The muscles in Yi Guoru’s face twitched as he turned away. “How could you know what your father did? What proof do you have that I used deception?”
“Are you suggesting my father leaked Wei’s military secrets to you, and did it in the stupidest way possible – through letters, leaving plenty of evidence for anyone to find? And right when your army was winning, you didn’t save him, just watched as he was taken back to Wei’s capital?” Digging in her ear and flicking her fingernail, Feng Yue pointed at her forehead with alluring grace. “Do I look like a fool to you?”
Yi Guoru fell silent. The Battle of Pingchang was his least honorable victory, one he naturally didn’t wish to discuss, much less be interrogated about, having to reveal everything he’d done.
However, his stomach suddenly began to cramp. The pain made his face turn pale.
“How was the mung bean cake?” The figure beyond the bars, like a ghost returned from hell to claim souls, asked with an eerie smile. “Would you like some more?”
His face turning ghastly, Yi Guoru immediately tried to force himself to vomit, but nothing came up.
“You dare poison me?!”
“Why wouldn’t I dare?” Feng Yue squinted curiously. “You’re a general of Wu, not Wei. Your death means nothing to me.”
“You!” Now truly panicked, Yi Guoru struggled to maintain a calm expression as he clenched his fists. “Give me the antidote!”
“Of course, of course.” Pulling out a red pill, Feng Yue grinned. “I’m just curious about how you trapped my father. Tell me clearly, and the antidote is yours.”
“Never!”
Her expression darkening at his unyielding attitude, Feng Yue threw the pill away.
“No!” Yi Guoru panicked, quickly reaching out to grab her sleeve. “Give me the antidote. Whatever you want to hear, I’ll tell you!”
After all, there was no one else in this prison!
Smiling again, Feng Yue pulled out another antidote pill, dangling it before him. “Speak.”
Enduring the pain, Yi Guoru gritted his teeth. “In the Wu-Wei war, Guan Canghai had been my rival for many years. With him there, the war couldn’t end within three years. For Wu’s people, I had no choice but to resort to underhanded means – I kidnapped the family of He Lan Changde, Prince Yin’s deputy commander, threatening him to reveal their marching routes and military situation in advance. He said Yin Gezhi and Guan Canghai had plotted all night, then led the army toward Ghost Valley. As someone versed in military strategy, I naturally could guess their deployment. I used counter-intelligence, set up an ambush in advance, and destroyed the tens of thousands of soldiers Yin Gezhi led into Ghost Valley, letting him return with only his trusted men to create internal strife with Guan Canghai.”
“I didn’t expect this move to be too effective – taking out one of Yin Gezhi’s elite forces would have been enough. Who would have thought that when Guan Canghai was escorted back to the capital, his entire family would be executed? You weren’t serving a wise ruler. Those forged letters, although the handwriting was well-imitated, should have shown flaws under careful examination.”
As he spoke, his eyes remained fixed on the pill in Feng Yue’s hand. “I… I’m in too much pain to speak. Let me take the medicine first?”
Feng Yue’s expression became somewhat dazed. Her eyes glistened with tears, but she held them back, refusing to cry in front of this old beast. She kept a stern face as she handed him the red pill.
Yi Guoru immediately took it and swallowed it. Feeling the abdominal pain ease somewhat, he sighed in relief, his gaze full of wariness as he looked at her. “Now that you know all this, what can you do about it?”
“Nothing much. Though I believed my rigid father would never do anything wrong, having your confession is naturally better.” Coming back to her senses, Feng Yue chuckled softly. “But General Yi, you keep talking about doing things for the people, so why did you withhold food and clothing from your soldiers?”
His face stiffened slightly. Yi Guoru’s mustache twitched as he stammered for a while before spitting out two words: “Absurd!”
He seemed unwilling to admit it, but Feng Yue didn’t care about that anymore. She had asked what she needed to ask and done what she needed to do. Standing up straight, she smiled down at him. “Do you know what was in the mung bean cake that made it colorless and tasteless?”
There were few poisons in the world that were truly colorless and tasteless. Most lethal poisons were bitter or foul-smelling, which was why Yi Guoru hadn’t noticed anything wrong with the mung bean cake, yet somehow he had still been poisoned.
“What did you use?” he asked curiously.
“A small amount of arsenic,” Feng Yue smiled. “Not enough to kill you, just enough to cause unbearable stomach pain.”
“Then…” Then why give him the antidote?
Pulling out another red pill, Feng Yue smiled sweetly. “Doesn’t this look familiar?”
The bright red color looked cute, but it tasted extremely bitter. Earlier, the stomach pain had been too severe, and Yi Guoru had taken it without thinking in order to survive. Now looking carefully, cold sweat broke out on his back.
“The Death Pill!”
The Death Pill was a poison he had personally ordered to be developed, kept in the mechanisms of guest rooms, only to be used when necessary. This poison was extremely potent – after one incense stick’s worth of time, the victim would die bleeding from all seven orifices.
