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Seeing An Yuan remain silent, Zhou Yan stepped forward, forcefully lifting his chin with one hand and placing the bloodstained hairpin in front of him with the other, asking again, "An Yuan, do you dare to appear before her like this?"
Upon hearing this, the person on the rack trembled slightly.
How could he possibly dare?
When Yun Qiao was lucid, her words were piercing, and she seemed to want to devour his flesh and drink his blood. Although he liked her very much, he also knew that if Yun Qiao could really escape while lucid, what awaited him would be a punishment worse than death.
Through Zhou Yanzhi's eyes, An Yuan clearly saw his own appearance at that moment—a filthy, insane madman.
At the same time, the torches on the walls of the dark cell flickered, casting shadows on his face and revealing his gloom, fear, and inferiority.
Zhou Yanzhi gave a cold laugh, his lips curling into a smirk: "So you know what Miss Yun will do to you if she comes? So you also know that your so-called mutual affection is just wishful thinking on your part."
"An Yuan, you know perfectly well what's going on in your heart."
“You look even more disgusting now than that street thug ‘A Yuan’ back then.”
In an instant, An Yuanxin's last line of defense was breached.
He lunged forward, the chains binding him rattling loudly. "No...no...no! You can't do this! Prince Zhou! You can't...you can't do this!"
Zhou Yanzhi ignored him, simply leaning back in his armchair and looking at him indifferently.
Thinking of something, An Yuan suddenly struggled even more violently, shouting urgently, "Zhou Ce'an! I'll tell you, I'll tell you, I'll tell you everything!"
Zhou Yanzhi casually placed the hairpin aside, slightly lifted his eyelids, and said succinctly, "Speak."
An Yuan took a few deep breaths and stared at Zhou Yanzhi, saying, "You have to promise me you won't let Yun Qiao come over!"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Yanzhi gave a sarcastic smile and said, "Okay."
An Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, swallowed hard, and said hoarsely, "My master is the Fourth Prince."
Zhou Yanzhi's nonchalant expression suddenly froze, and he looked at An Yuan in disbelief.
...
The interrogation came to an end, and Zhou Yanzhi, covered in blood, strode out of the dark cell.
As soon as he breathed in the fresh air, his tightly furrowed brows relaxed. Thinking of something, he turned to the person next to him and instructed, "Send An Yuan to Miss Yun Qiao's courtyard and tell her that she can do whatever she wants with this person. Whether he lives or dies, my Dali Temple will not interfere."
He had promised An Yuan not to let Yun Qiao come to see him, but he hadn't promised not to let him "go" to see Yun Qiao.
How can he get all the good things?
That's just wishful thinking...
...
That night, Yun Qiao, who was temporarily staying at the Dali Temple, heard a knock on the door. She paused in her combing her hair. The fear of being imprisoned surged into her heart in an instant. Yun Qiao put down her comb, casually hid a shard of porcelain in her sleeve, and called out, "Who is it?!"
There was a deathly silence outside the door, followed by two muffled sobs, like crying or desperate cries.
That voice... had a strangely familiar quality.
Yun Qiao's heart tightened, and she quickly stepped forward, flung open the door. Her gaze first fell on the bound, trembling figure in the courtyard, then shifted to the guard standing to the side: "May I ask, sir, what is this...?"
"Miss Yun," Zhao Yu said respectfully, cupping his hands, "I am here on Lord Zhou's orders to hand this traitor over to you for punishment."
"Give it to me?" Yun Qiao was slightly taken aback.
Zhao Yu lowered his head: "Yes. My master said that whether this person is alive or dead, the Dali Temple will not interfere."
A sudden silence fell over the surroundings.
Zhao Yu waited a moment, but received no response, so she raised her eyes slightly. Under the moonlight and the corridor lamp, she saw that Yun Qiao, dressed in plain clothes, had tears in her eyes.
She gazed at the person in the courtyard, her eyes seemingly piercing through him, landing on a more distant void. After a long while, a beautiful smile slowly curved her lips: "I see..."
As the moon hid in the deep of night, a shout that could pierce through the clouds rang out from the Dali Temple.
...
Meanwhile, inside the main hall of the Dali Temple.
The piercing scream ripped through the air, startling Su Feng, who was analyzing the case, and he abruptly stopped speaking. He subconsciously looked at Zhou Yanzhi, who was in the main seat, but saw that the other man did not even lift his eyelids, but calmly put the lid back on the teacup beside him.
“Ce’an, you Dali Temple…” Su Feng pointed out the window, trying to make amends for himself, “Have the punishments been improved again? Listen to how horribly they scream.”
Zhou Yanzhi didn't even blink, and his tone was completely flat: "It hasn't been changed. Continue."
Upon hearing this, Su Feng sighed deeply. Thinking of the missing Xie Xiangsi and the person Zhou Yanzhi had just told him, his gaze instantly turned serious. "I hid in the teahouse next door as planned. After seeing your fireworks signal, I paid extra attention to that courtyard and actually found someone."
"Who?" Zhou Yanzhi raised his eyelids.
Su Feng also raised his eyes, but his expression was extremely complicated. After a long while, he said in a deep voice, word by word, "Zhang Quan, Zhang Mingyuan."
Zhou Yanzhi paused slightly as he fiddled with his teacup. Zhang Mingyuan. The most powerful general in the court.
