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Yunchu’s Vengeance - Chapter 169

Chapter 169 - Qin Mingheng's Escape

Yun Chu stared at the man before her in utter disbelief.


It was actually Qin Mingheng, the former Marquis of Xuanwu who had been sentenced to exile.


Because of the letter she had sent, Qin Mingheng was dragged into the imperial court scandal involving Princess Consort Liu's husband. Compounded by Lady Luo beating the Dengwen drum to lodge a formal complaint, the Marquisate of Xuanwu was wiped out just like that, and Qin Mingheng was ultimately sentenced to exile three thousand li away... By all accounts, he should still have been on the path of exile; how could he have appeared in the Xie Manor?


"Surprised to see me, aren't you?"


Qin Mingheng removed the black hood from his head and walked toward Yun Chu step by step.


Yun Chu saw that his face was covered in whip scars. Before the old wounds had healed, new ones had been added, and his neck was likewise covered in injuries; she estimated that there was hardly a patch of intact skin left on his entire body.


"Of course I am surprised." She offered a half-smile. "The Marquis of Xuanwu was merely sentenced to exile, yet you chose to flee on your own. Tell me, what do you think awaits you now?"


Qin Mingheng stared at her intently. "Was my ending up in this wretched state all your doing?"


"You bullied me, disgraced me, and yet you expected to walk away unscathed?" Yun Chu's voice turned colder inch by inch. "After committing such a sordid deed, you should have prayed that I would never find out for the rest of my life. Now that I know, do you truly think I would act as if nothing had ever happened?"


Had it not been for Qin Mingheng, she would have at least consummated her marriage with her husband and conceived his child.


Not because she held any affection in her heart for Xie Jingyu.


Rather, if the child in her womb had carried the bloodline of the Xie family, Xie Jingyu would not have been so utterly deranged as to abandon a child who was still breathing—a child whose remains had yet to be laid peacefully to rest...


Qin Mingheng ought to rejoice. He should rejoice that the child had not died at his hands; otherwise, she would never have let the Marquisate of Xuanwu collapse so quickly.


Instead, she would have made them suffer like the Xie family: falling apart piece by piece, seeing their family ruined bit by bit, enduring torment, burning down to the last drop of oil, tasting every agonizing sorrow this world had to offer...


"You woman, you are truly far too cruel!"


Qin Mingheng gritted his teeth, the scars across his face twisting into a grotesque grimace.


"Do you know how deeply I loved you? When I was ten years old, the first time I went to the Yun Manor and saw you, I was captivated by your beauty." He enunciated each word slowly. "From that moment on, a dream formed in my heart—a dream about you. I waited for myself to grow up, waited for you to grow up. Finally, I was able to propose marriage to the Yun family, but your mother rejected me! Do you know how heartbroken and devastated I was?"


"Do you know that when the Emperor bestowed a marriage between me and Lady Luo, I even thought of defying the imperial edict at the cost of my noble title? But I was terrified that once I was no longer a Marquis, I wouldn't even be able to catch a single glimpse of you... I knew I shouldn't harbor such foul intentions toward you, but you don't realize that you occupied every single dream of my youth! I could not bear to watch you marry another man..."


"I loved you so deeply, so how could you treat me like this... What I gave you was love, yet all you harbor toward me is hatred..."


"Why... why did it have to be this way?!"


Qin Mingheng was near the verge of a complete breakdown. He propped his hands against the table, tears spilling from his eyes, his chest heaving violently.


Yun Chu's face remained entirely devoid of emotion. She listened patiently to the very end, and then let out a faint chuckle: "Ruining a person's entire life in the name of love—is that what you consider love?"


"Yes! That is my love! So dirty, so foul, so incapable of seeing the light of day!" Qin Mingheng roared. "But Yun Chu, do you know that on your wedding night, the man with you was not me at all! Knowing that, do you still think it was I who ruined your whole life?!"


"What did you say?"


