Apply medicine
Yingyue was in the center, and Xiuhe was waiting anxiously.
Just now, the lady said she wanted to see Xiutao, and she wanted to go with her, but the lady stopped her. Now, looking at the dark night outside, she felt inexplicably uneasy.
"My lord, what's wrong with the lady?"
Suddenly, Xiuzhu's terrified voice came from outside.
Xiuhe suddenly looked up and saw Lord Xie carrying his wife, who was soaking wet, as they walked in.
"Madam," Xiuhe greeted her in a trembling voice.
"She is fine. Prepare hot water for the lady to bathe."
After Xie Qi finished speaking, he carried Li Wan straight into the bathroom.
Li Wan soaked in the hot water for nearly fifteen minutes before feeling her body warm up, and then looked up at Xiuhe.
Xiuhe immediately understood that the lady was asking if Lord Xie had left, so she shook her head.
Lord Xie carried his wife into the washroom and sat on the daybed outside the washroom, remaining motionless.
Li Wan glanced at the bedroom, then looked back down at the steaming water.
His right hand was submerged in water, and the deep bloodstain on his palm was very conspicuous. It was the mark left by the silver hairpin when he killed Xiu Tao.
Li Wan closed her eyes, suppressing the complex emotions she felt after her first murder.
This is just the beginning.
The people who deserve to die even more than Xiu Tao are Xiao Xian and Lin Youke.
But one of them was a prince, and the other was the son of a general; both were men who were stronger and more capable than her.
Therefore, killing them alone is absolutely impossible for her. And in this vast capital city, there is only one person who can help her.
Li Wan looked there again, and through a floor-to-ceiling embroidered Shu brocade screen, the man's tall figure was vaguely reflected.
Xie Qi!
Li Wan silently murmured the name, her heart filled with a throbbing ache.
According to Jiang Feiwan's last words, the death of Xie Qi's mother, Lin Lan, was the result of the combined efforts of the current emperor, the empress, and Lin Shang. Even the legs of Ningyuan Marquis Xie Chang were cut off by Xie Qi himself under the emperor's pressure.
Xie Qi and Xie Chang harbored immense hatred for the royal family and the Lin family, waiting for the right moment to avenge their mother.
This is also why Xie Qi resorted to any means to seize power, even at the cost of being branded a treacherous and powerful minister.
In his previous life, just as Xie Qi was firmly in charge of the Jinlin Army and had the court under his control, waiting to launch an uprising to avenge his old grudges and seize the throne, he received a military report that the enemy was about to invade.
Between enmity and national sovereignty, he chose the latter.
In the end, however, he was not only framed and killed on the battlefield, but also bore a lifetime of infamy.
"lady."
Xiuhe saw that the lady's eyes had suddenly turned red and called out softly.
Coming to her senses, Li Wan lowered her eyes and withdrew her gaze from behind the screen.
Should we tell Xie Qi, Xiao Xian, and Lin Youke about their treason?
If Xie Qi doesn't believe her after she's told him, it will be in vain, and he'll only doubt her intentions even more.
If Xie Qi believed it, then what?
The Lin family was his maternal grandparents' family, and Lin Youke was his cousin. Xiao Xian was also popular in the court and was even known as a wise prince. Not to mention that behind the two of them was Consort Xue, who was deeply favored by the emperor.
Without any solid evidence, Xie Qi would be accused of abusing his power if he took action against any of them.
But in this life, she doesn't want him to be wronged again, and she doesn't want him to be scorned by the world again.
The bloodstains on her hands were painfully pressed by her tightly clenched fingertips. Li Wan knew that the biggest problem now was that everything was only her side of the story. She had to expose the true colors of Xiao Lin and the other man so that Xie Qi could start his rebellion legitimately.
Lin Shang is about to return to Beijing, and Xie Qi will receive the military report in May. Time is of the essence, and she cannot wait any longer.
Li Wan closed her eyes, determined to start by destroying the pawn 'Jiang Feiwan'.
"Madam, shall we get up?" Xiuhe asked.
