Pang Xiao looked back toward the rear of the carriage, where Bian Ruohan seemed to have heard Qin Yining’s voice and was frightened badly, becoming even more agitated. Those pig-slaughtering squeals were both annoying and amusing to hear.

Pang Xiao and Qin Yining exchanged glances. Qin Yining had already been so annoyed by Bian Ruohan that her brows were furrowed.

How did they end up encountering Bian Ruohan? This woman had mental problems—even when there was nothing wrong, she would stir up trouble. Having personally witnessed Qin Yining going out in disguise, what if she leaked information about her whereabouts and ruined important matters?

Moreover, Bian Ruohan was far too perceptive. Even with such a thorough disguise, she was still discovered. Just how much must she hate her to recognize her so clearly?

Seeing Qin Yining’s brow furrowed tightly into the character “川,” Pang Xiao couldn’t help but put his arm around her shoulders, letting her lean against his shoulder.

“Alright, since this woman doesn’t know her place, let’s just finish her off.”

Hearing Pang Xiao speak so seriously, Qin Yining looked up to observe whether he was being genuine. Today Bian Ruohan had been captured and brought into the carriage, but quite a few of Bian Ruohan’s attendants and maids had escaped. If they really did something to Bian Ruohan, wouldn’t that cause trouble for themselves? No matter how much Lu Heng disliked Bian Ruohan, he still cared about face.

So Qin Yining concluded that Pang Xiao was also cooperating with her to frighten Bian Ruohan and vent her anger.

Qin Yining whispered a few words in Pang Xiao’s ear.

Pang Xiao burst into laughter, flicked Qin Yining’s nose tip with his finger and nodded, then lifted the carriage curtain to quietly tell those outside that the carriage shouldn’t return to the prince’s mansion immediately, but should first go to the Earth God Temple in the city outskirts.

The coachman and Mu Jinghu naturally agreed.

The carriages headed toward the Earth God Temple in the city outskirts.

In the carriage behind, Bian Ruohan had her hands bound and her mouth stuffed with torn cloth, only knowing to continuously sob and shed tears. Han Xiao, Zi Yuan, and the other two guards carefully watched over her. No matter how much she whimpered, they showed no intention of releasing her.

Bian Ruohan heard vague words like “kill her” and “chop off her head” coming from the carriage ahead, and regretted so much her intestines were turning green.

She shouldn’t have been so impulsive. She should have carefully observed the time and route of Qin Yining’s adulterous outings, then brought Prince Zhongshun to let him see with his own eyes. But what did she do? How did her head get so hot that she rushed forward at that moment?

Also, what kind of people had Lu Heng arranged around her? At the crucial moment, not only could they not protect her at all, but when she was captured, those people showed no reaction whatsoever and had no intention of rescuing her.

If those people went back to tell Lu Heng, and Lu Heng then sent people out to save her life, they would probably only find a corpse!

Bian Ruohan despised Qin Yining to the core. Today she had caught Qin Yining in such a major transgression, catching her red-handed coming out in disguise for an affair—could Qin Yining possibly leave her alive?

Hadn’t she heard that woman surnamed Qin and her adulterer already openly conspiring about how to kill her to silence her?

Bian Ruohan’s tears flowed like rain as she was so frightened she began crying uncontrollably.

In the carriage ahead, Qin Yining vaguely heard the crying from behind and couldn’t help becoming even more irritated.

“Some people are just naturally disagreeable, born with the ability to annoy others. Such people should be dismantled and burned for fuel, so we won’t have to be annoyed seeing them in the future.”

Pang Xiao immediately cooperated, saying, “I heard that the Yan Dynasty’s demon empress was burned as a human torch. How about we make her into a human torch too?”

After a moment of silence, another loud cry came from the carriage behind.

Soon, the carriages arrived at the outskirts.

The quiet streets on this rainy day were already enough to chill Bian Ruohan to the bone, and now the emptiness of the outskirts, so different from the city, made her tremble even more.

The surroundings were very quiet, with the sound of rain covering the insect chirping.

The carriage slowly stopped. Pang Xiao gave a few quiet instructions, then entered the Earth God Temple with Qin Yining.

Han Xiao and Zi Yuan followed Qin Yining’s footsteps. Mu Jinghu went to the rear carriage compartment, lifted the already trembling Bian Ruohan, and directly threw her into the corner behind the temple’s deity statue.

This Earth God Temple was very dilapidated, with wind leaking everywhere. The earthen walls had already shed many mottled traces, and several places where yellow earth had peeled off even exposed the structure inside the walls, as if a single kick could create a hole in the wall.

In fact, upon entering the Earth God Temple, gusts of cold wind came swirling in.

Because there were many places where the earthen walls had broken holes. Behind the deity statue, not far from where Bian Ruohan was thrown on the ground, there was a dog-hole-sized opening through which one could see the waterlogged fields outside.

Bian Ruohan was blown by gusts of wind until she shivered uncontrollably, yet fearfully pricked up her ears, wanting to hear clearly what those people in front were saying.

She could only hear Qin Yining’s voice, which could be recognized immediately even when disguised, saying, “How annoying. Even coming out for a tryst, we encounter such bad luck. Just kill her with one blade and be done with it. Take all her valuables while we’re at it and throw her in the wilderness. That way anyone who sees will know she was robbed.”

