Your Highness, your wife has had her virginity mark applied and married someone else.

Shen Mingshu followed the gaze, and Wei Yuan's face stiffened. He impatiently slapped Wei Ziye's hand away, not wanting to say anything else, only asking.

"Ming Shu is my person. My brother forcibly took her from the hospital. Doesn't he have an explanation?"

Shen Mingshu's heart skipped a beat.

If word gets out about her situation, she'll definitely become a target for thieves in the future!

Her gaze involuntarily fell on Wei Ziye, her fingertips digging tightly into her palm.

Lu Yanzhi noticed her unusual behavior, glanced back at her, and saw her biting her lip and pale face, his heart tightened.

"Ah Shu? Are you feeling unwell?"

Two pairs of eyes followed, and Shen Mingshu and Wei Ziye's indifferent gazes met. Suppressing their panic, they nodded.

"Yes, a little. Let's go back to Beijing first."

"Okay, I'll take you away." Lu Yanzhi pulled her away.

Wei Yuan stepped forward to block him, his face cold and grim: "Lu Yanzhi, we agreed to keep Ming Shu and arrange a marriage between our two families. Do you intend to break your promise?"

Lu Yanzhi took out the official betrothal document from his bosom: "A-Shu is now my supervisor, no longer your concubine."

Wei Yuan's pupils trembled violently. He looked at the document in Lu Yanzhi's hand in disbelief, snatched it away fiercely, and stared intently at the three large characters "Yin Mingzhu" on the document.

"No, impossible!" Wei Yuan looked at Shen Mingshu with bloodshot eyes. Thinking of her well-behaved behavior during that time, his heart slowly sank into an abyss.

"Ming Shu, isn't this true? You're a woman, not Ming Zhu, you can't possibly be an official—"

"A-Yuan," Shen Mingshu pleaded, her eyes moist and her voice hoarse, "I need a place to stay."

"I'll protect you, won't I?" Wei Yuan's eyes were bloodshot. "I've already given you the bone whistle, don't you trust me?"

Shen Mingshu shook her head with tears in her eyes and tore off the bone whistle: "A-Yuan, I don't need it."

"..."

Wei Yuan's hand trembled as he stood at his side, like a statue, staring at the bone whistle in Shen Mingshu's hand for a long time.

The emotions on his face cracked and shattered inch by inch.

Finally, he said in a hoarse voice, "The betrothal gifts are non-refundable, Ming Shu. I will wait for you."

……

The atmosphere inside the carriage was somewhat oppressive.

Lu Yanzhi looked at Shen Mingshu, who was silently gazing out the window, and said with guilt, "I'm sorry, A-Shu, I'm so sorry for coming so late. You've been wronged."

Shen Mingshu's eyes trembled slightly as she looked at Lu Yanzhi with confusion: "Young Master Lu, do you admire me, or do you like me?"

Lu Yan was taken aback. Looking into Shen Mingshu's bright eyes, he took a deep breath and sat upright, looking at Shen Mingshu intently.

"Ah Shu, before I met you, I knew the name Yin Mingzhu."

"Before we first met, I had already admired your writing. Only after we met did I learn that you were a woman, and that you were Ziye's cousin."

"I asked him to pursue you, but I never expected him to kiss you right in front of me."

Lu Yanzhi's eyes dimmed: "So I could only hide my feelings, but I never expected you to jump into the river."

"I also went to look for you, but..." He lowered his eyes slightly, looking at his fingertips that were nervously rubbing his sleeves, "but my family stopped me, and I was only released a month later."

"..." It wasn't him.

Shen Mingshu lowered her eyes in disappointment.

"Ah Shu." Lu Yanzhi took Shen Mingshu's hand, his eyes sparkling. "Back then, I was weak and incompetent, and I couldn't protect you. Now, I'm giving you power, and I ask you to give me another chance."

"This time, I will protect you completely!"

Lu Yanzhi's features were gentle and warm, his palms were warm and reassuring, and his eyes were bright and clear. The deep affection hidden beneath his gentle exterior was fully revealed, without any concealment.

Shen Mingshu stared at him, her eyes reddening with confusion.

It was too late. Lu Yanzhi had come too late. She had suffered enough from a lack of trust and found it difficult to trust others again.

"Lu Yanzhi." Shen Mingshu's tearful eyes gleamed with a cold, calculating light: "I want the Shen family destroyed."

