Chapter 207

The night was dark, the cell was gloomy and damp, the dim candlelight flickered like a ghost fire, Ding Wenqi spat out the straw in her mouth with a "Puh" sound, looked at the two people in front of her, and said in shock: "You are not dead?"

"But you will die soon." Lin Shuge said calmly.

Ding Wenqi changed his posture, sitting cross-legged, and looked at Xie Chen and Lin Shuge for a moment, "So that's how it is, he faked his death to trick us," he paused, and then said, "Don't worry, the old man won't let me die so easily, but what are you two doing here, do you want to see me become a prisoner? Or do you want to send me off?"

"His Majesty has already convicted you and will send you to death in the next two days. We came here to ask you something. Were you the one who interrogated the eldest son of the Xie family?" Lin Shuge ignored him and asked directly.

"I thought you two were looking for me for something, but it turned out to be about the eldest son of the Xie family. Back then, the son of the Xie family was very romantic and was the favorite of all the girls in Yandu. The sayings of him being gentle and polite, and being the best son of the Xie family, are all bullshit. Xie Yi is obviously pretending to be noble and dignified, but he pretends to be a decent person all day long...

Ding Wenqi seemed to have a grudge against Mr. Xie, and she hated him so much when she talked about him.

How could Xie Chen let him humiliate his brother in front of him? He grabbed his neck and kept exerting force. Ding Wenqi had difficulty breathing, his face turned pale and he kept slapping Xie Chen with his hands.

Lin Shuge quickly patted Xie Chen on the shoulder and asked him to let go of Ding Wenqi first.

Ding Wenqi fell to the ground, took a breath, propped up her arm and sat up, and said, "Yu was also blind. Look, she ended up dying in sorrow..."

Seeing that Xie Chen's face was getting uglier, Lin Shuge was afraid that Xie Chen would not be able to help but kill him, so he hurriedly said, "Let him finish speaking first."

Ding Wenqi coughed and laughed, "Xie Erlang, why are you so anxious now? When your brother was struggling to survive in prison, what were you doing? I'm afraid he has already fled to the northwest to save his life, right?"

"What did you say?" Xie Chen said after being stunned for a moment.

Ding Wenqi laughed a little crazily, "Everyone knows that your Xie family is a family of loving brothers, filial and righteous. But when disaster struck, you abandoned your brother and fled for his life, leaving him to suffer alone in prison. It's a pity that he refused to speak and held on, refusing to sign and seal his name, refusing to let the Xie family bear eternal infamy."

Lin Shuge looked at Xie Chen, and saw that he looked inexplicably sad and happy. He could only ask in a hoarse voice: "What happened back then?"

"What's going on? In order to silence Youyou, you said the crime of treason. If the eldest grandson of the Xie family admitted it himself, what would the world think? When Xie Suwen, the old man, was trapped within the palace walls by us and Wang Heng led his troops to surround Xie's mansion, Xie Yi stepped forward and wanted to take the blame for his father. How could we let go of this good opportunity?"

"So... you want to force me to confess?" Lin Shuge said awkwardly.

"What do you mean by torture to confess? As long as Xie Yi admits the crime, we will consider leaving his body intact. What a pity..."

"What a pity? What did you do to him?" Xie Chen grabbed Ding Wenqi's collar, his eyes red. If you look closely, you can see that his hands are shaking at this moment.

"What did he do? Don't you know the tricks of the Supreme Court? Under torture, he kept silent. Have you seen the scene of Master Xie, who was once as beautiful as the moon in the sky, crawling in front of me?" Ding Wenqi laughed loudly and staggered when hit by the oncoming fist. He spat out the blood in his mouth, looked at Xie Chen's furious expression, and continued: "Isn't Xie Yi a tough guy? I will ask people to smash his bones and see what happens..."

Xie Chen couldn't bear it any longer. His eyes were red and he punched Ding Wenqi like raindrops. Lin Shuge couldn't stop him. Ding Wenqi was beaten to the point of vomiting blood, but he still sneered: "Xie Chen, what was your brother like when he was dying? Do you want to know?"

