After being sentenced to death, she came to her senses.

In the blink of an eye, the fragrance turned into a pool of blood, and a strong, fishy stench filled the air.

The maid was so frightened by what she saw that she covered her mouth and screamed.

This immediately attracted a large crowd of onlookers, who were all shocked by the scene before them. When they looked at Fang Xiaoran, their eyes were filled with both awe and fear.

Fang Xiaoran ignored them and instead said to one of the servants, "Go and get a fire and burn it down."

"Burn, burn it?" The servant was shocked and stammered.

“If it’s not burned, everyone in the Marquis’s mansion will die.” Fang Xiaoran turned around and said calmly.

This is not an exaggeration. Even though Wenxiang's body is dead, the blood gu is still there. Even if it is sealed by the gu spirit, it can still be released into the air. Once someone is invaded by the blood gu, they will be the next Wenxiang.

Even in the northern frontier, such vicious techniques should be forbidden, so why did someone bring them to Yancheng?

In her past life, someone practiced Gu poison, which killed many people. Fang Xiaoran almost took the blame, but fortunately, she used her medical skills to save some of them, and that person eventually disappeared.

Perhaps that person never left, but remained lurking in Yancheng, only to die later without knowing what happened afterward.

Of course, it's also possible that he was killed by someone else, but are there really such powerful people?

She didn't know, but for now, she had to be careful.

Although the servant was frightened, he was still worried that the disaster would affect the Marquis's mansion. He quickly fetched a torch, walked to the pool of blood, and held the torch with trembling hands, not knowing how to light the blood.

Fang Xiaoran glanced at him, quickly stepped forward, and snatched the torch from his hand. A white Gu worm crawled onto the torch, set itself ablaze, and then fell into the blood. Suddenly, the blood began to burn rapidly, turning into a dark green flame, which looked extremely eerie.

The others stared blankly, while Fang Xiaoran grew increasingly terrified.

Fang Xiaoran only left after the blood had been completely burned away, leaving no trace.

Today's events will soon spread throughout the Marquis's residence, but she doesn't care. However, once people find out about the Gu poison, it will cause her a lot of trouble.

In a daze, she felt that the person might not just want to compete with her, but mainly wanted to expose her identity. People who use Gu would be viewed with suspicion no matter where they were.

After Fang Xiaoran left, Jiang Yuke arrived gracefully. She looked in the direction where she had smelled the fragrance, a meaningful look in her eyes.

“Madam, this young mistress is quite something, she…” The maid hurriedly stepped forward, intending to explain the situation, but Jiang Yuke simply waved her hand, interrupting her, “I know, there’s no need to make a fuss about this.”

"But what about the second young master of the Fang family's mistress..."

"He's just a mistress; he doesn't even care about her. Does he expect my Marquis's mansion to pay for it with its life?"

After saying that, Jiang Yuke turned and left.

In the second-floor pavilion of the Liu family mansion, a man in black robes sat cross-legged on the bed. Suddenly, the blood gu in his gu cup died, turning into a cloud of blood mist.

He opened his eyes listlessly, gazing into the distance, a cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

"The descendants of the Yan family are indeed remarkable."

At that moment, Fang Huaide's extremely obsequious voice came from outside the door.

"Sir, I've collected a few more promising seedlings for you. Would you like to take a look?"

Recently, Fang Huaide has gotten close to Prince Duan through Liu Ruyan, and he is extremely obedient to Liu Ruyan's master, hoping to avenge his previous humiliation and make the Fang family look at him differently.

In the past, he was always neglected, not only looked down upon by his own father, but even his own sister dared to disobey him.

He knew that only by pleasing Liu Ruyan's master could he change his current situation.

"You take care of them, and don't worry about the rest."

A hoarse voice came from inside the room. Fang Huaide pricked up his ears, feeling a little strange, and asked in a low voice, "Are you sick?"

