“I actually hope he won’t come back.” Qin Yining closed her eyes wearily, curling her body up even tighter.
Bingtang, Ji Yun, and the others all lowered their heads, their tear-stained faces showing signs of despair.
They naturally knew that the Son of Heaven had laid out an inescapable net. As soon as the prince set foot in the capital, only death awaited him.
The princess consort was brilliantly intelligent and had probably already anticipated today’s events when she was first captured. They had been looking for opportunities all along this journey but truly couldn’t find a way to escape.
If there was hope, who wouldn’t want to live well? The princess consort and the prince had such deep feelings for each other—how could she not wish to stay together forever and grow old together? But worldly affairs are unpredictable and completely beyond human control.
The cold air spread through the deathly silent prison. After their anger, everyone was left only with confusion. Now trapped in this predicament with no way out, they truly didn’t know what new tricks Li Qitian would pull next, and what tense situation the princess consort would face after killing Li Qitian’s man.
Qin Yining closed her eyes, just wanting to conserve her energy, not knowing what might happen later.
But as soon as she quieted down, crimson colors splashed before her eyes—that man surnamed Nie with his eyes wide in disbelief, clutching his neck…
She felt very cold, dizzy, and aching all over, hugging herself even tighter.
At this moment, Li Qitian received the news from the Ministry of Justice prison and was utterly astounded.
“You’re saying that Princess Consort Zhongshun bit Nie Er to death?”
“Yes. Nie Er threatened the princess consort, demanding she accompany him once. The princess consort pretended to agree, found an opportunity, and bit Nie Er’s neck. The major blood vessel there was severed…”
Li Qitian could hardly believe it, waving his hand in annoyance at Nie Er for using official business as an excuse for such deeds, but he was even more astounded by Qin Yining’s reaction.
This woman was too bold! She actually dared to bite someone to death! Was this still a woman? Even ordinary men probably couldn’t do such things. People said that Qin Shi had lived in the wilderness before age fourteen—it seemed this was truly the case.
But thinking that Qin Yining was Pang Xiao’s wife, and that this woman was different from any woman he knew, he felt his jealousy deepen another layer. Pang Zhixi was superior to him in everything—the common people supported him, the soldiers in the army were devoted to him, and even in marriage, his wife was more beautiful than his own, more fertile than his own, and had a fiercer temperament…
Li Qitian took a deep breath and suddenly stood up.
“Good. Very good. Her husband is arrogant, and she doesn’t put me in her eyes either. I want to personally see just how capable she is! If I let her live, only then can she live. If I want her to die, she must die! Prepare my carriage! I’m going to the Ministry of Justice prison to personally meet with that vicious woman!”
Everyone in the room responded in unison.
Xiong Jinshui was somewhat worried. “Your Majesty, leaving the palace now in this freezing weather, you…”
“Get lost!” Li Qitian strode out, kicking Xiong Jinshui aside.
The other eunuchs hurried to follow—some preparing carriages and horses, some preparing cloaks—in complete chaos.
Xiong Jinshui endured the pain as he rolled over and got up, crawling and rolling as he followed.
The cell in the Ministry of Justice prison had just been cleaned, Nie Er’s corpse had been carried out, and the lock had just been secured for less than the time of a stick of incense when commotion arose again outside the main gate.
“Your Majesty?” The jailer was completely at a loss, kneeling on the ground and kowtowing repeatedly.
With the Son of Heaven’s personal arrival, the Minister of Justice, Vice Ministers, and other officials hadn’t had time to come. The jailers were in trouble, each scared until their bones went soft, barely able to speak without stuttering.
“Nie Er was bitten to death?”
“Yes, yes. Master Nie Er’s major neck blood vessel was bitten through, and he, he died from blood loss.”
Li Qitian, having received confirmation, sneered: “Where is Princess Consort Zhongshun?”
“In the prison!”
The jailer quickly got up to open the door.
The eunuchs following Li Qitian felt it was inappropriate for His Majesty to set foot in such a place. But Li Qitian paid no heed, directly striding down the steps and following along.
The eunuchs and guards could only follow.
Though snow was falling outside, it was warmer than inside the prison cells. Upon entering the dungeon gate, they were immediately hit by a cold, musty smell mixed with the scent of blood. Li Qitian, pampered for many years, could no longer endure much hardship and covered his mouth with his sleeve in disgust.
“Lead the way.”
“Yes, yes.”
Several jailers carried lanterns ahead, leading the way to Qin Yining’s cell.
Li Qitian also found the prison filthy and was too lazy to look around, so when passing the cells holding Xie Yue and others, he didn’t even spare them a glance.
Arriving at the cell door where Bingtang and the wet nurses were held, he waved at Xiong Jinshui behind him: “Go, bring those two children out for me.”
Xiong Jinshui responded and hurriedly called several people to snatch the two children away.
The wet nurses, along with Bingtang, Ji Yun, and others, all wanted to resist. Qin Yining had already stood up, her head and face covered in blood as she stared intently in that direction.
Li Qitian turned around and saw Qin Yining in the dim environment, covered in blood from head to toe like a “red person,” and was startled by her fierce expression.
