Xie Lingyu's empty eyes were instantly filled with a fierce look. After a moment, she frantically raised her hand and slowly brushed aside her disheveled hair. She stared at Xie Lingqin through the cell door with fear and trepidation. "You, you're here to kill me. You want to use torture? You dare. If you use torture, you'll give others a reason to criticize you."
"How pitiful." Xie Lingqin shook her head, then glanced sideways and nodded at Zihe.
Zihe understood and immediately signaled the guard who had come in with them to step back. She also stepped back a little and kept an eye on the surroundings.
Seeing this, Xie Lingyu immediately retreated quickly, desperately trying to grab onto something on the dark, damp floor, but she couldn't grasp anything. She continued to mutter threats, "Xie Lingqin, don't even think about doing anything reckless."
"Weren't you already heartbroken and hopeless in the council hall in front of the Emperor, Empress and everyone else? What's wrong with you now? You don't want to die anymore?"
"Of course, if you can live, who would want to die?"
"So you're just trying to survive like this?" Xie Lingqin sneered. "Xie Lingyu, even now you're still thinking about living. Have you ever thought about how I've fared all these years, enduring all the bullying and abuse from you and your mother? You used to say why I didn't die. Now that you've fallen to this state, what are your thoughts?"
Xie Lingyu bit her lip, shook her head, her face twisted and ferocious, "You were just lucky."
"Lucky? Xie Lingyu, there really isn't much luck in this world. To be honest, I really didn't expect it. I originally just wanted to investigate whether you had any hidden illness, but I ended up finding out that you're not your second aunt's biological child. That's quite a discovery."
Upon hearing this, Xie Lingyu abruptly looked up and stared intently at Xie Lingqin, her eyes filled with shock. "You? It's you..."
"Otherwise what? Do you think there are so many coincidences in this world?" Xie Lingqin's face was cold and mocking. "Xie Lingyu, if you have something to hide, people will find fault with you. You won't let the physician take your pulse, strangers come out of your courtyard, and you act all mysterious after leaving the General's Mansion. Do you think I don't know? More importantly, you're so stupid as to use jewelry from the General's Mansion's treasury as hush money. Xie Lingyu, are you desperate?"
Every word pressed Xie Lingyu until she lost all composure, staring fixedly at Xie Lingqin before finally stammering, "You... so, Father didn't meet him by accident, it was you, you orchestrated everything?"
Xie Lingqin shook her head, her expression calm. "Xie Lingyu, what you said is very true. It wasn't my doing; I was just going along with it. If I'm not mistaken, if this is discovered later, you should blame me."
Xie Lingyu's pupils dilated, clearly indicating that Xie Lingqin had guessed correctly.
"Originally, if you hadn't used Xie Danling to deliver pastries to me, intending to poison me with bloodsucking worms and kill me, I would have wanted to keep you around for a while. But, the sins of Heaven may be forgiven, but the sins of oneself are inescapable."
"you--"
Xie Lingyu was shocked. In the dim light of the dungeon, she looked at Xie Lingqin standing there calmly, her expression cold and mocking, looking at her as if she were a piece of laughable trash.
Everything she had done before seemed like a farcical performance by a clown to her.
She was shocked, she was astonished, she couldn't believe it.
“You weren’t like this before. You were so weak and helpless, letting me bully you without daring to talk back or fight back. If I gave you a little something good, you would be grateful. Why…” Xie Lingyu shook her head, “Even if you changed later, you shouldn’t be this powerful. You shouldn’t be like this, you shouldn’t be like this…”
"Didn't you say I'm a fox with nine lives? My temperament is beyond what ordinary people can match." Compared to Xie Lingyu's disbelief, Xie Lingqin raised her chin slightly, smiled wickedly, and her eyes held a light that seemed to come from the underworld.
"However, with your ruthless methods, you haven't been able to eliminate that man surnamed Xiao all these years, and you even paid him hush money. But this time you're so flustered and careless. Something must have upset you." Xie Lingqin suddenly moved closer, her skirt swaying and shimmering. Her bright, starry eyes shone even more brightly in the dim light of the dungeon, so bright that they could send chills down one's spine.
"So, Second Aunt, you killed her, didn't you?"
As soon as Xie Lingqin finished speaking, Xie Lingyu trembled and said in a flustered voice, "I don't know what you're talking about."
She couldn't admit it, otherwise Xie Lingqin would never catch the murderer, and then she would be punished by the authorities.
"Don't you understand? It's alright, as long as that man surnamed Xiao understands." Unexpectedly, Xie Lingqin flicked her sleeve, a cold smile flashing across her eyes, and without pressing for answers, she turned to leave.
"Xie Lingqin, come back! Don't be so smug! Xie Lingqin, come back, come back!" Xie Lingyu cried out upon seeing this, hurriedly stepping forward, gripping the prison door, and shaking it desperately.
"What are you yelling for? Your little friend is locked up right next to you." Xie Lingqin glanced at her coldly, looking impatient, before turning to the next room. "Have you heard enough? Do you want to live?"
That's right, the man from the Xiao family was imprisoned next to Xie Lingyu. Upon hearing Xie Lingqin's words, his eyes lit up, and he pointed at himself, "I... I can live?"
"Of course, if I wanted you dead, you would have been dead when the man in black came to assassinate you."
Upon hearing this, the man's face, which had just calmed down, turned pale again. "You, you, you saved me."
“Of course, if I hadn’t asked the Prefect of the Capital to send more men, you would be a corpse by now.”
"Then, what do you want to know? Second Aunt? Yes, she was killed by Xie Lingyu. Before Second Aunt died, several drunkards insulted her. Xie Lingyu saw it with her own eyes. Not only did she not help, she killed her directly, so as not to implicate her." The man hurriedly said, wishing he could tell him everything he knew.
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