A basin of cold water was poured entirely over Luo Yang. More than half of his clothes became soaked, and waves of cold made Luo Yang shiver. His drunkenness also gradually cleared quite a bit. He shook his head forcefully, opened his eyes to look at the person standing before him, but his vision remained blurred and unclear. He asked with drunken breath: “Who are you?”

“Who am I?” Qiu Shu laughed coldly. “Seems your alcoholic haze hasn’t passed yet.”

“What… are you saying?”

“Great-aunt is in a good mood today and plans to help sober you up!” As she spoke, Qiu Shu crouched down, her palm slapping his face forcefully several times. Her eyes were sinister as she said, “Luo Yang, today I’ll let you see clearly the consequences of offending this young lady!”

Why did that voice sound so familiar?

Luo Yang forced his eyes open to look at the person before him, but that figure remained indistinct—only a rough outline. His body moved a few times, then he slowly propped himself up, asking as he did: “Are you Miss Ji?”

Miss Ji?

Hearing this name, Qiu Shu’s expression instantly soured. She reached out and slapped Luo Yang’s face forcefully several more times, saying: “I already told you, I’m your great-aunt, not your Miss Ji.”

“You’re not her! Then who are you? Go away! Don’t… don’t sway around in front of this young master… in front of me!” His mouth reeked of alcohol. Though these words carried a warning intent, his voice was soft and powerless. As he spoke, he raised his arm and waved it forcefully several times, nearly pushing Qiu Shu over.

Fortunately, she leaned back, avoiding Luo Yang’s palm.

“Reckless thing, actually daring to get physical with this young lady. If I don’t teach you a proper lesson today, you won’t know how high the heavens are or how thick the earth is!” Qiu Shu stood up, even lightly kicked him, then turned her head to the servers beside her and said, “Pour the hot water on him.”

If it were cold water, that would be one thing!

But this hot water was extremely scalding. If it were really poured on a person, it could take their life.

Even if it wouldn’t kill them, such scalding hot water could definitely cause burns, leaving them half-dead. Wouldn’t the responsibility then become too serious?

Seeing them hesitate without moving, Qiu Shu angrily rebuked: “Why aren’t you pouring it? What are you hesitating for?”

The server said tremblingly: “Miss Qiu, this really won’t do. The water we brought is boiling water. If we really pour it down, it could take someone’s life. Even as a joke, we can’t go this far! How about… let’s forget it.”

How could such a ready opportunity be abandoned just like that?

Absolutely not!

Qiu Shu’s eyes glared, and she rebuked in a low voice: “Why do you have so much nonsense? I told you to pour it, so pour it. If you don’t do it, you’ll anger this young lady and you’ll suffer the consequences.”

Everyone knew that Qiu Shu was the Empress’s younger sister, an imperial relative. Who dared offend her? Did they not want to live?

Now they were truly caught between a rock and a hard place!

The two servers looked at each other, thinking it over. Offending Qiu Shu meant death, but scalding that young master might not kill him. After weighing everything thoroughly, one server gritted his teeth and responded: “Yes.”

Speaking thus, he was just about to pour the hot water down…

Qiu Shu suddenly shouted: “Wait!”

Had her conscience awakened?

The server breathed a sigh of relief!

“Miss Qiu, should we forget it?”

“Forget what?” The corner of Qiu Shu’s mouth curved up. She seemed to have thought of another method to torment him. Looking back at the lake outside, she said, “This young lady has always been one to repay grievances. Whoever offends me must be made to suffer the consequences.”

Hmm?

What wicked idea had she thought of now?

“You two, throw him into the lake.”

“What?”

“Can’t you understand my words? Or didn’t you hear them? I said throw him into the lake. Now! Immediately! Hurry!”

Three emphatic words thrown out directly.

The server set the hot water in his hands on the ground and hurriedly pulled up Luo Yang, who still lay drunk as mud on the floor.

Luo Yang mumbled incoherently: “Let go! I want to drink, I want to find Ji Yunshu! Why did she just leave like that? Why did she leave without saying a word? Why?”

