Shen Qiyin lowered her head, intending to pretend she hadn't heard and walk away, but the person followed her.

Hey! Why aren't you talking to me?

Feng Heng instinctively wanted to reach out and stop her, but then thought it might be too abrupt, so he withdrew his hand and walked forward beside her, saying, "It's me, didn't you recognize me?"

Shen Xiyin had no choice but to stop.

She looked up at the other person: "Is there something you need?"

"No." Feng Heng shook his head blankly: "I just saw it from a distance and thought the person looked like you, so I came over to take a look."

"Speaking of which..."

He looked Shen Qiyin up and down, his eyes revealing a clear-eyed foolishness rather than an unsettling frivolity: "What are you doing here? And dressed like that?"

Instead of answering, Shen Qiyin asked, "And you? Are you feeling better?"

Feng Heng: "..."

Seeing the hurt look on his face, Shen Qiyin suddenly realized and explained, "No, I didn't mean that."

She really didn't mean to hurt him.

She simply wanted to change the subject and distract him, so out of professional habit, she subconsciously inquired about his condition, and that was all.

Fortunately, Feng Heng wasn't the petty type. Seeing her offer an explanation, he readily agreed and said, "The girl from here, who is named Citong, has acquired a new melody and asked me to write a poem for her."

"Oh, then you're busy."

Shen Qiyin was about to leave after speaking when Feng Heng called out to her, "Wait a moment."

"Is there anything else?"

"You must be careful of Song Huai!" Feng Heng's expression turned serious when he spoke of that man: "He's wicked and behaves improperly..."

He paused here, thinking about his own reputation, and realized he didn't seem to have the right to speak of others like that.

He pursed his lips silently, then changed his approach and advised her, "Think about it, even someone like me thinks he's not a good person, so you can imagine how bad he must be!"

Shen Xiyin: "Ah, this..."

"Don't you believe me!" Feng Heng was troubled by his tarnished reputation for the first time, which made his words less credible.

He was unusually excited about this: "After Ying'er returned from the chrysanthemum appreciation banquet at the Marquis of Wu'an's mansion that day, she mentioned to me that Song Huai was also preparing to go into the water to save him. Don't think that he did it out of kindness."

"On the contrary, he wants to publicly humiliate Ying'er so that she will have no choice but to marry him!"

After hearing this, Shen Qiyin's focus completely veered off course: "How is Feng Ruoying?"

Feng Heng was also instantly lured away. He nodded and said, "I'm eating well and sleeping soundly. I wanted to go find you before, but after the drowning incident, my mother forbade me from leaving the mansion at will."

"What do you want with me?"

"What are you talking about... You promised to tell her but didn't, and she's afraid you'll forget in time... Oh dear, that's not what I was going to say!" Feng Heng quickly brought the conversation back on track.

“Song Huai and your junior brother are old acquaintances. You saw what happened at the clinic that day. I’m afraid he won’t give up easily.”

"And if you offend him, he will definitely seek revenge."

"Fortunately, you have Prince Xiao and Marquis Wu'an backing you up. If necessary, just bring them out. Song Huai is a bully who preys on the weak and fears the strong, so he probably won't dare to bully you rashly."

Feng Heng's words are all reasonable; Shen Qiyi, you have taken them to heart.

However, there was one thing she didn't understand.

Why are you telling me all this?

“That day at the Marquis’s residence, if you hadn’t saved Ying’er, I’m afraid the villains’ scheme would have succeeded.” When he mentioned that incident, Feng Heng’s face was unusually devoid of a smile: “However, the Vice Minister’s residence is far inferior to the Marquis’s residence, so there is only so much I can do to help.”

Shen Qiyin replied, "That's enough, thank you."

After giving Feng Heng a slight nod, Shen Qiyin mingled with the passing maids and went downstairs.

This time, he neither called out to her nor followed her.

Shen Xiyin walked directly in the direction where Shen Yaozu was.

Actually, the easiest place to make a move against him is inside the mansion, but there are only a few people in the house, so it's easy to get burned.

But it's much more convenient in places like this.

More importantly, most of the people who come to Xunxiang Pavilion are either rich or noble, and Shen Yaozu can't afford to offend any of them. Even if he gets a needle, he can't find the culprit and can only grit his teeth and endure it.

In order to give this precious "first injection" to her second brother, she specially applied a rare and good substance to it.

She stood a few steps away from Shen Yaozu, waiting for her chance to strike.

But just before she triggered the mechanism to shoot the needle, a commotion suddenly broke out in the crowd!

A voluptuous beauty with wide, seductive eyes shoved away Shen Yaozu, who was trying to pull her away.

She's nothing like those delicate girls; she has plenty of strength and cunning.

Pushed so hard that he stumbled and almost fell flat on his back.

The wine from the jug spilled all over his face. He wiped it off casually and angrily yelled at the woman, "You dare to hit me?!"

Pulling up her clothes, which had been torn apart by Shen Yaozu, to cover her shoulders, Citong crossed her arms and said arrogantly, "Don't make false accusations. I didn't hit you."

"You were the one who pulled me first. I just gave you a casual push. Who knew you would be so useless?"

After saying that, he added a big eye roll.

Enraged, Shen Yaozu smashed the white jade wine pot in his hand and pointed at Citong, cursing, "What's wrong with me pulling you? You're just a thing that a thousand men have slept with and ten thousand men have ridden. It's an honor for me to even touch you!"

As soon as he said this, not only were the girls in the building unhappy, but even the young men who had come with him to seek pleasure all frowned.

There are countless brothels in the capital, but Xunxiang Pavilion stands out because here, it is the girls who choose their patrons, not the other way around.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!