Heavy military boots crushed the thin layer of snow.
The cold clatter of scabbards mixed with Qin Yan’s shrill, pitiful sobs, crashing into this forgotten corner like a hailstorm.
“Governor! You have to seek justice for Yan’er! That jade hairpin was a token of your affection, specially brought back from the South Seas for me… I kept it in my jewelry box every single day, unwilling to wear it because I treasured it so much. How… how could it suddenly disappear?”
Qin Yan wept so beautifully that she resembled a pear blossom bathed in rain.
Wrapped in a luxurious purple sable cloak, she nearly clung to Xu Feng’s arm. Her carefully painted face was filled with grievance and panic, but deep within her eyes, a flash of vicious satisfaction flickered like the tip of a poisoned needle before vanishing.
Xu Feng’s imposing figure blocked the courtyard entrance.
He wore a dark green military uniform, the insignia on his shoulders gleaming coldly.
His face was ashen.
His hawk-like eyes churned with fury at being disturbed and unmistakable irritation.
The heavy scent of alcohol mixed with the overpowering perfume surrounding Qin Yan, making his already frayed nerves pound violently.
With open disgust, he swept his gaze across the dilapidated courtyard before finally fixing it upon Qin Shu’s pale, composed face.
As though he were looking at an offensive stain.
“Search.”
Xu Feng’s voice was not loud.
Yet it was as sharp and cold as a blade of ice, carrying unquestionable authority.
“Yes, sir!”
Several soldiers charged into the cramped room like wolves.
They overturned the battered cabinets.
They ripped apart the thin bedding.
They kicked over the pile of firewood stacked in the corner.
Dust filled the air.
Splinters scattered everywhere.
Floating Cloud trembled with fury.
She tried to rush forward to stop them, only to be frozen in place by a single cold, unwavering glance from Qin Shu.
Qin Shu simply stood there.
Her faded gray-blue jacket appeared even thinner amid the soldiers’ brutality.
Her back remained perfectly straight.
Her dark brown eyes resembled frozen pools.
No ripples disturbed their surface.
Only the faint flame burning silently within their depths remained.
“Governor! Look!”
One of the soldiers suddenly reached into the pile of broken baskets and scattered junk beside the wall.
He pulled out a dazzling flash of gold.
It was the gold filigree hairpin adorned with gleaming jade.
Within the bleak surroundings of the Side Courtyard, its luxurious beauty appeared almost like a malicious mockery.
“Ah! My hairpin!”
Qin Yan let out an exaggerated scream.
Breaking free from Xu Feng’s arm, she rushed forward and snatched the hairpin into her hands, clutching it tightly against her chest.
Her tears flowed even harder.
Her voice trembled with sobs, yet every word struck like a knife.
“Elder Sister! Qin Shu! I treated you with nothing but kindness! I pitied you for being imprisoned in this freezing courtyard, so I even asked Cui Xi to bring you nourishing soup! Yet… you actually stooped this low! You stole from me! Have you no shame at all?”
She pointed accusingly at Qin Shu.
Her crimson-painted fingers trembled violently.
Xu Feng’s gaze instantly locked onto Qin Shu’s face.
His eyes were cold and razor-sharp.
Filled with contempt, as though examining a piece of garbage.
And beneath that contempt…
Burned unrestrained fury.
The danger outside the study.
The pressure of the “heavy goods” at the docks.
The inexplicable irritation lingering from his drunkenness.
All of it had finally found the perfect outlet.
This bitch.
The discarded wife he had despised for five years.
The woman he had treated as worthless.
She had actually dared to steal within his own residence.
And what she had stolen was something he himself had given to his newest favorite.
It was an open challenge to his authority.
The greatest possible humiliation.
“Bitch!”
Xu Feng’s voice rolled like distant thunder, every syllable carrying terrifying violence.
“Five years of imprisonment still haven’t beaten the filth out of your bones! Stealing like a common thief! You’ve brought disgrace upon my Governor’s Mansion!”
He suddenly waved his arm and pointed directly at Qin Shu.
