Shiliang was of course going to expose the matter of raising the gu poison. She understood perfectly well Han Ziqing’s stubborn temperament—once the truth about the poison-raising came out and humiliated her, she would only refuse to raise it all the more!
Of course she would only give up the Empress of Eastern Qin, not Xuanyuan Lige. She wished with all her heart that Xuanyuan Lige would take Han Ziqing far, far away—away from Jun Beiyue!
Both of them had once been beggars, fighting dogs for scraps of food, climbing up step by step from nothing. Why was it that Han Ziqing got to be the mistress, the princess consort, while she could only be a servant, only be used to raise poison in service of Han Ziqing?
She was not the least bit willing to accept it!
Hearing Shiliang’s words, Ziqing was so furious she nearly spat blood. She had never imagined that the very girl she had raised with her own hands would think this way!
Think this of her—think this of what existed between them!
Indeed, there was a saying in the mercenary world: raise a wolf cub, and it will one day bite the tiger that fed it.
“Loyal to the Empress of Eastern Qin! Very good, very good indeed!” Ziqing spoke word by word, her praise cold and biting. “Shiliang, well done. Loyal to the Empress of Eastern Qin, repaying kindness with betrayal—do you have any idea you nearly got Jun Beiyue killed in the Guyue Cave?!”
That Shiliang had harmed her, she could accept—after all, she had been blind, had raised a tiger only to invite disaster upon herself. That much she could stomach.
But for this girl to have the shamelessness to openly declare her loyalty to the Empress of Eastern Qin, in this very courtyard—she would never allow anyone to say such a thing!
Nearly got Jun Beiyue killed?
Shiliang was struck with shock. How could that be?
What exactly had happened in the Guyue Cave? Xuanyuan Lige, and even Xuanyuan Zhaoxi, had both promised her that only Han Ziqing would be doomed beyond redemption—that Jun Beiyue would not be harmed!
Shiliang stood frozen, and it was in that instant that Ziqing suddenly raised her hand and struck her across the face with a sharp crack.
Caught completely off guard, Shiliang staggered back several steps before regaining her footing. Heedless of everything else, she flared with rage. “You hit me!”
“So what if I hit you? I’ll hit you for being disloyal and unrighteous, for being an ungrateful wretch who repays kindness with betrayal! I’ll hit you for being shameless, for having no sense of your own place!”
Ziqing’s fury raged like a flood. “Shiliang, let me tell you—that you betrayed me is my own failure. Whatever you want to do, direct it at me. But if you dare set your sights on Jun Beiyue, I will never let you off!”
With that, she raised her hand to strike again. But this time Shiliang reached out and caught her wrist. “Don’t lecture me about loyalty and righteousness, Han Ziqing. You and I both came from begging on the streets. You told me yourself you once lived a life worse than a dog’s. What gives you the right to rise to the heavens while I stay where I am? You’re nothing more than someone who happened to meet Prince Yao before I did, someone with a little more luck than me, that’s all!”
Ziqing was so enraged she was gasping for breath. “Let go!” she said coldly.
“Don’t put on airs with me like you’re my mistress. Without Prince Yao, you’d be nothing!” Shiliang said coldly, trying to wrench her hand free from Ziqing’s grip. When she couldn’t manage it, she grew bold enough to raise her other hand and swing it straight at Ziqing’s face!
Ziqing hadn’t expected this at all. Even Yingzi, standing to the side, was stunned into stillness. In that split second of crisis, Guxi lunged forward and seized Shiliang’s hand. “That’s enough out of you!”
Ziqing let go at once and stumbled back a few steps, staring at Shiliang in disbelief, genuinely feeling that she had failed utterly. She let out a cold, bitter laugh. “So it turns out—it turns out my humble little shrine was never big enough to hold a great Buddha like you.”
Shiliang wrenched her hand free from Guxi’s grip and sneered coldly in return. “If Her Highness the Princess Consort wants to drive Shiliang out, just say so plainly. Why bother with such false modesty?”
