Chapter 56 Song Jie's Knife
The rain had already intensified by midnight.
Song Jie was hastily summoned to the palace, but the cold wind made him cough incessantly. He only managed to stop coughing after taking two pills on the way.
Cangshu wanted to advise the Prime Minister to take less of these pills. Although they could stop the cold poison, each pill contained cinnabar, making them more like a "pain reliever" poison.
But Song Jie only wanted to temporarily suppress the cold poison so that he would have the strength and energy to finish what he needed to do.
The alchemy room was guarded by imperial guards. Fukang, a close eunuch of the emperor, came out personally to invite Song Jie in alone.
Now, this familiar yet unfamiliar person was tied to the alchemy furnace, his only remaining left arm hanging high, his back already scalded by the red-hot furnace, his face covered in sweat, yet he showed no panic or pain. As Song Jie walked in, he raised his eyelids and glanced at him, sneering, "What's the use of calling a pretty boy to interrogate me, you old thief Xiao Xu? If you don't know, you don't know."
He was pretending not to know him.
Song Jie lowered his eyes, his heart churning like a stormy sea. He was unsure why Daoist Heshan had been captured and brought here, and even less clear whether the Emperor knew about his relationship with Daoist Heshan.
He raised his eyes, his sickly face bearing its usual cold expression, and walked towards Emperor Xiao Xu, bowing to him. "Your Majesty, has something happened that summoned me to the palace so urgently in the middle of the night?"
The emperor summoned him urgently, perhaps knowing his relationship with Daoist Heshan, and wanted to use him to interrogate Daoist Heshan about something.
"Something big has happened! That old scoundrel Xiao Xu has been wearing a green hat for so long and suddenly suspects his son isn't his own!" Daoist Heshan shouted without any attempt to hide his contempt.
Pei Heng, standing beside him, frowned and took action, temporarily sealing Heshan Daoist's speech to silence him.
Xiao Xu, who was half-reclining on the couch, coughed and gasped for a while before calming down. He raised his eyes to look at Song Jie, who was standing by the couch: "You heard what he said."
He heard it and understood it, but he didn't know how much Xiao Xu knew, or whether he knew about his father Song Xingzhi and Wan Susu back then.
Song Jie met his gaze, frowned, and glanced at Daoist Heshan: "Who is he? His Majesty should execute him immediately for uttering such treasonous words."
The Taoist priest of Heshan, whose muteness had been sealed, laughed, but no sound came out of his throat; his body just trembled with laughter, which was extremely bizarre.
“He should be executed, but not now.” Xiao Xu was so eager to know the answer that he summoned Song Jie and said bluntly, “Before executing him, I want you to get some information out of him.”
Song Jie cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I will do my best. What does Your Majesty want him to confess?"
Xiao Xu looked at Pei Heng.
Pei Heng understood immediately and said to Song Jie, "This traitor was once the late emperor's secret guard, Prince Song. After the late emperor passed away, he fled the palace, changed his name, cultivated his power, and founded the Lonely Pavilion, an assassin organization."
Song Jie looked at Pei Heng, his palm clenched tightly under his sleeve. Lonely Palm Tower—wasn't that the assassination organization that his master, Daoist Heshan, had recommended to him? It was Daoist Heshan who revealed to him that Xiao Zhen was not Xiao Xu's biological son, and that Xiao Xu and Wan Susu's biological son had been secretly switched at birth and taken out of the palace, later ending up in Lonely Palm Tower, codenamed "Left-Handed Knife."
That's why he initially wanted to hire "Left-Handed Knife" to assassinate Wan Susu, hoping to meet the real prince who had been switched at birth. Unfortunately, the assassination failed, and he never got to meet "Left-Handed Knife."
"The night raid on the palace seventeen years ago was orchestrated by Gu Zhanglou. The purpose was not to assassinate the Emperor, but to kidnap the newborn Fourth Prince." Pei Heng spoke calmly, but every word was surprisingly secretive: "When the night raid occurred, Song Xiang's father, the Duke of Protectorate, was also in the palace protecting the Emperor. Presumably, Song Xiang has heard about this matter."
Song Jie nodded. He did know about this, but it wasn't his father who told him; he had overheard it outside his father's study.
The assassination attempt happened on the night Wan Susu was about to give birth. The assassins split into two groups. One group of assassins attacked Emperor Xiao Xu first, drawing all the imperial guards away. The other group of assassins sneaked into Wan Susu's palace and almost kidnapped the newborn fourth prince.
