After the ghost-hunting master descended the mountain, his fame spread throughout the capital.

The flower hall was deathly silent.

Everyone was amazed by the lifelike performance.

Although it was just a paper figure, the scene and the dialogue conveyed a sense of coercion, struggle, and despair that felt incredibly real.

Many women covered their mouths with handkerchiefs, their eyes filled with fear and sympathy, and some even secretly wiped away tears from the corners of their eyes.

Those noble ladies who were around the same age as Ruan Guyan or had met him once before turned pale, feeling a deep sense of lingering fear as if they had experienced the same thing firsthand.

The men's section was filled with suppressed whispers, all eyes filled with scrutiny, disdain, and disbelief, all fixed on Chu Yanzhao, whose eyes were filled with gloom.

Jiang Wanqing felt a chill run through her body. She watched the blurry male figure in the play do his thing, and then looked at Chu Yanzhao, whose face was ashen, not far away. The affection in her eyes shattered into shock and fear.

She instinctively covered her mouth to prevent a soft gasp from escaping.

Chu Yanzhao, who had been sitting on pins and needles, could no longer contain himself. Pointing at the paper figures that had returned to their original form, he roared at Jiang Dusheng in a mixture of shock and anger:

"Sorcery! This is clearly sorcery and a fabrication! Jiang Dusheng, how dare you use such superstitious and evil magic to slander this young master at the Princess's Hundred Flowers Banquet! Your intentions are despicable!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Dusheng's expression remained unchanged. He even tilted his head slightly, revealing a perfectly measured hint of doubt, his voice clear and calm:

"What is Your Highness doing? I am merely presenting a little play that I have arranged to entertain you and provide some topics for conversation."

"The story is fictional, and the characters just happen to share the surname Chu. Why is Your Highness so agitated, making such a connection to the characters? Could it be...?"

Jiang Dusheng paused deliberately before uttering the last few words, which sounded all the more ironic:

"Does Your Highness find the behavior of the characters in this play somewhat similar to your own?"

She emphasized the words "coincidentally, they also share the surname Chu" and "similar in appearance" with great meaning, effortlessly and skillfully removing the accusations that Chu Yanzhao had leveled against him.

Chu Yanzhao was speechless, his face turning even more unpleasant, after being choked by her seemingly gentle but actually barbed words.

He knew, of course, that the play was aimed at him, but Jiang Dusheng insisted that the play was fictional, and if he insisted on it, he would only appear guilty.

Jiang Dusheng stopped looking at him, his gaze sweeping over the various expressions on the faces of the crowd. His voice held a faint trace of pity as he continued in his narrative tone:

"In the play, the young lady Ruan managed to escape the clutches of evil, endured the humiliation, and thought that she could pretend that nothing had happened and continue her life."

"However, she did not know that the malice and scheming in people's hearts are sometimes far more chilling and deadly than direct violence."

"In just a few days, rumors spread like a poisonous vine, defaming her reputation, saying she was promiscuous, actively seducing influential people, and even fabricating all sorts of unspeakable details and evidence..."

Hearing this, Ruan Guyan, who was possessing the paper doll, forced back her ghostly tears and stared intently at Chu Yanzhao.

Jiang Dusheng's tone suddenly turned cold, his gaze once again piercing Chu Yanzhao, his voice echoing clearly in the silent flower hall:

"So it turns out that the person who couldn't get what they wanted, out of anger and resentment, resorted to this most despicable trick—"

"Spreading rumors is like killing someone's spirit! They want to use this invisible knife to cut off all her paths to survival, completely destroy her reputation and will, and force her to submit."

Jiang Dusheng enunciated the last few words with extreme force, conveying a chilling aura.

Jiang Dusheng took a small half-step forward. Although she did not name names directly, the sharp direction in her gaze and words drew everyone's attention back to Chu Yanzhao like an invisible hand.

She seemed genuinely discussing the script, her tone even carrying a sincere, inquiring tone:

"Your Highness, you are of noble birth and well-informed. In your opinion, shouldn't such a treacherous person, like those depicted in the play... who first uses power to scheme and coerce, and when that fails, smears the person's reputation, ultimately driving an innocent and loyal orphan to her death, be despised by the world and condemned by heaven and earth?"

"Should I...fall into the eighteen levels of hell, endure countless trials and tribulations, and never be reborn?"

At this moment, in this situation, the power of Jiang Dusheng's question was no less than a resounding slap in the face to Chu Yanzhao in public.

He could feel the gazes coming from all directions—surprise, disdain, disgust, and scrutiny…

It felt like a thorn in his back, almost piercing him.

Chu Yanzhao felt all the blood rushing to his head, his cheeks burning as if he had been slapped by an invisible hand.

Unfortunately, Princess Chun was absent today due to illness, leaving no female relatives to plead on his behalf.

He stood there helplessly, enduring the gazes from all directions, feeling as if he had been stripped naked and thrown into the freezing snow.

Those faces that usually fawned over him and tried to please him were now blurred and indifferent.

Ruan Guyan, possessing the body of the paper doll, quietly watched the scene before her.

She watched as the demon who had once driven her to the brink of despair now lost all face in front of everyone.

The humiliation, gossip, and cold, scornful looks she endured have now returned to her perpetrators in the same way.

Just then, Wei Mingli stood up.

She first nodded slightly in the direction of Princess Yongning and Jiang Dusheng before speaking, her voice gentle yet tinged with disdain:

"The men in this play are truly... disgusting. It's a pity that the Ruan family's younger sister suffered such an undeserved calamity. She was first coerced and forced; then her reputation was ruined. She relentlessly pushed the descendant of a loyal and virtuous family to the brink of death."

"Poor little sister Ruan, suffering such an undeserved misfortune, in the end..."

She paused at the right moment, her eyes slightly red, and gently wiped the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief. Her unfinished words evoked endless sighs.

Wei Mingli paused, then casually mentioned, "It's quite a coincidence, isn't it been over a year since Sister Guyan left? Time really flies."

This single sentence instantly connects the character in the play with the real-life Ruan Guyan, implying that this is by no means just a play.

Lady Wei Guogong now fully understood the deeper meaning behind Jiang Dusheng's actions today: to vindicate the orphaned girl from the Ruan family who died unjustly.

She immediately replied with a smile, but her tone carried an undeniable seriousness: "Today's play was indeed brilliantly arranged and thought-provoking."

"In this world, it is not easy for a woman to establish herself, and her reputation is more important than her life. If there are such people who ruin a woman's reputation, even if they are of noble status, they will not escape the judgment of Heaven."

Lady Wei's gaze swept over Chu Yanzhao: "When I return to the manor today, I will definitely go to the palace and have a good talk with Her Majesty the Empress about the story in the play. I believe Her Majesty will also have many thoughts on it."

By invoking the Empress, she was both putting pressure on the Duke of Wei's family and demonstrating their stance on the matter.

They believe in this play and will report it to the heavens.