"What did you say?" Qin Yurou's bulging eyeballs were filled with bloodshot, gnarled veins like tree roots, reflecting in Nan Shiying's eyes as if demons were roaring and shrieking.
"Nan Shiying" said fearfully, "Half a month ago, I tricked Nan Shiying out in the Master's name, and then I killed her."
"Really, I truly avenged you." She tried her best to show a fawning smile, attempting to make Qin Yurou understand that there was no hatred between them, and that she should be grateful to herself instead.
"Who asked you to avenge me?" However, Qin Yurou did not feel the satisfaction of a great revenge, only a bone-deep anger and unwillingness. She wanted to avenge her hatred herself; she wanted Nan Shiying to die in despair after endless torment, not to die easily. She looked at the person beneath her, at this person who dared to ruin her good deed, and suddenly raised her hand, then plunged the candlestick with burning candles fiercely into 'Nan Shiying's' eyes.
"Ah!!!"
A heart-wrenching scream pierced the night sky. Xiaoyuan, the maidservant guarding outside the Xinyuan Pavilion, shivered fiercely, feeling the biting wind as if it would freeze her blood.
"Hiss~"
On the rooftop, Nan Shiying, who was peeking through a gap in the pried-open tiles, couldn't help but gasp. She looked up at Ji Jinmo sitting beside her. Ji Jinmo was wearing a golden-patterned python robe. In the dark night, the golden patterns were like fireflies drifting in the air, his face intermittently visible in the hazy light, and his eyes seemed like a clear flower blooming in a cold pond.
Nan Shiying's gaze of admiration flashed past. Her heart began to beat violently at this moment, an inexpressible emotion rippling from her heart.
She quickly lowered her head and looked into the room. As the blood spread, her heartbeat also calmed down. She let out a soft sigh and her gaze fell on the candlestick inserted into the fake Nan Shiying's eyes. She rubbed her eyes uncomfortably, thinking that this woman was truly terrifying when she went mad.
She turned and looked at Ji Jinmo, "Master, your woman is so terrifying, do you know?"
Ji Jinmo's phoenix eyes flickered, and he quietly looked at her. Nan Shiying felt as if she were being stared at by a poisonous snake, her very soul felt frozen. She wished she could cover his thin, cold, and sharp eyes with her hands.
Looking at Nan Shiying, Ji Jinmo suddenly let out a scoff, "All I know is that compared to you, others are nothing."
If these words were spoken in a different context, they might have sounded like a confession. But here, it was as if he was pointing at her nose and calling her the most vicious, a blatant slander.
She used a candlestick to stab... hmm, she seemed to have used it.
But that was not important. What was important was that she had always been, "I don't offend others unless they offend me." If people seek abuse, shouldn't she fulfill their wishes?
In the end, it was her own kindness.
Nan Shiying bared her teeth and smiled at Ji Jinmo, then took out a packet of powder from her embrace and poured it into the room through the gap in the roof.
Ji Jinmo glanced at her. Nan Shiying said, "She can't die like this."
Ji Jinmo's lips curved into a smile, and he didn't say anything more.
The scent of iris flowers clashed somewhat with that of the Muyao flower. Both flowers had overly strong fragrances, but the Muyao flower was merely a medicinal guide to induce the 'Nan Shiying' and had no effect when used alone. Therefore, the Muyao flower could not affect the medicinal properties of the iris. A few seconds later, Qin Yurou's body suddenly swayed, and the next moment, she fell heavily to the ground with a "clatter."
The room instantly fell silent. The greatly pained 'Nan Shiying' belatedly realized that Qin Yurou had fainted on the ground. A flicker of joy at escaping a disaster flashed in her eyes.
However, at that moment, a teasing voice came from beside her, a voice so familiar that 'Nan Shiying's' face almost changed color.
Enduring the waves of pain that almost made her faint, she turned her head and saw a pretty face with a smile appearing before her.
"Nan, Nan Shiying, are you human or ghost!"
'Nan Shiying' looked at the person who should have been dead appearing before her. Her features twisted in terror, so much so that she forgot the pain in her body.
Nan Shiying raised the teacup on the table, saluted her, and thanked her sincerely, "Thank you very much for this period of time. Oh, and thank you for suffering for me too."
"You, you're not dead?"
Her answer explained everything.
Nan Shiying nodded noncommittally, smiling and said, "Of course. If I were dead, how could I see such an interesting scene now?"
As she spoke, she slowly stood up and walked to 'Nan Shiying's' side. She gently caressed the wounds on her face with some pity. Her hand reached for the candlestick, which trembled slightly, bringing but bone-chilling pain to 'Nan Shiying'.
And compared to the pain in her body, the fear in 'Nan Shiying's' heart was even deeper.
Qin Yurou's madness, Nan Shiying's feigned death, all of this only indicated that it was all a scheme, a deception orchestrated by either Ji Jinmo or Nan Shiying. And both she and her master were deeply trapped within it.
"Ah, did I hurt you!" Nan Shiying widened her eyes exaggeratedly, her mouth slightly open in feigned innocence. She sat cross-legged on the ground beside her, speaking softly as if whispering sweet nothings into a lover's ear, "Actually, I thought Qin Yurou would at most poison you to death. You were given a slow-acting poison in the food you ate every day. The physician in the manor said that this poison would turn into a potent toxin when mixed with flower tea. But Qin Yurou was more vicious than I imagined; she didn't use flower tea as a medicinal guide but used Muyao flowers..."
"You might not know, flower tea would make you die instantly from poison, while Muyao flowers would only make you unable to move due to weakness. She actually wanted to torture you to death alive... Oh no, she actually wanted to torture me to death."
"Originally, if you hadn't jumped out, I would have let Qin Yurou suffer the consequences of her own actions. But you, why couldn't you hold back? Why did you believe others so easily? You actually believed what I said and pulled off this stunt with my cheap father. Look, I've never seen people as considerate as you all. Sigh..." Nan Shiying suddenly sighed, then changed the subject, "Look at this Qin Yurou, her mental fortitude is too poor. I only disabled one of her hands, and she went mad."
"You, you..."
Even though with her appearance, 'Nan Shiying' had already expected that she was not as timid and weak as she had imagined, she never expected that the real Nan Shiying would be such a vicious, cunning, cold, and bloodthirsty person. Everything she presented to her, every word and action, was feigned.
And the scheme that drew her into the abyss was also her master plan.
She looked at Nan Shiying's smiling face, then remembered Qin Yurou's almost frenzied appearance. A chill suddenly surged in her heart.
Fear, as if imprinted into her bones, wantonly invaded her body.
"Look at you, why are you stuttering? Are you thirsty?" Nan Shiying stood up, picked up the cup of tea that had just been poured, then sat back beside her. Under the gaze of the fake Nan Shiying, she took out a packet of medicine from her embrace.
She opened the brown paper wrapping the powder, poured the powder into the cup, then shook it and asked her with a smile, "Want some?"
It was like a devil's inquiry.