Afterwards, Jiang Chuting stood quietly in front of the bed, her expression unreadable. She glanced at him one last time, her mind in turmoil. She packed her things and went to Shuangxue Pavilion under the cover of night.

There weren't many guards on the outside, so he easily broke in, but it took him a while to find the room where Lin Xi was.

Jiang Chuting kept quiet, just in time to hear Hong Jun pleading for Hong Yufei inside, while Lin Xi slammed her fist on the table in fury: "She dared to hurt Lin Zhi, I'm being lenient by not killing her outright! I only tortured her a little and locked her up, and you still have the nerve to plead for her?"

Hong Jun wasn't a very reliable person, but he still cared about his sister. He argued forcefully, "She didn't do it on purpose, Patriarch. The situation is extraordinary right now; we need manpower right now. You can't do this. My sister has suffered severe internal injuries..."

Lin Xi retorted, "Do you think my Lin family can't function without her?"

"...That's not what I meant."

Lin Xi sneered: "My Lin family has dominated the martial arts world for so many years, with a solid foundation. How could we be so easily shaken? It's just a prescription. What can you do about it? Convict us and kill us all?"

"But as far as I know, they obtained more than just the prescription. If something truly irreparable happens, we're finished! Moreover, it seems the imperial court is also watching..."

Lin Zhi gritted his teeth and said hatefully, "Speaking of the imperial court, I haven't forgotten how they arrested me without explanation and imprisoned me in the Ministry of Justice's jail, where I was tortured! I've been recovering from my injuries for several months and I still haven't fully recovered. Now they want to swallow up our Lin family? They have quite the appetite. They should see if they can actually handle it!"

Lock them in the Ministry of Justice's prison and torture them?

Jiang Chuting felt a throbbing pain in his temples. What had Lin Zhi done wrong? Why was he imprisoned in the Ministry of Justice? Ling Guang said Lin Zhi had gone home to recuperate for several months; was that related to this?

He closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again, already having some guesses in his mind.

Inside the room, Hong Jun seemed speechless. Lin Xi continued, "I'm going to lock her up for three months straight, not a day less. If you come to plead for her again, I'll lock her up for six months!"

Hong Jun panicked: "Patriarch, this..."

Lin Xi scolded, "My mind is made up, don't say another word. All you do is idle around all day. Didn't I tell you to go find Lin Zhi's whereabouts? Why aren't you going?"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a gentle voice came from outside: "I know Lin Zhi's whereabouts. Wouldn't it be faster to ask me?"

Lin Xi's expression changed, and Hong Jun immediately drew his sword and opened the door. Jiang Chuting stood at the bottom of the steps, draped in the cold moonlight, her clothes fluttering. The guards who had been there fell to the ground silently.

Lin Xi came to Cenzhou on a whim after hearing about Lin Zhi. She didn't bring any experts with her. Hong Jun knew he couldn't beat Jiang Chuting, so he hesitated and didn't act rashly. He asked warily, "What do you want?"

Jiang Chuting put his hands behind his back and said, "I don't want to do anything."

Lin Xi rushed out as well, and upon seeing him, her originally beautiful features contorted in shock: "Where's Lin Zhiren?!"

“I can tell you where he is.” Jiang Chuting looked directly at her with his dark eyes and said, “But first, answer me a question. Lin Xi, do you know how Zi Que died back then?”

Mentioning Yun Zique, Lin Xi's breathing began to tremble, and she said fiercely, "How did he die? You dare to ask me that?"

"You've always thought he committed suicide because of me, haven't you?"

Lin Xi's face was terribly grim: "Otherwise what? What exactly are you trying to say?!"

Jiang Chuting said calmly, "I want to say that Zi Que recently appeared to me in two dreams. One of them was when he explained to me how Lin Zhi came to be. Back then, you drugged Zi Que, didn't you?"

Lin Xi nearly lost her balance, her eyes widening as she grabbed the doorframe for support. A dream, another dream! Lin Zhi had previously said that Zi Que had appeared in her dream, telling her about what happened back then.

Does Zi Que truly hate her that much, or is this person simply lying?!

