Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

When the seventh basin of water was splashed on Zhao Ang, waking him up, Jiang Mengxuan was already calmly sitting in the small dark room, watching Zhao Ang with equanimity.

"Your Majesty...Why...why are you treating me like this? What wrong have I committed? Please give me an explanation, Your Majesty..."

At this moment, Zhao Ang was covered in blood, his body a bloody mess, and he was still completely baffled by what had happened to him.

He vaguely remembered that Jiang Mengxuan had sent him a royal meal as a reward for his meritorious impeachment, and after he finished eating, he lost consciousness.

When he woke up again, he was in this dark and sunless dungeon, his body bound by specially made ropes, and his dantian and collarbone sealed with silver needles, so he couldn't muster any strength at all.

Jiang Mengxuan slightly raised her eyes and replied expressionlessly, "Why? Zhao Ang, do you still remember what you swore when you joined the Jingwei Division?"

Zhao Ang replied weakly, "This humble servant... naturally remembers... to be loyal to Your Majesty and never betray you..."

"Did you manage to do it?"

Jiang Mengxuan remained calm throughout, but a faint murderous aura appeared on her beautiful face.

This is the majesty of an emperor, an awe-inspiring presence that no one but the one in power can imitate.

"This humble servant...does not know...please, Your Majesty...enlighten me..."

Jiang Mengxuan: "What is the punishment for deceiving the emperor?"

"Ah? Your Majesty, this... what do you mean by that..."

Jiang Mengxuan crossed her legs and crossed her arms over her chest, asking each word clearly, "You said Shen Lang and Su Yun are having an affair, is that true or false?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Ang instinctively glanced slightly to the right, a hint of nervousness flashing across his eyes.

"What, you don't want to answer?"

"No, Your Majesty, I personally witnessed Shen Lang and Su Yun engaging in illicit affairs, and I have not lied to Your Majesty in the slightest."

"Is that so? Then explain to me why Shen Lang and Su Yun had to go to a brothel to commit their illicit acts?"

"This...this humble servant does not know..."

Zhao Ang was speechless for a moment.

Jiang Mengxuan gently crossed her jade-like legs: "Still not telling the truth? Then I need to let you experience all eighteen sets of torture instruments here. I don't believe I can't pry your mouth open."

After saying this, a jailer very cooperatively picked up a red-hot branding iron from the brazier and approached Zhao Ang step by step.

Feeling the suffocating heat wave hitting him, and seeing the jailer's ferocious face, Zhao Ang couldn't help but swallow hard.

"I said, I said!"

Faced with extreme fear, Zhao Ang finally gave in and recounted the whole story.

"Your Majesty, it is I who have long admired Commander Su, but Commander Su has no feelings for me in return."

Therefore, I harbored resentment and could not bear to see Commander Su and Shen Lang getting close, which is why I deceived Your Majesty.

"I beg Your Majesty to forgive this humble servant this once; I truly know I was wrong."

"So, for your own selfish gain, you're willing to use this matter to separate me from Shen Lang?"

Beneath Jiang Mengxuan's calm exterior, her heart was already filled with rage.

Luckily, I remained calm. Otherwise, if I had misunderstood Shen Lang, who knows if he would have been so angry that he would have run away the next day.

Jiang Mengxuan was well aware that the small stigma could not restrain Shen Lang's actions at all. He was willing to stay simply because he wanted to, and she did not have enough leverage to control him.

And this person was Shen Lang's colleague, who actually went so far as to put him in a disadvantageous position, almost ruining his own important plans.

Jiang Mengxuan was truly furious.

"Very well, since you have confessed, according to the Jingwei Law, maliciously slandering colleagues, deceiving the emperor, and harassing female subordinates of colleagues are all crimes punishable by death for nine generations of your family."

But considering that you did serve the Jingwei Guard, your entire family will be spared. I will grant you the punishment of having your face bound, and leave you with a complete corpse.”

"No, no, Your Majesty, spare me! I know I was wrong, I really know I was wrong. Please have mercy, have mercy!"

