Their eyes met...

Gu Yunxi barely sat up, staring at the cold but handsome face in front of her, with astonishment in her scarlet eyes.

One year without him seemed as long as a thousand years! The lovesickness during more than three hundred days was suddenly twisted in her heart, torturing her thousands of times.

When they were about to be separated, he was poisoned dying in bed. Now they met at this moment, he seemed healthy. He looked as usual without much expression. His eyebrows were delicate and his posture was straight, like a noble and alienated god from the heaven.

Was he, this person in front of her?

Gu Yunxi stared at the man in front of her holding the breath in sorrow, and almost pierced him with eyes. Suddenly, the previous scenes appeared in her mind.

The cold perfume lingering in her nose finally made her ensure that, that handsome man with shining eyes in her memory who helped her comb the hair and do the makeup, walked in the snow holding her up, gently put her to sleep in his hug, and personally tied the red rope on her wrist, was really in front of her now!

Suddenly, she had an emotional breakdown and shed tears without control. Feeling lost, Gu Yunxi reached out her uncontrolled tiny hands covered in blood, sobbing shakily.

"Master...Master Leng..."

Leng Qingtang's heart was slightly shaken by the sad and depressed voice, and then his eyes turned empty.

Bingbi Liu looked down at the sobbing lady in blood on the ground, mocking.

"Hey! Our Master is really impressive. She was so quiet just now but after seeing you, she just cried out of fear!"

Leng Qingtang felt inexplicably depressed. He walked towards Gu Yunxi slowly.

Just the moment their eyes met, he saw her dizzy eyes burst into flames.

The gleaming light, like a sight of perseverance and tenacity, gave Leng Qingtang a strong and long familiar feeling.

Suddenly, an indescribable pain flashed in his deep eyes.

He furrowed in shock, staring at the scarred girl on the ground. He squatted unknowingly, and curiously looked into the girl's tearful eyes.

An alarmed voice from outside brought Leng Qingtang's consciousness back.

"Master, Your Grace Xu from Chuxiu Palace comes to the Imperial Ceremony Office with the crowd."

Feeling dizzy, Gu Yunxi fell to the ground and passed out.

...

Leng Qingtang led the crowd to the main hall of the Imperial Ceremony Office, and happened to see Xu Yuanjiao, the owner of Chuxiu Palace, sitting on a high chair carved out of sandalwood. She was such a beautiful and graceful lady. She flicked a white porcelain tea cup with a pattern of the red plum blossom and white snow.

Steam rose from the cup, spreading the fragrance of tea, depicting faintly the Concubine Xu's shining skin.

Leng Qingtang straightened his clothes and bowed his hands upwards.

"Your Grace Concubine Xu. Please forgive me for having not met your arrival. I didn't know Your Grace would come to the Imperial Ceremony Office."

Concubine Xu didn't raise her eyes, with her thick eyelashes drooping. She was enjoying her tea, ignoring anyone else.

The pink lips slightly opened, and the soft but steady voice passed through the thin mist with indistinct emotions.

"The Master Leng is one of the most important ministers in the court, appreciated by the Emperor because of your work and merit. People like me who are too weak to even lift a chicken cannot solve problems for the Emperor, neither do something for the country. Of course, someone didn't notice me."

Leng Qingtang quickly knelt on the ground, and a group of eunuchs behind him followed.

Leng Qingtang secretly lifted one of the eyebrows, nodding with a calm expression.

"Your Grace mean killing me? No matter what Your Grace want, I will go for it at any cost."

Concubine Xu took a quick glance and snorted coldly.

"How dare I bother the Master? You control the Eastern Depot, and also are the head of the Imperial Ceremony Office. All the power belongs to you. I am afraid that before I have intentions to confront you, you come to me first!"

Leng Qingtang hurriedly bowed.

"I won't do that. Your Grace, you have to know."

Concubine Xu put down the tea cup, and her face suddenly turned serious. Looking directly at Leng Qingtang’s beautiful eyes, she was full of anger and hatred.

"What do you want me to know? Your Imperial Ceremony Office had taken my person away from Chuxiu Palace. So now let me ask, if I'm still here or not in your eyes?!"

Leng Qingtang bowed his hands upwards with no panic. Aware of Xu Yuanjiao's intention, he couldn't talk in a roundabout way.

"There's something Your Grace didn't know. The Imperial Ceremony Office found that, the maid Tu Muxue from the Chuxiu Palace was acting wiredly on her way to the Palace on the night of July 7. To be cautious, the Imperial Ceremony Office took her for interrogation. But Your Grace was not in the Chuxiu Palace at that time. So Your Grace was lately informed."

Concubine Xu seemed touched. Her fingers gently twisted the wide sleeves embroidered with gold thread, and the determination suddenly surged from her elegant and tender eyes.

"Tu Muxue is from the Chuxiu Palace. She should be under my interrogation first if she did something wrong. So, I can explain it if the Emperor and the Empress ask."

"Before I came to the Imperial Ceremony Office, I have personally checked Tu Muxue's access records at the gate of divine prowess on the night of July 7. That mere page was far away from effective evidence that could prove any association between her and the robbery in the Palace."

