Chapter 101 Escape 3 How did the young lady become a slave?
Li Shuli's head buzzed, and she instantly felt the coldness of the dagger.
She didn't dare to move and looked up at him.
The stern-faced man was like a towering mountain at this moment, blocking not only the light of the candle, but also her vision of the future.
She pretended to be delicate and weak, and replied in a trembling voice: "I...I am your wife, my husband. How come you...don't recognize me?"
Xie Wuhen's expression grew colder as he increased the force in his hand. The blade had already quietly cut through the skin on Li Shuli's neck, and blood was slowly oozing out. "Your scent isn't even my wife's, and you're still lying about being my wife?"
Li Shuli paused, then quickly explained, "The maids all use the same spices to fumigate clothes every day, so how could the smells be different?"
As soon as she entered Xie's house today, she changed into all the clothes that Su He wore, from head to toe. Now her whole body was filled with the smell of that little hoof. How could Xie Wuhen still smell the difference?
Xie Wuhen's voice was hoarse and cruel: "It's body odor, not fragrance!" He was too familiar with the smell of his wife.
Then he grabbed her hair and glanced behind her ear: "Besides, my wife has a cinnabar mole behind her ear, but you don't."
Li Shuli choked and didn't know how to respond.
She and that bitch Su He are indistinguishable in both body shape and appearance, even the birthmark on their backs are exactly the same. Who would have thought that the bitch had a cinnabar mole behind her ear? I'm afraid even the bitch herself doesn't know it?
Li Shuli felt a little guilty and pretended to be frightened and shouted, "Chunlan, my uncle has gone crazy. He wants to kill me. Chunlan, come and save me..."
Chunlan entered the room upon hearing the noise, and was frightened to death by the scene before her.
She wanted to pull Xie Wuhen away, but she didn't dare. She could only kneel down with a plop: "Please, sir, let the young lady go... She is your wife... Please, sir..."
Xie Wuhen bit his back teeth and said, "Open your eyes and see clearly, she is not your mistress!"
Chunlan's chest tightened, and she suddenly lowered her head and fell silent.
She originally thought that Li Shuli had a conflict with her son-in-law, but she didn't expect that Li Shuli was actually seen through by her son-in-law.
She had planned everything carefully, but it didn't last an hour in front of her son-in-law. She didn't know how to respond.
Li Shuli was still struggling: "My husband should open his eyes and see clearly that I am really your wife. I am going to die because of you, my husband."
Xie Wuhen's expression grew increasingly cold: "It's okay if you don't admit it. I have plenty of time to slowly endure it with you." He said, calling out in a stern voice, "Someone come here."
Wu Sheng walked in and saw the boss pressing against the young lady's neck. He couldn't believe his eyes: "Boss, what are you doing..."
Xie Wuhen retracted the dagger and ordered in a deep voice: "Take this woman to the underground secret room."
Wu Sheng cleared his throat and said, "Boss, this is the young lady..."
Xie Wuhen shouted, "She is not the young lady."
This loud shout was like the collapse of heaven and earth, which frightened Wu Sheng so much that he muttered "yes".
Xie Wuhen glanced at Chunlan and ordered again: "Lock this maidservant in the woodshed as well."
Wu Sheng often ate the cakes made by Chunlan, and they had some friendship in private: "Chunlan is just a maid, she should... shouldn't have anything to do with it, right?" After saying this, he glanced at Chunlan.
Chunlan didn't even raise her head, but was wiping her tears with her sleeve.
Xie Wuhen's face was as hard as stone, his eyes red and filled with anger. "Stop talking nonsense." He added, "Even if I have to stay up all night, I will find out from them where the young lady is going."
Wu Sheng had never seen his master look so desperate, cruel and murderous.
He realized that something big had happened to the Xie family, something earth-shattering.
He hurriedly called two servants, first took the woman who looked like the young lady into the secret room, and then took Chunlan into the woodshed.
The secret room in Xie Mansion was privately excavated by Xie Wuhen and connected to his study. It is located dozens of meters underground. It is hidden and isolated, making it an ideal place to imprison prisoners.
Even Xu Nanzhi didn't know that there was such a secret room in the mansion.
At this time, Li Shuli had been tied to the armchair in the secret room.
In the dim candlelight, her hair was disheveled and she looked disheveled, but she still insisted, "I am really Li Shuli, the young mistress of the Xie family. If I dare to lie, I will die without a burial place."
She added, "If you don't believe me, then... or you can call my father and ask him to identify me as Li Shuli."
She had survived many dangers and gone through countless hardships to get to where she is today. She was only one step away from securing the position of Shaoqing's wife and being able to show off in front of He Manyun. How could she give in so easily and admit defeat so easily?
Xie Wuhen didn't want to waste time talking to her anymore, so he directly ordered: "Torture her."
Wu Sheng replied "yes" and then looked at Li Shuli's face.
This face looked exactly like the young lady's, which made him inexplicably soft-hearted. He murmured, "Boss, are you really... not mistaken?"
What if it really is the young lady?
Xie Wuhen shouted, "Use torture."
Wu Sheng was frightened again and quickly clamped the pliers on Li Shuli's ten fingers.
As the rope on the torture device was tightened, Li Shuli's screams became louder and louder.
But the secret room was deep and the walls were thick, so no one outside could hear anything going on inside.
After a round of punishment, Li Shuli became more and more embarrassed.
Xie Wuhen asked, "Are you willing to tell the truth now?" Li Shuli was clearly crying, but a smile was on her face. "I never thought that the prestigious Shaoqing would lynch his own wife in his own mansion."
Xie Wuhen shouted again: "Bring on the branding iron."
