"I don't understand?" I said, frowning and looking disappointed.
“You don’t need to know,” Youlan said, a complex light flashing in her eyes as she looked at my disheveled appearance.
"Why? Tell me!" I struggled violently, trying to break free of the ropes and get a reason from her.
"Kill her," Youlan glanced at me indifferently, then turned and commanded Baili Xinru.
I was stunned. Youlan wanted to kill me. She wanted to kill me. I felt a desolation, helplessness, and pain in my heart. Friends? What was it? Why were you all treating me like this? What did I do wrong? It turns out that in your hearts, I, your friend, was someone you wanted to get rid of from the very beginning. But why could you still smile so hypocritically? Why?
"I'm telling you, Zixue, stop struggling. You can't escape. And Wen Youlan, who do you think you are? What gives you the right to order me around?" Seeing my expression, Baili Xinru was very satisfied. She gave me a haughty laugh and then looked at Youlan with anger.
"Miss Baili, kill her," Youlan softened her tone. She couldn't afford to anger her now; she still had some use.
Baili Xinru nodded in satisfaction, then looked at me sharply and said, "We can't let her die like that. I want her to suffer a fate worse than death."
At that moment, I was still lost in my own thoughts, paying no attention to their conversation or listening to their plans to deal with me.
"Zixue, didn't I tell you? You're in my hands now!" Baili Xinru saw my absent-minded look and thought I was disrespecting her. She got angry and grabbed my hair.
I felt a sharp pain on my scalp and stared blankly at Baili Xinru, who was grabbing my hair. The emptiness in her eyes terrified Baili Xinru.
"What are you looking at?" Baili Xinru shouted at me with a grin.
"Kill her!" Youlan took a sword from among the horrifying instruments of torture and threw it into Baili Xinru's hands.
Baili Xinru squinted at the sword in her hand, then looked at Youlan, who still stood there with an air of otherworldly elegance, and said, "Didn't I say I wanted her to suffer a fate worse than death?" She wanted to shatter Wen Youlan's noble and virtuous image, which was disgusting to look at.
"That's not what you said before. You said you'd kill her if you caught her." Just as Baili Xinru had imagined, Youlan panicked. She couldn't allow any mistakes to happen.
"Hmph, you said it was before, but now I've changed my mind." Releasing my hair, Baili Xinru approached Youlan with a sinister smile.
"You killed her," Youlan said, her heart pounding as she looked at the terrifying Baili Xinru before her.
"Heh, do you really think you can touch me? You underestimate me, Zixue." Now that things have come to this, I can't stay trapped in this pain any longer. After all, they've started discussing how to kill me.
"What do you mean?" Baili Xinru stopped in her tracks and turned to look at me with a puzzled expression.
"Do you really think you've covered your tracks perfectly?" I mocked the two self-righteous women in front of me.
"What are you saying?" Baili Xinru looked at me with fear and trepidation.
"You seem to have overlooked someone," I kindly reminded them.
"Who?" Baili Xinru asked me urgently.
I turned my gaze to my old friend Youlan, watching her furrow her brows in deep worry, then suddenly realize something, before her face turned ashen.
"She knows," I said with a smile, pleased with Youlan's expression.
"Who is she talking about?" Baili Xinru wasn't stupid; she knew exactly what Wen Youlan's expression meant. She grabbed Youlan's shoulders and shook her violently.
"Young Master Jue," Youlan uttered with difficulty.
"What?" Baili lost her footing and braced herself on the table with her hands. Her hair stood on end and she was sweating profusely.
It seems the shock it gave them was strong enough; look how frightened they were.
"No, you're lying." Baili Xinru heard that there was still no sound outside, but this added to her inexplicable fear.
"Hehe, let me tell you something else." I looked at Baili Xinru with a dismissive smile, and looked at them with a ghostly grin.
Seeing them staring at me with tense nerves, the sadness in my heart was instantly replaced by joy, but the wound in my heart could not be healed.
"Actually, I was deliberately captured by you," I slowly uttered each word, successfully seeing their eyes widen and their whole bodies tremble.
"I'll tell you later," I said leisurely, looking at their pale faces.
"I was captured by you as part of a plan to lure the mastermind behind it all. But I was genuinely drugged by you, which I never expected. What I didn't expect even more was that the two of you were the mastermind. It's truly terrifying!"
"Kill her, quickly!" Youlan cried out to Baili Xinru in a panic. She was no longer as calm as when she first arrived; her chaotic mind was filled with thoughts of killing me.
