Lu Zhaoling called out "Sister Chu," but there was no response.
The tent was pitch black. He groped his way forward in the darkness, hearing the sound of breathing.
There was a faint feminine scent in the tent. Lu Zhaoling excitedly walked towards the bed.
A shadow flickered behind him. Lu Zhaoling only felt a sharp pain in his neck before collapsing to the ground.
A maid darted out and moved him onto the bed.
The bed was empty, with no sign of Chu Tianjiao.
The maid cleared her throat and called out to the door in a deep voice, sounding about 70-80% similar to Lu Zhaoling's, "Jiang You, come in for a moment."
Jiang You, who was guarding outside, heard the call and walked in without suspicion.
As soon as he entered the tent, he was struck from behind and fell down.
After knocking out Jiang You, Chu Tianjiao and Lu Dingfeng together carried Jiang You to the bed.
"Young Miss, why did you choose this Jiang You? I think Shun Xin might have been more suitable."
Chu Tianjiao pursed her lips without speaking.
The choice of Jiang You was actually because in her previous life, Jiang You had used despicable means to drug Feng Yi and violated her, intending to force her to marry him.
Lu Zhaoling had likely wanted to use this to control Feng Yi, planting her as a spy by Chu Tianjiao's side. Who knew that Feng Yi would rather die than submit, and directly took her own life.
Chu Tianjiao, having lost a loyal subordinate, sought justice from Lu Zhaoling and wanted to kill Jiang You.
Lu Zhaoling merely gave Jiang You twenty lashes, letting him off lightly. Nominally, he expelled Jiang You, but in reality, he transferred him from open to covert operations, into the Night Watch.
Yesterday when Jiang You stole the chicken, Chu Tianjiao outwardly spoke up for him, only giving him twenty lashes, but inwardly she thought that her score with Jiang You needed to be settled starting from those twenty lashes, slowly but surely.
This sleeping incense wasn't something Lu Zhaoling would necessarily have; it was Jiang You's usual method.
Unexpectedly, in this life, that scoundrel had instigated Lu Zhaoling to use the method he had used on Feng Yi in the previous life on herself.
Lu Dingfeng took out a small medicine bottle from his bosom, removed two pills, and put one each into Lu Zhaoling's and Jiang You's mouths.
"Great-great-grandfather, where did you get such a filthy thing?"
Remembering his miserable history trapped in the Surprising Swan Pavilion, Lu Dingfeng sheepishly said, "I stole it."
Chu Tianjiao's original plan was just to maim Lu Zhaoling.
Lu Dingfeng said he had a better plan and proudly showed off his collection to Chu Tianjiao like a prized possession.
Chu Tianjiao felt sick thinking about Lu Zhaoling wanting to violate her.
Since that was the case, she decided to let him have a taste of his own medicine.
Chu Tianjiao agreed to Lu Dingfeng's plan.
"You can do this to your own great-great-great-grandson?"
"I've already expelled this grandson from the Lu Family Genealogy in my heart! Besides, if it weren't for this grandson causing the downfall of the Liyang Kingdom, I wouldn't have ended up in a woman's body. I just want him to experience what it's like to be neither man nor woman like his old man."
Chu Tianjiao wasn't sympathizing with Lu Zhaoling, she just couldn't understand Lu Dingfeng's hatred towards Lu Zhaoling. That resentment seemed even greater than her own.
"Young Miss, don't think too much about it. For a man, this bit of torment is nothing, at most it's just psychological trauma. If he weren't my descendant, I'd castrate him directly!"
Lu Dingfeng urged Chu Tianjiao to leave the tent.
Outside the tent, Jiang Zuo and Shun Xin were nowhere to be seen.
The two returned to the maid's tent, rested for a while, and were woken up by Feng Jia and Qingluan when dawn was breaking.
"Young Miss, Jiang Zuo and Shun Xin have also returned."
Chu Tianjiao rubbed her sleepy eyes and sat up.
"Let's go watch the show!"
When Chu Tianjiao led her twelve warrior maids, Qingluan, Lu Dingfeng, and others out of the tent, Shun Xin, sitting by the fire, asked in surprise:
"Miss Chu, how come you came out from that tent?"
Pretending to know nothing, Chu Tianjiao stretched and said:
"The wind is strong in these mountains, it's quite cold sleeping alone in a tent. Last night I went to squeeze in with them for the night."
Shun Xin glanced towards Chu Tianjiao's tent, his heart pounding: Who was sleeping in that tent with His Highness?
When he and Jiang Zuo returned earlier, they clearly heard movement from that tent.
But looking at Chu Tianjiao's neat appearance, she didn't look like someone who had spent a passionate night with the Fourth Prince at all.
Chu Tianjiao turned to Lu Dingfeng and said, "Mulberry, I want to freshen up. Go to my tent and bring out my box for me."
Lu Dingfeng understood the hint.
Shortly after, a scream came from the tent.
Chu Tianjiao led her twelve warrior maids to swing their swords, "swish swish swish," cutting the tent to shreds, fully exposing the scene inside to the daylight.
"Ah! How shameful!"
Lu Dingfeng let out a scream.
Chu Tianjiao somewhat regretted using such a crude method to present Lu Zhaoling.