"This is none of your business, you can leave now." Clearly, the people inside didn't want to deal with him. Fang Huaide, seeing that things were going well, prepared to leave. But just as he took a step, he suddenly remembered something. He turned back and whispered, "Sir, is Wenxiang obedient? If she's done anything wrong, you can discipline her directly. But I haven't seen her for many days, and I'm worried about her..."

"roll!"

With a sharp shout, Fang Huaide was startled and quickly left, not daring to delay for even a moment.

As he left the villa, he bumped into Liu Ruyan. Seeing his hurried expression, Liu Ruyan glanced at him and asked casually, "What's the matter that you're in such a rush? Did you anger Master?"

"I wouldn't dare offend you, sir. But when I asked about the fragrance, you got annoyed and chased me away," Fang Huaide said, shaking his head helplessly.

"So you're asking about her." Liu Ruyan's eyes were light, with a hint of strangeness in them. She slowly walked towards Fang Huaide and said with a smile, "Then you should ask Fang Xiaoran. As far as I know, she went to see Fang Xiaoran a few days ago and hasn't returned yet. Who knows, she might already be..."

"Impossible, they have no grudge against each other."

"Didn't Aunt Liu have no grudge against her? You know perfectly well what her end was like. Now Fourth Sister is getting closer and closer to her, and the Fang family is in chaos. Do you really expect her to have any conscience?"

In Fang Huaide's view, Fang Xiaoran was the culprit behind the decline of the Fang family. He also believed that his mother's death was inextricably linked to Fang Xiaoran. Even though he knew that Zhou Qin was the biggest source of the problem, Zhou Qin was already dead, while Fang Xiaoran was still alive and well. Given that he had never won against Fang Xiaoran in their previous encounters, Fang Huaide's hatred for Fang Xiaoran intensified.

He didn't say anything and left in silence.

Just by looking at his expression, Liu Ruyan already understood.

Although she didn't think Fang Huaide could do anything to Fang Xiaoran, he could at least make Fang Xiaoran feel less comfortable.

Fang Xiaoran had just returned to Qingxin Residence when, not long after, another uninvited guest arrived.

She had long guessed that Fang Huaide would come, but she didn't expect him to come so quickly.

This time, instead of being called away by Jiang Yuke, he was taken directly to Qingxin Residence by Wu Guicheng.

This was Fang Huaide's first time entering the Marquis's residence. He subconsciously compared it to the Liu family's residence and realized that the Liu family was nothing compared to the Marquis's residence. Even the Duan Prince's residence was not as grand as the Marquis's residence.

As expected of a master designer, it is indeed extraordinary.

However, when Fang Huaide arrived at Qingxin Residence, he was somewhat taken aback. Although he had long known that Gu Yuqing was not favored in the Marquis's Mansion, he did not expect that even the courtyard where he lived was so shabby, completely out of place with the rest of the Marquis's Mansion. Apart from being quiet, he could hardly feel any of the noble atmosphere that a Marquis's Mansion should have.

Once inside, the layout was unique and elegant. Several purple bamboos in the corner were growing exceptionally well, clearly not ordinary bamboos. Even the flowers and grasses inside were extraordinary, mostly rare treasures, many of which Fang Huaide couldn't name, and could only recognize one or two of them.

Fang Huaide paused slightly, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing his cuffs. The "simple elegance" of the courtyard was even more astonishing than the gold and jade piled up in the main hall of the Marquis's mansion.

It seems that it's not that the second young master of the Marquis's mansion is not favored, but rather that he simply prefers this simple and elegant scenery.

As he wondered what was going on, Fang Xiaoran came out of the room, casually walked to the stone table under the money tree and sat down. She didn't even glance at Fang Huaide, but simply asked, "What do you want?"

Her voice was calm yet sharp, even more chilling than before.

Fang Huaide had never liked this younger sister.

Firstly, she had left home at a young age. Secondly, he initially thought she was easy to bully, but he suffered repeated setbacks at her hands, which made him extremely unhappy. He wanted to regain his face, but he couldn't do anything about her.

"Has Wenxiang come looking for you? Where is she?" Fang Huaide asked angrily, his face darkening.