A pebble hit the tree trunk with a “plop.”

The silly golden oriole standing on the branch was startled, chirped once, and fluttered away.

The black snake missed its prey, flicked its tongue, and retreated into the flowers, hiding itself.

Ning Yin’s “show” was over, and he finally turned his head toward Yu Lingxi, his eyes like black ice, revealing no emotion.

The young woman beneath the flowering tree had picturesque features. She brushed the dust from her hands and said, “I don’t like snakes. Warmed in someone’s embrace, they still bite the hand that feeds them—cold-blooded, ungrateful creatures.”

Ning Yin smiled, very slightly.

“But Young Miss, snakes are meant to bite people.”

Yet there wasn’t a hint of humor in his eyes, only faint mockery. “Born cold-blooded, living in darkness, they have already adapted to temperatures other than human warmth. How can you blame them for biting back?”

Twisted logic, just like in her previous life, leaves people with no way to argue.

“We should find a guard to drive it away,” Yu Lingxi said, still uncomfortable thinking about such a cold creature.

“You should kill it,” Ning Yin suddenly said, watching the black snake coiled in the tree.

Yu Lingxi looked at Ning Yin’s profile, unable to discern his meaning.

In her previous life, when she couldn’t guess Ning Yin’s thoughts, she would yield at the appropriate time. So she lowered her gaze and raised her left hand with its bruises and scabs, showing him her palm with a light sigh: “My hand still hurts.”

Sure enough, Ning Yin’s eyes flickered slightly.

She had struck herself fiercely, and now she was playing the victim in front of him.

Yu Lingxi glanced at him. “What do you think?”

Ning Yin shook his head. “The Young Miss is too clever. I can’t figure you out.”

Being called “clever” by someone truly intelligent made Yu Lingxi unsure whether to feel proud or ashamed.

“Better to have you owe me a favor than to earn your hatred,” Yu Lingxi said frankly. “Besides, I bear some responsibility in this matter.”

Ning Yin said nothing more.

A white magnolia blossom fell from its branch, landing at Yu Lingxi’s feet with a soft sound.

She crouched down to pick up the perfectly intact magnolia flower when Ning Yin’s cold voice sounded beside her: “Is the Young Miss satisfied with my performance?”

“What performance?” Yu Lingxi was still holding the flower, her pomegranate-red skirt trailing on the ground.

“I didn’t cut off Qing Xiao’s right arm.”

Ning Yin’s lips curved slightly, his tone chilly. “Does the Young Miss find Qing Xiao’s arm more useful than mine?”

He was referring to the day they visited Xue Chen when Yu Lingxi had ignored him and chosen to hold onto Qing Xiao’s arm to board the carriage.

Three days!

He hadn’t reflected or calmed down at all but had been brooding over this sinisterly!

Yu Lingxi’s head ached. All her anger dissipated as she rose with a sigh: “Wei Qi, have you never felt even a bit of compassion or love for this world?”

“Love?” Ning Yin suddenly laughed.

Since her reincarnation and their reunion, it was the first time Yu Lingxi had seen him display such an unrestrained yet cold smile—like spring wind melting snow, yet mocking all living things.

“I fought my way out of an arena, remember?”

Though smiling, his eyes were like a frozen pool, looking at Yu Lingxi without the slightest ripple. “No one has ever taught me such things.”

Yu Lingxi held the white magnolia, her emotions rising and falling before returning to calm.

She finally became certain that small material favors alone could never transform Ning Yin’s temperament.

He had lived in cruel darkness, lacking the emotions of a normal person. And teaching him moral principles required first making him a normal person who understood feelings and love.

They stood silently for a long time until flower petals carpeted the ground.

After Yu Lingxi left, Ning Yin stood in the distance, still holding a fragrant white magnolia.

The beast who no longer bothered to disguise himself had shown his fangs, not even bothering to hide the malice in his words.

He thought Yu Lingxi would be angry, but after contemplating for a long time, the young woman simply handed over the magnolia in her hand and told him: “Wei Qi, we are not enemies. The Yu Estate will never be an arena.”

