Princess, something terrible has happened! The prince consort has attempted suicide again!

A secluded courtyard deep within the Tang Mansion.

Liu Qingrou sat alone, the events of the day flooding her mind, her expression somber.

The door was gently pushed open, and Tang Wan walked in slowly, her eyes still red and swollen, staring straight at Liu Qingrou.

"Tang Wan?"

Liu Qingrou snapped out of her daze and got up to greet her.

"I heard that you just confessed your feelings to him and he rejected you." Tang Wan cut to the chase without any pleasantries.

Liu Qingrou gave a self-deprecating laugh: "Did you come here specifically to make fun of me? It's fine, laugh if you want, even I find it absurd and laughable."

"I'm here to have a drink with you."

Tang Wan gestured to Yue'er to place a jar of aged wine on the table.

In the past, the two men, from different countries, engaged in a literary duel in a restaurant, their arguments sharp and their rivalry intense.

Liu Qingrou was filled with doubt, but she noticed the deep loneliness in Tang Wan's eyes, which clearly indicated that she had just been crying.

"Why do you look like that? What happened?" Liu Qingrou asked.

As Tang Wan poured the wine, she said calmly, "Same as you."

Liu Qingrou asked, puzzled, "You've already given your heart to someone else, so how can you share my plight?"

"My so-called husband was nothing but wishful thinking on my part." Tang Wan picked up her wine glass, a bitter smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "Only today did I learn that his real name is Zhang Xiaomeng."

Liu Qingrou was stunned: "That masterpiece was actually written by Zhang Xiaomeng?"

"So, shall we have a drink?"

Tang Wan raised her wine glass.

Liu Qingrou was stunned for a moment, then raised the corners of her lips, "With such a fate, there is no reason not to drink."

The two raised their glasses, clinked them together, and drank them down in one gulp.

Yue'er stood by, silently adding wine for the two of them, her heart filled with countless emotions.

Who could have imagined that the two most talented women from opposing countries, once at odds, would fall for the same man, only to be rejected by both, and now sit together drinking to drown their sorrows?

"Are you planning to just let it go?" Liu Qingrou asked.

"What else can we do? He is the imperial son-in-law of the current emperor, and his wedding is approaching. He is destined to marry Princess Changning."

Tang Wan felt a pang of sadness in her heart, and tilted her head back to drink another cup.

Liu Qingrou also raised her glass, put it down, and slowly said, "I heard that when he disappeared, the Emperor of Dongling chose someone else to take his place in the marriage."

"That was a last resort when there was no other way. Now that he has returned safely, he should naturally fulfill the marriage agreement," Tang Wan explained.

Liu Qingrou stared at her for a moment, then said firmly, "But I think he has no intention of marrying Princess Changning."

Tang Wan frowned slightly and quickly asked, "How do you know?"

"I can't explain why, it's just a gut feeling."

"Based on intuition alone?" Tang Wan frowned.

Liu Qingrou drank her third glass of wine, her eyes growing increasingly resolute: "I trust my intuition, so I still have a chance."

Tang Wan looked utterly astonished: "You don't mean you're planning to steal the bride on her wedding day, do you?"

Liu Qingrou looked directly at her and asked, "If it were you, would you dare?"

Tang Wan fell silent instantly.

Zhao Changning was her close friend of many years. Putting aside their friendship, the act of snatching a bride during a royal wedding was a heinous crime that would implicate the entire family, and she could not bear the consequences.

Seeing that she was speechless, Liu Qingrou chuckled softly, "So it seems I love him more than you do."

Tang Wan was displeased and immediately retorted, "What do you mean? He saved my life twice and even killed my enemies for me. I have already decided that I will marry no one but him in this life!"

"But just now, you hesitated."

"You don't understand my difficulties, so how can you presume to judge my feelings?"

Liu Qingrou nodded slightly and readily admitted, "You're right. I'm all alone now, and I have no more worries."

"You...are you really going to steal the bride?" Tang Wan asked again to confirm.

"I don't want to spend the rest of my life filled with regrets." Liu Qingrou said resolutely without hesitation.

Tang Wan fell silent again, her jade-like fingers gripping the wine glass tightly, her heart filled with inner turmoil.

