The Prisoner of Beauty - Chapter 117

Chapter 117

"Release her."

Just as Su Ehuang was being dragged to the threshold, Wei Shao suddenly spoke.

The explosive rage that had enveloped him had completely vanished, replaced by an ice-cold expression.

With her hair in complete disarray and her clothes torn open, Su Ehuang lay collapsed on the ground, weeping bitterly in utter ruin and distress. Her hand—which had once been meticulously maintained to look like flawless, smooth jade—now gripped the wooden threshold with deathly force. The blue veins beneath the skin on the back of her hand were as vividly visible as a spider's web.

"Zhonglin! This nephew of mine acted with vile baseness during the Luli Grand Assembly last year. I thoroughly rebuked him afterward, and he harbored deep resentment against me from that moment on! Later, when I ordered him to kill the Madam of Xianghou—whose maiden name was Li—he allowed himself to be seduced by that woman. The two of them carried on an illicit affair, and he refused to lay a hand on her. It was only because I forced him that he had no choice but to kill her in the end. He must have added that to the tally of his hatred toward me. Furthermore, just a few days ago, I happened to discover that one of my personal maidservants was secretly fooling around with him. Relying on his favor, that wretched servant not only treated me with flagrant disrespect, but also cursed me behind my back. In a fit of sheer rage, I went too far with her punishment and inadvertently took her life. At that time, his face was filled with resentment toward me, and his hatred must have intensified even more! I do not know from where you heard that I wished to harm my grand-aunt, Zhonglin, but you captured Su Xin and interrogated him. In order to save his own skin—and because of his secret malice toward me—he naturally tailored his confession to your questions, shifting all the blame onto my shoulders! I am suffering a monumental injustice!"

Wei Shao merely watched her, offering no response.

Su Ehuang kept her mouth open, gasping rapidly like a fish stranded in a dried-up puddle. Her chest heaved violently up and down, but her mind was racing at a frantic pace.

She knew perfectly well that at a critical juncture like this, she absolutely could not allow fear to unravel her thoughts. If she showed even the slightest hint of cowardice, she would plunge into an abyss from which she could never return.

She had not done any of those things!

None of those matters had anything to do with her!

She repeated this to herself in her mind over and over again, until she gradually began to believe that this was the absolute truth. The strength that had been rapidly draining and fading from her body soon surged back into her limbs.

"I do not deny that I ordered Su Xin to kill the Madam of Xianghou in Yuyang City. Do you know why? Because I hated her down to my very bones! She used to reside in Luoyang as well, and for a period of time, we were close friends. I regarded her as my dearest confidante and shared everything with her. I never imagined that she would go behind my back and secretly carry on an illicit affair with Liu Li! When I found out, I was utterly infuriated and went to confront her, but she turned around and humiliated me instead. Consequently, I severed all ties with her. Yet even after that, she refused to stop and continued to meet with Liu Li in secret. I was completely helpless and could only pretend not to see it. But never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that in order to rouse his passions in the bedroom, that degenerate harlot would continuously feed Liu Li aphrodisiacs over a long period! While those drugs enhanced their pleasures, they eroded a person's vital essence. By the time I found out, the poison had already seeped into Liu Li's marrow, and no medicine could save him. He passed away from that illness, causing me to lose my husband. How could I not hate her? Moreover, just before his death, Liu Li deeply regretted his past actions and implored me to kill that harlot to avenge his life. I only killed her because I had no choice but to fulfill my late husband's final wish!"

She finished her explanation in a single breath, straining to swallow a mouthful of saliva to moisten her lips and throat, which had suddenly become dry and sticky due to this abrupt and monumental crisis. She lifted her eyes, meeting the cold gaze of Wei Shao, whose eyes remained completely devoid of any ripples.

"It is true that I killed the Madam of Xianghou, but my relationship with that wretched woman was strictly limited to that! As for what you said about her being in contact with Old Madame Jiang, and how Old Madame Jiang obtained venom from her to harm my grand-aunt, I truly know absolutely nothing about it! Zhonglin, I beg you, please do not listen to a one-sided story! As for this nephew of mine..."

