Chapter 25. A deep, lingering hatred. ...
The atmosphere was delicate when an official walked into the main hall and suddenly knelt down.
"My lord, the Shuilingzi Prison on the outskirts of the city... has been poisoned by an unknown person. Many prison guards and prisoners have died... Please come with me to take a look!"
Poisoned?
Leng Cuizhu was startled.
Wouldn't Leng Zhen be poisoned to death?
Sure enough, after Yin Yuan left with the officials, Chen Xun also sent someone to secretly come and find her.
"Lord Chen doesn't know Leng Zhen's condition yet, but I'm afraid... the chances of survival are slim. I heard that over a hundred people have been poisoned this time."
"My lord sent me to ask my wife if she is going?"
"Yes, of course I'll go."
She handed the unconscious chicken to Eun and told him, "You stay here and take good care of Dodder. I'll be right back."
The rooster crowed and sprang up: "Host, I want to go too!"
"I want to go too! I want to go too! I have to go make sure Shou is still alive, otherwise I'll be stuck in this lousy book forever and never be able to go back."
Leng Cuizhu: "What does this have to do with me?"
"If you don't let me go, I'll poop everywhere!"
"So that you'll smell like my chicken poop for the rest of your life!"
"...Can you please stop being so disgusting?"
Leng Cuizhu thought to herself that You En really suffered because she didn't know how to throw a tantrum.
Despite being a large, fat chicken weighing ten pounds, the dodder roamed around like a flea, not slowing down despite its fat body.
Inside the carriage, Chen Xun stared at the rooster wriggling in Leng Cuizhu's arms, stroking his stubble: "Wife, why did you bring a chicken?"
"Oh, oh, I see, sprinkling chicken blood to ward off evil spirits, right? How come I didn't think of that..."
"Host, say something! Say no! You're not going to kill me and use my blood to ward off evil spirits..."
"Host, say something!"
Leng Cuizhu had a splitting headache and was being driven crazy by the noise.
"Shut up."
Chen Xun, who had been speaking eloquently, immediately closed his lips.
Inside the carriage, the only sound was the clucking of chickens.
“Host…host…sister…”
"Stop arguing."
She covered the chicken's beak.
Chen Xun: "We weren't arguing."
"Is it because I was sitting across from you, my wife, and it was disturbing your eyes?" He blinked and sat down next to her. "I'm sitting here now, my wife, please rest assured."
"..."
Fortunately, the journey was not long, and she only stayed in the carriage for less than half an hour before she was able to escape from the chicken and the person.
Chen Xundu followed behind her, swallowing his words, and grabbed the rooster by its claws, carrying it away.
As she stepped through the barbed wire fence behind the prison's main gate, several guards dragged a corpse past her.
The strong smell of blood forced her to turn her head.
She recognized the corpse.
She was the old woman who talked to Leng Zhen through the railing and brought her eggs to eat.
The old woman was full of energy yesterday, but today she's stiff and even has lividity on her body.
"Perhaps she still needs to earn money to support her family..."
Leng Cuizhu couldn't help but feel sad. She had seen more nannies like this than anyone else.
Elderly people from poor families, even those over fifty, have to go out to find work to earn money. Many of them work until they die to support their children.
The prison was filled with cries of pain and agony.
Chen Xun went to handle the poisoning case, while Leng Cuizhu, accompanied by Tu Sizi, was led to the dungeon by a jailer.
The dungeon was dark and damp, and because it hadn't been maintained for a long time, the floor was covered with a layer of sticky, unidentifiable stuff.
Leng Cuizhu walked in step by step, her shoes turning black with sweat, each step extremely difficult.
"My lady, we've arrived."
Following the jailer's direction, Leng Cuizhu looked into the dark and secluded cell, but saw nothing.
But she could definitely hear snoring coming from inside; there were people in the cell.
Or perhaps... it's not a person.
She couldn't imagine what Leng Zhen looked like huddled in that darkness; she only knew that he must be in great pain right now.
So much pain that she was bound to the spot by the immense sorrow and torment, staring into the unknown darkness.
She only slowly entered the prison cell after the dodder shoved her.
Her feet sank into the dense straw, and the snoring grew closer and closer.