How did it end up in her hands?
“No, impossible, you must be trying to scare me.” Shaking his head repeatedly, Yi Guoru said with a pale face, “I am Wu’s great general! I’m also the only one who can prove your father’s innocence. Don’t you want me alive? If I live, your father’s case might be overturned…”
“Overturned?” Feng Yue laughed, her shoulders shaking. “What’s the use of overturning the case? Can it bring them back to life? No, and they might even be harassed by the crying and wailing of those who killed them. What’s the point? Your death is enough.”
“General Yi, if I hadn’t come, you could have waited here, waited for Wu’s royal family to show you mercy, let you return to the battlefield with tearful gratitude, and serve the royal family again. Years later, this storm would pass, no one would remember your affair with your sister, and no one would remember your thoughts of rebellion. Time would wash it all away, and you would again be the beloved general.”
His pupils contracted. Yi Guoru looked at her with hatred, finally shouting her name: “Guan Qingyue!!”
“Yes, that’s me.” Swaying her waist and laughing like silver bells, Feng Yue sighed with seductive eyes. “Unfortunately, just because I’m here, the great general’s future is ruined. You’ll die in this sunless prison, bleeding from seven orifices, in utter misery. What use are your thousands of soldiers now? Who can save you when you’re about to die? When you go to hell, who can hold you back?”
The sensation of thousands of ants gnawing slowly spread throughout his body. Yi Guoru fell to the ground, his eyes wide open, unwillingly looking in Feng Yue’s direction.
He was a general who commanded from behind the scenes, he had many tactics at his disposal, and many people he could use. How could he die here? Impossible! This must be a nightmare!
“Does it hurt? Are you in despair?” The woman’s coquettish laughter lingered by his ears. Yi Guoru wanted to cover his ears, but felt a warmth under his chin, his throat beginning to burn as if cut by knives.
“Please enjoy it well, this is your last incense stick’s worth of life. Oh my, General, you look dreadful!”
Breathing heavily, Yi Guoru struggled, his eyes turning white. He spoke haltingly: “How… could… someone like you… exist in this world.”
How could someone act so unpredictably, coming to kill him directly? Killing him would throw Wu into chaos, strong enemies would surely take advantage…
Oh… she wasn’t from Wu, she was from Wei…
The sound of his heartbeat thundered through his entire mind. Yi Guoru mumbled, no longer able to speak clearly, stammering and writhing, the light in his eyes slowly dispersing.
Looking at the blood flowing onto the ground, Feng Yue felt utterly satisfied. She turned, taking delicate steps, slowly walking out of the cell amid the dying man’s wails.
The moonlight at the prison door was extremely bright, so bright it made her vision blur.
“Qingyue!” A loud roar pierced through the quiet Guan family courtyard. The voice came closer and closer, and soon the entire Guan residence seemed to come alive.
Guan Canghai, his full beard swaying, wielded a wooden stick as he chased and scolded: “How can a young lady drink wine? Do you still want to get married in the future!”
“I won’t marry, I won’t marry! Daughter will fight battles with Father for life!” While running and pouring wine into her mouth, Guan Qingyue looked back with a smile, passing through the rockery, pulling a passing maid in front of her, squealing: “Second Brother stole drinks too, why chase me and not him!”
“Nonsense! How can men and women be the same? If others see this, won’t they say the Guan family doesn’t know how to raise a daughter?”
“I’ll tear apart anyone who dares say that!” Guan Qingyue laughed loudly. “But Father, do you still want to hit me? This last bit of daughter’s red wine, you have to let me finish it!”
The wine that Guan Canghai had personally buried when she was born, planning to use it to entertain guests at her wedding!
Guan Canghai’s beard quivered in anger as he glared with his large eyes. Moving as fast as lightning, he snatched her wine jar and hugged it like a treasure, shouting at her: “You troublemaker!”
“Father never knows how to speak properly! Can’t say nice words to the Emperor, and even when scolding daughter only knows this one phrase!” Making a face at him, Feng Yue jumped over the wall and flew away.
“Mind your manners! You’re a young lady!!”
I know, I know, I’m a young lady! Must be proper! Must marry into a good family in the future! So Mother won’t worry.
Feng Yue laughed helplessly, shaking her head as she laughed. She saw the Guan family’s main gate before her, but as she stepped toward it, the steps crumbled, and then the entire Guan residence broke apart, scattering into nothingness.
Her heart jolted in panic, and she reached toward the sky, trying to grab onto something, but the night was deep, and when she opened her hand, only the moon hung high above.
The prison guards at the cell door looked puzzled at her retreating figure. Some had already gone into the prison to check on the prisoner, while others came forward, wanting to ask what was wrong with this maid.
Before Feng Yue could come to her senses, she suddenly felt her waist tighten as someone descended from above, picked her up, and vanished into the darkness.
“My moon!”
“Shut up!” Yin Gezhi’s face was dark with anger as he carried her back to their lodging room in a flash.