Luo Yang shook her head, indicating ignorance. "I truly don't know who that person is. From his words, I gathered he was a subordinate of the person who helped me. He wanted me to find an opportunity to poison the Crown Prince and Prince Ming Rui, and frame you."
This statement led Sheng Lengshuang to ponder further, her gaze turning icy. "Then, did you act against the Crown Prince and Prince Ming Rui when you came to see me today?"
Luo Yang claimed she didn't know if it was successful, only that she followed the person's instructions. "That person gave me two packets of poison and told me to hand them over to a very ordinary-looking middle-aged man. After that, I don't know anything else."
Sheng Lengshuang requested her hidden guards to help, drawing a portrait of the middle-aged man based on Luo Yang's description.
After looking at the portrait, she asked another hidden guard to take it to Mo Lingxi and Zi Cheng in the palace, instructing them to have imperial physicians examine it.
"Are you here to frame me by taking this opportunity?" she asked coldly.
Luo Yang cried pitifully, "That's one reason, and there's another..."
She glanced at Xiao Feng, trembling as she spoke, "That person wanted me to find a way to attract your attention. He said he would snatch your son, seemingly to threaten you with him."
Upon hearing this, Sheng Lengshuang's eyes glinted with a blade-like coldness. "You people are truly something!"
Luo Yang did not believe she had done anything wrong. In her eyes, Sheng Lengshuang had used despicable means to steal her Prince Ming Rui and seize everything that belonged to her. Everything she did was to reclaim what was hers.
Outwardly, she lowered her head, forced to kneel, calculating how to escape, preferably by eliminating Sheng Lengshuang and her son.
Sheng Lengshuang knew what Luo Yang was thinking without needing to guess. She was considering whether to let this woman leave temporarily to lure the enemy out, or to eliminate her and eradicate the threat permanently.
Based on the current clues, Luo Yang was the only one who could contact the mastermind and his subordinates. However, the mastermind would surely know about today's events.
After much thought, she produced a pill and forced Luo Yang to swallow it. "Every half a month, without my antidote, you will suffer unbearable pain."
Luo Yang was filled with hatred and anger, yet she was powerless against Sheng Lengshuang. "You, why are you harming me like this?"
Sheng Lengshuang let out a cold laugh. "I harm you? You truly know how to twist the truth... Forget it, no matter how much I say, you won't listen. Why should I waste my breath?"
"You just need to remember one thing: without the antidote, you will be in so much pain that you'll die. If you don't want that, then obediently find out the identity of the person who helped you."
With that, she took Xiao Feng's hand and left.
The hidden guards released Luo Yang's acupoints and followed Sheng Lengshuang.
Anxiety-ridden, Luo Yang slumped to the ground, her eyes filled with fear as she stared at her blood-covered arm. She covered her face and began to cry, "Why? Why is heaven so cruel to me? It was Sheng Lengshuang who stole everything from me, it's her fault."
Prince Ming Rui's beloved was her. If not for the despicable schemes of Sheng Lengshuang and the Tao family, how could Prince Ming Rui have married Sheng Lengshuang? This slut could never have become Prince Ming Rui's consort.
It was also her fault that Prince Ming Rui didn't tell her his true identity from the beginning.
If he had told her from the start, she would never have tolerated Sheng Lengshuang and the Tao family. She would have used every means to deal with them.
"Prince Ming Rui, you are too much!"
"Yes, Prince Ming Rui is too much, so you cannot let him off lightly."
Startled by the sudden voice of a not-so-familiar young man, Luo Yang looked up abruptly and saw the man in the veiled hat.
"Quick, save me! Quick, save me!"
She crawled towards him on her knees, grabbing the hem of the veiled man's pants. "Sheng Lengshuang poisoned me, quickly save me, or I'll die in agony."
The veiled man disdainfully kicked her away and wiped the spot he had touched with a handkerchief. "Luo Yang, you are truly a useless waste, repeatedly ruining the master's plans!"
"I also think you're a waste." Sheng Lengshuang, who had returned, appeared in the private room, smiling at him.
The veiled man was truly unprepared for Sheng Lengshuang's return and his first instinct was to flee.
But as soon as he took a step, he was subdued by the hidden guards and had his acupoints sealed, rendering him completely immobile.
"Let me go... Ah!"
Sheng Lengshuang stepped on his head with one foot and ground it down forcefully. "Originally, I wasn't planning to come back, but I was worried you might eliminate Luo Yang and ruin my plan, so I came back to check."
When she saw the veiled man's alluring face, she raised her eyebrows slightly. "No wonder you're hiding your appearance; your face is too recognizable."
Catching sight of Luo Yang trying to sneak away out of the corner of her eye, she raised her hand, and a hidden guard threw her back into the private room. "Luo Yang, did I tell you to leave?"
Luo Yang shook her head vigorously, covering her mouth and shrinking into a corner, terrified that Sheng Lengshuang would attack her again.
Sheng Lengshuang didn't have time to deal with Luo Yang at the moment. After having the hidden guards draw a portrait of the veiled man, another hidden guard delivered the portrait to Mo Lingxi.
She squatted in front of the veiled man, her smile not reaching her eyes. "I assume you know my methods. I don't have much patience, so you'd better confess honestly."
The veiled man turned his head away, gritting his teeth and refusing to say a word. If he had known Sheng Lengshuang would return, he would never have appeared before Luo Yang.
This Sheng Lengshuang was truly insidious and malicious.
"Stubborn, that's good." Sheng Lengshuang signaled for the hidden guards to handle him.
The hidden guards sealed the veiled man's mute acupoint, dragged him aside, and employed a special form of torture.
Sheng Lengshuang saw that the veiled man had no visible wounds, yet he was in such agony that the veins on his face bulged, wishing he could die immediately. She tutted, truly worthy of a hidden guard, look at their methods.
Approximately fifteen minutes later.
The veiled man, who wished he were dead, was dragged before Sheng Lengshuang. She kicked him. "Still unwilling to speak?"
Even at this point, the veiled man refused to utter a single word.
Sheng Lengshuang was not in a hurry at all. She sat on a stool with a smile. "Have you heard of 'Tie Jia Guan'?"
Seeing the veiled man tremble, her smile deepened. "It seems you know about Tie Jia Guan, so this will be much easier."
"Come, give our esteemed guest a good session of Tie Jia Guan. Make him feel right at home."
The hidden guards immediately prepared the items needed for Tie Jia Guan and tied the veiled man to a long bench.
Sheng Lengshuang glanced at the trembling Luo Yang, her eyes curving into a smile as she looked at the veiled man. "You still have a chance."
The veiled man clenched his fists tightly.
But his constantly trembling body betrayed his inner fear.
Sheng Lengshuang snapped her fingers.
The hidden guards then stuck a piece of mulberry paper onto the veiled man's face and sprayed it with strong liquor.
In the blink of an eye, the mulberry paper became moist and quickly adhered tightly to the veiled man's face.