Chen Wa was very anxious. He sent someone to Phoenix Tower to inform the prince consort, and then sent the guard back to the princess's residence to fetch reinforcements.

Chen Wa stood guard outside the clothing shop, confronting the Regent's men without leaving their side.

A standoff was a standoff. Chen Wa stood face to face with the other person, staring at each other, as if they were playing a game of "statues" where whoever blinked first would lose.

Princess Duanrong's servants, like their master, were all single-minded and could only be swayed by Princess Duanrong herself; they were inherently a little crazy.

Even many court officials in Yindu treated the regent's guards with utmost respect, for they were seventh-rank officials serving as servants of the prime minister.

However, Chen Wa was only a first-class guard in the princess's residence, yet he showed no fear in the face of the regent's personal guard. He even took advantage of his height, tilting his head back and pointing his nose at the guard, his hot breath blowing into the guard's face. He was arrogant and, in any case, had a very imposing presence.

If a servant is like this, then the servant's master must also be very imposing.

Although Gan Qiongying was very uneasy, upon careful consideration, even if she racked her brains, she really didn't have any powerful forces at her disposal to oppose the Regent and the Empress Dowager Kou family behind him.

She was well aware that the plot had already fallen apart, and perhaps even her aura as a villainous supporting character wouldn't be able to protect her anymore.

Gan Lin was like a wolf in a den of tigers in the palace. Perhaps he was really suffering from poisoning right now. Influenced by Princess Duanrong, Gan Qiongying even felt that Gan Lin was very small, as small as the child who would have died easily without her protection.

Moreover, if Gan Lin was suddenly poisoned, it was definitely because the old witch in the palace had gone mad, and the reason for the old witch's madness was most likely because Gan Qunying had shot an arrow at Sima Rui earlier.

How could Gan Qiongying possibly back down?

How could she dare to back down?

After going up to the second floor, Gan Qiongying stood at the door of the room where Regent Sima Rui had entered. She flung her skirt, which she was holding, away, narrowed her phoenix eyes, and looked like she was not to be trifled with. She pushed open the door and went inside.

Those who have nothing to lose are not afraid of those who wear shoes.

Gan Qiongying's mind worked faster than her eyes. In the blink of an eye, she had already come up with a plan to overturn the chessboard and temporarily intimidate her opponent.

However, as soon as she pushed open the door and glanced inside, she froze for a second before immediately turning around and running out.

Sima Rui was facing the door, his clothes wide open, his belt on the chair next to him, and his limbs relaxed on the chair.

He spread his legs apart, and the servants who had followed him upstairs, along with an old shopkeeper, were kneeling at his feet, looking up and down, seemingly doing something.

From Gan Qiongying's perspective, she could only see the person kneeling in the very center, whose head was completely blocking Sima Rui's private parts.

This scene is absolutely too horrible to look at!

It seemed like someone had squeezed mustard into Gan Qiongying's eyes, and she was so burned that she almost went blind on the spot.

However, when Gan Qiongying took a half step back to close the door, she glanced at the Regent again. In that glance, she discovered that the person kneeling between the Regent's knees was the old shopkeeper of the clothing store.

woc!

Is Sima Rui's hobby really that unusual?

Gan Qiongying instinctively avoided looking at what was improper and immediately stepped out of the door, slamming it shut with a "bang".

However, the loud noise of the door closing made Gan Qiongying quickly realize that things were not as abnormal as she had imagined. She opened the door again and took a few steps toward the Regent.

The person busily working between Sima Rui's legs was indeed the old shopkeeper, but he wasn't doing anything shameful; he was simply tying bandages around Sima Rui's legs.

Sima Rui had already taken off his outer trousers, leaving him only in a pair of underpants. On his fair and slender left leg, there was a conspicuous white cloth wrapped around his leg, clearly the spot where Gan Qiongying had shot him.

The old shopkeeper had wrapped wide strips of black cloth around Sima Rui's legs, like tying up a crab, for reasons unknown.

Have you seen enough?

Sima Rui suddenly spoke, his voice deep and laced with sarcasm.

Gan Qiongying hated his tone. She moved her gaze from his legs to his face and met his eyes. Sure enough, she found that he still had that disdain and arrogance in his eyes.