Just as the two were lost in their own thoughts, a sudden commotion erupted outside the courtyard, accompanied by the clash of weapons and screams of agony.

Several armed guards rushed in through the door in a panic, their expressions filled with fear.

"What happened?" Tang Wan's heart tightened.

"Chen Jinlin led a large group of assassins into the courtyard! The master ordered us to escort the young lady to safety!"

Tang Wan was horrified: "Where is my father now?"

"Master, stay in the front hall and fight to the death to stop them! Miss, quickly come with us to the secret room!"

"I'm going to find my father!"

Tang Wan tried to rush out of the courtyard, but was firmly stopped by the guards.

They forcibly took her, Liu Qingrou, and Yue'er, and hastily hid in a secret room.

Inside the sealed room.

The women of the Tang family were already huddled together, trembling with fear.

In the front hall, the fighting gradually subsided, and the ground was littered with corpses, some of which were guards from the Tang family, and others were assassins brought by Chen Jinlin.

Protected by only a few remaining guards, Tang Wenyuan glared angrily at Chen Jinlin in front of him and shouted, "Chen Jinlin! How dare you! You secretly led assassins to slaughter the residence of an important official! Aren't you afraid of incurring the Emperor's wrath and having your entire family executed?"

Chen Jinlin's eyes blazed with hatred, his face contorted in a ferocious grimace: "My only son died tragically. Apart from your Tang family, no one else has such a deep-seated hatred for me! Today, I will make your entire Tang family pay the price!"

"You dared to kill someone with a knife based solely on your own conjecture? Do you have even the slightest bit of evidence?" Tang Wenyuan's chest heaved with anger.

This man is just a scholar. I don't know where he recruited such fearless warriors. He is so confident. Where does he get his audacity?

A bodyguard stepped forward and reported, "The women in the mansion have all disappeared without a trace."

Chen Jinlin frowned and demanded sharply of Tang Wenyuan, "Where did you hide them?"

Tang Wenyuan snorted coldly and remained silent: "No comment."

"It doesn't matter if you refuse to talk. Slaughter all the men, and I'll find all the women!"

Chen Jinlin said no more, and waved his hand: "Let's do it!"

A group of assassins swarmed forward with knives, and the Tang family guards were forced to retreat in disarray.

The people in the mansion were panicked and filled with despair.

Tang Wenyuan sighed inwardly, fearing that the Tang family was doomed today, and he could only hope that his daughter could escape the disaster safely.

Just as the guard line was about to collapse, a smile of triumphant revenge appeared on Chen Jinlin's face. Suddenly, a large number of Imperial Guards in flying fish robes poured into the courtyard.

The crowd stared in shock and anger at the corpses strewn across the courtyard.

Wang Dongjian brandished his long sword, pointing it directly at Chen Jinlin, his voice booming through the hall: "Chen Jinlin, how dare you!"

Chen Jinlin's expression changed drastically, and he was greatly alarmed.

Why are the Embroidered Uniform Guards here?

He deliberately had his assassins wear Confucian robes and publicly claim it was a literary dispute. Ordinary yamen runners would at most come to mediate, and it was absolutely not right to alarm the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

The only possibility is that someone leaked the information beforehand.

However, these people were all die-hards who were determined to die, so there was absolutely no possibility of them leaking secrets.

What went wrong?

"Take them all down!"

At Wang Dongjian's command, the Imperial Guards charged forward with their weapons.

Seeing the situation was turning against him, Chen Jinlin hurriedly shouted, "Stop them! Escort me to safety!"

But as soon as he finished speaking, all the assassins around him drew their short blades and committed suicide on the spot, with no one protecting him.

Zhang Xiaomeng, standing to the side, was also taken aback.

Chen Jinlin was utterly shocked, never expecting that this group of assassins had already decided to perish together with each other.

He turned to run away, but the last remaining assassin who had not committed suicide suddenly stepped forward, slashed him hard with his sword, and then also committed suicide on the spot.

Chen Jinlin fell heavily to the ground, barely breathing.

On his deathbed, he finally saw through Huang Chengquan's schemes and managed to squeeze out two words.

"How ruthless..."