twice consecutively, she couldn’t contain her anger and instinctively raised her hand to slap back at the person opposite her.

“Slut, try touching me with one finger!”

Xiao Yongjia didn’t dodge, only stared at her and said coldly.

Zhu Jiyue’s hand stopped abruptly in mid-air, not daring to swing down. After a moment, it slowly dropped as her face alternated between red and white. She forced herself to say: “Xiao Yongjia, this is my private residence. You’ve trespassed without permission – what do you intend?”

“Slap!”

Another vicious slap struck, knocking Zhu Jiyue off balance. She staggered and fell to the ground, her hair disheveled. The side that had been slapped twice now bore five bright red swollen finger marks, and blood slowly seeped from the corner of her mouth.

“Zhu Jiyue, you dare touch my son-in-law. I’ve come to give you a few slaps to teach you how to be human in the future!”

“I feel my hands are dirtied just hitting you!”

“Remember this – if I learn of a next time, it won’t be as simple as a few slaps!”

“I, Xiao Yongjia, may be useless, but dealing with a wanton woman like you is more than sufficient!”

Having said this, Xiao Yongjia pulled out a pure white silk handkerchief, wiped her own slightly swollen palm, and threw it on the ground. Without another glance at Zhu Jiyue, she turned to leave.

The phoenix-head hairpins at her temples trembled with her steps, making rustling sounds.

Zhu Jiyue covered her swollen cheek, staring with wide eyes at the departing figure of the woman ahead, then suddenly laughed coldly.

“Xiao Yongjia! You’re nothing more than a cast-off wife who couldn’t win her husband’s favor! What are you showing off in front of me for? Don’t you know how others mock you behind your back? Yes, I’m a wanton woman and my husband isn’t mine, but at least I’m living happily now! Look at yourself…”

Her contemptuous gaze surveyed Xiao Yongjia’s retreating figure up and down, making tsk-tsk sounds and shaking her head.

“You dress up so bright and beautiful in public, but I fear when night comes, even if he scattered beans in your room for you to pick up, it wouldn’t be enough to pass the time, would it? Back then you used your influence to ruin my marriage and snatched Gao Qiao – how are things now? He won’t even touch you. In his eyes, you’re just a venomous, ignorant jealous woman! Besides your empty title, what do you have left?”

Xiao Yongjia seemed not to hear and continued walking outside.

“If you hadn’t interfered back then, it would have been my Zhu family marrying into the Gao family! You stole Gao Qiao and caused me to marry that current waste! You ruined my entire life, and I’ve always tolerated you, yet you kept pressing forward, targeting me at every turn all these years!”

“Xiao Yongjia, your husband bears a grudge against you because of Shao Yuniang’s suicide by drowning that year and doesn’t get along with you – why blame me? Heaven has eyes – retribution! It let me see early on that you’d fallen to today’s state! Not only did it fall on you, but on your daughter too! Come on, if you have the ability, kill me! Otherwise I’ll just keep laughing at you! Laugh daily, laugh yearly, laugh at how you’ll end up in this lifetime!”

Zhu Jiyue laughed uproariously, swaying back and forth with laughter until tears nearly came out.

Xiao Yongjia had originally maintained an indifferent expression and had already reached the doorway when she suddenly stopped and slowly turned her head.

“How do you know about Shao Yuniang?”

She stared at Zhu Jiyue on the ground and asked coldly.

Zhu Jiyue was startled, only then realizing her slip of the tongue. Her expression changed slightly, knowing she couldn’t deny it. She quickly suppressed the panic in her heart and simply sneered: “Why shouldn’t I know? When Gao Qiao brought her back from the Northern Expedition and intended to take her as a concubine, but you wanted to kill her – who in all of Jiankang didn’t know?”

Xiao Yongjia stood frozen, her complexion ashen as if covered with a layer of black ice.

That was an old matter from sixteen or seventeen years ago.

Xiao Yongjia had married Gao Qiao for just a few years and given birth to Luoshen not long before. During Gao Qiao’s final Northern Expedition, when he returned, he brought back a pair of Shao siblings.