Were those assassins his men?
Song Jie looked at Daoist Heshan, and after meeting his arrogant gaze, a more terrifying thought came to his mind: Was his father involved in this assassination? Did his father deliberately prevent Daoist Heshan from kidnapping the real Fourth Prince?
Was the Taoist priest of Heshan who saved him when he was three years old, took him as a disciple, and relieved his cold poison... part of the whole process?
Was he merely a pawn of the Taoist of Heshan?
Song Jie's fingers were icy cold as he looked at Daoist Heshan and asked Pei Heng, "Didn't you kill all the assassins and rescue the Fourth Prince back then? Does His Majesty now suspect..."
"You don't need to know anything else," Xiao Xu said weakly on the bed. "I only need to know where the midwife who delivered Su Su's baby was taken by him."
"A midwife?" Song Jie turned to look at Xiao Xu in surprise. "Didn't she die in that night raid back then?" He remembered that she died protecting Wan Susu, and the Emperor even gave her a reward.
“The one who died was not the real midwife,” Pei Heng said. “She was an old palace maid who was dressed as a midwife and had her face slashed by an assassin to impersonate her. The real midwife is still missing. She was probably taken out of the palace by the Prince of Song.”
Pei Heng didn't say that the Emperor had been ordering him to investigate this matter for two years. He traced it from the night raid to the Lonely Pavilion, then to the missing midwife, then to the leader of the Lonely Pavilion, Prince Song, and finally to Prince Song's disciple, Xiao Dao...
Now His Majesty is almost certain that Xiao Dao is his son, only lacking one piece of evidence, the final piece of evidence.
But the King of Song refused to say anything, so the Emperor urgently summoned Song Jie to the palace. After all, Song Jie had interrogated the late Emperor's relatives for three days and three nights to get rid of the henchmen left behind by the late Emperor, and managed to extract a list of eleven important officials from his mouth.
It is said that when the late emperor's relatives were released back to their residences and placed under house arrest, they were still alive, but their flesh had been almost completely ripped off, revealing their bare bones.
Song Jie thus became "infamous," and no one dared to be his enemy or his friend; everyone avoided him like the plague.
Pei Heng disliked Song Jie not only because of his ruthless methods, but also because he introduced a Taoist priest to the emperor, bewitched the emperor into taking elixirs, and even appointed the Taoist priest as the national teacher, which was extremely absurd.
However, the emperor relied heavily on Song Jie and, despite his objections, ordered Song Jie to interrogate the Prince of Song.
Song Jie nodded and said, "I will make him reveal the midwife's whereabouts as soon as possible. I beg Your Majesty to hand him over to me."
"The interrogation will take place right here," Xiao Xu said. "This concerns the royal bloodline, and Prince Song cannot leave the alchemy room until the matter is thoroughly investigated." He looked at Song Jie and said again, "The fewer people who know, the better. You will personally use torture to interrogate him."
Song Jie frowned as he looked at him. Xiao Xu wanted him to personally carry out the torture right here and now.
Before he could answer, a eunuch came over with something in his hands and presented it to him.
It was a row of knives of various shapes and sizes, the instruments of torture he used when he "sliced the late emperor's relatives alive".
Song Jie's fingers were numb from the cold, and he coughed twice, his chest trembling, before he immediately swallowed and held it in.
He wanted to say that he wasn't feeling well today and asked if he could rest for the night.
But he knew very well that he couldn't say, much less hand over the Taoist of Heshan to others for interrogation.
He feared that Daoist Heshan might say something detrimental to him, such as that he was Daoist Heshan's disciple, that the pills he used to alleviate the cold poison were personally prepared by Daoist Heshan, or that Daoist Heshan had taught him his skill of skinning people alive...
Thunder rumbled outside the window, and a white light illuminated the tightly closed window.
Song Jie lowered his eyes, his fingers lightly tracing the knives, and said coldly, "Your subject will do his best."
Pei Heng untied the Song King's acupoint.
He heard the King of Song laughing behind him, "You've got plenty of showmanship, trying to scare me with your knives? Come on, I'd like to see what a mere brat can do!"
It was as if she was trying her best to tell Song Jie: Come on, I won't reveal a single thing about our relationship, we've never met.
But the Taoist of Heshan should know best which knife cuts which piece of flesh will bleed the least and die the slowest.