She had originally just thought that she didn't want to keep the tent Lu Zhaoling had stayed in, so she might as well destroy it completely.
She hadn't considered that her maids were all innocent young girls who hadn't experienced the world. How rash of her!
"Phoenix Squad, listen up, all turn around and don't look! Qingluan, you don't look either."
Chu Tianjiao's remedy didn't really have much effect. Everyone had already clearly seen the Fourth Prince and his guard Jiang You lying naked on the bed made of ground mats, fast asleep.
From the sleeping position of the two, the Fourth Prince was even the one pressed underneath by Jiang You.
"Outrageous, this is truly outrageous! I want to break off the engagement!"
Chu Tianjiao cried out loudly, startling the two men awake.
Shun Xin quickly rushed forward to cover the two with a blanket.
Chu Tianjiao, as if extremely shocked, immediately ordered everyone:
"Pack up! I want to leave this filthy place."
Feng Jia led the people to pack quickly. In less than a quarter of an hour, Chu Tianjiao led her group away on horseback.
Lu Zhaoling, wrapped in a blanket, was supported by Shun Xin back to his own tent.
Jiang You, who had already dressed, knelt on the ground, continuously kowtowing.
Lu Zhaoling was still in a daze, not knowing what had happened, but the pain in his body reminded him that something indeed occurred last night.
Shun Xin looked at Lu Zhaoling with concern, wanting to help him dress, but as soon as he touched Lu Zhaoling's body, Lu Zhaoling trembled all over.
Worried that Lu Zhaoling might fall ill from holding it in, Shun Xin consoled:
"Your Highness, please say something!"
Lu Zhaoling roared: "Get out, all of you get out!"
Shun Xin had no choice but to withdraw, pulling Jiang You out as he left.
Jiang Zuo, Jiang You, and Shun Xin stood guard outside Lu Zhaoling's tent. Shun Xin asked Jiang You, "What happened to you last night?"
Jiang You, who had just been kowtowing, his face covered in blood and eyes bloodshot, said: "Last night I heard His Highness call me, so I went in. I really don't know what happened after that. You were guarding outside, why didn't you come in to look for me when I didn't come out for so long?"
Shun Xin looked at Jiang Zuo.
Jiang Zuo scratched his head sheepishly: "I don't know if it was insufficient sleeping incense or if Feng Jia's skills were too profound. When she came out of the tent, I was afraid she would ruin His Highness's plans, so I had to lead her away."
Both Jiang Zuo and Jiang You turned to look at Shun Xin, who blushed slightly: "Don't look at me. Qingluan said she had just returned from relieving herself and ran into me. I took Qingluan to the riverside and talked with her all night."
Jiang Zuo and Jiang You said in unison: "You're the lucky one!"
Ever since the Fourth Prince and Miss Chu got engaged, they knew that Shun Xin had taken a liking to Qingluan, who was by Miss Chu's side.
The brothers Jiang Zuo and Jiang You were secret guards trained by the Ye family for Lu Zhaoling.
Jiang Zuo said to Jiang You: "Second brother, when His Highness comes to his senses later, he's likely to punish you. Why don't you escape first?"
Shun Xin wanted to stop him, but he couldn't beat both Jiang Zuo and Jiang You.
Shun Xin also knew that once the Fourth Prince recovered, Jiang You would likely lose his life.
Being fellow servants of the Fourth Prince, he couldn't help but feel a sense of sympathy. Gritting his teeth, he said: "I don't know anything. You two brothers decide for yourselves."
Jiang You glanced inside the tent, took two steps back, turned around, and ran.
It wasn't until noon that Lu Zhaoling came to his senses.
He jumped into the river and washed himself over and over.
"Where's Jiang You?"
Shun Xin reported that Jiang You, fearing that his presence would upset the Fourth Prince, had left first.
"He sure was quick to slip away!"
Lu Zhaoling glanced at Jiang Zuo standing guard not far away and swallowed the words he was about to say.
He had already heard from Shun Xin about what had happened. At this point, even if he was a fool, he could guess that it was Chu Tianjiao's people who had done this.
Shun Xin tried to persuade, "It might not necessarily be Miss Chu. This morning I saw Miss Chu looking quite upset. How could a young lady from a marquis's household know such underhanded tactics?"
Lu Zhaoling, standing in the water, slammed his fist onto the river's surface and shouted in rage:
"It must be that maid by Chu Tianjiao's side who's behind this! That girl has been against me from the moment she appeared. I wouldn't be surprised if she was planted in the Chu family by one of my royal brothers."
Although Lu Zhaoling had grown suspicious of Chu Tianjiao, Lu Dingfeng had already maxed out his hatred meter, taking on most of the animosity on Chu Tianjiao's behalf.
Chu Tianjiao, who had left with her team, rode swiftly with the wind at her back, laughing heartily all the way.
Without Lu Zhaoling following, Chu Tianjiao felt refreshed and invigorated. She quickly arrived at the next destination, Danxia Mountain.
As soon as they neared the foot of the mountain, Chu Tianjiao felt a wave of heat wash over them.
It was still spring, but Chu Tianjiao and her group, wearing armor over their riding clothes, soon began to sweat profusely.
"Sangqin, is this the place?" Chu Tianjiao asked.