The movement carried overwhelming force.
“Drag her outside!”
“Twenty lashes!”
“Teach her a lesson she’ll never forget!”
“Governor! Please don’t!”
Floating Cloud nearly lost her soul.
With a desperate scream, she threw herself in front of Qin Shu, spreading both arms to shield her.
“It wasn’t Madam! They framed her! Cui Xi hid it there herself just now! Young Miss didn’t know anything!”
Her reddened eyes glared fiercely at Qin Yan and Cui Xi like a small animal driven into a corner.
“How dare you!”
Cui Xi immediately shrieked.
“You lowly servant! How dare you slander your mistress? The hairpin was found right here in your filthy courtyard! The evidence is undeniable! And you still dare argue?”
“Pull her away!”
Xu Feng never even looked at Floating Cloud.
His eyes remained fixed upon Qin Shu’s infuriatingly calm face.
His anger only grew stronger.
This woman…
Couldn’t even beg for mercy?
Or did she simply disdain doing so?
Two soldiers immediately stepped forward.
Grabbing Floating Cloud’s slender arms, they dragged her away as though hauling a sack of grain.
Floating Cloud struggled desperately.
Her fingernails tore bloody scratches into the soldiers’ rough uniforms.
“Let me go! It wasn’t Madam! You’re framing her! Let me go!”
Qin Shu’s body swayed almost imperceptibly.
Watching Floating Cloud being dragged away…
Hearing her cries…
Seeing the bruises that had yet to fade from her face…
A freezing pain, carrying the taste of blood, seized Qin Shu’s heart.
It hurt far more than the burn on her hand.
Far more than every humiliation she had ever suffered.
Within her dark brown eyes…
There was only Qin Yan’s venomous face…
And Xu Feng’s cruel, violent expression.
Another soldier stepped into the center of the courtyard carrying a thick leather whip that had been soaked in water.
The whip was black and glossy.
Its barbs glinted beneath the bleak winter sky with terrifying coldness.
He flicked it once.
The sharp crack split the air.
The soldiers shoved Qin Shu roughly forward.
She stumbled before coming to a stop in the center of the frozen courtyard.
The wind swept snow across the ground, lashing against her thin gray-blue jacket.
She did not look at the executioner.
Nor did she look at the enraged Xu Feng.
Instead…
She stared directly at Qin Yan.
Her gaze pierced through flesh and bone.
Filled with hatred deep enough to condemn a soul.
Qin Yan shivered involuntarily beneath that stare.
She instinctively stepped backward half a pace and raised a silk fan to hide half her face.
Only her eyes remained visible.
Within them lingered triumph…
And the faintest trace of fear.
“Carry out the sentence!”
Wang Zhenbiao barked.
The soldier lifted the whip high overhead.
The muscles in his arm bulged.
The black leather arced through the air with a piercing shriek before crashing toward Qin Shu’s slender back.
Just as the whip was about to strike her faded jacket—
“Young Miss—!”
A scream so desperate that it cracked echoed through the courtyard.
Floating Cloud, who had been firmly restrained by the soldiers, somehow erupted with astonishing strength.
She violently broke free.
Like a bolt of lightning driven by sheer determination, she threw herself toward Qin Shu without the slightest hesitation.
Smack!
The heavy sound of leather tearing flesh echoed through the courtyard with horrifying force.
The whip never landed upon Qin Shu.
Instead…
It struck Floating Cloud’s frail back with full force.
Her body lurched violently forward like a kite with its string severed.
She crashed directly into Qin Shu.
The tremendous impact forced Qin Shu to stagger backward several steps before barely managing to remain standing.
Floating Cloud wrapped both arms tightly around Qin Shu’s waist.
Her body convulsed violently.
A muffled groan escaped her throat, so suppressed that it barely sounded human.
The back of her faded jacket instantly split open.
Beneath the torn fabric, flesh swelled and burst apart before their eyes.
Bright red blood immediately seeped through, staining the shredded cloth.
“Floating Cloud!”
Qin Shu cried out hoarsely.
