The moon hung in the sky and the night was dark.

Before the makeup mirror, Gu Yunyao looked upset.

"Hasn't Yunxi come back yet?" She had asked this many times.

At the time of dinner, the girl told her bluntly that the Fourth Princess Huanan Jiyan invited her to go to the fairs this night.

Naturally, Gu Yunyao wouldn’t reject the Fourth Princess and made her sister embarrassed.

Song Qin held the jade comb to brush the black hair for her master and glanced at the window lattice, frowning.

The silvery moonlight outside shined through the window lattice of green gauze and was reflected on the bronze incense burner in ethereal smoke.

Song Qin turned her head to look at the sad face of the woman in the mirror and couldn't help saying,

"Master, I want to talk with you."

The woman looked directly at the makeup mirror and raised her brows, ready to listen to her.

"Just say."

"You should pay more attention to Xier. I always feel that she behaves strangely after she comes to our Palace."

On the opposite side of the makeup mirror, the charming face of the woman immediately turned cold.

Song Qin saw it, bit her lip immediately, and said uneasily,

"Master, when His Majesty sent you back to the Palace that day, everyone saw Xier send the umbrella in the rain. Today, she even got close to the Fourth Princess..."

"Stop!"

Gu Yunyao interrupted the chief maid with a scream. She turned her body, looking at the chief maid with sharp and piercing eyes.

"Yunxi grew up with me together since we were young. I know her very well and I don’t allow you to speak ill of her at will. She doesn't have a thing for Emperor at all. And even if she does, I will try my best to stop her. I have been in the fiery pit already, so I won't allow my younger sister to jump in like me."

"Master, please calm down. I said that all for your good."

Song Qin was scolded after she reminded her kindly, so she felt aggrieved, kneeling and begging humbly.

She knew that Her Grace had always been soft-tempered and never got angry easily. However, once such a gentle woman became angry, it would be terrifying.

Gu Yunyao closed her eyes slowly and sighed. Sitting upright in front of the makeup mirror and removing her makeup by herself, she said in a low voice,

"Stand up. I know you are loyal to me. How can I really blame you?"

She wouldn’t resent Song Qin naturally.

This chief maid had been following her since she entered the Palace and she was as loyal as Zhao An. She accompanied her in the imperial harem, experiencing so many ups and downs, and she always served her with due diligence.

As for the secret of Yunxi's origins, Gu Yunyao only told it to Zhao An, but didn’t tell her chief maid.

In the imperial harem, women usually hurt others in order to get the favor of Emperor. Gu Yunyao would naturally not let her younger sister become one of the concubines of Emperor Jingxiao since she had experienced it.

Moreover, Yunxi was the daughter of Zheng Ran, a rebellious official. For her, the farther away from Emperor she was, the safer she would be.

…

The Shenle Marquis Wan Li and his entourage Zhu Jiu hid behind a rockery by the lotus pond. They were both in black, so they were inconspicuous in the middle of the night.

Hearing the hurrying footsteps, Zhu Jiu poked his head out from behind the rockery and saw that the person who came was the chief eunuch Mao in Weiyan Chamber.

"Master, he is coming."

Zhu Jiu lowered his voice to remind him.

When Wan Li walked out of the rockery with his hands crossed behind his back, Mao happened to run in front of him.

"Marquis..."

He was panting badly, out of breath, and frequently wiped the sweat from his neck with his fingers.

Wan Li's dashing eyebrows furrowed and he hurriedly asked,

"How is the thing going?"

Mao hung his hands down,

"Marquis, after eating the poisoned ginseng soup for half an hour, she fell on the bed and stopped her breathing. I also strangled Caiyue to death according to your instructions. I hung her on the beam to make it look like a suicide."

"Okay."

Wan Li nodded slowly. He stared at the eunuch with sharp eyes and a strand of cold light suddenly burst out of his eyes.

"You must know how to reply when it is investigated, right?"

Mao lowered his head and smiled with flattery.

"Marquis, of course I know. After she was free from being grounded, she has been snubbed by Emperor. What's more, she has no family to rely on. Who will look into her death carefully?"

"Okay. Very good." Wan Li smiled, raising his brows and instructing his subordinate, "Give him the things."

Zhu Jiu took out a purse from his chest and handed it to him.

"Take it. You deserve it."

"Thank you so much, Marquis."

Mao took the purse and weighed it in his hand, grinning suddenly.

He opened it, poured out the gold ingots inside, and counted carefully. Mao mumbled.

"Marquis, just set your mind at ease. When you got close with my master, she was just grounded, and only Caiyue and I served her."

"Although she is relieved now, the palace maids who have just returned are also not aware of this matter. You are so generous and you treat me so well, so of course I'll do a good job for you..."

Suddenly, a white light flashed past Mao's eyes and he only felt a hot throat as the sharp pain spread throughout his body immediately.

He covered the wound on his neck with his hand and bowed his head in a daze, seeing a mass of blood staining his robe.

Zhu Jiu looked so ferocious, showing a poisonous smile. And then he kicked Mao into the lotus pond with great strength.

Water exploded in the pond. The dying man had his throat broken so he couldn't scream. Only his two arms struggled in the water in vain.

Soon, his body sank to the bottom of the pond and the blisters on the pond turned quiet after rolling over.

Wan Li stood by the pond and sighed at the cool water,

"Hey, women are really troublesome. How can they get pregnant so easily?"

Zhu Jiu retracted the bloody dagger into its sheath and looked around,

"Marquis, it's late at night. The palace gate will be locked soon."