Then he began to laugh: “Tsk, isn’t this Princess Consort Zhongshun? How did you end up in such a state? I never knew a woman could be vicious to such a degree—you actually bit someone to death? Did Pang Zhixi teach you this?”
The blood on Qin Yining’s head, face, and body had dried, matting her long hair into strands. The blood on her face had turned dark brown, making her eye whites appear particularly white, giving her an eerie aura.
“Your Majesty, innocent children shouldn’t suffer. You are a benevolent ruler and enlightened master—surely you wouldn’t do anything to the descendants of meritorious officials?”
Li Qitian sneered: “Descendants of meritorious officials? May I ask who is the meritorious official? Doesn’t Pang Xiao’s crime of defying imperial decrees count?”
“Pang Xiao provided disaster relief at his own expense, funded his princely household at his own cost, and directly drove the Tatars out of Great Zhou’s territory—doesn’t this count?”
“Whether it counts or not is for me to decide, not for a vicious woman like you to say!” Li Qitian walked to Qin Yining’s cell door, grasping the wooden bars with one hand, grinding his teeth: “I am the Son of Heaven, the master of this realm—why should he monopolize all the benefits!”
“Benefits? Fighting desperately on the battlefield, keeping one’s head tucked in one’s belt, not eating enough, not dressing warmly, having no military pay yet still fighting Tatars—this is also called benefits?” Qin Yining had thrown caution to the wind, striding forward to face Li Qitian through the cell door, speaking each word with particular force: “Your subjects shed their blood and sacrifice their lives for your kingdom and the peaceful lives of the people, loyally fulfilling their duties without seeking reward. But what have you done? When such matters spread, aren’t you afraid the people will mock you? How will the historians record this in their official accounts?”
Li Qitian clenched his hands into fists, glaring at Qin Yining’s blood-stained face, grinding his teeth: “I told you, I am the Son of Heaven, the master of this realm! Whoever I want to live can live, whoever I want to die must die! Mock? Whoever dares mock, I’ll send them to meet the King of Hell! No matter who provides the silver, under heaven there is no land that isn’t the king’s—isn’t their silver also my silver? Only you, this vicious woman, dare to show off your sharp tongue here!”
“Tyrant!” Qin Yining couldn’t help but curse through gritted teeth.
Li Qitian was enraged: “Guards! Princess Consort Zhongshun shows great disrespect! Put her in a prisoner’s cart and parade her through the streets! Tell everyone in the city that the blood on her body came from biting a person to death!”
“Yes!” Without waiting for the jailers to step forward, the guards and eunuchs took the keys, clumsily opened the cell door, entered, and dragged Qin Yining out.
Qin Yining had whip marks and stick wounds all over her body, frostbite on her hands and feet, and had been struck on the head during the earlier struggle. She was already so weak she could barely stand. Li Qitian’s guards showed no mercy at all—Qin Yining stumbled as she was dragged along, barely able to keep up, and was dragged out just like that.
“Princess Consort! Princess Consort!” Everyone cried out in grief.
Li Qitian seemed to particularly enjoy hearing such sounds, as if seeing Pang Xiao’s people in such a wretched state was like seeing Pang Xiao himself in such a state. The more miserably they cried, the more comfortable he felt.
Li Qitian couldn’t help but throw back his head and laugh loudly.
The swaddling clothes in the arms of the eunuchs led by Xiong Jinshui moved, and Xuan Ge’er and Yun Jie’er finally began crying in fright.
In all the chaos, the loud crying of the babies was particularly penetrating, causing the entire prison to fall silent.
Xie Yue and the others’ hearts skipped a beat. They stared unblinkingly toward Li Qitian’s direction, their entire bodies trembling with tension.
This was no longer a time when they could think of any solutions. They were bound and tightly confined—even if they wanted to rush out and fight desperately, they had no way. And the young master and young miss were in Li Qitian’s hands—with just one word from him, both children would die!
They wanted to plead, but they also knew pleading would be useless, because Li Qitian was completely inhuman! He didn’t care whether he was killing ignorant children—he only cared about his own satisfaction!
Walking with hands behind his back to Xiong Jinshui, Li Qitian unwrapped the swaddling clothes, looked at the baby wearing a tiger-head hat inside, then glanced at the other one.
For that instant, his fist clenched tightly, as if he had reached the limit of his patience and wanted to strangle the child immediately.
His hand slowly moved to Xuan Ge’er’s small, soft neck, gradually applying force.
Everyone could no longer endure it.
Jingzhe was about to curse loudly when Xie Yue grabbed him. Xie Yue called out loudly: “Your Majesty, Your Majesty, please reconsider! That’s just a child—innocent children shouldn’t suffer! Moreover, this child would be much more useful alive!”
Li Qitian didn’t think the child was innocent—who told him to have the misfortune of being born as Pang Xiao’s child?
But that last sentence successfully awakened him.
He still wanted to use these two children as bait to lure Pang Xiao back to the capital. If he killed them directly now, wouldn’t that force Pang Xiao to rebel?
It would be better to coax him back first and then make long-term plans.
Thinking of this, Li Qitian lifted his hand and turned to walk out.
Xiong Jinshui and the others immediately followed.
Xie Yue, Bingtang, and the others were nearly at their breaking point, shouting: “Where are you taking the children! Come back, come back!”