"Okay, okay..." Baili Xinru walked towards me with her sword in her trembling hands, her pupils filled with fear, all traces of her previous arrogance gone.
The door was flung open with a bang, and Jue, Xingyi, and the Prime Minister appeared outside. The bright moonlight shone on them, and I felt how sacred they looked!
With a clang, Baili Xinru's hand trembled, and the sword fell to the ground. He slumped to the ground, staring at the unexpected scene.
"Now, does the Prime Minister still want to say that Miss Xinru did not kidnap Lady Jue?" Xingyi looked at this old man who still dreamed of sitting on his throne with sarcasm.
"This old minister deserves to die; this old minister has failed in his duty to educate his daughter," the prime minister knelt on the ground, but I could see the sinister ruthlessness and anger flashing in his eyes.
"Don't come any closer, or I'll kill her!" When no one was paying attention, Youlan Cheng grabbed a sword from the ground and held it to my neck.
"Release her!" Jue's eyes were filled with a dark cloud, as if a thunderous rage was about to burst forth. His slightly worried and tense gaze made the murderous aura around him reach its extreme.
"Don't come any closer, Young Master Jue. Others may be afraid of you, but I, Wen Youlan, am not." Youlan was timid, like a chick exposed to an eagle, but she suppressed her fear and pressed the sword even closer to my neck.
"Let her go," Jue said again, but this time her tone was colder.
The night was deep, the air thick with a suffocating smell, and the world sank into shadow.
Before Youlan could react, Xiaowu appeared out of nowhere, snatched the sword from Youlan's hand, and kicked her, causing Youlan to fall to the ground.
"Miss, are you alright?" Xiao Wu untied the ropes for me and worriedly checked my body for any injuries. When she saw the redness and swelling on my lips and face, she drew her sword and was about to kill Youlan.
"Xiao Wu, stop! You Lan didn't hit your face!" I quickly pulled Xiao Wu back, not wanting to regret it again.
Xiao Wu looked at me seriously, nodded, and then took her sword to kill Baili Xinru.
I was completely bewildered when I saw her sword pointing at Baili Xinru. My head was spinning. I was stopping her from killing Youlan, not from killing Baili Xinru. Why couldn't she understand?
I grabbed her again and said plaintively, "Xiao Wu, I don't want you to kill her."
"Miss, who do you want me to kill?" Xiao Wu shouted at me angrily.
I hesitated for a moment, then said, "Don't kill anyone."
"Hmph," Xiao Wu pouted and turned her head away from me.
I knew she had stopped killing, so I breathed a sigh of relief and released her. I said to Xingyi, "Arrest them all."
"Arrest them!" Xingyi waved her hand, signaling the guards behind her to come in and arrest them.
"It's alright," Jue said as I watched them arrest people, walking up to me and hugging me tightly.
"Yes, I'm sorry to have worried you," she said, leaning against Jue's chest and looking up into his deep eyes.
Chapter 54
The dark, deep dungeon reeked of a foul stench. Flickering firelight barely illuminated the steps. Here, the prisoners, struggling endlessly, gradually succumbed to their physical and mental exhaustion, living like walking corpses in this sunless dungeon. They didn't know whether it was day or night outside, because the dungeon would never see sunlight, only pitch blackness. They were empty shells, with no future.
Carefully stepping on the slightly damp steps, Xiao Wu held a torch in one hand and supported me with the other, afraid that I might accidentally fall.
The jailer led the way, and the endless darkness made me a little uneasy. Youlan was imprisoned here. How ironic that woman, who seemed to be different from the crowd, was now trapped here!
Since that night, I've never understood why Youlan hates me. Hatred shouldn't exist between her and me. I can understand Jie'er hating me, but where does Youlan's hatred come from?
Finally, I learned the whole truth from Xiao Wu. Perhaps Jue knew the questions in my heart, which is why he asked Xiao Wu to tell me.