Bingbi Liu knelt on the ground with his hands clasping together and flabby eyelids drooping, forcibly pressing down the unwillingness in his pupils.

As soon as Concubine Xu finished, he hurriedly replied.

"There's something Your Grace didn't know. Even if the Imperial Ceremony Office decides to take someone into interrogation, they still need the proof first. There was a palace maid who reported that Tu Muxue had entered the gate of divine prowess that night, but did not come back to Chuxiu Palace immediately."

After hearing that, Concubine Xu smiled lightly.

"I came here with the 'proof' that Lord Liu said. I happened to have nothing to do today, so let me join your interrogation."

After saying, she waved to the eunuch behind her.

The eunuch turned around and walked away from the main hall, and soon came back with a maid. That was Cuiqiao from Chuxiu Palace.

Knowing the imminent danger, Cuiqiao knelt in front of Concubine Xu as soon as she came in, with a panic and messy expression, and did not dare to look up.

Concubine Xu's tender and elegant face suddenly turned serious, and the cold gleam in her clear eyes cast directly to the shaking maid at her feet. Her calm voice was full of anger.

"Cuiqiao, I ask you, where did you go on the night of July 7th? When did you come back to Chuxiu Palace, and what have you done since then?"

Cuiqiao lowered her head shaking the shoulders, and stammered.

"Your Grace, I, I left the Palace that night at seven o'clock, and then went to the market with Yunmei. I returned to Chuxiu Palace in an hour for helping Your Grace take a shower."

Concubine Xu nodded slowly, closed her rosy lips lightly, and smiled coldly.

"Indeed, you were the one who was on duty to serve me that night, and you are not new here in the Palace. You should know my habit of bathing for at least an hour."

"I went to bed at nine o'clock that night, which meant that you were able to return to the side room to rest as earliest as ten o'clock after you served me the bath..."

After saying, Concubine Xu suddenly looked down at Cuiqiao with a confident attitude.

Unaware of her intention, Cuiqiao bit her lip and agreed without thinking.

"Yes, yes, it's true that I returned to my room to rest at ten o'clock."

Concubine Xu lifted her red lips triumphantly.

"When you went back to the room, did you see Muxue also in the room?"

"Yes!"

Cuiqiao was determined and nodded again.

"Slap"—

Concubine Xu fiercely slapped the table, with an angry expression.

"How dare you! Before ten o'clock, you were serving me in the bathroom. How did you know Muxue was not in the side room at that time if you were not there? And how did you know Muxue came back to the Palace at ten o'clock?!"

Cuiqiao clasped her fingers tightly, kowtowing rapidly.

"Please forgive me, Your Grace. Just because I returned to the side room at ten o'clock, I happended to see Muxue sitting on the bed with a strange expression. She was dirty, and there were blood stains on her skirt. Probably she just came back."

"I went to the Imperial Ceremony Office to report, only because I was afraid that the misconduct of new maids would dishonor our Chuxiu Palace!"

Concubine Xu snorted, turning away her angry eyes.

"The bold servant! You really think that I don't know whether the Chuxiu Palace or the rewards from the Imperial Ceremony Office you are thinking about? For Chuxiu Palace's reputation? Huh! Don't you know the whole reputation of Chuxiu Palace was stained by you stupid servant—?"

She looked up at Leng Qingtang again.

"Master Leng, I assumed you had heard her clearly. This lowly maid didn't witness when Tu Muxue returned to Chuxiu Palace, so her words could not be taken as a proof."

Leng Qingtang's expression was dark. He bowed the hands and lowered the head unhurriedly.

"Please allow me to ask something still unclear. Even if Cuiqiao couldn't confirm the specific time when Tu Muxue returned to the Palace, she saw her clothes unclean after all."

"Please allow me to verify what happened to Tu Muxue's muddy clothes. If there is nothing wrong with her, I will immediately let her go."

Concubine Xu squinted, smiling calmly.

"Since the Master brought it up, I happened to know something."

"After ten o'clock on that night, the wind was getting stronger, and I was afraid the impatiens in the courtyard would be damaged, so I ordered Muxue to move the flowers into the greenhouse."

Unexpectedly she was clumsy. She broke the flower pot when she fell. Maybe she got dirty while cleaning the mud. As for the blood on the clothes, that's girl's thing... I think your inside officers also know that, right?"

Leng Qingtang darkened the expression. He quickly turned around and ordered his subordinates.

"Let her go!"

The moon climbed to tree tops. On one side of the palace road, Leng Qingtang watched the massive crowd from Chuxiu Palace disappear at the corner of the red wall.

The bright and clear eyes flowed in the night, gloomy and deep. He frowned, telling his feelings with the eyebrows.

The scene of their encounter in the Violent Room suddenly appeared in his mind.

Furthermore, the inexplicable emotions surged again. What exactly was, this feeling of being both close and distant?

That face and those facial features were clearly not the one in his memory. But why her voice, her eyes, and the appearance when she was crying were so similar...