The night was deep, and the dew hung heavy.
Inside a meditation room in the rear courtyard of Puzhao Temple.
Jiang Zhi had unfastened her hair bun. Her slender hand held an incense shovel, stirring the incense flakes to make the fragrance in the burner even more potent. Mentally, she calculated that the time should be just about right.
Sure enough, after a short while, faint footsteps echoed outside the silent courtyard. Her heart tightened for no apparent reason.
With a creak, the window was pushed open, and a dark shadow slipped inside soundlessly.
Seeing that Jiang Zhi was still awake, the figure visibly stiffened. Before she could speak, he lunged forward, pinning her shoulders and clamping a large palm over her lips.
“Don’t make a sound. I’m just using this place to hide; I won’t hurt you,” he said in a low, hushed voice.
Jiang Zhi’s racing heart finally settled.
Just like in her previous life, Xie Qi, the heir to the Marquis of Wuyi, was being pursued as an assassin and had slipped into the rear courtyard of Puzhao Temple.
She had come to the mountain today fully prepared. The thick incense in the room was intended specifically to mask the scent of blood from his injuries.
As long as Xie Qi had a brain, he would definitely come to the room she was in.
Jiang Zhi had been reborn just one day ago.
At this time in her past life, her grandmother had not brought the younger generation to Puzhao Temple; Xie Qi had only escaped the search under her grandmother’s protection.
It wasn’t until much later that Xie Qi, seeking to repay the grandmother’s kindness, came to propose a marriage alliance with a daughter of the Jiang family.
As the eldest daughter of the first wife, her grandmother had originally intended the marriage for her. But once her stepmother learned of this, she secretly plotted to ruin Jiang Zhi’s reputation, sending her off to the rear courtyard of the House of Count Zhongqin in a lowly small sedan chair.
Meanwhile, her younger half-sister, Jiang Yunqian, had married Xie Qi in a grand, glorious ceremony, becoming the envy of everyone in the capital.
After that, Jiang Zhi’s life became a nightmare.
She suffered endless humiliation and struggled to survive in the Count’s estate.
When the House of Count Zhongqin became embroiled in a treason case and all the men were exiled to the northern lands, she was sent to a brothel, becoming a plaything in the palms of that man.
Humiliation, suffering, and living on thin ice.
After unexpectedly discovering she was pregnant, she took a dose of abortifacient medicine, only to suffer a massive hemorrhage. She died on a cold bed in the brothel.
Thinking of the suffering she endured in her past life, she couldn’t help but grit her teeth.
During those three years in the brothel, what she had learned most thoroughly was how to use her own charms to hook a man’s heart.
Didn’t her half-sister always take pride in marrying Xie Qi? In this life, Jiang Zhi would destroy that marriage, ruin her sister’s prospects, and seize control of her own destiny.
Her stepmother, her half-sister, the House of Count Zhongqin, and that man…
Everything they owed her, she would reclaim, bit by bit.
At this thought, Jiang Zhi put on a timely expression of panic and nodded in cooperation.
Soon, a commotion erupted outside. The courtyard gate was kicked open with great force, and someone holding a torch spoke in a voice that was both majestic and chillingly cold. “Search the area! Don’t let a single fly escape!”
Her grandmother preferred quiet, so Jiang Zhi had used the excuse of praying for her father’s blessings to come to the mountain with her, and they were not staying in the same courtyard.
She hadn’t expected the people outside to arrive so quickly.
The maid, Qingxing, who had already received her instructions, blocked the door and demanded, “Halt! Who are you? The daughter of Minister Jiang of the Ministry of Rites is inside. What do you think you’re doing?”
“Lu Yuan, Commander of the Jinyiwei, acting on orders to apprehend an assassin.” The man in the lead wore a Feiyu Robe, his handsome features sharp with edge and his tone dominant and cold. “If the criminal escapes, I’m afraid Miss Jiang will not be able to bear the responsibility for such a crime.”
