To conceal Xie Yunzhou’s return to the capital and deal with Ye Zhen, Granny Feng had dismissed all the servants from the estate.
This conveniently facilitated Ye Zhen’s plans.
Just as she carried someone over the wall into the courtyard, she heard Xie Yunzhou’s voice from inside the room.
“Has the matter over there been settled?”
“Are you complaining that my efforts aren’t vigorous enough, or that my techniques aren’t varied enough, leaving you with spare attention to think of other women…”
Ye Zhen curled her lips in disdain.
Pathetic!
Xie Yunzhou actually played the submissive role.
She had actually become a stepping stone for such a person.
The nauseating voices sounded again, “If Ye Zhen isn’t eliminated, how can we be as carefree as we are now after returning to the estate? Only by solidifying her tarnished reputation, and my subsequent decision not to remarry, will the world believe I was so heartbroken by her that I dare not marry again. This way we can stay together forever, though it’s letting her off too easily – a daughter of a minor fifth-rank official raised in the countryside actually managed to climb up to my Zhongyong Hou Estate, serving as the young mistress for three years…”
A dark glint flashed in Ye Zhen’s eyes as she heavily threw Granny Feng in front of the door and concealed herself.
The commotion outside startled the two engaged in intense combat inside.
“Who’s there?”
Xie Yunzhou’s voice was accompanied by rustling sounds of clothing.
The impact revived Granny Feng, who had previously been knocked unconscious by pain. Driven by survival instinct, she desperately pounded on the door.
The door was opened from inside.
A tall man in white undergarments holding a long sword saw Granny Feng and his expression tightened, “What happened? Where’s Ye Zhen?”
Granny Feng urgently wanted to tell him everything, but could only make muffled sounds.
The man was Xie Yunzhou’s guard Chi Heng. As a martial artist, he recognized that Granny Feng’s jaw had been dislocated and bent down to reset it.
But Ye Zhen suddenly appeared, immobilized Chi Heng by striking his acupoint, and took his sword.
Xie Yunzhou stared in astonishment at this scene, “Ye Zhen?”
How could she be here, and know martial arts?
Granny Feng had failed!
Realizing this, Xie Yunzhou immediately attacked Ye Zhen.
But although he was the son of a military general, he had hated practicing martial arts since childhood and his skills were truly mediocre.
Within just a few moves, Ye Zhen had him pinned down on the bed.
“Ye Zhen, how dare you! What do you think you’re doing?”
Xie Yunzhou thought Ye Zhen had gone mad, daring to humiliate him like this.
“I am your husband, the husband is the wife’s master… you…”
The cold steel sword unhesitatingly pierced his heart.
Only then did Ye Zhen respond, “What a ridiculous question. I came, naturally, to kill you… and your lover.”
So he still remembered he was her husband.
In her previous life, after being confined to the dilapidated room, Xie Yunzhou had visited her once.
But it was to advance his official position, demanding she submit to another man.
That man wore a mask. Ye Zhen never learned who he was or why he took interest in her.
But how could Ye Zhen comply? She resisted fiercely, injuring the man, but had her limbs severed by him and was tortured to death.
Burning hatred scorched Ye Zhen’s heart – she should have sliced Xie Yunzhou a thousand times.
But having just been reborn, she had many things to accomplish to change her previous fate.
She also refused to let Xie Yunzhou linger in miserable existence. While that would torment him, it would also bring her trouble and disgust herself.
In this new life, Ye Zhen sought revenge, but more importantly, she intended to live well.
Seeing Xie Yunzhou killed, Chi Heng’s eyes nearly burst with rage as he tried to break through the sealed acupoint.
Ye Zhen dragged him to the bedside, “Don’t rush. I’ll send you down to accompany him.”
She placed the sword in Chi Heng’s hand, and the moment she released his acupoint, grasped his sword-holding hand and drew it across his own neck.
Just like suicide.
After arranging the corpse beside Xie Yunzhou, she positioned the two in an intimate pose.
Ye Zhen carved the characters “Heartless and Unfaithful” onto Xie Yunzhou’s face.
This conveniently obscured part of his features.
She then used Chi Heng’s sword to carve on the wall: “What is love in this world? Years of intimate affection cannot compare to fame and fortune!”
The handwriting mimicked Chi Heng’s.
Ye Zhen had once stumbled upon Chi Heng practicing calligraphy in Xie Yunzhou’s study.
At that time, Chi Heng had proudly and provocatively told her that Xie Yunzhou had personally taught him how to write.
After Xie Yunzhou’s death, she had requested Xie Yunzhou’s calligraphy copies from the Marquise to practice and discovered many samples of Chi Heng’s handwriting mixed within.
