The sound of arrows being nocked echoed from overhead.

The smile on Wu Yiyu’s face froze at the corners of her mouth before she could retract it.

All the people protecting her couldn’t help but stop in their tracks, looking at the horses and carriages only a dozen steps away, not daring to move. A slightly younger guard, either unable to stop his momentum or wanting to run out of nervousness, accidentally stepped forward two paces. Over a dozen whistling sounds rang out, and that guard was simultaneously pierced by more than ten arrows without even making a sound, finally collapsing heavily to the ground. The air instantly filled with a thick smell of blood.

No one spoke, and no one dared take another step. The group stood there as if their acupoints had been pressed, the eerie silence making one’s hair stand on end.

Wu Yiyu heard footsteps approaching from behind and couldn’t help but turn her head. Unexpectedly, with a “swoosh,” an arrow grazed past her temple, scattering her hair.

At the same time, Zeng Kui’s face, ugly as a malevolent ghost, appeared before Wu Yiyu. Seeing the bone-chilling smile at the corner of Zeng Kui’s mouth, Wu Yiyu, who had never known fear, couldn’t help but swallow hard. She felt a chill run down her spine.

Zeng Kui walked step by step, very slowly, until he reached Wu Yiyu. Two loyal guards instinctively wanted to raise their hands to block Zeng Kui, but as soon as they lifted their arms, they were pierced through the heart by arrows shot from unknown directions, convulsed once, and collapsed in pools of blood.

No one dared to move anymore, not even Wu Yiyu, who stood frozen in place.

Zeng Kui stared at Wu Yiyu for a long time, then reached out to grasp her chin, bringing his face close to hers until they could feel each other’s breath. Wu Yiyu couldn’t help but feel nauseous, but didn’t dare move a step due to her concerns.

Zeng Kui’s fingers caressed Wu Yiyu’s chin for a while, his movements extremely gentle, as if he were stroking a precious treasure with careful tenderness. Any outsider catching a glimpse would think he had feelings for Wu Yiyu.

Wu Yiyu felt her skin crawl. She endured it for a while, but finally couldn’t stand it anymore. Ignoring the fear continuously rising in her heart, she glared fiercely at Zeng Kui and said coldly, “Let go of me! How dare your Zeng family privately maintain so many crossbow archers – what are you planning to do? If the Yanbei Prince’s residence finds out, you won’t be able to bear the consequences!”

Though Wu Yiyu spoke fiercely, she still didn’t dare move an inch. Her arrogance didn’t mean she wasn’t afraid of death – on the contrary, she had always been very protective of her own life. It was always other people’s lives that were worthless.

Although Zeng Pu was a commander-in-chief appointed by the court, he only held an empty title. Though his situation had improved considerably now, the number of men under his command was limited. These crossbow archers were private soldiers who had been trained for a long time and definitely couldn’t be from the Ningxia army – this point couldn’t escape Wu Yiyu, who had spent time in the military. Given the Zeng family’s current status, this was quite a taboo matter.

Zeng Kui’s hand suddenly exerted force, grasping Wu Yiyu’s chin so hard it made a “crack” sound, like bones being crushed. Wu Yiyu couldn’t help but let out a scream and nearly fainted. Zeng Kui took the opportunity to hold Wu Yiyu in his arms, and his grip on her chin turned back into gentle caressing.

He stroked Wu Yiyu’s face and, as if afraid of frightening her, whispered in her ear with a warm, sticky voice, “You mean these crossbow archers? Originally, we hadn’t planned to have them show themselves at this time, but who told you to be so naughty? Without deploying them, how could we possibly catch you?”

Wu Yiyu’s chin had already swollen up rapidly. She was shaking from the pain, but Zeng Kui speaking so close to her, his lips brushing against her ear, made it even more unbearable for her. It felt as if little snakes flicking their tongues were crawling into her ears.

Wu Yiyu’s frightened trembling seemed to please Zeng Kui. His complexion was no longer as pale as before, and his eyes even showed intense excitement. In full view of everyone, Zeng Kui stuck out his tongue and carefully licked around Wu Yiyu’s ear, finally opening his mouth to bite her earlobe.

Wu Yiyu froze for a moment, then began screaming.

Her screaming made Zeng Kui laugh heartily. Zeng Kui’s eyes suddenly turned cold, then he bit down hard on Wu Yiyu’s earlobe and began tearing at it like an animal.

Blood flowed continuously from Wu Yiyu’s ear into Zeng Kui’s mouth. Zeng Kui sucked it up with excitement on his face. Finally, he bit off a large piece of flesh from Wu Yiyu’s ear. Wu Yiyu, overcome by both fear and pain, rolled her eyes back and fainted.

Zeng Kui released his grip, and Wu Yiyu slid down from his body, collapsing unconscious on the ground.

