Chapter 39 The News of Death: You Killed Lin Xian (Second Update)...
Mingying was picked up horizontally by Pei Xiaoyun.
She refused to get on the bus, clinging tightly to the door frame, struggling with her hands and feet, her fingernails filled with sawdust.
She had to go back to find Lin Xian; she was determined to find him.
She can't walk alone.
"Let me go, I need to find him..."
The soft sobs reached Pei Xiaoyun's ears. He initially felt a pang of pity, but when he heard her calling out someone else's name, he lost all patience and used brute force to pull her in, throwing her onto the soft mattress.
She betrayed and schemed against him, and he finally caught her. He should have settled the score with her properly.
Seeing her disheveled and unkempt appearance, his gaze darkened. He grabbed her wrinkled, light purple dress from the car and hastily wiped the blood from her face.
I was a bit too rough with the wiping. When I was finally done, I covered her mouth and nose to stop her from crying. To be precise, I didn't want to hear her call out other people's names.
Mingying, with a strength she didn't know she possessed, shook off his hand and tried to get up: "I need to find him, let me go..."
Pei Xiaoyun dragged her back, pinned her against the car wall, and solemnly told her, word by word, "He's dead!"
"He's not dead!" Mingying pushed him away, her scream filled with rebuttal and disbelief. "I beg you, please help me find him. I won't stay with him, I'll never run away again. I'll do anything you ask."
Pei Xiaoyun had never seen her like this before.
For that person, she became like a madwoman. Her once delicate face was covered with tears, and if you touched her even slightly, she would cover her head and cry out.
That heartless woman! If he hadn't saved her, she would have been hacked to pieces by the Wuhuan people long ago!
"You're acting like a madwoman!" He lifted her up, pressing down on her shoulders to force her to sit upright, every word he uttered shattering her illusions. "Didn't you see? He fell off a cliff and was smashed to pieces. Do you think he could still be alive?"
It's better if he's dead.
That way, he won't have to lift a finger.
He had long suspected that the prefect of Guanzhou was acting strangely, so early in the morning he led his men to follow the carts transporting the people out of the city, intending to capture them all.
When he saw Lin Xian fighting with the Wuhuan people, he could have sent someone to help, but he didn't.
He wanted to see for himself just how far Lin Xian, a mere scholar, could go for her. Sure enough, as he expected, this useless man with no strength to even kill a chicken had no choice but to fight to the death.
He wished he were dead. If he wasn't quite dead, he might have gone down the cliff and stabbed him a couple more times. So why would he do as she wished and help her find him?
As for this disobedient woman in front of me.
He gave her a long, wistful look.
He just wanted to scare her so much that she would remember it and stay obediently by his side from now on, giving up any thought of running away.
"You're just being stubborn?" He raised an eyebrow and sneered, looking at him with a disappointed expression. "I shouldn't have saved you; I let you die under the swords of the Wuhuan people."
She was a frail woman, yet she dared to risk her life to save several complete strangers. Having just escaped death, she was already shouting that she wanted to find someone else.
He said that she was nice to everyone, but she was just good at scheming against him.
Mingying was furious and kicked and punched him repeatedly. If he hadn't caught her, she probably would have jumped out of the window.
"If you cause any more trouble, I'll kill you right now!" Several veins throbbed on Pei Xiaoyun's forehead.
Mingying wasn't afraid at all. From the moment she watched Lin Xian fall off the cliff, she felt like a wandering soul, already resigned to death and never thinking of living.
"It's all your fault, it's all your fault!"
His cold words poured into her ears, tearing apart the self-deceptive barrier she had built.
She stopped struggling fiercely, her heart filled with despair, and stared at him with wide eyes.
Pei Xiaoyun felt as if someone had touched a sore spot. He pinched her wet chin and gritted his teeth in anger: "I didn't kill him, and you still dare to take your anger out on me?"
He's gone mad. He clearly wanted to capture her and torture her until she was wishing for death, until she begged for mercy on her knees.
But he was actually explaining to her that Lin Xian's death had nothing to do with him.
“It’s all your fault. If it weren’t for you, we would be living a good life in Suzhou. You’ve driven us to this dead end.”
Due to the excessive twisting and squeezing of her two fingers, Mingying's pronunciation became unclear, but each word and phrase was as sharp as a needle.
yes.
If it weren't for his interference, how could she have come to Guanzhou, and how could she have encountered such a thing?
She and Lin Xian will continue to live freely and unrestrained in Bailiqing. He will compose music, she will play the piano, and they will grow old together in perfect harmony.
They will also come to Hangzhou, to his home, and sooner or later they will meet his brother in Hangzhou, and the family will be reunited and live peacefully.
But now, it's all gone, like a fleeting dream.
Just a few days ago, she was looking forward to life in the Northwest, but in the blink of an eye, her family has all been scattered, and she is about to be locked up again.
It was all because of his relentless pursuit that she was driven to the brink of despair, yet he brazenly claimed it had nothing to do with him.
"Don't even think about it!" Pei Xiaoyun's lips curled into a cold arc. "Don't even dream of being with anyone but me. Isn't this all your own doing? If you hadn't run away, would he have died? You're the one who killed him."
