Zhao Qinghui had never been treated like this since he was a child. His legs and feet were tied together, his mouth was gagged with dirty cloth, and he was stuffed into a sack and then put into a bamboo cage.
Then he heard footsteps fading away, the door curtain swished, and there was no more movement.
He wanted to make a sound, but only a little whimpering came out of his throat. Even if someone walked into the room, they might not be able to hear it.
His heart was filled with hatred, and he had only one thought in his mind: when he got out, he would tear Huan Xuan and the dog slave who betrayed him into pieces.
He didn't dare to think about Ruan Yuewei, nor did he dare to think about what she had said. In his heart, there was a statue as pure as ice and jade. As soon as he thought about it, a piece of the statue would peel off, revealing the clay inside.
When one is waiting, time always passes very slowly. Everything in front of his eyes is dark, he feels hungry and thirsty, his muscles and bones ache, it feels like hundreds of hours have passed, but in fact, only less than an hour has passed.
He really wanted to close his eyes and sleep for a while, but this posture was too uncomfortable and he couldn't fall asleep at all. He could only suffer.
The chrysanthemum viewing party was still going on outside, and occasionally the faint sounds of music and singing drifted over and were caught by his ears.
He was so exhausted that his blood was almost dried up. Finally, someone walked into the room, lifted him up and walked out.
He heard the courtyard gate creak. After walking a little further, he began to hear a noise: footsteps, the sound of carriages, and greetings, which became more and more frequent.
He was thrown onto a hardwood board, his shoulders and hips were almost broken, but he couldn't even utter a groan.
Did he know that it was late in the night and the party was over, and his mother would come out
Just as I was thinking about it, I heard a familiar voice with a crying tone saying: "My lord, please stay. Thank you for helping me search for the dog today..."
The eldest princess said, "Don't worry, Mrs. Ruan. It's a pity that I couldn't help."
Then came a soft and gentle voice: "Don't worry, aunt. My cousin may have changed his mind at the last minute and decided where to go. I have already told His Majesty the Grand Historian and asked the guards of the Eastern Palace to go look for him. The Jingzhao Prefecture and the Jinwu Guards have also been there. It must be a false alarm. Maybe when you return home, my cousin will have arrived first."
The wife of Duke Wu'an said, "Thanks to the Grand Princess and the Dowager Consort, my husband has gone to the camp, and there is no one in charge at home, I am at a loss..."
Ruan Yuewei said: "What did you say, aunt? My cousin is my biological brother. Aunt, please don't be so distant with me..."
She choked up as she spoke: "I just hope my cousin can be found soon, so that my aunt can rest in peace sooner..."
Zhao Qinghui's eyes widened to the point of nearly bleeding. He twisted his body in the car with all his might, whimpering in his throat in an attempt to attract his mother's attention. However, they could not hear anything because of the neighing of horses at the door.
The servant driving the carriage whipped the bamboo cage and said, "This wild boar is really restless!"
The wheels rumbled and my mother's voice became farther and farther away.
Zhao Qinghui had always looked down on his mother. He looked down on anyone, especially those who obeyed his orders.
However, at this moment he felt a long-lost attachment and only hoped that his mother would find him, save him and take him back.
But no one could hear the cry from the bottom of his heart, and despair rose up little by little like water, flooding over his head.
The car went around in circles in the mountains. Zhao Qinghui stopped crying and listened attentively to the movements around him, trying to tell when to cross the bridge and when to walk along the stream, wondering where he would be taken.
Gradually he could no longer remember and simply stopped caring about it.
After an unknown amount of time, the car stopped and he was lifted up again.
They carried him a long way and then dropped him with a thump on the cold, hard ground.
They treated him like livestock, which was how he always treated others. It was fun to treat others as livestock, but it was not so fun to be livestock himself.
Someone opened the bamboo cage, untied the rope at the mouth of the sack, and poured him out of the sack.
The surroundings were dark, with only a kerosene lamp emitting a dim light, the halo of light could only illuminate a small area.
A man slowly walked into the halo, but the light only reached his waist. The gold-woven patterns on the corners of his robe flickered slightly in the light. The hair hanging at his sides was tall and white, with distinct joints, like jagged white stones.
His face was still hidden in the darkness, but Zhao Qinghui already knew who he was.
Someone untied the handkerchief on his mouth and took out the dirty cloth that was used to gag him.
Zhao Qinghui felt a musty taste in his mouth. He retched and spat out a mouthful of saliva, then sneered, "Do you think you can alienate me and my cousin by doing this?"
His voice was like poison: "I did all these things for her willingly, I won't... I will never blame her... You want to kill me with a borrowed knife, do you think I will hurt her when I get out? You wish... You can kill me or chop me up as you please, but don't even think about asking me to betray my cousin!"
He became more and more excited as he spoke, his eyes flashing with fanaticism: "Your feelings for Atang are not worth mentioning at all. You easily changed your heart for a bitch. You don't deserve to say that you love her. I am the one who truly admires her until death, no matter what she is like, no matter what she becomes..."
"You are such a person that you would betray and abandon her for a fake. You are not worthy of her at all..." Zhao Qinghui's eyes shot out a vicious light, "How are you better than me? You couldn't get Atang, so you found yourself a fake. You mistook the fake for the pearl, and you deserve that you can't even keep the fake! Don't you like her? I tell you, she was killed by you! Hahaha..."
He laughed crazily for a while, hissing in his throat, "It's a pity that burning her to death is too easy for her. Do you know what fate I originally planned for her? I will cut off her tendons and sell her to Lingnan to be the lowest and most despicable prostitute, to be ridden by thousands of men. How can such a lowly woman with that face live like this? I want her life to be worse than death, haha!"
