Xie Jinyao woke up in pain.

Her whole body was being violently torn and burned, and her vision was blurred by an extremely bright flash. She could only vaguely see two figures at the door, one tall and one slender.

The slender figure, dressed in pure white, seemed somewhat familiar. The rumbling sound in her ears brought Xie Jinyao back to her senses.

The person standing in the distance... is Ye Zhen, and the person standing next to her should be Xie Tingzhou.

She found herself in a room in the Guanxin Pavilion... no, to be precise, she was caught in a bolt of lightning.

How could she be the one struck by lightning?

Shouldn't it be Ye Zhen?

Why was Ye Zhen, who should have been at the Prayer Terrace, outside her room?

Xie Jinyao was filled with confusion, her heart pounding like a drum, but she didn't ask anything. The pain in her body began to numb, and her tongue went numb along with it.

She couldn't speak, but she could smell the burning smell on her body. Xie Jinyao wanted to escape, but her body was stiff and wouldn't obey her commands. It was as if lightning had taken root in her body.

As she lay dying, she heard Ye Zhen transmit his voice through his inner force, "Xie Jinyao, have you ever heard of the saying 'praise to death'? The royal family's praise to death of Li Heng—even with your memories of your past life, you still made the wrong choice."

The bright light had completely blinded Xie Jinyao, but her eyes were wide open as if they were about to pop out of their sockets.

What did Ye Zhen mean by that?

She knew she was Xie Jinyao, she knew she had memories of her past life, she even knew she had chosen Li Heng, she knew everything…

She also knew about today's heavenly lightning!

In her past life's memories, Li Heng's power surpassed that of the emperor, but Ye Zhen said that it was the royal family's attempt to flatter Li Heng and kill him.

Xie Jinyao suddenly realized that all the stories about Li Heng's great power were things she had heard; she had never actually seen Li Heng wield such power.

Yes, the royal family is still around, but rumors are circulating among the people that even the emperor has to listen to his ministers. Doesn't that mean these ministers are treacherous officials who usurp power and disrupt the government, violating the principle of "the ruler is the guide for the ministers"?

Everyone has the right to kill him!

If the treacherous ministers incite public anger, and the imperial court then yields to public opinion, upholds the imperial order, and restores order, will Prime Minister Li still have a chance to survive?

So, in your past life, you only saw the surface, and after your death, Li Heng was purged by the court?

In this life, Ye Zhen even knew that she had sought refuge with Li Heng, so did she also already know about Li Heng's ambitions?

No wonder!

No wonder so many things are different from my previous life.

No wonder Madam Shen gave up the glory of the Prime Minister's mansion and divorced with her children and grandchildren. It turns out, they all knew all along.

Only he and Li Xiang were kept in the dark.

Then wouldn't all my schemes today have become a joke?

Xie Jinyao regretted it.

She dared not hide it from Prime Minister Li; if Prime Minister Li had been involved, Ye Zhen would have been the one to die today.

Why is this happening?

Wasn't Ye Zhen imprisoned until her death in her previous life? How would she know all this?

And since God gave her memories of her past life, why couldn't He give her a glorious life?

Why take everything away from her so quickly?

Before she died, Xie Jinyao had a lot of random thoughts.

She was so unwilling to accept it.

Even as she breathed her last, her eyes remained open, her death unfulfilled!

When the monks from the temple arrived, Xie Jinyao's entire head was burned beyond saving.

Halfway through the ceremony, thunder and lightning suddenly struck the sky, a terrifying sight that threw the prayer square into chaos.

Fearing for everyone's safety, the person in charge urged everyone to go inside and hide. Everyone was focused on escaping and didn't have time to look at anything else.

Once everyone had found a safe place, they discovered that Guanxin Pavilion was on fire.

The temple's head monk recalled that before the ceremony began, the prince had personally arrived and was about to join everyone in praying for blessings.

Lady Cui of the Marquis of Zhongyong's residence suddenly fainted, so the Crown Prince and Princess Zhaoning personally escorted her to Guanxin Pavilion to rest, and she has not come out since.

He then remembered that the second young mistress of the Prime Minister's mansion was also in Guanxin Pavilion. Both were people whose safety could not be compromised, so the steward hurriedly led people to Guanxin Pavilion.

They ran into the Crown Prince and his entourage, who were resting on the first floor of Guanxin Pavilion. Seeing that something was wrong, they immediately took Cui Yihuan out.

Cui Yihuan, who insisted on going to the third floor, was struck by lightning and died. She had servants with her at the time, but no one dared to save someone who had been struck by lightning.

Moreover, none of the servants could explain what had happened. They seemed to have been unconscious, and when they woke up, they saw the second young mistress dancing wildly in the lightning, her face contorted in a ferocious expression.

The official had no choice but to send someone to the Prime Minister's residence to report the news, while he himself led his men to the back mountain to fight the fire.

Unfortunately, this thunderbolt not only burned down Guanxin Pavilion, but also caused a fire on the back mountain. If it is not extinguished in time, it may cause even greater trouble.

With this incident, the prayer meeting could no longer proceed. The noble ladies left behind some servants to put out the fire and fled back to the city.

Xie Tingzhou also asked Ye Zhen to take Cui Yihuan back, while he stayed behind to direct the firefighting efforts.

Fortunately, Ye Zhen had told her about her past life in advance, and Xie Tingzhou had already arranged for the Marquis of Zhongyong to pretend to lead troops in training nearby.

With the help of the soldiers in the western suburbs camp, the fire should be brought under control soon.

Ye Zhen was no longer worried.

On the carriage ride back, Cui Yihuan held Ye Zhen's hand and asked, "Is she really dead?"

At first, Cui Yihuan didn't know how Ye Zhen was going to retaliate against Xie Jinyao. She simply cooperated with Ye Zhen, sending Xie Jinyao back to Guanxin Pavilion before scattering the secret medicine from her handkerchief in the room.

Ye Zhen nodded. "Yes, he died. He died a horrible death."

She and Xie Tingzhou were right outside the door at the time and witnessed it firsthand.

But no one sympathized with her; it was all her own fault.

"Wasn't the heavenly lightning originally supposed to strike the Prayer Platform?"

Cui Yihuan now realized why Xie Jinyao insisted that Ye Zhen go to the Prayer Platform.

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