Just as Lanxiang was using all her skills to force the cold-faced subordinate back step by step until he was in a corner by the door, his back was pressed against the corner of the wall and he could not move an inch, but he was still eager to try, as if he still had no intention of stopping.

Faced with such alluring eyes and fiery red lips, and with her skillful and deliberate teasing, the cold-faced man felt as if he could hardly breathe.

Just as that raging lust was spreading and burning away the last vestiges of his increasingly fragile rationality, and he was about to be completely defeated by it, suddenly, the kettle he had just taken from Lanxiang, which he was holding in one of his seemingly stiff hands, was knocked over onto the table beside him.

In an instant, the hot water in the kettle spilled out, making a gurgling sound as it flowed out and spilled all over the floor. Fortunately, the cold-faced subordinate caught the kettle quickly and lifted it up, preventing it from falling off the table and making an even louder noise.

Just then, Long Ye's voice suddenly drifted out from inside the room. He seemed to have noticed the subtle movements outside and asked sternly, "What happened?"

Upon hearing this, Lanxiang's entire body and facial expression suddenly froze and stopped abruptly. She seemed somewhat at a loss as she stared at her cold-faced subordinate.

However, she quickly regained her senses, feigning composure as she put on that fawning smile again. Just as she was about to reply, the cold-faced subordinate reached out and tightly embraced her slender waist before she could react. Then, he quickly turned around and easily cornered Lanxiang against the wall. At the same time, he swiftly reached out his other hand and covered Lanxiang's soft red lips with his other hand.

At this moment, the man and woman outside the house stared at each other with somewhat dazed eyes. They were suddenly so close that they could almost hear each other's joyful heartbeats and rapid breathing.

The cold-faced subordinate, almost touching Lanxiang's face, replied to the inner room, "It's nothing. I accidentally knocked over the kettle on the table. There's no hot water left. I'll get it right away. Deputy Chief, please rest for a while. I'll come back to serve you later."

As soon as he finished speaking, the cold-faced subordinate quickly moved the hand that was around Lanxiang's waist to her arm, while the other hand still covered her mouth. Then, he hurriedly carried her out of the west courtyard.

They only let go of her hand when they reached a safe corner, a secluded pavilion.

Unexpectedly, as soon as Lanxiang was released from his grasp and thrown into the corner, she rubbed her aching arm and shouted at him, "Who exactly are you? How dare you be so rude to me! Why did you stop me from seeing the Vice Chief and paying my respects to him? What are your intentions?"

"You ask me what my intentions are? I'd like to ask you what your intentions are. Are you really just trying to pay your respects to the vice leader?" The cold-faced man stood imposingly to one side, arms crossed, and coldly retorted.

Hearing this, Lanxiang frowned and glared at the man's deep and sharp eyes. For some reason, she suddenly felt guilty and stammered, "What...what I do is none of your business! It's none of your concern!"

The cold-faced subordinate snorted and warned him with apparent disdain, "I don't care what your purpose is in getting close to that person, but if you want to live, you'd better stay away from him. Otherwise, in the end... you'll be the one who suffers."

As soon as he finished speaking in a very serious tone, the cold-faced subordinate turned around and was about to walk away. However, after taking only two steps, he suddenly stopped and turned his back to him, giving him a final word of advice: "By the way, you'd better keep your skills to yourself here, or you'll get burned."

"What did you say? What skills of mine have you put away? What do you mean by 'playing with fire'?" Upon hearing this, Lanxiang immediately looked at his back, her mouth opening wider and wider, asking the question knowingly and angrily.

"Hmph! You'd better watch yourself, young lady!" To everyone's surprise, the cold-faced subordinate snorted with utter contempt and then left without looking back.

Watching her cold-faced subordinate's retreating figure, she cursed, "What's wrong with you? You're insane!"

Then, with a thud, he fell heavily onto the stone bench in the pavilion.

Once she calmed down and recalled everything she had overheard in the west courtyard, she suddenly felt as if she were dreaming. Tears inexplicably streamed down her face as she muttered to herself, puzzled. "How could there be someone in the world with such a similar fate to me? Or...no, this is impossible, it can't be such a coincidence! Could it be...that Long Ye, the vice-leader of the Xiaolong Society, was the steward of the Erlang family back then? Was it he who, against his conscience, sold me to that dark and humiliating Wanjiao Pavilion? So, that's the truth of what happened back then. Heh...heh heh...as the saying goes, 'Heaven's justice is clear, and retribution is swift.' Heaven truly has eyes!"

