In Master's Mansion.

Wearily, Leng Qingtang took some blood ginseng soup and put the bowl on the plate, gesturing the eunuch to take it away.

Cheng Wanli watched with worry.

Master's health was growing worse, but why the team went for Qiangwu fern hadn't gone back yet?

Leng Qingtang's sight was a little hazy. He looked at the front,

"This action went well. The branches in Chongcheng and Muyang helped a lot. They deserve a handsome reward."

"Yes."

Cheng Wanli bowed slightly and replied,

"There's also good news from the Palace. Zhaoyi Yu passed on a message that, His Majesty was overjoyed when he received the money. Before the morning ritual, he said in Xiaoye Chamber,

'Dayi cannot operate without the Eastern Depot, and the Eastern Depot cannot operate without Leng Qingtang.'"

"Humph!"

Leng Qingtang snorted. He curled his lips and revealed a mocking smile.

"I have long planned these actions, but I'm afraid something has happened beyond my expectation. Hasn't there been any response from Captain Jiang?"

Cheng Wanli tensed up at once. He opened his mouth but squeezed an answer after a long while,

"I sent secret guards to look for him yesterday. Don't worry, Master. I think it is the consecutive rainy weather that delayed him."

Leng Qingtang shook his head and smiled,

"Wanli, you're not a good liar. Judging by the mobility of Squad Seven, even if the road is rough, they should have entered the capital the day before yesterday. I know. I'm afraid they have come to a bad end this time."

His cold fingers kneaded the folds between the eyebrows, and his eyelashes as thick as raven feathers lowered, which cast a deep shadow beneath his eyelids.

"I'm not a man afraid of death. However, before the great achievement succeeds, I must cherish my life. Otherwise, I will be shy away to meet my Father and Mother underground when I die."

"Master..."

Leng Qingtang's voice gathered all the firm determination rang in Cheng Wanli's ears and arose a bleak feeling in his mind.

He saw Leng Qingtang supported himself up, trembling, and hurriedly reached his hands to help him.

Leng Qingtang let out a long sigh,

"Help me to the couch. I need to have a rest. Yunxi will come back soon, and I don't want to bother her again."

...

In the Royal Prison, a new round of torture came to an end.

The jailer came up to prick the sack soaked in blood with the point of a sword. A swarm of red-furred mice sprang out at once and ran away in all directions, followed by centipedes, scorpions, and hard-skinned beetles, creeping out of the sack in a mess and dived into the hay. They had a square meal of blood, looking red and round as little lanterns.

Half of Yanwan's body lay out of the shatter sack, collapsing on the ground still.

Not long ago, jailers tucked her into a large sack, and they poured mice and toxic insects in.

As Gu Yunxi's order, they tied up the sack, leaving the mice and insects biting Yanwan's body.

Those creatures lived in the dark jail and scavenged on human flesh and blood. The darker the environment, the more energetic they were.

However, once they met the strong smell of blood, they would go crazy and become aggressive and hungry. They would attack the bait out of conditioned reflex, sucking its blood and gnawing at its flesh.

Yanwan was tortured to half-dead by the continuous pain eroding her flesh and bones. She uttered shrill screams and moved her stiff limbs in the sack unconsciously. The mice and insects were squeezed and became more vicious.

Her body was covered by wounds after the punishment last night, and the wound became more serious after the affliction in the sack.

Bones were exposed in some most severely bitten parts. Red tissue wrapped white bones. The blood was gushing out of the shattered body. She looked terrifying.

There were some insects that reluctant to leave, worming on the uneven rotten flesh, sucking her delicious blood.

The people on the spot, not to mention Xiao Xiaoshen, even the two veteran jailers, who had been served in the Royal Prison for years, got weak legs because of this terrifying scene. Perhaps in the following few months, they wouldn't be willing to take even a bite of meat.

From the beginning to the end, Gu Yunxi sat still on the high chair like an ice sculpture, ruthless and stressful.