The Shao clan had also been a prominent northern family. Having failed to migrate south in time and unable to gain favor under the barbarian regime, their fortunes had declined. This pair of siblings were from a branch family, orphaned and dependent on others. When Gao Qiao’s army arrived, he was wounded by a stray arrow in battle. Due to the hot weather at the time, his condition once worsened. Shao Fengzhi’s ancestors had passed down miraculous medicine, and hearing the news, he rushed to offer it. The medicine indeed worked and Gao Qiao’s injury healed. Later, when the Northern Expedition failed and he led his army south, these siblings came south with him.

Because the Shao siblings had shown life-saving grace to her husband, Xiao Yongjia was very grateful. Seeing that Shao Yuniang had just arrived in Jiankang with no one to depend on, and knowing she was literate, virtuous, and chaste – someone who would blush just from speaking two words with outsiders – and having some beauty, fearing she might be bullied by others outside, she welcomed her into the residence and treated her as an honored guest. Since she was only one year younger than herself but still unmarried, she even initially arranged marriage prospects for her, but gave up when she politely declined.

Several months passed peacefully this way. But one day, when Xiao Yongjia returned from prayers at Jinshan Temple, she discovered that Shao Yuniang had left the residence and disappeared. When asked, they said her brother had come to take her away.

Her departure had been so sudden that Xiao Yongjia was puzzled but didn’t become suspicious. Only several days later did she hear news that on the night she had stayed at the temple, Gao Qiao had returned home from a banquet, half-drunk and sleeping, when around midnight a servant getting up for night duties had vaguely seen Shao Yuniang enter his room and leave shortly after. The next morning, her brother had come to take her away.

Only then did Xiao Yongjia become suspicious. She remembered that in recent days, A’Ju had more than once hinted privately that Shao Yuniang seemed to have designs on Master Gao and advised her to be careful, suggesting it would be best to send her away. But Xiao Yongjia had been careless, thinking the woman was very proper and stayed indoors all day, not seeming like that type of person, so she hadn’t taken it to heart.

Now hearing such rumors and recalling the woman’s strange departure, she went to interrogate her husband.

Gao Qiao initially didn’t want to say anything, only stating that she had been taken away by her brother. When Xiao Yongjia pressed repeatedly and flew into a rage, Gao Qiao had no choice but to reveal the truth.

It turned out that night when he returned from the banquet and was sleeping alone, Shao Yuniang had actually snuck in to offer herself. After being discovered and rejected by Gao Qiao, she had knelt on the ground weeping with a pale face, saying she had acted wrongly out of admiration and already knew her mistake, begging him not to tell the Eldest Princess about this matter.

Gao Qiao had agreed, and early the next morning had her brother quietly take her away.

The Xiao Yongjia of that time was young, spirited, and couldn’t tolerate even half a grain of sand in her eyes.

Someone she had treated with sincerity had actually climbed into her bed to seduce her husband.

She flew into a rage and immediately took up a sword to kill that woman, but Gao Qiao seized the sword and stopped her, saying the woman already knew her error and shouldn’t be further harmed.

Though Xiao Yongjia had always been domineering, she had never actually killed anyone. At the time it was just extreme anger attacking her heart, a momentary impulse. Seeing her husband actually protect that slut, though she forcibly restrained herself then, her heart became even more furious, and she actually developed killing intent. She turned to leave but was dissuaded by A’Ju.

A’Ju said that since Master Gao wanted to let the matter rest and had even initially covered for that Shao Yuniang, it showed he still remembered the siblings’ kindness. Moreover, he had already voluntarily sent the person away. If the Eldest Princess killed her now, it might displease Master Gao, who would think she was being unforgiving.

Xiao Yongjia at that time was full of love for her husband and was stopped by these words, reluctantly abandoning the idea. But how could she swallow this anger? Taking advantage of Gao Qiao’s absence, she had the Shao siblings driven from Jiankang, ordering them to return north and never set foot in the Southern Dynasty again.

Originally this matter would have ended there.

What no one expected was that on the road to the ferry crossing, an accident occurred. A group of bandits appeared midway and kidnapped Shao Yuniang. It was said that to preserve her chastity, she heroically threw herself into the river, disappearing without a trace and certainly dying.

The news eventually reached Gao Qiao’s ears.

