Ma Jingyu was not someone endowed with great wisdom or perseverance. Once he confirmed that the person before him was the damned Chen Miaomiao, he immediately broke down in tears and begged for mercy.
“Ancestor! No, no, Miss Chen! I was forced back then! That person was powerful—I had no choice! Please, I’m just a lowly Lianqi Ji Xiushi—spare my life!”
Chen Miaomiao kicked Ma Jingyu in the face, knocking out one of his front teeth, before smiling sweetly and saying, “Oh, sorry. You were too loud—you hurt Benzun’s ears.”
Ma Jingyu spat blood while obediently apologizing, though his speech was slurred from the missing tooth.
“S-sowwy…”
Chen Miaomiao nodded in satisfaction. “From now on, Benzun will ask a question, and you will answer. One extra word, and you lose the other front tooth.”
Ma Jingyu nodded frantically. “Mhm… mhm…”
“Who was the person who asked you to frame Chen Miaomiao back then?”
“I don’t know… The person wore a black robe and a mask. All I could tell was that he was a tall man.”
“You’re the county magistrate’s son. How did that person convince you to frame Chen Miaomiao?”
“Well… that person was extremely powerful. Just his Lingya alone made it hard for me to breathe. I had no choice but to obey.”
Ma Jingyu thought this answer would satisfy Chen Miaomiao, but she kicked him again.
“Do you think Benzun is a fool? Hmm?”
This time, Chen Miaomiao kicked Ma Jingyu in the ribs. He even heard the dull crack of his bones breaking. He rolled several times, curling up with his clothes in disarray, and wailed like a slaughtered pig. “I’ll talk, I’ll talk! Besides that… he also gave me a hundred Lingshi…”
As the saying goes, fine wine flushes the face, wealth stirs the heart, and money can make the devil turn the millstone—how true it was.
Ordinary sect disciples only received one or two Lingshi per month for cultivation resources. Yet this person offered a hundred Lingshi at once—truly generous. No wonder Ma Jingyu was willing to sacrifice his reputation and get entangled with a little good-for-nothing in such an ambiguous way.
“Excellent.”
Chen Miaomiao curled her lips into a smile and was about to strike again when a large hand suddenly covered her eyes. Who else could it be but Mo Xuanming?
Her long, thick lashes brushed against his palm, sending a tingling sensation through him. Mo Xuanming paused for a moment before speaking in a detached tone.
“Wait a moment.”
Chen Miaomiao gritted her teeth and sneered. “Wait for what? Let go! This young lady is going to break his hand!”
“…”
“Hah, don’t tell me you think this young lady is too cruel?”
All she did was break his ribs and knock out his teeth. Compared to the suffering little Miaomiao endured, what was this?
If Mo Xuanming dared to act like a “saint” in front of her, then he shouldn’t blame her for turning her back on him.
“No.”
“…Then let go of me! Why are you covering my eyes?”
“…”
Mo Xuanming took a step back, putting some distance between himself and Chen Miaomiao. Only then did she notice that the half-naked Ma Jingyu was now shrouded in a layer of dark mist, covering every inch of his skin.
Chen Miaomiao was baffled. She looked suspiciously at Mo Xuanming, who calmly said, “Don’t dirty your… hmm, Benzun’s eyes.”
Chen Miaomiao: “…”
She couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Who would have thought this guy was such an old-fashioned stickler for feudal etiquette?
In her previous life, Chen Miaomiao might not have eaten pork, but she had certainly seen pigs run—what kind of scene hadn’t she witnessed?
A half-naked man was nothing to fuss over; she wouldn’t even flinch at a fully naked one. Yet, he seemed more bothered by it than she was.
Was he really that innocent?
She reached out and patted Mo Xuanming’s shoulder, teasing, “Alright, alright, I’ll listen to you. Can I continue now?”
“Hmm.”
Mo Xuanming nodded, but his gaze toward Chen Miaomiao was complex and profound.
She was different.
Everything about her was unlike what he had heard or seen.
Chen Miaomiao… why did you lie?
Chen Miaomiao calmed herself down. “Dismembering limbs” was out of the question for now—if she accidentally ended Ma Jingyu’s life, she would lose her witness.
“Benzun hasn’t finished questioning you yet. Stop pretending to be dead. Tell me how that person instructed you to frame Chen Miaomiao and what you did.”
Ma Jingyu trembled in pain but didn’t dare delay, hurriedly saying, “That person told me to go to Chen Miaomiao’s courtyard on the agreed day. He said he would drug her in advance, and all I had to do was… was…”
“Take her virginity?”
“Y-yes…”
Chen Miaomiao’s chest heaved with anger. That was just an innocent child—how could this scum even think of doing such a thing?!
Her eyes sharpened as she glared coldly at him, “Weren’t you afraid of retaliation from Chen Miaomiao’s father when he returned?”
“I was scared too, but that person said I was the county magistrate’s son, so nothing would happen…”
“The son of a mere county magistrate is nothing. Do you believe I’ll twist your head off right now and cook it?”
Seeing Chen Miaomiao about to hit him again, Ma Jingyu quickly covered his head, trembling all over, “But I didn’t succeed! I didn’t! When I arrived, Chen Miaomiao had already stopped breathing! She was dead! How could I dare stay? I ran away in a panic! Before leaving, I saw him take her body away. I don’t know anything else… Later, I just followed his orders and claimed I had an affair with Chen Miaomiao, that’s all! I really didn’t touch her, not even a single hair!”
Chen Miaomiao knew the rest.
That person had thrown little Miaomiao’s body into Shihun Jiang, likely to make it look like she had fled out of guilt, leaving no evidence.
Chen Miaomiao narrowed her eyes slightly, “If you had to identify that person, could you still recognize him?”
Ma Jingyu shook his head like a rattle-drum, “That person was completely covered up. I couldn’t recognize him…”
“What a useless fool. What about the stolen goods?”
“Huh?”
“The Lingshi you got from harming little Miaomiao?”
“I… I spent it all.”
“Heh,” Chen Miaomiao suddenly leaned down, pinched Ma Jingyu’s jaw, and forced an “Alchemy Pill” into his mouth, saying softly, “You have three days. You’d better return the one hundred Lingshi with interest. Otherwise…”
Ma Jingyu gagged several times, but the pill had already rolled into his stomach, chilling him to the core.
It’s over, it’s over! He’s been poisoned!
He doesn’t want to die!
“What? Didn’t you hear me?”
Ma Jingyu sobbed through his tears, “I will, I will.”
“Do you understand what should and shouldn’t be said?”
“I understand, I understand. I know everything.”
Chen Miaomiao smiled faintly, returning to her calm and elegant demeanor, “If you listen to Benzun properly, once Benzun brings the true culprit to justice, I will naturally give you the antidote for this poison. But if you try to be clever…”
“No, no, no, I wouldn’t dare, I wouldn’t dare!”
“Hmm, get lost.”
“Yes, I’ll get lost right away, right away!”
Ma Jingyu paid no mind to the injuries all over his body, gritting his teeth and clutching his clothes as he ran, faster and faster, as if a ghost were chasing him from behind.