Chapter 73: Weeping (1) [VIP]

Linglan walked lightly into the room and saw a bright girl standing beside the desk in a daze, her expression changing from relaxed to heavy.

In a trance, the hand holding the cloth trembled.

"Ru Meng is dead," Ling Lan murmured after a moment's silence, her last words seeming to fall into a dead silence. "She was tortured to death..."

"It seems that His Highness has taken out his anger towards the girl on Rumeng." The palace maid spoke each word in a trembling voice, her voice full of tears and grief.

"As if she hadn't seen the morning sun yet, she died in the dead of night..."

The scene of last night floated through her mind. Rumeng had suffered such cruel punishment that he must have died shortly after she left.

Chu Qingluo looked at the maid in front of her quietly. Seeing that Linglan's wrist was wrapped in gauze, she must have suffered humiliation.

"You're injured too," she whispered to the maid, "is it serious?"

After hearing this, she hurriedly covered the wound with her sleeve. Linglan shook her head slightly, indicating that she need not worry: "This is normal for me. Being by His Highness's side is harder than being by a tiger's side. This minor injury is nothing serious."

Something came to mind, and Linglan took out a letter from her sleeve, along with a pearl hairpin. "This is what Rumeng left for you, young lady. Please take a look at it carefully."

Letter... She unfolded the letter in confusion.

Every word in the letter mentioned one person, and what was written surprised her.

"Minister of Revenue Yang Lian..." Chu Qingluo said the name of the person mentioned softly. She couldn't believe it, and sighed with her eyes fixed.

"Ru Meng actually had a romantic affair with an official appointed by the imperial court."

Unexpectedly, although Rumeng was a prostitute, she had truly loved someone.

This person is the current Minister of Revenue, and is also the power in the court that she has always wanted to win over.

As written in the letter, when Rumeng was in the brothel, she had already secretly decided to spend her life with Lord Yang. They loved each other and were in love with each other.

Lord Yang was also willing to redeem her, but on the night when the housekeeper was negotiating, Rumeng, despite her beautiful appearance, was unexpectedly noticed by the Ninth Prince, and was forced to enter Lingning Palace, leading to the current situation.

Linglan softly recounted Rumeng's last words and entrusted this matter to her: "Rumeng said she had a regret in her life. She implores Miss Chu to give this pearl hairpin to Lord Yang."

“She’s helping me…”

With a melancholy sigh, Chu Qingluo accepted the pearl hairpin and letter with understanding, and said carefully, "I accept the items. Your Highness is suspicious, so you need to be more careful with your words and actions."

"I'll take my leave, young lady, please take care of yourself."

After saying goodbye calmly, the palace maid left naturally, her steps as light as when she came, as if she was well disguised.

She calmly picked up her brush and continued the unfinished ink painting. Her panic was slightly relieved by the arrival of Lily of the Valley.

Three more days passed like this, and she still didn't hear any news from Feng Yan. She waited quietly in the ear room. The only person she saw every day was the maid who brought her meals.

But she really couldn't eat, her heart was tense, and she had no appetite, so she didn't touch the bowl and chopsticks, but just sat silently by the window.

When the maid who brought the food came back into the room, she saw that the dishes were untouched and immediately became troubled: "Young lady, please eat at least a little, otherwise I will not be able to report to His Highness."

Since she could only speak to this palace maid, Chu Qingluo stopped her, thought for a moment, and finally asked, "Do you know whether the assassin His Highness captured a few days ago is alive or dead?"

"I don't know..." The maid shook her head slightly after hearing this. After thinking for a moment, she told him everything she knew. "I only know that His Highness has locked the assassin in the torture chamber and tortured him endlessly."

Torture Chamber...

The scene of Ru Meng being tortured in the room came to her mind, and she suddenly trembled slightly.

After so many days, Feng Yan was afraid that he wouldn't be able to survive for much longer.

His fate was sealed from the moment he was captured.

Seeing Miss Chu was stunned, the palace maid, worried that she hadn't explained it clearly, hurriedly added, "Miss, you may not know the torture chamber. It's where His Highness uses it to carry out punishments. You've been there before. It's in the side room in the west courtyard."

She then dismissed the maid and asked her to take the dishes away, and her mood, which had originally calmed down, was disturbed again.

Given the Ninth Prince's brutal nature, he would definitely use every possible means to capture the assassin, find out the mastermind behind the scenes, and torture him to death.

Feng Yan may not live long.

She just felt anxious and felt that it was useless. She could only wait and see what the Ninth Prince would do.

Two days passed since then, and Chu Qingluo remained silent in her elegant room. Finally, a palace guard knocked on the door and walked in, clasping his fists towards her.

A few steps away, the guard reported the situation truthfully, then withdrew: "His Highness has ordered Miss Chu to go to the torture chamber."

This trip must be related to Feng Yan.

She put down her pen, straightened her sleeves, closed the door and left with a calm expression.

She knew why the Ninth Prince called her, probably because Feng Yan could no longer hold on.

She had imagined Feng Yan's appearance when he was tortured thousands of times, and she thought she could deal with it calmly. However, when she actually saw this madman, her heart was still shocked violently, and a heart-wrenching pain spread out in an instant.

His limbs were tied with iron chains and his body was covered in blood.

The bloodstains on the ground have blended with the dust, and it is difficult to tell which one is his bloodstain.

