Chapter 81 Don't scare me!
By the time Shen You brought Cui Yang back to the Criminal Investigation Department, it was already late afternoon.
The frost was even heavier on the streets, and there were few pedestrians.
The guards at the entrance of the Criminal Investigation Department bowed and let her pass when they saw her.
Cui Yang followed behind her, carrying a wooden box in his hand.
After bypassing the screen wall, the two headed straight for the prison behind it.
When she saw the guards waiting outside, she knew that Qi Jincheng hadn't left yet.
In the dark passage, Qi Jinling's initial screams of pain were no longer heard; however, the further one went in, the stronger the stench of blood became.
There were several imperial guards at the entrance of the torture chamber. Shen You looked past them and saw Qi Jincheng ordering someone to splash water on Qi Jinling to wake her up.
When he noticed Shen You approaching, he came out of the torture chamber, shook his head with a solemn expression, and said, "He still hasn't said anything."
Shen You was mentally prepared for this situation.
She looked at the wooden box that Cui Yang was carrying behind her and said to Qi Jincheng, "Your Majesty, let me try it."
Qi Jincheng didn't know what method she was going to use, but he was a little worried.
But now that things have come to this, the only option is to let Shen You give it a try.
The poison of that Soul-Severing Powder was so potent, and Chu Xiao was still lying in the Duke's mansion on the verge of death; he couldn't risk his life.
Qi Jincheng agreed, "His hands and feet are tied, but don't get too close."
"The rest of you stay here and come out immediately if anything happens."
Shen You nodded, "I understand. Cui Yang will go in with me."
"good."
As soon as he finished speaking, the guard opened the door to the torture chamber, and Shen You stepped inside.
The girl had taken off her turquoise cloak before entering the room, leaving her in only a simple and elegant dress. Her slender figure stood out starkly against the dark and gloomy torture chamber.
Qi Jinling's hands and feet were chained to a wooden stool, his body covered in blood and grime, his hair disheveled and plastered to his face. At this moment, he looked like a stray dog.
Because he had just been splashed with water by the constables, he couldn't open his eyes and could only judge by the sound that the person was a woman.
Just as he was about to make a sarcastic remark, a clear female voice rang out.
"Put your things down first."
Qi Jinling recognized the voice and looked up from between the bloodstains and water to see the woman standing in front of her.
Beside her, the constable from the Criminal Investigation Department was placing a wooden box aside.
Qi Jinling paid no attention to the wooden box, spat out a mouthful of bloody phlegm, and said disdainfully, "What?"
"Is there no one left in Chu Xiao's Criminal Investigation Division? They actually sent you to interrogate me."
"Is Chu Xiao about to give up?"
His voice was laced with laughter, a laughter that came through gritted teeth, "Without the antidote, he can't possibly survive until tomorrow."
Hahahahaha.
"It's not a bad deal to be able to take someone down with you before you die."
He raised his head again, his gaze sinister. "You've come here to beg me for the antidote?"
"You're here to avenge Chu Xiao again? You..."
"He won't die," Qi Jinling was interrupted before she could finish speaking. Shen You's voice was soft but firm. "You want to drag him down with you?"
"dream."
Qi Jinling stared at her for a few moments, then looked up and laughed again, as if laughing at her overestimation of her abilities.
However, the next moment, Shen You said, "Blindfold him."
"What tricks are you trying to pull?" Qi Jinling twisted his body, but his hands and feet were hidden in the chair, so no matter what he did, it was in vain.
Instead, the struggle aggravated his wound, causing him to grimace in pain.
Looking at the expression on his face, Shen You knew that the time had come.
Let him rest for a while, and his sense of touch will become more sensitive later.
Qi Jinling was panting heavily, and the tear in the fabric of his clothes on his arm was getting bigger and bigger because of his movements.
Shen You glanced at it discreetly.
The walls of the torture chamber were covered with instruments of torture. She only took a few steps closer before she could smell the strong, pungent stench of blood.
She frowned slightly, suppressing the nausea rising in her chest, took a deep breath, and said in a very calm voice, "The scar on your arm, is it from that fire?"
As soon as he finished speaking, all the sounds in the torture chamber suddenly stopped.
A moment later, Qi Jinling's fierce voice rang out, "What are you trying to do!?"
With just this one sentence, Shen You knew that his test was correct.
The scars left by the fire and the pain during treatment were indeed what he cared about most.
She said calmly, "I heard that you suffered a lot while you were being treated in Wenxia."
"The injury has been left untreated for a long time, resulting in toxicity. In the end, the only way to completely cure it is to fight poison with poison, right?"
"Why are you saying all this!" Qi Jinling's hands, bound to the chair, clenched into fists. She tilted her head back towards her, but couldn't move an inch. "Shut up!"
But Shen You did not do as he wished. She continued, "I have heard that when the fire poison takes effect, a person is as if they are in a fire, and they have to endure the pain of being burned by the raging fire."
"In addition, the pain of being gnawed by poisonous insects during treatment must be a vivid memory for you."
"You're talking nonsense!" His veins bulged, and if he weren't blindfolded, his eyes would probably be bloodshot. "I'm going to kill you!"
As soon as he moved, the stench of blood in the torture chamber seemed to spread, becoming even stronger.
Shen You clenched her hands, which were hidden in her sleeves, and looked at the disheveled Qi Jincheng. She then instructed Cui Yang, who was standing to the side, "Take the things out."
"What are you taking?!" Qi Jinling was extremely tense, straining to hear, "What are you going to do?"