Without waiting for a response from within, he pushed Qingxing aside and stepped through the door.
“How dare you!”
As a startled cry rang out, Lu Yuan’s vision blurred as a water ladle flew straight toward his face.
He snorted coldly and dodged to the side. Simultaneously, he stepped forward and drew the Xiuchun Blade from his waist. In a few swift motions, the blade was pressed against the throat of his attacker. “You seek death.”
But he quickly froze.
Before him was no assassin, but a young woman stripped of her clothes.
She was submerged in a bathtub filled with flower petals, revealing only a small portion of her shoulders, which were as white as frost and snow. Her face was full of panic and indignant shame, and her wet, dark hair clung to her cheeks, making her skin look like fine cream.
Her startled eyes glared at him as she wrapped her arms around her shoulders, her entire body trembling.
“Wait outside! No one is to enter without my command!” Lu Yuan barked. His tall, straight frame blocked the view of the bathtub.
His subordinates, who hadn’t seen exactly what was happening inside, obeyed and withdrew, even considerately closing the door behind them.
“Kill me if you wish! My body has been seen; I have no desire to live anyway!” Jiang Zhi tilted her neck stubbornly, tears welling in her eyes, threatening to fall.
The blade was only an inch from her skin; a slight push would slice her throat and leave her blood splattered on the spot.
Although much of this was an act, Jiang Zhi was indeed shocked when she saw it was Lu Yuan.
In her past life, when the House of Count Zhongqin was caught in the treason case, it was Lu Yuan who led the men to seize the estate.
Even after all this time, seeing Lu Yuan again still made Jiang Zhi’s heart tremble with fear.
But the arrow had been shot; there was no turning back now.
Moreover, she was currently the daughter of the Minister’s estate, not the lowly, hidden concubine from her previous life.
No matter how cold-blooded Lu Yuan was, he should still have some reservations.
Sure enough, Lu Yuan withdrew his blade, his eyes lowered to avoid looking at her. “Miss Jiang, I am on a mission. If the room is searched and found clear, I will personally visit your estate to apologize.”
Ignoring Jiang Zhi’s tearful expression, he began to search the small meditation room thoroughly.
The room was simply decorated: a bed, a wardrobe, a set of table and chairs, and a few miscellaneous ornaments. Everything was visible at a glance.
He searched every corner, leaving not even the underside of the bed or the roof beams unchecked, yet he still couldn’t find the person he was looking for.
The assassin was wounded, but the fragrance here was so rich that not a trace of blood could be smelled.
Lu Yuan’s dark gaze landed on Jiang Zhi. “Everywhere else has been searched, except for Miss Jiang’s bathtub…”
Judging by the direction the assassin had fled, this meditation room was the only possibility. He didn’t believe the man could have hidden anywhere else.
Jiang Zhi’s face instantly turned pale. She bit her lip and tried to negotiate. “Then could Commander Lu please step outside? It won’t be too late to search after I have dressed.”
Lu Yuan’s cold eyes narrowed. “That will not do. Miss Jiang, you need only cooperate, and this will be over quickly.”
He stepped forward to inspect the tub.
Jiang Zhi’s heart leapt into her throat.
Xie Qi was currently inside the bathtub. Fortunately, his martial arts were strong enough that he could hold his breath underwater for this long without being detected.
But the moment Lu Yuan moved to check, everything would be exposed.
Jiang Zhi gritted her teeth and pulled out a jade hairpin used to bind her hair, pressing it against her neck before Lu Yuan could react.
“If Commander Lu wishes to search, I have nothing to say. But not only has my body been seen, I must now suffer such humiliation. How could I possibly have the face to go on living?”
Her eyes, red with emotion, stared fixedly at Lu Yuan. Her lips trembled continuously, yet her voice carried a certain finality. “You may search, but you will have to take my corpse back to report your mission!”
With that, she lunged the pin toward her own neck with reckless abandon!