She curved her lips and pointed at the rice in front of him. “Eat. Although the taste isn’t good, it’s cooked and edible. It’s truly not easy for you to make a meal like this on your first try in the kitchen. Think of it from another perspective. We’re not eating the food, we’re eating the sweat you poured while cooking. Thinking this way, doesn’t the taste seem much better?”

She patiently explained. To her, it was just an ordinary persuasion, but Pei Yuanshao felt his ears go a bit numb.

He lowered his head, his hair as black as silk concealing the side of his dazed face. Without arguing, he obediently picked up the wooden chopsticks he had set aside earlier and began to eat slowly.

After the two finished their lunch, they each returned to their own bedrooms.

Waking up from a nap, the cheap husband was nowhere to be seen. Liu Changning smiled at his door, not having the time to bother about him. As long as he didn’t disturb her, whatever he did was none of her business.

After a simple dinner, Liu Changning dived into the woodshed and tidied up the tools needed for going up the mountain tomorrow.

With the preparations done, she blew out the candle.

Liu Changning activated her Qi cultivation technique and sat in meditation, bathed in the gentle moonlight.

—

At midnight, the crescent moon hung high.

In the dead of night, apart from the chirping of insects and barking of dogs, everything was silent.

In the empty open space at the west end of Xiqiao Village.

Pei Yuanshao stood in black clothes, his hands hanging at his sides.

The usual red attire was gone. At this moment, his entire face was hidden in the shadows. Clad in black with ink-black hair, the contours of his side profile were faintly discernible. Even just standing casually, his entire being exuded the oppressive aura of a ruler.

The woman kneeling on the ground trembled.

“Hong Zhu is dead?” Pei Yuanshao crushed the bead in his hand. As the night breeze blew, the powder sticking to his fingertips scattered, flying all over the sky.

“This servant failed to protect Young Master Zhu. I am willing to accept any punishment Your Highness deems fit!”

Pei Yuanshao pursed his lips, his brows tightly knitted. After a long while, he said in a low voice, “Forget it. Take good care of his family. We absolutely cannot let anyone discover any clues!”

“Yes!”

The black-clothed, masked woman responded in a low voice. She swiftly took out a bloodstained cloth from her bosom and presented it with both hands.

“Your Highness, this item was the last message Young Master Hong Zhu sent out before his death!”

Pei Yuanshao’s lips pressed into a straight line. He took the cloth and, under the moonlight, saw the bloodstained, messy, and sloppy handwriting on it.

Eight large characters were clearly written on it: “Jing Huan is undoubtedly a girl.”

Pei Yuanshao gripped the cloth tightly, his palms oozing fine beads of sweat.

Hong Zhu was the third death messenger he had planted in the Prince of Zhennan’s residence.

Hah! Prince Jing Huan of Zhennan…

If he hadn’t heard with his own ears before his death that he admitted to being a man, he would never have doubted his true identity. Now, having been reborn, he had sent wave after wave of people into the Prince of Zhennan’s residence to investigate and search for evidence.

Ridiculous. He himself had become a spirit, yet he was still deceived by this person.

The mighty and valiant Grand General, personally conferred as the Prince of Zhennan by the previous Emperor, unexpectedly had a penchant for the same gender. So be it. But to kneel and lick the boots of a subordinate, being rejected and not getting what he wanted, he actually deceived him about being a man. Laughable! No wonder, in the previous life, that person rejected him so thoroughly. Mouthing words of love, but actions full of deception. What kind of love was that?

Kneeling on the ground, Hong Lian’s hands trembled slightly. Since taking the cloth, the master hadn’t spoken a word.

Hong Zhu had grown up in a brothel since childhood, skilled in seducing women. This time, she had personally taken action and brought back the same information. So the rumors of the Prince of Zhennan being a man were once again shattered.

The night breeze blew past, dispersing the sweat on her body. Hong Lian shivered.

Pei Yuanshao regained his senses, his peach blossom eyes unfathomable. He asked in a deep voice to the shadow guard kneeling on the ground, “Get up and speak. Was there anything unusual before Hong Zhu’s death?”

Hong Lian straightened her body and stood with her head bowed. “No… except…”