Chapter One: The Concubine's Daughter of the Mu Family
The Daxing Dynasty. The Judicial Office prison.
"Ah..." A shrill scream, inhuman and agonizing, suddenly echoed from the dark and damp dungeon.
Mu Lian toyed with the "Soul-Shocking Blade" in her hand, her cold eyes showing no emotion, only the silver mask that clung to her face gleaming with a chilling light in the dim candlelight.
"You, you shameless vile woman, how dare you castrate me! I'll haunt you even as a ghost..." The flower thief, who was tied up tightly, was so frightened that he wet his pants. His once somewhat handsome face was now covered with extreme terror, and his whole body was trembling like a leaf.
Mu Lian estimated the size of the lecherous thief through the fabric, then leisurely switched to a crescent-shaped blade and a slender sword. Since this lecherous thief had wantonly committed crimes and harmed many innocent girls over the years, she might as well confiscate his tools of the trade.
The woman held up two fingers in front of the lecherous man's eyes, and before he could react, she slashed him twice, sending his manhood, along with his already foul-smelling underpants, flying out.
"Ah..." The fiery liquor poured down from the bloody wound, and the man's screams stopped abruptly. The extreme pain eventually made him faint.
She casually tossed the knife she had just used into the hot soup beside her to disinfect it, picked up a handkerchief soaking in rose water from the table and slowly wiped her hands before taking a step and slowly leaving the cell.
"Please take care, sir..." Behind him, the old jailer, unfazed by such sights, busied himself cleaning up the battlefield.
A quick calculation reveals that this is the ninth womanizer personally castrated by Lord Mu, the head of the Judicial Court.
The Court of Judicial Review is a department established by special permission of the Empress of the Great Xing Dynasty, specifically for adjudicating cases and punishing criminals. Mu Lian is the only female head of the Court of Judicial Review. Since entering the Court of Judicial Review three years ago by chance, Mu Lian has handled several major cases in one go, which has earned her the Empress's favor. She was quickly promoted to head of the Court of Judicial Review and is now one of the Empress's confidantes.
Slowly smoothing out the wrinkles on his official robes, Mu Lian walked out of the gate of the Judge's Office dungeon and looked up at the sky.
In the late spring and early summer, the capital city was warm and inviting, with clear blue skies, sparkling waters, lush grass, blooming flowers, and fragrant blossoms—a truly beautiful season. Yet, Mu Lian's gaze as she looked up at the sky was calm and almost empty, as if the beauty and splendor of the world had never touched her heart.
Only after the afternoon sun had dried the water stains on the hem of her clothes did Mu Lian turn around and leisurely walk towards the carriage outside the door.
Outside the gate of the magistrate's office, the coachman, Uncle Ya, was already waiting quietly. Mu Lian nodded slightly to Uncle Ya and got into the carriage. The carriage twisted and turned, winding through streets and alleys, before entering an inconspicuous courtyard in the east of the city.
Pushing open the door, Mu Lian found Aunt Mao had already prepared bathing and grooming supplies and clothes. Mu Lian smiled at Aunt Mao, took off her official robes and mask, and immersed herself in the hot water.
A misty haze hung in the air. The woman's pale face, deprived of sunlight for years, was tinged with a slight blush, and her cool eyes were also misty, giving her a captivating beauty, like autumn water. Her lips, though pale, were full and luscious, possessing a deadly allure through the damp air, making one yearn to kiss them. Yet, upon closer inspection, her cool eyes remained calm, seemingly carrying a chilling aura that kept everyone at arm's length, forcing one to hastily suppress any rising desires or fantasies, lest any impropriety bring about their own demise.
After washing and changing, with Aunt Mao helping her style her hair, Mu Lian took out a human skin mask from a box under her dressing case, gently blew on it, flicked it, and put it on her face. Today was the day for the Mu family's concubine's daughter to leave her room, and she had to go back to deal with it.
Pressing the button behind the rotating bed in the private room revealed a hidden door on the wall behind the bed. Mu Lian waved to Aunt Mao and went inside.
