“Creak—”
The rusty prison door was pushed open, letting out a piercing screech. Fresh air rushed into the cramped cell, dispersing the stench of blood and dampness.
Lying on the ground, Mu Nanyin recoiled violently into a corner at the sound.
Both of her hands had been severed at the wrists and crudely wrapped in straw. It had barely stopped the bleeding, and the wounds had long since festered, teeming with maggots that were relentlessly gnawing at the rotting flesh.
“Nanyin, for the sake of the years of affection between us, I have come to see you off on your final journey.” The visitor stood before her, looking down from his high and mighty position.
Mu Nanyin felt as if she had heard the world’s greatest joke. “Affection? Is affection you and Mu Bailian rolling in the sheets on my wedding night? Is affection you severing my wrists and throwing me into this dungeon just because I scratched her skin?”
Without even looking up, she spat fiercely at those bright yellow boots embroidered with gold thread. “Pah! Get out! You make me sick!”
A flicker of annoyance flashed across Shen Sichen’s face. “Since you are so ungrateful, do not blame me for being unkind. Xiao Lizi, bring it forth.”
He waved his hand behind him, and the young eunuch following him immediately stepped forward with a tray.
On the tray lay a dagger, a length of white silk, and a blood-stained box.
“Miss Mu, General Mu and the several madams were executed at noon today. If you depart now, you might still catch up with them. You can keep each other company on the road to the Yellow Springs, so you won’t be lonely in the afterlife.”
Mu Nanyin snapped her head up, staring at the man before her in disbelief, her voice incredibly hoarse.
“At noon… executed?”
“Indeed. I personally supervised the execution.”
Mu Nanyin trembled all over. “Shen Sichen, I severed ties with the General’s Manor long ago and have had no contact with them for years. Why? Why must you be so heartless, insisting on exterminating them all?!”
“Heh, severed ties? If you hadn’t been by my side, would that old fogey Mu Qingyun have stood by me so easily and secretly helped me ascend the throne? But rest assured, in consideration of General Mu’s merit of helping the emperor ascend the throne, and their kindness in raising you, I did not make things difficult for them. I left their bodies intact. However, as for the Seventh Concubine and your father…”
“What happened to Seventh Concubine and Father? Shen Sichen, what did you do to them?!”
Shen Sichen sighed deeply, speaking bone-chilling words with casual indifference.
“It was nothing. That Seventh Concubine of yours was quite stubborn and spoke impertinently to me. So, I bestowed her upon the brothers in the army. I heard from my subordinates that she seemed to be pregnant. The brothers didn’t know how to be gentle when they were doing their business, and blood was spilled everywhere. Unable to bear the humiliation, she took her unborn child and bit her tongue to commit suicide.”
Seventh Concubine was pregnant?
He—he actually bestowed her upon the soldiers?!
Those were a pack of beasts who had been starving for half their lives!
“Shen Sichen… you wouldn’t even spare a child or a pregnant woman! You bastard! Do you have even a shred of humanity left!” Mu Nanyin’s eyes nearly split from rage, her voice rasping beyond recognition.
Shen Sichen savored her breakdown, clicking his tongue in feigned contemplation. “Tsk, like father, like daughter. General Mu’s reaction while watching from the side was exactly the same as yours.”
Father…
“Father… What did you do to him…”
“Him? His bones were too stiff. I had no choice but to bestow the lingchi upon him. I had his lieutenant do it personally, carving the meat from his body slice by slice. It took a full two hours—two hundred and eight cuts. Throughout the entire process, Mu Qingyun didn’t utter a single groan. I truly admire him!”
As Shen Sichen spoke, he tapped the small box on the tray. “Here, I even specifically brought his meat. It’s still warm. Do you want to take one last look?”
With his movements, thick blood continuously seeped from the bottom of the box, silently dripping onto the ground and blooming into flowers of gore.
Mu Nanyin lifted her head trembling, looking toward that small square box amidst a blur of blood-red.
Father…
Ever since she severed ties with him, her father had refused to forgive her. She hadn’t seen him for many years.
In her memory, he was such a tall, rugged man of nearly six feet. How could he possibly fit into such a tiny box?
“AH!!”
Mu Nanyin howled in agony on the ground. Her desperate cries echoed repeatedly in the narrow cage, lingering like a vengeful spirit from hell.
“Shen Sichen, I’m going to kill you! I’m going to kill you!!”
She suddenly struggled up from the ground with frantic strength, lunging desperately at Shen Sichen.
But before she could get close, Shen Sichen wrapped the white silk around her neck and pulled with all his might.
Because of the exertion, the veins on his forehead bulged. The mask of hypocrisy on his face finally cracked bit by bit, revealing the deep-seated malice beneath.
“Cough—cough—”
Deprived of oxygen, Mu Nanyin was strangled to the point of suffocation, her vision turning white.
