Tanaka finally frowned and asked, "What are you doing?"

Upon hearing this, the palace maids were immediately alarmed. They quickly suppressed their smiles, lowered their eyes, and retreated to the side.

Surrounded in the middle was a disheveled Dai Yiqiu. Upon seeing Tanaka, she was as if she had seen a savior: "Guard Tian! Save me! Please... save me..."

This time, Tanaka didn't dodge, letting the filthy, blood-stained hands tug at his clothes: "Please... save me, they... they're all bitches! They're all bitches who tried to kill me!"

"Please, Guard Tian! Kill them! Help me kill them!"

Tanaka's gaze darkened slightly as he looked at her. He then looked up at the crowd who were bullying Dai Yiqiu and said, "What are you still looking at? Everyone, disperse."

At the command, the palace goddesses immediately showed a hint of schadenfreude, laughing at Dai Yiqiu as they ran away in groups of three or five.

I knew they wouldn't be punished.

Dai Yiqiu could not hide her anger and hatred. She screamed and roared, "Come back! All of you, come back!"

She gripped Tanaka's clothes tightly, her eyes red and pleading, "Help me kill them! I'll do anything! I'll give you anything you want!"

Having fallen so low, what could Dai Yiqiu possibly offer Tianzhong?

Tanaka wasn't oblivious to the meaning behind her words. He frowned, his expression filled with disgust. But thinking of the task Yu Nanqing had given him, he suppressed his nausea and slowly squatted down, his tone indifferent and cold: "I've kept quiet about this all this time because I thought you would amount to something. I never expected... you to be so useless."

Upon hearing this, Dai Yiqiu's eyes widened, and she opened her mouth in astonishment: "What...does this mean?"

Tanaka offered no explanation and slowly rose to his feet.

But Dai Yiqiu grabbed his leg and cried out, "Lord Tian! Lord Tian! Is this the Prince's will? Is it the Prince? Is this a test from the Prince for me?"

Tanaka coldly withdrew: "The prince will not keep useless people by his side."

After saying that, he left without looking back.

Tanaka's words struck Dai Yiqiu as if she had been hit by something, and she was instantly enlightened.

That's right!

So that's how it is!

She said that the prince would never abandon her!

She understood!

I understand everything now!

Suddenly, Dai Yiqiu's face darkened completely, and her eyes became terrifyingly sinister.

On that day, Yu Nanqing and Su Wanyan stayed at a villa along the road as usual.

This villa is not large. After passing the front yard, you will find the central courtyard. The central courtyard is separated from the back yard by a rockery and a garden. The back yard is divided into east and west wing rooms.

However, none of the twenty-three palace maids who accompanied the group were assigned rooms tonight; instead, they were all sent to the side rooms of the other courtyard.

The side rooms were where servants slept. It was normal for a dozen or twenty low-ranking maids and servants to be crammed into one side room.

Having gotten used to sleeping in side rooms for two or three people, the palace maids were now forced to sleep in side rooms, which greatly displeased them. In their dissatisfaction, they took it out on Dai Yiqiu.

This time, Dai Yiqiu neither cried nor shouted, silently holding her head and enduring it. Her face, ashen with despair, exuded a deathly aura that instilled fear in people.

Su Wanyan paid no attention to the situation here and was unaware of it. She and Yu Nanqing's main house was in the large room in the central courtyard.

Nothing happened that night. Su Wanyan was about to go to bed early as usual when Yu Nanqing called out to her before she fell asleep: "Yan'er."

Su Wanyan looked up while hugging her pillow: "Hmm?"

"Do you have... a calming and tranquilizing medicine?"

"Yes, you have insomnia?" Su Wanyan always goes to bed earlier than Yu Nanqing, so she really doesn't know when Yu Nanqing goes to bed each night.

Yu Nanqing shook his head: "Take one."

“I’m sick, I’ll take one.” Su Wanyan was speechless: “That’s medicine, can you just take it randomly? Besides, I sleep perfectly well, why would I need to take it?”

Upon hearing this, Yu Nanqing pursed her lips, unable to find a rebuttal for a moment. After a long while, she finally gave a hesitant "Oh".

He thought things might get a bit out of hand tonight, so he came up with this plan.

Since Su Wanyan is unwilling, then... then forget it.

Yu Nanqing felt inexplicably guilty.

Seeing his expression, Su Wanyan asked, "Is something happening tonight?"

She looked at Yu Nanqing suspiciously: "I still have some calming incense left, but don't let me die in my dreams."

"That's absolutely impossible." How could he let anything happen to her?

Su Wanyan threw down the pillow in her arms and got out of bed. She rummaged through the lining of her coat and found a small packet of medicine powder, which she handed to Yu Nanqing: "Just light this incense with the incense burner."

Yu Nanqing accepted it: "Okay."

Suddenly, Su Wanyan grabbed his sleeve: "I made some strong medicine. After this incense is burned, I might not get up until tomorrow afternoon. Even you probably won't be able to resist the drowsiness. Don't say I didn't tell you beforehand. You'd better have someone keep an eye on me."

After saying that, without waiting for Yu Nanqing to finish speaking, she stretched and climbed into bed: "That's it, I'm going to sleep."

Yu Nanqing looked at Su Wanyan's figure, then suddenly walked over and asked slowly in her ear, "Did Yan'er entrust this incense to me because she trusted me?"

The upturned corners of his lips revealed his good mood.

"..." Su Wanyan was speechless: "Didn't you tell me to take it?"

"But Yan'er also said that this medicine is very potent, and even I can't resist the drowsiness. So, Yan'er is only willing to entrust her life to me because she trusts me completely?"

"..." Su Wanyan was momentarily confused about what Yu Nanqing was thinking, and turned around with a smile: "What exactly are you trying to say?"

"Yan'er trusts me." Yu Nanqing said with self-satisfaction, "Because Yan'er trusts me, she is willing to risk her life, isn't that right?"

Su Wanyan opened her mouth, but for a moment she was speechless.

She didn't think much about it at all, and even if she did, it wasn't as cheesy as Yu Nanqing imagined.

She felt that since she had handed over the medicine, she would accept it if she really died in her sleep, because that person was Yu Nanqing, and she would not blame him in the slightest even if something went wrong.

Naturally, she believed that Yu Nanqing would not let anything happen to her.

But it wasn't as much as Yu Nanqing had thought.

Seeing Yu Nanqing's eyes light up with excitement, Su Wanyan didn't want to dampen his spirits, so she chuckled and said, "Yes, yes, you're absolutely right. Because that person is you, I'm willing to give myself to you wholeheartedly."

In that sense, this idea is very similar to hers, and they coincidentally agree.

Su Wanyan closed her eyes, resting her head on the pillow, and continued to laugh, "So don't really let me die, my prime years have just begun."

Yu Nanqing's eyes brightened slightly: "Okay."

A small incense burner in the room emitted wisps of smoke, as thin as gauze, so light that they were almost invisible.

The moonlight was cool and gentle, shining on the courtyard of the villa with a layer of cold light.