Watching the woman's figure gradually disappear into the distance, Aunt Mao couldn't help but wipe away the tears from the corners of her eyes: "Old man, when will this ever end?"
Aunt Mao was met with silence from Uncle Ya. But soon after, the sound of a long pipe tapping against a stone bench echoed in the courtyard. Aunt Mao knew this was Uncle Ya's answer to her.
After passing through a long, dark passage, Mu Lian pushed open another hidden door and arrived at a boudoir. The boudoir was somewhat dilapidated, clearly the residence of a neglected daughter in the family.
Looking at her unremarkable appearance in the somewhat broken bronze mirror in her boudoir, Mu Lian huddled by the bed, her trembling hands, adorned with yellow powder, gripping the bed curtains tightly.
A short while later, the door creaked open, and a maid rushed in.
"Hurry up, hurry up, if it weren't for the day you leave your room, who would want to come to your room..." Hongyan, a pretty maid dressed in peach red, looked at the stupid and timid illegitimate daughter of the Mu family with a face full of disdain and impatience.
If it weren't for the master's kind heart, unwilling to let his sickly illegitimate daughter marry off so easily, how could he have allowed her to stay at home doing nothing even at nearly twenty? But this illegitimate daughter of the Mu family fell ill several times during her few arranged marriages. And when she fell ill, her mouth and eyes would become crooked, and she would foam at the mouth, frightening the matchmaker so much that he dared not act as matchmaker for her anymore.
"What Miss Mu? She's stupid and clumsy, and not even as pretty as me. If she didn't have a good father, how could she enjoy such a blessing?" Hongyan, who was walking in front, muttered incessantly.
She raised her clear, cold eyes and glanced at the maid in front of her, the coldness in her eyes as if she were looking at a dead person. But when Hongyan, who seemed to sense something, turned around in confusion, she only saw the evasive eyes and blank face of the Mu family's illegitimate daughter.
"Pah, you look like a dead person, what bad luck..." Hongyan couldn't help but spit out again quietly.
Hongyan was originally a second-class maid in Master Mu's household. Because she was somewhat pretty, she liked to fawn over Master Mu. Madam Mu found an excuse to send her away and banished her to the concubine's quarters, which infuriated her. Therefore, she never gave this concubine's daughter a kind look.
Upon arriving at the front hall, the illegitimate daughter of the Mu family timidly bowed to Master Mu and Madam Mu. After the ceremony, she lowered her head and obediently hid to the side like a quail, without uttering a single word.
Looking at his maid's clumsy appearance, Master Mu couldn't help but sigh.
It's all his fault. If he hadn't been so afraid of Madam Mu back then, he wouldn't have sent his beloved concubine to a nunnery. As a result, the concubine had a difficult childbirth. Although the child survived, it was born after a difficult delivery and the baby stayed in the womb for too long, resulting in the child being born stupid and timid. In addition, she caused the death of her aunt, so she really can't get married. Furthermore, that illegitimate daughter was raised in the nunnery until she was almost of marriageable age before returning home. She had a weak relationship with her parents, and over the years, she had spoken less than the length of a hand's width to Master Mu.
Originally, Madam Mu wanted to get rid of this illegitimate daughter as soon as possible. But the marriage kept getting delayed, and it's been dragging on until now. Master Mu doesn't mind raising his daughter for a few more years, after all, he has wronged the child's aunt, but Madam Mu is unwilling. This time, she issued an ultimatum, demanding that Master Mu marry off this illegitimate daughter this year no matter what, or she will send her to the old man as a concubine.
Master Mu was extremely worried and could only plead and offer a large sum of money to barely persuade a famous hermit in the capital to help with the search. Today was the appointed day.
"Xiao'er, you must succeed in finding a match this time. Otherwise, your father..." Under Madam Mu's cold glance, Master Mu awkwardly stopped speaking. As a well-known henpecked husband in the capital, Master Mu always wore the words "fear of his wife" on his face and in his heart.
"But, but it's up to Father and Mother to decide..." Mu Lianfei quickly looked up and glanced at Madam Mu's face, then stammered.
