Xiao Chi Zhan was very pleased with her flattery and compliance, and he relented.
As soon as the others left, Ye Luan immediately took out the porcelain bottle.
She took a deep breath and walked to the dressing table. She took out some lip gloss, dabbed a small piece onto a handkerchief, and poured the colorless, odorless poison water onto it.
The reason she didn't put it directly into the lip gloss was fear of being discovered; she needed to destroy the evidence.
This poison water was a slow-acting poison, and she had already taken the antidote in advance.
Those who consumed this poison water long-term would gradually be poisoned. If left undetected, they would die within a month.
Ye Luan put the lip gloss back, then scooped out the lip gloss mixed with the poison water and applied it to her lips, making her appear even more charmingly beautiful.
After completing everything, she burned the handkerchiefs completely.
Upon returning to the main hall, Xiao Chi Zhan was sitting in a chair, drinking, his posture lazy, his expression indifferent.
She recalled that the book mentioned Xiao Chi Zhan was severely bullied in his youth, lacked food and warmth, and suffered from a chronic illness. After growing up, he enjoyed drinking, which led to stomach problems.
Since she transmigrated, she had always seen him drinking more than what was described in the book.
His experiences were indeed pitiable, but she could not forget his terrifying presence, his fearfulness, nor his humiliation and relentless pressure on her.
"Come here." Xiao Chi Zhan looked at her lips, his crimson eyes flickering with an unreadable expression.
"You've applied it quite vibrantly."
Ye Luan smiled faintly, "Does Your Highness dislike it?"
Xiao Chi Zhan kept looking at her, making her feel uneasy, as if he had seen through something.
"It smells quite good." After a pause, he asked indifferently, "What kind of lip gloss is this?"
Ye Luan's expression remained unchanged. "It was on the dressing table, I just applied some casually." As she spoke, she leaned in and kissed him, smiling sweetly, "Does it look good, Your Highness?"
Ye Luan always felt he exuded an aura of coldness, with a hint of murderous intent lingering in his brows.
She clenched her fists, about to pull away, when suddenly, he surged forward. Looking at the man on top of her, Ye Luan felt a surge of murderous intent.
This man was as wicked as the Qiongqi tattoo on his back.
His back, from his left shoulder blade downwards, bore the image of a fierce, blood-red Qiongqi beast, extending to his waist, appearing ferocious and terrifying against the black.
The first time she saw it, she was chilled to the bone.
She hadn't expected this madman to have a Qiongqi tattooed on his body. The original book hadn't mentioned any Qiongqi tattoo on him, nor did she know its origin. She guessed he had done it himself; it was truly terrifying.
------
For the past few days, Xiao Chi Zhan and the others had been going out hunting and playing.
Ye Luan always felt as if someone was watching her, so she didn't dare to make any rash moves, remaining docile. However, she hadn't expected Lan Mu Rou to come looking for her.
Seeing the iron chains on Lan Mu Rou's feet, her gaze paused.
"I've already sent away everyone around you."
In the original book, Lan Mu Rou was gentle and generous. Although she grew up among common folk, her family were intellectuals, so her upbringing was extremely strict.
After her parents died, her family property was seized by her uncles. She and her younger brother set up a stall selling tofu, and she was an optimistic and upward-looking person.
But later, she met Tantai Ye, who was overbearing and forceful with her, killed everyone in her family, and used her younger brother to threaten her.
Lan Mu Rou's feelings for Tantai Ye were initially complex.
Tantai Ye had punished her greedy uncles and wicked servants, and doted on her; she was grateful.
But she was also enraged by his imprisonment of her.
Yet Ye Luan knew that Lan Mu Rou had long since fallen in love with Tantai Ye.
"What business do you have with me, Miss Lan?"
Lan Mu Rou smiled faintly, "Miss Ye, just call me A Rou. There's no need to be formal."
Ye Luan did not act coyly. Looking at the scenery outside the corridor, she said softly, "Ye Luan."
"Can I call you A Luan?"
"Call me whatever you like."
Lan Mu Rou turned her head, looking at Ye Luan's profile, and fell into a moment of thought.
Ye Luan remained silent, allowing her to scrutinize her.
"Do you want to leave Prince Dingbei?" she suddenly asked softly.
Ye Luan said faintly, "Are you going to help me?"
In fact, she really needed someone to help her with something.
As for why Lan Mu Rou was helping her, she understood perfectly well.
The book had described Lan Mu Rou's early circumstances with Tantai Ye in detail. Perhaps this woman saw her own past in Ye Luan and wanted to help her.
"A Luan, if only I had half your courage back then, I wouldn't have ended up like this."
Ye Luan shook her head, "It's not just courage you lacked; your heart wasn't cruel enough."
Upon hearing this, Lan Mu Rou gave a bitter laugh. "Yes, not cruel enough, that's why I have to watch him marry someone else."
Marry someone else.
Could it be that the current plot was that Tantai Ye was going to marry Liu Rong Ruo's sister?
She probed, "Is the Great General going to marry the Prime Minister's sister?"
"It seems I'm truly the last to know."
Her voice was bitter and a little weak.
"Prince Dingbei's status is noble. His future wife will either be a princess or a daughter of a prominent family, A Luan. I don't want you to walk the same path as me."
Ye Luan inwardly sneered; he had to survive until then.
Furthermore, in the original book, Xiao Chi Zhan remained unmarried his entire life.
As for Lan Mu Rou's worries, she feigned ignorance, because she knew Tantai Ye would not marry Liu Yue Yue, and Liu Yue Yue had almost died.
"A Luan, I know there's a secret passage here that can lead you out."
Hearing her words, Ye Luan couldn't help but turn to look at this naive woman.
Indeed, she had been spoiled by Tantai Ye.
"You don't want to leave?"
Ye Luan looked calmly at the begonia tree in the courtyard. "What's the point of leaving? My home is in the capital. He is the only prince of a different surname in Daliang, holding a high position. If he wants to kill me or possess me, can I escape?"
"Not to mention I have my maternal family, Fu Dai. Even if I could harden my heart, abandon them, and leave the capital by myself, with his overwhelming power, I would be captured by the Dragon Scale Guards before I even left the city."
"Even if I were exceptionally cunning and managed to leave the capital."
"But someone as paranoid and selfish as him would set up a net to find me, causing chaos everywhere."
"Once he finds me, whoever I get close to will be in mortal danger. Whoever I fall in love with, their family will be annihilated. Can such a life be peaceful?"
Hearing her words, Lan Mu Rou was suddenly reminded of her own experiences. They were birds of a feather; with intelligence networks all over the world, how could a weak woman like A Luan escape?
Seeing her stunned, Ye Luan added softly, "Therefore, if you want to leave, you must ensure it's foolproof, with no loose ends."
She wanted to kill him, to repay the humiliation he had inflicted. Then, she would fake her death and leave the capital with a new identity.
She wanted to live a life of dignity, not to be a scurrying mouse, hiding for her entire life.
And there was that Ye Xue, who had killed the original host. She couldn't leave without avenging that.
"The women in this world have such difficult lives. Why do women make things hard for women?"
Hearing Ye Luan's wistful words, Lan Mu Rou was startled and suddenly broke into a smile, "You are very smart."
It wasn't that she was smart; it was that she already knew the ending.
Liu Yue Yue's death was probably caused by Lan Mu Rou.