"That's enough, Ding Wenqi, where was the body of the eldest son of the Xie family buried back then?" Lin Shuge pulled Xie Chen's arm and said to him in a gentle voice, "Don't hit Zhongxuan, he is still useful."

Xie Chen's fist was covered in blood. He slowly put down his right hand and glanced at Lin Shuge. He finally came to his senses from his chaotic thoughts. He let go of Ding Wenqi and felt as if several huge rocks were pressing on his chest. He was in a trance.

Ding Wenqi wiped the blood off her face, smiled and said, "His legs were broken, and there was not a single spot on his body that was intact. I held his hands and asked him to sign the confession of your Xie family's treason, but he didn't even have the strength to pull the confession over and stuff it into his mouth. It was pitiful. Even under the beatings of the jailers, he refused to spit it out."

Xie Chen listened to it in self-torture, his right arm shaking constantly. He remembered that when his mother pushed him out of Xie's house, his brother smiled at him warmly and told him to take care of himself.

"Where is Mr. Xie's body?" Lin Shuge asked sternly.

"Come to think of it, you should thank me. Considering that he was my classmate, I threw him into a mass grave outside the city. Oh, do you think he has been eaten by wild dogs?"

"Let him oppose me on a daily basis. And you, why are you pretending to be a righteous man and saving people from my hands? Did those people say a word for you when the Xie family was in trouble?"

"And Yu Jiao, your good sister-in-law, if she had agreed to my proposal back then, would she have ended up like this? Do you know what happened to her? After hearing the news of Xie Boxuan's death, she actually drew her sword and committed suicide. Hahahaha, if she had been willing to beg me, maybe I would have married her as a concubine because she still had some colour..."

"Brother, please go out for a while." Xie Chen's voice was so hoarse that it seemed like it was burned by fire.

"Zhongxuan, you..." Lin Shuge felt sad and painful, but he knew that nothing he said at this moment could ease the pain in Xie Chen's heart, so he could only retreat silently.

He was outside the Supreme Court, listening to Ding Wenqi's painful howls from the cell, followed by her pleas for mercy. The sound became weaker and weaker, with only intermittent gasps ringing in his ears.

The wind was howling outside the house. The winter in Yandu has always been mild compared to that in the northwest, but for some reason, the strong wind accompanied by heavy snow made a humming sound like a ghost.

"Zhongxuan, let's go back." Lin Shuge watched Xie Chen's face appear in the darkness. Knowing such a thing today, he must be extremely uncomfortable, but looking at his expression now, it was like a storm was about to come.

Lin Shuge was worried that something might happen to him, so he hurried over to support him. However, Xie Chen smiled at him and said, "Brother, I'm going somewhere and will be back soon." After that, he jumped on his horse and rode away.

"Master Lin, this... this..." The jailer exclaimed, obviously seeing how Ding Wenqi died. Some of them couldn't hold it in and vomited directly beside them.

Lin Shuge said: "Don't let others know. I will go to His Majesty to confess my crime. I will take all the responsibility for anything."

Lin Shuge didn't dare to let Xie Chen go out at this time. Not to mention that the news that he was still alive was still unknown, just thinking about what he heard about Xie Yi tonight, given Xie Chen's current condition, how could he let him run away alone? So he rode his horse to chase him.

The mass graves on the outskirts of the city were littered with scattered corpses, white bones everywhere, and crows were circling overhead. Fortunately, it was winter, otherwise with so many corpses, the whole place would surely stink.

Xie Chen knelt on the ground, digging tirelessly and without feeling any pain, his eyes were empty, and he was oblivious to everything around him.

Lin Shuge squatted beside him, "Zhongxuan, don't be like this."

Xie Chen's hands were covered in blood, and he kept muttering, "Brother, wait for me, I will find my brother soon and take him home soon."

The moonlight was pale, and the night wind made the dead trees nearby rustle. The broken branches made crackling sounds like bones breaking, and the night owls cried out as if they were telling the grievances of the wronged souls.

Lin Shuge closed his eyes and said with a determined heart, "If that's the case, I'll dig with you."

He took off his robe, rolled up his sleeves, and started working with Xie Chen. There was dirt between his fingers, and the smell of blood was getting stronger and stronger. Xie Chen woke up and grabbed Lin Shuge's bloodstained hand, "Brother, your hand..."

