Chapter 72: The End of Friendship
The long afternoon breeze of early summer swept through the willow forest. The hot wind was scorching and oppressive. The suppressed breath stagnated in the chest, with no way to vent.
Amid her questioning, Ling Tianshui raised his head coldly and sneered.
The wounds on his body were still bleeding, and his eyes were full of mockery as he looked at her. "Princess Lingling, since your father strictly abided by military law and refused to help me, then don't mention military law to me! I am a member of the Shuofang Army sent to the Northern Yamen Forbidden Army. Even if I have violated military discipline, I must be thoroughly investigated and punished according to military law. The Shuofang Army can punish me, and the Prince of Linhuai can punish me, but you are not a member of the army, so what qualifications do you have to use military law against me?"
Moreover, he was an officer holding a specific position and had a letter of appointment from the imperial court. The Northern Court's Imperial Guards were far away in Chang'an, and how could she find the Prince of Linhuai and punish him according to the rules in such a short time?
Qian Deng slowly squatted down and grabbed his collar. Her eyes, red from the wind and sand, filled with tears as she stared at him and spoke word by word, "Alright, if I can't use military law, then I'll use the family rules of my Changhua Palace to teach my candidate for fiancé a lesson!"
As she spoke, she forcefully pushed him to the ground in the dust, then stood up and sternly said, "Ling Tianshui, when I transferred you to the palace as a military commander, I read you the rules of the Changhua Palace! Do you remember the first rule of military registration: Anyone who impersonates someone else or leaves the army without permission will be lashed with fifty lashes, expelled from the palace, and never rehired! The third rule of reward and punishment: Anyone who harbors evil intentions, colludes with outsiders, and intends to harm the palace will be lashed with fifty lashes, expelled from the palace, and never rehired!"
Ling Tianshui sneered, his voice stern: "That's right, so I impersonated your husband-candidate and sneaked into the palace, but I harbored ulterior motives and plotted something illicit. According to the rules of your palace, I shall be punished with one hundred lashes and expelled from the palace."
"Since you are my candidate husband, Bai Qiandeng, I will punish you according to the palace rules today. I will let you see clearly that my Changhua Palace is not a place for you to stir up trouble. I, the Princess of Lingling County, am not someone you can deceive or use!"
She gritted her teeth, grabbed the whip, and strode towards him.
Ling Tianshui, who had fallen in the dust, slowly got up and looked straight at her.
Watching her approaching with a resolute step, whip in hand, he forced himself to suppress the sharp pain in his chest and slowly squeezed out a few words from between his teeth: "Okay. The county lady has the style of your father and grandfather, and will judge according to the law. I, Ling Tianshui, will accept the punishment with all my heart!"
Qian Deng tightly grasped the whip in his hand, strode forward, and stared at Ling Tianshui.
Suddenly, an illusion flashed before my eyes, and his appearance in my memory suddenly flashed.
One moment was his face illuminated by lightning when they first met, as ferocious and intimidating as a black leopard; another moment was under the autumn corridor, he strode into her life, parting the slanting branches; another moment was him searching for her in the mountains and forests, the smile on his cheek fleeting, but she held on to it with her persistence...
The shattered past is like the tiny dust flying in the sunlight at this moment, clearly existing, yet vague and elusive.
She gripped the whip tightly, splitting all the real and illusory memories in front of her, and swung her hand to bring it down heavily.
Ling Tianshui gritted his teeth, only letting out a slight groan under the heavy blow. His straight back was as taut as a bowstring, yet he showed no sign of yielding.
Qian Deng was filled with even more hatred, and he lashed out with the second and third whips in succession, each one more ferocious than the last.
The clothes were thin in the summer, and the first few lashes of the whip made dull sounds on the cloth, but after five or six lashes, they hit the flesh hard.
The clothes on Ling Tianshui's back had long been torn, and the whip had been rolled into the flesh on his back. The fine debris mixed with the seeping bright red blood was too much to look at.
But he seemed to feel no pain at all. His body was straight and his teeth were clenched tightly, but no sound of pain escaped. Even though his lips were stained with blood, he remained silent. He just forced himself to half-kneel and did not make any attempt to resist or escape.
The more this happened, the more grief and anger burned in Qian Deng's heart.
She lashed out with her whip, rising and falling. Her questions, heavier than the whips, were filled with both rage and despair: "Why? Why are you targeting our Changhua Palace? You knew... you knew that my greatest hope in life was to uphold the glory of my ancestors. Why did you destroy the greatest meaning of my life? Why?"
"Why should I ask... There are some things you can't avoid, and I can only choose this way. Since fate has determined our direction, then you and I... can only continue on this path. We are destined not to go the same way!"
"When you did anything, did you ever think of me? Did you ever hesitate?"
"No. I did everything I could, and I have no regrets. Even if I had to do it again, I would still make the same choice."
These cold, tough and unhesitating words almost made Qiandeng collapse and go crazy.
She didn't care and forgot how many times she waved her hands in the air. She just used all her strength to whip his back, as if she wanted to vent all the past affection and let the pouring pain drown them both.
Finally, her body lost strength, the whip in her hand slipped from her grasp, and her whole body staggered back exhaustedly, leaning against the willow tree.
She stared at the man in front of her, his back covered in whip marks, for a long time before she gritted her teeth and squeezed out a few difficult words: "Go away. You saved me, but you've also let me down. From now on, everything is written off!"
Ling Tianshui panted heavily and slowly turned back to look at her, his eyes filled with complex emotions. "Princess Lingling, I will remember the pain and humiliation I suffered today. One day... one day..."
One day, will you regret it or be afraid?
Qiandeng doesn’t know.
She only knew that if someone like him was allowed to return to the wild, it would definitely not be a good thing.
But she stared at him intently, her red eyes reflecting his figure standing straight and unyielding in the severe pain. In an instant, she suddenly remembered the first time they met. The lightning that broke through the night sky illuminated his face, making her unforgettable in her life.
Just like when she was young, she was held in her father's arms while hunting and saw the agile black leopard in the mountains.
The imminent danger and the almost suffocating fear made her palms sweat, her heart beat rapidly and she was indescribably excited.
She dreamed of him that night.
She dreamed that he pulled her out of the abyss, saved her and flew her to the sky, transcending all pain and sorrow.
However, that was ultimately just an illusion caused by the safe and stable aura in him that was like that of his father and grandfather, which fascinated her.
The man who had so forcefully broken into her life was only here for lies; everything was a long-planned trap and exploitation.
The resentment in her heart made her feel so painful that she wished she could pull out the sharp blade he had given her and stab it into his heart again.
She turned around fiercely, tore off the pair of bracelets he had given her from her wrists, and threw them in front of him.
"Ling Tianshui, from now on, we are done with each other and have no further connection!"
After saying that, she wiped away her tears resolutely, turned around and staggered away.
"Lingling County Princess!"
Ling Tianshui held onto the tree trunk beside him, forced himself to stand up, and roared at her back.
Qiandeng pretended not to hear anything, and although his steps were a little disorderly, he never turned back.
She discarded him like a gift he had given her, without a moment's hesitation.
The sunset was approaching dusk, and the crimson setting sun shone into the willow grove and into his eyes. The sky was filled with blood, just like the blood-stained desert when he was young.
He clenched his teeth, his sharp voice inevitably trembling slightly: "Bai Qiandeng!"
She was already far away, and it was unclear whether she heard it or not, but she did not look back in the end, and her steps did not even slow down.
The burning resentment was eventually covered up by the cold grief, and the hoarse roars and angry scolds disappeared completely in the bloody sunset.
In the end, only his low, inaudible muttering remained.
“Dengdeng…”
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