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

As soon as Shen Mu left the Hall of Mental Cultivation, he saw a patch of plain gray on the palace road not far away.

That figure was slender and had an unappealing appearance.

He pondered for a moment, then slowly walked over.

Amidst the torrential rain, Pei Suisui stood anxiously on the palace path, holding an umbrella.

Historically, women of official families like them were not allowed to step into the front courtyard of the main hall. Therefore, whether waiting for someone or awaiting an imperial decree, they could only wait for the summons on the palace road.

She deliberately chose the only route in and out of the palace, so that she could see Shen Mu as soon as he came out of the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

She paced back and forth anxiously, glancing up every now and then towards the Hall of Mental Cultivation, afraid that she might accidentally miss it.

Finally, through the rain, she saw Shen Mu approaching slowly, and quickly stepped forward, lowering her voice.

"Lord Shen! You've finally come out!"

Shen Mu glanced at the empty space behind Pei Suisui, his expression darkening slightly.

"Miss Pei, what brings you here?"

"Thirteen...Thirteen's in trouble!"

Pei Suisui was extremely anxious and didn't notice the change in Shen Mu's expression.

Shen Mu's body stiffened slightly, and he couldn't hide the panic in his eyes.

"Doesn't she still have a leg injury? Why isn't she at home recovering and instead ran away?"

Haojing and Xieqiao were not by his side at the moment, so he obviously did not know that Thirteen had left early this morning.

"I arranged to meet her at Fengya Zhai this morning, but I didn't expect her to..."

Pei Suisui was halfway through her sentence when she suddenly remembered Thirteen's instructions: in Nanyang, no one but her should know her true identity.

"What happened to her?" Shen Mu's tone was cold and solemn, as if it were devoid of any emotion.

"When she met me and heard that you were getting married, she decided to go to the palace to find you."

"I'm getting married?"

Shen Mu frowned slightly, somewhat confused by Pei Suisui's words. He had just discussed the attack on the Southern Barbarians with the Emperor of Nanyang, but he hadn't mentioned anything about bestowing a marriage upon him.

"We'll talk about this later. In short, she came to the palace with me, intending to talk to you. Unexpectedly, a man who looked like a Taoist priest appeared on the way and attacked us."

"Taoist!" Upon hearing this, Shen Mu subconsciously clenched his fist, his brows furrowed slightly, and an unfathomable emotion flickered in his eyes.

Could it be Chongming?

"Yes! He attacked us for no reason." Pei Suisui felt a shiver run down her spine when she thought of what had just happened.

They clearly didn't know that Taoist priest, so why did he suddenly attack them? Besides, this is the imperial palace!

Shen Mu paused for a moment before speaking.

"Is it Sun Youzhi?"

“I don’t know him either, but I recognized him as coming from the Bright Moon Palace.”

Shen Muxin understood.

He had planned everything meticulously, but he hadn't expected the Taoist priest to return at this time!

Seeing Pei Suisui's flustered appearance, he quickly asked...

"What about her?"

"Thirteen held him back and sent me to find you to rescue her! Quickly, take a few men and come with me to rescue him!"

Pei Suisui was confused by Shen Mu's question. Only then did she remember the purpose of her visit. She hurriedly stepped forward to pull him away.

But when she suddenly saw Shen Mu's cold expression, she was stunned and dared not approach Shen Mu at will. She moved her forward steps back to where she was.

She stood there, her expression filled with undisguised self-reproach.

This is the second time Thirteen has risked his life to save her!

Where is she now?

Shen Mu glanced coldly at Pei Suisui. Although he was angry, he tried his best to be kind, thinking that Shisan and Pei Suisui were good friends.

"The Taoist priest suddenly appeared when we were passing by Mingyue Palace, so he should still be there!"

As soon as she finished speaking, she saw Shen Mu leap over the towering palace wall like a black shadow.

She stared at the palace wall, which was more than twice her height, and was momentarily stunned. Although she could guess that Shen Mu was skilled in martial arts, she didn't know if he could save Thirteen by himself.

No! She still needs to find reinforcements!

But Pei Suisui paused in her steps as she was about to leave. Apart from Consort An, she had no close friends in the palace.

Right now, besides Shen Mu, she doesn't know who else can save Thirteen.

Who can she turn to now?

Just as Pei Suisui stood there, at a loss, a clear, cold voice suddenly came from behind her.

"Pei Suisui?"

Pei Suisui trembled slightly upon hearing the sound.

She immediately recognized the voice of the person who had come from the voice, and her heart skipped a beat. She turned around timidly and saw An Ruyi dressed in gorgeous clothes.

"Greetings, Your Highness!" She quickly lowered her head, afraid that An Ruyi would catch her for her earlier rudeness.

She couldn't help but feel uneasy; it seemed her worst fears had come true. A few days ago, her father had offended Consort An's family in an attempt to annul her engagement.

Running into her here is not a good thing!

She secretly glanced up and saw that An Ruyi was followed by a large number of palace servants, with Qingwu holding an umbrella for her beside her. Such a noble appearance only made her, alone, look even more destitute.

Consort An was also cunning. She subtly observed Pei Suisui and noticed that her attire today did not seem to indicate that she had come to the palace on purpose.

The thought of Prime Minister Pei's disrespect and insult to the An family in court filled her with rage. She swallowed back the words she had intended to say to her that she didn't need to stand on ceremony.

Pei Suisui remained frozen in place, her half-squatting posture still in place, and her hand holding the umbrella began to tremble slightly again.

Thirteen had entered the palace with her earlier and hadn't had time to transform back into a man. In order to bring her into the palace, Thirteen had to disguise himself as her personal maid and cross the palace gate together.

On the contrary, Aru was left in the carriage outside the palace.

Right now, she stood there all alone. Having just recovered from a serious illness, she could barely hold the oil-paper umbrella in her hand. The umbrella swayed back and forth in her hand, and the heavy rain swayed with the wind, quickly soaking her clothes.

Looking at her disheveled state, An Ruyi's eyes flashed with disdain.

He's just gotten caught in the rain, yet he's putting on this miserable act. Who is he trying to impress?

Thinking of this, her tone turned somewhat cold.

"Why has the Second Miss Pei forgotten how to bow after all this time?"

"No...no." Pei Suisui lowered her head meekly, not daring to look up and meet An Ruyi's cold gaze.

"Then kneel here for two hours."

An Ruyi didn't stand on ceremony and left after saying that.

As Qingwu passed by Pei Suisui, she glanced at her without leaving a trace. A complex mix of emotions stirred within her.

“Second Miss Pei, if I were you, I would not have told the Prime Minister about this punishment today. After all, everyone knows that the Pei family is ill-mannered.”

Qingwu could not hide the disgust in her eyes, and soon left with An Ruyi.

At this moment, Pei Suisui no longer cared about propriety and threw the umbrella aside in exhaustion.

The torrential rain poured down, pounding on her as if weighing a ton.

She was recovering from a serious illness and shouldn't have been exposed to rain. The icy rain soaked her through, leaving her too weak to speak.

She didn't know how much time had passed, and she could no longer perceive her surroundings.

Soon, everything went black and he fainted.