Best friends dressed up in ancient times to become mistresses? You run, I run too!

"How dare you! You utterly stupid fool, are you planning to tear my head bald?"

He strongly suspected that the woman was settling a personal score.

Shen Ningzhu smirked, her pretty face falling as she really wanted to smash his head in. Little did she know that Jiang Xuan Yan had seen this expression clearly in the mirror.

Now they were even more convinced that she did it on purpose.

"So unrepentant, yet still wanting to see that maid? It's utterly delusional."

Shen Ningzhu was stunned.

Does this jerk have to be so dramatic?

She had already slowed down her combing speed by dozens of times. It was just a couple of broken hairs, not like they wouldn't grow back. Why was she being so serious about it?

"I……"

"Shut up, I don't want to hear it."

Jiang Xuan Yan shouted loudly, and soon an old nanny walked into the room. After bowing, she took the comb from Shen Ning Zhu's hand and quickly tied up Jiang Xuan Yan's hair.

The man stood up, coldly instructed the old woman to teach Shen Ningzhu how to serve others, and then strode away.

Shen Ningzhu chased after him, calling out to him and asking about Liu Zhiyi's whereabouts, but Jiang Xuan Yan acted as if he hadn't heard her. He only left her with a cold, retreating back.

She wanted to chase after her again, but the old woman blocked her way.

"Please don't chase after him, Your Highness. Let's finish what His Highness asked us to do as soon as possible, lest we be late and His Highness gets angry and blames us."

Shen Ningzhu bit her lip tightly, looked at Zhiyuan and Zhiyi in the room, and said expectantly:

Do you know where Xiaoyi is?

The two shook their heads blankly.

Seeing this, the light in Shen Ningzhu's eyes gradually disappeared, and soon her expression became firm again.

After tidying himself up, he went to the old woman. "Please teach me now, I will definitely learn well."

People have to bow their heads under the roof.

If that scoundrel wants her to learn, then she'll learn. Once she's mastered it, she'll go find him and ask about Xiaoyi's whereabouts. Then let's see what he has to say.

Shen Ningzhu was naturally intelligent, and with her dedication, she could learn many things after just one demonstration.

In less than the time it takes for two incense sticks to burn, the nanny told her with a beaming smile that she had finished learning what she needed to learn.

Shen Ningzhu was overjoyed. Before she could even say a word, she rushed out the door and ran all the way to the Crown Prince's main courtyard.

Fortunately, she was lucky.

Before even entering the courtyard, she spotted Jiang Xuan Yan in the distance. She wanted to call out to him to wait, but she was afraid he would find her rude and impolite and then find another excuse to torment her.

I had no choice but to hold back my shouts and quickly chase after him.

When they reached a rockery, she saw the other person turn into it, so she quickly followed.

Once they got there, they discovered that there was a secret passage.

Shen Ningzhu froze on the spot, frantically glancing around. Seeing that no one else was around, she stood there, conflicted.

Logically speaking, this is not a place she should be in. After all, the more you know, the faster you die. But... maybe Xiao Yi is hidden here by him.

If that's the case, she'll brave any danger, even mountains of knives and seas of fire.

Liu Zhiyi was the only family member she cared about in this unfamiliar dynasty.

If she hadn't accompanied her on the outdoor live stream, she wouldn't have time-traveled. If she hadn't been afraid of Jiang Xuan Yan hurting her, and hadn't stood in front of her to save her, she wouldn't have been kicked, and she wouldn't be missing like this now.

Shen Ningzhu forced herself to go inside, enduring the stinging in her eyes.

The secret passage was very deep, and the further you went in, the darker it became.

Shen Ningzhu disregarded her fear and even quickened her pace.

Suddenly, a faint sound came from ahead. Shen Ningzhu's heart tightened, and she quickened her pace. Finally, in the dim light of the tunnel, she could see what was ahead.

That is……

A water dungeon, a dungeon, racks, countless instruments of torture, and a dozen or so emaciated, half-dead women.

Some were in water dungeons, chained with chains as thick as an arm.

Some were on racks, their hands and feet bound by chains; others may have already died, their bodies curled up in a strange arc in a corner of the dungeon.

The water in that water dungeon was very murky.

The water level seemed to rise and fall, rising every now and then, covering the heads of the women in the prison, before slowly descending after a long while.

Seeing this scene, Shen Ningzhu recalled the scene from yesterday when Jiang Xuanyan pushed her into the lotus pond.

The terrifying feeling of being on the verge of death, the suffocating tightness in her chest, the unbearable discomfort of almost suffocating, played back and forth in her mind like a movie, making her heart tremble uncontrollably.

I don't know when it started, but my forehead was covered with a fine layer of cold sweat.

Just then, a suppressed groan of pain was heard.

Shen Ningzhu was surprised to find that Jiang Xuanyan was standing tall in front of a rack, holding a sharp dagger in his hand.

The dagger, gleaming with a chilling light, was plunged into the woman's shoulder on the rack, inch by inch, slowly pushed in.

With each push, the woman screamed in agony, but Jiang Xuan Yan acted as if he didn't hear it and continued to push until the entire blade was embedded in the woman's body.

Then, it was pulled out suddenly.

"puff--"

In an instant, bright red blood gushed onto the bluestone floor, staining Jiang Xuan Yan's fair and slender fingers.

He slowly took out a handkerchief from his pocket, carefully and deliberately wiped each finger clean, and then casually threw the handkerchief on the ground.

In a sinister tone, he said, "Those who know the secret will all die."

Each word struck Shen Ningzhu's heart with deliberate pause, causing her to instinctively take a step back.

Unfortunately, he stepped on a dead branch and it snapped instantly.

Shen Ningzhu's pupils suddenly contracted—it's over.

Sure enough, Jiang Xuan Yan inside suddenly turned around, "Who?"

Those phoenix eyes were now filled with murderous intent, cold and sinister. Fortunately, he couldn't see Shen Ningzhu from that angle. But Shen Ningzhu had long since lost the courage to stay.

They ran out of the secret passage with all their might.

Not daring to stop halfway, she ran all the way back to Plum Blossom Garden and rushed into her boudoir, slamming the door shut behind her.

His body trembled like a leaf, and he was still in shock, wondering if he would be discovered or killed to silence him. When he looked up, he found Liu Zhiyi sitting at the table in the room.

He was holding a handful of sunflower seeds in his hand, with one in his mouth, seemingly halfway through cracking it open.

Seeing her rush in, he stopped in fright.

"Xiao Yi, what are you doing here? Are you alright? Let me see, is your injury healed? Does it still hurt?"

Seeing her flustered state, Liu Zhiyi quickly put down the melon seeds, walked over, and pulled her aside, asking with concern,

"What's wrong with you? Have you seen a ghost?"

Shen Ningzhu was stunned. It was indeed a ghost. No, Jiang Xuan Yan was far more terrifying than a ghost. He was practically the King of Ghosts, Yama.

The dungeon she just went into was nothing short of hell on earth.

Those people had no intact flesh on their bodies. Thinking back on the corpses on the ground now, it seemed that they had been skinned, dismembered, and broken apart.

I suddenly remembered a rumor from before.

When Jiang Xuan Yan was twelve years old, he personally skinned and dismembered the enemies he captured on the battlefield, making them into human skin lanterns and war drums.

Shen Ningzhu dismissed those as mere rumors and deemed them unbelievable.

In retrospect, this may indeed have been true.