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

In the interrogation room set up by the Jingwei Bureau in a private residence in Suzhou, Xia Xiaoling was awakened by a slight shaking sound.

"Girl, wake up, wake up quickly."

The moment she opened her eyes, she saw a fat face right in front of her, and she couldn't help but want to slap him.

But as soon as he tried to move, he realized that his hands and feet were tied to a chair and he couldn't move at all.

Jiang Shangxian said with concern, "Miss, don't be afraid. I'm a very nice person. Oh, look at you, you're really badly injured."

Xia Xiaoling then realized that her clothes had been removed.

At this time, he only had a small top and a pair of underpants that just went past his knees.

There was a reddish bandage wrapped around my left ankle.

The thought that she might lose all her innocence brought tears of humiliation to her eyes, and her gaze toward Jiang Shangxian became even more furious.

"Don't worry, young lady, I didn't touch you. I just helped you clean your clothes because you were covered in blood."

"Shut up!"

Xia Xiaoling shouted angrily.

"You scoundrel, I won't say anything. Just give up on that idea. If you're going to kill me, then kill me. Hurry up and do it."

After saying that, he closed his eyes, looking as if he was determined to die.

Seeing this, Jiang Shangxian felt even more distressed: "My dear girl, please don't be so stubborn. I went through a great deal of trouble to save your life."

If you tell me who ordered you to assassinate us, I will take you as a maid so you can serve my queen.

Once our feelings for each other have developed, I'll put in a good word for her with the princess.

"Maybe she'll be so pleased that she'll allow me to take you as a concubine, and you'll enjoy endless wealth and honor. Wouldn't that be better? Why suffer here?"

Xia Xiaoling suddenly opened her eyes and glared fiercely at Jiang Shangxian.

"I told you, you can do whatever you want with me, but don't even think about getting any information out of me. Be my concubine? Heh, you're not worthy."

"Girl, why are you doing this to yourself? This isn't..."

"Tch~"

Before Jiang Shangxian could finish speaking, Xia Xiaoling spat in his face.

Jiang Shangxian suddenly felt a warm sensation flowing down his face. He closed his eyes and took out a handkerchief from his waist to wipe it.

Looking at Xia Xiaoling again, she still had a look of waiting to die.

Just as he was about to continue trying to influence her with love, Shen Lang pushed the door open and came in.

Did she speak?

"He'll speak soon, brother, you go out first, give me a little more time."

"There's no time, I'll handle the interrogation."

Shen Lang pulled out two Emei daggers and charged aggressively towards Xia Xiaoling.

"Brother, don't be impulsive!"

Jiang Shangxian immediately stopped Shen Lang and pleaded with him.

"I will definitely find out the truth. Give me another half hour, you can go out and rest for a while."

"Stop taking a break, get out of the way!"

"You can move aside, but you can't hurt her. I'm begging you, let me experience a little bit of illicit pleasure... no, I mean, I'm taking a maid back on the orders of the princess."

"That 'f***ing' thing before was what you really thought, right?"

"This prince is itching with desire! A prince of such stature cannot go without even tasting the fish; if word gets out, the royal palace will lose all face."

Shen Lang was speechless and could only nod and say, "Okay, step back first and let me finish my interrogation."

Jiang Shangxian: "That's settled then. You mustn't be like the last few times, so quick to destroy women. Learn from others and take women in but don't keep men."

"Alright, step back."

Shen Lang's smile was meaningful.

Jiang Shangxian assumed he had agreed and stepped aside.

The next second, Shen Lang plunged two Emei daggers into Xia Xiaoling's legs.

Xia Xiaoling opened her eyes, calmly looking at Shen Lang's handsome face, but let out a disdainful chuckle.

"I'll only ask you once, who sent you to kill me?"

"No one sent us; we wanted to kill you on our own initiative."

"Oh? What have I done to offend you that you want to kill me?"

Xia Xiaoling shook her head but didn't answer.

"That's strange. Meng Shou always says that someone paid to kill me, but you say that no one sent anyone. Whom should I believe?"

Xia Xiaoling replied, "Don't ask anymore. I accept that I've been defeated by you. If you're going to make a move, then do it quickly."

Shen Lang stood up, took a booklet from Wang Rui behind him, casually flipped through it, and slowly spoke.

"Meng Shouchang was originally an elder of the Bamboo Sound Society. He left the sect after failing to participate in the sect's upheaval and thus wandered the world, making a living by begging to avoid being hunted down by his fellow disciples."

"Han Po, who once served as the vanguard in the Bingzhou army, disobeyed orders from his superiors on the battlefield and insisted on refusing to retreat."

His greed for merit and reckless advance led to the ambush and annihilation of his three hundred men by the Northern Yan. Fearing military punishment, he faked his death and escaped, becoming a blacksmith in Suzhou.

