"Don't put on airs like a father in front of me. I was raised by my mother. In the months since I returned to Beijing, you've been scheming against me at every turn. Do you act like a father at all? When you set fire to my house and burned my mother to death, we had no relationship whatsoever!"
"Hahaha!" Ruan Chuqing stood aside, laughing arrogantly. It was wonderful to watch the father and daughter fight each other while she was watching. This drama of a daughter beating her father was truly spectacular, absolutely spectacular.
"Shen Minghui, the number one beauty and number one talent of Qingyan tastes good, doesn't she? She is the sweetheart of the God of War of Qingyan. You're lucky to have married such a beauty and enjoy all the good fortune. I have been a great help to you."
Ruan Chuqing lowered her voice mysteriously: "Back then, after you forcibly took Lin Qingzhu and sent her back to the manor, she took a rope and tried to kill herself every day. Duke Wu suspected that things were not simple, so he ordered people to dig up all the details of those lewd men in order to find out the truth. I took the initiative and arranged everything in advance, making them give false testimonies, which cleared your suspicion and made you Lin Qingzhu's savior. Using that method to save her was a last resort. Although Duke Wu disliked you, was annoyed by you, and ignored you, he did not kill you!"
"Oh dear, what a coincidence! On that one occasion, Lin Qingzhu actually became pregnant. For the sake of the Duke of Wu's reputation, she had no choice but to marry Shen Minghui. The most beautiful woman in Qingyan, with stunning talent and beauty, praised by everyone, yet she married a poor, good-for-nothing. You have no idea how sensational this matter was back then..."
Ruan Chuqing sighed, filled with regret, but deep in her eyes flickered a hint of mockery, coldness, and disdain. So what if she was the number one beauty in Qingyan? So what if she was more famous than her? She still had to get married.
She orchestrated Lin Qingzhu's marriage to a good-for-nothing to show the world just how incompetent and pathetic their beloved fairy was. She wanted to prove to the world that she, Ruan Chuqing, was superior and more capable than Lin Qingzhu. She wanted to show that the world was blind to her, and that the War King was blind to her.
“Shen Lixue, did you hear me clearly? You are that bastard child, proof that Shen Minghui forcibly took your mother. Whenever your father sees you, he is filled with pride, while your mother is filled with humiliation.”
Shen Lixue has always considered herself superior. Hearing about her sordid birth, she would definitely feel ashamed and disgusted, and would definitely hate herself to death. She would feel that she was a symbol of humiliation, that she was a wrong existence, and that she should not have come into this world.
She loved watching Shen Lixue struggle in agony, weeping and wailing, and hating herself with a heart-wrenching intensity. This was far more satisfying than killing her with a knife.
"Ruan Chuqing, that aphrodisiac, you gave it to Shen Minghui, didn't you?" Shen Lixue suddenly stopped what she was doing, turned around to look at Ruan Chuqing, her expression was frighteningly calm, and the coldness in her eyes was like snow that never melts: "You are Lin Qingzhu's good friend, you know her menstrual cycle, and you know when she is most likely to conceive. Her pregnancy is within your expectations!"
Lin Qingzhu lost her virginity for no reason. As the God of War of the Azure Flame, Duke Wu would definitely be suspicious. Even if the testimonies of those lewd men were not problematic, he would still have doubts about Shen Minghui's character and would never allow Lin Qingzhu to marry him. However, if Lin Qingzhu was pregnant with Shen Minghui's child and could not have an abortion, she would have no choice but to marry him.
Ruan Chuqing had planned every step meticulously.
Ruan Chuqing paused for a moment, then recovered and raised an eyebrow at Shen Lixue: "You're quite clever, much smarter than your dead mother. If she had been half as capable as you back then, she wouldn't have ended up like this!"
Lin Qingzhu was corrupted by Duke Wu, her mind is incredibly simple, she has no brains at all, which is why she keeps getting herself into trouble. She is truly incompetent.
"My birth, my existence, was a disgrace to my mother, but now, I will avenge her. I will strive to make my existence a source of pride for her!"
Shen Lixue's voice was soft and slow, yet exceptionally firm. As she finished speaking, the stick in her hand fell to the ground. With a flick of her slender hand, a cyan whip appeared in her hand. With a twist of her wrist, she lashed the whip fiercely at Ruan Chuqing.
Ruan Chuqing smiled coldly and casually raised her hand to grab the whip. Unexpectedly, the whip shook off her fingers and lashed hard across her face, leaving a long, shocking bloodstain on her fair face.
"Shen Lixue!" Ruan Chuqing felt a burning pain on her face. Her fingers trembled as she touched it, finding her hand covered in blood. She screamed in shock, "How is this possible? How could you still have strength? You were clearly hit..."
"Didn't Su Yuting tell you that I have the Holy King's Palace's antidote jade?" Shen Lixue reached into her clothes and pulled out a thread. In the sunlight, the white jade crystal swallow reflected a few points of light.
With a whoosh, four bodyguards appeared out of thin air, tightly protecting Shen Lixue in the middle. The four men had stern eyes and murderous expressions, truly the bodyguards of the War King's Mansion.
"You faked being poisoned to deceive me!" After a moment of surprise, Ruan Chuqing was furious. She looked at Shen Lixue with such hatred that she wanted to devour her alive. You shameless bitch, how dare you fake being poisoned to deceive her.
"If I don't show weakness and lower your guard, how will you tell the truth?" Shen Lixue coldly looked at Shen Minghui, who was lying on the ground, seriously injured, with his eyes closed and his life hanging in the balance:
“Shen Minghui, on the way here, I gave you many chances. If you had just said a word of concern or tried to stop me from coming here, I would have let you go. But you did not hesitate and brought me here.”
