Chapter 68 The Sixty-Eighth Side of a Soft Heart
At that time, Qin Sihai didn't know that Zuo Qinghou was just going along with the situation, and of course, he didn't know it now either. He didn't have time to figure out why Zuo Qinghou was using a snuff bottle; he could only tie her up again, placing his hands between the bedpost and her forehead to protect her from hurting herself while she struggled.
The frenzied and chaotic state lasted for half an hour before Zuo Qinghou finally ran out of strength and whispered, "That's enough."
Suppressing his anger, Qin Sihai untied the rope, but before he could even curse her...
Zuo Qinghou fell directly to the ground, like a shadow puppet thrown aside after the guests had left, without a trace of life.
Qin Sihai said "Excuse me" and carried her to the bed with a stern face. He wet a handkerchief and wiped the exhausted Zuo Qinghou's face. When he wiped her eyebrow and eye area, he saw a scar hidden in her eyebrow. It was thin and small and not easy to notice.
Qin Sihai was momentarily lost in thought and stared at him for a second longer.
The seemingly lifeless Zuo Qinghou suddenly stammered, "That year... there was a great drought, and Zhu Yan... was going to die. How wonderful... to burn her alive forever... to prevent future troubles. She was almost... done for, when Jiang Linzhi... stabbed me in the back... why... was it her..."
She looked so pitiful. Qin Sihai gently patted her and coaxed her, "It's alright, it's all over now."
Feeling comforted, Zuo Qinghou, lost in her hallucinations, rambled on and on. She slowly moved toward Qin Sihai and curled up into a ball beside his legs.
"Why...kill me?"
He didn't know the reason and shouldn't blame her so easily. His anger slowly dissipated, and Qin Sihai sighed, unsure how to respond.
For some reason, Qin Sihai kept thinking about the past today. Now he remembered helping his mother distribute supplies in the city when he was a child. Those who were addicted to drugs but couldn't get snuff bottles wouldn't be as rational as Zuo Qinghou.
Some of them bite and beat people, some wriggle around on the ground like worms, and some cut off their own flesh and swallow it raw. He had seen too many of them.
They were all neighbors in the city, kind people who would take turns inviting Qin Sihai to their homes for meals when his parents had errands to run. His father couldn't bear to execute them. But their numbers kept increasing, and eventually, they beat his father to death with sticks over a snuff bottle.
The only solution for dealing with these people was to kill them. If my father had obeyed the court's orders and killed them, he wouldn't have died and been branded as a disobedient.
Qin Sihai looked at Zuo Qinghou, who was still muttering to himself, and suddenly became a little obsessed. If the knife went down into her slender neck, would everything be over?
A tear silently slid down his temple, and Qin Sihai suddenly woke up, realizing that he had just tried to kill Zuo Qinghou again.
This is the second time tonight.
Qin Sihai placed the unconscious Zuo Qinghou on the bed, panting as he tried to calm his bloodthirsty thoughts.
If Zuo Qinghou truly reaches the point of dementia and needs to be dealt with, it won't be too late for him to take action.
Qin and Zuo tacitly agreed not to mention what happened that night.
Qin Sihai understood to some extent why she, a person from the Sui Kingdom, would allow him to access the intelligence books of the Guest House.
Because of the same hatred.
Zhu Yan held up the Sui Kingdom, but that did not stop many Sui people from hating Zhu Yan. Their fields were destroyed, the old party oppressed them, the new nobles purged the old party, and the new nobles continued to oppress the people.
Whatever the reason, Zuo Qinghou was just one of the victims.
Every night after Qin Sihai finished organizing the day's intelligence, he would unconsciously walk along the road in front of Zuo Qinghou's house. When he arrived at Zuo Qinghou's house, he would always slow down and listen for any unusual noises inside before he would leave with peace of mind.
That day, Qin Sihai had just reached the door when he heard things inside crashing and falling to the ground with a clatter.
Qin Sihai pushed open the door and rushed in. Before he could even say "Miss Zuo," he saw Zuo Qinghou sitting in the bathtub, stretching her arm to reach the jar of perfume on the floor. Water droplets clung to her fragrant shoulders and arms, condensing and slowly dripping down with a lingering reluctance.
The girl's loose hair clung to her fair, delicate back, which was covered in scars, and fell into the undulating abyss, which evoked a sense of envy.
It was all his fault for being too reckless. Qin Sihai quickly turned around and apologized sincerely.
Zuo Qinghou didn't seem to care much, simply saying, "Close the door, it's freezing!"
The door was closed, and Zuo Qinghou felt warm, but Qin Sihai died of heatstroke due to the steam and the heater.
"Could you help me with that jar?" the girl said casually.
Qin Sihai turned his back and slowly retreated to Zuo Qinghou's bathtub, bent down to pick up the jar, and stiffly handed it over.