"As for you, Xia Xiaoling, whose real name is Xia Mo, you were originally a disciple of the Lonely Moon Sect and were highly valued by the sect leader. However, you betrayed the sect for a man."

He poisoned twelve fellow disciples with the intoxicating incense, and to avoid being hunted down by the sect, he went into hiding in Suzhou City under an assumed name.

Xia Xiaoling's pupils shrank. She hadn't expected Shen Lang to find out their identities so quickly.

Even so, she maintained a sliver of rationality and tried her best not to show any panic.

"Miss Xia, tell me, for a man, you even betrayed your own sect. Was it really worth it?"

Xia Xiaoling gave a wry smile: "You wouldn't understand."

Shen Lang: "I don't understand, a man who's purely using you..."

You're willing to give everything for him, even at the cost of offending the entire sect. I truly cannot understand such love.

"No, he didn't use me, he truly loves me!"

Xia Xiaoling immediately became anxious and retorted loudly.

"You have no idea, he's the best man in the world!"

"Would it be best if you willingly came to your death?"

"No, it was my own choice, it has nothing to do with him!"

Xia Xiaoling was unaware that she had fallen into a psychological trap carefully laid by Shen Lang, and kept defending the man.

"He is the best man in the world to me, and I will not allow you to slander him like this!"

Shen Lang snorted coldly: "Is that so? Then why didn't he come to save you?"

Xia Xiaoling: "He's a man who's going to do great things; he wants to make a living for all the people of Suzhou..."

Shen Lang interrupted her directly: "So, in other words, for his important cause, he ruthlessly abandoned you. Is this the man who loves you the most?"

Xia Xiaoling was instantly dumbfounded by the question.

Shen Lang continued, "Actually, women as devoted as you..."

I've seen too much of that. What kind of love is that? It's nothing but a one-sided pursuit, destined to have no future.

Relationships require mutual consent, not just one-sided effort.

You're still too naive; you've been scammed without even realizing it.

Xia Xiaoling kept shaking her head: "No, he wouldn't lie to me."

He told me that he would marry me once the people of Suzhou were living good lives.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Shangxian couldn't help but interject, "Miss Xia, this is where you're wrong."

Every scumbag boyfriend and girlfriend uses this same excuse to fool someone who's naive and inexperienced. It's been used to death, and you're just too naive to believe him.

I had a friend back in the day who, in pursuit of so-called true love, spent 500,000 taels of silver on someone over several years.

Ultimately, his sincere efforts yielded no results, leading him to be unable to accept the situation and commit suicide by jumping into the river.

Unexpectedly, such things keep happening in reality.

Xia Xiaoling kept shaking her head: "Impossible, absolutely impossible, he wouldn't lie to me, he couldn't possibly lie to me."

A cold glint appeared on Shen Lang's lips, and he immediately added fuel to the fire: "Then how do you prove he likes you? Why don't you tell me where he is, and I'll go ask him myself?"

Xia Xiaoling instinctively wanted to agree, but at the crucial moment, a sliver of reason regained control of her mind.

"I understand. You want to use this method to force me to reveal his whereabouts? Hmph, I never thought that the dignified Duke of Zhenguo, the current Empress's husband, would resort to such despicable means."

After saying that, he fell silent again.

Unexpectedly, Shen Lang said, "Miss Xia, even if you don't tell me, I have plenty of ways to find out who it is."

"If I were to tell the Governor's Mansion about your assassination attempt on me tonight, what do you think the Zheng family father and son would do?"

Xia Xiaoling's eyes widened upon hearing this.

"Do you really think they would turn against me, the current Empress's husband, for the sake of someone you admire? Think about it carefully."

At this moment, she was a little panicked.

She knew perfectly well what kind of people the Zheng family were, even though she wasn't involved.

There is absolutely no way that the Zheng family father and son would offend Shen Lang for Chen Anning's sake.

"I'll say it one last time: if you don't want him to die, tell me his whereabouts. Only if you have enough irrefutable evidence to bring down the Zheng family can the person you love live!"

Xia Xiaoling's psychological defenses completely collapsed.

"Is everything you said true?"

"nature."

"Okay, I'll tell you."

Soon, Xia Xiaoling told Shen Lang everything she knew.

After getting the information he wanted, Shen Lang picked up the pair of Emei daggers and sighed heavily.

"Thank you for providing this information."

Jiang Shangxian, who had been dozing off, suddenly woke up upon hearing this.

"I promise you, I will make sure you two are together forever. Now, please set off on your journey."

As soon as she finished speaking, two Emei daggers pierced her throat and heart respectively.

Jiang Shangxian was so fast that he didn't even have time to stop him.

"You beast, you bastard!"

Upon witnessing this scene, Jiang Shangxian let out a desperate cry to Shen Lang.

"You ruined my plan to hide my secret stash of money. You must compensate me with 150 taels of gold! Bring it here now!"