Lu Yanzhi didn't ask anything, and raised his hand to take off the white jade pendant that he had carried with him for many years.

"Alright, I've brought your father's bodyguards. I'll get more if that's not enough."

Tears streamed down her face as Shen Mingshu clutched the jade pendant tightly, as if she could see the white jade pendant shining in the sunlight when she threw herself onto her father's lap as a child.

"Thanks."

……

Upon entering the capital, Shen Mingshu immediately went to the Dali Temple.

The fact that Shen Yangjue's case was suppressed during the Dali Temple's review suggests there's more to it than meets the eye.

Three extremely luxurious carriages stopped simultaneously in front of the Dali Temple.

The officers and soldiers hurried to report. When Lord Zhang, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, heard that it was the carriages of the Wei and Lu families, he immediately got up in a panic and hurried out to greet them.

Shen Mingshu and Lu Yanzhi stepped off the carriage.

Upon seeing Lu Yanzhi, Lord Zhang respectfully cupped his hands and asked, "Lord Lu, what brings you here? Does His Majesty have any orders?"

Lu Yanzhi cupped his hands and said, "Lord Zhang, I have come here regarding the matter of Shen Yangjue's night attack and murder. I would like to ask you, Lord Zhang, why, even though a verdict has been reached, has the person not yet been brought to prison to await execution?"

"This—" Lord Zhang hesitated and looked at the other carriage.

Wei Ziye got out of the carriage and explained on his behalf: "Shen Yangjue is involved in many things, and I am acting cautiously to avoid angering the Empress Dowager and affecting Lord Lu."

"The Empress Dowager?" Lu Yanzhi asked, puzzled. "Could it be that Shen Yangjue's plot to kill someone involves the Empress Dowager?"

Wei Ziye looked at Shen Mingshu, his gaze deep: "It's because of other reasons."

"..."

The Empress Dowager was nearing the end of her life. Unlike Old Lady Wei, she was free from illness, had a harmonious and happy family, and the Emperor and Empress were observing mourning for their parents. She held supreme power.

The only thing lacking is vitality.

Shen Yangjue once entered the palace to treat the Empress Dowager on behalf of the divine physician. If Shen Mingshu hadn't exposed Shen Yangjue's practice of refining medicine on living people, which angered the people, the Empress Dowager would have turned a blind eye and continued to bestow unparalleled honors upon the Shen family.

Now, the Empress Dowager needs to avoid suspicion and prolong her life. Compared to the elusive physician, she can only secretly accept treatment from Shen Yangjue.

But if anyone kills Shen Yangjue, they will be cutting off the Empress Dowager's chance of survival.

Even without the Empress Dowager's intervention, the Emperor would not let her go.

No wonder...

After considering the pros and cons, Lu Yanzhi hesitated slightly: "A-Shu."

"Say yes." Shen Mingshu looked at him gently and smiled reassuringly, "Don't worry, I just wanted to visit my sister and ask her—"

Shen Mingshu turned to look at Lord Zhang, smiling innocently: "Why did you kill me?"

When Lord Zhang met Shen Mingshu's smile, a chill ran down his spine.

Three years ago, he received a letter that said there were countless corpses hidden in the backyard of the Shen family mansion, and that digging them up would solve a major case.

His current position as Minister of the Court of Judicial Review is also thanks to this anonymous person.

Later, out of curiosity and a desire to thank the other party, he followed the handwriting, thinking that if he couldn't find it, then he would let it go.

Little did he know that the delicate calligraphy on the letter paper had already become a sensation among the young ladies of the capital. Without him even having to investigate, he could learn from his own daughter that the founder was none other than the fifth young lady of the Shen family, Shen Mingshu.

She did not intend to hide the fact that she was helping him.

Now, if it weren't for this incident, he probably would have believed Shen Mingshu's innocent smile.

"Someone, take Fifth Sister to the temporary prison cell."

Shen Mingshu bowed gratefully to Lord Zhang, then looked at Lu Yanzhi: "Yanzhi, shall we wait for each other here?"

Lu Yanzhi was silent for two seconds, then nodded: "A-Shu, be careful."

Shen Mingshu knew what Lu Yanzhi was worried about, and smiled gently at him: "Don't worry."

On the carriage.

Wei Yuan watched Shen Mingshu smile intimately and trustingly at Lu Yanzhi, her nails digging into her palms. With a gloomy face, he closed the car window and gave a cold command.

"Go to the Lu residence."

"Yes."