Qin Ruoyan scoffed: "We in the Southern Frontier have very ingenious methods for finding people, unlike you Qingyan, who search so clumsily!"
"Are you talking about letting snakes find people by their scent?" Nangong Xiao's lips curled slightly as he looked at Qin Ruoyan with a half-smile.
"How did you know?" Qin Ruoyan was shocked. Only the people of Southern Xinjiang knew this method of finding people, and she had never mentioned it to anyone.
"You have snakes on you and you smell terrible, just think about it!" Nangong Xiao picked up a leather whip and lashed it out. With a crisp crack, the whip drew a beautiful arc in the air and struck the table next to Qin Ruoyan hard. The sturdy chair was smashed into pieces and scattered all over the floor.
Qin Ruoyan gritted her teeth and glared at him hatefully: "Nangong Xiao!"
Nangong Xiao ignored it, looking at the whip and praising it repeatedly: "Not bad, not bad, the whip is hard enough. Last time it was an experiment, this time it will be used on you!"
"You even hit women, are you even a man?" Qin Ruoyan glared at Nangong Xiao, her eyes blazing with anger.
Nangong Xiao raised an eyebrow: "You even dare to force yourself on men, are you even a woman?"
"Nangong Xiao!" Qin Ruoyan gritted her teeth, glaring hatefully at the whip.
"Qin Ruoyan, get ready, the whip is here!" Nangong Xiao smiled mysteriously, flicked his wrist, and the crisp sound was particularly loud in the silent water prison.
Qin Ruoyan trembled and closed her eyes. The expected pain did not come. Suddenly, the heartbeat of a third person could be heard in the unusually silent prison. She was startled and opened her eyes abruptly. A slender figure stood in front of her and caught the leather whip.
"Chen Lixue, what are you doing?" Nangong Xiao frowned, reluctantly withdrawing the whip, his eyes full of displeasure.
Shen Lixue raised an eyebrow: "I have something important to ask her. After I've asked her, I will never interfere with your lecturing again."
"Okay, go ahead and ask!" Nangong Xiao readily agreed, giving Qin Ruoyan a defiant glare before walking out the small door to the outer room for tea.
Qin Ruoyan gave Shen Lixue a cold glance: "Stop pretending, I don't need you to save me!"
Shen Lixue curled her lips into a cold smile: "I'm not here to save you, I'm just here to ask you something."
"What is it?" Qin Ruoyan asked casually, not taking Shen Lixue's words to heart.
"Do you know that just now at Xiangguo Temple, someone attempted to assassinate the Emperor? That person's arrows were coated with a deadly poison from the Southern Frontier!" Shen Lixue said, carefully observing Qin Ruoyan's reaction as she spoke each word.
"This is impossible!" Qin Ruoyan exclaimed, her beautiful eyes filled with shock. Only the people of Southern Xinjiang possessed the deadly poison. She and Qin Junhao never imagined assassinating the emperor. She glared at Shen Lixue hatefully: "Are you lying to me?"
"It's fine if you don't believe me." Shen Lixue waved her hand casually, "It is said that the people of your Southern Border royal family can use snakes to communicate with each other. Why don't you use a snake to ask your royal brother what his current situation is!"
Qin Ruoyan was skeptical, so she closed her eyes slightly, and a golden light shot out from her body.
Nangong Xiao was taken aback: "She has a venomous snake hidden on her body!" Fortunately, he hadn't impulsively whipped her just now, otherwise, he would definitely have fallen into her trap and been bitten by the venomous snake. What a cunning and treacherous ugly monster.
A moment later, the golden snake returned. Qin Ruoyan opened her eyes, staring at the letter the snake had brought, her eyes filled with shock. She murmured, "How could this be!"
Shen Lixue's eyes narrowed: "If the assassin wasn't sent by you, then it must be someone else. However, there are very few people from the Southern Frontier in the capital. Any smart person would suspect you!"
"Someone must be framing us!" Qin Ruoyan gritted her teeth, her small face contorted with anger, looking particularly ferocious in the dark water dungeon.