After a moment of silence, he slowly put down his teacup, the bottom of which touched the table with a crisp sound that stood out clearly in the suddenly deathly quiet main hall.
Suddenly, Xie Xiangsi's words flashed through his mind—"...After General Xiao's assassination, all the military power in the court is now concentrated in General Zhang's hands, and the new governor of Danzhou is also surnamed Zhang. Don't you think it's a bit too much of a coincidence that they both share the same surname?"
Zhou Yanzhi frowned slightly as he recalled the expression on Jie Xiangsi's face at that time.
Zhang Xu, Zhang Quan...
That's quite a coincidence.
But Zhang Quan is the sixth prince's maternal uncle. Why would he help the fourth prince in the struggle for the throne? Could the person who took away his cousin be one of the fourth prince's men?
However, this didn't make sense for Song Baiyu. He was clearly unaware of the Xiangguo Temple incident. Why would he go to such lengths to send two teams if he wanted to take a woman away? And why would the two teams be completely unaware of each other's existence?
Is the Fourth Prince trying to sacrifice Song Baiyu as a scapegoat? No, if that were the case, he wouldn't have caught An Yuan, who came to rescue Song Baiyu, tonight.
If it's not the fourth prince, could it be the sixth prince?
But if we assume this, how do we explain Zhang Quan? Why would he support another prince who was competing with him instead of his own nephew? Why? It's simply incomprehensible.
With his gaze fixed on the round table in front of him, Zhou Yanzhi felt his thoughts were in complete disarray. Thinking of Xie Xiangsi, who was in danger, his blood surged, and a metallic taste suddenly rose in his throat.
...
Just then—
"Zhou Ce'an!"
Accompanied by a high-pitched eagle cry, a dark figure rapidly approached from a distance.
Zhou Yanzhi looked up and saw Xiao Jiangsheng, with a cold expression, grabbing Wu Goulang, who was struggling in the air trying to escape, and running towards him with a short sword in his other hand.
Su Feng felt a gust of wind rush past him, heard Wu Gou Lang's startled cry and the sound of flapping wings. Before he could react, he was hit squarely by the oncoming falcon.
It hit Lord Su right on the face, the very spot he cared about most.
As he pushed Wu Goulang aside, he hurriedly looked in the direction of Zhou Yanzhi, and Su Feng's eyes widened in shock—he saw Zhou Yanzhi being grabbed by the collar and pressed firmly against a pillar.
The usually upright and magnanimous Lord Zhou was clutching his chest, his brow furrowed, and a trace of crimson blood trickled from the corner of his lips, clearly having been given a solid punch by this person.
...
Looking at the person in front of him whose mouth was bleeding, Xiao Jiangsheng sneered and threw another punch, shouting, "Zhou Ce'an! What did you promise me back then?! Didn't you say you would protect her?!"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Yanzhi's eyelids twitched slightly, and the hand that had been half-raised at his side in preparation for blocking was lowered down.
It was his fault; he failed to protect Xiao Yan.
As her brother, Xiao Jiangsheng deserved to take this punch.
Seeing Zhou Yanzhi's lack of resistance, Xiao Jiangsheng's eyes turned even redder, and his third punch was about to land!
"Brother, wait a moment!"
Su Feng, fearing that this stranger might kill Zhou Yanzhi, rushed forward to stop him, saying urgently, "Brother, listen to me. This is Ce'an's fault, but we can't entirely blame Ce'an for Miss Jie's abduction. I know you like Miss Jie too, but... but... Xiao Jiangsheng?!"
The hurried tone of his voice suddenly rose at the end, sounding somewhat disjointed.
Blinking, Su Feng looked at the person in front of him again and finally said in disbelief, "How did you get in?!"
Isn't Xiao Jiangsheng a fugitive?! Although he has many scars on his face, it shouldn't be difficult for the people of the Dali Temple to tell the difference! Didn't anyone notice him when he came in?!
Protecting Zhou Yanzhi tightly behind him, Su Feng glanced at the short sword that was half an inch unsheathed at Xiao Jiangsheng's waist. He composed himself. With Xiao Jiangsheng's skills, if he were to call for help now, his head would probably be on the ground a second before he could even utter a sound. Such a death would be truly tragic.
Su Feng calmly said, "Xiao Jiangsheng, do you know that you are a fugitive? How dare you trespass on the Dali Temple?!"
Upon hearing this, Xiao scoffed and casually took out a token from his pocket. "Who said I trespassed?"
Su Feng looked closely and saw that the black iron token was clearly engraved with the three large characters "Zhou Ce'an". It was obviously a token used by people from the Dali Temple to prove their identity.
"You stole Ce'an's token?" Su Feng said angrily.
Xiao gave a cold snort and did not reply.
At the same time, a voice came from behind Su Feng.
"It was given to me."
Meeting Su Feng's sudden gaze, Zhou Yanzhi repeated without blushing or skipping a beat, "I gave it to you."
Su Feng retorted angrily, "Are you crazy?!"
As Zhou Yanzhi walked out from behind Su Feng, he was trying to prove with his actions that he wasn't crazy, but in Su Feng's eyes, it was no different from being crazy.
He bowed to Xiao Jiangsheng and said, "Ce'an... greets elder brother."
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