Speaking of that night, when Scholar Xie and Mochou returned home, Scholar Xie’s parents were furious. They beat the two mercilessly right outside the door, refusing to let Mochou enter the house.

How could the neighbors not come out to watch the excitement? The commotion escalated, with neighbors pointing and gossiping. Scholar Xie’s parents, unable to save face, returned inside, leaving the two locked outside.

Mochou and Scholar Xie discussed the situation. She still had some silver given by her sisters, so they might as well rent a room outside first, then find a way to gain his parents’ approval.

Scholar Xie had no other choice at this point and had to agree.

Just as the two were about to leave, Baihe from Guixiang House came looking for them, begging Mochou to return.

She said that client had come and, not seeing Mochou, was now making trouble for the madam and the sisters in the house. If Mochou didn’t return to kowtow and admit her mistake, a beating and scolding would be inevitable.

When Baihe revealed the client’s identity, Mochou was greatly shocked.

The person was actually Great Wei’s Prince Zhennan’s heir, Pei Fengji.

Mochou gritted her teeth and decided to return. Scholar Xie refused, angrily saying, “Since you’ve already left, you have no more connection with that kind of place. Going back—wouldn’t that be like a sheep entering a tiger’s mouth?”

Mochou smiled bitterly, “In your view, Guixiang House is ‘that kind of place,’ but it’s still where I was born and raised. I can’t implicate my sisters. I repeat—I will never betray you.”

She still left with Baihe.

Scholar Xie gritted his teeth and followed.

Pei Fengji found Guixiang House too noisy, so the madam arranged the banquet at her private residence.

She had two other courtesans equal in fame to Mochou—Baihe and Huamei—serve him.

When Mochou returned, she saw several men standing in the room, fine food and wine on the table, Pei Fengji drinking alone, while the madam and Huamei knelt on the ground, trembling with fear.

Mochou knelt to serve tea and admit her mistake, but Pei Fengji didn’t accept it. He raised his eyebrows with a smile, glancing at his bodyguards.

Two guards immediately seized Scholar Xie, who stood at the door glaring angrily but unable to do anything.

Mochou was greatly alarmed. Before she could finish saying “What are you doing?” Pei Fengji drew his sword and thrust it into Scholar Xie’s chest.

The thrust wasn’t actually deep, but the sound of the blade entering flesh and bone was terrifying. Scholar Xie’s eyes widened as he stared down at his chest where blood flowed steadily, his whole body trembling.

Pei Fengji laughed upon seeing this, “Oh, young master, surely you understand—when the madam beat you before, it was just intimidation. She didn’t dare truly harm you, as causing a death would hurt her business. But I’m different. Killing you would be like killing an ant. If you leave immediately, I might spare your life.”

Mochou’s eyes reddened with bitter anger. If not for being tightly restrained by Pei Fengji’s two subordinates, she would have rushed over. Hearing this, she shouted loudly, “This is Great Zhou! Even if you’re a state guest, our nation has laws—you can’t do as you please!”

Pei Fengji’s eyes flashed coldly, “I control your Great Zhou’s economic lifeline. Even your emperor must show me respect. Which Great Zhou official dares touch me?”

Mochou was shocked, then raised her eyebrows and smiled, “Others may not dare oppose you, but we husband and wife dare. If you intend to make trouble today, apologies and admissions of fault won’t suffice. Mochou and Scholar Xie will die here together—as long as you don’t mind dirtying your eyes and spoiling your mood.”

Baihe and Huamei were alarmed, urgently saying, “Mochou, no!”

Pei Fengji’s gaze turned cold. He gripped the sword hilt tighter, the blade tip spiraling through Scholar Xie’s body. Scholar Xie screamed in agony. Knowing this Prince Fengji spoke truly, he shouted “Wait!” and looked at Mochou with ashen face, “Mochou, stay here. Tonight, consider it fulfilling your loyalty to your sisters. You know my parents are old. I… I… will wait for you at home.”

Mochou was suddenly stunned. In the end, she said nothing more, watching helplessly as Pei Fengji smiled and withdrew his sword, and Scholar Xie slowly closed the door and left.

The madam laughed, glancing contemptuously, “You complained I was heartless—now do you know how it feels? I knew what kind of person he was long ago. If he were honest, how would he come with scholars to drink and visit courtesans at my Guixiang House? He claimed to be led astray by friends, but you were the fool!”

She then put the golden bracelet she had taken earlier back on Mochou’s wrist, saying, “At least take something—it won’t be a total loss.”

