Nevertheless, she had no choice but to reveal to him all the painful memories that she had chosen to forget.

She needed to let Zhao Heng know the kind of person she was.

A dashing and unbridled swordsman like him should not be involved with her.

Thinking of this, she replied a little self-deprecatingly. “Yes, I hated her so much that I couldn’t wait to chop her up and throw her to the dogs.”

Zhao Heng looked at her quietly. He knew that she wanted to tell him about her past, so he did not interrupt her.

After composing herself, Chen Qiyu fixed her crystal clear eyes on him. “But do you know why? It wasn’t because of something as simple as competing for affection among harem women. The truth is – while I was still in the Eastern Palace, I was tricked and sent to a brothel by Lu Yunshuang… I’m sure you know about the brothel. Since you’re so close to my brother, surely you know about all the shady things Lu Yunshuang did.”

Zhao Heng’s heart sank when he heard this. Seeing the anguish on her face, he suddenly could not bear to listen to the rest of her story. “You…”

However, Chen Qiyu was bent on finishing what she had started, and she stared at him unwaveringly. “Big Brother Zhao, please let me finish.”

Zhao Heng fell silent.

Chen Qiyu was suddenly afraid to look into his eyes. Although she had made up her mind to expose her humiliating past to him, recounting it meant that she had to recall all those unbearable experiences. If she could, she would bury them deep and never let them surface again.

However, she wanted to tell Zhao Heng the truth to prevent him from giving his heart to the wrong person.

Her voice trembled as she recounted her agonizing past. “After I went in, I was forced to serve clients. To get revenge on me, Lu Yunshuang arranged for me to serve dozens of men, and they pounced on me one after another… I was there for more than ten days, and there were different men every day…”

“Stop! That’s enough!” Zhao Heng interrupted her, his face livid with rage.

There was dead silence in the room.

After a long while, Chen Qiyu stared at the floor with a pale face, biting her lip, yet still unable to mask the choke in her voice. “Big Brother Zhao, now you know how dirty I am?”

Zhao Heng furrowed his brow deeply, his hands balling into fists as he looked at the frail woman sitting on the chair.

He had no idea that she had been through such a terrible experience.

Why did he not meet her earlier?

What on earth had Chen Xuping done?

Chen Qiyu stood up with her head lowered to avoid his gaze, but she said nonchalantly, “Big Brother Zhao, it’s already late. Can I stay here for the night?”

Zhao Heng nodded. “Of course.”

“Thank you.” Chen Qiyu thanked him, then turned and walked into the inner room.

As Zhao Heng stared at her retreating figure, his heart was filled with a flurry of emotions. In the end, he walked out of the house and slammed his fist into a pillar.

The next day, Chen Qiyu left, and Zhao Heng never appeared in front of her again.

…

In the palace in the imperial capital.

The past few days had been rather enjoyable for Lu Liangwei. Although the Emperor still did not remember her, he now treated her just like how he used to. His temper was still pretty unpredictable at times, but other than that, nothing unpleasant happened anymore.

That day, Ling Lihua came to the palace to visit her and deliver some news to her.

Lu Liangwei was surprised to hear the news. “Lu Yunshuang’s dead?”

“Yes,” Ling Lihua nodded. “The House of Swallow Snow’s assassins tracked her all the way to Thousand Village City, but when they arrived, Lu Yunshuang was already killed. Her face was a bloody mess, but judging from the body shape and severed arm, it was definitely Lu Yunshuang.”

Lu Yunshuang was astounded. (TN: Author typo here, should be Lu Liangwei instead of Lu Yunshuang.)

Lu Yunshuang was actually in Thousand Village City?

However, she suddenly remembered something, which brought her to believe that Lu Yunshuang was truly dead.

That was because Chen Qiyu was in Thousand Village City too.

Perhaps the two of them had run into each other – but wasn’t Zeng Lunan with Lu Yunshuang? How did Chen Qiyu kill Lu Yunshuang without knowing anything about martial arts?

What else had happened before that?

A few days later, Lin Qingyuan came to the palace with a letter. She had obviously read it, and she was practically bursting with excitement as she urged Lu Liangwei. “Qiyu just sent me some good news. Hurry and read it.”

Lu Liangwei took the letter from her and opened it. Instead of being surprised by its contents, she was filled with mixed emotions.

Lu Yunshuang was really dead, and killed by Chen Qiyu at that.