"Lin Zhi told you all this, didn't he?!"

"Lin Zhi? He knows all this too?" So he already knows that he was only born because of his mother's scheme... Jiang Chuting paused before continuing, "It wasn't Lin Zhi who told me. If you don't believe me, do you need me to repeat your entire conversation? He said you brought shame upon yourself, that you don't know the meaning of shame, that after you touched him, every part of your body was oozing filthy, foul fluid, and he also said he wanted to be with you..."

"Shut up, shut up! Don't say another word!!" Lin Xi clutched her head, her scream of despair interrupting him: "I don't believe it, I don't believe it! You must have tricked Lin Zhi into telling you all this, how could I possibly believe you?"

She said she didn't believe it, and her emotions were starting to get out of control, while Hong Jun's expression beside her was indescribable.

"Whether you believe it or not, you know best in your heart. Now I'll tell you about the second dream." Jiang Chuting's gaze turned slightly cold, her tone full of sharp intimidation: "Zi Que didn't commit suicide by poisoning himself, but because he discovered Lin Xuan's secrets and found certain evidence, Lin Xuan forced him to drink poisoned wine!"

Lin Xiru was struck dumb, her expression blank for a long time. He said, "It was her mother who forced Zique to drink the poisoned wine."

"And the secret that Zique discovered is Lin Xuan's use of people as test subjects. You've done a lot over the years to fulfill Lin Xuan's last wish, haven't you? If Zique knew this from beyond the grave, how would he feel about you?"

Suddenly, a string snapped in Lin Xi's mind, and she said furiously, "I used medicine to keep him alive back then. If it really was my mother who poisoned him, how could Zi Que not tell me a single word?!"

Jiang Chuting quickly retorted, "I'll tell you, and then what? Do you think Zique would expect you to help him get revenge? He'd rather die than have anything to do with you."

Lin Xi's face turned pale, her breathing became heavy, and her expression began to daze: "How could this be? How could this be? It wasn't my mother. Zi Que back then, back then..."

Lin Xi froze, suddenly remembering that when she learned that Zi Que had committed suicide by poisoning himself, she ran to Zi Que's room while heavily pregnant, and her mother was already there.

Her mother added, "There's still some time. Listen to his last words. Don't let me see you acting like you're dying again."

Looking back now, it's full of holes, but at the time she believed Zi Que's story that he had taken poison himself and never doubted it.

Jiang Chuting said, "Why is it impossible? As Lin Xuan's daughter, don't you know what kind of person she is? If you don't stop her evil deeds and instead help her, you are indirectly responsible for Zi Que's death."

Upon hearing this, Lin Xi's heart completely collapsed, and she shouted, "I didn't! I love him, I love him so much! How could I possibly hurt him!"

At this point, how could Hong Jun not see that Jiang Chuting was deliberately provoking Lin Xi? He was secretly anxious.

Lin Xi is a woman whose mind is only on love. Apart from being born into the Lin family, she is no match for her mother in terms of strategy and tactics.

If she really finds out that Yun Zique was killed by Lin Xuan, she might go berserk and not only fail to fulfill Lin Xuan's last wish, but could also destroy the entire Lin family.

Hong Jun hurriedly said, "Patriarch, he's talking nonsense. How can you believe him?"

Jiang Chuting smiled wryly again and said, "Before your wedding, I went to see Zi Que. Zi Que told me that he would do everything he could to get away from the Lin family and reunite with me. I said, how could someone like him bear to commit suicide? We made a promise..."

Jiang Chuting lied, but clearly, every word of his sentence was a precise and devastating blow to Lin Xi. She felt as if all her strength had been drained away, her body went limp, and she collapsed to the ground, her face as pale as a ghost.

She was very sensitive about Zi Que's affairs, especially since Lin Xi had personally witnessed him going to see Zi Que and the two of them embracing.

Jiang Chuting glanced at Hong Jun and said, "If you still don't believe me, go ahead and interrogate the people who stayed by Lin Xuan's side back then, such as the one next to you, and see what he has to say."

Hong Jun is no good. With Hong Yufei locked up, he's lost his backbone. It would be easy for Lin Xi to get him to talk.