In the darkness, she could see clearly with just one more step, just one more step.
The straw rustled as she stepped on it; she lifted one leg, and the other leg got caught.
He looked down and saw a snake wrapped around his leg.
A young snake with its tail severed was breathing heavily, making a gurgling sound, its swollen belly protruding.
Why don't you say anything?
A hand was placed on her shoulder.
"It's been so long since I've heard anyone speak..."
Leng Cuizhu turned around, and Leng Zhen was standing behind her, her black hair wet and sticking to her cheeks, and her dimples seemed to have more than before.
He had never looked so disheveled and dejected.
"You've only been here for a day."
"A lot can happen in a single day."
Leng Zhen wiped her face with her sleeve, and most of the densely packed small moles disappeared.
It turned out to be dust.
"I heard someone poisoned people in prison. Were you poisoned? How are you feeling?"
"You got it." Leng Zhen approached her, her mouth agape.
A bloody mouth, teeth stained crimson, the soft flesh inside peeling off its skin.
He closed his mouth and said quietly, "But I didn't drink it. I held it in my mouth for a while and then realized the taste was wrong, so I spat it out."
"Does your mouth hurt? Was it burned by poison?"
"No."
He smiled and said, "I peeled the skin myself."
"..." She was speechless for a moment.
The rooster waiting outside the cell couldn't stand it anymore: "I've only ever heard of peeling dead skin off lips, how can you peel the living skin inside the mouth?"
"Did your son go crazy from being in jail? Does he think it's cool or unique? He's eighteen, that's old, and he's still going through a teenage rebellion?"
"Or does he think he's pitiful and wants others to pity him... Why is the bottom always so self-pitying? Don't let him actually think he's some kind of beautiful, strong, and tragic hero later on, when he's actually a stingy leech. I'm starting to have a stereotype of this kind of face."
Leng Cuizhu: "...You yourself?"
Why did you do that?
"If we don't do this, are we just going to sit here and wait to die, letting our mouths rot away?"
"Should I wait for my dear mother to come and save me?"
"I didn't intend to save you."
"I just came to see if you were still alive."
"Oh?" Leng Zhen's smile deepened, becoming sinister, her thin face arching in a cruel smile. "So, did it go as you wish?"
She crossed her arms, raised her eyebrows, and chuckled, "Zhenzhen, what do you want to hear?"
"have?"
"No?"
If it were any other mother or son, they would have been crying and hugging each other long ago after experiencing something like this.
But it was Leng Cuizhu and Leng Zhen who were involved.
At this moment, the atmosphere in the cell was incredibly light, as if the two were chatting about some trivial, everyday matter.
"Of course, your mother wants to make you happy."
"So, whether you do as I please or not is up to you to think," she asked coldly. "Did you sleep well last night? If you did, I'll be leaving now."
The smile on Leng Zhen's face vanished instantly.
Did she stop asking him about the poisoning?
Is it really worth her sighing over his skinning?
...That's it?
Did you sleep well?
She gently stroked Leng Zhen's cheek with her fingertips: "Zhenzhen, why aren't you answering?"
"You did this on purpose?"
"What?"
“Do you know how miserable I am here! And you only asked a few questions? Do you know…”
His face was flushed, veins bulging, and blood was surging through his veins. In his haste, he bit his lip, fell to his knees with a thud, covered his face in pain, and spat out a pool of blood.
Leng Cuizhu looked down at him and asked, "Did I seduce you?"
Did I entice you to do this?
“Zhenzhen, you can say it’s wishful thinking, or you can say it’s out of necessity, but you can’t blame everything on me.”
"If you really want to do as I wish..." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear with her fingertips, squatted down, and whispered sweet nothings in Leng Zhen's ear.
"More than a decade ago, I wanted to kill you, or at the very least, take you down with me."
Leng Zhen frowned, closed her scarlet lips, and her right hand trembled as she reached for her waist.
The mother was not lying; the scars on her waist were the best proof.
“But Mother loves you,” she said sincerely, brushing the withered grass off Leng Zhen’s shoulder.
I expected that all feelings had been exhausted, yet I still say that there was no feeling left.