What happened afterward came suddenly yet seemed destined.

She was pulled into Pei Fengji’s embrace for his pleasure, while the madam, Baihe, and Huamei sat below accompanying Pei Fengji’s several attendants in drinking.

Pei Fengji thought he had clipped her wings and indulged in drinking and merrymaking. When he was half-drunk, his chest suddenly hurt. Startled, he pushed her away violently. Looking down, he discovered her golden hairpin embedded in his chest.

Mochou fell to the ground, only smiling.

Pei Fengji was furious and raised his sword to strike. Huamei, who had always been close to Mochou, gritted her teeth, knelt down, and desperately hugged Pei Fengji’s legs, saying, “Please spare Mochou, Your Highness. We sisters will be eternally grateful and serve you and the gentlemen wholeheartedly.”

How could Pei Fengji listen? He never considered these women human anyway. With a cold laugh, he kicked Huamei in the chest. She fell to the ground, and without thinking, he backhandedly stabbed, driving his sword into her face. Poor Huamei’s eyes rolled back, and she died.

Mochou screamed and tried to rush forward, but was kicked away by an attendant, hitting a chair and falling softly.

“I’ll personally deal with this whore.”

Pei Fengji spoke grimly. The madam, terrified, rolled to the ground and kowtowed repeatedly, “Your Highness, spare our lives! Spare us worthless lives! Please, this old woman kowtows to you, please…”

“Since they’re worthless lives, what use are they? You old sow taught them poorly—you deserve to die most!”

Pei Fengji narrowed his eyes and retorted, pulling his sword from Huamei’s corpse and repeatedly stabbing the madam. The madam’s eyes widened, but she could do nothing, couldn’t resist, until her body was full of bloody holes. She crashed to the ground, eyes still wide open.

Baihe cried in terror, pulling Mochou toward the door. Some attendants laughed cruelly, surging forward with swords drawn, pinning her dead against the door.

Beside them, Mochou, covered in blood, screamed and cried, struggling to crawl up, only to be trampled down again by Pei Fengji.

Afterward, Pei Fengji and the men raped her.

Finishing her account, Mochou smiled, “Master Li, don’t you think people are strange? In the past, what I despised most was this body of mine. After meeting Scholar Xie, what I cared about most became the chastity that was long gone. That night, when they tortured me, I actually felt… it was nothing, truly nothing.”

Suzhen relaxed her tightly clenched teeth, took a deep breath, didn’t answer her, but cruelly forced herself to ask, “Mochou, what happened next? How did Pei Fengji let you go?”

“When the last man fastened his belt, I knew I was finished. I stared at Pei Fengji and said, ‘Your Highness, after I die I’ll become a vengeful ghost and come find you—definitely!’ Pei Fengji laughed and said, ‘You couldn’t fight me as a human—you think you can as a ghost?’ I said, ‘Yes, I certainly can’t fight you, but about tonight’s events—only heaven knows, earth knows, you know, and I know. Aren’t you afraid to let it out? Don’t you want to kill me to silence me?'”

“So Pei Fengji let you go. You then went to Capital Prefect He to file a complaint. He sent people to investigate but falsified the case details, and Scholar Xie ended up imprisoned instead. Pei Fengji wanted to personally watch you become desperate—he wanted to savor the greatest pleasure of this game. With Great Wei behind him, he doesn’t fear our Great Zhou. Good girl, well done—you saved yourself.”

Suzhen slowly spoke, and Mochou slowly nodded.

Lian Xin had been listening and enduring, but could no longer contain herself. She swept all the tea implements off the table and rushed outside.

Suzhen was startled, but saw someone dart out from among the four young men whose chests rose and fell as they ground their teeth. A wheelchair pushed forward, blocking Lian Xin at the threshold.

“Cripple, get out of my way! I’m going to kill that bastard Pei Fengji! This is too much! Even courtesans have feelings—our Great Zhou people can’t be bullied like this!”

Lian Xin’s eyes were half-red, like an angry little tigress.

But she heard Wuqing laugh coldly, “Even your brother can’t handle this prince—what can you do?”

She was stunned, then heard Li Huaisu say sternly, “Lian Xiaoxin, come back here! You’ll only make things worse!”

She bit her teeth, grabbed her hair fiercely, and finally ran back to Suzhen’s side.

Mochou had risen to kneel before Suzhen, her eyes full of tears and pleading, saying hoarsely, “Sir, please clear the deceased’s names. Mochou’s mistakes shouldn’t be paid for by them.”