Her gaze swept with intense loathing over Su Xin, who was still collapsed on the floor.

"Although he is my nephew, his character is utterly vile, untrustworthy, and unprincipled. I was unaware of this before, but having brought him along with me, I have gradually come to see his true nature clearly. He only cares about escaping punishment, so he is spouting pure nonsense, slinging slanderous accusations to forcefully pin this crime on my head according to what you asked him..."

Su Xin had regained consciousness from the agonizing pain. He had been lying on the floor pretending to be dead, but when he heard Su Ehuang vilifying him, every single bone in his body throbbed with a pain akin to being butchered. Remembering Wei Shao's vicious ruthlessness from earlier, he trembled violently and could no longer keep up his facade. He groaned, "My Lord... I am not spouting nonsense... Although she never explicitly told me, I could see it clearly. She was entirely focused on marrying you again... and she hated the Old Madame for disliking her..."

Su Ehuang ground her teeth in pure hatred, deeply regretting her lack of foresight. How could she have been so blind as to keep such an incompetent fool—someone incapable of accomplishing anything but bound to ruin everything—by her side?

In fact, just moments ago when she was lost in thought before the mirror, the idea of completely eliminating Su Xin had crossed her mind once again.

Su Xin knew far too much. Furthermore, he had increasingly proven himself to be utterly useless. Keeping him alive would only pose a severe hidden danger to her in the future.

This thought had surfaced several times recently.

However, she had hesitated and failed to make up her mind.

At this very moment, she finally felt a deep wave of regret. She regretted not eliminating this nephew of his much earlier.

Why couldn't he understand that only by protecting her, his aunt, would he have any chance of continuing to live a good life?

She could only blame herself for not being ruthless enough, which had ultimately landed her in such a passive and desperate predicament.

Su Ehuang lunged forward and slapped Su Xin across the face with immense force, rebuking him harshly: "How could I have a nephew like you, who deliberately distorts the facts and turns right into wrong!"

She lifted her head, tears streaming down her face.

"Zhonglin! I admit that I still harbor our past feelings in my heart. On the day I went to see you, I said that my entire life had been trapped by the predictions of my fate at birth, which led me to ruin and brought me to my current state. I am filled with bitter regret! Those were absolutely my sincere words; I did not deceive you in the slightest! During our youth, you were clearly the love of my heart, and I gave you my genuine devotion. Yet in the end, I could not withstand my family's arrangements and was married off to Liu Li. But do you know the immense torment and agonizing pain my heart suffered at that time? You ought to remember what a beautiful singing voice I originally possessed. You once praised me, saying that your elder sister's voice was beautiful to listen to. At that time, I said that your elder sister would sing for you for a lifetime. After marrying Liu Li, I deliberately used medicine to destroy my own voice, claiming to the outside world that I had mistakenly taken the wrong medicine during an illness. Why did I do such a thing? It was entirely because of your initial praise for my voice, and the promise I made to you. For the remainder of my miserable life, even though I could not fulfill my wish to marry you, I would never sing to bring joy to a second man..."

"Shut your mouth!"

Wei Shao suddenly roared.

Yet Su Ehuang seemed to have worked herself into a genuine frenzy of emotion. Her snowy shoulders shook violently as an endless torrent of tears spilled over, quickly soaking a large patch of the vermilion undergarment covering her breast. She continued, "If you do not wish to hear me mention the past, I will speak of it no more. However, on that day, I also made things very clear to you. Even though I am unworthy, I possess self-awareness and have long known that the past cannot be retrieved. Now that you are still willing to show me pity, grant me your protection, and say that you are willing to ensure my safety for a lifetime, I am already thoroughly content. Why would I be so incredibly stupid as to plot against the Old Madame? Could it be that if the Old Madame passed away, you would be willing to marry me? When I was young and frequented your household, my grand-aunt treated me exceptionally well with immense benevolence and love. I have absolutely no grievance or enmity against her. Why would I suddenly become so malicious and stark raving mad as to attempt to take her life? Every result must have a cause. I have absolutely no motive to murder the Old Madame! Furthermore, Zhonglin, you just claimed that I instructed Old Madame Jiang to administer the poison. She is an old servant who has served by your mother's side for decades, accompanying her day and night. On the other hand, it is difficult for me to even step through the main gates of the Wei estate. How could I possibly persuade her to follow my bidding?"

