These thoughts swarmed over her, making Yu Tang’s head throb with splitting pain. Her heart felt as if it had been torn open and crushed into a ball, causing her to clutch at her collar and gasp softly.

The two young maids Qing Yuan had brought heard the commotion and immediately came over. Seeing her eyes open, both were delighted. One ran to report the news while the other crouched by the bed, asking Yu Tang softly, “You’re awake! Can you speak? Would you like some water? The physician has already examined you and said it was chest tightness and shortness of breath. He prescribed medicine, and A’Ming personally went to fetch it. Right now he’s outside with two servants brewing it for you.”

Before her words had finished, Pei Yan, having received the news, strode in with great steps.

“How are you?” he asked with a stern expression.

The young maid quickly retreated to the side.

Pei Yan sat on the edge of the bed and took her hand to check her pulse.

Yu Tang said nothing, quietly watching Pei Yan.

Only now did she notice that Pei Yan’s jawline was exceptionally elegant, clean and sharp, with a kind of serene beauty.

Could such a fine Pei Yan be related to her death in her previous life?

Just thinking about it made Yu Tang feel she couldn’t breathe.

If this were the Yu Tang of her previous life, even if her heart turned a thousand times, she would probably have to endure it.

But she was Yu Tang who had experienced life and death, who had missed out on kindness.

So she asked Pei Yan, “Why did you have Peng Eleven come pay respects to the Old Madam? Are you planning to become close friends with him?”

Her voice was hoarse, revealing a hint of anxiety.

Pei Yan’s heart sank.

Yu Tang’s fainting was actually related to Peng Eleven.

Could something have happened that he didn’t know about?

Pei Yan racked his brains but couldn’t think of what grievance Yu Tang and Peng Eleven could have.

He said, “Not at all. It’s just that he was framed and disfigured by someone. Thinking about it, I felt he was also pitiful—his aspirations completely ruined. I was just giving him some face, that’s all.”

Yu Tang suddenly understood.

Pei Yan also seemed to have great aspirations, but because of Old Master Pei’s dying wishes, he was kept at home managing the family business, cutting off his path to officialdom.

Thinking carefully, their situations had some similarities.

Yu Tang couldn’t help holding her breath, cautiously seeking confirmation. “Third Master, are you sympathizing with him?”

“What else did you think it was?” Pei Yan glared at her and said, “Peng Eleven is also an ambitious, opportunistic, and callous person. I’ve seen plenty of such people. Why would I want to become close friends with him?”

Yu Tang breathed a sigh of relief and couldn’t help showing a smile.

Her expression changed so obviously, her smile so brilliant, that even if Pei Yan wanted to ignore it, he had no way to. He said, “What about you? How do you know Peng Eleven? What did he do to you?” Speaking of this, he suddenly thought of Li Duan and added, “Don’t tell me he also stuck his hand in the Li family matter?”

Yu Tang froze.

She felt Pei Yan was truly formidable.

Although in this life Wei Xiaoshan’s death had no direct connection to Peng Eleven—it was entirely Li Duan’s evil doing—in her previous life, the Li and Peng families had colluded, Li Duan and Peng Eleven…

She’d always suspected her death in her previous life was related to what she’d heard before dying.

Sadly, when she saw Li Duan appear before her then, she’d been too agitated and hadn’t understood clearly what they were arguing about.

Yu Tang fell silent for a moment.

She didn’t know how to tell Pei Yan.

Pei Yan was a good person who had helped her greatly before. She shouldn’t lie and deceive him. Moreover, Pei Yan was currently competing with the Peng, Song, and other families for clan affairs benefits. If her few words influenced his judgment and consequently harmed the Pei family, even descending to the eighteenth level of hell couldn’t compensate Pei Yan.

She could only look at Pei Yan with innocent eyes, hoping he would make a big matter small, a small matter disappear, mistakenly thinking this was her private affair, and let this matter pass.

But Pei Yan wasn’t so easily fooled.

The young lady’s eyes were truly beautiful, clear black and white like summer night stars, but if she didn’t explain this matter clearly, he wouldn’t let it go.

The two stared at each other, making the meditation room fall into profound silence where even a dropped needle could be heard.

Yu Tang had matters on her mind—how could she compare to the righteous and confident Pei Yan?

In less than the time it took to drink a cup of tea, she admitted defeat.

She immediately became anxious and flustered.

What should she do?

Pei Yan secretly exhaled.

If the young lady wouldn’t speak, he truly had no good solution.

They couldn’t just keep at this stalemate.

A whole crowd of people at the dharma hall were still waiting for him!

It wasn’t that he worried about offending those people—he feared that if they knew what he was doing, they would needlessly drag the young lady in, push her to the forefront, and make her the focus of everyone’s attention.

As for why he didn’t want others to know about Yu Tang, he wasn’t conscious of it and naturally wouldn’t think carefully about it.

He simply attributed this emotion to the fact that inner chamber women were best kept from public exposure.

Pei Yan waited calmly, just waiting for Yu Tang to speak.

Yu Tang was extremely anxious, thinking she might as well act shamelessly… when the corner of her eye inadvertently swept across the image of Shakyamuni Buddha hanging on the meditation room wall.

A flash of inspiration struck her mind.

This was a temple, and she’d lived in the temple for several days—she could completely say someone had appeared in her dreams!

But who should she say appeared in her dreams?