Pang Xiao said, “That’s also good, but then won’t our hands be stained with blood? Better to tie her up more securely and throw her directly in a low-lying area. With such heavy rain recently, the accumulated rainwater will be enough to drown her! I can see she’s not a good person anyway, always staring at you for no reason. Might as well eliminate her directly and let you vent your anger.”

Qin Yining praised this repeatedly, “That’s not bad either. Since we’re going to throw her in a low area to drown, let me deal with her first. That woman only knows to stare at me all day, constantly comparing herself to me, constantly opposing me. I’ve long been disgusted with her. Today she’s fallen into my hands—if I don’t carve a few characters on her face, wouldn’t that be a huge loss?”

“What characters do you plan to carve?” Seeing Qin Yining’s adorable appearance as she spoke while craning her neck to look toward the back, Pang Xiao’s voice became gentle.

Qin Yining said, “First write her name on her forehead, then carve the characters ‘adulteress’ on her face. What do you think?”

“That works too. How about I go do it now? What you said made my hands itch—I haven’t carved characters on a person’s body in a long time. But don’t worry, my craftsmanship is very skilled. I definitely won’t let her die from pain.”

“How about we just use slow slicing instead?”

…

Bian Ruohan listened from behind the deity statue, blown by cold wind, her whole body trembling like a blade of grass ravaged by the cold wind. These people hadn’t reached consensus yet, but they clearly intended to kill her—they wouldn’t give her a way to live today.

Bian Ruohan’s tears and snot flowed continuously. She struggled restlessly, looking around for escape routes, wanting to find someone to help her escape.

She wondered if the little silver remaining in her possession would be enough to sustain her.

Suddenly, another gust of cold wind blew through. This Earth God Temple leaked wind everywhere. The cold wind behind Bian Ruohan, mixed with moist rain air, made her whole body shiver with cold.

At this moment, counting on the people Lu Heng had arranged was useless. Those people couldn’t possibly come at the fastest speed. Her only option now was self-rescue.

The sound of blade sharpening came from the front of the hall. Not knowing what those people were saying, behind the sound of blade sharpening, several people were even in the mood to laugh heartily.

Bian Ruohan’s tears flowed even more fiercely. To think that from childhood to adulthood she had never suffered such hardship, yet now she was like a lamb awaiting slaughter, listening to those crude people decide her life and death.

If one could live, who would want to die?

Bian Ruohan began crawling toward the hole.

At this moment she began to feel grateful for Qin Yining’s carelessness. If today it had been someone else watching her, she might not have had any chance to escape.

But the front continued with sounds of blade sharpening, plus the sound of everyone’s hearty laughter during conversation, which truly created considerable fear for Bian Ruohan.

So Qin Yining was this kind of person—not only disguising herself to come out for affairs, but also treating human life with no regard, as if killing her would be as easy as killing a chicken.

Bian Ruohan couldn’t care about whether she looked wretched or not. She tried not to make any sound as she crawled into the hole. Fortunately, the other party looked down on her as a weak woman and only bound her arms without tying her feet. As long as she could quietly crawl out, she could immediately escape quietly and find a place to hide first.

Qin Yining and Pang Xiao discussed in front how exactly to deal with Bian Ruohan until their mouths were dry.

Qin Yining looked inquiringly at Mu Jinghu.

Mu Jinghu crossed his arms and glanced toward the back of the deity statue, finally nodding.

Qin Yining immediately lowered her voice, “She’s already escaped?”

Mu Jinghu came close and said quietly, “I’m not saying anything, but that woman is really too stupid. It took great effort for her to crawl out.”

Qin Yining shook her head and sighed, “Indeed, she’s really too stupid. If someone truly intended to capture her, she wouldn’t have had any chance to escape.”

Pang Xiao said amusingly, “We just said so many irrelevant things. Aren’t you afraid she’ll spread rumors and slander you after escaping?”

“She definitely will. It’s just that for what she says to matter, someone has to believe it. Moreover, no one is stupid—can one sentence from her without evidence make people believe? I’m a dignified princess consort—I’m not crazy. Why would I want to kill a mere earl’s wife?”

“She probably thinks exactly that way. She regards you as an enemy, so naturally she wouldn’t imagine you could treat her well.”

“None of this matters. She was hostile toward me from the beginning anyway. She was shouting loudly in the city, and I had no choice but to capture her. Now that she can escape on her own, she’ll probably be so frightened she’ll fall ill for a while, giving me a few days of peace. As for her going to tell Lu Heng, let her do as she pleases. Could he possibly become enemies with our prince’s mansion again just to avenge Bian Ruohan? Moreover, claiming I disguised myself to have affairs also requires someone to believe it.”

Mu Jinghu checked around at this time and returned to say quietly, “She should have hidden far away.”

“Mm, then let her go. This place hasn’t left Huichuan County either. If she’s not completely stupid, she can quickly find people to send her back to the mansion.”

Qin Yining stood up and smiled, “Let’s return to the mansion first and wait to see what other tricks the Lu family wants to pull. I think when Bian Ruohan returns to the mansion, she’ll immediately start stirring up trouble.”