—Wen Youlan, daughter of the Wen family and the Minister, who dotes on her because she is his only daughter. Despite this upbringing, Youlan doesn't develop a spoiled, arrogant temperament; instead, she possesses an ethereal beauty. She has a childhood sweetheart named Han Lin, with whom she has a deep and innocent bond. Youlan has always hoped to marry Han Lin when she grew up. When Youlan was twelve, Han Lin went out to work with his father and became a successful merchant in the Xing Kingdom, holding a significant position—a position often coveted by the royal family. At this time, the palace issued an edict to select a consort for the Xing Kingdom, and this edict also reached the Wen family. The Minister wanted Youlan to enter the palace, but she refused. Enraged, the Minister imprisoned her. However, with the help of Xiao Ying, Youlan escaped and found Han Lin, telling him about her situation and expressing her wish for him to marry her. Although this would allow her to avoid the palace's pursuit, Youlan had always hoped to marry this man since childhood. Unexpectedly, Han Lin refused and even instigated Youlan to enter the palace as a spy to gather intelligence and prevent the palace from targeting the Han family. The 15-year-old Youlan naively believed Han Lin's words and obediently married into the palace, passing on information from the palace to Han Lin outside. This went on for three years. When Youlan turned 18, news of Han Lin's death arrived. It turned out that Jue had become a merchant and gradually swallowed up the assets of many merchants. Han Lin was driven mad and died by Jue in this way.
Although I was shocked when I heard this story, Xiao Wu told me something even more shocking: Han Lin wasn't forced to his death by Jue. He overestimated himself and tried to use his beauty to lure Jue into cooperating with him, but he didn't expect to be killed before he could carry out his plan. The reason for this is unknown. I asked Xiao Wu many times, but she couldn't give me a clear answer either. Also, what does this have to do with You Lan wanting to kill me? That's why I'm in this dungeon now.
Listening to the dripping sound, he slowly walked to where the jailer was standing.
Through the firelight, you could see Youlan crouching in the corner, her head buried in her knees.
"Youlan..." In this secluded and deep dungeon, my cry sounded so long and drawn out.
"What are you doing here?" Youlan didn't move, her low voice coming from between her knees.
"Why did you do that?" His face looked so pale and weak in the firelight.
Youlan didn't speak. Looking at the person squatting in the corner, my heart was breaking. Pain kept tormenting me. What could have caused her to have such a terrible thought of killing me?
"Say something! Why? Why did you do this to me?" I yelled at her, gripping the cage bars, which rattled as I shook them.
"You deserve to die." The head buried in her knees lifted, and a haggard face came into my view. The wounds in her eyes were no less than mine. I knew that she was having a hard time here, just like me.
"For Han Lin?" I said with difficulty, drawing out the words.
"You have no right to call him by his name," he said, his eyes flashing with an uncontrollable rage, like an enraged lion.
"He doesn't deserve what you're doing," I said, even louder than her, unable to contain myself any longer.
"Get out of here!" She suddenly ran to the railing, looking at me like a madwoman. Xiao Wu immediately pulled me away.
"He doesn't love you at all!" I pulled Xiaowu's hand away and roared angrily.
"Don't talk nonsense, get out of here!" Youlan's eyes darkened, then suddenly flashed, before turning pitch black again, followed by an uncontrollable rage.
"If he loves you, why would he let you into the palace? If he loves you, why wouldn't he marry you?" Looking at the stubborn Youlan in front of me, I was extremely angry.
“He did it for our future. He said he would marry me, as long as he succeeds.” Youlan murmured to herself as she listened to my question, her tone revealing uncertainty.
"He doesn't love you, you can be sure of that yourself, so why run away from it?" I admit I was pressuring her, forcing her to see Han Lin for who he really is.
"Yes, it was Young Master Jue who told you to say that. Do you know why I killed you? Because Young Master Jue killed the person I loved. I want him to taste what it feels like to lose a lover." Youlan's face became ugly and unbearable. Her twisted mind shaped her current appearance. She was no longer the Youlan I knew.
"Aren't we friends?" I pleaded sadly, begging her to be rational.
"Friends, what a ridiculous word! Don't you know? There has never been such a thing as friends in the palace." Youlan looked at me with complicated emotions, and her cruel words tore my heart apart.
"How could you say that?" I struggled to stand, and Xiao Wu helped me up.
"Why can't I say that? Only an idiot like you would believe that you and I are friends. As for me, all I need to do is kill you." A disdainful look, with hatred surging from his eyes.
“You’re crazy,” I said, looking at him gravely.
"Hahaha, that's right, I've gone mad. He killed Han Lin, so I'll make you pay with your life." He looked at me with a sneer, his face contorted with rage.
“He didn’t kill Han Lin. Han Lin was killed by someone else.” I looked at her calmly and decided to tell her the truth.
"You're talking nonsense!" she gritted her teeth, as if she wanted to tear me to pieces.
"It's true." I don't want her to die with this lie. Yes, Youlan was sentenced by Xingyi to five days of execution.
"This is what Young Master Jue said again," Youlan said, looking at me with disdain.
"You don't believe me? Fine, I'll let you meet someone." I sighed and asked Xiaowu to bring her in.