A spark flashed in her eyes, like a streak of light cutting through the darkness, so bright it was hard to look at directly.

Duanxian looked at her with wild joy, her body trembling slightly. Her mouth opened and closed several times before she finally managed to speak: “Really?”

“Really.” Fengyue nodded, looking straight at her. “However, when he arrives, you must follow my instructions. No rash actions.”

No rash actions? Her face stiffened, then her features twisted slightly. Duanxian said hatefully, “When he’s right in front of me, I’ll kill him by any means necessary! You’re telling me not to act rashly?”

“This is exactly why I told you to listen to me.” Fengyue sighed softly, “Kill a beast, then forfeit your own life. Is it worth it?”

“Of course, it’s worth it! Why else would I still be alive if not to kill him?!” Blood slowly filled her eyes as Duanxian’s voice grew hoarse, like an elderly person clinging to their last breath, held together by sheer will alone.

Fengyue squeezed her shoulder and said, “If you kill him, he’ll die without suffering – what kind of punishment is that? Better to leave him to me. You still need to live to make yearly offerings to your sister. If you’re gone, she’ll go hungry in the underworld. That wouldn’t be right.”

Duanxian froze, then looked up at her in shock: “Who exactly are you? How do you know about my sister?”

Her story had only been told to Madam Jin when she entered Fengyue House. Madam Jin had said that besides the owner of Fengyue House, no fourth person would know of this matter.

“Does who I am matter? Isn’t what’s important that your revenge is at hand?” Fengyue threw her a coy look and said, “You should thank He Chou. If not for her, Zhao Lin and Zhou Zhenshan wouldn’t have fallen so easily. We wouldn’t be able to move against Zhang Xun so smoothly, and there wouldn’t be such serious consequences.”

Her pupils contracted as Duanxian looked up at her in shock. Thoughts raced through her eyes, and after a moment she suddenly understood, but was even more shocked: “You’re…”

“When you entered Menghuai House, Madam Jin promised you that all grievances would be avenged. But you also promised her that after taking revenge, you would reform and live a peaceful life, not treating your life cheaply,” Fengyue said with an adorable smile, tilting her head. “A promise is a promise.”

Emotions surged as various feelings mingled together. After a long while, Duanxian still couldn’t hold back and threw herself at Fengyue, sobbing loudly!

“Hey hey, your tears!”

“Mis-“

“Mistress your grandmother’s leg, I’m Fengyue! The one who’ll be competing with you for business later!”

“I…”

“That’s enough from you, crying until your face looks like a ghost.” Though her words were merciless, Fengyue sat there gently patting Duanxian’s head.

This gentle pat made Duanxian cry even harder, loud enough for the entire Menghuai House to hear.

Madam Jin rushed up with a swaying gait, bringing Wei Yun and others with her. They burst through the door asking, “What happened, what happened?!”

“Fengyue, did you bully Duanxian?”

Fengyue gave a dry laugh and spread her hands helplessly toward the door: “She was probably too excited to see me return.”

This was a bit too exciting! Madam Jin shook her head and called out loudly: “Alright, having a girl return home is a good thing, why are you crying? It’s inauspicious! Wash your face and prepare to receive guests tonight!”

After wiping her tears and mucus on Fengyue’s clothes, Duanxian took a deep breath and let it out slowly: “That feels better.”

Looking disgustedly at her clothes, Fengyue shook her head: “I don’t feel better. I need a bath!”

Duanxian burst out laughing, gave her a deep look, and said hoarsely: “Go ahead, Miss Fengyue.”

“Alright then.” Grabbing some clean clothes, Fengyue flew downstairs like the wind.

At the envoy’s mansion.

Sitting in the courtyard reading books all afternoon, Yin Gezhi was not in a good mood. Looking at the flowers and plants in the yard, everything seemed disagreeable to his eyes.

“Master?” Guanzhi, who understood him well, asked: “If you don’t like these, shall we have someone clear them away?”

“No need.” Yin Gezhi said: “Did you find out about what I asked you to investigate?”

“Yes.” Guanzhi cupped his hands: “That Li Xun has no connection to Miss Fengyue, but during the Battle of Pingchang, he harmed many civilian women. Later, due to public outrage in the Wei Kingdom, he was forced to retreat to Buyin City, where he became just a garrison instructor.”

Civilian women? After pondering for a moment, Yin Gezhi shook his head. Such a small matter hardly warranted his involvement.

“Then invite him to Menghuai House tomorrow at dusk for a chat.”

“Yes.”

Business at Menghuai House had already recovered considerably. Most people seeking pleasure only cared about beauty – who would concern themselves with all those conflicts and disputes? So when Li Xun arrived at Menghuai House at dusk, he saw courtesans entertaining in the breeze and guests coming and going in an endless stream.

“What a fine place!” An excited look appeared in his eyes. Li Xun nodded repeatedly, thinking that if Crown Prince Yin invited him to such a place, he surely wasn’t planning to interrogate him.