Wei Shao said coldly, "My mother's brother once brought harm to Old Madame Jiang's son, and my mother handled the matter unfairly back then. Having lost her son, Old Madame Jiang harbored a deep seed of hatred at that moment. She endured it silently without letting it show, only to be utilized by you later on. You exacted vengeance on her behalf, and in return, she willingly allowed herself to be driven by you to murder my grandmother and frame my mother! You venomous woman, to think your calculated schemes reached such a meticulous depth, yet you still dare to bring up our childhood past to me!"

Su Ehuang's eyelids twitched. The heartbeat that had gradually slowed down began to race frantically once more upon hearing Wei Shao's words.

"Zhonglin! I do not know from where you heard these fabrications! If you are out to condemn someone, you can always trump up a charge! If you possess concrete and undeniable evidence, I am fully willing to die by your hands today without a single word of complaint! But if you convict me based solely on the malicious and shadow-chasing slanders of others, then even in death, I will not rest in peace!"

She lifted her chin, screaming hoarsely.

Wei Shao stared down at her for a brief moment. The light within his eyes was gloomy and unreadable, making it utterly impossible to fathom what he was thinking at this moment. He suddenly barked an order to the two guards outside the door: "Lock her in the dungeon." With that, he lifted his foot to stride outside.

Su Ehuang let out a sharp shriek of terror.

She could hear that there was not an ounce of emotion in his tone, nor was there even a trace of disgust. It was like a murderous sword that had been drenched in blood, yet remained ice-cold without retaining a single shred of living human warmth.

She knew he meant exactly what he said.

She knew better than anyone what a dungeon looked like.

In the deepest, most sinister, and darkest underground of her former residence in Luoyang, there had been an identical dungeon.

No matter how resilient a person's willpower was, not a single individual locked inside could survive past half a year.

She still remembered to this day that she had locked away Liu Li's favorite concubine—the very woman who had ruined her voice. When she went downstairs to look at that woman after a mere three months, the woman had already become completely unrecognizable, driven so utterly insane that she would grab the filth placed before her and stuff it into her own stomach.

The color drained entirely from Su Ehuang's face once more. She crawled forward a few paces, gripping one of Wei Shao's feet with deathly force from behind, refusing to let go.

"Zhonglin! You cannot treat me this way! I did not harm your grandmother! I did not!"

She shrieked with every ounce of strength in her lungs, her tears falling in continuous, heavy beads.

Wei Shao lifted his foot, breaking free from her grasp. Su Ehuang collapsed heavily onto the floor.

"Who was it? Who exactly told you these things? Was it that Qiao woman? Yes, it must be her! Zhonglin! How can you possibly believe her words? Have you forgotten how your father and elder brother died all those years ago? They were killed by the hands of the Qiao family! Have you also forgotten the solemn oath you swore before the ancestral temple back then, promising to completely annihilate every single member of the Qiao clan? How can you now be so thoroughly bewitched by this Qiao woman that you would listen to her one-sided story and refuse to believe me! The Qiao family shares a blood feud with you! They sent her over precisely because they feared your future vengeance; she was sent to guard against you and plot against you!"

She had been collapsed on the ground, weeping piteously, but she suddenly scrambled up and shouted at Wei Shao's retreating back: "When it comes to women in relation to men in this world, not a single one can be separated from the word 'calculation.' They are either plotting for the heart or plotting for profit! Think about it, Zhonglin—she was originally childhood sweethearts with Liu Yan of Langya, and the two of them were deeply in love with an established marriage contract. Why is it that the moment the Qiao family sent her over, she became so tender, compliant, and eagerly accommodating toward you? Zhonglin, you have always been exceptionally wise. If you just think about it, you will realize how it is utterly impossible for her to be genuine and sincere toward you! For someone to possess such deep calculation, she must surely harbor an ulterior motive! Right now, it is purely because you could not bear to see me persecuted by Xing Xun and granted me your protection that she resorted to slandering me before you..."

