Right now, Qu Qiuyan could only see those gruesome eyes and feel the overwhelming pressure from this man.

“The Third Lady of the Qu Family is such a unique person,” Pei Yuanjun chuckled and said slowly.

Pei Yusheng’s face turned red in embarrassment as he glared at Qu Qiuyan’s flustered face, showing a trace of rage in his eyes. Qu Qiuyan had always been well-mannered and confident, but he couldn’t believe with only one glance at his uncle Lord Yun, she directly bent her whole body on the ground. Compared to the other two who were just kneeling, Qu Qiuyan totally made him lose his face and embarrassed him.

Could a girl like her be qualified for the position of his second wife or even concubine?

Pei Yusheng felt more annoyed toward Qu Qiuyan.

“Enjoy your time here. I have to go first.” Pei Yuanjun stood up, knocked the stone table with his finger, and looked at the three ladies kneeling on the ground. “I don’t have patience for timid women. Fourth Lady Qu, you seem to be a brave one. You can walk me out, and I want to hear about your mother’s story on the way,” said Pei Yuanjun as he started to walk out gracefully.

Pei Yusheng hurriedly stood up and bowed to him.

Qu Moying hesitated for a second and followed him downstairs.

As they walked away from the pavilion, Qu Moying raised her eyes and stared at Pei Yuanjun, who crossed his hands behind his back and walked in front of her, feeling confused.

In silence, the two of them walked farther into the forest. The two servants following them, Ji Hai and Yu Dong, kept communicating using hand gestures but didn’t dare to make any sound.

Finally, Pei Yuanjun stopped walking. Qu Moying stood three steps away from him. As she looked around, she uttered a quiet sound of exclamation.

Some peach trees close to her were blooming beautifully here. But the color of the flowers was light purple instead of light pink, seeming very unusual.

“This… This place is the purple peach forest?” Qu Moying turned around and noticed all the trees around her had light purple flowers. She had been deep in her thoughts all the way here and didn’t realize she entered a yard where these rare peach trees were planted.

She heard about purple peach flowers in the Dabei Temple long ago but never had the chance to see them in person. She asked the Crown Prince about it several times before, but he always gave her an ambiguous answer. Now she understood it – the purple peach trees indeed existed, but they all belonged to Pei Yuanjun, so ordinary people couldn’t enter this space, not even the Crown Prince.

Then she took a quick observation of the surroundings. This should be the backyard of Pei Yuanjun’s mansion in the temple. She entered his place through the front gate in the darkness last night and couldn’t have a clear view of it. Now she realized how spacious his mansion was, so was this purple peach forest.

“How do you think of this place?” Pei Yuanjun suddenly chuckled, looking pleased.

“These purple peach flowers are very different from the usual ones. They are stunning,” Qu Moying nodded at him, but she still couldn’t figure out why Pei Yuanjun brought her here.

Purely for showing her the beautiful flowers?

Was Lord Yun that type of person? Of course not!

Her heart suddenly missed a beat as her eyes glanced over these trees. All the trees here looked thick and sturdy. Someone must’ve taken good care of them. “Where did you get these purple peach trees, my lord?”

“It’s a foreign breed, hard to cultivate. These trees need to be fed with human blood, but luckily, it is easy for me,” Pei Yuanjun said slowly. He glanced at Qu Moying, who lowered her head to look at the roots, and found her very interesting.

Hearing his words, Qu Moying felt something cold and blood-thirsty had quietly flashed across his heart.

Qu Moying clenched her fists to suppress her fear, “That’s a good joke, my lord.”

“It’s not a joke. Didn’t you hear from other people that I am surrounded by countless evil spirits? For everyone I kill, I shatter their bones into pieces and trap their souls forever with me.” Pei Yuanjun leaned on the peach trees lazily. His alluring downturned eyes matched well with these unusually beautiful flowers.

It was supposed to be a pleasing view, but somehow it exuded an aura of gruesomeness.

The space fell into silence. A rotten, blood-like smell was lingering in the air, along with the sweet fragrance from the peach flowers.

His gloomy eyes stared at her with a cold look that only a dead person had.

Even a man who fought on the battlefield would be scared by those ruthless eyes and lost all the strength in his limbs.

Qu Moying raised her head and curled her lips into a faint smile, with the usual calm look she always wore. “My lord, spirits are not scary. The scariest thing in the world has always been people’s mind.”

Were spirits scary?

She had no fear for them at all because she was actually one of them. But she never intended to harm anyone except for taking her revenge for herself and her loved ones.

Compared to spirits, people’s minds were the most frightening things. She was so blind in her past life and deceived by the people around her. She gave out her love but got such a miserable ending in return.

“My lord, people’s minds are the scariest things in the world,” Qu Moying repeated as she looked straight into Pei Yuanjun’s beautiful but gruesome eyes.

Pei Yuanjun suddenly gave her a sophisticated smile. He reached out to pick a branch where flowers were blooming beautifully and passed it to her, “Good point. Take this as a gift from me.”

The overwhelming pressure from Lord Yun faded away. Ji Hai, who was standing aside, wiped off the sweat on his forehead and put on a bright smile with his eyes squinted. He knew Lord Yun’s temper the best. He had never seen his master send any gift to a woman, let alone flowers from this place. Lord Yun’s gift meant something totally different than what he said to scare Fourth Lady Qu just now.