Gao Qiao was furious, accusing Xiao Yongjia of being narrow-minded and pushing people too far, leading to the loss of a life in a chilling manner. He even once suspected she had deliberately arranged the bandits to kill with a borrowed knife to vent her private anger.

Xiao Yongjia had a big fight with him, threw him out of the room, and wouldn’t let him in. Only after half a year, when Gao Qiao actively admitted fault and sought reconciliation, did Xiao Yongjia’s anger subside and they resumed sharing a room. Though they seemed reconciled, over all these years, various matters had not only failed to heal the rift but made it increasingly apparent.

Until several years ago, Xiao Yongjia finally moved alone to Bailu Zhou, openly living apart from her husband, continuing to this day.

She stared at Zhu Jiyue when suddenly a dark light flashed in her eyes, as if she had an epiphany, and she approached her step by step.

“I kept the matter of that Shao woman strictly secret back then. That you know about her is one thing, but how could you possibly know she died by drowning in the river?”

The Xiao Yongjia of that time had been heaven’s favored daughter, proud and successful, and extremely concerned with face – how could she let people know her husband had developed feelings for another woman?

From beginning to end, everything had been kept extremely secret, including her sending people to drive those siblings back north.

“Could it be that you arranged those bandits who did that deed to sow discord between my husband and me?”

Her hands clenched tightly into fists, her shoulders trembling slightly.

Zhu Jiyue regretted terribly, only hating that her quick tongue had revealed the truth. A trace of panic flashed in her eyes, but she still forced herself to remain calm: “If you don’t want people to know, don’t do it! There are no walls that don’t leak in this world. If you did such things, they would come to light sooner or later! Why blame me!”

Xiao Yongjia’s face was iron-blue. She stood still for a moment, then suddenly bent down and picked up the long sword from the ground. With a “clang,” she drew the sword from its sheath, the cold blade pointing at Zhu Jiyue as she pressed toward her.

“Zhu Jiyue, I’ll ask you one more time – was that matter from back then your doing?”

Zhu Jiyue’s eyes widened in terror: “Xiao Yongjia, are you mad? You dare kill me?”

Xiao Yongjia gripped the sword hilt tightly, a murderous glint flashing in her eyes.

“I ask you for the last time – was it your doing? Don’t think I don’t dare kill you. Your husband may be called royal family, but he’s just a waste. As for the Zhu family, they have to look up to the Gao clan’s favor! Even if I kill you today and claim it was an accident, at worst I’d be fined salary and confined to quarters – what else could they do to me?”

She gritted her teeth and pressed toward Zhu Jiyue step by step.

Zhu Jiyue showed fear, quickly scrambling up from the ground and continuously backing away until her back was against the wall with nowhere to go.

“Xiao Yongjia, don’t be a mad dog biting anyone you catch! Even if that matter had nothing to do with me, even if you insist on blaming me and force me to admit it, it’s been so many years – what use would it be?”

The sword tip was almost at Zhu Jiyue’s chest. She could almost feel the cold menace, her whole body breaking out in goosebumps, her voice trembling.

“Gao Qiao married you out of necessity back then. In his eyes, you’re just a woman with nothing but status! Arrogant and willful! Do you think he’ll believe you if you tell him these things now?”

Xiao Yongjia seemed suddenly drained of something and stopped. The murderous intent in her eyes gradually disappeared, replaced by a trace of confusion.

The hand holding the sword also froze in mid-air, trembling slightly.

Zhu Jiyue read the situation and finally breathed a secret sigh of relief, showing an ingratiating smile.

“Eldest Princess, I know I was wrong this time. I shouldn’t have been momentarily confused and provoked your son-in-law. Rest assured, from now on I won’t spare him another glance…”

As she spoke, her eyes remained fixed on the sword tip, carefully edging sideways. Suddenly, taking advantage of Xiao Yongjia’s unpreparedness, she lunged forward to seize the sword in her hands. But unexpectedly, being too focused on her upper body, her feet were tangled by her trailing skirt, causing her to immediately lose balance and stumble.

With a scream, she fell forward, her eyes wide open, pupils reflecting two white points rapidly approaching.

With a muffled “thud.”

The sharp sword tip slanted into a section of Zhu Jiyue’s throat, piercing through her neck.