"That's right!"

Her eyes suddenly flashed with a frantic light, and she scrambled up from the floor in one fluid motion.

"It is entirely possible that Old Madame Jiang was bought out by her to do her bidding! The Qiao and Wei families share a deep blood feud; the Qiao family sending their daughter over was absolutely not as simple as a mere marital alliance! You must remain on your guard against the purpose behind this, Zhonglin—"

Wei Shao had already stepped outside and was striding away rapidly, but he suddenly froze in his tracks, his silhouette coming to an abrupt halt.

In the next instant, he whirled around violently, returning toward Su Ehuang with rapid strides.

He came to a stop right in front of Su Ehuang, staring down at her with both hands clasped behind his back. Initially, his gaze was piercingly cold and entirely expressionless.

Su Ehuang was panting heavily. Unable to stand steadily, she sank back down onto the floor, tilting her head up to look at him with a miserable and sorrowful expression: "Zhonglin... you must believe me... the Qiao woman cannot be trusted... I am the only one who truly wants what is best for you..."

"You wretched servant!"

In a split second, Wei Shao seemed to explode with fury. He bolted to Su Ehuang's front in a single stride, opening his five fingers to tightly clamp around her throat, hoisting her entire body clean off the ground.

The muscles on his face were twisted with rage, and his eyes flashed with a murderous, terrifying light.

"You plotted to murder my grandmother! Even under such circumstances, my grandmother explicitly stated in her letter that I should refrain from touching you for the time being! If you had properly confessed to your crimes, I might have allowed you to retreat with your life fully intact out of respect for my grandmother! I never imagined you would be so thoroughly ungrateful, going so far as to use such vile and malicious words to frame my wife at the very end!"

The blue veins on his temples throbbed violently, his knuckles protruding as his fingers gradually tightened. Su Ehuang's throat was constricted so fiercely by his grip that she could no longer breathe. Her face turned a deep, flushed red, the whites of her eyes rolled up, and her hands flailed wildly through the empty air as a succession of bizarre, rasping sounds issued from her throat.

Just as one of her hands frantically managed to catch hold of the edge of Wei Shao's sleeve, Wei Shao abruptly released his grip. Su Ehuang collapsed weakly to the floor, coughing in agonizing pain.

"How does military law punish attempted murder?"

He asked the guard standing behind him in an ice-cold voice.

The guard bowed his head and replied, "By slitting the nose as a token of punishment."

Wei Shao commanded, "Carry it out." His voice was utterly indifferent. Having spoken, he turned around and strode away.

From behind him, a piercing, heart-wrenching shriek of utter disbelief tore through the air.

And then, it stopped abruptly.


By the middle of the hour of the Pig, Wei Shao had still not returned.

Although the night was deep, Xiao Qiao did not feel the slightest bit sleepy. Lying on her pillow with her eyes closed, she recalled the furious expression on Wei Shao's face when he left, and a faint sense of unease lingered in her heart.

She tossed and turned continuously, waiting all the way until the end of the hour of the Pig before she finally heard the familiar sound of footsteps outside.

The door was not bolted. Wei Shao pushed it open and stepped inside.

Xiao Qiao hurriedly climbed out of bed, threw an outer robe over her shoulders, and went forward to greet him. Seeing that his expression was solemn and his residual anger seemed unresolved, she did not dare to ask for the details immediately. Instead, she gently inquired if he would like some midnight supper. Wei Shao shook his head, so she proceeded to serve him as he bathed.

When he emerged from the bathhouse, the two of them went to bed one after another. After lying down, Xiao Qiao kept her eyes closed for a brief moment before opening them again. She saw him lying on his back with his eyes shut, a weary expression settling between his brows. After a moment of hesitation, she reached out and placed her hand on his stomach, stroking it gently as she asked softly, "Husband, what is the matter?"

Wei Shao opened his eyes, turning his face to look at her intently for a short while. Suddenly, he extended his arm, pulling her tightly against his chest as he gave an answer that did not match her question: "Manman, have you ever hidden anything from me?"