Chapter 173 You Can't Kill Me
Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, Madam Song felt no anger whatsoever. Instead, she grabbed Song Qingming's sleeve, a pitiful glimmer of hope remaining in her eyes:
“Qingming… tell me, you didn’t do it on purpose, right? Zhao Jieyu forced you, someone else deceived you… you still care about our family, right? You used to love me, didn’t you?”
Song Qingming abruptly shook off her hand with all his might, causing Song Shenshi to stagger a few steps and nearly fall to the ground.
Coming to his senses, he saw Song Qingming, his face filled with undisguised disgust:
"Love? Shen Ruyi, are you still having such unrealistic dreams? From beginning to end, the only reason I, Song Qingming, married you was because I was after your status as the last descendant of the Marquis of Yongjia, and the coveted title and fortune of your Shen family."
Undeterred, Song Shen rushed forward again, trying to grasp his hand, and began to plead humbly:
"No, I don't believe it... We've been husband and wife for so many years, and we have children... Qingming, I know I was wrong. I was immature before, I neglected you..."
"Let's start over, okay? I don't want anything anymore. My title and all my assets will go to Yiqiu. Let's leave the capital and just the two of us live a good life, okay?"
Song Qingming looked at her as if she were something filthy, and shoved her hard again.
"Get out of my way!"
Song Shen cried out in surprise as she was pushed heavily to the ground, her hair disheveled, and her elbow scraped against the ground, instantly becoming red, swollen, and broken.
This fall shattered her self-deceiving illusions.
Song Qingming looked down at him with a sinister grin:
"Start over? Shen Ruyi, I feel disgusted just looking at your face! I've put up with you for decades, I've had enough of your stupidity and naivety. Do you think I don't know you've always looked down on me?"
“From your arrogant mother to you, the daughter who only knows romance and poetry, has anyone in your Shen family ever truly looked at me with respect?”
Shen Ruyi slumped to the ground, looking up at him, tears mingling with dust as they streamed down her face.
"So...so my mother...she was right? She was right to oppose our marriage? She was always worried about me, and even arranged for Concubine Yun to be by my side..."
"She did it all for me... and I... and I gave up such a good marriage with the Fu family for you. I hated her my whole life... I even... I even tacitly approved of you harming her..."
She collapsed to the ground, covering her face with her hands, and let out a piercing wail:
"Song Qingming, you've caused me so much suffering! You've made me an accomplice in the death of my own mother!!"
Song Qingming leaned down, close to her ear, and spoke the cruelest words in the gentlest tone:
"Ruyi...you're not worth my emotional investment. All I want is for you to die quickly."
"Do you know what? Ever since we got married, I've added something good to the glass of calming warm water I pour for you every night before you go to sleep."
"That's a secret medicine that came from the palace. It's colorless and odorless, and it can slowly drain a person's body. Even when you were in confinement after giving birth to Yiqiu and those bastards, I didn't stop taking it."
He straightened up and admired Song Shenshi's ashen, deathly pale face.
“Your body has long been rotten to the core, like a lamp running out of oil. I count down the days until you finally collapse. Watching you grow weaker day by day, yet still foolishly believing it's just a matter of being physically weak, fills me with immense pleasure.”
boom!
Like a bolt from the blue.
It turned out that the poison in her body was being continuously administered by her husband, who was sleeping next to her day and night.
Song Shen was in utter despair.
"Aaaaaah!! Song Qingming! I'll take you down with me!!"
She mustered all her strength, sprang to her feet, drew a sword from the waist of a guard beside her, and recklessly stabbed it towards Song Qingming's heart.
Song Qingming subconsciously reached out his forearm to parry.
Sizzle!
The sharp blade tore through his clothes, tearing open the flesh on his forearm to reveal the stark white bone.
"ah!"
Song Qingming screamed and staggered backward.
Song Sangyu screamed in fright, "Dad!"
Shen Yiqiu saw that her mother had taken action, so it was an accident, but her eyes narrowed and she did not stop her.
After Shen Ruyi was stopped by the guards who had come to their senses, she drew her long sword and approached the injured Song Qingming step by step.
The sword tip was aimed directly at his throat.
"It's a pity that Mother's swordsmanship is still a little lacking. Song Qingming, your retribution has come."
Song Qingming clutched his wound, drenched in cold sweat, but showed no sign of fear.
"Shen Yiqiu...you...you can't kill me! If you kill me, your grandmother...Marquis Yongjia Shen Zhaohua, will truly bear an indelible stain for eternity!"
Chen Yiqiu paused in his swordplay:
"You're about to die, and you still dare to spout nonsense!"
Despite the excruciating pain, Song Qingming trembled as he pulled half of a strangely shaped token from his robes:
"Do you recognize it? This is the token of the royal guards of Longnan! This letter... is a letter of sincerity written by your heroic maternal uncle, Shen Runian, who died in battle!"
"It clearly states how he passed on military intelligence to the southern bandits, leading to the annihilation of 30,000 soldiers in Huaifeng City. He, Shen Runian, did not die in battle; he was silenced by the Di people after colluding with the enemy and betraying his country!"
Shen Ruyi, who had been in a daze, suddenly looked up upon hearing this and shrieked:
"Impossible! My brother would never do that! He's just missing..."
Song Qingming grinned maliciously:
"Missing? Ha, Shen Zhaohua overruled all objections and insisted that his eldest son had died for his country, suppressing all doubts and thus preserving the last vestiges of dignity and titles for your Shen family."
"If this matter were made public, do you think your Shen family would be reduced to ashes? Your grandmother was a woman of strong character throughout her life, but after her death, she would have to bear the eternal infamy of having a son who betrayed the enemy and deceived the emperor because of her eldest son, on whom she placed the most hope."
"Good daughter, are you willing to bet?"
Shen Yiqiu stared intently at the token. Reason told her it might be a forgery, but Song Qingming's confident expression... she dared not gamble with her grandmother's reputation.
She took a deep breath, the tip of her sword slowly lowered, and she squeezed out a few words through gritted teeth:
"...Qingzhu, stop his bleeding."
Song Qingming coughed twice smugly:
"Ahem... That's right... Discretion is the better part of valor. Shen Yiqiu, if you let my daughter and me leave today, I will seal this evidence forever. Otherwise... it's a fight to the death!"
Shen Ruyi collapsed to the ground, repeating the same words over and over:
"Impossible, this is impossible..."
She forced herself to lift her head and cried out in a hoarse voice:
"Yiqiu, don't believe him! Those things are definitely fake; he forged them! Big brother... Big brother would never collude with the enemy. He was Mother's proudest son, a hero who died in battle. You can't let them go! Kill them! Avenge your grandmother! Avenge me!"
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