Ning Yin lowered his eyes to look at the delicate flower in his palm, then slowly closed his long fingers around it.

With a light sneer, he didn’t know whether to call her foolish or clever.

If she was foolish, she was still bold and perceptive, always managing to perfectly dissipate his sudden bursts of cruelty;

If she was clever…

A faint “hiss” came from the branches overhead. Ning Yin’s eyes turned cold as he reached up and precisely caught the venomous snake attempting to ambush them.

His fingers tightened, squeezing the vital point seven inches from the head. The black snake’s body convulsed violently, twisting around before going limp and lifeless.

Ning Yin tied the dead snake into a knot, tossed it to the ground, and looked at his fingers, now tainted with the snake’s smell, with disgust.

If she was clever, she didn’t understand that when dealing with matters, one must eliminate the root to prevent future trouble.

…

Eastern Palace.

“What did you say?”

Crown Prince Ning Tan stood up. “Mother Empress doesn’t approve of Yu Lingxi as the Crown Princess? Why?”

The amber-robed eunuch Cui An stood by, slowly explaining: “I heard that the Second Miss Yu has a marriage agreement with the Second Young Master of the Xue family. As the future Emperor, Your Highness represents the standard for the realm and naturally cannot be seen forcibly taking another official’s wife. Moreover, Your Highness knows how important Right Minister Xue’s covert support is.”

Mentioning this made Ning Tan deeply frustrated.

“Useless!”

Ning Tan swept a table of papers and ink to the ground with his sleeve, creating a clatter of noise. Pointing at the two imperial guards kneeling on the ground, he shouted, “All of you are useless!”

If Xue Chen had died, there would have been no such obstacle. But his subordinates had failed, Xue Chen had survived, and the Xue family had been alerted.

Early that morning, Right Minister Xue had visited the Eastern Palace with his cane, ostensibly asking the Crown Prince to investigate Xue Chen’s fall into the lake, but was he secretly delivering a warning? Who could say?

Eunuch Cui An kept his eyes lowered, maintaining his slow speech: “Your Highness absolutely must not move against the Second Young Master Xue again. Even without Second Young Master Xue, Your Highness still cannot marry the Second Miss Yu.”

“What do you mean?”

“Recently, rumors have been circulating in the capital that the Second Miss Yu once encountered danger during the spring hunt and spent a day and night alone with a slave, compromising her virtue. With such a stain, she cannot possibly become the Crown Princess.”

Cui An continued, “The Empress said she will choose the First Miss Yu as the Crown Princess instead. The valuable gifts Your Highness previously sent to the Yu household will be considered rewards for the First Miss Yu, to avoid giving people cause to gossip.”

Ning Tan’s thoughts weren’t on Yu Xinyi at all. He only asked, “You say Yu Lingxi has already lost her virtue?”

Cui An replied, “So the rumors say, and they likely aren’t without foundation.”

“What kind of bewitching beauty must she be, to make someone as pure and noble as the Second Young Master Xue endure such humiliation and still insist on marrying her?”

Ning Tan sat back down absent-mindedly, fingering his jade ring, his curiosity and desire growing.

Thinking of something, he licked his dry lips. “If she has already lost her virtue, then losing it one more time doesn’t matter, right?”

Cui An looked up, knowing the Crown Prince wouldn’t rest until he had bedded the girl.

Ning Tan was extremely lustful. If left unchecked, he would likely do something even more outrageous and mindless. When that happened, the Empress would still have to clean up his mess.

“If Your Highness merely wishes to taste her once, that might be possible,” Cui An said.

Suppressing the mockery in his eyes, he added languidly, “The day after tomorrow is Princess Imperial De Yang’s birthday celebration.”

Ning Tan paused, then broke into a smile, patting Cui An’s shoulder. “You’re so clever. Quickly go and make arrangements!”

“Yes, Your Highness.” Cui An bowed and withdrew.

After leaving the main hall of the Eastern Palace, the amber-robed young eunuch stopped in his tracks, raising his hand to brush off the shoulder the Crown Prince had touched, his smile fading.

Yu Estate.