Lin Xi's bloodshot eyes slowly turned to Hong Jun. Hong Jun's scalp tingled, and he took a few steps back. He subconsciously turned around and wanted to run away, but Lin Xi said coldly, "You stop right there."

Hong Jun gritted his teeth, thinking, "Why am I the only one who's so unlucky?" He simply said, "I don't know anything! Don't ask me," and then flew away.

Lin Xi hadn't expected him to be so audacious, and his reaction spoke volumes. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her clenched fists slammed into the ground. Her voice, each word squeezed out with hysterical hatred, screamed, "Lin Xuan, Lin Xuan! How could you do this to me!"

Jiang Chuting had achieved her goal. After telling Lin Xi where Lin Zhi was staying, she was about to leave when she was suddenly surrounded by a swarm of people.

These people were no threat to him. He calmly drew his sword, dealt with them with ease, and then disappeared with a few graceful leaps.

Jiang Chuting didn't go back to Lin Zhi's place. Instead, he packed his bags and headed towards Jincheng under the cover of night. He was in a hurry and didn't rest much along the way, finally finding an inn to stay at the next night.

The next morning, he packed his things and prepared to continue his journey. Just as he stepped out of the inn, he saw a person slumped over in the corner by the steps. His hair was disheveled, his purple clothes were covered in dust, and there was an exhausted horse beside him. It seemed that he had been through a lot of trouble along the way.

The moment Jiang Chuting appeared, the purple-clad youth's dark eyes gleamed slightly. He struggled to sit up, clutching his wound, and forced a smile, saying, "Good morning, Chuting."

Jiang Chuting remained silent for a moment, intending to leave him there, but her body wouldn't obey her and she stood still.

Lin Zhi slowly stood up, her pale face showing a mixture of crying and laughing: "Luckily, I woke up from a nightmare that day and realized you were missing, so I chased after you. Chu Ting, don't abandon me, otherwise I really don't know what I would do."

Not long after their reunion, he had made this request countless times.

Jiang Chuting lowered her eyes and said softly, "If you had known this would happen, why did you do it in the first place?"

Lin Zhi grabbed his sleeve and said urgently, "If I could go back to the past, I would definitely wake myself up and never do those awful things again! Chu Ting, you can hit me or scold me now, as long as you can calm down a little, okay?"

"I won't hit you, I won't yell at you, you just need to stay away from me, okay?"

Lin Zhi gripped his clothes even tighter, looking at him pitifully without saying a word.

This can't go on forever. Jiang Chuting collected her thoughts, pondered for a moment, and then said to him, "Lin Zhi, I really have important things to do. Time is tight, and I don't have time to waste with you. Don't follow me. Go home and take good care of your injuries. When the time is right, I will come to you to resolve something."

Lin Zhi, of course, wasn't naive enough to think that Jiang Chuting meant he had forgiven him, nor did he believe that Jiang Chuting would come looking for him later. He asked anxiously, "When are you going to come? What do you want to resolve with me? Chuting, are you just trying to comfort me?"

Jiang Chuting looked at him and asked instead of answering, "Why should I coax you?" He was in a hurry and worried that Lin Zhi would continue to pester him like this, so his tone was a little harsher: "Lin Zhi, can you listen to me this once? The more you do this, the more annoyed I will become."

Lin Zhi's already pale face turned even whiter, as if she had done something wrong, and she didn't dare to move.

Jiang Chuting continued, "Or do you think that just because you took a sword for me, I should soften my heart and immediately accept you back?"

Lin Zhi felt a lump in his throat and shook his head vigorously: "No, I didn't think that way."

Jiang Chuting pulled his sleeve back and said, "That's good then, you can leave now."

Lin Zhi's eyes were red, but she said firmly, "I won't leave. I want to stay with you."

Jiang Chuting's chest heaved twice, he glanced at him coldly, and turned to leave. Lin Zhi caught up in a few steps, and before he could mount his horse, he hugged him from behind, startling the waiter who had brought out the horse, who turned and ran away in fright.

