5
In truth, when she first fell into the water, Ming Tan felt no differently from Liang Zixuan; the river’s icy chill pierced to her bones, almost unbearable. She choked on two mouthfuls of water, struggling and coughing for quite some time before finally realizing what had happened.
—She had been knocked into the water!
Within the deep courtyards of great households, “accidents” arising from refusals to marry or forced unions were countless. Being trapped together in one room while changing soiled garments, or falling into the water and being rescued, thus leading to physical contact—these two scenarios were the most common of all.
Since childhood, Lady Pei had taught her how to guard against such cunning schemes when out in public; moreover, during their summer retreat at the country villa, she had specifically engaged a female tutor to instruct her in swimming.
As these skills were rarely needed in daily life, and given her delicate nature—preferring always to be carried in a soft sedan chair rather than set foot on the ground—no one ashore knew that she could actually swim.
Unfortunately, the timing was ill-fated; before Ming Tan could inform them, Liang Zixuan had already stripped off his outer robe and leaped into the water.
In desperate haste, she submerged herself into the river, intending to circumvent Liang Zixuan and reach the shore from the opposite side of the dock.
Such a hasty response was already quite clever, but alas, the river water was too cold. As she was not usually an active person, after swimming for only a short while, a sudden soreness surged through her lower body.
That soreness throbbed rhythmically, combined with the bone-chilling cold of the river water, feeling like needles piercing her skin, until all she could see before her eyes was a blank white light, making it utterly impossible to swim any further.
In that instant, many thoughts flashed through Ming Tan’s mind.
One moment she thought, “Better to die here than be saved by Liang Zixuan; at least this would preserve my honor,” and the next, “Never mind, I should call for help instead; dying here and letting my body bloat and swell would simply betray my stunning beauty, which has yet to make its mark upon the capital.”
Just as she ended her hesitation and decided to surface to call for help, a black sash suddenly pierced the water without warning, swiftly coiled around her waist, tightened, and dragged her to the shore, tossing her onto a secluded patch of reeds some distance from the dock.
The force at the other end of the sash was swift and decisive, showing no tenderness toward a delicate beauty. Ming Tan was thrown until dizzy and blurred; through her haze, she only caught a glimpse of the trailing half of the black sash being withdrawn from her waist.
Judging by her over ten years of living in luxury, the material of that sash must have been extraordinary: its hidden patterns were exquisite and intricate, seemingly woven with threads of dark gold silk, split so finely that even under the heavy night they still shimmered with a faint luster.
Before she could follow the sash to make out the figure standing there, an outer robe fell, covering her body and blocking her view as well.
“And then what?” Bai Minmin hurriedly pressed.
“Then, someone carried me back.” Ming Tan leaned against the bedside, pushing away the pungent ginger soup meant to dispel the cold. She accepted the hand warmer handed to her by her maid and recalled, “Along the way, I asked several times who they were and where they intended to take me, but that person remained silent. After placing me at the rear gate of the Marquis’s residence, he vanished along with his outer robe.”
“‘They’? More than one person?”
“The one who saved me and the one who brought me back were definitely not the same person; their clothing differed significantly. Moreover, the one who returned me seemed to be acting on orders, like… a retainer or guard.”
Bai Minmin took a moment to process the information, still harboring many doubts: “Wait, so from beginning to end, you never mentioned that you belonged to the Jing’an Marquis’s household, yet they accurately escorted you back to the marquis’s residence?”
“Mm, that is precisely what I find strange.” Ming Tan propped herself up slightly against the bolster pillow. “If their intentions were impure, I thoroughly checked everything upon returning home; none of my personal belongings are missing.”
“Anyone with ulterior motives would surely take some token as proof. Since they took nothing… ‘That is indeed very strange,'” Bai Minmin murmured, frowning in deep thought.
“Enough about that for now.” Ming Tan turned her mind to a more pressing matter. “How are things on Liang Zixuan’s side?”
“How else could it be? You already sent Su Xin over; do you think I’d be foolish enough not to play along? Of course, I forced his head underwater, then pretended to pass by and had my attendants rescue him. Rest assured, I’ve already arranged for him to be escorted back to the Duke of Lingguo’s residence.”
Hearing Bai Minmin’s words, Ming Tan finally felt her suspended heart settle. Since the public explanation was that Liang Zixuan had fallen into the water, no matter what happened afterward, the official story would remain that Liang Zixuan had fallen into the water.
