Chen Wang's heart was beating like a drum, and he couldn't stop trembling. He bit the tip of his tongue hard and tried to calm himself down.
"I don't know what you are talking about..." he screamed, "You must have arrested the wrong person..."
He wailed in a trembling voice: "Let me out, let me out quickly, give us all the money we have, please..."
Sui Sui interrupted him coldly: "It's impossible to get out alive after coming here."
After a pause, he said, "Just answer whatever you ask, and you'll die more easily."
Since she took the risk of sending people to kidnap the prince, she must have solid evidence to prove that it was indeed him who poisoned Huan Ye. He had a habit of taking Wu Shi San and kept a group of Taoists in his mansion, who made elixirs and medicines every day. In fact, he used this as a cover to make poison.
As early as five years ago, when he was just a teenager, he started playing with poisons. At first, he used birds, cats and dogs to test the poison, and then used the concubines and maids in the palace. However, he was meticulous and cunning, and occasionally one or two servants died suddenly, but no one suspected him, and they just thought they had an acute illness.
But it is unknown when he began to plot to murder the crown prince.
Sui Sui still didn't understand why he did this.
After hearing her words, King Chen still pretended to be stupid and howled like a ghost.
Sui Sui said calmly: "This is underground, there is no one living within a ten-foot radius around it, no one will hear it."
Prince Chen continued to howl, then stood up and walked out from behind the screen.
The moment he saw her, King Chen's shouting stopped abruptly, and the expression on his face disappeared at the same time, as if a mask had been removed.
His face was still that fat one, with the fat squeezing his features into a cramped mass and his eyes like two slits. But if you look at his eyes at this moment, no one would think he was a fool.
He saw Sui Sui's true face and knew that he was no longer alive. He stopped struggling, but looked at her quietly with his tiny eyes, revealing his shrewdness.
The woman was surprisingly young, only in her early twenties, and stunningly beautiful. King Chen loved beautiful women the most in his life, and had hunted for beauties countless times, but the woman in front of him, although extremely beautiful, did not give him the slightest thought of hunting for beauties.
The color of her eyes was lighter than that of most people. Under the lamplight, they looked like amber that had solidified millions of years ago, sealed with death and murderous intent.
She looked like an evil ghost coming out of hell to claim lives, making people shudder at the sight of her.
"Why do you want to kill Huan Ye?" Sui Sui asked again.
King Chen had a blank expression on his face, but his eyes turned sinister: "Why? I hate him and want him dead."
"He treats me well." Sui Sui said.
King Chen sneered, "Yes, he is a great saint. He cannot bear to see a stray dog in front of him. He wants to clean it up, teach it to be motivated, and teach it to wag its tail to please people. Otherwise, he will not be comfortable."
He paused and said, "Do you know what a stray dog needs? If you are really kind, just throw a piece of meat to it. Even if you don't like it, you can kick it or hit it with a stick. It deserves it."
"He treated me well, so you repay kindness with evil." Sui Sui said.
Prince Chen said with a smile: "Have you ever met the Emperor and Consort Shu? Do you know why I look like this?"
Sui Sui remained silent. She didn't need to say anything at this time, she just had to listen to him.
"It was the Queen who had me raised like this," Prince Chen continued, "She had the servants feed me rice mixed with lard and honey, and gave me tonic soups. When I was about to start learning, her legitimate son followed the students to read the Four Books and Five Classics, but the eunuchs took me to play in the garden. I was only twelve years old when I first experienced sex. The palace maid came to seduce me on the Queen's orders, but later she said that I was born with a bad family background and was born to be licentious and raped the palace maids..."
Sui Sui knew that the queen had a strong character and was quite capable in managing the harem. She had two princes and was pregnant with a fourth child, so she allowed concubines to give birth to illegitimate children.
But she could not imagine that she would use such means to deal with a child. The emperor had not only one illegitimate son, Prince Chen, but also someone as smart as the Seventh Prince, and she had never used these means.