Gan Qiongying is always as gentle as a spring breeze to her own people, but as cold as a winter to her "enemies".

So she retorted directly, deliberately glancing away from Sima Rui's legs and then at his private parts before looking him straight in the eye again and saying, "Didn't you take your clothes off for me to see?"

"Prince Rui stayed up all night, specifically going to Phoenix Tower to wait for me, going to all this trouble to lure me here, just to show me this?"

Gan Qiongying said this not to provoke the regent, but to test Sima Rui and see his reaction to determine whether his statement about "His Majesty being poisoned" was true or false.

If the emperor was indeed poisoned, then Sima Rui must have had another purpose in leading her here, not just to engage in a verbal battle with her.

Moreover, Gan Qiongying, being a hermaphrodite herself, has never lost a verbal battle: "It's just a small piece of paper, I've already finished reading it, and there's really nothing interesting to see."

No man can stand being told that his penis is small by a woman in that tone.

As expected, Sima Rui's face immediately darkened. He kicked away the old shopkeeper who had been bandaging him for a long time, and took a few steps toward Gan Qiongying. He reached out to grab Gan Qiongying's neck, but then stopped in front of her. His hand landed on her shoulder with great force.

Sima Rui looked at Gan Qiongying and said, "If you were just trying to get my attention, then you've succeeded!"

Gan Qiongying felt a lump in her throat upon hearing these lines.

This book was published a bit early, when the phrase "woman, you have successfully attracted my attention" probably hadn't become a popular internet meme yet, and it was likely still a rather romantic concept.

Regent Sima Rui certainly looked exactly like a domineering prince from the old days, with sword-like eyebrows, eagle eyes, and an imposing aura. His thin lips were slightly parted, and his eyes were a perfect blend of three parts indifference, four parts mockery, and five parts nonchalance.

However, Gan Qiongying was not in the mood to rehearse her lines with him, and these lines should not belong to one of the male leads and the villainous female supporting character.

Therefore, Gan Qiongying grabbed the Regent's arm with both hands, her fingers digging into his flesh without any politeness. She raised her phoenix eyes, which looked particularly sharp when she narrowed them slightly, and met the cold eyes of her superior, Sima Ruifeng.

"Has His Majesty really been poisoned?"

Gan Qiongying suddenly changed the subject, intending to catch Sima Rui off guard and elicit a reaction.

Once I looked into his eyes, I couldn't look away.

Sima Rui's pupils did not change at all. He seemed to suddenly realize that he had been easily angered by the person he looked down on, and he released Gan Qiongying's neck in a fit of rage.

He flicked his robes and sat back down in the chair, looking up at Gan Qiongying with a condescending gaze, like an elephant looking down at an ant.

The old shopkeeper, whom he had just kicked away, immediately crawled back to his legs and continued to tie the black cloth that had become loose because of his movements.

The other servants quickly crawled over and approached the regent, helping him put on his trousers and boots.

Gan Qiongying knew that Sima Rui was deliberately torturing her and wouldn't give her an answer so easily.

Gan Qiongying couldn't think of any other way for the time being, so she stood not far away and confronted Sima Rui.

Sima Rui remained silent, as did Gan Qiongying. She was in the most disadvantaged position, and the only thing she could do was maintain the best mindset.

After standing there for a moment, Sima Rui suddenly sneered again, glancing sideways at Gan Qiongying and saying, "After falling off your horse and breaking your head, your audacity has only grown day by day."

Without even thinking, Gan Qiongying seamlessly replied, "Then what should we do? A person can't be completely without any space, can they?"

After Gan Qiongying finished speaking, she glanced at Sima Rui's private parts again.

She's definitely not a lecher!

She did this to provoke Sima Rui.

However, Sima Rui's position as regent was clearly not without reason.

When Gan Qunying asked him so suddenly, he didn't even show any change in his expression or pupils, making it impossible to guess anything from his expression and reaction.

The same provocation tactic clearly failed the second time. The regent didn't even raise an eyebrow when he heard this. He even slowly picked up the teacup next to his seat, blew away the foam, and took a sip.

Then, looking at Gan Qiongying, his expression held a hint of amusement: "You harbor a great deal of resentment towards me. That night, you couldn't conceive my child successfully. Were you particularly disappointed?"

Gan Qiongying: "...Huh?"