After all, on the surface, the marital alliance between the two households remained exceedingly strong. For an unmarried heir’s fiancée from their family to suffer such an incident would hardly bring glory to the Duke of Lingguo’s residence. If they wished to avoid tearing off masks with the Jing’an Marquis’s household while still escaping unscathed, their only option was to tacitly accept this version of events.
Come to think of it, she always felt something suspicious about today’s incident. At the time, people rushed forward one after another claiming to catch a thief, but compared to being collided with, she felt more as though someone had deliberately pushed her, causing her to suffer this misfortune.
Thinking of this, she said, “Minmin, go back and find someone to investigate the two people who bumped into me today.”
“Do you suspect that falling into the water wasn’t an accident?”
“Exactly because I don’t know, I want to look into it thoroughly.”
Bai Minmin nodded and readily agreed. Seeing that Ming Tan’s little face was still pale, she tucked the blanket around her more securely, then took the warming soup from the maid’s hands: “Don’t worry about these things for now; here, drink the ginger soup.”
The taste was too pungent; Ming Tan didn’t want to drink it.
Bai Minmin, equally stubborn, insisted on forcing it into her mouth while chattering incessantly: “Drink it, drink it! Even if you won’t think of yourself, surely you must think of me. If you refuse this ginger soup and later catch a chill that leaves you bedridden, the blame will fall entirely on me. You know well enough what a bull-headed temper my father has. Could you bear to watch me being punished with kneeling in the ancestral hall? If I end up suffering some mishap from kneeling and become unmarriageable, I’m afraid I’ll have no choice but to…”
Her nagging gave Ming Tan a splitting headache, so she simply took the porcelain bowl, closed her eyes, and swallowed it all in one gulp.
Bai Minmin wore a look of satisfaction. Seeing that more than half of the incense stick marking the time had already burned away, she rose and clapped her hands lightly. “In that case, do rest well. It is getting late; I shall return to my residence now. Suxin, Lü’e, take good care of your young mistress.”
Su Xin and Lu E responded in unison, respectfully escorting Bai Minmin out of the Zhaoshui Courtyard.
After all this turmoil, Ming Tan’s frail body could barely endure it; she truly needed proper rest. She skipped her usual elaborate pre-sleep skincare routine, applying only some honey dew to her face and soaking her hands in fresh sheep’s milk for a while.
–
A light rain fell at midnight, with thick clouds obscuring the full moon. Ming Tan, wrapped in a brocade quilt, had already fallen into deep sleep, while the entire Jing’an Marquis’s household lay shrouded in the quiet stillness of dim lamps amidst the slanting heavy rain.
In the Dali Temple prison, the dungeon descending along the steps was vast and dimly lit; oil lamps placed every ten paces still failed to dispel its eerie chill and desolation.
The temple official walked ahead, bowing respectfully as he guided the way: “Your Highness, Young Master Shu, please follow this direction.”
Shu Jingran, always refined and elegant, found the oppressive atmosphere and stench of decay in the prison utterly unbearable during his first visit. Glancing at Jiang Xu, he reasoned that a life spent battling on blood-soaked battlefields must be a hundred times worse; yet even so, Jiang Xu advanced with hands clasped behind his back, his expression utterly indifferent. Shu Jingran sighed, quickly covering his nose as he hurried to keep up.
In the interrogation chamber, torture instruments hanging on the walls gleamed with a cold, eerie light. The prisoner awaiting questioning had already been bound to the rack by the jailers. Though not yet subjected to torture, the man appeared disheveled and wretched; yet upon closer inspection, he remained completely unharmed.
The Temple Assistant pulled out the round-backed chair for Jiang Xu, respectfully inviting him to sit.
Jiang Xu made no move to decline; he simply lifted the hem of his robe and sat down directly. Tapping his fingertips lightly on the armrests with an expressionless face, he gazed into the shadows where the torture rack stood.
“Y-Your Highness…” The man on the rack recognized the newcomer, and terror surged within his heart. “Why has Your Highness brought this humble official here? This official is innocent!”
“Innocent?” Jiang Xu turned his head to stare straight at him. “You may wait a little longer. Wait until the Marquis of Cheng’en is also thrown into prison, and then you can cry out your innocence to him as well.”
Marquis Cheng’en!
The blood of the person on the torture rack froze in an instant.
In truth, ever since he was inexplicably arrested on his way back to the residence, with no one offering any explanation for his capture, he had harbored a vague premonition. Yet he had consistently refused and dared not allow his thoughts to venture down that path. After all, if this truly involved the Marquis of Cheng’en, it would spell utter catastrophe for him.
