"you!"

Qi Zhenheng was so angry that he couldn't speak. He flicked his sleeves and went back to his room to keep Shen Qing company.

As dusk fell, Zi Yan prepared dinner. Qi Zhenheng tried to help Shen Qing up to eat, but Cheng Zhiwen stopped him.

The two almost got into another fight over this.

Exhausted, Shen Qing dragged her weak body out of bed to break up the fight, and only then did they stop.

After having dinner in mixed emotions, Cheng Zhiwen asked Ziyan to take Qi Zhenheng to another room to rest.

Qi Zhenheng grabbed Cheng Zhiwen by the collar: "Come with me!"

He knew that Cheng Zhiwen and Shen Qing had slept in the same room before. He wasn't there then, so there was nothing he could do. But now that he was there, he couldn't possibly stand by and watch Shen Qing be bullied by him!

Cheng Zhiwen brushed his hand away and laughed, "This is my room, where would I go?"

Qi Zhenheng growled, "You can't sleep in the same room as Qing'er!"

"Four years ago, we slept in the same room in London and Shanghai, including at the Cheng family's house. Isn't it too late for you to stop us now?"

Enraged, Qi Zhenheng grabbed Cheng Zhiwen's collar again, pulling him close and gritting his teeth, "How are you going to let Qing'er face the world after this?"

He had loved Shen Qing deeply for many years, but he always kept his feelings within the bounds of propriety. On many impulsive nights, he only thought of Shen Qing and took care of himself, never forcing her out of his own desires.

He told himself that he must marry Shen Qing with great pomp and circumstance before he could get close to her.

But Cheng Zhiwen...!

Qi Zhenheng's eyes turned red with anger. He grabbed Cheng Zhiwen by the collar with one hand and raised his fist with the other.

Seeing this, Jiang Shen and He Fei rushed in and tried to stop him: "Lord Qi, please calm down!"

Qi Zhenheng roared, "Get out of here, all of you! Or I'll have you all dragged out and beheaded!"

Upon hearing this, Shen Qing, who was sitting on the bed, was extremely disappointed.

She got out of bed, clutching her chest, and said weakly to Qi Zhenheng, "Brother, Jiang Shen and He Fei have protected me for many years, risking their lives for me. If you cut off their heads, our sibling relationship will end."

Upon hearing this, Qi Zhenheng finally came to his senses and said with reddened eyes, "Come with me, come with me now!"

Cheng Zhiwen shielded Shen Qing behind her and said coldly, "You want to take her away? Fine, but find a way to clear her name and let her be Shen Qing again. Bring her away in a grand sedan chair. If you can't even do that, you have no right to take her away."

Qi Zhenheng lowered his hand.

While he was still in a daze, Jiang Shen and He Fei immediately took him out, one on each side.

Cheng Zhiwen closed the door and turned to look at Shen Qing: "Go back to bed and rest."

He spoke in a flat tone, as if it were just an ordinary night and nothing had happened.

But Shen Qing's emotions were complicated: "Since you want me to be with Brother Qi, why do you want him to see us sleeping in the same room?"

Cheng Zhiwen put his arm around her and led her back to bed.

After tucking her in, he sat down on the edge of the bed, his eyes fixed on the oil lamp on the bedside table. He said calmly, "Although he loves you and wants to save you, he chose the Qing court over you. I'm tormenting him like this to force him to find a way to plead with the Qing court and clear your name."

He chuckled self-deprecatingly, "My only ability is to get you out of the shadows and let you hide in the Cheng family. If you want to return to the light of day, return to Jiangzhou, and become Shen Qing again, only he can make it happen. You might as well take this as a test for him. If he can do it, then you should go with him!"

After saying that, he stood up.

Shen Qing watched his retreating figure: "I really want to go back to being Shen Qing, but if it means risking Brother Qi's official position and marriage, then I'd rather not go back to being Shen Qing. I had already planned to find a place where no one knows me and live in anonymity. I don't want to implicate anyone."

At this point, her expression suddenly turned serious: "I think what you did today has gone too far! You not only spun about my future, but you also spun about Brother Qi's future! Don't you think what you've done is a bit excessive?"

"Everything is for you."

After saying this, Cheng Zhiwen took her pajamas and went into the bathroom.

Next door, Qi Zhenheng paced back and forth in his room, unable to rest at all.

The moment he closed his eyes, he couldn't help but imagine Cheng Zhiwen and Shen Qing lying on the same bed next door.

He was going crazy, pounding his fists against the wall until they were bloody and mangled.

But Cheng Zhiwen was not actually in the room.

After he finished showering, Jiang Shen rushed over to report that the servant who stole Shen Qing's underwear had been caught and imprisoned in the dungeon.

Cheng Zhiwen quickly went down into the dungeon.

The entrance to the dungeon is at the back of the courtyard, where a wine cellar is visible in the background.

Walking down the secret passage, behind two rows of wine cabinets, there are several airtight secret rooms.

At this moment, in the very center of the secret chamber, hangs a man dressed as a servant.

Cheng Zhiwen walked in, sat down on the chair in the center, and crossed his legs.

Jiang Shen handed him a cigar. He put it in his mouth, shielded the flame with his hand, frowned, and took a deep drag.

He slowly exhaled a white puff of smoke, the cigar between his fingers, and coldly looked at the servant: "Where did you take Miss Zhu's clothes?"

"Second Young Master, I was wrong..." the servant cried. "I saw that Miss Zhu's clothes were beautiful, and I had never seen them here before. I was blinded by greed and stole them to sell her..."

"Where were they sold?"

"So...so she was sold to a prostitute in a brothel..."

Cheng Zhiwen looked at He Fei: "Go search the brothel! See who bought Miss Zhu's clothes!"

He Fei said "Yes" and immediately left the cellar.

The servant's expression immediately changed.

He Fei quickly returned to report: "Mr. Cheng, there are no clothes of Miss Zhu in the brothel, and no one has seen this servant appear in the brothel. The gatekeeper said that he has not left the mansion for more than half a month."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Zhiwen raised his hand.

Jiang Shen, who was waiting nearby, immediately pulled a wet whip from the bucket and lashed it at the servant.

The wails echoed through the cellar.

The whip was soaked in chili oil. When it was used to lash the body, the skin and flesh would tear open, and the chili oil would seep into the wounds, causing excruciating pain.

Cheng Zhiwen laughed as he threw his cigar on the ground and stomped on it several times with his leather shoes: "Skin him alive! Throw him into the boiling oil!"

"It's the Second Young Master!"

Jiang Shen and He Fei picked out two sharp scalpels from the toolbox next to them, walked up to the dying servant, and tore off a small piece of fleshy human skin from the wound.

The wound was bleeding profusely, the red blood mixed with the chili oil juice, flowing down.

The servant screamed in pain, "I confess! I confess!"

Cheng Zhiwen raised his hand, and Jiang Shen and He Fei stopped what they were doing.

Cheng Zhiwen: "Who instructed you to steal Miss Zhu's clothes?"

The servant cried out, "It's the young master..."

Jiang Shen and He Fei were shocked and looked at Cheng Zhiwen.

Cheng Zhiwen, however, did not seem surprised; she appeared to have expected it.

He squinted at the servant: "What else did the young master ask you to do?"