Purple flowers… Special place… Ji Hai knew things were not as simple as Lord Yun said.

“Thank you, my lord!” Qu Moying took the branch and curtsied to Lord Yun…

Qu Qiuyan couldn’t relax until Lord Yun left, but her whole body still felt weak. With Qu Xuexin and Qu Caiyue’s help, she struggled up and sat down beside the rail of the pavilion.

“Will Moying be alright?” Qu Xuexin felt worried and flustered, watching Qu Moying leaving with Pei Yuanjun.

No one would suspect there was something between Pei Yuanjun and Qu Moying. People would only imagine the worst scene when Qu Moying’s neck was broken by Pei Yuanjun, and the poor girl died under a peach tree.

“It has nothing to do with us… She left by herself… We… we can just tell Grandmother… the truth if she asks later,” hearing Qu Xuexin’s words, Qu Qiuyan rolled her eyes and said in rage.

Her face was pale, with her voice still trembling.

Qu Moying acted so calmly just now while she was so scared that she forgot everything about manners. Qu Qiuyan knew she lost her face in front of Lord Jing, and once again, she blamed it on Qu Moying.

If Qu Moying didn’t stand there just now, she wouldn’t be so embarrassed right now.

Qu Qiuyan tried her best to calm herself down and looked at Lord Jing. However, he pulled a long face as his eyes darkened. There was no trace of affection as usual, which made her flustered. She straightened up immediately, “My lord.”

“Third Lady Qu, please leave first. I’m alone here. If anyone sees us together, it will be bad for both our names,” Pei Yusheng said in a flat tone.

“My lord…” Qu Qiuyan’s face became paler. She didn’t expect Pei Yusheng to embarrass her in front of her two elder sisters.

It was not the first time that they had hung out in private. With so many people enjoying the view around, no one would say anything about them. Even if they did, Qu Qiuyan didn’t care. She would marry Lord Jing anyway, and he didn’t even say anything about people seeing them standing together in her family’s mansion.

Why did he change his attitude now?

“Third Lady Qu, please!” Pei Yusheng said impatiently. We were sitting on the second floor of this pavilion, higher than everyone else in the forest. We could see other guests clearly, and the guest could also see us. Now Lord Jing was concerned about Lady Liu the most, fearing that she would know about it. Even if she couldn’t see them herself with her eye problem, people around her might still tell her. He thought of the pretty maid he met yesterday, who looked like a smart one.

He couldn’t allow Qu Qiuyan to ruin his big plan.

If someone saw Pei Yuanjun with a woman, they wouldn’t suspect anything. However, he was Lord Jing, not Pei Yuanjun. He was at the crucial moment of picking his wife candidate. He had been careless about it before, but he had to reconsider it carefully now. He must find himself some valuable support that could help him win the throne.

“Third Lady Qu, let me walk you out. This way, please,” the young eunuch next to Pei Yusheng said beamingly to Qu Qiuyan and pointed at the stairs.

No matter how polite he acted, it couldn’t hide the truth of them being driven away by Lord Jing.

Qu Qiuyan’s face turned red in embarrassment as tears rolled in her eyes. She flew into a rage, suddenly stood up, and curtsied to Pei Yusheng, “Excuse me, my lord.”

Then she covered her face and walked down while crying.

Qu Caiyue and Qu Xuexin looked at each other, curtsied to Pei Yusheng reluctantly, and went to catch up with Qu Qiuyan.

This scene was witnessed by many people who had been paying close attention to this special pavilion. Some people showed a complacent smile; some showed disdain on their faces; some didn’t even bother to hold back their laughter. Even if Lord Jing was interested in Third Lady Qu, everyone knew that he would never marry her as his first wife. She was the only one who held an unrealistic ambition, forgetting her own identity and the stains that could never be erased from her name.

If Yu didn’t marry Vice Minister Qu as his concubine, Qu Qiuyan was just an illegitimate daughter. Even though she eventually became a wife’s daughter, she would still carry the stains on her name forever. Her life was like a white piece of clothes dirtied by mud. In those high-born ladies’ eyes, Qu Qiuyan was just nothing.

After the young eunuch walked them downstairs, he stood aside as Qu Qiuyan rushed away, crying. Qu Caiyue and Qu Xuexin hurriedly followed her.

“Qiuyan, wait for us.”

After striding for a while, Qu Qiuyan stopped under a peach tree and kept sobbing.

Qu Xuexin walked up to her, grabbed her hand, and comforted her gently, “Qiuyan, Lord Jing might be worried about your name because the pavilion is built high, and everyone can see us clearly. I think he must’ve done it for your sake.”

Her words reminded Qu Qiuyan. She stopped crying at once and raised her teary eyes, “First Sister, do you really think this is his reason for doing that?”

“Of course. That day in our mansion, people who saw you two together were all guests who had a good relationship with our family, so they won’t speak ill of you. But there are many guests in the temple, and he can’t guarantee what they will say about you two. For example, noble ladies like County Lady Jingyu…” Qu Xuexin’s voice became lower.