Lin Shuge had tears in his eyes, "Zhongxuan, we will go back and erect a monument for your brother after we find him, don't scare me."

Xie Chen wanted to cry but had no tears, his voice seemed to be stained with blood: "Brother, I don't know, I don't know what to do, I would rather be the one who died at that time, do you know?"

Lin Shuge's heart was broken as he listened to Xie Chen continue: "In order to let me live, my father and mother died, my brother and sister-in-law died, I deserve death, but my brother should not suffer like this, it is my fault, my brother must be waiting for me to go back and save him, but what did I do, what did I do... I lived alone."

Xie Chen punched the ground, tears streaming down his face, his voice full of blood.

Lin Shuge hugged him and said, "This is not your fault, this is not your fault, do you hear me?"

"My brother doesn't know any martial arts, how could he endure such punishment? Brother, as soon as I close my eyes now, I can see his eyes before he died. Tell me, will he hate me? I hate that I only cared about my own life when the Xie family was in danger. What's the difference between me and those people?" Xie Chen said in a sad voice with tears in his eyes.

Lin Shuge's face was full of tears. "Zhongxuan, listen to me. If I were him, I would definitely hope that you would live well. How could I blame you?"

“Yes, brother really won’t blame me, but how can I still have the face to live in this world…” Xie Chen’s heart felt as if it was hit by a sledgehammer, and he raised his eyes to look at Lin Shuge.

"Xie Chen, wake up. You are not wrong, and neither is the Xie family. Your mother let you escape as the only way. Only if you are alive, their sacrifice will not be in vain. Do you understand?"

Xie Chen stared at him blankly, and Lin Shuge said, "Now that the Xie family has been rehabilitated, you have fulfilled half of your mother's last wish. After getting rid of the Ding family, I will accompany you to pay tribute to everyone, okay? Be obedient and get up first."

Xie Chen grabbed his robe, looked up and asked, "Brother, do you think the emperor is wrong?"

"What did you say?" Lin Shuge asked in surprise.

"The sword of imperial power is really useful. Rebellion is the first of the ten evils. My grandfather was the most loyal to the emperor when he was alive. What will happen to the Xie family? If the emperor wants his subjects to die, and the subjects do not die, they are not loyal. What will happen if they are disloyal? Will they end up like the crown prince Shensheng of Jin and the prince Fusu of Qin? Loyal or disloyal, it's the same."

"Brother, do you know what I was thinking before? When I was trapped in the Qiang tribe and hated them the most, I even thought of bringing the Qiang back to kill them. I wanted them to pay for my Xie family's lives, but I couldn't do it. I simply couldn't do it." His eyes were paranoid and crazy, and at this moment, they contained a trace of compassion. "The people are innocent, brother."

Lin Shuge burst into tears, hugged him tightly with both hands, and said repeatedly: "I know, I know everything."

In the past, he had only heard Xie Chen say that he wanted to rehabilitate the Xie family, and that everything he did was aboveboard. He knew that Xie Chen had endured a lot, and he also knew that he had suppressed his violent and wanton side. He only hated fate for making Xie Chen suffer like this.

"Brother, can you please not leave? You are the only one I have. I beg you, can you please not go back? I know that world is good and I shouldn't be so selfish to trap you here, but you are the only one I have..." Xie Chen suddenly turned around and hugged Lin Shuge tightly, as if he wanted to tuck him into his bones and blood, so that they would never be separated.

These few words seemed to break Lin Shuge's heart and make him feel as if he was falling into an ice cellar. No wonder Xie Chen remained silent for a long time after asking him about his origins that day. According to his personality, he must have asked everything clearly. Unexpectedly, Xie Chen actually suppressed all these thoughts in his heart.

"Xie Chen," Lin Shuge stroked his face with both hands, "Listen carefully, I can't go back, and I don't want to go back to the world without you. Don't forget, you promised me that we would get married after everything is settled, and you would always be with me, and I would always be with you."

Xie Chen's breathing was unstable, and he stared at him without blinking. He raised his lips to smile, but suddenly he staggered and fainted in Lin Shuge's arms.