Lian Xin glanced at her, “How did you do wrong? At least you have loyalty and righteousness, unlike that Scholar Xie!”

“Yes,” Tieshou, usually a man of few words, exchanged glances with Lengxue and Zhuiming, also looking at Mochou as Suzhen gently helped her up, “The princess speaks truly. The fault isn’t with Miss Mochou. Don’t blame yourself anymore. Our Master Li will certainly give you satisfaction in this case.”

Just as he finished speaking, they heard Suzhen sigh softly, “Wrong. Mochou, you indeed were wrong.”

“Everyone was wrong.”

Everyone was stunned, seeing her narrow her eyes at the green tiles outside the door, where two winter birds chased each other joyfully on the eaves, ignorant of human sorrow.

All things are thus—while one side grieves, the other happens to smile.

I cannot know your celebration, just as you cannot perceive my grief.

Suzhen’s nose stung, but she didn’t know for whom—for Mochou, or for those who had died.

She didn’t know.

Mochou asked with a smile, “Where was the wrong?”

Suzhen looked back at her, still with warmth in her eyes but, like her, forcing a smile, “Wrong in that you had that little bit of feeling, and Scholar Xie also had that little bit of feeling. Including the madam and the others—they too were like this.”

If Scholar Xie hadn’t had that little bit of feeling, he would have been an ordinary brothel customer. The only blame would be on momentarily coveting beauty and lightly promising life and death.

Or if Scholar Xie’s feelings had been deeper—not just those drops and dribbles—then the ones who died in that room would have been him and Mochou. They wouldn’t have owed anyone, and the world would have had another beautiful story.

If Mochou hadn’t had that little bit of feeling, she wouldn’t have greedily accepted promises, deeply pledging life and death, clinging to the chastity she once found most ridiculous, willingly enduring humiliation for life.

If she hadn’t had that little bit of feeling, she wouldn’t have worried about her former companions’ safety, returning to the madam’s private residence. Pei Fengji might have just beaten and scolded the madam and others before stopping.

If Huamei hadn’t had that little bit of feeling, when Pei Fengji wanted to kill and torture Mochou, she might not have died horribly…

But all beings have feelings.

So weren’t they all wrong?

If feelings arise but cannot deepen to the end, it’s better to have no feelings from the start. In the end, with silent years and a simple life—wouldn’t that also be a kind of cruel perfection?

Hearing Suzhen’s questions, Mochou’s heartache was overwhelming. If not for Lian Xin frowning and reaching out to support her, she would have collapsed. Everyone felt touched for a moment, each recalling the cold and warm human emotions they’d encountered since entering the world. Finally, it was Suzhen, the instigator, who wiped her nose and said, “Come, let’s go verify the corpses at Capital Prefect He Sai’s place.”

Everyone was stunned, no longer feeling melancholy about spring and autumn. Lengxue frowned, “Doesn’t Minister He have materials to submit? What corpses are you going to examine?”

Suzhen threw the case files she’d kept in her sleeve onto the table, spreading her hands, “This is the autopsy report He Sai sent over at noon. See for yourselves.”

Everyone gathered to look. Zhuiming exclaimed, “This coroner from the capital prefecture says the madam and others all died from sharp instruments penetrating their organs. This completely contradicts what Miss Mochou said and supports what He Sai claimed earlier—that Scholar Xie broke in at night, was discovered by the madam who resisted, so he killed her with her bedside golden hairpin, then killed Baihe and Huamei when they came running.”

“So we must make a trip to the morgue there and examine the bodies again. Only then will we have evidence for the trial. Dead bodies don’t lie—they’re the best testimony.” Suzhen nodded approvingly.

“But the coroner is Minister He’s man. Re-examining will yield the same results—still death by golden hairpin!”

Wuqing hit the nail on the head, raising the problem.

Suzhen looked around at the men, “So, does anyone here know how to examine corpses?”

Everyone looked at each other in a circle, all shaking their heads. Finally, Lengxue coughed lightly, looking at Suzhen, “Back then, to treat the pigs, dogs, cattle, and sheep of that young master’s family next door, you read many medical books and eventually could even treat people. You’re half a doctor—you should go.”

Damn you, Lengxue! Examining… corpses… just thinking about it was bone-chilling. Upon hearing this, Suzhen’s mouth twitched, and she tried to flee to the inner hall. But it was too late—she was half-carried, half-dragged by everyone out the front door. Lian Xin was most delighted, kicking her bottom, “Let’s go!”