Mingying shook her head repeatedly, tears falling with each movement. Indeed, a sense of self-reproach crept into her heart, following his words.
She instinctively resisted his cold, sharp words, opened her mouth and bit down on his finger, her sharp teeth breaking through his skin and drawing blood.
Pei Xiaoyun's anger flared up. He grabbed the back of her head and fiercely bit her lips. All the punishment and torment were unleashed in this suffocating kiss.
The car was filled with a pungent, metallic scent, and two streams of blood mingled in each other's mouths...
—
Mingying was placed under house arrest at her private residence in Guanzhou.
I cried out to heaven but received no response, and cried out to earth but received no help.
Pei Xiaoyun didn't have time to deal with her for the time being. She just instructed the servants to bring her three meals a day, and told her to eat or not as she pleased, letting her cry and make a fuss as she pleased.
The matter in Guanzhou City is not over yet.
That night, it was pitch black, with a hazy white mist.
Shen Mingshu followed the officials to the government office last night and indeed found something was wrong.
The common people could only enter and not leave, and the officials' behavior was not like a routine check of illnesses, but more like escorting prisoners.
Driven by sheer courage, he knocked out a government official, changed his clothes, and sneaked in. Only then did he learn that the local prefect was colluding with the Wuhuan people, arresting outsiders to make Gu poison for the Wuhuan.
But he alone could not stand up to the government.
He remembered that Mingying and the others were still waiting for him at the inn, and he had finally found an opportunity to escape.
Upon returning to Wanfu Inn, Mingying and Lin Xian were nowhere to be seen. The innkeeper said they hadn't returned since they went out last night.
He panicked for a moment; they must have been worried about him and had come out to look for him.
If Pei Xiaoyun's men discover their whereabouts, or if they fall into the hands of the Wuhuan people...
He had already lost Aying once. If he couldn't protect her this time, he would never forgive himself and would fail his parents' trust.
A cold wind blew against him, the chill penetrating to the bone. Filled with remorse, he punched the stone wall, his fist bleeding profusely.
Suddenly, a dark figure approached, seemingly heading towards him with a purpose: "Young Master Shen, our master wishes to see you."
Shen Mingshu looked at the man warily, a sense of unease rising within him. "Is your master Pei Xiaoyun? Did he kidnap my sister?!"
"Young Master Shen, just follow me, and you will find the person you wish to see."
Shen Mingshu's face was cold and stern. He clenched his fist secretly and followed the man.
Pei Xiaoyun waited for him in a teahouse.
He came to Guanzhou almost alone, without any people with him. It would take some time for his men to arrive from Hangzhou.
Shen Mingshu is a man of both courage and wisdom. If we can get his help, we will surely achieve twice the result with half the effort.
The door to the tea room was pushed open coldly, and Shen Mingshu, who had been looking sullen since he entered, went straight to the point: "Hand over my sister."
That day in Xiangzhou, I went too lightly with my knife.
Pei Xiaoyun leisurely sipped her tea, a neat row of teeth marks still visible on her middle finger, which was hidden by her long sleeve as she put down the cup. She laughed and said, "What right do you have to negotiate with me?"
He had been extremely lenient with him; if anyone else had dared to hurt him, he would have hung them up on the city wall and bled them dry.
Shen Mingshu frowned, about to rush forward, but the guards around him drew their swords and pointed them at him.
"With you by my side, can you protect her well?" Pei Xiaoyun raised his sharp eyes. "If it weren't for me, she would have died under their blades long ago when she fell into the hands of the Wuhuan people."
With such meager tricks, he dares to dream of taking her away to a distant land; he's truly overestimating himself.
As Shen Mingshu felt remorse and guilt, he gasped, his heart pounding: "What did you do to her? I need to see her!"
"Join me in eliminating the prefect of Guanzhou and the Wuhuan people in the city, and I will take you to see her."
The room fell silent for a moment, with two heavy breaths mingling incongruously.
Finally, Shen Mingshu spoke: "I promise you, and I hope you will keep your word."
Preventing the Wuhuan people from harming the common people was his duty in the Northwest, and when he encountered them, he couldn't just ignore it.
That's why he acted rashly that night.
"Where's Lin Xian? What did you do to him?" he asked.
Pei Xiaoyun's faint smile vanished completely, and she felt a sudden unease.
Why do they all keep thinking about that person in front of him?
What does Shen Mingshu consider Lin Xian to be, his sister's good husband?
"He's dead."
"You killed him?"
“I would like to kill him,” Pei Xiaoyun said coldly, causing the tea in his cup to ripple. “But if he dies at the hands of the Wuhuan people beforehand, it will save me the trouble.”
Having learned the whole story, Shen Mingshu's eyes blazed with anger, and sparks gradually engulfed the shadows.
Pei Xiaoyun had no reason to lie to him. If he really had killed Lin Xian, given his style, he would surely have readily admitted it.
Only by cooperating with him and killing the Wuhuan people can we see Aying, avenge Lin Xian, and restore justice to the people of the city.
—
For the next few days, the city was shrouded in dark clouds.
