A sharp pain throbbed at the back of Liang Wan's neck. She tried to raise her hand, but a heavy weight pressed down on her arm, making it difficult to move. When she finally forced her eyes open, she was met with a vile, lecherous face.
"This is—" she thought in shock.
With trembling lips, Liang Wan stared in horror at the middle-aged man burying his head against her, frantically tearing at her clothes. Tears welled in her eyes and streamed down her face uncontrollably.
She had actually returned. She had gone back in time to the very day she was robbed of her innocence!
Liang Wan shoved at the man with all her might, but his heavy, fleshy body remained immovable. Seeing her awake, he flashed a greasy smile. "Little lady, let me love you properly!" As he spoke, his large hands eagerly reached down to hike up her skirt.
"Zhang Shi!"
The man's hands froze, a look of utter astonishment crossing his face. "You—you recognize me?"
How could she merely recognize him? She would know him even if he were burned to ashes! He was not only the beast who ruined her virtue, but also the catalyst for her entire tragic life!
The man chuckled. "Cui Hao must have told you, right? I truly never expected a young lady from a scholarly family like yourself to willingly sell her body for some down-and-out boy from a Commoner Clan! But don't you worry. As long as you serve me well, putting in a good word for him—or even securing him an official post—won't be difficult at all!"
Cui Hao. It was Cui Hao again!
Liang Wan gritted her teeth, her eyes rimmed so red they looked ready to bleed.
To curry favor with Wang Sikong, her family had tried to force her to become his concubine. She had refused, preferring death over submission. Yet, she never imagined she would be kidnapped while attempting to flee, only to be stripped of her innocence here.
Overnight, she had become the laughingstock of all Jinye City, branded as a shameless, promiscuous woman who had eloped. She remembered kneeling before the Liang Mansion, pounding desperately on the gates, but no one would open them. No matter how she wept and explained, no one believed she had been framed, until she finally passed out from crying.
When she woke up again, Cui Hao and his mother had brought her to their home. It was then that Cui Hao promised to marry and take care of her. The bitter irony was that what she had believed to be true devotion in times of adversity was nothing more than a meticulously crafted scam!
The mocking words spoken by those two eunuchs right before her death echoed in her ears, word for word.
Liang Wan slowly raised her hand, reaching into her hair until her fingers brushed against a cold, hard object.
With a sharp SQUELCH, the hairpin plunged straight into the man's neck. When she yanked it out, blood sprayed like a fountain. Zhang Shi's eyes bulged and his mouth gaped open. Before he could even cry out for help, his body stiffened and collapsed.
Liang Wan violently shoved the corpse aside and wiped her tears. She had sworn that if there was an afterlife, she would make them die a gruesome death! From this moment on, Zhang Shi would be the first!
With hands covered in blood, Liang Wan stood silently in the middle of the room. This was Tongle Hall, the most extravagant pleasure house in Jinye City. That was a fact she only learned in her previous life after walking out of this very room—the walk that utterly destroyed her reputation.
But now, not only was she in a brothel, she had just murdered an official of the imperial court. Walking out the front door like that would mean certain death.
Liang Wan forced herself to calm down. She had to find another way to escape! She had been given a second chance at life; she absolutely could not die like this. Her revenge was yet to be exacted!
From the bustling hall downstairs rose the sounds of singing, dancing, and roaring laughter from the pleasure-seekers. Liang Wan leaned against the door and scanned the room; the man on the floor was already completely lifeless.
She rummaged through the chests and cabinets for a long time but couldn't find any clean clothes to change into. Left with no choice, she grabbed the teapot from the table to wash her face and hands. She stripped off her blood-soaked undergarments and slipped into the outer robe that had been tossed onto the floor.
Once dressed, Liang Wan unhesitatingly picked up an oil lamp and set her bloody clothes ablaze. As the fabric burned away, the flames quickly spread into a roaring inferno, sending thick, billowing smoke rolling outward. Liang Wan pressed her hands tightly over her mouth and nose, curling up behind the door.
She would either burn to death or gamble for a way out. She had no other choice!
People fleeing for their lives, shouting to extinguish the fire, desperately searching for others... A cacophony of frantic cries echoed endlessly. From top to bottom, Tongle Hall was thrown into total chaos.
