Xiuzhu shyly covered her face, peeking through her fingers with wide, astonished eyes. “Miss, are you sure this is something we can watch without paying silver? Will we get styes from watching this?”
Jiang Wantang reached out to cover Xiuzhu’s eyes, her expression grave. “Don’t look. It’s filthy.”
Her gaze was icy to the extreme, the murderous intent in her eyes like ten thousand ice-tipped arrows ready to be unleashed.
The man on the bed was Qi Gui, the eldest son of the second branch of the Qi Duke’s Residence. This man was ruthless and cruel, committing every imaginable atrocity from rape and pillage to abduction.
Relying on the Qi family’s backing from the Empress Dowager and the current peak of the Qi Duke’s Residence’s power, with the emperor’s deep favor, he grew increasingly tyrannical and arrogant within Shengjing City.
And the Flower Queen Yunshang, whom he was cursing and insulting, was precisely the woman Jiang Wantang had come to find.
Among all the people Jiang Wantang had encountered, Yunshang was the most unique, the purest, and also the most pitiful.
She was originally the daughter of a wealthy merchant family from the prosperous Jiangnan region, a young lady of privilege.
Overnight, her family was destroyed, leaving her alone.
Having lost her parents at a young age, she had no choice but to take a marriage contract and seek refuge with her betrothed, whom she had never met.
What should have been a search for protection instead pushed her into an abyss.
Her husband’s family was not interested in the marriage contract itself, but in the ten thousand gold dowry her parents had promised.
Yunshang possessed exceptional beauty, a rare delicate beauty in Jiangnan. It was precisely because of this beauty that she was later sold by her husband’s family at a high price into a brothel.
Unfortunately, in her previous life, she had encountered Yunshang too late…
On the day of Yunshang’s debut, Qi Gui won her midnight, publicly stripped her clothes off at Hongyan Yuan, subjected her to every form of humiliation, and then gave her to his numerous subordinates…
A girl as pure and resilient as a green lotus thus fell into the mire, trampled upon by anyone.
Any vile and despicable person could freely insult her, curse her…
Later, a case of missing women and a series of rape-murders came to light, shocking the entire Jingcheng.
At that time, those who committed murder and arson wore golden belts, while those who built bridges and repaired roads had no corpses to bury!
Shengjing City, Chang’an Gate, Denggao Platform, Mingyuan Drum…
Yunshang, a fragile woman covered in wounds, her white clothes stained red with blood, barefooted, step by step ascended the high platform of Chang’an Gate…
With each step, blood splattered.
The entire path was covered in blood, yet she seemed completely unaware.
“Qi Gui of the Qi Duke’s Residence bullies men and oppresses women, his crimes are innumerable. He has forcibly taken, abused, and murdered countless innocent women. I, Yunshang, am one of his victims.”
“The world is unjust, heaven has no eyes!”
“As a woman, today I insist on striking this Mingyuan Drum, seeking only to obtain justice for those innocent girls who died tragic deaths!”
“Thud!”
“Qi Gui, this evil villain, bullies men and oppresses women, his crimes are innumerable, intolerable to heaven and reason!!”
“Thud! Thud!”
“I, Yunshang, swear to heaven, if there is a single false word in what I say, may I be struck by lightning and die a miserable death!”
“Thud! Thud! Thud!”
“I beg the Son of Heaven, execute the treacherous officials!”
“I beg the Son of Heaven, execute the treacherous officials!”
“…”
The sound of the grievance drum resonated in all directions, each strike piercing the heart with pain.
Women are inherently weak, yet with tender shoulders they bear righteousness, their fortitude surpassing that of men.
With a heart full of fervent blood, she sought to clear her name, vowing to bring the truth to light before the world.
Later, Emperor Ji Wuyuan ordered the Dali Temple to conduct a thorough investigation.
At a manor outside the capital, they discovered: beneath the yellow earth lay withered bones.
No one could have imagined that beneath the courtyard full of blooming, vibrant flowers, what nourished them was not the yellow earth, but the withered bones of beauties.
Once, beautiful faces reflected the morning sun; now, withered bones lie buried in desolate soil.
The heavens are clear and bright, the dense white bones finally see the light of day.
Countless wandering souls can now rest in peace, as sorrowful winds gently sweep across the boundless land.
Yunshang succeeded, but she also paid a tremendous price.
When she saved Yunshang, she was already on the brink of death, unable to hold on any longer.
The Qi family was powerful, with far-reaching influence spanning the former dynasty and the imperial harem. A single move could affect the whole situation, and it was by no means something that could be decided overnight.
And Yunshang, until her death, never witnessed the execution of the wicked Qi Gui with her own eyes.
When she first met her, Yunshang was dressed in snow-white robes, trapped in the mire yet unstained by a speck of dust.
She said, “Sister, it is not us women who are at fault, but this unjust world, and those shameless people who bully the weak.”
Later, when she passed away, she also dressed her in a spotless, pure white gown.
She said, “Sister, I’m sorry, Yunshang cannot accompany you to the end…”
“Meeting you in this life is Yunshang’s greatest fortune.”
“It is only a pity that Yunshang’s fate is too fragile, that I met you too late, and cannot stay by your side a little longer…”
“If there is an afterlife, I hope we can meet again as sisters.”
She also said, “Sister, you must live well, and see more of this world for me!”
In this unjust world, life is as cheap as grass. People scorned her as lowly and humble, yet she was gentle, kind, and unstained by the world.
Falling into the brothel was not her fault. She was, in truth, a person of pure heart.
She came into this world pure, and she left it pure.
She promised Yunshang that she would watch for her, watch what fate befell those wicked people, watch as their heads rolled.
Yet, in the end, she too did not live to see the day their heads fell.
After a long while, the creaking sounds from within the bed curtains gradually faded into silence.
Jiang Wantang closed her eyes, pulling herself back from the painful memories of the past. She looked at the man collapsed on the bed, her gaze icy and piercing: “Since the world lacks justice, I shall act in its stead!”