Yun Chu's expression finally shifted, her gaze turning razor-sharp.


Qin Mingheng burst into wild laughter. "I said, the man who shared your bridal chamber that night was not me at all! I did nothing, so why must I bear your vengeance and hatred?! On what grounds?!"


Yun Chu's pupils contracted violently. She seized his collar with a swift hand. "If it wasn't you, who else could it have been?!"


"I did nothing, yet I lost everything because of it! Yun Chu, you owe me!"


Qin Mingheng suddenly pinned her shoulders, recklessly tearing open her collar and pressing her down against the table.


"I have already suffered retribution anyway, so why shouldn't I let it actually happen?! I am already reduced to this state, and I have nothing left to fear losing!"


Just as his lips were a mere finger's breadth away from Yun Chu's neck, a piercing agony tore through his right shoulder.


The short dagger that Yun Chu had kept tightly gripped in her hand was ruthlessly plunged into Qin Mingheng's right shoulder.


Yun Chu did not pull the dagger out; instead, she twisted and pushed it even deeper.


The pain contorted Qin Mingheng's facial features into an agonizing mask.


"Are you certain you have nothing left to fear losing?" Yun Chu smiled faintly. "That external mistress of yours named Chu Niang had an abortion and vanished without a trace right after your downfall... The only remaining bloodline of your Qin family is the legitimate son born to you and Lady Luo."


Clutching his right shoulder, Qin Mingheng gasped in disbelief: "You would actually threaten me with the life of a young child?!"


"Your son's life is a life, but the lives of my premature twin babies were not?" Yun Chu stared fixedly at him. "You said that when Xie Jingyu threw the babies away, you saw with your own eyes that they were still breathing... If you could stand by and watch a pair of innocent infants die, why shouldn't I use the life of your Qin family's bloodline to get the answers I want?! Qin Mingheng, I will give you only one chance. If you speak the truth, your son will live. But if I find out that even a single word from you is false, your Qin family line will end forever by your own hand!"


From the depths of her eyes, Qin Mingheng saw a bloodthirsty, frigid chill.


The very first time he saw her, she had smiled so brightly, her eyes filled with innocence and purity, unmarred by the worldly affairs of life.


He knew that she had always been a kind and warm-hearted woman.


Why had she become so cold and ruthless...


"Fine... I'll talk." Qin Mingheng closed his eyes, forcing his lips to part with immense difficulty. "The night before your grand wedding, I took the initiative to seek out Xie Jingyu and struck a deal with him. I gave him an ancestral miraculous medicine, along with a sleeping drug. He slipped that sleeping drug into your nuptial wine on the wedding night. After you drank it, you fell asleep. At that time, I was right there in your bridal chamber."


"Xie Jingyu told me to take you right there in the Xie Manor, but I didn't want to perform such a sacred act in a room belonging to you and another man. So, I carried you back to the Marquisate of Xuanwu. I laid you upon my bed. At that moment, do you know how overjoyed I was? I was finally going to fulfill the dream of my youth; I was finally going to possess you..."


"I called maidservants over to remove your makeup, strip off your robes, bathe you, and change you into garments I had meticulously prepared..."


Yun Chu's fingers clenched tighter inch by inch.


She did not want to hear these vile details.


Yet she knew that for a man who had concealed this secret for so many years, he needed an outlet to pour it all out.


Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the silhouettes of several maidservants shifting at the doorway, and the door was nudged open a crack. She gave a subtle signal for them not to enter just yet.


"I loved you so deeply, so naturally I wanted to consummate our union in my most immaculate state. I went to bathe as well."


"Looking back, the thing I regret most is that I took far too long bathing. When I came out, you were actually gone!"


"Hehehe! I went through all that painstaking effort to bring you back to my manor, only to have someone else snatch you away from right under my nose!"


Qin Mingheng's face was completely flushed with fury.


He truly regretted it to his very core—having sacrificed so much, only to receive Yun Chu's utter hatred and devastating vengeance in return!

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