Gu Moran pushed the glass cup under the lamp.
The wine at the bottom of the glass was darker, clinging to the glass wall, and the bitter almond flavor wafted out from the crack, mixed with the dampness of the old warehouse, making one's tongue tingle.
He poked the rim of the cup with a blade of grass and said no more.
"If I'm not mistaken, you should drink the wine from the straw first."
Tao Wujiu drank from the bottom of the cup.
"The venom is viscous and heavy, it's down there."
He looked up at Su Tan.
Su Tan was wrapped in an old blanket, her shoulders hunched over.
Gu Moran the straw stalks across the lamp.
So you were only lightly poisoned and didn't die.
Su Tan remained silent.
The dripping sound in the wine cellar was clear, one drop after another, hitting the cracks in the old bricks.
Gu Moran bent down and pointed to her lips.
"You mean all the girls in this building drink like this, so they don't rub off their lipstick?"
"But you're about to die for love, how can you still care about lip rouge?"
Liu Ruyan closed her eyes.
Madam Chun's face darkened, and she took half a step forward, the hem of her skirt sweeping across the water on the ground.
" Su Tan, what are you hiding?"
"If you don't speak up, no one can protect you."
Su Tan's lips trembled slightly.
Gu Moran tossed the straw back onto the table.
The straw rolled to the edge of the glass.
Su Tan shrank even tighter.
Gu Moran leaned down to look at her.
Tao Wujiu did not commit suicide with you.
You tricked him into drinking the poisoned wine.
"Pretend to commit suicide for love."
Su Tan's tears fell and landed on the blanket.
Liu Ruyan stood up, her skirt brushing against the edge of the old carpet.
Who told you to do that?
Su Tan lowered her head and did not answer.
The Second Prince's Residence is searching for Tao Wujiu.
The Imperial City Bureau is also searching for Tao Wujiu.
The boss's order was that upon seeing that person, he must kill him.
But she didn't know whether the big boss would protect her or silence her.
Gu Moran picked up a damp cloth and covered the broken pill on the table.
Grayish-red water stains seeped along the edge of the cloth, partially masking the fishy, bitter smell of the medicine.
Let me rephrase my question.
He looked at Su Tan.
What did Tao Wujiu say before he died?
What's going on with Dan?
Su Tan's throat moved, and tears hung on her chin, but did not fall.
Liu Ruyan took a step forward.
This time, Gu Moran didn't stop her.
She knelt down in front of Su Tan and reached out to wipe away her tears.
The movements were light, but the words were chilling.
" Su Tan."
"Many people will be implicated this time. Even if we help you destroy the evidence, you will still be arrested and tortured."
"At that point, it would be better to die a quick and painless death by drinking poison."
"We want to help you, but you have to tell the truth."
Su Tan gripped the edge of the blanket, her fingertips sinking into the soft fibers.
Gu Moran looked at Madam Chun.
"Keep an eye on the door."
Madam Chun gave the woman in gray a wink.
The woman in gray retreated to the doorway, pressing her ear close to the stone wall.
Gu Moran at Su Tan again.
She held on for a while, then raised her head.
"Since Your Highness has seen through it, please allow me to die, so as not to implicate you."
Gu Moran frowned.
"The King of Hell hasn't even called your name yet, and you're already in such a hurry?"
Why did you kill him?
Su Tan felt a dryness in her throat, and bitterness rose to her head, but she swallowed it back.
"If I said it was for the Flower-Between Pavilion, for Ruyan, would Your Highness believe me?"
Gu Moran looked at her without saying a word.
Su Tan lowered her head.
Tao Wujiu came to the Flower-Between Pavilion with no intention of redeeming me.
"He brought this with him because he knew he couldn't escape the Second Prince's pursuit; he wanted to drag Lou into the police station even if it meant his own death."
Liu Ruyan's fingertips gripped the edge of the wood.
Why did he drag Flower-Between Pavilion?
Su Tan's eyes reddened, but she stubbornly refused to let any more tears fall.
"The Second Prince will not let him off."
" The Imperial City Bureau will also be looking for him."
She paused, her voice lowering.
He said that it was the people from the Flower-Between Pavilion who drove him away back then, almost causing his death.