"I want to listen to you, but I can't," Lin Zhi said hoarsely, her voice filled with pain. "Because it's too unbearable! I've been living like this almost every day for the past two years, and I don't want to be in despair anymore. You can be angry or upset, but I won't leave!"

In that instant, Jiang Chuting felt a splitting headache, and his head began to buzz. He closed his eyes and began to ask himself, "Why, why did I have to meet someone like this?"

Hearing this, Lin Zhi was heartbroken, tears streaming down her face. With a lump in her throat, she stubbornly said, "You can't get rid of me. Even if I die and become a ghost, I will still be with you every day!"

After calming down a bit, Jiang Chuting tried to untie his hands, but unexpectedly, a familiar voice came from not far away, making Jiang Chuting's heart sink slightly. She quickly pushed Lin Zhi away.

"—Have you been away from home for so long just to meet with this person in secret?"

His movements aggravated her wound, causing Lin Zhi to turn pale with pain. She followed his gaze and looked over.

At the other end of the long street, a young man dressed in brocade robes and headdress, exuding an air of nobility, was staring at them with a forced smile.

Lin Zhi recognized his face immediately; it was someone he had met at a teahouse near the Nine Heavens years ago, someone who seemed to be Chu Ting's apprentice. But... the atmosphere right now was clearly a bit off.

Jiang Chuting had no idea that Pei Jing would actually appear here. Ignoring Lin Zhi, she walked towards him.

Lin Zhi became alert and quickly followed him closely.

As Jiang Chuting approached, Pei Jing smiled, but his gaze was fierce, as if he wanted to devour him whole: "Look at you, so carried away. Have you forgotten that there are people waiting for you at home?"

Jiang Chuting said, "I've already written to you to explain. It really is something very important."

Pei Jing glanced at Lin Zhi and sneered, "Important things? Important things are about hugging and kissing him in the street? Do you think I don't exist? I agreed to come out with you, and this is how you repay me?"

He was clearly trying his best to suppress his anger. Jiang Chuting didn't want to provoke him any further, so she lowered her voice and said, "Xiao Jiu, I'll tell you some things when we get back."

Pei Jing scoffed, "Oh? So now you know to go back?"

Jiang Chuting replied truthfully, "Not now, I was already on my way back."

Pei Jing laughed in exasperation: "Unless I was blind just now, do you think I would still believe you??"

Listening to their back-and-forth, Lin Zhi finally couldn't contain her panicked anger and questioned Pei Jing, "Who do you think he is? How dare you talk to him like that?"

Pei Jing's brows were furrowed with gloom. He raised an eyebrow, but before he could speak, Jiang Chuting looked at Lin Zhi and said, "Who he is is none of your business. I just told you to leave and not bother me anymore. Don't you understand?"

His overly cold gaze and tone were like a sharp sword piercing his heart. Lin Zhi's eyes widened, and his previously arrogant expression instantly turned into one of utter confusion: "Chu Ting, I, I... I was just asking, please don't be angry with me."

Just then, accompanied by the sound of footsteps, a little boy dressed in an exquisite and elegant blue brocade robe with a round collar, with a fair complexion and adorable appearance and round eyes, ran out from the street corner. He looked to be no more than two years old.

Before Lin Zhi could even react to why his appearance seemed so familiar, she saw his eyes redden, his lips pouting in grievance, and tears streaming down his face as he rushed towards Jiang Chuting.

"father!"

The moment Jiang Chuting saw him, her icy expression melted away, replaced by a look of delight: "Xing'er!"

Xing'er hadn't seen him for so long, and she cried uncontrollably: "Waaaaah, Daddy, Daddy, Xing'er, Xing'er misses you so much..."

What surprised Pei Jing even more was that Xing'er also came. Jiang Chuting had been away for too long this time and missed the child terribly. He quickly picked him up, kissed his wet cheeks, and stroked his soft hair, saying softly, "Xing'er, be good. Daddy will never leave you again."

From the moment Xing'er appeared, Lin Zhi felt as if he had been hit on the head with a heavy hammer. His eyes were fixed and he was completely stunned and dizzy.

He dared not, and did not want to, believe his ears.

What did he just hear?

father?

Why does this child call Chu Ting "Dad"?!