Shen Lixue raised an eyebrow: "The deadly poison of the Southern Frontier is right there. It's no use saying it was a frame-up. The Emperor has already returned to the palace. If nothing unexpected happens, he should have sent troops to the post station to arrest you and your brother..."
"Qin Ruoyan, it seems your royal brother can't use snakes to smell the stench and save people!" Nangong Xiao leaned against the doorway, holding a teacup, looking at Qin Ruoyan with a half-smile.
"Damn it, who is framing us!" Qin Ruoyan's eyes burned with rage, wishing she could burn the enemy to ashes.
Shen Lixue smiled, realizing the assassin wasn't sent by Qin Ruoyan after all: "Nangong Xiao, I've finished asking you questions, you can continue!" With that, she slowly walked towards the door, having told Qin Ruoyan the truth. She had achieved half of her goal.
"Alright!" Nangong Xiao put down his teacup, picked up his whip, and walked over. He looked Qin Ruoyan up and down, as if considering where to start whipping her.
"Shen Lixue, help me find the mastermind behind my framing, and I'll grant you anything!" Seeing Shen Lixue about to leave, Qin Ruoyan snapped out of her daze and called out urgently. Qin Junhao had been arrested, and she was imprisoned, so there was no way for them to clear their names. The Qingyan Emperor was a ruthless man who was not afraid of the Southern Frontier. If they did not find out the truth as soon as possible, they would definitely be regarded as the mastermind and beheaded.
Shen Lixue stopped and turned to look at Qin Ruoyan, feigning difficulty: "Qingyan is so big, finding the murderer is like looking for a needle in a haystack. How do you expect me to find him?"
"Shen Lixue, stop being so modest! I know you're incredibly capable!" Qin Ruoyan frowned angrily, cursing the person who framed them a thousand times over: "If you help clear my brother and me of suspicion, I can grant you anything!"
"Really?" Shen Lixue raised her eyebrows slightly, seemingly a little skeptical.
"I swear by the gods of the Southern Frontier that if I break this oath, may I be struck by lightning and die a horrible death!" Qin Ruoyan solemnly swore, enunciating each word clearly.
Shen Lixue smiled and said, "I will do my best!" By getting Qin Ruoyan to stand on the same side as her and jointly oppose the real mastermind, she had completely achieved her goal.
"Shen Lixue, do you already know who the mastermind is?" After leaving the water dungeon, Nangong Xiao walked behind Shen Lixue, constantly asking her questions.
Shen Lixue shook her head: "I have some clues, but I'm not entirely sure!" She wouldn't make things up without evidence.
"Whom do you suspect?" Since asking directly wouldn't get the truth, Nangong Xiao changed the subject.
"At Xiangguo Temple, you witnessed the assassination firsthand. Didn't anyone suspect anything?" Shen Lixue asked Nangong Xiao, seemingly changing the subject.
Nangong Xiao narrowed his eyes, connecting the events at Xiangguo Temple, and pondered carefully: "You mean..."
A guard appeared out of nowhere and respectfully reported, "Your Highness, I followed Lei Yarong into an elegant courtyard. There was a middle-aged man in the courtyard who seemed to know Lei Yarong very well..."
"Really?" Shen Lixue narrowed her eyes slightly. "Do you know the man's identity?"
"We don't know yet, but I've drawn a portrait of the man and am about to go and find out!" The guard handed over a piece of paper.
Shen Lixue quickly opened the painting, and Nangong Xiao's gaze also came over. Looking at the man's face in the painting, Shen Lixue frowned. This man looked so familiar, as if she had seen him somewhere before.
"It's him!" Nangong Xiao's charming eyes were filled with shock, which then turned into deep mockery.
"You know him?" Shen Lixue frowned.
Nangong Xiao chuckled: "Not only do I recognize him, you do too. Take a closer look and see who this man looks like!"
Shen Lixue's cool gaze returned to the painting, carefully examining the man's jet-black hair, full forehead, bright eyes, straight nose, thick ears, lips that were neither too thin nor too thick, and the entire outline of the man's face.
His eyes suddenly lit up: "It's Shen Yelei!" This man's face was a huge version of Shen Yelei, or you could say that Shen Yelei was a miniature version of this man.