He raised his eyes and looked at me with a gentle expression, but his body was shaking uncontrollably, as if he had lost too much blood and could not hold on for long.

Seeing this bright and beautiful woman walking towards him, Chu Yanshuo immediately smiled and said, "Come quickly, I misunderstood you before, right?"

Wrongly accused?

Chu Qingluo suddenly felt confused, not knowing what Feng Yan said.

"The assassin confessed," Chu Yanshuo said happily, waving a folding fan, his face revealing an unfathomable meaning. "I didn't expect that he would hurt me."

absurd……

He actually said that he was here to assassinate her. What on earth was this man thinking? She was confused and stared at the mysterious figure in front of her, wanting to see the thoughts in his eyes.

All that can be seen is coldness and murderous intent.

He vowed never to tell Fu Zhao about her life experience, and he was silently protecting the thing she cherished most.

He seemed... unwilling to let her be troubled by this.

"I really don't know this person." In order to protect her power, she had no choice but to answer indifferently.

Seeing that the two people in front of him both denied it, Chu Yanshuo still had a smile on his face, and slowly explained his intention: "Since the beauty doesn't know this person, I want you to take his life yourself..."

Chu Qingluo was slightly startled when she heard this. She slowly lowered her eyebrows, pretending to be delicate and weak, and replied in a low voice: "How can I, a weak woman, take someone else's life..."

The tortured man raised his eyes with a weak breath, his eyes were cold, as if asking her to act faster.

She would steal a glance at Feng Xuan from time to time, and clench her hands hidden in her sleeves fiercely.

"But I see that beauty is not weak..." Chu Yanshuo raised his eyebrows and laughed, his eyes moved down to her sleeves, and ordered coldly, "Use the dagger that I showed you before and kill him."

Seeing her slight hesitation, the Ninth Prince frowned and asked jokingly, "He wants to assassinate the beauty, why don't you vent your anger quickly?"

The Ninth Prince stared at the scene intently. He was surrounded by the shadow guards of Lingning Palace, and the man in front of him was covered in wounds and was dying.

If she didn't take action now, Feng Yan wouldn't live long.

She should kill him.

She should... kill him herself.

Chu Qingluo walked over calmly, pulled the dagger out of its sheath, and the sharp blade flashed in the torture chamber, forcing the attendants beside him to retreat repeatedly.

The starry eyes reflected her charming and graceful expression. Feng Yan's face was ferocious and sinister. He sneered and laughed sarcastically, with blood flowing from the corners of his lips: "Miss, if you don't kill me today, I will kill you tomorrow..."

"Why did you go to such great lengths to assassinate me?"

Seeing the situation, she asked sternly, her eyes turned cold, and she pressed the blade to the man's abdomen without mercy, her face cold and icy.

"Miss, you know it very well, yet you still ask me, hahahahaha..." Feng Yan snorted sarcastically again, pretending to be fierce as he grabbed her hand holding the dagger, with a cold light in his eyes.

"Back then... when the girl rejected me, she should have thought about this situation..."

He slightly turned his body, as if he didn't want others to see how the dagger pierced his body, and Feng Yan chuckled imperceptibly.

Then he suddenly stabbed into the vital point.

The black robe, already stained with blood, was covered with another layer of crimson.

This time, Feng Yan was powerless to save the situation.

She froze in shock, and fearing that the Ninth Prince would notice something, she quickly moved closer and stabbed him again.

My heart is empty, without any emotion flowing through it

It was as if she had really become a cold and heartless person.

But the one she killed was the shadow guard who had been with her day and night. She had promised him that from now on, they would be together through life and death...

"If I can't get the girl, no one else can either..."

With the fierce words still ringing in her ears, she stared at the man who never liked to follow her orders, and watched him use up his last bit of strength.

He took her hand and stabbed the dagger deeper.

Then he whispered a few words into her ear, and the stars in his eyes seemed to lose their color in an instant.

His eyes closed lightly and Feng Yan never opened them again.

"Madman..." Chu Qingluo pulled out the dagger indifferently, without even wiping the blood off the blade, and then decisively put it back into the sheath and walked steadily back to the side of the Ninth Prince.

Feng Xuan was no longer breathing, and was left alone in the dark torture chamber.

But she couldn't look back, nor could she touch the body.

Fortunately, this madman fought hard to protect her before he died. Judging from the behavior they just saw, she must have taken his life with her own hands.

Chu Yanshuo narrowed his eyes silently, looked at her with a faint smile, and suddenly asked with a hint of meaning: "What did the assassin whisper in the beauty's ear?"

"He said he would never let me go even if he went to the underworld." She sneered at the sound, lied calmly, and responded coquettishly.

"Assassins these days seem increasingly bizarre..."

The Ninth Prince smiled casually upon hearing this. Perhaps seeing that she had obediently taken the man's life, he decided not to pursue the matter. "From now on, I will protect you well. No assassin will be able to sneak into Lingning Palace again."

"That night, I was ignorant. I beg Your Highness to forgive me for once." Seeing this, Chu Qingluo knelt down respectfully and spoke for a long time. Her words were all insincere. "I know I was wrong. I just didn't accept my fate and did too many things that angered Your Highness. Now that I have come to my senses, I beg Your Highness to have mercy on me once more."

She had to do everything she could to survive now. A turning point was about to come, and she couldn't lose her life here.

As for other things, she could no longer think about them.