“My daughter and I have done nothing to wrong you, yet you are ready to kill us at any time for your shameless purposes. You are not worthy to be my father.”
"Shut up." Shen Minghui suddenly opened his eyes and roared at Shen Lixue, "Your mother has never smiled at me since she married me. She's always cold as ice and won't even let me touch her. And your maternal grandfather has always looked down on me and has never given me a kind look. In fact, I, as your father, am not even qualified to name you. He gave you that despicable name, Lixue. How can I respect or love these two people?"
"If you had gone to the Duke of Wu's mansion to propose marriage openly and honestly back then, how could my grandfather have looked down on you? What he looked down on was not your background, but your despicable and shameless tricks. You forcibly took his daughter and forced him to marry her to you. How could he appreciate you or treat you kindly?"
Her name, Li Xue, should actually mean "leaving school" or "away from the academy." Duke Wu ruined his daughter's life by teaching Shen Minghui a problem at the academy, and he was filled with regret and guilt.
Ruan Chuqing's gaze sharpened. Shen Lixue and Shen Minghui were arguing and hadn't noticed her for the time being. She lightly touched the ground with her feet and quickly took off into the air, preparing to escape. Suddenly, her ankle tightened and she couldn't move it at all. Looking down, she saw a long blue whip tightly wrapped around her fair ankle.
Turning her head, she saw Shen Lixue holding the other end of the long whip, smiling coldly at her: "You want to leave before you've finished dealing with things!"
Ruan Chuqing's eyes turned cold, and with a flick of her slender hand, she unleashed a powerful palm strike at Shen Lixue: "You're courting death!"
The four secret guards of the War King's Mansion quickly surrounded Shen Lixue to protect her. Ruan Chuqing's four secret guards rushed over and engaged in a fierce battle with the four secret guards of the War King's Mansion. The four of them were evenly matched in martial arts, and with four against four and the same number of people, it was difficult to determine a winner for a time. Naturally, they could not get away to help Shen Lixue or Ruan Chuqing.
Shen Lixue retracted her whip, dodged Ruan Chuqing's palm strike, and flicked her wrist repeatedly: "Crack! Crack! Crack!" The crisp whip lashed Ruan Chuqing's face, leaving deep welts.
"Ahhh, how is this possible, how is this possible..." Ruan Chuqing's long sword was knocked to the ground, her slender figure kept dodging, and she quickly resisted by moving her arms.
But the whip seemed to have eyes, always finding a way to strike her face where she couldn't stop it. A burning pain shot through her face, and without even looking in a mirror, she knew she was unrecognizable: "Your martial arts are clearly inferior to mine!"
Shen Lixue's martial arts skills were indeed inferior to Ruan Chuqing's, but she did not know that there was a power in this world called anger. When a person is extremely angry, unimaginable and incredible things will happen.
"My face, my face!" Ruan Chuqing screamed in terror as she dodged the whip. Her most cherished and proudest feature was her face.
"You, a person like you, still have any shame!" The second most beautiful woman in the capital, is that it? You're beautiful, aren't you? You should be liked by everyone, right? She'll ruin that beautiful face so you can stop being so arrogant, stop trampling on others, and stop being so overbearing.
With a whooshing sound, Shen Lixue instantly appeared in front of Ruan Chuqing, her eyes dark and brooding. She grabbed Ruan Chuqing's collar and began whipping her face, which was covered in whip marks.
"Slap slap slap!" Accompanied by the crisp sound of slaps, Ruan Chuqing's pretty face was slapped to the side, then to the side, then to the side again.
Shen Lixue's calm yet chilling question suddenly rang out: "Ruan Chuqing, you are treacherous and wicked, you have done countless evil deeds. What color is your heart? Is it black? Let me dig it out and see."
When faced with a critical moment, she felt no gratitude whatsoever for pushing her best friend away from danger, instead plotting and scheming to drive Lin Qingzhu to the brink of despair. Such a person's heart is hard, like stone, devoid of any warmth.
Ruan Chuqing was shocked, a cold glint flashing in her eyes. Shen Lixue held a gleaming dagger against her chest. Through her clothes, she could clearly feel the chill emanating from the dagger and the increasing pressure Shen Lixue was applying to the hilt.
Shen Lixue wasn't joking; she really intended to rip out Ruan Chuqing's heart.
"You dare!" Ruan Chuqing roared, trying to intimidate her, but a layer of cold sweat broke out on her forehead. Shen Lixue wanted to kill her, she really wanted to kill her.
"A person as despicable and shameless as you doesn't deserve to live in this world. Killing you is doing the people a favor, so what wouldn't I dare to do!" Shen Lixue said each word slowly and deliberately, gritting her teeth, and suddenly thrust the dagger in her hand forward.
"Whoosh!" A sharp sword aura suddenly struck. Shen Lixue was startled, quickly withdrew the dagger that had just pierced Ruan Chuqing's clothes, and turned to dodge.
"Mother, are you alright?" A slender figure, holding a long sword, gently landed beside Ruan Chuqing and quickly supported her. Her face was covered with crisscrossing whip marks, a unique feature of Su Yuting.
"It's okay, it's okay!" Ruan Chuqing patted her chest, still shaken. She had just narrowly escaped death.
"Mom, your face!" Su Yuting exclaimed in surprise when she saw the fresh whip marks on Ruan Chuqing's beautiful face.