"Let's go. It will be the Spring Banquet tomorrow. We'll be busy then."

They walked forward swiftly side by side, passing by a palace wall. They did not notice that there was a black figure behind the willow tree, who was looking sharply at their leaving figures all the time.

…

Lu Qiange walked through the streets and alleys at night with Huanan Jiyan on his back. Leaping across the ridges of houses, he finally found a medical clinic. He landed on the ground and rushed in.

"Help, doctor. She is poisoned. Please heal her soon!"

The doctor was about sixty years old and was in a brown brocade robe with a scarf on his head. He was about to ask his assistant to close the door, but then he was shocked by the white-clothed young man who suddenly broke in.

In shock, he saw the young man put the woman on his back onto the long table.

The doctor was stunned. He hurriedly lit up the candle and looked closely at the girl with his assistant.

The girl was less than 18 years old whose appearance was beautiful and delicate. But out of some reason, she was breathing quickly with a burning face. Her delicate facial features got even deformed and she was mumbling something.

The doctor placed his palm on the girl's forehead and he was taken aback then. He didn't expect her body temperature to be so high at this time.

Across a layer of gauze sleeve, the doctor took the pulse for Huanan Jiyan. He turned his attention to her tumbling hot body and saw her twitching facial features.

Lu Qiange stood aside and his face flushed unknowingly. He turned his head helplessly, avoiding the rapidly changing faces of the doctor and his assistant.

Walking the earth for many years, how could he not know what kind of illness Huanan Jiyan was suffering from?

What a hateful woman! She even got Emperor's daughter involved and did such an evil thing to her!

Seeing the Fourth Princess in such pain, Lu Qiange didn't have the heart to ignore it.

However, if he got himself involved to save her, how should he face the real Yunxi in the future?

After a moment, the doctor stopped taking the pulse for her and twiddled his beard. The old doctor, with a wrinkled old face, couldn't help laughing.

"Please tell me how to relieve her pain?"

Lu Qiange waited for a long time but didn't get an answer, so he frowned and shouted impatiently at the doctor.

The doctor and his assistant looked at each other and waved their hands,

"Don't worry, young master. This girl... She is not poisoned in fact."

Lu Qiange looked restless,

"Of course, I know she is not poisoned!"

As soon as he said this, the two people on the opposite side were stunned.

Lu Qiange realized his slip of the tongue, scratching the tip of his nose with a look of embarrassment.

Seeing this, the doctor smiled and asked.

"Young master, which family is the girl from?"

Lu Qiange stood with arms akimbo and said in a deep voice.

"It's none of your business! Feed her some medicine to help her relieve her pain at once."

The doctor shook his head, smiled leisurely, and said,

"This girl has taken some evil drug. Now the drug is showing effect. You must know how to dismiss the effect for her, right?"

"You..."

Lu Qiange was speechless. Angry and ashamed, he panted for a moment and shouted sternly,

"Shut up!"

Leaning over and picking up Huanan Jiyan, he stepped out of the clinic.

...

The reeds were swaying under the moonlight and the vegetation looked luxuriant.

Lu Qiange was very familiar with this area. He once rescued Yunxi from Ming Lan and took her here to freshen up.

Finding a big stone, he put the Fourth Princess on it.

At this time, the drug in Huanan Jiyan's body was showing effect to the biggest extent. Every inch of her skin seemed to be burned by raging fire and her consciousness was in a mess.

An extremely strong and unfamiliar feeling overwhelmed her completely and gradually swallowed her consciousness.

"Zhu... I feel bad... I feel so bad..."

The girl refused to leave the man's chest. Under the control of the drug, her arms were surprisingly powerful like slender and flexible branches which hugged him tightly and made him unable to move at all.

"Hey, stay awake! Don't be like this!"

Lu Qiange struggled, but he was hugged by her again and again after he pushed her away.

Her little face was flushing as her wandering eyes were as enchanting as silk. Tears on the corners of her eyes looked fascinating.

Across the layers of clothes, Lu Qiange could obviously feel the girl's hot body and irregular heartbeat.

His throat tightened. He watched the girl's uneasy appearance, having a special feeling in his heart.

"Zhu, help me... I feel so bad... I don't want to die... "

The girl kept mumbling in a daze. Her lips moved and the hot air sprayed on the man's neck.

Lu Qiange thought of Yunxi suddenly. As his pupils shrank, he regained consciousness.

Sweating all over, Lu Qiange pushed the girl away, slapped her on the cheek with one hand, and shouted,

“Your Highness, look at me. Wake up soon. Do you hear me?”

"Zhu, I'm really so uncomfortable... Please help me. I don't want to die. I want to be with you still..."

Huanan Jiyan slumped on the big stone, mumbling what she felt. The coldness of the stone and the pain of being slapped were not enough to wake her up.

She was constantly tortured by a feeling of emptiness. Her body was like a smooth and boneless snake, tossing and turning on the big stone.

She was crying and yelling, and her hands kept pinching herself constantly.

"Stop! Stop this!"

The girl's clothes were messy and loose.

Lu Qiange didn't have the heart to see it anymore. He rushed to grab her crazy hands and tidy up her clothes.

He kept cursing Tu Muxue, that evil woman, who not only occupied Yunxi's face and identity, but also hurt the innocent Fourth Princess.

" I will catch you someday! That day I'll give you a big blow!"

What a shame this time!

The girl's weird expression made him angry and distressed. After a deep thought, Lu Qiange looked at the red-faced girl deeply and spoke with a serious face.

"Your Highness, anyway, I am the one who gets you involved. This time... I'm sorry for this!"