Chiji let out a long neigh beneath the night sky. After galloping twenty li beyond the city gates, it finally left the rest of the Imperial Grandson’s entourage far behind.
Ying Wuji pulled sharply on the reins and halted his horse. He waved away the nervous officials who had caught up, tethered Chiji in a sheltered spot, then turned with icy eyes toward the execution ground in the valley ahead.
Though those imprisoned there were all heinous criminals, even when they were punished, it usually happened on the central execution platform within the quarry. Anyone tied up in the valley rarely came back alive.
At that moment, a slender figure stood bound to an iron ring set into the cliffside. She wore only a coarse gray linen undergarment. Her hands were tied above her head. Her clothing was soaked through.
The two guards, evidently acting under orders, repeatedly scooped icy water from the frozen lake and splashed it over Zhao Shu.
Every time they did, he saw her gasp in agony, her body trembling so violently it bordered on convulsions.
Ying Wuji watched quietly for a while before understanding. His royal uncle still intended to keep this person alive.
He sneered inwardly. His royal uncle truly had become more impatient with every passing day. And as for the person before him, to be repeatedly manipulated by that reckless fool of an uncle, what a thoroughly useless waste.
Watching Zhao Shu’s body drenched in freezing water, the whole scene felt strangely unreal.
Back then, when he and his mother had wandered as refugees into Zhao, this young master had purchased them. How proud and noble they had been then. Whenever they traveled, attendants crowded around them in great numbers. They loved to smile, their eyes always glowing with the warmth and brilliance of spring sunlight.
At first, she kept him confined within her residence, dressing him in fine clothes and feeding him delicacies. It was as though she was always looking through him at someone else. Behind her back, the servants called him the favored companion, not even bothering to veil the implication of a male lover.
Later, two retainers attempted to violate his mother. Hoping to curry favor with their master, they had even adopted the names Cangzhu and Huangteng. He had only been sixteen then. He carved out both men’s hearts with his own hands. From that day onward, Zhao Shu grew disgusted with him. And as the saying went, servants followed their master’s example. From then on, fresh wounds and old wounds alike never left his body.
Later, when he was thrown into the Prisoners’ Compound, he had earnestly entrusted his mother to her. But in the end… all that remained of his mother was a charred skeleton.
He had lain in wait for an entire day and night, surviving by the narrowest of margins, before personally cutting down the one responsible.
He had not yet reached the age of twenty, yet he had already become a man with no family left in the world.
…
A flicker of pain passed through his eyes before his thoughts returned to the present. Ying Wuji’s expression once again became as calm and detached as drifting clouds.
Once.
Then again.
He simply stood there in silence, watching as the person’s body swayed on the verge of collapse.
Had he not known her nature, and had his mother not personally spoken of this person’s kindness, on the night she had come to Qin as a hostage, he feared he would not have been able to suppress his urge to kill.
Suddenly, another guard who had merely been watching somehow produced a whip. After hesitating twice, the man actually stepped forward and began administering the punishment himself.
Ying Wuji narrowed his eyes slightly, thinking to himself that there truly was no shortage of foolish petty men in this world who delighted in kicking someone while they were down. No matter how stupid his royal uncle might be, now that Grandfather had already made his position clear, he would never dare let Crown Prince Zhao die covered in whip wounds.
The time to destroy Zhou had not yet come. After this hostage affair, he had more or less seen through the Old Qin Wang’s intentions. Rather than being an obstacle, the campaign to destroy Zhou might instead become a useful lever in bringing down Ying Yi.
For the sake of the nation and generations to come, the person before him absolutely could not die.
With that thought, he finally strode over.
…
Zhao Shu felt that she could no longer remain standing, yet once she realized that Prince Yi was utterly determined to take her life, a grim and resolute courage welled up within her.
A gentleman, even in death, should stand, not kneel to live.
For the first time in her life, she endured one round after another of bone-chilling torture.
Someone like her, who had never been able to bear hardship, would actually end up dying under torture like this.
Now that she had nothing left to lose, a stubborn pride unexpectedly emerged from somewhere deep within.
As the whip tore through flesh, she suddenly thought that in her entire life she had never stained her hands with blood, nor had she ever abused or flogged her servants. The only exception had been that person….
She raised her head blankly and saw someone walking toward her against the light. As he drew near, he snatched the whip from the guard’s hand, then his sword flashed like a rainbow, piercing straight through the guard’s chest.
Warm blood sprayed through the air, splashing across her face in burning droplets.
“Mercy, Imperial Grandson!”