They say when people are drunk, the words they speak are like children writing on paper—one incomprehensible, the other inaudible!

Qiu Shu vaguely heard him shout “want to drink” and “Miss Ji.”

Was there some connection between these two things?

She didn’t care about any of that and rebuked the two stunned servers again: “Why aren’t you moving?”

“…Yes!”

Thus, Luo Yang was dragged out like this.

No room for struggle at all!

Qiu Shu stood before the floor-to-ceiling bamboo window in the private room watching, watching as Luo Yang was carried to the lakeside. But the servers kept hesitating to push him into the lake, both casting their gazes over, requesting final instruction!

Qiu Shu raised her eyebrows, signaling them to proceed!

At the same time, people strolling by the lakeside all noticed this scene. Everyone watched as the drunk Luo Yang was being held at the water’s edge, not knowing what was about to happen.

“What’s going on?”

“Who is that person? How did he get so drunk?”

“Could he have committed some offense? Otherwise why would he be restrained like this?”

Among them, someone recognized Luo Yang: “Isn’t he the one who found evidence at Ning’an Manor proving the murderer was Zhao Quanzhi? What’s he doing here? And drunk to this state?”

Someone else recognized him too: “That’s right, it’s him. What’s happening?”

No one knew what had actually transpired.

While everyone was puzzling over this, they saw the two servers holding Luo Yang suddenly push him into the lake.

“Splash!” The young ladies watching nearby were frightened out of their wits, some screaming shrilly, some retreating backward, others directly covering their eyes with handkerchiefs… The young masters, however, widened their eyes watching. Though also shocked, they were more curious to see what scheme was being played out. Why push someone into the water for no reason?

They saw Luo Yang plunge into the water, sinking down like a lump of iron. Only after swallowing several mouthfuls of water did he struggle to surface, his hands slapping forcefully on both sides. After swallowing several more mouthfuls of water, he felt his whole body powerless, completely unable to muster strength. Even his throat seemed to be tightly gripped by someone—he couldn’t cry out at all. His feet also seemed entangled by something, causing his body to be tightly restrained by some force, slowly sinking down.

Only a few small bubbles rose on the lake surface…

Then the lake surface returned to its previous quietness!

As if the scene that had just occurred never happened at all.

Everyone was dumbfounded!

What kind of bizarre operation was this?

What was happening?

This wasn’t the execution grounds—how could someone be killed here?

They hadn’t fully processed what was happening, so they stood rooted in place, looking at each other. The air was extremely quiet. No one spoke, nor did anyone cry out about the scene that had just unfolded before their eyes.

Standing in the private room, Qiu Shu hadn’t expected Luo Yang to be a landlubber who couldn’t swim, and to sink so quickly at that!

She seemed not to have processed it either.

Until the maid beside her said: “Miss, this is bad—it looks like someone has died.”

Someone died!

Qiu Shu immediately came to her senses, but said: “That can’t be, right? Dead so quickly?”

“Should we go look?”

“…” Qiu Shu hesitated briefly, but ultimately hurried over.

Seeing her approach, the server hurriedly asked: “Miss Qiu, what do we do now? The person seems to… have sunk down. Could he be dead?”

“How could he die so easily?”

“But…” In any case, the server was terrified!

In the end, someone had died!

Qiu Shu walked to the lakeside and looked down into the lake. She couldn’t see anything at all—it was pitch black below, nothing visible!

Luo Yang’s figure was completely invisible too.

“Could the person really… have drowned?” Qiu Shu suddenly had a bad premonition.

That fellow seemed to have a hard life—could he really have died just like this?

That would be too… tragic, wouldn’t it?

The surrounding people finally understood what had happened and rushed to the lakeside. Someone shouted: “Someone has died, won’t anyone go down to rescue him?”

“Who knows how to swim? Hurry and dive in to save him!”

“Someone has died!”

People spoke intermittently, extremely shocked and anxious.

But… not a single person actually jumped down. Their verbal prowess seemed stronger than their swimming skills.

Now Qiu Shu was truly anxious!