Holding a lantern, guiding souls across, Lady Hou comes from the underworld.

Ren Fengjue was awakened by a faint fragrance lingering in his nostrils, but when he opened his eyes, he was startled.

He found himself lying on a "wedding bed," with Zhao Wan fast asleep next to him.

Upon seeing this, Ren Fengjue hurriedly sat up from the bed and distanced himself from the other party, but he felt dizzy and lightheaded and rolled off the bed.

Startled by the commotion, Zhao Wan sat bolt upright in bed, crying out, "So many ghosts! How terrifying!"

But soon, she also realized that something was wrong.

"Where...am I?"

Zhao Wan looked around blankly, then cried out in surprise when she saw Ren Fengjue under the bed, "Ren Fengjue? You... what are you doing here? Where is this place?"

Hearing Princess Fenghua's shrill voice, Ren Fengjue's headache worsened. He couldn't help but scold, "Stop making noise, calm down!"

Zhao Wan rarely saw him so fierce. Although she stopped talking, her nose stung, and she began to sob, "I... how did I get here?"

She looked at the "bed" she was in, which had clearly been decorated to resemble a "wedding bed," and suddenly she understood.

Someone wants her to be with Ren Fengjue!

Ren Fengjue forced himself to stand up, looked around, and found himself in a completely enclosed room with no exit in sight.

Besides a bed, the room was filled with red candles, and beside the bed was an overturned pot of water and two cups.

All the light came from those candles.

The delicate fragrance clearly emanated from the candle.

He opened the teapot lid again and examined it carefully. He found that it contained plain water, which was colorless and tasteless, but it was hard to say whether it was mixed with any drugs.

Ren Fengjue glanced back at Zhao Wan and said calmly, "All of this was orchestrated by Princess Wu."

Zhao Wan was stunned: "Mother?"

She immediately understood her mother's intention: "Does she want... us to get married?"

Ren Fengjue frowned and fell silent.

Zhao Wan hurriedly retorted, "Although I told my mother I wanted you to like me, I never even considered marrying you!"

She wiped away her tears and cried out, "Mother, I don't want to stay here! I want to get out!"

However, there was no response from any of her surroundings.

Ren Fengjue didn't want to pay attention to her either. After thinking for a moment, he decided to extinguish some of the candles first.

The scent made him dizzy and lightheaded; it must have been mixed with some kind of drug.

Zhao Wan stared blankly at his actions, clearly puzzled.

As many candles went out and the room gradually darkened, she panicked again. "Ren Fengjue, what are you doing? I'm afraid of the dark... Please don't put out any more candles!"

As she spoke, she tried to get out of bed to stop the other person, but because her limbs were weak, she fell down by the bedside.

Ignoring everything else, Ren Fengjue extinguished most of the candles, leaving only two, before explaining to Zhao Wan, "The candles are poisoned."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Wan obediently shrank to the foot of the bed, not daring to move again.

But she still felt scared and confused. Why would her mother, who had always loved her so dearly, resort to such a disgraceful method...?

The room was completely silent.

After the candle went out, the fragrance faded, and my mind did become clearer, but what followed was a dry mouth and throat.

Zhao Wan glanced at the teapot and couldn't resist going forward to pour herself a cup of water to quench her thirst, but Ren Fengjue stopped her.

"Don't touch it with water either."

Zhao Wan looked at him expectantly: "But I'm so thirsty."

Ren Fengjue said, "Be patient for a moment, I'll find a way out."

As he spoke, he began to intently observe the layout of the entire secret room by the light of the candle.

In order to solve a case of a corpse hidden in a locked room, he once read through many ancient books.

While not particularly sophisticated, it can still provide some insights for solving cases.

The secret rooms all have hidden doors, controlled by mechanisms. To find the mechanisms, you cannot miss any details.

Zhao Wan knew that under these circumstances, there was no other way but to trust Ren Fengjue, so she sat by the bed and quietly watched him.

In the silence, no one knew how much time had passed.

Ren Fengjue had searched all the surrounding walls, but found no clues whatsoever.

Could it be at the top?

He was about to take a short rest to conserve his energy when he turned around and found that Zhao Wan had secretly poured him a glass of water and drunk it.

"you--"

Ren Fengjue was unable to stop him, so he simply stepped forward and smashed the teapot.

Zhao Wan was extremely embarrassed and angry. Just as she was about to cry and make a scene, she discovered that her whole body instantly became hot after swallowing the water.

She loosened her belt and couldn't resist taking off her outer garment...

Seeing her flushed cheeks, Ren Fengjue could easily guess that there must have been an aphrodisiac in the water.

To prevent Zhao Wan from doing anything reckless, he immediately used his belt to tie her hands behind her back.

Zhao Wan was disoriented and struggled and cried even more.

Just as Ren Fengjue was hesitating whether to knock her unconscious with another palm strike, he noticed that the water on the floor was starting to flow towards the bed and quickly seeped down the foot of the bed.

Seeing this, he finally saw a glimmer of hope.

After throwing everything off the bed, they discovered a large, round rock underneath, engraved with strange patterns. There were no hidden doors or mechanisms to be seen.

Ren Fengjue had no choice but to pick up a candle and carefully examine the patterns on the boulder.

As he was pondering this, he sensed someone approaching from his side. Turning around, he saw Zhao Wan had broken free of her restraints and was lunging towards him…

This unexpected attack caused Ren Fengjue to fall directly onto the stone slab. Without thinking, he raised his hand and struck the other man's neck with a palm strike.

Zhao Wan's body went limp and she collapsed onto the stone slab, only to hear a crisp sound, like the sound of jade shattering...

Ren Fengjue looked down and saw a broken jade pendant fall from Zhao Wan's body.

However, at that moment, a cold wind blew in, and the only two candles in the room went out for no apparent reason.

The surroundings were immediately plunged into darkness. In a panic, a rustling sound of fabric rubbing against each other came from the side, clearly from Zhao Wan beside her.

Although Ren Fengjue couldn't see clearly, he could sense that the person beside him had become somewhat unfamiliar.

"Princess?"

He had barely uttered a call when Zhao Wan immediately let out a cold laugh, "Ten years have passed, and I've finally found my chance."

Although the voice came from Princess Fenghua, it was clearly not her who was speaking.

Ren Fengjue had a premonition that Zhao Wan was possessed, and he immediately asked, "You... are you the Du family member who disappeared ten years ago?"

From the darkness, a cold, eerie voice replied, "It is I."