Back then, she never would have imagined their relationship was of this nature, so she dismissed it as overthinking.
But in truth, Chi Heng had been asserting his claim over Xie Yunzhou to her all along.
Ye Zhen sneered and meticulously erased any extraneous traces in the room.
She remained composed and calm, moving with deliberate yet efficient precision.
Granny Feng watched in horror, her body drenched in cold sweat.
After tidying the scene, Ye Zhen crouched before her. “Old beast, does it hurt?”
Granny Feng nodded desperately.
Begging for a shred of mercy from Ye Zhen.
But Ye Zhen only smiled, channeling her inner energy to strike Granny Feng’s back, intensifying her pain and rendering her mute, though not immediately fatal.
“Good, it should hurt.”
In her past life, she too had suffered unbearably.
“If treated promptly, you might still survive. Otherwise, not even Hua Tuo could save you.”
Granny Feng watched Ye Zhen’s retreating figure with bitter resentment and regret.
She shouldn’t have sent everyone from the estate into the mountains.
Ye Zhen carried the bodies of the two maidservants and placed them beside Granny Feng.
Once everything was in order, she took a porcelain vial, shouldered her basket, and used her qinggong to enter the mountains.
To lure her to the estate, the Marquise had feigned illness, with the physician claiming that Rootless Water—specifically, night dew—was needed to brew medicine.
The Marquise had sent Granny Feng to accompany her to the estate to collect the dew.
The previous day, they had gathered some and sent it back, but word from Jingcheng said it wasn’t enough.
Using this as an excuse, Granny Feng had sent everyone into the mountains, including Ye Zhen’s maid, Wan Xing.
Now, she needed them to return and witness the scene of Chi Heng’s crime of passion—killing Xie Yunzhou out of love-turned-hatred, followed by his suicide.
And to spread the tale of their legendary romance far and wide.
She also needed to avoid suspicion.
Fortunately, having been raised away from the capital, she had mastered martial arts, a fact she had kept hidden even after returning to Jingcheng.
Even the Ye family only knew she was stronger than the average woman.
And this time, the Marquise had used Suan Jin San against her…
At this thought, a fierce aura flickered in Ye Zhen’s eyes.
By the time she found the estate’s servants, dawn was breaking.
“Young Mistress?”
The maid Wan Xing hurried to Ye Zhen’s side. “Why have you come into the mountains too?”
“Didn’t Granny Feng say you should rest?”
Before Ye Zhen could answer, Wan Xing glanced behind her, her joy turning to concern.
“Why are you alone? The mountains are dangerous at night—are you alright?”
She took the basket from Ye Zhen and checked her over carefully.
The composure Ye Zhen had maintained since her rebirth finally shattered.
She held Wan Xing tightly, her eyes moist. “I’m fine.”
And you’re fine too—that’s what matters!
In her past life, Wan Xing had sensed something amiss after descending the mountain and tried to rescue her, only to be captured by Chi Heng and later beaten to death on the Marquise’s orders.
Wan Xing’s martial skills were average, but her qinggong was exceptional. She could have escaped on her own.
Even now, though fully aware of her martial skills made her perfectly safe alone in the mountains, the concern in her eyes remained undiminished.
Using the pretense of wiping tears, Ye Zhen whispered a few words into Wan Xing’s ear.
Then she said aloud, “I suddenly felt terribly dizzy after dinner and fainted. When I woke, I found myself alone in the room. After searching several houses in the estate without finding anyone, I guessed Granny Feng and the others must have gone into the mountains too. Thinking my mother-in-law needed plenty of night dew, and feeling frightened staying alone at the estate, I also entered the mountains. Unexpectedly, I got lost and only just managed to find you all now.”
She wept so pitifully that everyone from the estate assumed she had been frightened.
They all offered comfort.
No one suspected she had just arrived, despite the treacherous mountain paths requiring a full hour’s journey from the estate.
After all, the young mistress was merely a delicate woman.
The Head of the Village stepped forward, “Young Mistress, you’ve had a fright, but we haven’t seen Granny Feng.”
Ye Zhen appeared startled, tears still clinging to her lashes, “Could Granny and the others be lost too?”Though puzzled,
Wan Xing’s years of tacit understanding with her mistress made her play along with feigned panic, ‘Could they have encountered danger in the mountains?”
Granny Feng is Madam’s most trusted. If anything happens to her, we’ll surely be punished.”
Hearing this, the Head of the Village also grew anxious, “Young Mistress, what should we do?”
Ye Zhen seemed to ponder briefly, “Perhaps the Head of the Village and Wan Xing could take some people to search along the descending path first, and deliver the night dew back on the way. I’ll lead another group to search within the mountains. We absolutely must ensure nothing happens to Granny Feng.”