Chapter 185: Senior Sister's Petition, Husband and Wife's Relationship

With a crescent moon overhead, Zhang Ting secretly went to Yinzhou Prefecture.

"Thank you for your trouble." She said to the jailer, turning her head as she wore a black hood.

“Your Honor, you flatter us. If it weren’t for your punishment of Magistrate Hu, our entire village would be exiled somewhere.” The jailer led her inside, through a dark and narrow passage. “We will always remember your kindness. What is this little thing?”

"We've discussed Lord Yang's matter privately. Could you please help persuade her to hand over the family members of the convicted official? Lord Yang is young and promising, with a bright future ahead of her. Why would she choose a cripple who has lost his virginity?"

The jailer took out his key, opened the gate, and pushed the door frame aside. "Please come in, sir. Lord Yang is in the last room. Please come out before 9 PM."

The dark cloak swayed with its owner's movements, creating waves of black fabric that gradually blended into the dark room.

She paused outside a cell and pulled off her hood.

She called out softly, "Senior Sister."

By the moonlight, Yang Fuchen could be seen lying on a pile of straw with her back to the outside. Her plain white prison uniform was patched with black and yellow, making her look extremely desolate and miserable.

She was a highly decorated and illustrious princess.

Yang Fuchen's ears twitched, and he slowly turned over, a knowing glint flashing in his bloodshot eyes.

She casually said, "Oh, it's Xiao Si."

"The prefect sent you to persuade me? It's my senior sister who's getting in your way while you're on duty. Just tell them I'm stubborn and refuse to explain myself. Go back to Zhangzhou Prefecture." She silently turned over and continued lying down.

"Senior sister, Ting ran away here secretly. If you continue like this, all the reputation, prestige, and even future you've built up over the years will be wasted."

Yang Fuchen paused for a few moments, then said, "I appreciate your intentions, but I'll say it again, Xiao Si, you should go back."

"I know what I'm doing."

Zhang Ting couldn't believe that Yang Fuchen was so devoted. "Is it because of him that my senior sister is still unmarried?"

Yang Fuchen found it absurd and chuckled softly, "No, I really want to welcome a young master from a prestigious family into our home."

"Then why protect him?"

"I always felt indebted to him, so this is how I repay that favor."

Yang Fuchen climbed out of the straw pile, deliberately keeping his distance from Zhang Ting, and patted the dust off his body. "I'm all dirty, which is an eyesore for my junior sister."

Zhang Ting found herself somewhat unable to understand her.

"What kind of favor would require you to gamble your entire future... or even your life?"

Yang Fuchen faced her and said calmly, "Back then, before my teacher took me in, I wandered to Tongzhou Prefecture and met some hooligans. Zheng Shi became lame in order to save me."

"Logically, I should marry him and take care of him for the rest of his life. But I ran away."

"I cannot marry a lame man."

"Then his mother married him off to a county magistrate at the time, who is now the arrested Magistrate Hu, I think his name was Hu Die? Hu Die was a disgusting woman who neglected him, beat and scolded him, and allowed the servants to bully him, making him lose face and live like a wooden man."

Yang Fuchen frowned and said, "I should feel guilty towards him."

“I can’t let him be implicated by a corrupt official and exiled thousands of miles away. The journey is long, and the escorts are ruthless; he won’t be able to endure it.”

Zhang Ting was speechless, staring blankly at her. The senior sister in her memory and the one in front of her seemed like two different people.

Yang Fuchen laughed again when he saw her like this. It was rare to see his simple-minded junior sister like this. "Little Fourth, it's quite a coincidence that you and I are so close. You are the fourth in our sect, and I used to be the fourth in my family, but they all liked to call me 'Old Fourth'."

“I really like you. You are intelligent and hardworking, born with a good brain, and you study harder than anyone else; you are loyal and righteous, and you dared to get involved with Zong Suyi’s dangerous and sensitive identity? You even risked everything to protect him behind you.”

She changed the subject, as if she were dissecting herself: "Sometimes I'm jealous of you. Our teacher went to great lengths to take you as a disciple, while I was the only one who was accepted as a disciple after I begged and thanked him profusely; I don't get along with my two other junior sisters, but you move among the three of us like a fish in water. Not only does the sharp-tongued Xun Han regard you as her best friend, but even the taciturn Lao San keeps contacting you frequently in secret and has secretly complained about our teacher to you, hasn't he?"

Zhang Ting's mouth was half open: "Senior sister..."

"Furthermore, how could God have created someone like you? Your talent, reputation, character, and even your luck are all impeccable. You are like the blazing sun, so dazzling that no one else can see me anymore since you came into existence."

"I feel like a mouse being trampled under your foot, and no matter how hard I chase or try, it's all in vain."

Yang Fuchen looked up and sighed, "For so many days and nights I've thought, if only your reputation, your talent, and your good fortune could all come to me. Unfortunately, fate is not fair."

Zhang Ting lowered her eyelids slightly, her expression unreadable in the dimly lit passage. "Senior Sister, do you believe these are all gifts from Heaven?"

Yang Fuchen was stunned. "Of course not." Then he laughed. "I just covet what you have, the kind of thing I could never achieve in my entire life."

She rested her chin on her hand, staring at Zhang Ting thoughtfully, then suddenly clicked her tongue in admiration, "Junior sister, you have a special, captivating aura that unconsciously draws others to you, to submit to you, and to support you."

"After all that, does it feel like we're meeting for the first time? Haha, go back now, you don't need to worry about me here."

The jailer stumbled in, panting, "Something terrible has happened! Madam Zheng has hanged herself, and the prefect wants to interrogate Lord Yang."