Her hateful eyes always followed the rolling sack on the ground. Her face, stained with dust, wore an empty and numb expression.

"Does it hurt?"

When Yanwan's mutilated body slightly rose and fell as she breathed, Gu Yunxi lifted her chin, asking with a fleer,

Face to the ground, Yanwan lifted her head with an effort against pain. A trace of thick liquid welled up from her red eyes and slid slowly down her broken face to the ground.

She stared at the girl on the chair, bursting out a malicious curse,

"You evil b*tch! You'll die in your boots."

Watching her look of unwillingness, Gu Yunxi sneered and stood up from the chair, gradually approaching Yanwan.

"Same here. I just paid back in kind."

She went close to a finger's length away from Yanwan. Her resentful eyes rounded suddenly, looking red as it reflected Yanwan’s blood.

"Now you have felt with your own body the pain in my heart!"

She let out these miserable words and straightened up. Stepping back, she looked down at Yanwan coldly,

"Where's the antidote?"

Yanwan put on an ugly smile with broken features,

"No way! I want you to feel the pain of losing your family and the loved ones."

Gu Yunxi raised her eyebrows and asked,

"As a little maid, there's no hatred between you and Commander-in-chief of the Eastern Depot. Tell me who instructed you to poison Master Leng?"

Yanwan had a grim look on her face,

"No one instructed me to do it! I want to avenge my eldest brother! It's you! It's you and Leng Qingtang who killed my eldest brother!"

She grew excited as she mentioned about her sore spot, scratching the ground and trying to approach Gu Yunxi. Although her fingernails had been pulled out and every movement caused severe pain all over her body, she didn't give up,

"He is the chief of the Imperial Ceremony Office, so what? How could he control the life and death of others? In the haunting competition last autumn, you didn't know the mountain road, and my brother kindly guided you. You fell off the cliff and Lord Leng condemned him cutting-at-the-waist! I entered the Palace to avenge him. I want the murderers to die like dogs!"

Gu Yunxi had a moment of enlightenment.

"I see... You listen to Ming Lan!"

Yanwan suddenly cut her words, astonished.

Gu Yunxi held back her worry and stared at Yanwan in blood sharply,

"If I'm right, Ming Lan didn't tell you that he bribed your brother to cheat me so that the Western Depot could capture me. When they were going to catch me, I jumped off the cliff to save myself."

Yanwan had nothing to say.

"Let's go home."

Gu Yunxi turned around and ran out of the cell. Xiao Xiaoshen and Qinger followed her.

"B*tch! Gu Yunxi! You'll die like a dog! My brother and I won't let you go even becoming ghosts."

Yanwan's vicious curse from the cell faded away...

Driven by Xiao Xiaoshen all the way, the carriage went fast towards the Master's Mansion on Yudao Street.

Both Gu Yunxi and Qinger kept silent in the carriage. Even though they were tossed by the rushing carriage, they bore it calmly without a complaint.

As soon as she went into the mansion’s gate, Gu Yunxi began to run, yelling,

"Master! Master."

She finally saw him when she ran through the second courtyard, in a light blue robe with tied-up raven hair, surrounded by Cheng Wanli and a number of eunuchs. His noble aura lingered him like a dense fog, which always made her lost when she looked at him.

Tears covered Gu Yunxi's face as she met his eyes.

The man she yearned day and night was right in front of her. His dark skin, cracked lips, dark eye circle, and gloomy eyes showed that he was supporting himself with mere spirit.

"You are back."

He greeted her in a low voice, smiling to her as he was greeting a child coming home. There was something else going on in the warmth.

He tried to concentrate his eyes to focus on her appearance.

"Yes, I'm back."

She wanted to cry, but she held it back with much effort. She wiped off the tears on her cheeks and bloomed a bright beam on her face.

She walked forward and jumped into his arms.

He staggered back as she dived to him because of his weakness.