A chill ran through Song Jie's chest like a knife twisting in his throat. He picked out the most handy knife and remembered how, years ago, when he was poisoned and thrown into a well, it was the Taoist priest of Heshan who pulled him out and brought him back to a dilapidated Taoist temple.
He turned around and walked towards Daoist Heshan. He heated the small knife on the stove fire beside him, and the flames danced in his eyes. He remembered how Daoist Heshan fed him medicine and porridge spoonful by spoonful when he was on the verge of death. When he woke up and saw the one-armed Daoist Heshan, he thought he had seen a ghost.
"Boy, you're underestimating me by trying to outmaneuver me with such a small knife." King Song looked at him and smiled mockingly.
With the next cut, he was quick and precise, scraping away flesh without drawing blood. He said to the King of Song, "Confess, and you'll avoid suffering."
Even he himself couldn't tell whether this statement was true or false.
He hoped that he would be spared punishment by confessing, but he also knew very well that if he found a midwife, Xiao Zhen's identity would be lost, and this revenge plan that had been laid out for more than ten years would be completely ruined.
King Song gritted his teeth in pain, but quickly smiled and said, "What a pity. Why not set up a copper pot so I can cook the sliced meat myself?"
Then, Song Jie made the second cut, the third cut...
Even Pei Heng, who was used to witnessing killings, couldn't help but turn his head away, but the smell of blood grew stronger and stronger.
When the King of Song let out his first cry of pain, Song Jie's fingers were trembling with cold, because he remembered that it was also a stormy day when the Taoist of Heshan brought back the five- or six-year-old Cangshu to him.
The Taoist priest pushed the soaking wet little boy in front of him and said, "His name is Cangshu. From now on, he will be responsible for feeding you and giving you medicine."
Song Jie's trembling hand hesitated to use the knife. He thought: Cang Shu is also a disciple of Daoist Heshan. He must be in great pain to see these pieces of flesh.
"Aren't you going to confess?" Song Jie looked at King Song and asked him with numb lips, "Even if you don't confess, General Pei will find out the midwife's whereabouts sooner or later."
King Song's pale face was covered in cold sweat. He looked at him and curled his lips: "How can you confess to things I don't know?"
"Continue, Song Jie," Xiao Xu said, panting heavily on the couch.
Song Jie's limbs and bones were already cold, and the cold air in his chest kept drilling into his throat. He suppressed his cough and made another cut. Blood gushed out, and he couldn't help coughing. He coughed so hard that his body swayed and he reached out to hold onto the lampstand, but he couldn't get a firm grip. He fell down with the lampstand and coughed up a mouthful of dark red blood.
"Oh, Prime Minister Song!"
The eunuch rushed over to help him, and was horrified when he touched his body: "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Song... Prime Minister Song has vomited blood and fainted, his body is cold..."
Pei Heng also turned around and saw Song Jie lying in a pool of flesh and blood, his face ashen like a zombie. He immediately stepped forward and checked Song Jie's breathing. "He's still breathing, Your Majesty. Quickly summon the imperial physician."
Xiao Xu pressed his chest, not ordering the eunuch to summon the imperial physician, but said, "It's his old ailment; he never calls the imperial physician for treatment." He sighed, raised his hand, and instructed, "It seems we can't count on him today. Send him back to his residence first; he has people to take care of him there."
Pei Heng frowned and reached out to feel his chest. It was ice cold with no body temperature, and his heart pulse was very weak. Was there any hope of saving him if he was sent back to the manor like this?
However, His Majesty would not allow unauthorized personnel to enter the current alchemy room.
Seeing that the eunuch couldn't lift Song Jie after a couple of attempts, Pei Heng simply reached out and lifted Song Jie up, quickly carrying him out of the alchemy room. He carried him to the palace gate and met Song Jie's entourage.
"Prime Minister!" Cang Shu was terrified when he saw Pei Heng carrying the Prime Minister on his back.
Pei Heng quickly shoved Song Jie into the carriage and said to Cang Shu, "He vomited black blood and fainted. His heart pulse is weak. Get him to the hospital immediately."
Cang Shu didn't have time to talk to Pei Heng. He immediately got into the carriage, took out a pill, and put it into the Prime Minister's mouth. He had only one thought in his mind: to find Miss Yu Shu!
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Author's Note: I haven't written about Yu Shu yet, I'll continue tomorrow [Let me see].
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