Who said the eldest daughter is crazy? She's clearly a woman of high rank and influence in the

She turned and walked towards the alley entrance, her smoky blue skirt rippling in the twilight. Her back was straight, and she didn't look back.

Helian Jing stood in the shadows of the corridor watching her walk away, the lantern light casting shadows on half of his face.

He watched the smoky blue figure disappear around the corner of the alley, then suddenly lowered his head and chuckled, "It doesn't matter who sits in that seat, right?" He weighed the weight of those words again, realizing a weight he hadn't anticipated.

He clenched his empty palm, the sensation of his fingertips brushing against her earlobe still lingering, but when she turned and left, she left him with no time to savor the memory.

"Each takes what they need." He repeated these four words to the empty corridor, the smile on his lips slowly fading.

The usually arrogant Helian Jing felt as if his heart was being pulled by an extremely thin thread. The person on the other end of the thread left decisively, but his end was being pulled with a dull ache.

He turned and walked toward the brightly lit banquet, his steps as usual.

After Xi Yueli got into the carriage, she leaned against the carriage wall and closed her eyes for a while. She had left decisively, but her heart was beating two beats faster than she thought.

Whether Helian Jing's feelings were genuine or feigned, she couldn't take advantage of him. She already owed him enough; any more and she would never be able to repay him.

The carriage was suddenly pulled to a stop on its return journey, and Xi Yueli cautiously peered through the gap in the curtain.

In the shadows surrounding the carriage stood a dozen or so people, dressed in black, masked, and holding narrow-bladed short knives, forming a semicircle around her from one end of the alley to the other.

The coachman was nowhere to be found. Qingdai had just been sent away to fetch her cloak, and the alley was deserted except for her and the assassins.

Right in front of the crowd stood a person wearing a cloak.

The hood of the cloak was lifted, revealing a face half-covered in gauze—Xi Yuefu.

She clutched the black iron token in her hand, her eyes gleaming frighteningly in the dim light of the palace lanterns, and a twisted, almost manic smile played on her lips.

"Xi Yue Li!" Xi Yue Fu shouted shrilly at the men in black, raising the token. "It's her! Kill her! I found the token for you. You promised me, kill her!"

But after she shouted, none of the men in black moved.

The alley was extremely quiet, with only the mournful sound of the night wind blowing through the walls.

Xi Yuefu's hand was raised in mid-air, the token swayed in the dim light, her smile began to freeze, and her gaze swept over the assassins.

Suddenly, the men in black turned around, and the narrow-bladed short knives in their hands changed direction in unison, with the tips of the blades pointing at Xi Yuefu.

Xi Yuefu's smile froze completely on her face.

Footsteps echoed from the alley entrance, the soles of boots making a crisp, rhythmic sound as they landed on the bluestone slabs.

The crowd parted to make way, and a woman dressed in a dark red outfit walked in. Her long hair was tied up high, a thin, long knife hung at her waist, and a black jade pendant on her earlobe swayed gently with her steps.

When she walked up to Xi Yuefu, she didn't even glance at her. She walked straight past her and knelt down on one knee three steps away from Xi Yueli.

"Liu San Niang greets the Pavilion Master."

The dozen or so men in black behind her knelt down in unison, their movements so synchronized it was as if their knees were being pulled by the same string.

The knife tip was still pointing in Xi Yuefu's direction, but everyone's eyes were on Xi Yueli's face, whose expression was indiscernible in the dim light.

The token in Xi Yuefu's hand fell to the ground with a "clang," and she slid down as if her spine had been removed, her knees hitting the bluestone slab with a dull thud.

She looked up at Xi Yueli, her lips trembling, unable to utter a single word.

Xi Yueli stood still, the night breeze gently fluttering the hem of her cloak.

She looked down at Liu San Niang kneeling in front of her and that dark mass of heads. She didn't actually remember anything. She only remembered that when she woke up three days ago, there was a note under her pillow.

There was only one word on it, written in that cold, angular handwriting: "Pretend."

From that moment on, she neither asked, nor explained, nor showed any fear. She did not know the reason for the scene before her, but she knew what she should do.

"Get up," she said.

Liu San Niang stood up, lowered her hands, and stepped aside. There was a complex emotion in her eyes when she looked at Xi Yue Li: awe, submission, and a trace of lingering fear.

Three days ago, during the purge at the Dark Pavilion headquarters, she witnessed firsthand how this seemingly frail girl crippled two elders with a single sentence, how she rescued her from the clutches of a traitor, and how she eradicated all the defecting forces before dawn the next day.

That night, Xi Yueli seemed like a different person. She was ruthless and decisive, and her sharp skills made the entire Dark Pavilion kneel down and call her Pavilion Master without even getting her knife stained with blood.

But the Xi Yue Li standing in front of her at this moment was a different person. She was quiet, pale, and looked like a lost little girl. Her eyes were the same, clear and black as jade in the dim light, and the light below burned the same flame.

Liu San Niang bent down and picked up the black iron token that Xi Yue Fu had thrown away. She wiped the dust off it with a handkerchief, held it up with both hands, and respectfully handed it to Xi Yue Li.

Xi Yueli took the token and played with it gently. She turned to Xi Yuefu, who was slumped on the ground trembling, and glanced down at her.

"Sister," she said, "you've had this token for three days, yet the people you've commanded with it are all mine."

After she finished speaking, she turned around and walked towards the carriage. Liu San Niang waved her hand, and two men in black stepped forward, lifted Xi Yuefu off the ground, and dragged her towards the alley entrance.

Xi Yuefu's cries were shrill and piercing in the night, like a bird with its throat cut making its last struggle, but the sound was quickly swallowed by the night wind and scattered in the darkness outside the palace walls, leaving nothing behind.

Xi Yueli boarded the carriage, and before the curtain fell, she glanced at Liu Sanniang.

Liu Sanniang bowed respectfully, her voice low: "Rest assured, Master, the evidence for the murder has been prepared, and the suspect will be sent directly to the county government, bypassing the Xi family."

Xi Yueli nodded, the carriage curtain fell, and the sound of wheels rolling over the bluestone slabs slowly started in the night. The carriage headed towards the Xi residence along the long street outside the palace walls.

She leaned against the car wall and closed her eyes. She didn't know what she had done, said, or whose hand she had used three nights ago, but when she faced the group of men in black kneeling in the alley just now, she felt no panic.

"Pretend." She read the word aloud again.

As the carriage rounded the corner, she lifted a corner of the curtain and glanced back. The alley at the end of the palace wall was empty; the men in black had dispersed, Xi Yuefu had been dragged away, and Liu San Niang had retreated into the depths of the night.

Only a crushed cosmetic box lay on the ground; it belonged to Xi Yuefu.

Xi Yueli lowered the carriage curtain; Xi Mingyuan would receive a summons from the county government tomorrow.

"Xi Yuefu, the second daughter of the Xi family, has been convicted of hiring a murderer. The evidence is conclusive. She is hereby detained pending trial."

The fact that the daughter of a Ministry of Revenue official hired someone to kill her elder sister is known throughout the capital. Xi Mingyuan's fragile reputation has finally been ruined by the daughters he himself raised.