For the first time…
Cracks appeared in her icy voice.
She instinctively held the trembling girl tightly.
Her fingers touched the rapidly spreading warmth and stickiness across Floating Cloud’s back.
Floating Cloud buried her head weakly against Qin Shu’s shoulder.
Her body trembled uncontrollably.
Every breath she drew carried unbearable agony.
Yet she clenched her teeth and refused to make another sound.
Blood slowly trickled from the corner of her pale lips.
It dripped onto Qin Shu’s gray-blue jacket, blooming into dark crimson stains.
Silence descended upon the courtyard.
Even the soldier carrying out the punishment froze momentarily.
Still gripping the whip, he looked uncertainly toward Xu Feng.
Qin Yan was equally stunned.
She even forgot to continue crying.
Shock flashed across her face before transforming into even deeper resentment.
That wretched maid!
She had actually ruined everything!
Xu Feng’s expression darkened until it seemed capable of dripping water.
He stared at the two women embracing one another.
He saw the blood staining Qin Shu’s jacket.
He saw the gruesome wound across Floating Cloud’s back.
An overwhelming surge of fury at being defied mixed with an indescribable irritation exploded inside him.
That worthless servant…
She actually dared shield her mistress from punishment?
“Continue!”
Xu Feng’s voice struck the ground like falling ice.
It carried enough violence to destroy everything before it.
“Master and servant are no different.”
“They’re snakes from the same nest.”
“Beat them both!”
“Don’t stop until they remember this lesson!”
Receiving the order, the soldier’s eyes gleamed viciously.
He raised the whip high once more.
Again and again…
The heavy lash descended like the beating of a funeral drum.
Every strike landed squarely upon Floating Cloud’s back as she desperately shielded Qin Shu.
Each blow tore flesh apart.
Each strike ripped fabric to shreds.
Floating Cloud’s body convulsed violently beneath every lash.
Blood quickly soaked her entire back.
It streamed through her ruined clothing and dripped onto the filthy snow below, blooming into flower after flower of brilliant crimson.
She bit tightly into Qin Shu’s shoulder.
Her teeth chattered uncontrollably.
Broken whimpers escaped her throat.
Yet not once did she loosen her embrace.
Held tightly within Floating Cloud’s arms, Qin Shu could not move.
She could only feel the violent trembling of the body in her embrace every time the whip fell.
She could feel the warm blood…
Still filled with life…
Rapidly soaking through her own jacket until it clung wetly against her skin.
Every lash…
Struck directly across her heart.
Xu Feng’s cruelty.
Qin Yan’s malice.
The soldiers’ brutality.
Floating Cloud’s burning blood.
Every sight.
Every sound.
Collided violently within her mind.
Her dark brown pupils contracted to their smallest point.
The tiny flame that had long burned within them suddenly exploded.
It swallowed every trace of calm.
Every shred of restraint.
Hatred surged like molten lava erupting from a volcano.
Carrying enough heat to destroy everything.
It smashed through the final dam called endurance.
She suddenly raised her head.
Her gaze became a poisoned arrow.
Piercing through the chaotic crowd.
Filled with hatred carved into her very bones.
It nailed itself onto Xu Feng’s cold, ruthless face.
The soldier lifted the whip once more.
Qin Shu held Floating Cloud’s violently trembling body.
The scorching blood burning against her fingertips.
She slowly lowered her head.
Her gaze settled upon her own left hand, now completely stained with Floating Cloud’s blood.
That hand remained firmly pressed against Floating Cloud’s ruined back, desperately trying to shield her from the devastating pain.
The whip whistled downward once again.
Qin Shu neither closed her eyes…
Nor looked at Xu Feng again.
She simply tightened her embrace around the barely conscious Floating Cloud.
She drew Floating Cloud’s head deeper into the shelter of her neck.
Then…
She slowly raised her blood-soaked left hand.
Her fingers spread wide.
Her palm faced upward.
Reaching directly toward the descending whip…
Toward death itself.
The shrill scream of the whip splitting the air pierced painfully into everyone’s ears.