"Lord Zhang, please come with me through the side path to get out."

Yang Fuchen suddenly slammed his fist on the threshold with a loud thud, his eyes wide with rage: "Who did you say died?!" She clearly orchestrated everything for him, who killed him?!

The jailer said, "The officers who searched the place reported that Zheng was found hanged in the suburbs. When they found her, her body was stiff, but she was clutching a jade pendant in her hand, which they couldn't remove."

Yang Fuchen's eyelashes trembled, and his lips opened and closed but he couldn't utter a single word.

She staggered back a few steps, the chains rattling loudly.

Before parting—

Zheng Shi had a white turban wrapped around her head, her delicate face lowered, not daring to look at her. "Thank you for saving me, Your Majesty. I will repay you in my next life by serving you like a cow or a horse."

She said, "If you walk another mile, you will see a carriage. Get in the carriage and they will take you to a safe place."

"Farewell." She turned and went back.

Zheng hurriedly grabbed her sleeve, his hasty action revealing that he was lame.

He pulled his foot back slightly, as if that would make his injured foot invisible.

His face was pale, and he said hastily, "Zijin has offended me."

He clenched his fingers, mustered his courage, but still dared not call her name: "Today's parting may mean we will never meet again in this life. My lady, could you leave me a personal item as a keepsake?"

He loved her the most; how could he bear to implicate his beloved?

...

Zheng committed suicide by hanging, and the eldest sister was released.

Describing someone as down on their luck, with a forlorn expression, as if they've lost their soul in an instant.

Although she ended up in prison, fortunately she was only suspended from her duties for reflection. Zhang Ting settled her in his villa in Yinzhou Prefecture and specially arranged for someone to take care of her.

Putting everything else aside, judging solely from her actions, the senior sister was indeed very attentive to her. Moreover, they were from the same sect, and with their teacher and two senior sisters absent, it was only right that she looked after the senior sister.

"Senior sister and Zheng family are truly destined to be together but not to stay together."

Zong Suyi threw down the notebook in her hand. "Hmph, I think it's a case of being destined to be apart. She looks respectable on the surface, and Zheng saved her from dire straits, but what does she do? She's ungrateful and even complained about Zheng's lameness and ran away."

"She just wanted to climb the social ladder and marry a high-ranking man who could help her."

"A cold-hearted, heartless, and hypocritical man."

"Marriage is a matter of mutual consent and cannot be forced. Senior Sister owed Zheng Shi a debt, but in the end she repaid the debt, didn't she? Besides, career advancement is difficult, and Senior Sister is quite well-off, so it's only natural that she wants to marry someone of higher status."

Zhang Ting's words angered Zong Suyi, and he bit her. Lately, this little dog has been biting her breasts whenever he gets angry.

He rubbed against her vigorously, mumbling, "You're in a much better position, why don't you try to marry into a wealthy family?"

Zhang Ting hissed and pinched the dog's muzzle, "Let go."

I tried to push it, but I couldn't move it.

"No, no." He bit down even harder, as if it were a natural part of his mouth.

Good women don't argue with bad men. Zhang Ting blushed with embarrassment and resentment, and gave in.

"Can't you see how I've treated you all these years?" she coaxed gently. "I've never even looked at another man."

The puppy released its grip and spat out the meat, then stood with its hands on its hips, talking like a dog: "Old man, I'm warning you, if I become lame and you dare to abandon me and watch me marry someone else, I'll crawl over in the middle of the night and bite you to death!"

Zhang Ting smiled at him, her hands behind her back, with two ropes wrapped around them.

“My lord is gentle and virtuous, how could I bear to abandon you and watch you marry another?”

The puppy looked smug, scanning her as if surveying its territory. "You should be thrilled to have such a virtuous husband like me!" They were the most perfect match in the world.

Zhang Ting continued to smile, but suddenly her expression changed. Taking advantage of his smugness, she quickly bound his hands and feet.

The change happened in just a few seconds; the puppy was tied up tightly before it could even react.

The puppy paused for a moment, then howled and cursed, "Old woman is abusing her husband! Let me go!" It struggled, wriggling and thrashing about like an eel.

Enraged, Zhang Ting clenched her teeth and slapped his buttocks hard, sending the flesh rippling. "You really need a beating. Behave yourself!"

"The old woman is impotent, she's become mentally disturbed, and she beats her husband to vent her anger..."

"My life is so miserable. I was beaten even after giving birth to a daughter. Ancestors of the Zhang family, please, someone come out and settle this matter... Waaah!"

Zhang Ting pursed her thin lips, a hint of malice flashing in her eyes. Zong Suyi always knew how to provoke her.

She flipped him onto her lap and laid him face down, giving his buttocks a thorough and profound baptism.

"Slap slap slap—" Each slap landed squarely on flesh.

He was beaten so badly that he went from howling like a puppy to whimpering like a puppy, trying to awaken his 'master's' compassion with his weak and soft pleas for mercy.

Unfortunately, the 'master' only wanted to 'love' him with a slap.

"I was wrong, my wife, I was wrong. I will never do it again."

Zhang Ting stopped, lifted his chin, and said, "I think you just need to be fucked."

"Didn't you want to bite me?"

"Okay, here you go." She smiled, her hand holding him with an undeniable force. "How do you break down the word 'bite'?"

He commanded in a cold voice, "Read it to me."

His eyes were glistening with tears, and he blinked blankly, his gaze clouded with a misty emptiness. The next moment, he came to his senses, and a fiery color suddenly shot up from his neck to his ears, sweeping across his entire face.