After biting off a piece of flesh from Wu Yiyu’s ear, Zeng Kui didn’t spit it out. He squinted his eyes and chewed thoughtfully, as if savoring a delicious delicacy, then swallowed it along with the blood. Finally, he licked the bloodstains from his lips with great relish.

The surroundings were dead silent. Even the Zeng family members looked at Zeng Kui with terrified expressions. Someone couldn’t help but retch, then quickly covered their mouth with their hands.

Zeng Kui seemed oblivious to the strange looks around him. His gaze swept across the faces of Wu Yiyu’s followers one by one, but then he frowned deeply.

This expression from Zeng Kui made everyone present shudder involuntarily.

“Where are the other few people?” Zeng Kui’s face had turned completely cold.

No one in the crowd spoke, so Zeng Kui fixed his stare on one of Wu Yiyu’s followers and repeated, “Where are the other few people?” He had just realized that the two familiar figures he had seen earlier were not among these people.

The man being stared at by Zeng Kui couldn’t help but tremble. He swallowed and said, “They… they ran away.”

Zeng Kui stepped forward and grabbed the man by the throat. “Where did they run to?”

This follower was taller and more robust than Zeng Kui and was a trained fighter. Normally, he could have lifted a pampered young master like Zeng Kui with one hand, but the crossbows aimed at him prevented him from moving recklessly. He could only answer tremblingly, “When we first came out, the young miss had them go contact the backup people hiding outside. They probably saw that the situation was bad and ran.”

Seeing Zeng Kui’s gaze staring at him as if poisoned, he added, “They’re jianghu people the young miss hired.”

Upon hearing this, Zeng Kui’s chest heaved violently twice, then he snatched a blade from someone nearby and slashed at the man’s neck. Caught off guard, the man was cut down and collapsed to the ground.

The surrounding people, whether from the Wu family or the Zeng family, couldn’t help but step back.

Combined with what they had just witnessed, everyone present couldn’t help but think that Young Master Zeng had gone mad.

Unexpectedly, Zeng Kui didn’t continue his rampage. He threw the blood-dripping blade to the ground and ordered, “Go chase those people down for me – dead or alive! Take all these people back!”

He lifted his foot and wiped the blood accidentally stuck to his shoe sole on the clothes of Wu Yiyu, who was lying on the ground, then turned and walked away without looking back.

Everyone who saw his retreating figure couldn’t help but shiver.

Thus, Wu Yiyu, who had escaped from the Zeng family, was captured and brought back by the Zeng family members, covered in blood.

Xiao Wei quickly received the news. She was both shocked and angry, and also hated that her daughter was so senseless. But she couldn’t abandon Wu Yiyu, so she immediately brought people to the Zeng residence. At this time, she still didn’t know that her daughter had suffered greatly at Zeng Kui’s hands – not only had her chin been crushed, but a piece of flesh from her ear had been bitten off and eaten by Zeng Kui.

However, this time Xiao Wei was refused entry at the Zeng family’s gates.

Zeng Pu would not see visitors – he would see no one. He only had a steward relay a message to Xiao Wei: Wu Yiyu had married into the Zeng family and was now a Zeng family daughter-in-law, and would remain with the Zeng family from now on.

Only then did Xiao Wei begin to regret her decision.

She waited outside the Zeng family gates for a long time, trying every method except bringing people to force entry. But the Zeng family was already guarded so tightly by Zeng Pu’s men that not even a fly could get in. Xiao Wei could only return empty-handed and think of other ways to rescue Wu Yiyu.

This time, the Zeng family completely changed their previous attitude of offending no one. No matter how much Xiao Wei made a fuss or how many people tried to mediate, they refused to let Wu Yiyu return home. From beginning to end, they only had one response: Wu Yiyu was already a Zeng family daughter-in-law, and there was no reason for her to return to her natal family.

After exhausting all methods and truly having no other options, Xiao Wei could only send people back to the Yanbei Prince’s residence to request rescue.

Before Xiao Wei’s plea for help reached the Yanbei Prince’s residence, they already knew about what had happened between Wu Yiyu and Zeng Kui on their wedding day. After learning about it, Xiao Jinglin wrote this letter to Ren Yaoqi.

The last time Xiao Jingxi had sent someone to explain to Ren Yaoqi about Ren Yaohua’s kidnapping, he had been relatively reserved, speaking rather vaguely about Zeng Kui’s castration. Ren Yaoqi had only vaguely guessed at some details based on the wording. However, Xiao Jinglin didn’t have so many concerns when speaking, so when Ren Yaoqi learned about Wu Yiyu’s disruption of the wedding ceremony, her expression was quite strange.