Wu Sheng glanced at the charcoal basin in the room. The iron in the basin was already burning red.
He felt that his master was really crazy today, as he actually inflicted such severe punishment on a woman.
Branding was usually only used on men, and usually on their chests.
As for the woman, he asked, "Boss, where did you brand...brand?"
Facing a face that looked exactly like the young lady's, he couldn't possibly peel open her chest.
Xie Wuhen had no expression on his face: "Bring the soles of my feet."
Wu Sheng responded with "yes" and bent down to pull off Li Shuli's shoes and socks. Then he picked up the red-hot iron in the charcoal basin and burned her feet hard.
Li Shuli's shrill wails were heard again in the room.
Wisps of smoke rose from the soles of her feet, accompanied by the smell of burnt flesh.
Wu Sheng burned one of her feet, then the other, and only stopped when he was sure she could not bear it anymore.
Li Shuli slumped in the chair, sweating profusely, breathing weakly, like a fish out of water.
Xie Wuhen remained unmoved and asked again, "Are you willing to tell the truth?"
Although Li Shuli was tortured horribly, she was still conscious. She murmured, "What I said... is all true."
Xie Wuhen secretly clenched his fist: "You are still being stubborn."
He walked up to her, pinched her chin and studied her face: "Since you can't tell me where my wife is, I will never let you show off with her face."
A trace of fear flashed across Li Shuli's eyes: "You...what do you want?"
Xie Wuhen spoke each word with a firm tone: "I will destroy your face so that you will never be able to show it to others again."
Li Shuli's voice trembled: "This is not her face, this is my face."
Xie Wuhen replied: "I only recognize it as my wife's face."
She yelled, "Xie Wuhen, how dare you!"
Xie Wuhen sneered: "Why wouldn't I dare?"
Li Shuli paused, unable to respond.
She had been imprisoned in this underground secret room by him, and no one could help her even if she cried out to heaven or earth. There was really nothing he was afraid of.
Li Shuli hunched her shoulders and her whole body was trembling.
Maybe it was because of the pain, or maybe it was because of the fear.
She could endure physical pain, such as torture or branding.
Even though she was once slashed in the throat by Su He, she still managed to escape death and survive.
For her, the physical pain will heal eventually, it's nothing.
But she was afraid of being disfigured and losing her face.
If she didn't have this face, that bitch Su He would live on with her face and her identity.
Who, then, is she, and how does she live?
What she will lose is not just a face, she will lose her entire life.
She was afraid, she wouldn't allow it.
Li Shuli finally relented: "Okay, I say, I just hope that Master Shaoqing can show mercy and not destroy my face."
As soon as she let go, Wu Sheng also breathed a sigh of relief. After all, he didn't have to continue torturing her.
Xie Wuhen winked at him.
He understood and immediately loosened the rope around Li Shuli's wrists and fed her half a cup of tea.
Li Shuli calmed down and finally calmed down.
She raised her eyes to look at Xie Wuhen, and there was even a hint of teasing in her eyes: "Are you really ready to face the truth, Master Shaoqing?"
Xie Wuhen was stunned when he heard this.
Zeng Yidao had said the same thing to him.
Although he didn't understand the reason, he was not bothered by it. He dragged a chair over and sat across from Li Shuli, looking at her coldly: "Tell me, where did my wife go?"
Li Shuli exhaled with difficulty, then answered the question irrelevantly, and continued, "Whether or not, Your Excellency, I am indeed the legitimate daughter of the Li family, Li Shuli. My father is Li Tai'an, the Chief Clerk of the Central State, and my mother is Guo Ningyu, who was born into a merchant family. I have been doted on by my parents since I was young, and I had everything I wanted. Until the spring of the eighteenth year of the Yonglong reign, my mother passed away, and my father remarried. Since then, my life has taken a sharp turn for the worse..."
Xie Wuhen interrupted her: "You can skip anything that is not important."
Li Shuli smiled and said, "No matter how anxious you are to find your wife, Master Shaoqing, you must be patient."
She continued, "My stepmother, He Manyun, was sinister and vicious. On the surface, she cared about me, but in private, she often made things difficult for me. In a fit of rage, I got arsenic and wanted to poison her. Unfortunately, she was lucky enough to escape. In a fit of rage, my father banished me to the West Mountain Villa."
She turned and asked, "West Mountain Courtyard, Master Shaoqing should be familiar with it, right?"
Xie Wuhen was naturally familiar with her. He had met her in the plum forest behind the courtyard. "Don't waste time. Keep talking."
Li Shuli naturally knew about this past from Su He's records, so she asked this question.
She sighed softly, "That courtyard may be a fond memory for Lord Yu Shaoqing, but for me it was the most painful past. It was desolate and lonely, without even a comfortable house. And when I opened the gate, I could see groups of starving people like hungry dogs."
Xie Wuhen's expression slightly withered: "Do you think the hungry people are like starving dogs?"
Li Shuli sneered: "That's right, I think they are like starving dogs. Why, they are not as kind as the wife of the Shaoqing Lord, right?"
Xie Wuhen glanced at her coldly and was too lazy to respond to her.
He wanted to know what she could come up with today.
Li Shuli looked at him evilly and continued, "When I went to the other courtyard, I brought three personal servants with me. One was Chunlan, whom the Shaoqing was familiar with. Another was Zhang Xiuhua, who was also familiar to the Shaoqing. As for the third one, her name was Su He, Su for Gusu and He for lotus. But she eventually became the Shaoqing's wife."
The air was silent for a moment.
Wu Sheng was also shocked when he heard this. How did the young lady become a slave?
Xie Wuhen suddenly stood up and grabbed Li Shuli's neck: "If you dare to talk nonsense again, I will take your life now."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
