The Mirror of Startling Beauty: Her courtiers are everywhere

"Snow on Tangxi!"

Bei Chenji's handsome face darkened suddenly, and he finally looked at her directly.

The moment their eyes met.

One's eyes held ice, beneath which burned a raging fire.

A fire ignites in the depths of one's eyes, a fire within which lies ice formed over millennia.

for a long time.

Bei Chenji slowly released his hold on Shen Yan.

He stepped forward, his crimson brocade robe shimmering with a dark light in the candlelight, like the dark clouds gathering before a storm.

He leaned down, close to her ear, his voice low but clear enough for everyone in the hall to hear the venomous warning:

"Tang Xixue, do you want to die?"

"Shen Cuo!"

Tang Xixue suddenly took a step back, her voice resounding:

"Protect me! A villain is attempting to assassinate me!"

Before he finished speaking, more than ten dark figures swept in like ghosts, instantly surrounding Bei Chenji.

The leader was Shen Cuo, dressed in a dark, close-fitting outfit. His face was filled with resentment and hostility, but his long sword was already drawn three inches from its sheath, gleaming coldly.

"ha……"

Bei Chenji was taken aback at first, then laughed in anger.

He looked at the faintly visible dark gold dragon patterns on the hems of the black-clad men's clothes.

That was the insignia of the Emperor's Hidden Dragon Guard, the most elite secret guards who should have been protecting the emperor's carriage, but now they were being used to protect her...

If he didn't know that Emperor Shengchen had no women in his harem, he would have thought that this was Tang Xiye's empress.

Is he really that protective?

"Xuan Yin just lets you be this crazy."

His laughter grew cold, and frost settled in his eyes.

Tang Xiye actually assigned the Hidden Dragon Guard, who was supposed to protect her, to her in her foolishness; it was simply going against the natural order!

Doesn't he, a dignified emperor, value his own life?

"Shen Cuo," Tang Xixue had already turned around, her voice light and cheerful, "keep a close eye on the little imperial uncle, don't let him do anything rash—"

She paused, then turned back and smiled sweetly at Bei Chenji:

"It bit me."

After saying that, she walked straight up to Shen Xian, reached out, and gently pulled the soft whip soaked in tung oil from his hand.

The movement was as natural as retrieving something that belonged to him.

Shen Xian's fingers went blank, and he stared at her in a daze.

Tang Xixue had already turned to face Shen Yan.

She tossed the whip in her hand, her wrist twisting slightly, and the whip whistled through the air!

“Pah!”

The first lash landed precisely on Shen Yan's uninjured shoulder and back.

Shen Yan screamed and fell forward, but was caught by Bei Chenji.

The whip marks were three times deeper than when Shen Xian had struck them earlier; the skin was torn and the flesh was exposed, and blood instantly soaked through the black sable fur coat.

"Tangxi Snow!" Bei Chenji's eyes widened in fury.

"Young Imperial Uncle wants to stop us?"

Tang Xixue raised an eyebrow, and the second whip had already pierced the air—

This time, the whip tip struck Bei Chenji's hand, which was supporting Shen Yan, like a venomous snake!

Bei Chenji instinctively withdrew his hand, but the whip's tail still grazed the back of his hand, causing the rhinoceros-hide glove to tear open with a small gash, instantly revealing red and swollen skin underneath.

He looked down at the wound on his hand, and when he looked up again, a real killing intent surged in his eyes.

"Littering is not a good habit."

Tang Xixue had already withdrawn her whip, and with a flick of her toe, she kicked the black iron token on the ground. The token tumbled a few times in the air before landing steadily at Bei Chenji's feet.

She tilted her head and smiled:

"This thing doesn't work with me."

Throughout Chenyao, Tang Xixue only listens to one person.

That was Tangxi at night.

Even if the King of Heaven himself came, it wouldn't make a difference.

"The fifth lash."

"The sixth lash."

The cracking of the whips rang out one after another, not fast, but extremely steady.

Each lash struck Shen Yan's most painful spot on her back. It wasn't fatal, but it was enough to make her feel pain to the bone, pain that would wake her from nightmares every rainy night thereafter, pain that she would never forget the humiliation of that day.

After the six lashes were finished, Tang Xixue casually threw the blood-stained whip back onto the rack.

She brushed off non-existent dust from her hands and turned to look at Bei Chenji:

"Now, young imperial uncle can take his men and leave."