"It's nothing," Shen You said calmly. "Just helping you recall what it felt like to be bitten by a poisonous insect."
Qi Jinling suddenly remembered the wooden box from earlier, and her whole body trembled with tension, even the iron chains on her hands and feet rattled.
Shen You stepped aside and watched as Cui Yang, wearing gloves and holding a small green snake, approached Qi Jinling.
The hissing sound of the snake flicking its tongue was amplified at this moment, and Qi Jinling could even feel the chill emanating from this cold-blooded animal.
Those memories he desperately tried to forget resurfaced.
Venomous snakes, toads, centipedes, scorpions...
There were also many poisonous insects that he had never seen in Daqi, one after another, crawling onto his hands, his feet, and burrowing into his clothes.
"ah--"
The rattling of the chains grew louder, and the bloody scars on his wrists were rubbed raw again.
Even in this chaotic and frenzied state, he could still feel the snake coiling around his arm along his tattered sleeve, its cold, damp flesh crawling toward his heart, before suddenly biting him on the arm.
It seemed that venom was seeping into his skin along the snake's fangs.
Qi Jinling felt half of her body begin to go numb, and her entire arm was in excruciating pain, especially the bite wound.
It was burning with pain; I wished I could just cut it off and end it all.
"ah--"
Sweat began to bead on his face, and he looked extremely ferocious, yet he still refused to give in.
Shen You continued, "Let's try another one, a toad."
After saying that, Cui Yang took the little green snake away and took out a frog from the wooden box.
"Quack quack quack".
The hibernating frogs, disturbed, cried out in particular loud discontent.
Qi Jinling had no time to distinguish whether it was the sound of a toad or a frog; she simply twisted her body in resistance, "Take it away!"
"Take it now!"
But as soon as he finished speaking, something sticky and damp slipped into his clothes through his collar and made direct contact with his skin without any obstruction.
"ah--"
Qi Jinling screamed as those extremely painful and agonizing memories resurfaced in his mind, attacking his fragile nerves with crystal clarity in the darkness where his eyes were covered.
His voice could be heard throughout this prison.
Finally, amidst his violent trembling and tears streaming down his face, he weakly uttered, "I said..."
I said...
A quarter of an hour later, the imperial guards, carrying the emperor's decree, rushed to Baicaotang.
——
It was late at night, and outside the Criminal Investigation Department, a carriage bearing the insignia of the Duke of Zhenguo was parked by the roadside.
Cui Yang, carrying a lantern, followed Shen You out.
A cold wind howled past, and the wide street was dark and gloomy except for the area in front of the Criminal Investigation Department.
Only the girl's simple and elegant dress shone brightly in the dark night.
Cui Yang subconsciously looked up at the woman in front of him.
He first learned about Shen You a few years ago.
At that time, he was still fighting alongside Chu Xiao on the battlefield. When the fighting was not so intense, Chu Xiao would occasionally take out a portrait that had been folded a thousand times from his pocket in a secluded corner and stare at it in a daze.
He had inadvertently glimpsed the portrait a few times when he was delivering intelligence to Chu Xiao.
The woman in the portrait has a beautiful and refined face, with clear and bright almond-shaped eyes and a gentle smile on her face.
So this is the girl that his master can't forget; she is indeed elegant and refined.
Yet this refined and elegant girl, who is polite and aloof, would come up with such a plan tonight.
Catching snakes, frogs, scorpions, and centipedes, and then using psychological tactics to make Qi Jinling tell the truth while she was in a daze of fear.
He admired this Miss Shen from the bottom of his heart.
As she descended the steps of the Criminal Investigation Department, Green Ivy, who was waiting at the door, rushed forward and draped a green cloak over her shoulders. "Miss, are you alright?"
His face was quite frightening.
Shen You shook his head, and just as he was about to speak, he uncontrollably gagged.
The lingering smell of blood in the torture chamber seemed to follow her like a shadow, still present in her nostrils.
"girl!"
Green Ivy quickly took out a small bottle from her bosom and placed it under Shen You's nose.
The cool, refreshing scent made Shen You feel much better.
Cui Yang originally planned to drop the person off at the door and then go back, since the Emperor was still inside interrogating Qi Jinling.
But given Shen You's current state, he dared not leave under any circumstances.
If anything happens to this girl, when the master wakes up, he will definitely make her suffer.
After recovering from the nausea and dizziness, Shen You became more alert.
She lifted her skirt, stepped onto the horse stool, and entered the carriage without stopping for a moment, saying, "Back to the Duke's Mansion."
The coachman responded, raised his whip, and the wheels began to roll.
In the darkness, the carriage's silhouette gradually faded into the distance.
After one incense stick has burned.
In the main building of the Duke's Mansion, in the Shenfeng Courtyard—
Not long after Shen You put down the medicine bowl, Chu Xiao, who had just finished drinking his medicine while lying in bed, suddenly vomited a mouthful of blood.
A huge patch of black and red, gushing out like it's free.
"Someone come here!"
"doctor!"
The sounds in the courtyard rose and fell.
Shen You held the handkerchief with trembling hands, trying to stop the bleeding, but no matter what she did, she couldn't stop it.
"Chu Xiao..."
Chu Xiao's mouthfuls of blood seemed to shatter her long-held strength and composure.
Shen You's eyes were blurred with tears as she touched his hand.
It was frighteningly cold.
But the room was clearly very warm.
He's clearly very warm, so why can't he be warm in return?
Chu Xiao, don't scare me.
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