Out in the corridor, the panicked crowds scrambled blindly. Liang Wan struggled out of the room and joined the throng of people surging outside. Everyone was entirely focused on escaping, each looking more disheveled than the last. Catching glimpses of others looking just as ragged as she did, Liang Wan felt her anxiety ease slightly.
Outside the main entrance, the calf-drawn carriages of dignitaries and nobles were crowded together, clogging the street until it was impassable. Keeping her head down and covering half her face with a piece of cloth, she randomly picked one of the carriages and trailed closely behind its attendants, leaving the blazing Tongle Hall further and further behind.
As soon as she turned the corner, she crouched down and quickly surveyed her surroundings. If her memory served her right, she only needed to cut through the right-hand alley and head straight west to reach the Liang Mansion!
She stood up and sprinted into the narrow alley.
"Halt!"
A sudden voice sounded from behind her. It was deep and chillingly indifferent, sending shivers down her spine in the brisk air of the early spring night.
Liang Wan kept her face covered, too terrified to move. Steady footsteps approached, each one feeling as though it were stepping directly onto her heart. She felt as if she had been hoisted high into the air, and whether she landed safely or plummeted to her death seemed to rest entirely on a whim of the man behind her.
Peering through her fingers, Liang Wan saw a pair of dark green leather boots stop right in front of her.
"Liang Wan?"
Her entire body stiffened. This person actually recognized her?
A moment later, her hands were casually brushed away from her face. The man standing before her wore a pearl-white belted robe. A faint coldness floated in his narrow, elongated eyes, and a hint of amusement tugged at the corner of his lips. He wore the expression of someone profoundly bored who had just happened to spot an interesting ant.
"How could it be Lu Xiu..." she thought, feeling as if a basin of ice water had been poured over her head, chilling her to the bone. In her panic, she had only thought of escaping as quickly as possible, failing to notice that she had been following Lu Xiu's carriage!
"Is the young lady afraid of me?" Lu Xiu narrowed his eyes.
Afraid? He was not only the youngest son of Master Lu, born in his later years, but also the younger brother of the Empress Dowager. Despite his youth, everyone in the city steered well clear of him! In all of Jinye City, who wasn't afraid of him?
Liang Wan lowered her eyes, tightly clutching the damp cloth in her palm. Her instinct told her to flee. She took a step back, but he took a step forward. Suddenly, her ankle twisted, and she collapsed to the ground, leaving her with nowhere left to retreat.
Lu Xiu leaned forward with keen interest.
Suddenly, she felt a warmth at her neck as his cool fingertips brushed against her warm skin. The lingering scent of cold pine wood emanating from him hovered in the air, instantly resurrecting the humiliating memories of her past life.
Liang Wan gritted her teeth and turned her head away. "I beg you to let me go, My Lord."
Her deliberately suppressed voice trembled with hidden sobs, sounding surprisingly alluring to the ear.
Lu Xiu let out a scoff. "What, are you confessing without being prompted?"
Liang Wan's expression froze; she didn't understand what he meant.
A mocking curve played on Lu Xiu's lips as he spoke with absolute certainty. "This is not your blood!"
Seeing the dark crimson smeared across his extended fingertips, Liang Wan shrank back slightly. It turned out he wasn't planning to do anything untoward to her. In her previous life, there were rumors on the streets that Lu Xiu stayed away from women and preferred the company of men. It seemed the rumors were true.
"Thank goodness..." she thought.
"I am speaking to you."
Liang Wan snapped to attention and raised her head. That blood must have been something she failed to wipe off properly in her haste!
Lu Xiu's sly, fox-like eyes were locked onto her. He rubbed the blood between his fingertips and brought it to his nose, sniffing it carefully. "The Assistant Minister of the Secretariat was murdered, and the fire started precisely from the room where his body was hidden. Does the young lady believe that Zhang Shi's blood smells quite like this?"
Liang Wan's brows twitched. "I don't understand what you are talking about, My Lord."
"Oh?" Lu Xiu's eyes curved into a smile. His gaze drifted past the top of her head, his tone laced with an inexplicable sense of anticipation. "Perhaps, the young lady will understand what they have to say!"