Lu Xin? When he was alive, she had once ruined his plans. Even if he wanted to appear in dreams, he wouldn’t appear in hers! Wei Xiaoshan? Men and women should maintain proper distance. Wei Xiaoshan’s parents and brothers all lived—why would he appear in her dreams? If this made Pei Yan mistakenly think she and Wei Xiaoshan had romantic feelings, wouldn’t that backfire?

This wouldn’t work either!

Sweat beaded on Yu Tang’s forehead.

Forget it—rather than fabricating all sorts of things and dragging others down, she might as well say the simplest thing.

Just say that living in the temple, she’d had nightmares for several nights in a row!

Yu Tang’s heart settled greatly.

Then she worried again.

This was a temple with all the gods and Buddhas watching. She was someone reborn who had received the Bodhisattva’s grace. If she lied, would the Bodhisattva punish her?

If the punishment fell only on her, that would be manageable, but would it also extend to her parents and to Pei Yan?

Thinking this, her eyes revealed some reverence!

Watching this, Pei Yan’s heart shuddered.

It seemed something had truly happened!

The young lady still looked like she didn’t dare speak.

His face showed a cold severity that even he himself wasn’t aware of.

Seeing this, Yu Tang felt extremely distressed.

She had indeed made Pei Yan unhappy.

Then… she would just tell him!

At worst, she’d let the Bodhisattva place all the blame on her alone.

She decided to hide nothing. Pressing her palms together, she bowed several times toward the image of Shakyamuni Buddha hanging on the wall, closed her eyes tightly, and murmured softly, “Bodhisattva, this is all my sin. If you’re angry, please blame only me. I’m willing to bear any karmic consequences, only please don’t blame anyone else.”

Pei Yan had keen hearing and heard clearly.

Now she was even petitioning the Bodhisattva.

The corner of his mouth twitched. He’d originally wanted to mock Yu Tang a few times, but seeing her finish speaking and then bow very devoutly toward the image again, the words on his lips suddenly changed to, “Enough! If you’re truly afraid the Bodhisattva will blame you, prepare some incense money later and have the temple monks perform a Buddhist service for you. The Bodhisattva is fundamentally benevolent and likes receiving incense money. Once he receives incense money, he’ll generally help resolve any sins.”

What kind of talk was that!

Yu Tang couldn’t help glaring at Pei Yan.

But Pei Yan let out a long breath.

The young lady could still be willful, could still get angry—seeing her like this made him feel relieved. Not like when she lay on the soft sedan chair, nor like just now when she prayed so tremulously, making him worry, making his heart ache.

He smiled and said, “Looks like you can tell me now.”

His tone was light, but Yu Tang heard teasing in it.

As if he were playing with her.

She pressed her lips in a smile.

Only now did the unease in her heart truly settle.

Pei Yan was so good—no matter how shocking and unconventional she was, he had never avoided her, and was still willing to listen to her explanations, willing to try his best to believe her.

It was like this before, and it was like this now!

At this moment, she made up her mind that in the future she would never misunderstand Pei Yan again. She wouldn’t look at what he said, but rather what he did—looking through those superficial things to see clearly his inner kindness and goodness.

Yu Tang took a deep breath and said slowly, “It’s not that I didn’t want to tell you. I was afraid you wouldn’t believe me if you knew.”

There truly was a story!

Pei Yan raised his eyebrows and listened carefully.

Yu Tang told Pei Yan about what happened in her previous life, omitting the beginning and end: “…I don’t know why I was staying at Ku’an Temple when I saw Li Duan and Peng Eleven arguing. Of course, at that time I didn’t yet know he was Peng Eleven—I just had a deep impression of the scar on his face. You also know what Li Duan did to our family. Looking at the scar on Peng Eleven’s face, I felt he definitely wasn’t a good person. If Li Duan was together with such a person, perhaps they were plotting against our Yu family. So I quietly drew near and hid under the flowering tree beside them. I only heard Peng Eleven say to Li Duan: ‘You’ve been blinded by lust. This woman must be eliminated, otherwise how will we answer to Gu Zhaoyang? This is our pledge of loyalty!’

Li Duan’s face looked terrible as he said: ‘If you don’t speak, no one will know she’s still alive.’

Peng Eleven said: ‘There are no walls that don’t let wind through. If Gu Zhaoyang finds out we deceived him, can you bear the consequences alone? And can you even bear them at all?’

Li Duan said: ‘I’ll bear full responsibility!’

Peng Eleven laughed disdainfully: ‘If you couldn’t still coax your wife, do you think you could even speak to Gu Zhaoyang? Stop putting gold on your own face!’

After saying this, he pushed Li Duan aside and was about to come find me.

I don’t know why, but reaching into my bosom, I pulled out a brightly polished pair of scissors. I thought that if I just hid here, when Li Duan was alone, I could kill him.”

Speaking out word by word these things Yu Tang had buried deep in her heart, she felt very weary.

She paused for a while.

Not only did Pei Yan not rush her, he actually stood up to pour her a cup of hot tea, placing it in her hands and softly comforting her, “That was a dream!”

That wasn’t a dream!

That was something she had personally experienced!

Yu Tang’s eyes suddenly moistened.

She lowered her head, gathering her emotions.

The heat from the teacup in her hands slowly warmed her fingertips.

And slowly warmed her frozen mind.

Her mind slowly began working again, giving her a flash of inspiration. Why not take this opportunity to add a sentence or two to let Pei Yan know that the one who would seize the imperial throne in the future was the Second Prince?