Xie Tingzhou led the two through a perfunctory procession in the palace.
Prince Ning insisted that he was in good health.
Xie Tingzhou also insisted on expressing his doubts, so Prince Ning, in order to prove that he was in good health, took the initiative to challenge Xie Tingzhou to a contest.
Prince Yun realized that this was Xie Tingzhou's provocation and wanted to warn Prince Ning, but it was too late.
Prince Ning was exhausted from being beaten by Xie Tingzhou.
Xie Tingzhou attacked indiscriminately, sparing neither Yun Wang nor his opponent.
Both princes were defeated by him and were carried back to their respective residences by the guards.
That night, Xie Tingzhou finally got the chance to see Ye Zhen.
Ye Zhen was not at Menghua Pavilion, and Yin Yue had also left. Wan Xing knew nothing when asked.
When Ye Zhen left, she was discussing with Xing Ze about picking locust leaves together the next day.
Ye Zhen has had a poor appetite these past few days. Wanxing is worried that Ye Zhen is suffering from summer heatstroke, so she wants to make cold noodles with locust leaf juice to whet Ye Zhen's appetite.
Xie Tingzhou's face was gloomy.
He was so preoccupied with the two princes that he didn't even know Ye Zhen had a poor appetite.
He glared at Xing Ze, then went to the General's Mansion himself, only to find that Ye Zhen was not there.
"Master, the young mistress stayed at the manor during the day. Could she have gone out for a stroll at night?"
Xing Ze asked.
Xie Tingzhou glanced at him and said to Fu Guang, "Deduct two months' salary from his pay."
He usually gave him a lot of money to get closer to Wanxing and to pay more attention to Ye Zhen.
As a result, he was so busy eating and drinking with Wanxing that he didn't even know where Ye Zhen went.
That night, Xie Tingzhou went to many places, including the Ye family, Ye Zhengqing's residence in the east of the city, the Prime Minister's mansion, and Li Chenghai's private residence, but he did not find any trace of Ye Zhen.
Ye Zhen, whom he was searching for everywhere, was at a dilapidated Taoist temple outside the city.
After her rebirth, Ye Zhen deliberately tried to stabilize her emotions. In the past few days, in order to stir up hatred to enter her dreams, she repeatedly thought about the tragic events of her past life, but she failed to do so.
He thought that perhaps because he was at home, he couldn't fully express his emotions, which is why he came to this dilapidated Taoist temple.
Not wanting to worry those around her, she wanted only Yin Yue to know about her dream, and only brought her out tonight.
After Xie Tingzhou leveled the ruined Taoist temple, the ground was full of potholes, and Ye Zhen stepped on it one by one.
Thinking of the bullying she suffered in the village when she was young, thinking of the accidents that happened to her master and mother one after another, thinking of the torment she endured after marrying into the Marquis's mansion, the indifference of the Ye family couple, thinking of the framing of her by the Liu mother and son, thinking of the repeated humiliation and torment she suffered at the Taoist temple by Ye Wantang...
Perhaps the enemies of the Marquis's mansion have already received their retribution, and the Ye family of three are no longer as glorious as before. Perhaps it is because his master and Yin Yue are now by his side that Ye Zhen can no longer feel the overwhelming hatred he once had.
Until she forced herself to recall the humiliation buried deep in her heart, the humiliation she deliberately avoided thinking about...
That day, sunlight streamed through the cracks in the window. It was only noon when two old women suddenly untied the chain around her neck and carried her to the bathtub in the next room.
The bathtub contained milk mixed with hot water, with thick flower petals floating on top.
They held her down, washed her clean from head to toe, wrapped her in a cloth, and carried her back to the room where she had been imprisoned.
The simple, dilapidated room has been newly decorated.
Ye Zhen, feeling utterly weak, was thrown onto the new bed by them. They held down her hands and feet and applied perfume to her body.
The old women looked at her with malicious intent, carefully examining every inch of her skin.
Ye Zhen clearly remembered what they said.
"Tsk tsk, that area used to be rotten and oozing pus, but now it's healed without leaving a single scar."
“If she leaves a scar, how can the nobleman possibly look at her? The second young master said that as long as she serves the nobleman well, we will all be rewarded.”
One of the old women raised a sharpened knife and scraped it towards Ye Zhen's lower abdomen, muttering, "This nobleman's tastes are strange, why does he like to be bald?"
Another person scoffed, "He probably thinks she's dirty."
Ye Zhen was so humiliated that his eyes were about to burst, but he could do nothing. Everything in the room had been rearranged and changed, except for the incense burning in the corner.
Before the old women left, they left her with only a thin gauze dress and took away the incense from the corner of the room.
Just as Ye Zhen regained some strength, the door was pushed open, and a man wearing a fox mask appeared.
He said, "Originally, I would have looked down on someone like you who had been imprisoned for several years like a beggar..."
His flirtatious eyes swept over Ye Zhen, “But for now… he seems not bad.”
A golden noose was placed around Ye Zhen's neck, and a cold, icy hand pinched Ye Zhen's chin. "From now on, you will be my dog. As long as you make me happy, I will let you go out in public with clothes on in the future. How about it?"
Not good!
Ye Zhen remembered that when he leaned down, she bit his ear and then slammed her knee into his groin with all her might.
She would rather die than live such a humiliating life.
The man covered his ear with one hand and his groin with the other, shouting that he would tear Ye Zhen to pieces...
Ye Zhen's eyes were bloodshot, her fists clenched tightly. She died without ever having clothes to cover her body.
She hated herself for not being able to kill him before she died, and she hated even more that she still didn't know what his true identity was hidden behind that fox mask.
Yin Yue, following Ye Zhen's orders, stood guard nearby. She could see the hatred in Ye Zhen's eyes, and her heart ached terribly.
Her young lady has never done anything wrong, so why does she have to go through so much suffering?
Now, in order to find clues about his mother, he is forcing himself to recall painful past events.
Her young lady didn't dig up the ancestral graves of this damned God, so why does God have to give her so many hardships?
Just as she was about to go forward and hug her young lady, a tall figure swept past her and stopped beside Ye Zhen.
Ye Zhen closed her eyes, immersed in resentment, when she was suddenly embraced in a warm hug. Her memories made her instinctively struggle.
Then she heard a voice in her ear, "Zhen'er, it's me."
It's Xie Tingzhou.
It wasn't that disgusting masked man.
Ye Zhen dared not open her eyes, afraid that she would feel wronged and that she would release all her hatred. She curled up in Xie Tingzhou's arms and forced herself to fall asleep.
Xie Tingzhou remained squatting on the ground, not daring to move, until Ye Zhen began to breathe evenly.
Only then did he dare to carry the person back to the mansion.
After settling Ye Zhen on the bed and dismissing the others, Xie Tingzhou asked Yin Yue in a deep voice, "What exactly happened?"
Ye Zhen wasn't the type to wallow in melancholy; she had always tried her best to live her life and wouldn't suddenly run off to that dilapidated Taoist temple.
Knowing Xie Tingzhou's feelings for Ye Zhen, Yin Yue had just told Xie Tingzhou about Ye Zhen's strange dream.
The person on the bed stirred and murmured, "Xie Tingzhou, it hurts so much."
Xie Tingzhou's heart broke as well. He held her in his arms and said, "Zhen'er, don't be afraid, I'm here."
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