Having infiltrated the government office once before, Shen Mingshu was familiar with the place and suggested that they disguise themselves and infiltrate the government office again, so that they could cooperate with Pei Xiaoyun from the inside.
The prefect of Guanzhou, having received news from the Wuhuan people, realized that things had been alerted and attempted to flee the city overnight.
Shen Mingshu relayed the news to Pei Xiaoyun, who then led his men to ambush and capture the traitor alive in the suburbs.
Through the prefect of Guanzhou, they learned the whereabouts of the second prince of the Wuhuan Kingdom in Guanzhou City and captured him alive that very night.
Under severe torture, the man revealed that the Kongchan sect members in the Central Plains had all submitted to their Wuhuan Kingdom, and those wandering around Jiangnan and other places were just a motley crew. The real leader was hiding in Xuzhou, the closest city to the Northwest.
Shen Mingshu was wounded by a knife while capturing the second prince of the Wuhuan Kingdom. Before he could even bandage his wound, he rushed to find Pei Xiaoyun, urging her to see Mingying.
Pei Xiaoyun seemed to have anticipated this, and led him to a pavilion.
Open the window, and you can see the entire courtyard of the private residence.
Beneath the small window in the courtyard, Mingying sat listlessly in front of the couch, her eyes gazing ahead, lost and adrift. She was oblivious even to the chirping of a gray sparrow on the back of her hand.
Shen Mingshu's throat bobbed, and he exhaled a puff of hot breath. If it weren't for the attic, he probably would have jumped off immediately.
That night, they sat together by the fire, and she smiled as she gnawed on rabbit meat, saying she wanted to open a spice shop in the Northwest.
At that moment, the firelight reflected in her eyes, bright and clear, just like when she was a child.
In just a few days, he seemed to have lost a lot of weight. His thin frame was wrapped in silk and satin, and there was no energy or spirit in his eyes.
"I'm taking her with me." He clenched his fist, his tone resolute.
Pei Xiaoyun laughed as if she had heard a joke, her chest trembling slightly: "Did I say such a thing?"
He had already done more than enough by letting him see her.
If we were to meet, we could only do so secretly.
She had become so distraught over Lin Xian that she was no longer human, but she has gradually calmed down in the past few days.
If she were to see Shen Mingshu again, he feared she would once again consider running away.
He wanted to make her lose all hope and stay obediently by his side.
“I told you, you have no right to make demands of me.” He stretched out his well-defined hand, closed the window, blocking out the last ray of light and shadow. “The only thing you can do now is to do as I say, and then I will let you see her.”
"Recently, the Wuhuan people have been making trouble, and the northwest is bound to be unsafe. Your duty is to guard the northwest and prevent them from invading the Central Plains to burn, kill, and plunder."
He slowly sat down while Shen Mingshu was still in a daze, his elaborate robes stirring up a gust of wind. "And I will personally take her to Xuzhou. After things are settled there, I will let you meet her properly."
"When you do something, remember to think about the consequences."
Upon hearing this, Shen Mingshu's hands, hanging by his sides, trembled uncontrollably. Anger surged through his body, and he wanted to burn a hole through the back of the person in front of him.
He had a knife in his hand; he could easily have aimed it at Pei Xiaoyun and drawn the blade.
But if he did that, he would die without a burial place and would never see Ah Ying again.
Pei Xiaoyun felt his invisible anger directed at him, but so what? He was just a brute with nothing but fists and feet.
He continued to sip his tea calmly, offering a word of advice: "Go now, and think carefully about what I said. She is mine, and I will not mistreat her."
Shen Mingshu gritted his teeth, his jaw sharp as a blade, and remained silent, the blood flowing from his wound forming a river of blood on the ground.
He doesn't remember how he got out.
But he will never give up so easily.
He would not be worthy of being called a human being if he left his own sister alone in a den of wolves.
After Shen Mingshu left, a guard came in to report and said a few words that made Pei Xiaoyun's expression change.
"They've disappeared?"
The guard nodded and answered truthfully, "Your Majesty, we searched the area at the foot of the cliff, looking everywhere, but we only found the body of the Wuhuan man. We didn't find Lin Xian."
Pei Xiaoyun was suddenly surprised, a sharp glint in her eyes, and with a flick of her sleeve, the teacup was overturned on the ground.
How could someone fall off a cliff and their body simply disappear?
Could Lin Xian be alive?
This man is a persistent nuisance. If Mingying knew he wasn't dead, she would probably be looking for him again, thinking about him constantly and trying every possible way to escape.
Even if she wasn't dead, he wanted her to believe that she was.
The candlelight flickered a few times, sometimes bright and sometimes dim.
As if he had thought of something, a dark look crossed his face, and he ordered, "Go to the prison and bring out a corpse. The age, build, and appearance should be roughly similar to the original, and it should look as realistic as possible."
-----------------------
Author's Note: Give me more nutrient solution, and I'll update more next time! [doge][doge][doge]
Two chapters were updated today. This is the second chapter. The first chapter contained important plot points, so please check if you've subscribed. It's best not to skip subscribing, otherwise the story will become disjointed.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