Princess Imperial De Yang was the current Emperor’s full-blooded sister. When the Emperor was still a prince, he relied entirely on this exceptionally capable Princess Imperial to reach his current position.

Therefore, the Princess Imperial’s status was extraordinary. For her birthday celebration, the noble families of the capital all sent female relatives to attend and offer congratulations. The Yu family was no exception.

Madam Yu had originally planned to attend with her eldest daughter Yu Xinyi, as usual. But the day before, an attendant from the Princess Imperial’s residence had delivered an invitation specifically requesting Yu Lingxi’s presence.

Yu Lingxi pondered this. In her youth, she had been frequently ill and rarely appeared in public, with absolutely no connection to Princess Imperial De Yang.

But Princess Imperial De Yang had lost her husband early and had no children. She had always treated her nephew Ning Tan as her son. Ning Tan’s successful appointment as Crown Prince owed much to this Princess Imperial.

In her previous life, after Ning Yin killed his brother and father, Princess Imperial attempted to unite the remaining faction and eunuchs to execute Ning Yin in revenge. As a result, Ning Yin lit human skin lanterns, turning the palace into a living hell…

As memories from her past and present lives converged, Yu Lingxi guessed that the Princess Imperial’s specific invitation to the celebration was most likely related to the Crown Prince’s marriage.

Could it be that she was curious and wanted to see what Yu Lingxi looked like?

Yu Lingxi was still pondering this question until just before departing for the celebration.

Knowing that Princess Imperial De Yang preferred gentle and pure women, she deliberately chose a vibrant crabapple-colored outfit and applied bright makeup, adorning herself with pearls and jewels.

Hu Tao, standing beside her, pouted at the sight.

How could the Young Miss change her preferences so quickly? At the spring banquet, she had dressed as simply as an immortal, but now she was as gorgeously adorned as a divine consort.

“Young Miss, it’s time to leave,” announced a maid sent by Madam Yu from outside the door.

“Coming,” Yu Lingxi replied, examining herself thoroughly in the bronze mirror, still not entirely satisfied.

She couldn’t be careless about anything involving the Eastern Palace and the imperial family.

Like the imperial palace, the Princess Imperial’s residence was strictly guarded by imperial soldiers. Attendees couldn’t bring knives, swords, or other weapons, nor could they bring servants or attendants.

After some thought, she called Qing Xiao, who was waiting in the corridor, and instructed in a low voice: “Today at the celebration, bring two more guards to wait outside the gate. Outsiders can’t enter the Princess Imperial’s residence. If I haven’t emerged by the third quarter past noon, have my elder sister find the Young Prince of Nanyang. She’ll know what to do.”

Qing Xiao acknowledged: “I understand.”

At Princess Imperial De Yang’s residence, carriages from various estates had already lined up over a hundred paces away, creating a bustling scene at the entrance.

Yu Lingxi alighted from the carriage with her mother. Across from them, Zhao Yuming was also getting down with Madam Zhao.

When the two families met, the mother and daughter of the Zhao family clearly showed awkwardness and discomfort.

Madam Zhao and Madam Yu were half-sisters with the same father but different mothers. Since they were young, Madam Zhao had always competed with her gentle and beautiful sister—competing for clothes, for accessories, until finally, her sister became the revered mistress of the General’s mansion, while she married an unremarkable official from the Ministry of War.

The Zhao family’s fortunes had declined, and Madam Zhao felt disgraced, increasingly cutting ties with the Yu family.

Meeting now, they discovered that Zhao Yuming and Yu Lingxi were wearing the same crabapple-colored skirts. From behind, the two looked quite similar, but face to face, the difference was immediately apparent.

Though Zhao Yuming was beautiful, her appearance had a somewhat common quality, unable to carry such vibrant clothing. Yu Lingxi, on the other hand, was exquisitely lovely and radiant.

Madam Zhao maintained a forced smile as she exchanged pleasantries with Madam Yu.

As soon as the Yu mother and daughter walked away, her face darkened, and she scolded Zhao Yuming: “I told you not to wear this outfit, but you insisted! Now look—you’re wearing the same clothes but don’t look nearly as good. You’ve completely embarrassed me!”

