Poisonous Goddess: I'm just lazing around in the mortal realm.

Shen Mu lay on the couch, his expression inscrutable, and did not answer Hao Jing's question.

He also felt that he had acted too impulsively this time, even though he had always been calm and composed and had planned things carefully before.

Haojing cut open the clothes on Shen Mu's back, revealing shocking skin; some skin and flesh were even stuck to the clothes and almost impossible to tear off.

He couldn't help but curse.

"These quack doctors in the palace, don't they know that you have to treat the wound before applying medicine?!"

Shen Mu couldn't help but smile and said, "What, is there anyone more effective than you?"

Although he pretended to be relaxed, the cushion beneath him was already soaked with sweat. He was simply afraid that Haojing would worry about him.

This injury is nothing compared to the one I sustained fighting the Demon Lord.

"My lord, you really have a mouth..."

Hao Jing couldn't help but laugh at Shen Mu's words, and shook his head. Even if Shen Mu himself was the one who was injured, he would still comfort others immediately.

Shen Mu stared intently at the cushion in his arms and asked softly.

"How is Thirteen? I heard he was captured by the Fourth Princess?"

"Mm." Hao Jing nodded, not daring to stop what he was doing. He looked at Shen Mu's back, which was covered in welts, and quickly began to explain.

“Her leg was broken by the Fourth Princess. I went to the Pei family to look for Young Master Zhou, but I didn’t expect that Young Master Zhou had been summoned to the palace by the Emperor. When I met Young Master Zhou at the gate of the Princess’s residence, he had already rescued Thirteen.”

"Zhou Jinghuai?" Shen Mu frowned slightly. It seemed that the emperor had deliberately ordered the Fourth Princess to capture the Thirteenth Prince.

The matter of sending the thirteenth ...

However, Zhou Jinghuai, who was far away outside the palace, was summoned into the palace to give instructions. By the time he made his round trip, Thirteen would probably be half-dead in Duan Yuyan's hands.

"I know what you're thinking. I originally thought the Fourth Princess was just outwardly fierce and spoiled by the Emperor." Hao Jing gently sprinkled the powder on Shen Mu's wound.

The pain made Shen Mu grit his teeth and endure it. In the mortal realm, if they were injured, they were no different from ordinary people. They all needed some time to recover.

Seeing his master's restrained and frustrated expression, Haojing's breath hitched, and he loosened his grip slightly.

"I didn't expect that the princess was really not human. According to Young Master Zhou, there was a secret room in the princess's mansion where she killed people for fun. When he went in to save Thirteen, the room was full of blood."

Even Zhou Jinghuai, who was used to seeing life and death, couldn't help but complain that the fourth princess was cunning.

"So you mean the Fourth Princess often kills people in the manor?"

Shen Mu seemed to have grasped the key point in Hao Jing's words, and he really didn't expect that the princess had such methods.

Haojing shook his head. He didn't quite understand either, since he hadn't seen it with his own eyes.

“I don’t know about the murders, but I’m curious where this princess got all these people to capture and torture in her residence. Last time I saw her break into the Shen residence, she brought quite a few people with her.”

Haojing also had some knowledge of the trivial matters of the mortal world.

If ordinary families bought servants or maids, they had to be registered and submitted to the local government for backup to prevent the servants from running away.

Not to mention the palace officials and maids.

The servants at the Fourth Princess's residence were all transferred from the palace. The number was fixed each year, and if the Fourth Princess were to kill indiscriminately, it would certainly alert the palace.

If it were just a few fewer each year, it could be concealed. But if, as Zhou Jinghuai said, there are still some human bones discarded in a corner of the dark room, then the lives Duan Yuyan has taken are probably not just those of servants.

“Go and investigate, especially since I remember that a few days ago there was a flood in Jun'an County, and a large wave of refugees poured into the capital.”

Shen Mu's eyes turned cold. If Duan Yuyan was truly so lawless and dared to disregard human life in the capital, then she had given him that opportunity.

"What about Thirteen, sir?" Hao Jing changed the subject and brought up Thirteen again.

He thought that Shen Mu would be emotionally agitated upon hearing that Thirteen was injured.

But he saw that Shen Mu's expression remained unchanged, and apart from being a little agitated when the Fourth Princess was mentioned, he had no other reaction.

"Where is she?"

"In the dungeon of the Dali Temple, Young Master Zhou said that he had a friend who worked there and found a clean cell for Thirteen to recuperate in."

Haojing finished bandaging Shen Mu's wound and plopped down on the round stool next to Shen Mu.

He didn't believe that his master didn't care about Thirteen.

"He'll take care of things." Shen Mu glanced at Hao Jing, then closed his eyes to rest and remained silent.

On the contrary, Hao Jing, who was standing to the side, was a little puzzled. Why was it just this one sentence?

If he remembered correctly, last night, when his master heard the name Shi Wanyan, he ran to the Thirteenth House.

His unusual behavior today is unlike him.

"Then I'll give the medicine I prepared to Young Master Zhou and have him deliver it to Thirteen?" He deliberately probed, looking down to observe Shen Mu's reaction.

"Then give it to him. It's a good idea."

"Oh." Haojing nodded, and seeing that there were no other instructions, he got up to leave.

"By the way, sir!"

As Haojing reached the door, he suddenly remembered what had happened last night, paused, and turned back.

"What is it now?" Shen Mu lifted his eyelids and looked at Hao Jing.

"So much happened last night, I've forgotten it all. Didn't you tell me to steal the blueprints for the Bright Moon Palace?"

As Haojing spoke, he sat back down on the round stool, looking smug, which made Shen Mu guess that the kid must have discovered something.

"Stop rambling on, just get to the point."

Hao Jing gave an awkward smile. It wasn't that he was being deliberately mysterious; he simply didn't know how to begin. After sorting through his thoughts, he slowly said...

“Last night, when I stole the blueprints and came out of Mingyue Palace, I saw a strange man going in and out of Cining Hall. I was curious, so I followed him to see what was going on, and I was almost discovered by that man.”

"A man?" Shen Mu frowned upon hearing this and looked at Hao Jing.

How could there be men in the imperial harem besides the emperor?

"Yes, I ran for a long time yesterday before I finally shook off that person. I was going to tell you, but I got distracted by Shi Wanyan's matter and forgot."

Hao Jing remembered that the person had been clinging to him so tightly that he had almost been discovered by that person.

"Have you sent someone to investigate?"

"We've already sent someone, but that person must have realized they'd been exposed and fled the palace long ago," Hao Jing asked with some suspicion.

"Logically speaking, how could men be seen around the Empress Dowager who lives in the Cining Palace?"

He truly couldn't understand why the Empress Dowager, who had given birth to the Emperor, wouldn't be quite old. How could she still have such feelings...?

Shen Mu explained, "The emperor's birth mother died early, and he was the empress dowager's adopted son."

"Adopted son?"

"Well, logically speaking, the two of them are no more than five years apart in age," Shen Mu said calmly, his expression composed.

He had already investigated the Nanyang royal family long before he came to the mortal realm.

Unexpectedly, he actually discovered a secret that no one else knew.

Emperor Duan Yuan of Nanyang and Empress Dowager Shen Zhizhi of Nanyang

They were childhood sweethearts.