Zhu Jiyue fell silently to the ground, the sword thrust diagonally through her neck, her eyes wide open and staring fixedly at Xiao Yongjia, filled with unbelievable hatred and fear.

She couldn’t believe she was actually going to die like this?

Xiao Yongjia’s fingers slowly released the sword hilt, looking at Zhu Jiyue writhing and struggling at her feet with a completely wooden expression.

…

An incense stick’s time later, when Li Mu rushed up to the high pavilion and pushed the door open, this was the scene he saw.

The air was filled with a musky scent mixed with the smell of blood that was almost nauseating.

A trace of surprise flashed in his eyes as he quickly came to Xiao Yongjia’s side, seeing her sitting there with a deathly pale complexion and vacant stare.

Zhu Jiyue on the ground had a sword thrust diagonally through her neck, blood slowly flowing from the wound pooling on the floor. She was clearly beyond saving, but because her trachea hadn’t been completely severed, she still wasn’t entirely dead.

Her eyes were wide open with unfocused gaze, her blood-bubble-filled lips opening and closing slightly like a dying fish skewered on a sword in a dried pond – an extremely horrifying sight.

Li Mu immediately helped Xiao Yongjia up, handed her to Sun Fangzhi outside the door, and gave him some quiet instructions.

Sun Fangzhi nodded and quickly escorted the nearly senseless Xiao Yongjia downstairs.

Li Mu returned to the room and came to Zhu Jiyue’s side, crouching down to look at her.

Zhu Jiyue struggled and drew another breath, her lips continuously opening and closing soundlessly, staring at Li Mu with a crystalline tear falling from her eye, full of pleading for life.

Li Mu met her gaze, took a white cloth from the ground, placed it over her bloody neck, and reached out to lightly touch it.

His hand suddenly exerted force.

Accompanied by a slight crackling sound of breaking bones, Zhu Jiyue’s head tilted to one side, and the last trace of life in her eyes disappeared.

Li Mu withdrew his hand, his eyes showing no emotion. He closed her eyes, then calmly pulled out the long sword inserted in her neck, covered the corpse with clothing, straightened up, looked around once, stepped over the scattered cups and plates on the floor, and walked out.

At the stairway, a man resembling a guard captain rushed up, holding a blood-stained knife, with Sun Fangzhi chasing behind. Seeing Li Mu, he shouted: “The rest have all submitted, only this one resisted and was extremely fierce, just wounded one of our brothers!”

This guard captain was also one of Zhu Jiyue’s male favorites. He had been dallying with a maid earlier and only just realized something was wrong, leading men forward.

He took several steps up the stairs, his eyes flashing with ferocity, swinging his knife at Li Mu.

Li Mu gripped the sword hilt with his five fingers and drew it. A cold light flashed, and the man’s neck suddenly had a straight black line as if drawn by thread.

Red liquid slowly seeped from the black line, then the flesh was torn open by the rapidly gushing blood into a huge gash like an opened giant mouth.

The man collapsed to the ground.

When Li Mu left, behind him, a raging fire had ignited. The firelight illuminated the path ahead, almost reddening half the night sky of the eastern suburbs outside the city.

…

It was now early morning, and Luoshen felt waves of unease.

After Li Mu made the decision for her, he remained.

But somehow, her mother never returned. Later he said he would personally go fetch her and told her to sleep peacefully first.

How could Luoshen sleep? Though A’Ju was with her, she kept her eyes open in the room. Finally unable to bear it, she got up, ignored A’Ju’s advice, dressed and climbed upstairs, leaning by the window to gaze toward the ferry crossing.

The river mist was thicker than before. There was some distance from here to the ferry crossing, and looking from the window, the night sky was misty and hazy – aside from a layer of quietly flowing cold mist, nothing could be seen.

Her heart was uneasy. Just as she was thinking of going downstairs to wait near the gate, she suddenly heard commotion from the path leading to the main gate below the building platform. Looking down, she dimly saw what seemed to be someone arriving. She quickly went downstairs and ran to meet them.

Xiao Yongjia had returned, being helped inside by others.

When Luoshen saw her mother, she was shocked.

Her face was deathly pale, her lips blue, her eyes dim and lusterless, looking completely absent-minded.