Those words were truly infuriating, choking in the chest. Not to mention Ziqing—even Guxi and Yingzi couldn’t bear to listen anymore. Guxi seized Shiliang’s hand again. “That’s enough! Do you still want to break our mistress’s heart? In what way has she ever wronged you?”
“Let go of me. You want to be someone else’s dog forever—I don’t!” Shiliang snapped viciously.
“Watch your mouth!” Guxi, now truly angered, raised his hand to strike her too. But Shiliang wasn’t afraid—she thrust her face forward to meet the blow. “Go ahead, hit me! Remember what you once told me? You said I had no father, no mother, but I had you, and you would never let anyone bully me. Do you remember that? Go on, hit me!”
Guxi clenched his teeth, but in the end he could not bring himself to swing his hand down. This girl and he had shared too much hardship together, too much weathered side by side. His heart ached more than even his mistress’s.
He finally flung his hand hard to the side and turned his head away, fists clenched, the veins standing out along his neck in ridges. Seeing this only made Ziqing’s heart ache all the more.
She slammed her palm down and rose to her feet, pointing furiously at the dog door beside the entrance. “Shiliang, I have never once kept a dog under my command. If you believe yourself to be a dog, then crawl out through that dog door and get out!”
As for Wuzheng—since she had already been traded away, there was no getting her back through Shiliang now. Ziqing wanted this girl gone from her sight this very instant. As for the matter of raising the poison—she didn’t care about it in the least anymore.
Perhaps she could still accept help or sacrifice offered by a friend. But a gift from a traitor—she would rather die than accept it!
“Get out!” Ziqing roared, all the fury she had been suppressing finally erupting at once, her delicate face gone cold and terrifying. “Get out, do you hear me?! Get out! Go back to being your beggar self! This princess consort is giving you the chance—let’s see just how far you can crawl! Get out, crawl all the way back to your Empress of Eastern Qin!”
Shiliang wanted to say more, wanted to argue, but Ziqing wouldn’t listen, had no wish to reason with her any further.
There was no longer any point in speaking with, or arguing with, someone like her.
Guxi turned his head away, drawing a deep breath through his nose, saying nothing. Yingzi’s face was full of fury as he blocked the front gate, absolutely refusing to let Shiliang pass through it.
To be compared to a dog beneath the princess consort’s heel—Shiliang had insulted not only herself, but every single brother and sister of the Prince Yao’s household!
Damn dog indeed!
Yingzi turned and bolted the door, then spread his arms wide, glaring furiously at Shiliang.
“Han Ziqing, you… if you have the guts, kill me!” Shiliang said coldly. She had calculated that Han Ziqing wouldn’t do it—of course she needed to keep herself alive. The Empress of Eastern Qin would not take her in again, and Jun Beiyue would certainly never forgive her. Her only path left was to seek out her true master, Xuanyuan Lige.
“Kill you?” Ziqing let out a cold laugh. Truly, she would not kill her—killing a dog like this would only dirty her own hands.
“This princess consort only kills people, not dogs! Get out this instant! If staying here is so painful for you, then don’t shamelessly cling to it any longer! Get out! Don’t make me ‘invite’ you to leave!” Ziqing said coldly, driving her out.
But who could have known—at that very moment, Guxi suddenly drew his sword without warning. “Your Highness, if she wants to die, I will grant her wish. On behalf of all of us beggar children from the western outskirts, I will kill this disloyal, unrighteous traitor!”
With that, the sharp blade flashed with a metallic ring and truly lunged straight at Shiliang. Shiliang’s heart pounded wildly in her chest, but still she gambled—even as Han Ziqing turned her head away, she still gambled that Han Ziqing would cry out to stop it. This was Ziqing’s soft spot—for anyone she trusted, she would surely soften in the end!
She also gambled that Guxi, who had always looked after her so carefully, wouldn’t truly be so ruthless.
But she was wrong. She had never truly understood Han Ziqing and Guxi at all. Han Ziqing did not turn back, and Guxi’s blade plunged straight into her neck. Blood welled up instantly!
At last, Shiliang panicked. She stumbled back several steps, clutching at her neck, staring straight at Guxi. “You…”