Officials and soldiers who had rushed over upon hearing the commotion were met only with a casual wave of his hand, signaling them to stand down. He did not take the other guard’s life.
The slanting sun was sinking lower, crimson light falling across her cheek and blending with the blood into one color. The faint warmth of the setting sun rapidly faded, making the wind sweeping through the mountain pass seem all the fiercer. It battered against the body until even Ying Wuji, wrapped in a heavy cloak, could feel the cold.
Seeing him kill a man, Zhao Shu instinctively retreated half a step. Her bluish-purple lips trembled as though she wanted to say something, but when she opened her mouth, she realized she lacked the strength to produce even a single sound.
The man before her revealed no emotion. He had just killed someone; blood still streamed from the tip of his sword, while those deep jade-green eyes gazed down at her with cold detachment.
Suddenly, he flicked the blood from his sword, sheathed it, stepped forward, and unexpectedly reached out to wipe the blood from her face.
Though Zhao Shu’s hands were bound, her feet were free. She immediately turned her head aside, trying to avoid him.
She had not expected that single movement to provoke his anger.
Ying Wuji seized her shoulder with one hand while the other stubbornly continued wiping the blood from her face.
The blood had already half congealed. Smeared beneath his fingers, it became even harder to wipe away.
The disguise paste shifted slightly under the pressure. Combined with her clothes being soaked through, no matter how tightly she had bound her chest or how stiff and loose her inner garments were, it was becoming difficult to keep any trace from showing.
She struggled free with all her strength, only to lose her footing and stumble heavily against the mountain wall.
“Cold?” Ying Wuji asked without emotion. He did not approach again, merely staring stubbornly at the patch of blood that remained on her face.
Only during the struggle did Zhao Shu realize that her body, frozen as if encased in ice, had regained a faint trace of sensation. But with that returning warmth came the renewed agony of feeling as though she were submerged in icy water once more.
Her lips quivered as her entire body shook uncontrollably, but she gave no reply.
The slanting sunlight grew ever dimmer, while the wind roaring through the mountain pass became increasingly shrill and violent.
The two stood facing one another in silence, separated by only an arm’s length.
“Do you want to live?”
After watching her freeze here for an entire night, Ying Wuji had already concluded that, in her current condition, she likely had no chance of surviving.
At last, the question made Zhao Shu lift her eyes. Seeing the hatred and mockery in his gaze, her eyelashes trembled, yet she still remained silent.
“Why not try begging me?” He stepped closer and bent down halfway, the light in his eyes almost hypnotic. “If the young master were to beg me for his life, perhaps, if I happened to be in a particularly good mood today, I might casually save you.”
Zhao Shu’s pale expression wavered slightly, but then she heard him whisper beside her ear: “‘Gentle and refined’… I’ve long grown tired of pretending to be that kind of Imperial Grandson Qin. Rather than watching others torment you, I’d rather do it myself.”
The malice in those words was even more bone-piercing than the icy lake water. Zhao Shu suddenly let out a dazed laugh. Enduring the pain of her whip wounds while forcing down the trembling of her body, she raised her head and glared at him furiously. “Get lost!”
The hoarse, feeble shout was the first, and only, thing she had said to him since seeing him.
After shouting those words, she felt as though every ounce of strength had been drained from her body. She struggled to brace herself against the cliff wall and stand upright.
Since death was inevitable, she absolutely would not let such a despicable wretch laugh at her.
He wanted to see her weep in misery, to watch her beg pitifully for mercy. Even if she died, she would never satisfy his wishes.
The moment she took a step forward, the lake before her suddenly seemed to tilt, the mountain wall swayed, and even the loathsome face before her blurred.
She drew two deep breaths, only to feel a sharp pain stab through her lungs. She tried taking another couple of steps, but suddenly her legs gave way, and her whole body pitched forward.
The impact she had expected never came. A pair of hands caught her firmly beneath her arms.
Zhao Shu was frozen speechless and utterly drained of strength, but she had not lost consciousness.
When she vaguely sensed someone cutting through the ropes binding her wrists, some inexplicable instinct stirred within her hazy mind. Though moments ago she had been filled with grief and indignation, she no longer resisted, allowing her eyes to close.
In the next instant, her back settled against a solid chest. One arm slipped effortlessly beneath her knees, and she found herself lifted into a bridal carry. The fierce wind that had ravaged the mountain pass vanished from around her in an instant, while the breath she had been desperately holding onto shook loose within her heart, collapsing like clouds shattered into dust.
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