Bei Chenji stood still, his chest heaving violently.

He stared at Tang Xixue, at the innocent yet cruel smile on her face, at Mu Liang who followed her like a shadow, and at the menacing Hidden Dragon Guards around them.

for a long time.

He slowly bent down and picked up the black iron token at his feet.

My fingertips brushed across the cold lines, across the character "霁" that represented supreme authority.

"Let's go."

His voice was deep and hoarse, as if it had been ground by sand and gravel.

Shen Yan wrapped her blood-stained mink cloak tighter around herself and staggered after her.

Before leaving, she glanced back.

His gaze was fixed on Tang Xixue.

That glance was complex.

There is deep-seated resentment, burning resentment, the pain of today's humiliation etched into the bone marrow, and a chilling, venomous coldness buried deep within.

Tang Xixue met her gaze, a very faint smile curving her lips.

A half-smile.

His lips moved silently, uttering three words:

I'm waiting.

The doors of the punishment hall closed again, shutting out the wind and snow and the two figures.

"Shen Wujiu," Tang Xixue suddenly spoke, her voice languid, "your sister ran off with some random man."

Shen Cuo's face darkened: "Princess Mirror!"

"What?" Tang Xixue turned to look at him, blinked, "Did I say something wrong? Just now, when Little Imperial Uncle was hugging her, you, as her older brother, didn't stop him, did you?"

Shen Cuo gritted his teeth, but could not refute it.

"Alright," Tang Xixue stretched, her snow-white cloak slipping off her shoulders to reveal her plain white nightgown underneath. "Finally, I can go back and get a good night's sleep."

She walked up to Shen Xian and stopped.

The candlelight shone from the side, casting long shadows on her eyelashes.

She looked up at his pale face, stared for a long time, and then suddenly sighed softly:

"Shen Sinian".

She called him by his courtesy name, her voice very soft.

"You can't even do this simple thing right..."

She shook her head, a genuine, almost disappointed weariness flashing across her eyes:

"That's really disappointing."

Having said that, she stopped looking at him and turned to walk out the door.

Dusk fell silently, and as the hem of her dark robe brushed past the threshold, a slight chilly breeze stirred.

Shen Xian stood there, watching her figure disappear into the wind and snow.

His face grew paler and paler, and the last bit of color drained from his lips.

"elder brother!"

Shen Cuo rushed in front of him, his eyes blazing with fury:

"That's a vicious woman! So arrogant and domineering!"

"Wu Jiu. She wasn't wrong!"

Shen Xian interrupted him, her voice hoarse and barely audible.

He took a step, stumbled a bit, barely managed to steady himself, and slowly walked towards the door.

"Brother!" Shen Cuo chased after him, "Why are you still speaking up for her?"

Shen Xian stopped at the threshold and looked back at him.

The candlelight shone from behind, casting a dim, yellowish glow on his handsome profile, but the light offered no warmth whatsoever.

"Wu Jiu. You hate her so much," he asked softly, "but haven't you been the most protective of her all these years?"

Shen Cuo choked on his words.

"I was just following orders! I had no choice!"

"Who told me to be loyal to the Emperor? His Majesty protects Princess Jing like the apple of his eye. If I dare to fail in protecting her, I'll have no choice but to offer my head!"

He grew increasingly angry as he spoke, his voice echoing in the empty corridor:

"Our Emperor is like he's been bewitched!"

"For the sake of this little sister, she disregards her own safety, even assigning the Hidden Dragon Guard to her recklessly!"

"If the Empress Dowager finds out about this, there will be an uproar!"

"Shen Wujiu".

Shen Xian interrupted him for the third time, her voice filled with deep exhaustion:

"You're too noisy."

He stepped across the threshold and into the swirling snow.

Snowflakes fell on his shoulders, quickly accumulating into a thin layer, making his hair look white overnight.

"Send someone to the Prince of Beichen's residence," he ordered without turning his head, "to bring Yunhua back to the Shen residence."

"Brother!" Shen Cuo caught up, "Will the Prince of Beichen release them? Judging from his attitude just now, he must have been furious—"

He will release it.

Shen Xian looked up at the swirling snowflakes, her voice so soft it seemed to melt into the wind:

"In today's round, he didn't lose to Princess Mirror..."

He paused, then smiled wryly:

"We lost to His Majesty."

"As long as Your Majesty is on the throne, he will always be a subject."