Prince Chen saw the confusion on her face and said, "I know you don't believe it. I didn't believe it at first either. Do you know why she is so afraid of me?"
He sneered twice, his voice dry: "It's because when I was two years old, a monk was summoned to the palace. The emperor called all the princes out, and the monk touched the top of my head and said, 'This child has innate wisdom.'"
Sui Sui pursed her lips and said, "Doesn't Concubine Shu know about these things?"
Prince Chen sneered, "She? She may not know, but she pretends to be ignorant. She just wants to be the Queen's dog, so she raised me like a pig and a dog. She always said that those who are as ambitious as the virtuous concubine will never have a good ending. She wants me to be humble and give in to my brothers in everything, and not to compete with them for anything. In the future, I can leave the palace, build a mansion, and be a rich and idle person, and take her away to enjoy the good life."
Sui Sui was silent for a moment and said, "These things were done by the Queen, Huan Ye was not aware of it, what was his fault?"
Chen Wang said: "There is nothing wrong with being a well-fed pig, and there is nothing wrong with being their mother and son's dog. His mistake was that he shouldn't have come to control me."
There was an indescribable viciousness in his eyes: "He came to test my homework, praised my intelligence in front of the emperor, and asked me to write a poem at the palace banquet. He thought he was helping me..."
He sneered, "I don't hate the Queen, really. If I were her, I might do the same. But I hate Huan Ye. I hate his stupid look of compassion for the world. Stupid people deserve to die. He deserves to die! A good death!"
Before he finished speaking, he felt a flash of cold light before his eyes, followed by a pain in his ribs. A knife as thin as a cicada's wing was inserted into his body. The knife was less than two fingers long, and the blade was thin and narrow, but the place where the knife entered was very particular. Huan Jiong was in so much pain that he could hardly breathe, and he couldn't help but curl up in a ball.
But he was panting, but laughing more crazily, and said in a hoarse voice: "You tortured me... I still want to say... He deserves to die..."
Sui Sui held the handle of the knife, and the small and sharp blade stirred in his flesh. She knew all the ways to inflict pain, but she seldom used them, and even more rarely did she do it herself.
Huan Jiong gasped in pain.
"Who ordered you to do this?" Sui Sui drew out his knife and asked coldly.
Huan Jiong slowed down and gritted his teeth and said, "No one... instructed..."
"How do you know about what the queen did?" Sui Sui asked.
Huan Jiong's expression changed slightly, but he still said: "No one instructed me, it was me... I want him to die, no one tells me to..."
"Someone is using you," Sui Sui said calmly, "You've become someone else's knife."
Huan Jiong suddenly laughed: "I would rather be a knife, I am useful, right?"
He paused and said viciously: "Of course I am not the only one who hates him and wants him dead. Many people can't stand his face. Why can't he let me go? Why can't he let me be a pig happily..."
Before he could finish his words, he suddenly let out a wail, and the ghostly thin blade pierced into his body again.
Sui Sui said: "Have you ever thought that he helped you only because he saw that you were unwilling to give in?"
Huan Jiong was slightly startled, then slowly raised the corner of his mouth: "I know who you are, you are a person... who should have died."
Sui Sui said nothing, his face still expressionless and without any sign of surprise.
Chen Wang was able to pretend to be a fool for ten years and deceive almost everyone. Of course, he was an extremely smart man, so it was no surprise that he could guess her identity.
"It's Xiao Ling," Huan Jiong continued, "and you're the only one who's still investigating this matter after three years, but..."
He squinted his eyes, which were squeezed to a line: "Has he ever seen you like this?"
Sui Sui's calm eyes only showed a slight fluctuation at this moment. Before she could come to her senses, the knife in her left hand had already been thrust out.
Huan Jiong grimaced in pain, blood oozing from between his teeth, it turned out that he had bitten the flesh on his cheek.