With this thought in mind, Lanxiang said with a cold laugh, while slowly pulling up her sleeve to casually wipe away the tears on her face. As if she had already made up her mind, she got up and strolled back towards the tea room.

As soon as she stepped into the tea room, Yan'er, who was holding a palm-leaf fan and starting a fire to prepare tea, asked anxiously, "Sister Lanxiang, where have you been? I've been looking for you for ages! Why are you only just coming back? I was so worried!"

"I...I just went to the west courtyard to deliver a pot of hot water, what's there to worry about? Why are you in such a hurry to find me?" Lanxiang didn't want Yan'er to worry about her at all, so she took the palm-leaf fan from her hand and fanned the fire for her, while saying casually.

"Sister Lanxiang, we've been trapped here for many days. We need to find a way to escape quickly! Right now, these bandits are watching us very closely. Our only chance to get out is when we go up the mountain to pick tea. I've already spotted some relatively weakly guarded intersections. Why don't we..." Yan'er lowered her voice and talked incessantly about all the information she had gathered here.

However, Lanxiang seemed not to have heard a single word. She just stared blankly at the blood-red flames burning fiercely in front of her. In those blue flames, all her past joys and sorrows seemed to appear in an instant.

Mother and daughter were cruelly and heartlessly abandoned by that man, leading to the mother's tragic death. Throughout her childhood, she was subjected to nothing but scornful stares from the neighbors. After all her suffering, she finally met Erlang, his gentle nature and tender affection. But then came the unbearable agony of Wanjiao Pavilion, and the horrifying farewell beneath the Dream Tree in the Dream Garden—a scene that felt like it happened just yesterday, still haunting to this day. Everything…

Unbeknownst to them, Lanxiang's brows suddenly furrowed more and more tightly, her hands moved faster and faster, and the flames rose higher and burned brighter.

When Yan'er turned her back to her, she was talking intently while fanning herself with a palm leaf fan and watching another pot of tea being brewed. Suddenly, she turned around and realized that Lanxiang had been fanning herself with a palm leaf fan and staring blankly at the flame, completely unaware that the water in front of her had already started to boil.

Yan'er quickly turned around, snatched the palm-leaf fan from his hand, and shouted loudly, "Get out of here! Get out of here! The water's boiling! Stop fanning yourself!"

Upon hearing this, Lanxiang was startled and then came to her senses.

Seeing Lanxiang's indignant and lost expression, Yan'er asked softly, puzzled, "Sister Lanxiang, what's wrong with you today? Did you hear what Yan'er said just now?"

Lanxiang remained silent for a moment, bit her lip, then stepped forward and took Yan'er's hand tightly. She said apologetically in a deep voice, "I'm sorry, Yan'er. I did promise you that I would work with everyone to find Miss Yi safely. But now, I suddenly have other very important matters to attend to. So, I can't leave the Xiaolong Society for the time being."

As Lanxiang spoke, she nervously darted around, her eyes darting nervously.

Upon hearing this, Yan'er swiftly pulled her hands out from behind her back and took two steps back, seemingly angrily asking, "What did you say? You're not leaving here? Do you want to stay in this bandit gang, living in constant fear? Why, why is this happening?"

Lanxiang took two steps forward, wanting to put her arm around Yan'er's shoulder, but Yan'er nimbly dodged her hand. Lanxiang reluctantly withdrew her hand but insisted, "Yan'er, there are some things I don't want others to worry about. In short, this matter is very important to me, and I must find out the truth."

Speaking of that important matter, Lanxiang suddenly seemed to remember something, and then said, "Oh right, speaking of leaving here, I met someone in the west courtyard just now. Now that I think about it, although his behavior was a bit strange, and he had a bad temper and always had a stern face, he didn't seem like a bad person, unlike the others here. I'll go find him and see if he can help us and get you out of here. We were blindfolded when we came here, and we don't know anyone here. If you, a girl, get lost or fall into the hands of someone else, that would be terrible. Do you still remember the way back to my house?"

Lanxiang's words were full of sincere concern. Upon hearing this, Yan'er suddenly raised her voice and became furious, saying, "Sister Lanxiang, what are you saying? What kind of person do you take Yan'er for? How could Yan'er leave you alone in a place like this? We'll go together or stay together."

Upon hearing this, Lanxiang was immediately moved and rushed towards her, hugging Yan'er tightly in her arms. With tears in her eyes, she said in a deep voice, "But if you stay here with me, how will we find your young lady's whereabouts?"

Yan'er no longer rejected her advances. After a moment of silence, she said...