"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

Before the carriage had even come to a complete stop, the servant's hurried footsteps approached from afar, his voice filled with obvious panic.

Gu Zhixing frowned, lifted the carriage curtain, and saw that the servant's face was pale and his forehead was covered in sweat. He didn't even bother to bow and went straight to the carriage window to whisper, "Young Master Ye... something has happened!"

Gu Zhixing's fingers suddenly froze, and the carriage curtain crumpled in his palm.

He felt a chill run down his spine, his ears were ringing, and he couldn't even hear what the servant was saying behind him.

The knuckles were bluish-white from excessive force, and the nails were almost embedded in the flesh of the palm.

He suddenly turned to look at Shen Jintang, his eyes filled with complex and indescribable emotions.

His Adam's apple bobbed a few times before he squeezed out the words through clenched teeth: "You wait here in the manor." He spoke these words urgently and heavily, as if trying to nail each one into the other's heart, "Don't go anywhere."

Shen Jintang reacted faster than he had expected.

Her icy fingers swiftly gripped his wrist, her nails almost digging into his flesh.

Shen Jintang could feel the slight tremor in Gu Zhixing's wrist, but her voice remained steady as she said, "I'll go with you."

Raindrops began to pelt the carriage, making a pattering sound.

Gu Zhixing stared into Shen Jintang's eyes, where he saw a heartache he had never seen before.

She slightly raised her chin, revealing the taut lines of her neck, a drop of rain sliding down her collarbone.

During the few seconds of the stalemate, Gu Zhixing could hear his own heart pounding.

Finally, he closed his eyes and nodded almost imperceptibly.

Shen Jintang immediately let go and deftly lifted the carriage curtain.

A cold wind, carrying raindrops, blew in, wetting her eyelashes.

Gu Zhixing followed her out of the car, but his knees buckled when he landed, and he almost knelt in the mud.

He grabbed the saddle to steady himself, his palms aching from the rough leather.

"Get on the horse," he said in a hoarse voice, his voice mostly swallowed up by the sudden clap of thunder.

Shen Jintang had already mounted her horse, her skirt soaked by the rain and clinging tightly to her legs.

As Gu Zhixing leaped onto another horse, he heard his joints cracking under the strain.

The two horses charged forward almost simultaneously, their hooves kicking up mud that splashed onto the stone slabs along the roadside.

Gu Zhixing bent down and felt the icy rainwater flowing down the back of his neck and into his collar.

He dared not turn around, but he could hear the sound of Shen Jintang's horse hooves behind him, chasing his heartbeat like a drumbeat.

The rain suddenly started to fall heavily.

The fine rain stung my face like needles, cold and sharp.

The moat was already crowded with people, and the clamor of conversation mixed with the sound of rain reached our ears—

"Someone's dead! I heard it was a young master."

"Oh dear, the blood has turned the river water red..."

"That's terrible, like having a knife stuck in your heart!"

Gu Zhixing suddenly froze in place.

His face drained of all color in an instant, and even his lips turned ashen.

The fingers that reached out to push through the crowd trembled uncontrollably, the fingertips twitching slightly, as if suddenly afflicted with a serious illness.

A hissing sound came from his throat, as if someone was choking him, and even the simplest breaths became fragmented.

Shen Jintang pressed close behind him, and could clearly see the muscles bulging out beneath the fabric of his clothes on his back, like a fully drawn bowstring that might snap at any moment.

Then, that figure entered Gu Zhixing's field of vision—

Ye Qingzhou lay crookedly in the muddy water, her usually meticulously combed hair disheveled, with a few wet strands sticking to her pale cheeks.

His favorite indigo long robe was wrinkled from being soaked in the rain, and a short knife with an ebony handle was stuck in his chest, with only the hilt sticking out. The surrounding fabric was soaked in blood, turning an eerie purplish-black color.

The most striking thing was his eyes. Those eyes, which always held a sly smile, were now wide open and empty, the pupils dilated, yet still frozen in a final moment of astonishment, as if questioning this absurd ending.

Gu Zhixing's knees suddenly lost their support.

He staggered backward, his boot heels sinking into the soft mud, and he fell as if his bones had been removed.

Shen Jintang caught his arm in time. It was icy cold to the touch, but she could feel the abnormal spasms and trembling of the muscles under the fabric.

"A light boat...?"

The call seemed to come from a very far place, hoarse and inhuman.

Gu Zhixing himself couldn't recognize that it was his voice.

Suddenly, he broke free from Shen Jintang's support and knelt down beside the corpse.

His fingers gripped Ye Qingzhou's shirt tightly, the rain-soaked fabric making a ripping sound under the strain.

Her fingernails dug into her palms through the soaked fabric, her knuckles turning deathly white from the excessive force.

"Wake up! Ye Qingzhou! Wake up!"

The roar seemed to come from the deepest part of his chest.

The sound exploded in the rain, startling the crows roosting on the shore.

Gu Zhixing shook his best friend's shoulders, his movements becoming increasingly rough, as if he could wake someone who was pretending to be asleep.

But Ye Qingzhou will never again suddenly open his eyes, revealing that smug smile and saying, "Boss, did I fool you?"

This realization was like a blunt knife, slowly and cruelly carving into Gu Zhixing's heart.

He loosened his grip on his clothes, watching the wrinkles he had created slowly smooth out in the rain, just like Ye Qingzhou's life—no matter how tightly he held on, it would eventually slip through his fingers.

He should have thought of it... he should have thought the Crown Prince would resort to desperate measures!

How could he let Ye Qingzhou investigate those ledgers and that evidence alone? How could he...

"Gu Zhixing!"

The roar was like a thunderclap, making people's eardrums ache.

Before Gu Zhixing could recover from his daze, a large, iron-like hand gripped his shoulder and lifted him out of the mud.

That hand, with an irresistible force, shoved him away violently.

Gu Zhixing staggered backward, his boots slipping on the wet riverbank, and he almost fell into the moat.

He managed to stand firm and looked up to meet a pair of blood-red eyes.

General Ye stood in the rain, water droplets condensing on his armor constantly rolling off.

This veteran general, who once struck fear into the hearts of his enemies on the battlefield, was now trembling violently, even his white beard was shaking.

The wrinkles etched on his face by time are twisted and distorted, like painful ravines.

"It was you..." The old general's voice was hoarse and barely audible, his Adam's apple bobbing violently, "It was you who killed my son!"

He grabbed Gu Zhixing by the collar, his rough fingers digging deep into the fabric.

Gu Zhixing could smell the old man's body, a mixture of rust and rain, and see the bloodshot veins in his bloodshot eyes.

But he did not resist, letting the old man shake him. Even when the calloused hand was raised high, he didn't even flinch, his face showing utter despair.