Madam Mu, seated at the head of the table, held her teacup without speaking, only nodding slightly. Fortunately, this concubine's daughter was timid and easy to manipulate. As long as the old man beside her didn't object, she could easily be appeased by simply bringing in some dowry later.
"Reporting to Master, the matchmaker from Baoshan has arrived..." came the servant's announcement from outside the door.
"Please come quickly..." After straightening his clothes, Master Mu hurriedly stepped forward to greet him personally.
The matchmaker who came this time, Madam Zhou, is said to be the most famous in the capital. Her silver tongue is so eloquent that it can bring the dead back to life and heal the wounded. Anyone who goes through her matchmaking process is guaranteed to make a widow want to remarry and a monk yearn for love. There is no way she can prevent a marriage from succeeding.
"Congratulations, Master Mu! Congratulations, Madam Mu..." Madam Zhou offered her congratulations even before she entered the room.
Master Mu glanced at Madam Mu's expression and quickly asked, "Thank you, Madam Zhou. May I ask what brings you this joy?"
With a smile on her round face, Madam Zhou replied, pulling at her handkerchief, "Of course, it's to help our Third Miss find a suitable husband..."
"So that's it?" Mu Lian sneered inwardly. This Lady Zhou had never even seen him before, how could she be considered her ideal husband? She must be exaggerating.
"May I ask which young master Madam Zhou is referring to?" Madam Mu asked after Madam Zhou was seated.
"This time, I'm talking about the third young master of the Marquis of Dingbo's family. He's truly a handsome and virtuous man. He's the perfect match for our third young lady..." As she spoke, Madam Zhou looked around the hall. When she saw Mu Lian cowering to the side, completely inconspicuous, she paused, and her auspicious words took a different turn: "A wonderful thing, hehe..."
The third young master of the Marquis of Dingbo's family? Mu Lian sneered inwardly.
Everyone in the capital knows that the third young master of the Marquis of Dingbo is a homosexual. He was once deeply in love with a male entertainer in a brothel because of his homosexuality, but the Marquis of Dingbo ruthlessly separated them, causing him to fall seriously ill and almost die. Now, however, he has become the ideal husband in Madam Zhou's words? One can only imagine how much Madam Mu dislikes him, wanting to push him into a pit of fire.
"That Third Young Master isn't..." Master Mu hesitated for a long time before finally mustering the courage to speak. He vaguely remembered that the Third Young Master was a well-known homosexual in the capital.
“哎呦，我说慕老爷，这士别三日当刮目相待，您怎能老揪着过去不放呢？”周娘子瞅了瞅慕夫人的脸色，忙打着圆场解释道：“这三公子被他老爹暴揍一顿之后，总算浪子回头，如今可是正经要娶娘子的人了。咱们府里的三小姐不过是个庶女，要是能攀上定伯侯府这门亲，那可真真是天大的喜事呢。”
"Ha, why not just say you burned incense?" Mu Lian clenched the handkerchief in her hand, her eyes icy cold.
If she hadn't needed to use the identity of the Mu family's illegitimate daughter to conceal her tracks, she would have left long ago. It's just a pity that the real Mu family's illegitimate daughter fell ill and died a few years ago, never to see her so-called kind father come to take her back to the mansion.
"What Madam Zhou says is quite right..." Madam Mu put down her teacup, her face softening with a smile, and looked at Master Mu: "Master, then why don't we..."
"Ah..." Hongyan suddenly screamed, interrupting Madam Mu's words and startling everyone.
Everyone stared intently, only to see that the Mu family's illegitimate daughter, who had been silent just moments before, had suddenly collapsed to the ground, her mouth and eyes distorted, drool dripping from her lips, and her limbs twitching—a truly terrifying sight.
"Someone come quick, someone come quick..." The hall immediately descended into chaos.
"This, this..." Zhou Niangzi was jostled and staggered, and could only mutter "What bad luck" to herself before hurriedly leaving.
Needless to say, this matchmaking attempt ended in failure. This was Zhou Niangzi's first major setback in her many years of matchmaking career; how could she not feel incredibly frustrated?
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