Young widow in her boudoir

Xie Rutang nervously took a step back.

The man's patience ran out. His gaze swept over her slender figure, and his fingers reached for the torture instruments on the wooden frame—a thorny rod specifically designed for female prisoners.

The steady footsteps approached slowly, like heavy hammer blows striking her heart.

The cell walls were moldy and slippery. The newcomer wore a pair of black boots with cloud patterns, and approached the hem of her ivory-white brocade dress, creating an unspoken ambiguity.

He held a thorn stalk the size of a baby's fist in his hand, forcing her into a corner against the wall, almost pressing himself against her.

Pei Zhiheng's thorns traced her slender neck, following her contours, making a gentle circle before moving down to her waist. "With such delicate skin, Madam, I'm afraid she won't be able to withstand the torture instruments in prison."

He could feel her body trembling slightly.

The heavy water droplets trembled violently.

Just then, a piercing scream came from deep within the prison, like the wailing of a wronged soul in the underworld. Someone was being tortured in the next cell, with a severed hand. The smell of blood made her stomach churn, and she almost vomited.

Pei Zhiheng spoke with his thin lips close to her earlobe, "Do you know what the Dali Temple is? Every prisoner who enters the dungeon must take off all their clothes and be interrogated by the court officials."

Xie Rutang's eyes stung with tears. She bit her lip, trying to hold back her tears, but she couldn't stop them. They streamed down her pink cheeks, wetting her face.

Only now did she fully understand that not a single word of the rumors circulating outside was false.

Pei Zhiheng, the aloof and dignified Minister of the Court of Judicial Review in public, completely transforms into a different person once he sits before a case, becoming ruthless and cold-blooded, no different from a vengeful ghost.

Xie Rutang's tears fell incessantly. "The Wu family has really gone too far... My elder brother Xie Huai is by no means the kind of person who would be jealous and cause trouble. Who in the neighborhood doesn't know his character? He and his sister-in-law have always respected and loved each other, and he has always been incredibly caring towards his children."

"I don't even know who that young mistress Wu is, so how could my brother have any entanglement with her!"

"My lord, this must be a miscarriage of justice!"

I only intended to use this thorn to scare him.

But when a hot, glistening tear fell onto the back of his hand.

Pei Zhiheng's usually calm heart was suddenly stung.

Xie Rutang was sobbing in front of him. Pei Zhiheng lowered his eyelids, not expecting the woman to be so easily frightened.

Indeed, she was well protected by her husband in the Shen family, never lifting a finger and spending her days waiting for him to return home. She never left the mansion throughout the year and only showed her face a few times. How could she possibly be in the Dali Temple, a place that could devour people to the bone?

Suddenly, he remembered a few days ago, in that simply furnished house on the outskirts of Beijing, Xie Rutang got up early to help him change his clothes.

The woman held the folded official robe in her palm, stood on tiptoe, and pulled the collar over his shoulder.

As she fastened his jade belt, her fingertips traced around his waist, and Pei Zhiheng caught a whiff of the delicate fragrance emanating from his embroidered orchid-adorned robe.

For some reason, she and Shen Yuan had been married for a year and were very much in love, but they had never conceived a child.

Pei Zhiheng stroked the jade thumb ring.

He was only half a foot away from her in the cell, and the woman's fragrance lingered in his nostrils, subtle and tender.

If she were to undress him at night, who knows what the situation would be like? In the dead of night, Xie Rutang would serve him at the Shen residence...

Overlapping, blending.

He could possess her in the Shen residence whenever he wanted, and no one dared to question him, the Second Master.

Nowadays, the Shen family's children are all mediocre and need to rely on him, their second master, to survive in the capital.

He held a second-rank official position, was quiet and abstinent, and had not been intimate with women for twenty years.

Although she is a widow, she has had a husband, so she must be skilled and tolerant, and therefore unlikely to be temperamental.

Because she was a widow, he stayed in her room every day without anyone knowing and without having to take responsibility.

He was determined to marry a well-bred lady from a respectable family in the future. Xie Rutang asked him to "borrow" her seed, pretending to be Shen Yuan's posthumous child. This would actually make things easier for him, as he wouldn't have to take responsibility. He would simply be her patron.

He only needed to come over a few times a month to be intimate with her, and when he was tired, he would rest on her and Shen Yuan's bed.

Pei Zhiheng's throat bobbed involuntarily twice, and he silently took a step forward, the fragrance of her hair becoming even clearer and deeper.

Strangely enough, he felt a pang of pity for her and wanted to help her.

Pei Zhiheng reached out and stroked the jade hairpin in her hair, his gaze falling on her pale earlobe. His tone was indifferent and perfunctory, "Madam Shen has privately bribed officials, which violates the law. Do you know what the consequences will be? Women are the most vulnerable in the face of punishment, and your brother is still in prison..."

Xie Rutang froze.

She looked up and met his deep, dark eyes, which held naked possessiveness and covetousness, and deep within them something else dangerous—a man's undisguised lust for a woman.

Everyone in the capital thought he was a refined gentleman, a virtuous and upright Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, but who would have thought he would covet another man's wife?

He lowered his head, his breath brushing against her neck, as if he were about to kiss her. If he got any closer, he could taste her sweet and soft lips.

Xie Rutang gently bit her lip.

Just as Pei Zhiheng leaned down, his thin lips about to touch hers—

At the end of the corridor, the light and hurried footsteps of a clerk suddenly rang out. The man stood outside the prison door and whispered, "Lord Pei, it's a letter from the Crown Princess."

Yin Qinrong is the person in Pei Zhiheng's heart.

The clerk looked up and happened to witness this tender and ambiguous scene inside the prison. He was so frightened that he quickly buried his head.

Upon hearing that Yin Qinrong had gotten into trouble again, Xie Rutang clearly saw Pei Zhiheng's brows furrow slightly, and the lust in his eyes vanish completely. He immediately released her.

"Keep an eye on Madam Shen." He casually gave this order, then turned and strode out of the prison.

Xie Rutang collapsed to the ground as if saved.

The side gate of the Dali Temple was hidden at the end of the long street. An exquisite carriage was already parked at the gate, and the Crown Princess, dressed in gorgeous clothes, was slowly helped down by her maid.