The aura of death enveloped her completely.
She looked at the demonic man before her in despair. Before dying, her past flashed before her eyes like a revolving lantern.
For him, she had broken with her family, betrayed a prestigious clan of great merit, canceled an arranged marriage from birth, and had her martial arts skills destroyed by assassins.
For him, she had practiced the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, learned the art of schemes and intrigue, and willingly stayed behind the scenes to plan and toil for him, exhausting her heart and soul to help him ascend the throne.
In all these years, she could honestly say she had never once wronged him.
But why… why did he have to treat her so cruelly in the end?
“Wh… why?”
The demon let out a cold laugh. “Why? If I hadn’t set my sights on the power of the General’s Manor behind you, did you think I would spend years dealing with a shameless discarded wife? Mu Nanyin, you didn’t really think you were still some pure and innocent young lady, did you?”
Mu Nanyin’s eyes widened.
A discarded wife?
He called her a discarded wife?
But back then, it was clearly at his suggestion that she pretended to marry another, caused a scene at the wedding, and threatened death on the wedding night to preserve her purity and force the annulment.
It was clearly a play they had staged together, and now…
Now, it had become the source of the crime that led to the execution of the entire Mu family, the humiliation and death of her aunt, the lingchi of her father, and her own tragic death in a dark cell?
Hahahaha, a discarded wife! What a “discarded wife”!
“AH!!”
Hatred surged in her chest. Mu Nanyin found strength from somewhere and lunged forward, tackling him to the ground.
Lacking hands, she used her head to frantically smash against his.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Soon, both their faces were smeared with blood.
“Hiss! You bitch, you’re looking for death!”
Shen Sichen bared his teeth in pain. He pulled a dagger from his robes and drove it deep into her heart.
Mu Nanyin’s struggles ceased instantly. She slumped softly to the ground as blood spread from beneath her, quickly staining the floor like blooming flowers.
The pain throughout her body was numbing; she felt her consciousness fading piece by piece.
“When the rabbits are caught, the hounds are cooked… When the birds are gone, the bow is hidden… Shen Sichen…”
“Shen Sichen…”
Hatred…
She hated him so much…
If there is a next life… if there is a next life…
“Bang—” The cell door was suddenly kicked open. Someone ran through Shen Sichen and Eunuch Li with a sword and gathered Mu Nanyin into his arms from the pool of blood.
She fell into a warm embrace.
Who?
She tried to open her eyes, but her eyelids felt as heavy as lead. She could only manage to tremble and force open a microscopic slit.
A faint light hit the man’s face. As that handsome countenance entered her view, memories that had slept for years in the depths of her mind began to awaken.
Mu Nanyin’s pupils quivered.
It was him?
How could it be him?
The person who came was none other than the man she had humiliated on their wedding day, the “half-day husband” whose marriage she had forced an annulment of by threatening her own life just to be with Shen Sichen—Shen Junlin.
But… wasn’t he already dead?
How could he be here now?
“Yin’er, don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid. I’m here. I’ll take you to a doctor right now.”
Shen Junlin tried to pick her up, but at the slightest movement, blood gushed from her body.
He was petrified, like a helpless child, clutching her hand with a tremor.
“Yin’er, Yin’er, don’t scare me.”
“Shen…” she tried to comfort him, but as soon as she opened her mouth, blood welled up, blocking all her words.
“Yin’er, what do you want to say?”
He leaned down, pressing his ear to her lips, but though he waited and waited, not a single word came—only warm liquid drenching his face.
He buried his face in her neck, trembling. Scorching tears flowed down his cheeks, crumbling as they dripped into her blood.
He wept so heart-wrenchingly, as if the heavens were collapsing.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I came too late. I’m sorry…”
Mu Nanyin’s heart was full of bitterness. How could it be his fault?
The one who truly should say sorry was her.
Back then, she was the one who used every means possible to hurt him, even ruining the wedding and threatening suicide to force him to call off the engagement.
She and Shen Sichen had conspired against him, causing him to be imprisoned by the Emperor, causing him to lose his mind and die a sudden death.
Though she didn’t know why he was still alive or why he appeared here, in the end…
In the end, she was the one who owed him.
Mu Nanyin tried to reach out a hand to wipe the tears from his face, but it was in vain.
Though they were inches apart, in the face of life and death, it felt as if they were separated by a light-year.
Finally, her hand fell weakly. Her heart was filled with endless regret and remorse.
It was too late…
She was dying…
Let her… let her make it up to him in the next life.
Mu Nanyin thought as her consciousness blurred, watching the man’s face before her grow more and more indistinct…
But suddenly—
A flash of white light pierced her vision. The blurry world became clear again, finally fixing upon his neck as it was pierced by a dagger.
“Yin’er, wait for me on the road to the Yellow Springs. I’ve come to accompany you.”
Mu Nanyin’s eyes flew wide.
No!!