Li Wan walked out of the bathroom, her clothes still damp from the moisture.
She wore a plain white satin nightgown, her damp hair cascading over her shoulders, leaving dark stains on her chest.
Xie Qi looked up at the sound, his gaze, devoid of any discernible emotion, falling upon her. The person before him had lowered eyes and brows, her face flushed slightly from the steam, her lips a soft, rosy pink. This harmless appearance was completely different from the woman who had just killed someone with a hairpin in the pavilion.
He suddenly recalled the image of her long, disheveled hair clinging to her pale cheeks in the rain pavilion, and before he knew it, his long fingers resting on the small table twitched slightly.
Li Wan sat down in front of the dressing table, and Xiu He slowly combed her long hair.
Xie Qi's gaze involuntarily followed her hair, swept over her slender neck and delicate ears, and finally settled on her eyes.
From the first moment he saw her, he had a strange feeling that her gaze did not match her appearance at all, as if another soul lived in her eyes, and he wondered who it was.
Feeling the man's gaze, Li Wan secretly looked at him through the bronze mirror.
When Xiuzhu came in with the medicine, she sensed the subtle atmosphere in the room and paused. "Madam, your hand is injured. Let me apply the medicine for you."
Xiuzhu said she was applying the medicine, but her hands didn't move. Out of the corner of her eye, she secretly glanced at Xie Qi on the Luohan bed.
Xie Qi stood up and stood behind Li Wan, his tall figure casting a shadow that completely enveloped her in his domain.
"I'll do it."
He took the ointment and casually pulled up a chair to sit next to Li Wan.
Li Wan looked up and met his gaze in the mirror.
Xiuzhu and Xiuhe exchanged a glance, then both curtsied and said, "We won't disturb you any longer, Madam and Master. We'll take our leave."
After saying that, the two left the house. As they closed the door, Xiuzhu couldn't help but give Xiuhe a thumbs-up.
The room suddenly fell silent.
Li Wan sat motionless in front of the mirror.
Xie Qi scooped a small piece of ointment from the white jade porcelain bottle. The ointment quickly melted into a translucent oil on his fingertips, emitting a bitter aroma.
He took Li Wan's hand and opened her delicate hand in his large palm.
The bloodstains on her palms were very deep, and a small section of the edge had already oozed blood.
"Speak when it hurts."
His voice was deep, and his fingertips, covered in ointment, gently touched the wound on her palm, first lightly touching it, then spreading it evenly.
His gaze remained fixed on the wound, his thick eyelashes drooping down and casting small shadows on his eyelids.
"hiss!"
The ointment was initially cool, but quickly turned into a slight stinging sensation. Li Wan's fingertips curled up slightly, but he held them firmly in place by pressing his thumb against the base of her fingers.
His thumb had calluses from years of holding a pen and practicing martial arts; the rough texture caressed the most delicate skin on the edge of her palm.
The patter of rain outside the window made the room seem even quieter.
As the initial pain subsided, Li Wan couldn't help but look at him in the mirror again.
He lowered his head, applying the makeup with meticulous care; his profile was sharp and smooth, and his pale, thin lips were lightly pursed.
His fingertips slowly drew circles in her palm, gently rubbing the ointment into the wound.
For some reason, Li Wan felt her pulse beating faster and faster under his fingertips. She tried to look away, but her gaze was fixed on him in the mirror, where she could only look at his lowered eyes and his hand with its distinct knuckles holding hers.
Finally, he stopped what he was doing, and Li Wan immediately looked away.
"Don't get wet for the next two days." He looked up at her.
"Um."
Li Wan responded and then withdrew her hand from his palm.
Xie Qi withdrew his hand without making a sound.
"Don't overthink it, get some rest."
He stood up, glanced around, and capped the medicine bottle. "I'm leaving."
"My lord, I have something to say."
Upon hearing Li Wan's words, the man stopped with his long, powerful legs and looked at her with his tall figure.
Li Wan stood up, walked around the embroidered stool, and looked up at him. "Do you already know that the person I had an affair with is the Third Prince Xiao Xian?"