Zhao Yuming’s face paled as she twisted her sleeves in silence.

Zhao Xu limped over and stood in front of Zhao Yuming. “Stepmother, Yuming spent a long time preparing for this banquet. Besides, I think Yuming looks better than the Second Miss Yu.”

“You think so?” Madam Zhao scoffed coldly, glancing at this cripple who had broken his leg in a horse riding accident. “What does your opinion matter?”

Zhao Yuming followed behind Madam Zhao. As she stepped onto the stairs, she stopped and looked back at Zhao Xu.

Zhao Xu stood in the shadows, his eyes churning with dark hatred as he nodded to Zhao Yuming.

The Princess Imperial’s residence was magnificent. In the garden, fragrant ladies with elaborate hairstyles mingled, exchanging toast.

Princess Imperial De Yang had not yet appeared, but the ladies were already gathering in small groups, chatting.

The General’s position was high and powerful, always a target for others seeking favor and connection. Madam Yu was surrounded by ladies from various households and couldn’t break away.

Such banquets required social interaction. Yu Lingxi said to her mother: “Mother, please attend to your matters. I’ll go find the Countess of Qingping.”

She didn’t find Tang Buli but spotted Xue Chen instead.

His color was much better now. Dressed in snow-white clothes, he maintained a polite distance while smiling and saying something to Zhao Yuming.

Catching sight of Yu Lingxi from the corner of his eye, Xue Chen’s eyes brightened. He politely excused himself from Zhao Yuming and walked toward Yu Lingxi.

“Second Sister,” he called out in a clear voice.

“Brother Chen,” Yu Lingxi nodded in greeting, asking with concern, “Is your health fully restored?”

“It’s nothing; I’ve already recovered completely.”

Xue Chen guided her to a seat and personally brewed a pot of tea. “This is this year’s newest tea variety. Would you like to try it, Second Sister?”

Yu Lingxi raised a cup and sniffed it. It was very fragrant.

She asked, “Is it a variety that only appeared this year?”

Xue Chen’s tea-pouring posture was extremely elegant. He nodded, “That’s right.”

Yu Lingxi made a curious sound and sniffed again. Why did this tea’s fragrance seem so familiar?

Meanwhile.

Crown Prince Ning Tan, dressed in casual clothes, stood at a high pavilion, watching the female guests come and go. Impatiently fanning himself with a paper fan, he asked, “Where is the Second Miss Yu?”

Clouds covered a large area of shadow, which gradually moved westward along the direction of the Princess Imperial’s residence.

In the back street of the General’s mansion, at a deserted corner where no one was present.

With the sound of wings cutting through the air, a gray falcon spread its wings and landed on the raised arm of a young man.

Taking the bamboo tube with the secret message tied to the bird’s leg, Ning Yin unfolded it. His eyes grew cold and deep as he read.

Ning Tan had secretly gone to Princess Imperial De Yang’s residence. Since it wasn’t an open visit, he surely had some indecent scheme.

Thinking of Yu Lingxi who had departed in full finery for the banquet today, his eyes grew colder, sharp with a dangerous chill.

“Young Miss, I told you before,” he said with a laugh.

His voice was extremely low, with a hint of playfulness. “If you don’t eliminate the root when cutting the grass, trouble will inevitably return.”

Her small, kind cleverness was nothing in the face of absolute power.

Should he save her?

He leaned against the wall, thinking indifferently.

Better not.

If he appeared there without reason, she might accuse him again of being full of schemes, of orchestrating cruel killings and the like.

After all, she had prepared Qing Xiao and the Young Prince of Nanyang. She didn’t need him, did she?

He laughed coldly and turned to walk back, but his steps unconsciously slowed, finally stopping in place.

His five fingers clenched suddenly. The gray falcon flew away in alarm, and the secret message crumbled to dust through his fingers.

But…

The untamed young man raised his head, squinting at the sun hidden behind the clouds.

His thin lips moved: “When in a bad mood, it’s fitting to kill.”