With her deceased husband as her dowry, would Your Highness dare to marry her?

One pigeon after another fluttered down and landed under the eaves of the inner courtyard of Prince Jing's mansion.

Pei Jinxuan read letters all night long; the thin sheets of paper covered the entire table, but not a single one mentioned the whereabouts of Princess Yongle.

A sense of foreboding swept over him. Unsure of what to do, he picked up a brush and wrote two words on a piece of paper: "Leopard cat, tied to the leg of a flying pigeon." The leopard cat was a birthday gift he had given to Yongle, and she never parted from it. If he could find the cat, he could also find her.

Pei Jinxuan released the pigeons, turned around, and sat on the couch, taking a short nap fully clothed. Suddenly, the door was pushed open. Lin Ci, her hair disheveled, stumbled in like a lost soul. Her eyes were empty again, and the bloodshot veins made her face appear even paler. She must have been busy all night.

Pei Jinxuan reached out to pull her into his arms, but she quickly pushed him away. She unbuckled his belt, straddled him without a word, and, regardless of whether he could hold on, forcefully exhausted all his remaining strength. She also covered his mouth, forbidding him to make a sound.

"It's done, it's almost done..." she murmured dreamily, tilting her head back.

He was exhausted from the whole night and wouldn't last much longer before he ejaculated. She refused to give in, biting her lip and using all her strength until her eyes were clear before she would let him go.

Lin Ci sat up abruptly, straightened her skirt, tidied her disheveled hair, and turned to leave. She came like the wind and left like the wind, leaving the disheveled Pei Jinxuan on the couch, panting heavily.

Pei Jinxuan felt ashamed to be treated like an object.

He needs to talk to her.

Thinking it over, Pei Jinxuan got up, tidied herself up, and went to the cellar.

For some reason, the corridor seemed unusually long and winding today, like an endless maze.

He walked step by step until he finally stood in front of the cellar door, looking at the half-closed stone door, but hesitated.

Light peeked through the crack in the door, casting shadows in the light. The shadow was one, but upon closer inspection, it seemed to resemble two figures leaning against each other.

He knew he shouldn't go in. But these past few days, Lin Ci had been hiding in the cellar, treating him with alternating hot and cold treatment.

When it's cold, she won't even show her face; when it's hot, just like before, she barges in, takes him, and then throws him away.

What exactly is he?

An antidote?

If he becomes dregs of medicine one day, will she still care about him?

This is not fair.

He is a living, breathing person; he can talk and laugh.

He was of noble birth, and women came to propose to him in droves.

How can he become a medicine?

How could someone be worse than a dead person?

Pei Jinxuan wanted an explanation, so he pushed open the stone door forcefully. A blast of cold air rushed out, mixed with a strange herbal smell. A lamp in the corner flickered, casting long and short shadows.

Lin Ci was kneeling on the ground, holding a steelyard in her hand, weighing the medicine bit by bit. Her eyesight had returned, and her gaze was focused on the scale marks, so she didn't even notice him approaching.

He was about to call out to her when his gaze inadvertently swept over the coffin. The coffin lid was wide open, and the hemp cloth used to wrap the body was scattered and hanging haphazardly along the edge of the coffin. It trembled slightly in the wind, as if countless hands were beckoning him to come over.

Pei Jinxuan couldn't help but step forward, proceeding with extreme caution, as if afraid of disturbing the person inside the coffin. His palms were sweaty, and his legs felt a little weak. The closer he got, the stranger the smell of the medicine became. The closer he got, the less he could smell anything at all, only the pounding of his heartbeat... pounding... growing faster and faster.

Finally, he stood beside the coffin and looked down inside.

The person in the coffin wore black boots and a plain white robe. Their figure was thin, and their exposed hands were ashen. Looking further up, a vibrant golden kingfisher was held in its beak, its purple petals and emerald calyx even more alluring than when it was planted in the soil. Pei Jinxuan's gaze froze there, unable to look any further. He feared seeing a rare and beautiful face, a face he could never match.

Pei Jinxuan was about to turn around, but stopped himself. He closed his eyes, focused his mind, suppressed the fear in his heart, and slowly leaned forward...

The corpse had its eyes open, as if it were staring at him.

He suddenly realized he had misread it, so he leaned over again.

Sword-like eyebrows, peach blossom eyes, straight nose, thin lips... every feature is a face he has seen a thousand times.

Isn't that his own face?!

The only difference was that he had a cinnabar beauty mark under his eye, like a drop of blood on his pale cheek.

impossible……

This is impossible...

Pei Jinxuan didn't believe it. He thought it must be because he was tired these past few days and his essence and blood were exhausted, which caused his vision to blur and he was hallucinating.

He wanted to escape, but his feet seemed to be nailed to the ground by invisible nails, rendering him unable to move. He could only close his eyes, but that face was like a hook, firmly holding his gaze.

Pei Jinxuan suddenly stepped back, knocking over the ever-burning lamp. The lamp oil spilled onto the ground, and sparks flew, forming a winding ribbon of fire. The clanging sound exploded in the empty cellar, making everyone's ears ring.

Lin Ci finally raised her head, her bloodshot eyes staring straight at him.

He found out.

They know everything.

But she remained completely unmoved.

Lin Ci slowly stood up, like a shadow emerging from the ground.

"Ah Xuan," she spoke, her voice like a nightingale's tearful lament, "this is Prince Jing'an, the one I mentioned to you."

It turns out that the "Ah Xuan" was not being called for him.

From beginning to end, it was never called to him.

A chance encounter with a deep, loving gaze;

A gentle smile as she turned back;

His eyes were brimming with tears when he was sick;

And when she was with him, she would call out to him in a tearful, plaintive voice...

Everything was not directed at him.

He was an empty shell, a substitute for the person in the coffin.

What does his sincere devotion amount to?

Is this a joke?

Pei Jinxuan suddenly felt dizzy and his breath caught in his throat. He leaned against the cold stone wall, his peach blossom eyes unfocused, as if a hand had snatched away his soul, leaving behind this limp body.

"You lied to me..." his voice forced out from deep in his throat, "You've been using me all along..."

He got up and stumbled toward Lin Ci, his face pale, even paler than the person in the coffin.

Lin Ci looked at him and smiled, "I didn't lie to you, the art of bringing the dead back to life... is almost complete, my husband will be alive soon!"

She became more and more excited as she spoke, her eyes bloodshot yet burning brightly, without even blinking. That smile was like a sculpted mask, stiff and unreal.

Pei Jinxuan swayed slightly, almost falling. He managed to stand up by holding onto the coffin, his shoulders drooping, his voice trembling as if he were crying. But if you listened closely, it was clearly laughter, low and hoarse, like a patient with a long cough coughing out the last bit of strength in his chest, with the smell of blood.

"Then what am I... tell me? Is he the medicinal ingredient, or am I, hmm?"

Lin Ci tilted her head, looking like an innocent child with a face full of confusion.

"Isn't this what you wanted? You brought me back to the capital for the sake of the resurrection technique, and now it's almost complete, so why are you acting like this?"

Pei Jinxuan didn't answer. He looked at her, and the heat in his eyes gradually cooled down.

Click... click click...

A strange sound suddenly came from the cellar, like someone grinding their teeth.

Thump, thump, thump, the coffin rattled...