Yunchu’s Vengeance - Chapter 181
Chapter 181 - The Truth Comes to Light
Yun Chu presented her token, and the guards at the entrance granted passage.
She led Mistress Luo inside, and upon reaching the entrance of the dungeon, she spoke, "I will take Zhan'er inside myself, so Mistress Luo can wait right here."
Mistress Luo knew that the Dali Temple dungeon was a vital stronghold of the imperial court and not a place just anyone could enter and exit.
She stood by the side door and waited.
Yun Chu led the child into the dungeon, where a dark and damp aura rushed toward them, causing the child to shrink back in fright.
Those locked up here were all criminals facing capital punishment and major state offenders whose only outcome was decapitation.
She walked through the narrow corridor and arrived at the door of the cell where Qin Mingheng was kept. The guards stationed outside the cell immediately bowed to Yun Chu.
Yun Chu said calmly, "Open the door."
The guard took out the key and unlocked the cell door.
"Zhan'er, relax," she said softly. "The person inside is your father. There is no need to be afraid."
Luo Zhan followed Yun Chu across the threshold and stepped into the cell.
Qin Mingheng was covered in injuries and in a daze, only opening his eyes when he heard movement.
He had expected it to be a routine interrogation, but upon opening his eyes, he saw Yun Chu once again.
He knew Yun Chu would eventually come back to find him... Before he could say anything, he heard a childish voice.
"Father... What is wrong with you? Who hit you..."
Luo Zhan's eyes widened, unable to believe everything he was seeing before him.
Qin Mingheng could not believe his eyes either as he looked at the child. "Y-You, why are you here?"
"Mistress Luo personally handed Zhan'er over to me," Yun Chu smiled. "Zhan'er, your father made a small mistake and is undergoing punishment. It is just like... if you do not study hard, your tutor will hit your palms with a ruler. Do you understand?"
Luo Zhan nodded in a half-understanding manner.
Yun Chu casually picked up a branding iron and placed it into his hands. "This little gadget is quite interesting. Take a look, is it fun?"
A child of six or seven years old was easily attracted by bizarre things, and he immediately grabbed the branding iron, playing with it curiously.
Sparks flew everywhere, causing a fiery rage to ignite within Qin Mingheng's eyes.
"Yun Chu!!" He wished he could lunge forward and snatch that branding iron away. "I knew you were a vicious woman, but I never imagined you could be wicked to this extent!"
He had not taken Yun Chu's threats seriously because, in his heart, Yun Chu was so kind and pure that it was simply impossible for her to harm an innocent child...
Was the Luo woman a fool? How could she hand the child over to Yun Chu?
Mistress Luo treated Zhan'er as her very life, so how could she so easily give the child to a wicked woman!
Yun Chu completely ignored Qin Mingheng and smiled as she told Luo Zhan, "Pick it up, press it against the wall, and see what happens."
Luo Zhan obediently pressed the branding iron against the wall, and the damp wall came into contact with the high-temperature iron, making a sizzling sound and continuously emitting white vapor.
"If this thing were pressed against a person, do you know what would happen?"
Yun Chu knew that at this moment, she was a thorough-going wicked woman, utilizing a child's curiosity to force a father into submission.
However, she had no other choice.
She had to use the fastest method possible to learn the truth about everything.
Yun Chu picked up the branding iron from Luo Zhan's hands, placed it back into the blazing fire to burn for a moment, and then picked it up, pointing it directly at Luo Zhan's face.
The tender young child curiously gazed at the branding iron, his small face illuminated red by the firelight. As long as Yun Chu moved forward just a tiny bit, or if the child made the slightest misstep, the branding iron would touch the child's skin.
Qin Mingheng nearly collapsed.
Having spent this long in the cell, he had tasted every form of torture, and the feeling of that branding iron pressed against his chest made life feel worse than death.
Zhan'er was still so young and simply could not endure it.
Even if he survived, with a brand left on his face for the rest of his life, how was he supposed to go on living?