Stepping inside reassured, Madam Jin spotted him and led him upstairs with a smile: “This way please, sir.”

The third floor was completely dark, without a single-lit room. Li Xun found it strange: “Has this floor been reserved?”

“Indeed it has. A generous guest booked it to receive only you.” Covering her smile with her hand, Madam Jin stopped on the second-floor stairs: “Just head on up. There are quite a few girls inside, and no matter what sounds are made, no one will disturb you.”

This good? Rubbing his hands together, Li Xun gave a meaningful laugh, then lifted his robes and hurried up.

All the rooms were dark, but one door stood open, with faint sounds of feminine laughter coming from inside.

He frequented brothels but hadn’t visited expensive places like Menghuai House much. Given this opportunity, he naturally wanted to indulge himself properly!

Excitedly stepping into the room, Li Xun first cupped his hands: “Your Highness, this humble official arrives late, please forgive me!”

A soft, perfumed body wound around him from the side. A gauze veil fluttered before his face as she giggled: “Sir has kept us waiting so long. The young master said we must serve you well first – if we don’t serve you properly, we won’t get our reward!”

“That’s right.” Another girl came close, her jade-like hands tugging at his belt, her voice soft enough to melt bones: “Come~ Shall we play hide and seek first?”

A mouthful of wine was fed to his lips. Li Xun drank eagerly, allowing them to blindfold him with his belt, then laughed: “His Highness treats this humble official so well! In that case, I won’t decline!”

With that, he reached out to grab at the person beside him.

A cry rang out as the girls scattered, their laughter continuing. Li Xun had always been lecherous and particularly enjoyed such games. He truly loved this kind of play and quickly reached out to catch one of the girls. That girl laughed and said: “I am Wei Yun.”

Then she broke free and vanished.

Li Xun laughed heartily and caught another, asking: “Who are you?”

“I am Jin Ling!”

Getting caught up in the game, Li Xun spun in circles when suddenly his left foot tangled with his right. He fell hard to the ground.

The laughter in the room stopped abruptly.

Finding it strange, Li Xun tried to push himself up when he felt a piece of cloth. Delighted, he immediately pulled the person wearing it into his arms: “Haha, you thought I couldn’t catch you just because you stopped making noise? Who are you?”

“I am… Little Qin.” The eerily drawn-out voice sent a shiver through Li Xun.

Little Qin?

He yanked off his blindfold to find a deathly pale ghost face before him, childlike features twisted in agony. With bloody red lips and dark circles under its eyes, it looked at him with an expression between crying and laughing: “Sir doesn’t remember Little Qin?”

A chill ran from his feet to his heart. Li Xun stumbled back several steps before finally crying out: “Ghost!”

“Hehehe.” Slowly crawling toward him, “Little Qin” said softly: “Didn’t sir like me best? Said you wanted me to serve you for life? Now I’ve come to serve you, don’t go…”

“Ahh!” Li Xun’s whole body trembled as he stumbled around, only to find the room empty! The thing behind him crawled slowly but filled him with a suffocating sense of impending death. He instinctively rushed to pull open the door.

“Clank.” The iron chain outside the door rattled, but it wouldn’t open.

Terrified, Li Xun screamed wildly while looking back at the ghost crawling toward him and pounding on the door: “Help! Help!”

“Shouldn’t that have been my cry?” The ethereal voice echoed through the room as “Little Qin” grabbed Li Xun’s ankle: “Sir, do you remember? How did I die?”

“I don’t remember! I don’t remember!” A smell of urine spread through the air. “Little Qin” released his ankle in disgust and slowly stood up: “If sir doesn’t remember, I do. I died under sir on the bed… I was only fourteen, sir!”

Terror turned to rage as Li Xun looked around, suddenly grabbing the candlestick from the table and hurling it at “Little Qin”!

The pointed candlestick whistled past her ear as Fengyue narrowed her eyes, thinking damn, good thing she was the one playing the ghost. If it had been Duanxian, with her slower reactions, she might have died right there.

Before she could finish the thought, a gust of wind came from above. Li Xun’s candlestick suddenly vanished, and somehow he was thrown against the wall with a loud “bang” before rolling to the ground.

Blinking, Fengyue glanced up at the rafters, then continued crawling toward Li Xun, crying: “Sir still wants to kill me again, then you can’t blame me… I’ll haunt you. I’ll stay with you every moment!”

Looking at her in terror, Li Xun’s breath caught in his chest, unable to rise or fall, until he finally fainted.

“Tsk, such little courage?” Pushing aside her disheveled hair, Fengyue stood up. She took some wine from the table and poured a bit more down his throat, then clapped her hands: “Ladies, move quickly.”

The group of women hiding in the inner room filed out, with Duanxian coming last, her eyes still full of hatred.

Patting her shoulder, Fengyue said: “Don’t let him die too quickly. Be good, listen to me.”

“Yes!” Nodding in agreement, Duanxian closed her eyes, then lifted Li Xun and threw him onto the bed as the group gathered around to wait.