Suddenly, Xie Qi's aura hardened. He glared at her, his voice icy, "What do you want to say?"
“When I was young, I was always confined to my room to recover from my illness. In that square courtyard, all I had to do was drink endless medicinal soup. But I am a human being, not a bird. I yearn for the people and things outside.”
"So, on that day, I sneaked out and faced the dazzling array of things on the long street and the crowds coming and going. I stood in the middle of the street and couldn't even walk properly. At that moment, I thought, 'So this is how lively life can be.'"
"But soon, my father found me with the Jiang family. He said the weather was too cold and I would catch a cold, and that there were bad people on the street. He grabbed my hand and tried to put me into the carriage, but I didn't want to. I didn't want to go back to that cage. So I struggled desperately and tried to run away, but I couldn't escape his grip."
Li Wan recounted Jiang Feiwan's life, imagining her despair and her joy, as if she were Jiang Feiwan herself at that moment.
"Just then, Xiao Xian arrived. I had never seen such a handsome person before, even more handsome than the immortals described in the storybooks. He gently persuaded my father to calm down, and then, with his back to my father, he whispered to me that he would find an opportunity to take me out for a stroll every month."
"So I returned to the Jiang residence, took my medicine and recuperated properly, and lay on my bed every day looking up at the canopy, waiting for him to come and get me."
"Finally, he kept his word. At that time, my father was busy with official duties every day, and Zou Shi was only focused on her younger brother. So he bribed the servants around me and the gatekeepers of the Jiang family to secretly take me out every month to shop, eat at restaurants, and watch lanterns... adding the most exciting part to my lonely life."
"At that time, I knew that I would marry him and spend my life with him."
The air inside the room froze instantly when she uttered the words "to stay together for life".
"Jiang Feiwan! Are you sure you want to continue?" Xie Qi stared intently at her, his voice harsh.
Li Wan met his furious gaze, but calmly continued, "Yes, I want to continue."
“After that incident, I hated him. I hated that he got me without any betrothal or marriage proposal, and I hated that he got me but didn’t marry me. Instead, he used me to blackmail me into continuing to seduce you. So, blinded by hatred, I decided to marry you. Even if I’m a concubine, I will make him regret his decision.”
"But I was wrong in the end. Because I realized that now it is not him who regrets it, but me."
"Bang!"
Suddenly, the white jade medicine bottle shattered in Xie Qi's palm. He abruptly grabbed her chin, and the huge height difference forced her to stand on tiptoe to face him.
"Jiang Feiwan, you are ridiculously stupid. Can't you see that from the moment you met to the moment you entered the Marquis's mansion, it was all Xiao Cheng's scheme? He was deceiving you from the very beginning, and then using you to deal with me. From beginning to end, he only ever used you."
He gripped her chin tightly, causing tears to well up in Li Wan's eyes. She reached out to push him away, but found that even with all her strength, his hard chest remained unmoved.
She stopped resisting and stared at him without moving. "And you? Dare you say that when you brought me into the Marquis's mansion, you weren't trying to use me?"
As she finished speaking, she slowly released her fingers from his face, and the man's eyes were so dark that no emotion could be discerned.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Li Wan broke free from his grasp, turned away from him, and said firmly, "Now that I have killed Xiu Tao, I intend to forget that incident, let go of my hatred for him, and reconcile with him."
“I know you’ve always looked down on me. Since you’ve already lent me the power to get rid of Xiao Fan, why not take this opportunity to give me a divorce papers and let me leave the mansion? It won’t delay your marriage later.”
Divorce was the best solution Li Wan had come up with after thinking about it all day.
After the divorce, she could go to Xiao Xian and find evidence of Xiao Xian and Lin Youke's treason. This was to help Xie Qi start an uprising as soon as possible, and also to seek justice for Jiang Feiwan, who died in agony in two lifetimes.
Li Wan clenched her fist tightly under her wide sleeves, secretly vowing in her heart: Jiang Feiwan, I will use Xiao Cheng's blood to soothe all the pain and hatred you have suffered.
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