"Zhan'er, come here, lean over..."
Yun Chu's voice carried a guiding allure.
Qin Mingheng struggled violently, causing the sound of chains to ring out.
Luo Zhan turned his head to look at his father.
That single movement brought the branding iron even closer.
Qin Mingheng saw that the child's hair had begun to curl from the intense heat...
"Yun Chu, I lost! I admit defeat, okay!" he roared. "Whatever you want to know, I will tell you. I'll tell you everything, all right!"
"Clang!"
Yun Chu tossed the branding iron back into the fire pit.
She spoke, "Take the child outside."
The guards outside walked in, pulled the child out of the cell, and closed the door behind them.
Qin Mingheng glared at her, gnashing his teeth. "What is it you want to know?"
"Everything," Yun Chu sat down on a chair. "A reminder: my patience is not that great."
Qin Mingheng knew she was capable of doing it.
They said that a single night as husband and wife meant a hundred days of grace, yet she had cruelly murdered her pillow-partner. She truly was no longer the pure and kind Yun Chu he had once adored.
How could he still harbor fantasies about her?
He began to speak, "On the night of your grand wedding with Xie Jingyu five years ago, after I brought you to the Marquis Xuanwu's estate, I went to bathe. When I came out, I saw the Prince of Pingxi."
Yun Chu's heart was gripped by a giant hand.
She did not even dare to breathe heavily, listening as Qin Mingheng continued.
"Taking advantage of his status as a prince, he snatched you away right before my eyes. It was him who took your chastity!"
"Yun Chu, the person who ruined your purity was the Prince of Pingxi! If you want revenge, you should go find him. Why should I be the one to bear all of this?!"
"I loved you so much, and I was willing to trade everything I had for that single night... I brought out the Qin family's heirloom, but the Prince of Pingxi—what did he sacrifice?"
"He lusted after your beauty and coveted your jade-like body, yet he dared not propose marriage to the Yun family. Why? Because he is an imperial prince, and your father is a military general! The Emperor would never allow a daughter of the Yun family to marry him!"
"He only dared to snatch you away from my hands!"
"He didn't dare to bear even the slightest risk! He feared the matter would be exposed, feared a complete break with the Yun family, and feared arousing the Emperor's suspicion. So, he pinned this entire blame on me!"
"I may be despicable and shameless, but the Prince of Pingxi is even more despicable and shameless than I am! He is nothing more than a coward!"
Yun Chu's heart shook violently.
The man from that night really was the Prince of Pingxi!
And those two children who had appeared out of thin air under the Prince of Pingxi's care, those two children without a biological mother—were they... her own pitiful fraternal twins?
Thud! Thud! Thud!
She heard the fierce, rapid beating of her own heart.
Did it even matter who the man from that night was anymore?
What mattered was that the children were still alive.
Her children—both of her children—were alive and well, and they had already grown up so much.
This was the best news she had ever heard.
Hot tears welled up and spilled over.
Yun Chu simply could not control them; tears of joy streamed all over her face.
"That's right, those two children of the Prince of Pingxi are your children. The only reason I never dared to speak of it was because the Prince of Pingxi threatened me and forbade me from leaking a single word!" Qin Mingheng ground out every single word. "Once the Emperor discovers that the Prince of Pingxi's two children were born to the legitimate eldest daughter of the Yun family, what do you think the Emperor will do? That selfish coward of a Prince of Pingxi, in order to protect himself, was willing to wrong two children by leaving them motherless, and was even willing to abandon you... But if a day ever comes when he needs your Yun family, he will definitely use the two children as bargaining chips to force the Yun Army into battle for him... He is truly too shameless! He is unworthy of being your children's father..."
"He is thoroughly rotten to the core, even more despicable and shameless than Xie Jingyu!" Qin Mingheng yelled hoarsely. "Yun Chu, in this entire world, I am the only one who truly loved you. The one thing I wanted most in this life was to take you as my wife…”