Their love was a poison sweet as honey, an umbilical cord binding them together forever, never to be broken. If he wanted to leave, she would tighten the cord; if she wanted to leave, he would do the same.
"You are my flesh and blood."
"You must listen to me."
She gently wiped the bloodstains from his lips with her fingertips, and Leng Cuizhu embraced him.
Holding her child, she slowly probed his mouth with her fingertips, prying open his lips. Her delicate, slender fingertips rubbed against his skin, leaving her nails and fingertips stained with blood.
She smiled and smeared the blood on his cheek, carefully tracing its path.
Leng Zhen was embraced by her, in a position just like when she used to hold him and lull him to sleep when he was a child.
He looked at Leng Cuizhu, his mother's hair falling to the tip of his nose. He quietly sniffed it; it was the warm scent of sandalwood.
Leng Cuizhu murmured to him, but he couldn't hear her clearly. He only felt that her voice was very gentle and extremely pleasant to listen to.
"mother……"
He choked, a tear welling up, and then he cried uncontrollably, tears streaming down his face.
Hot tears washed away the bloodstains on her cheeks, and even Leng Cuizhu's hair was wet with tears.
"Zhenzhen wants to go back..." he muttered, his brow furrowing deeper with each word.
"go back?"
“Okay,” she smiled brightly, “then, how can Zhenzhen prove that she really wants to go back? I think you’re doing quite well here.”
She picked up the baby snake from the ground: "Look, you still have a fellow inmate."
A young, greenish-blue snake coiled around her hand, crawled across the back of her hand, and its head slipped between her slightly parted fingers.
Her hands were thin and long, her skin pale, with a young snake coiled around them, its missing tail revealing the tender pink flesh beneath, as if she had wrapped a thin ribbon around her hand.
Leng Zhen was stunned: "How...how can I prove it..."
"Why don't you eat your cellmate and take it with you when you leave? That would show your determination."
"eat……"
Leng Zhen collapsed to the ground, her lips agape: "Mother, this...this snake is...venomous!"
"Yeah?"
"This snake looks like an ordinary small green snake. How do you know it's venomous?"
"...Mother, it was I who poisoned her!"
As if grasping at a straw, Leng Zhen fell to the ground and clung tightly to her skirt, sweat beading on her forehead: "Mother, save me! If people find out, my life is over!"
Besides, he poisoned the place to create chaos and find an opportunity to escape. If they can't get out, spending a year in this dark and hopeless place is worse than killing him.
"You poisoned them? How could you do such a terrible thing... Do you know how many people have died because of you?"
Leng Zhen didn't listen to what Leng Cuizhu was muttering at all, and kept nodding: "I know, I know, Mother, I know everything... The longer I stay here, the greater the danger becomes!"
“Those people in the yamen will never let me go. Even if the county government is in love with you, I won’t survive… I really didn’t expect so many people to die. I just acted impulsively… Zhenzhen only committed such a heinous crime on a whim!”
"Mother, Zhenzhen didn't mean it... Help me, help me!"
He knelt and crawled on her skirt like a dog, hugging her legs, tears streaming down his face.
As he spoke, blood continued to seep from the corner of his lips, dripping wetly onto his collar.
"Mother, can you really bear to watch me die?"
"No! I can't die!"
The rooster darted into the cell, shrank under Leng Cuizhu's skirt, and muttered, "He can't die, host! Your son can't die! If your son dies, I can't go back... Host, please save your son..."
"How can I save him?"
Leng Cuizhu's expression hardened slightly: "Leng Zhen, how can I save you? I'm completely helpless."
"But I only have my mother left... If my mother doesn't save me, I'll die here." He buried his tear-soaked face in her skirt, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Mother, do you really want me to die?"
To be fair, Leng Cuizhu really didn't want to.
Regardless of where her feelings for Leng Zhen came from, she truly loved Leng Zhen; however, this love was intertwined with hatred, lingering endlessly.
They lived together for eighteen years, and the kinship they built up over those eighteen years is indelible.
She had long been accustomed to Leng Zhen's presence.
If we're talking about logic, she's broken ties with Yin Yuan, and her pipa skills have long since become rusty. She might have to rely on Leng Zhen's wages for a long time to make a living.