"Kill me if you dare. As long as I can get out alive, I will cut you into pieces!"
He cursed for a while, laughed for a while, and cried for a while. His face was dry and wet that day, and was covered with traces of tears.
The man hidden in the darkness remained silent all the time. He just looked down at him, as cold as the everlasting ice and snow on the top of a mountain.
Zhao Qinghui finally got tired of cursing. His voice felt dry and hoarse as if it had been torn apart, and he could not think of any new words to curse.
The figure in the halo moved slightly, and then the man in the darkness spoke: "Have you finished what you want to say?"
The voice was cold and distant, as if it came from a distant mountain top, without any emotion at all.
Zhao Qinghui's heart was immediately filled with hatred and jealousy. He was jealous of this superior man, jealous of his ease and composure. He also heard what Ruan Yuewei said, so how could he remain indifferent
His teeth were chattering with hatred.
Huan Xuan ignored him and continued, "Now that you have finished speaking, it is my turn to speak. Why not tell me the end I have prepared for you?"
He paused and said, "You will be given a mute drug, your right leg, which you are so proud of, will be chopped off, and then you will be sold to Yangzhou, to become a lowly and humble male prostitute, to be ridden by thousands of men."
Zhao Qinghui's eyes widened, and then he laughed: "Impossible, you are trying to scare me. If you dare to do anything bad to me, my father and mother will never let you go if they know. Do you dare to offend my Wu'an Mansion?"
Huan Xuan chuckled, as if he had never heard such a funny joke in his life.
"I haven't finished yet," he continued, "In a day or two, a salt merchant will bring you to the capital and give you to your father, Wu'an Duke Zhao Jun, who loves the south wind. By then, the whole of Chang'an will know about your family's scandal."
"You're talking nonsense!" Zhao Qinghui's eyes were almost on fire.
"Have you never thought about why your father gave birth to you when he was over 40 years old? And you are the only one?" Huan Xuan said.
Zhao Qinghui's face turned pale and blue, and after a while he said, "The homosexuality is not a big deal, there are many such things in the rich families... If you hurt me like this, my father and mother will not let you go!"
"The homosexuality is indeed not a big deal," Huan Xuan nodded, "Then is it a big deal if you fail to win the imperial examination and endanger your life?"
Zhao Qinghui couldn't help but be horrified: "You are spitting blood!"
Huan Xuan said: "You will know whether it is true or false after a while."
He paused and said, "I hope you will remember what you said later. Don't forget every bit of torture you endured. You were willing to endure it for Ruan Yuewei."
The hand in the halo was slightly raised and waved gently.
There were footsteps sounds beside Zhao Qinghui.
Someone used a fire to light a candle on the wall, then the second, the third...
Soon the candles on the four walls were lit, making the small room as bright as a snow cave.
Zhao Qinghui squinted his eyes unconsciously, and it took him a while to adjust. When he saw clearly where he was, he was shocked.
A familiar voice laughed and said, "Shi yi, look where this is?"
Zhao Qinghui's heart skipped a beat: "Zhao Changbai, you damned dog slave! I will never let you go!"
This is a stone chamber built underground. The four walls are made of thick stone slabs. A row of copper candlesticks are inlaid on the walls. When all the candles are lit, the room is as bright as day.
The candlelight illuminated every corner clearly, including the chains on the wall, the various torture instruments on the stone platform beside the wall, and the brown bloodstains that had seeped into the wall and could not be washed off.
Zhao Qinghui liked to see people being tortured, the clearer the better, so he placed many candlesticks here - this was a torture chamber he found and built himself, located underground in a farm in the southern suburbs, and only his most trusted people knew about it.
He never expected that he would be brought here, and then a feeling of despair arose in his heart.
This stone chamber was specially used by him to torture his "prey". It was built deep underground and his farms were within a radius of ten miles. No matter how loudly he shouted, no one would hear him.
Moreover, only his most trusted followers knew about this place. Even his parents knew nothing about it and it was impossible for them to find this place. Even if he was locked up here for a while, I'm afraid no one would think of him coming here.
The last most useful relative died here, and it was at that time that Zhao Changbai learned the secret.
Zhao Qinghui cursed loudly: "You dog slave, I have never treated you unfairly, why are you betraying me and harming me?"
Zhao Changbai sneered, his eyes gradually reddened: "The world will naturally not take our lowly affairs to heart. Do you remember the time when you broke the back of a boy in August? His wound festered and he died. He was my own brother!"
As he spoke, he picked up a narrow-mouthed pot, walked to Zhao Qinghui, squatted down, pinched his chin, and forced the spout of the pot into his mouth: "I will serve you ginseng soup, you should drink more, or you will not be able to survive the chopping. When you get to Yangzhou, I will serve you well and make sure you return to the capital safely and reunite with your father."
Only then did Zhao Changbai seem to realize that they were not trying to scare him, and that all this was not a nightmare but the absolute reality.
Huan Xuan picked up a set of long needles from the stone table and said calmly, "I heard that Zhao Shiyi is proficient in acupuncture and moxibustion. I would like to ask you for your advice."
As he spoke, he pulled out the needle and pierced his several major acupuncture points one by one: "I heard that this way, no matter how much torture you suffer, you won't faint from the pain."
Zhao Qinghui finally realized how frightened he was. His face turned grayer than the stone wall, and he began to tremble like a sieve, with tears pouring down his face like heavy rain.
He always chopped off other people's legs, so it naturally wouldn't feel very good when his own legs were chopped off.
"Remember," Huan Xuan drew his sword from its sheath, the blade gleaming coldly in the candlelight, and his voice was as cold as the blade, "You are willing to suffer this for her."