"As long as the pill bears the hidden patterns of the Flower-Between Pavilion, the Second Prince's Residence will have something to worry about."
She avoided Liu Ruyan's gaze.
He said that Ruyan had already married into the Prince Yi's Residence, Flower-Between Pavilion dared not fail to protect her.
The color drained from Liu Ruyan's face.
Gu Moran asked, "How did the dark patterns get onto the pill?"
Su Tan gritted her teeth.
He pressed it himself.
"He stole a letter wax from the old storehouse, wrapped it in peony bark, and then imprinted a hidden pattern inside."
He said that if he were to be silenced by the Second Prince's Residence, this pill would prove that Flower-Between Pavilion had adulterated the pills.
"If the Imperial City Bureau finds out first, Flower-Between Pavilion won't be able to clear its name either. It would be a way of avenging the fact that I almost died because of the Flower-Between Pavilion back then."
Madam Chun was so angry that she raised her hand, but then pulled it back into her sleeve halfway.
"Stupid thing."
Su Tan stared at the table.
He also said that as long as Ruyan didn't want to implicate Prince Yi, Flower-Between Pavilion would have to hide him.
Liu Ruyan asked, "So, you tricked him into drinking poison?"
This time, Su Tan looked at her and didn't look away.
I gave him a way out.
"I told him to leave his things behind and walk out through the old canal."
"I will beg Madam Chun to spare his life."
Her throat felt like it was blocked with sand, and she spoke very slowly for the second half of her sentence.
"But he said, if your life is in someone else's hands, then it's not really your life."
He said that only if he had the backing of the Flower-Between Pavilion would no one dare to touch him.
Therefore, he cannot live.
Liu Ruyan's fingertips tucked into the cloak, wringing the fabric into deep creases.
And what about you?
Do you want to live?
Su Tan's tears fell again.
She raised her hand to wipe it away, her hand still trembling.
"Think."
I want to live.
I don't want to die with him.
She looked at Liu Ruyan, her eyes red from staying up all night.
"But you've finally gotten a better life, I can't let you be dragged back down by the filth in the building."
"So I killed him."
"The cinnabar mark is an old design from the Flower-Between Pavilion, Tao Wujiu was unaware of. Even if it's investigated, it could be said that the Second Prince framed Flower-Between Pavilion."
Gu Moran continued the conversation.
"That's all? What was it that you told Tao Wujiu to leave behind?"
Su Tan touched her hair bun.
The hairpin head is plain, but the hairpin tail is half a circle thicker than an ordinary silver hairpin.
She looked up again.
"If Your Highness gets the item, will you really let me live?"
Gu Moran looked at Liu Ruyan.
Liu Ruyan's voice was very soft.
"Hand it over."
We will do our best to protect you.
Su Tan lowered her head.
He pulled the silver hairpin from his hair.
Her hair came undone, and wet strands fell onto her shoulders.
She unscrewed the end of the hairpin.
A wax pellet rolled out and landed on the table.
The sound was very soft.
But Madam Chun's face changed.
Two short and one long tapping sounds came from outside.
Madam Chun turned around.
The woman in gray twitched her ears and spoke from the doorway.
"Mom, I heard you."
"From the Second Prince's Residence."
"And the Imperial City Bureau are also heading towards the underground channel; they'll arrive at the old warehouse in about fifteen minutes."
"Pay close attention."
Gu Moran looked at Madam Chun.
Are there any underground channels near the old warehouse that can be washed away by water?
Madam Chun lifted her eyelids.
"Have."
"It can move corpses, and it can move people too."
Gu Moran picked up the wax pill.
"The most urgent task is to kill Su Tan again."
Madam Chun's expression changed several times.
"Your Highness, how can you die after saying that?"
Gu Moran said, "Get her a change of clothes."
"The broken Su Tan hairpin, along with the vomit, was sent to the hidden drain beside the old warehouse."
The official version of events is that Tao Wujiu and Su Tan drank poisoned wine together.
Tao Wujiu died in the old warehouse.
" Su Tan woke up halfway and regretted it. She escaped, but the poison took effect halfway, and she fell into a ditch. Her body was washed away by the water, and her clothes that she had changed out of were thrown into the ditch."