Leng Zhen used to rely on her for breastfeeding and sucking her blood; she should reclaim all that hard work.
To die lightly or never see her again was not enough for Leng Zhen or for her.
What she and he needed was intense, lingering hatred.
Leng Cuizhu thought to herself that just because she had no way to deal with it didn't mean that dodder didn't.
Dodder is not a character in this book; he is a higher-level system responsible for it. He knows many things that have not yet happened and seems to have more power than Eun.
There must be a way to get past all the defenses and take her and Leng Zhen out, right?
The rooster, who had been called away by her, froze upon hearing her words.
"...What can I do? You're asking me?"
"A way...a way, if you really want a way, then I do! It's just that this way is a bit troublesome..."
"Then what are you hesitating for?"
She covered her face and sighed, "Anyway, I have no other choice but to rely on you."
"Can't you go and beg your husband to release your son? Go and plead with him."
"No, if you're so good at it, you go and do it yourself."
"...Alright, I have a solution, but you have to agree to one condition."
"Once I rescue your son, you and I will begin to complete the tasks in those books."
"Host, we really can't delay any longer. You've been working so hard for so long, but there haven't been any major changes."
Leng Cuizhu bit her lip and vehemently denied it: "That's not true..."
"Oh, it seems so... I overheard that county official saying in the carriage that your son almost kissed him, is that right?"
The mention of dodder brought back the horrible memories she had of that time.
This time she answered decisively: "Okay, I promise you."
"Really? You've thought it through?"
"Isn't it good that I've figured it out?"
"If I don't understand this, and I leave Leng Zhen to fend for herself, what will you do? Will you really stay here and spend the rest of your life with me?"
The rooster crowed, its eyes reddening: "Host... how can you be so kind? I forgive you for always kicking my butt, consider it a little fun between us!"
"Okay! Then you wait for me here. I'll be right back and I'll definitely get you and your son out!"
The rooster hopped and skipped happily as it ran out of the dungeon and disappeared around the corner of the corridor.
Leng Cuizhu, suspicious of what method Tu Sizi was going to use, walked to the corner and glanced around. There was no sign of the chicken, not even a feather.
“Running so fast…” She could only go back to her cell and stay with Leng Zhen.
Leng Zhen continued to sob, and Leng Cuizhu, seeing his tear-streaked face, didn't want to pay him any attention.
In the past, she would have been heartbroken.
Leng Zhen has always been like this since she was a child. Whenever she encounters something she can't handle, she starts to cry. She just stands there, wiping away her tears and waiting for someone to deal with it.
He was spoiled.
After all, she only had one child, Leng Zhen.
"Ugh... Mother..."
"Don't cry, your face looks terrible now, all white and red from crying." Leng Cuizhu frowned, but still bent down to hug Leng Zhen and patted his back. "Listen to me, don't cry. I know you're wronged. You didn't poison so many people on purpose."
“…Mmm.” Leng Zhen hummed a few times, burying her face in her shoulder, her hair trembling with dampness.
A moment later, a jailer in black went down into the dungeon and headed straight for the cell.
Leng Cuizhu was still hugging Leng Zhen when she saw someone coming. Startled, she let go and shrank into a corner.
Leng Zhen got up and stood protectively in front of her, her face still covered in dry grass: "Who are you? Who sent you? Ordinary jailers in the dungeon can't come in without orders."
The jailer pulled back his hood and called out to Leng Cuizhu, "Su..."
He suddenly covered his mouth, blinked, and his orange-yellow eyes shone brightly.
The jailer was incredibly beautiful, with round, clear almond-shaped eyes and bright red lips covered in moisture, shimmering with a glistening sheen.
This man's appearance clearly indicated that he was a kind and gentle man, which made Leng Zhen, who was used to pretending to be well-behaved and pitiful, seem rather harsh.
Host?
Leng Cuizhu's eyes lit up instantly.
There's no mistake, that sound is from dodder, only clearer and brighter than usual, like jade clashing together.
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The author writes: "I suppose love has run its course, yet I still wonder if love even exists." —From *Linjiangxian: The Heart Shatters Like Dripping Water on a Banana Leaf*
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