The delivery of that box of “things” to Wu Yiyu and the later role of providing backup for Wu Yiyu’s escape were undoubtedly related to the Yanbei Prince’s residence. Even if the Zeng family had previously harbored doubts about whether Wu Yiyu was responsible for Zeng Kui’s injury, by this point, they couldn’t help but believe it. The piece of “thing” in Wu Yiyu’s possession was the best evidence. Unfortunately, Wu Yiyu thought herself clever but ended up being used as a gun by others, becoming a scapegoat without realizing it.

No matter what kind of interest exchanges the Wu and Zeng families had previously, at this point, they couldn’t avoid turning against each other. Wu Yiyu had made Zeng Kui unable to have descendants and had caused such a scene in front of so many people during their wedding ceremony. If the Zeng family still showed no reaction, how would the people of Ningxia view the Zeng family? How would they view the court behind the Zeng family? Even if the Zeng family could afford to lose face, the court could not.

Now, Wu Yiyu was still in the Zeng family’s hands. Given the vengeful nature of the Zeng father and son, there was no way for the Wu and Zeng families to make peace.

This blood feud was set in stone.

At the end of her letter, Xiao Jinglin also mentioned that Xiao Wei had originally wanted to ask Supervisor Lu to intervene and rescue Wu Yiyu, but during those days, Supervisor Lu happened to be away from Ningxia on business.

Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but think: at this time, if Xiao Wei still sent a eunuch to the Zeng family to rescue her daughter, was she trying to save her or add fuel to the fire?

However, the affairs in Ningxia were just entertainment for Ren Yaoqi. With old and new grievances combined, she was quite happy to see the Zeng and Wu families fighting like dogs, ultimately resulting in mutual destruction.

After reading the letter, Ren Yaoqi put it away and continued back to brewing her chrysanthemum wine.

Perhaps because it was autumn, this day was particularly eventful.

In the afternoon, Ren Yaohua appeared before Ren Yaoqi again with a frown. Before Ren Yaoqi could ask, Ren Yaohua said, “The Lei family also made a trip to Baihe Town to deliver Double Ninth Festival gifts to the Ren family’s old residence.”

Lei Ting was a steady person, and there was nothing improper about doing this – it was proper etiquette. So Ren Yaoqi knew that Ren Yaohua had more to say and looked at her, waiting for the rest.

Ren Yaohua continued coldly, “Ren Yaoying encountered the Lei family people who came to deliver gifts.”

Ren Yaoqi raised an eyebrow, “Oh? What trouble did she stir up?”

Ren Yaohua couldn’t help but sneer, “What else could it be? She had someone hint indirectly to the Lei family people that I had once stayed out all night.”

Naturally, Ren Yaoying didn’t know that Lei Ting not only knew the whole story of that incident, but had also been a participant. She thought that after the Lei family learned of this, they would send people to inquire and investigate, since no family would want to marry a woman with a questionable reputation.

Ren Yaoying didn’t believe that Ren Yaohua had gone to her maternal family that day. Since she had no way to investigate and find out the truth, she hoped to use the Lei family’s help to do so. If it was finally proven that Ren Yaohua truly had problems, the Lei family would call off the engagement – this was Ren Yaoying’s calculation.

Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but find it amusing, “No wonder she wanted to return to Baihe Town – she was waiting for an opportunity.”

When Ren Yaoying was in Yunyang City, she was watched closely by people sent by Nanny Zhou and had no way to secretly cause trouble. She thought it would be different back in Baihe Town – even if Li Shi and Nanny Zhou wanted to send people to spy on her, they couldn’t be too blatant about it on Old Madam Ren and First Madam’s territory.

So Ren Yaoying dared to meet Zhou Wen privately and also dared to set traps for Ren Yaohua when the Lei family people visited the Ren residence. She didn’t know that Ren Yaohua and Ren Yaoqi had never trusted her, so no matter where she was, there would always be plenty of people watching her.

Ren Yaohua snorted coldly and said somewhat arrogantly, “Doesn’t she always want to cause trouble? I’ve already sent people to Baihe Town to bring her back. Tomorrow is the Double Ninth Festival, and Madam Xu is organizing a mountain climbing gathering. All the respectable people in Yunyang City will come. I want to see what other tricks she can play! I’ll be waiting for her right here!”

Ren Yaoqi sighed. She could see that Ren Yaohua was very angry – this time, she was truly enraged.

Knowing Ren Yaohua’s temperament, she didn’t try to persuade her at this moment, only reminded her, “If you want to bring her back, then bring her back, but you must have people watch her closely. Don’t let any trouble happen. After all, she can afford to throw away her reputation, but you cannot. Also, no matter what kind of person she is, in outsiders’ eyes, she’s our sister with the same father. Don’t do things that would harm the enemy by a thousand but damage yourself by eight hundred.”

Ren Yaohua pressed her lips together, “If I hadn’t been mindful of this point, would she still be around today? Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”