From childhood to adulthood, this was the first time Luoshen had seen her in such a state, as if she had just experienced some terrible catastrophe outside tonight.

She quickly glanced behind her mother’s party but didn’t see Li Mu.

“A’Niang! What happened to you?”

She went up and grasped her mother’s hand, feeling it was ice cold.

Xiao Yongjia shook her head and forced a slight smile at her daughter, saying softly: “Mother is fine.”

A’Ju was also greatly surprised and quickly stepped forward to support Xiao Yongjia.

“The Eldest Princess is tired, please return to your room first.”

Luoshen knew something was amiss but seeing the situation didn’t dare ask more, quickly helping escort her back to the room and settling her down.

Xiao Yongjia seemed extremely exhausted. As soon as she lay down, she closed her eyes and didn’t move, as if she had fallen into a death-like sleep.

Luoshen stayed by her mother’s bedside the entire time.

The surroundings were completely quiet. She looked at her mother’s sleeping face, wondering about Li Mu’s whereabouts, gradually becoming extremely tired, and dozed off leaning against her mother’s side.

Not knowing how long she’d slept, she suddenly woke with a start to discover she was actually lying in her mother’s bed with a quilt covering her.

But her mother was nowhere to be seen.

She quickly climbed up and called for someone.

A maid entered.

She asked what time it was and where her mother had gone.

The maid said it was the yin hour.

Li Langjun had just returned and the Eldest Princess was speaking with him.

…

Xiao Yongjia sat on the couch with Li Mu opposite her in the lower position.

The lamplight flickered. Xiao Yongjia’s complexion looked better than when she first returned, but still showed a faint ashen pallor.

Since Li Mu entered, she had been looking at him like this, unblinking for a long time before asking: “She’s dead?”

Li Mu nodded.

Xiao Yongjia closed her eyes. After a moment she opened them and said: “I killed her. Tomorrow morning I’ll enter the palace to confess my crime. I won’t mention that you went there. A’Mi…”

She paused.

“Take her away. In the future…” She emphasized: “If you dare wrong her, I won’t forgive you!”

Li Mu said: “Thank you mother-in-law for your fulfillment. I will treat A’Mi well in the future. But regarding other matters, mother-in-law is perhaps overthinking. Tonight’s events were all caused by me, and the responsibility lies entirely with me. After you left, the person was still alive and was killed by me. Everything afterward has been arranged. It has nothing whatsoever to do with mother-in-law, who knows nothing and never even left the island tonight.”

Xiao Yongjia was startled and hesitated.

“What do you mean by this?”

“Mother-in-law need only remember my words. His Majesty has a hangover and has been slow to rise today. Father-in-law has been waiting to see His Majesty. After seeing His Majesty and discussing matters, he will likely come here too. It’s now just past the fourth watch – mother-in-law should rest peacefully again.”

He respectfully bowed to Xiao Yongjia, stood up, and withdrew.

Xiao Yongjia watched his departing figure with confused eyes, as if in meditation.

…

Luoshen waited outside the room, her heart filled with anxiety. After a short while, she saw the door open and Li Mu’s increasingly familiar figure appear in the doorway. She quickly ran up, looked up at him and asked: “What exactly happened tonight? What did you and my mother just discuss?”

Li Mu looked down at her small face, which bore faint dark circles from a night of worry, smiled slightly, and said softly: “Nothing happened. Just now mother-in-law granted my request and agreed to let me take you away.”

Luoshen was stunned.

The thing she had been worrying about, her mother’s rock-hard stubborn attitude, had been resolved so easily?

A trace of inexplicable joy slowly welled up in her heart, but it was truly hard to believe.

She couldn’t help wanting to go inside to personally hear what her mother had to say. But as soon as she took a step, her hand was grasped by Li Mu, who brought her back around.

“Your mother is tired and needs to rest. There’s still some time before dawn, and I’m also tired. Take me to sleep.”

Luoshen felt that something major must have happened tonight for her mother to return in such a state.

But neither of them would say.

Fortunately, it seemed there was no serious harm.

She looked up and met his eyes gazing at her, thinking of his last sentence which was perhaps unintentional, her face growing slightly warm. She lowered her gaze and softly made a sound of agreement.

“Follow me then.”