However, Jiang Mengxuan didn't even bother to glance at this scoundrel, and got up to walk out of the cell.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty... um..."

Before Zhao Ang could continue begging for mercy, a damp piece of Xuan paper was slapped across his face.

The jailer carefully smoothed the Xuan paper on his face, then poured a spoonful of water on it before continuing to stack and bind the next sheet of Xuan paper on top.

"Your Majesty... mmm... mmm... mmm..."

Zhao Ang struggled fiercely, his whole body trembling uncontrollably, but soon several jailers forcefully held him down.

Immediately afterwards, sheets of rice paper dipped in water were all stuck to his face.

The struggle lasted for a full half hour, until the twelfth sheet of paper was used to bind his face, at which point Zhao Ang stopped struggling, ending his meaningless life.

……

The next morning, at the hour of Mao (5-7 AM), at the entrance of the Zeng family compound.

Zeng Qian stretched out his arms and, with the help of a servant, boarded the carriage bound for the Jingzhao Prefecture, ready to begin a day of slacking off.

The horse-drawn carriages moved forward in an orderly fashion along the wide pipes.

Perhaps due to the intense battle with his new concubine last night, Zeng Qian felt extremely weak today, so he took the opportunity to lean against the soft cushions in the carriage and catch up on some sleep.

Before he knew it, a sudden, strong jolt jolted him awake from his daze.

Before he could even scold the driver, he heard a grating sound of wood scraping against wood.

Gradually, he felt his body losing balance and uncontrollably leaning towards the left side of the carriage curtain.

click-

Boom~

"Master, be careful!"

The coachman cried out in alarm and jumped off the carriage. Suddenly, the wheels broke off completely, and the carriage began to tilt rapidly.

"Xu~~"

The next second, the horse lost control, let out a long neigh, and suddenly charged forward.

The entire carriage separated from the horse in an instant, and with a loud bang, the carriage was smashed to pieces.

"Ah~~"

Zeng Qian let out a scream like a pig being slaughtered, and his whole body was thrown out of control.

Boom~

Finally, he crashed into a cart loaded with night soil, spilling thick golden liquid all over the ground, including Zeng Qian's entire body, and his head even plunged directly into a bucket of excrement.

This unexpected scene left the old man who was collecting chamber pot excrement completely dumbfounded. He couldn't help but joke, "Looks like this guy is really hungry, he won't even leave the excrement untouched. I admire him, I truly admire him!"

"Ah~"

Zeng Qian, now covered in excrement, removed the bucket of excrement from his head, looked around, and shouted, "What on earth happened?!"

As a result, when he opened his mouth, he spewed out a mouthful of filth, filth on a physical level.

Even the coachman who was about to approach couldn't help but cover his nose and keep his distance!

"Ugh~"

Realizing his current predicament, Zeng Qian couldn't help but vomit uncontrollably.

"How dare I, the Prefect of the Capital, be attacked by such filthy things! This is outrageous! Absolutely outrageous!"

He sniffed his sleeve, then gagged again, pointing at the coachman and yelling, "What are you doing? What are you looking at? Hurry up and help me up!"

Left with no other choice, the coachman could only suppress his nausea and hold his breath as he helped Zeng Qian up from the pile of dung.

"Return to the manor and investigate this matter. What exactly happened? Why did my carriage break apart for no reason? Investigate! Find out the truth!"

Just then, a child came to Zeng Qian's side with a document.

"Excuse me, are you Lord Zeng, the Prefect of Jingzhao? A dashing young man asked me to give you this paper."

After saying this, without waiting for Zeng Qian's reply, the child placed the paper in the coachman's hand, turned around, and ran away quickly.

Clearly, the child also disliked the person who wanted to defecate.

Zeng Qian took the note and opened it.

There was only one short line of text on it:

You want to mess with me? Fine, let's hurt each other then.

"Shen Lang!"

Zeng Qian angrily tore the paper to shreds.

"I am determined to be your sworn enemy!"