“This humble official has indeed had some dealings with His Lordship, but, but…”
“Zhang Ji, I have spared you thus far, keeping you whole and intact, because I considered you a sensible man. Are you certain you wish to waste my time with evasions?”
Jiang Xu rose and walked slowly to the front, tilting his head to look at him.
Perhaps due to being in the dungeon, the faint aura of conquest and slaughter that clung to him spread outward, carrying an overwhelming pressure. His voice was not loud, yet it inexplicably sent chills through anyone who heard it.
Zhang Ji opened his mouth, but the pressure rendered him speechless for a moment.
He knew this marked the beginning of reckoning, and he also knew Jiang Xu’s purpose in coming here. A deathly silence spread alongside the stench of decay permeating the dungeon.
For a long while, he hesitated, his lips trembling as he made one last desperate attempt to bargain: “I do possess certain things that Your Highness could find useful. If Your Highness agrees to one condition of mine, I will… Ah—!” His words were cut short by a sudden cry of agony.
Shu Jingran froze, only then realizing that the barbed torture blade embedded in the wall had, at some point, pierced Zhang Ji’s lower abdomen while carefully avoiding vital organs. Blood gushed forth, rapidly soaking Zhang Ji’s white robes crimson, while thick droplets continued to patter onto the grimy, dim floor.
“What right do you have to negotiate terms with this prince?” Jiang Xu leaned in, whispering casually into Zhang Ji’s ear.
His grip on the handle remained unyielding; the barbs pressed against flesh and muscle as he slowly pushed deeper, twisting the blade back and forth.
Zhang Ji’s face turned ashen with pain, beads of sweat the size of beans forming on his forehead. Having never truly endured hardship, he rolled his eyes back and fainted within half a moment.
Jiang Xu stood upright, allowing the jailer to douse Zhang Ji with cold water to revive him.
By the torture wall, the brazier was already lit, the branding iron glowing red. Just as Zhang Ji regained consciousness, he saw the jailer advancing toward him with the iron; before he could cry out to stop, the searing metal was pressed directly onto his previous wound.
Another heart-wrenching scream tore through the air.
The prison held countless instruments of torture; Zhang Ji had endured only two rounds before urinating on himself, the pungent stench filling the cell. Regretting that he hadn’t accepted the wine offered in goodwill earlier, he croaked hoarsely, “Your Highness! Your Highness, I’ll talk! The Marquis of Cheng’en forcibly seized farmland and illegally opened a salt mine! The evidence is in the suburbs—at my private residence in Jiuli Slope! It’s buried beneath the apricot tree in the backyard!”
–
At the hour of Zi, the dungeon door swung open.
Stepping out of the Dali Temple prison, Shu Jingran finally exhaled a breath of stifled air. Perhaps due to a light rain earlier, tonight’s atmosphere in the capital felt exceptionally pure.
Just recalling the scene in the dungeon moments ago, where Jiang Xu, without so much as blinking, drove a barbed execution blade into Zhang Ji’s waist and abdomen, then slowly twisted it deeper inch by inch, he felt certain that nightmares would plague him throughout the night.
Then again, His Highness the Prince of Dingbei was notoriously ruthless and merciless. Years ago, when the Vice Minister of Revenue embezzled military funds and delayed crucial operations, the Prince returned bloodied from the battlefield, ignored the imperial summons, refused to enter the palace, and made his first act the immediate beheading of the corrupt official.
The official’s wife, knowing her own life was forfeit, sought to preserve her two breathtakingly beautiful daughters by having them voluntarily offer themselves as slaves to serve at the Prince’s side.
With such unparalleled beauty, any man would naturally be tempted; moreover, sparing two women would have been as simple for him as lifting a finger. Yet he remained unmoved, strictly enforcing the law: confiscating the family estate, executing every member, and leaving not a single soul alive.
“So, earlier by the riverside, why did you step in to save Miss Ming and have your shadow guards escort her back to the Marquis’s residence? Showing such tenderness toward a beauty… doesn’t seem like something you, Qi Zhi, would do.”
He had thought that Jiang Xu’s return to the capital meant he had changed his ways and developed a sense of compassion, but after visiting the dungeon, he realized he had been mistaken.
Recalling the overheard conversation in the Listening Rain Pavilion, he smiled again. “Could it be that you fell for Miss Ming at first sight?”
Jiang Xu lowered his eyes, a faint tug at his lips as he slowly and methodically wiped the bloodstains from his hands, speaking with unhurried calm: “No wonder the Second Young Master of the Shu family is renowned throughout the capital; truly gentle and affectionate.”