But he still endured the pain and said, "My eldest brother... is a bright and clear person... In his eyes, my mother is dignified and noble, and in his eyes, my father is wise and brave... In his eyes, my master is an upright general. Does he know that he is good at calculating and playing tricks, nurturing the ambition of his own uncle, and then pushing him out to die..."
The sound of the blade cutting through flesh continued to be heard, and Huan Jiong's eyes gradually became blurred, but he still spoke intermittently: "My loving, filial... gentle and kind elder brother, he still remembered your name until his death... If he knew that you were this kind of person, what would he say?"
He laughed so hard that his fat body trembled. "Do you dare to let him... let him... see me like this? Do you dare... let him see... your..."
Before he could finish the last half sentence, he heard a "hiss" sound, and his throat was cut, the sound was like tearing silk. Huan Jiong opened his mouth, but could not utter another word.
He threw the knife away, and all the strength in his body seemed to be drained away in an instant.
She wiped the blood off her cheek with her sleeve and pressed a spring on the wall. She heard the "clacking" sound of the iron chain in the stone wall. After a moment, the secret door above her head slowly opened.
Only when the candlelight shone through the door could one see that it was a basement room about two meters square.
As we walked up to the ground, we saw a stone Buddha statue from the Qing Dynasty sitting on a lotus seat in front of us. The Buddha had slender bones and a clear figure, with a compassionate look on his face.
She glanced at the Buddha statue and walked out of the pagoda covered in blood.
The two people guarding the door saluted her and said, "General, water is ready in the meditation room."
Sui Sui nodded and glanced at his feet: "Please clean up the bottom."
The two men went down into the stone chamber, and one of them couldn't help vomiting when he saw the situation outside.
Sui Sui changed out of his blood-stained clothes, rinsed off the blood, and then immersed himself in the bathtub.
She avenged Huanye, but her heart was cold and desolate, like the snowy fields outside the Great Wall.
Do you dare to let him see your true face
He could have gone his whole life without seeing it, she thought.
She sat in the bathtub in a daze, not even noticing that the water had turned cold, until someone knocked on the door and whispered, "Danyue, the other Danyue has woken up."
Sui Sui suddenly came to his senses, stood up, dried his body, changed into the clothes he wore when he went out in the morning, and walked out of the meditation room.
Chun Tiao looked for her when he woke up, and was relieved when he saw her: "My lady, it's getting late, we should go back."
She yawned and rubbed her eyes: "It's strange, every time I come to Linghua Temple, I always feel sleepy."
The monk who received them the last time said with a smile, "To be honest, my monastery has some soothing herbs in its tea. You have come from a faraway place and are tired after traveling so far. After drinking this tea, you will naturally fall asleep easily."
Chun Tiao suddenly realized and said to Sui Sui: "My lady, have you prayed to the Buddha and fulfilled your wish?"
Sui Sui nodded: "I have fulfilled my wish."
Chun Tiao asked, "Did you make a new wish, madam?"
Sui Sui shook his head and said with a smile: "People should not be too greedy. If you always ask Buddha for help, Buddha will get impatient."
The two chatted and laughed as they walked out of Linghua Temple, got on a carriage, and drove towards the city.
I don’t know if I caught a cold while bathing, but I felt a chill on my back on the way back in the carriage. I didn’t even have dinner when I got home. I just quickly washed up and lay down on the bed.
She woke up in the middle of the night and felt cold all over but her throat felt like it was on fire. She got up to pour herself a cup of tea, but when she got out of bed, her legs went weak and she stumbled, knocking over the clothes rail beside the bed.
Chun Tiao heard the noise and walked in with a lamp, only to find that her face was flushed: "Madam, are you feeling unwell?"
Sui Sui said, "It's nothing. I just felt a little confused when I got out of bed and dropped something."
Chun Tiao heard her voice was hoarser than usual, so she raised her hand and touched her forehead. She was so scared that she retracted her hand. Her forehead was so hot that it burned her hand. She hurriedly helped Sui Sui to bed and said, "Madam, you have a fever. You must have caught a cold when you went out. I will ask someone to find a doctor."