Zuo Qinghou's wet hand suddenly grabbed Qin Sihai's wrist. She said, "Afraid I'll die?"
Qin Sihai had only experienced the storms of family and officialdom, and the women he rarely interacted with were gentle and well-mannered like Lu Qingyan and Ji Yuanshu. He had never faced such a scene before. He immediately blushed from his neck to his forehead, broke free from the soft restraints, and prepared to leave.
Zuo Qinghou did not stop him. He poured the powder from the snuff bottle onto the palm of the boy's hot hand and said slowly, "I can tell you everything about myself."
Although he couldn't see it, the sound of water alone made Qin Sihai feel unwell. He dared not stay there any longer. "It's not too late to talk after the young lady has finished bathing."
"I might change my mind in a little while."
Qin Sihai still wanted to leave, but the door wouldn't open. He felt somewhat ashamed and indignant. He turned around to tell Zuo Qinghou about the proper etiquette of men and women not touching each other, but then he saw the powder in her palm.
Qin Sihai disregarded the difference between men and women and instinctively stepped forward to knock the powder and the jar out of her hand.
The white powder dissolved in the water and disappeared instantly, leaving only a faint fragrance.
Zuo Qinghou didn't care at all and said, "You can report me. As long as that Jiang guy doesn't know, the court will send people to kill me, and you can get a reward." Zuo Qinghou suddenly gave Qin Sihai a meaningful look and leaned on the edge of the bathtub. "Or you can just kill me to save yourself the trouble."
Seeing her nonchalant attitude, Qin Sihai was furious and slapped her across the face.
But he still grasped the key point of the statement and asked in a deep voice, "What does this have to do with the Regent?"
"Otherwise, who do you think caused my current wretched state? As emperor and regent, would you allow the Wanxianglou restaurant to threaten you? In the Sui Kingdom, snuff bottles are entirely handled by the Jiang family, and anyone who smokes snuff bottles is executed. Why was I able to obtain snuff bottles and smoke them for years without anyone investigating?"
Could this be one of the Regent's methods to control the guests at Wanxiang Tower? Addicted for years? How much time does Zuo Qinghou have left? Qin Sihai was even more shocked, but his tone remained stern, "If you quit... there's always a way to survive."
Zuo Qinghou chuckled wearily, "I won't die for now."
Qin Sihai dismissed these words as the ramblings of someone who had lost their mind. He was about to wrap her up and take her to see those who had been tortured to death by snuff bottles when he suddenly remembered the flame that appeared out of nowhere at Zuo Qinghou's fingertips—that was witchcraft.
The Regent's mother's clan has Wu clan blood, and Wu clan magic can preserve youth, prolong life, and even achieve immortality. Legend has it that the Regent's mother, Lady Jiang, still looks like a young girl even though she is over fifty years old, so what Zuo Qinghou said is very likely true.
Shock and anger made Qin Sihai disregard the admonition not to look at what was improper. He used breathing techniques to calm his agitation and impulse, and said calmly, "Tell me, what exactly happened? How... can I help?"
Zuo Qinghou checked all his records and knew that he hated Bai Yao, so he stopped joking about it and asked, "Can you kill me with one sword?"
Of course he couldn't do it. Whether he regarded her as his savior or as a clever little devil he had known for a long time, Qin Sihai couldn't bring himself to do it.
Seeing Qin Sihai standing there with his lips pursed, Zuo Qinghou had already expected this and said, "It's better that you don't know. Getting involved with me is more troublesome than getting involved with snuff bottles."
“If necessary, I can help you end your suffering,” Qin Sihai suddenly said in a deep voice.
Zuo Qinghou lowered her eyes, looking at the bluish-purple veins on her wrist, and said, "Thank you."
Entrusting someone's life to someone else is best done to a stranger. If this had happened when Qin Sihai first arrived at the manor, he would have agreed more readily than anyone else.
But things are different now.
Qin Sihai couldn't stand the atmosphere any longer and turned to leave, but Zuo Qinghou stopped him, saying, "I hate Baiyao more than anyone else, so whatever you do, don't worry about me."
Qin Sihai remained silent, his face cold and calm as he left the house. After taking a few steps, he suddenly punched a tree beside him.
The tree wasn't broken, but a large, smoking hole had appeared in the middle of the trunk. He slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, straightened the wrinkles in his clothes, and continued to leave calmly.
Unbeknownst to Qin Sihai, inside the room, Chen sat behind the screen and said, "Are you sure you want to use him? Aren't you afraid that no one will survive?"
Silence reigned behind the screen. After a long while, a voice, unusually calm for Zuo Qinghou, came through: "Fan Qi once said that his disciple, though seemingly polite and aloof, is actually the most soft-hearted. I trust Fan Qi's judgment of character."
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