She didn't care about it. Surrounding his waist by her arms, she sobbed,

"Master, I'm sorry! I should have believed you! I shouldn't have made you angry! I won't leave you again! I swear I will never leave you..."

Sorrow crept on Leng Qingtang's heart, and he immediately hid it with a gentle smile. The big hand with distinct joints touched the girl's head and picked a grass stick in her hair.

"Watch your manner. Everyone is watching us. Go to take a bath and change your dress to remove the bad luck."

He said softly and gently pushed her face from his chest. He wiped her tears with his cold fingers and then held her face to look carefully, wearing a warm smile.

She put on a smile between his hands, but the smile was more unsightly than any other crying faces.

"Master, I'm going to take a bath. Please wait for me!"

Being afraid of parting, she was reluctant to leave.

"Okay, I will wait for you."

There was always a charming smile on his sick face. He watched her go into the door in the corner with Qinger in silence.

He burst out a violent cough and took a handkerchief to cover his mouth.

“Master!"

"Lord!"

Cheng Wanli and Xiao Xiaoshen immediately crowded around him with concern and anxiety.

Leng Qingtang shook his hand and wadded the blood-stained handkerchief into a ball,

"Don't worry. Go ahead."

...

In the room that she hadn't lived for a long time, water in a large bathtub had the right temperature. Floating on water, petals of lily, magnolia, and rose interweaved a picture of gorgeous colors.

Qinger helped Gu Yunxi sitting before the basin shelf, stirred the soap with fragrant bean flour to wash Gu Yunxi's hair, and used a comb to remove the dust out of the hair.

Then she helped her with putting off the clothes and getting into the bathtub. She soaked in fragrant and warm water.

Qinger dipped artemisia herbs in the perfume and sprinkled the perfume around the bathtub. After this, she went out and waited outside the bead curtain at Gu Yunxi's order.

Bead curtain reflected colorful lights. Across this misty curtain, Qinger saw her Lady lowering her head. Her cheek was covered by waterfall-like hair.

Qinger couldn't see Gu Yunxi's face, but she saw her body out of the bathtub shaking.

Qinger watched weeping Gu Yunxi. Her nose also twitched, and she began to cry.

She felt her Lady and Master lived too hard. Why destiny lay so many difficulties between them?

Each time when they had overcome difficulty and thought they would have a peaceful future, the next problem came.

The door creaked. Leng Qingtang went in.

He calmly smiled at Qinger, who looked embarrassed,

"You can go to have a rest. I'll stay here. I think you'll be busy in the future."

Qinger nodded. She knew it was against the moral standard, but she didn't refute.

They had fallen in love for a long time, and all that was needed was a marriage contract.

Gu Yunxi looked panic when she saw Leng Qingtang lifted the curtain and came in. After she suppressed the sadness, she felt shy. So she quickly ducked herself into the water, leaving on her head in the air.

Leng Qingtang gazed at her, pulled the stool over beside the bathtub, and smiled at her,

"Let me help you."

He saw her hiding in the water, unwilling to come out but looking at him with liquid eyes. Her eyes were so attractive and he added,

"By now, are there any parts of your body I haven’t seen?"

Gu Yunxi blushed from her nose to her ears. She thought it over and slowly sat straight in the bathtub, exposing more of her body in the air.

Her skin was white and smooth. After soaking in water for some time, it looked more bright and exquisite like jade. Wisps of black hair wound around her graceful body, which rose and fell in the glistening light of water waves like a lotus flower, encouraging boundless imagination.

Soaked in warm water, the handkerchief turned soft and comfortable. Leng Qingtang held one of her arms and wiped carefully with the wet handkerchief.

Gu Yunxi gazed at Leng Qingtang's pale face. Her mind was occupied with all sorts of feelings, including happiness, sorrow, touch, sadness, and many others. These feelings mixed and grew complicated.

"Master, I want to marry you, can I?"

She fixed her eyes on him. Excitement lit up her bright eyes.

He was shocked. With her eyes moist, she repeated firmly,

"I want to marry you. Now!"