Chapter 120 What I Saw
***
As the queen listened to these cries, the impatience in her eyes grew stronger.
She paced slowly, her phoenix shoes inlaid with pearls stepping on the cold bluestone slabs, making a slight but very oppressive "tapping" sound.
The voice stopped above the head of the woman in prison clothes.
"Are you done?"
The Queen's voice was not loud, but it revealed a gloomy feeling as if a storm was about to come.
The woman in prison clothes trembled even more violently, and even her sobs were stuck in her throat.
The queen waited for a moment, and when she saw that she had no further words, a cruel arc appeared on her lips.
She raised her foot and stepped hard with the tip of her shoe embroidered with a golden phoenix on the face of the woman in prison clothes who was kowtowing continuously and was covered in blood and dust!
“Hmm!”
The woman in prison clothes groaned as her head was pressed firmly to the ground. The friction between her cheek and the rough stone slab brought a new wave of severe pain.
"Your worthless life is not worth dying for."
The Queen's voice came from above, cold and without a trace of warmth.
"But...where's your precious son?"
She exerted a little force with her feet and rolled it.
The woman in prison clothes suddenly stiffened!
son……
These two words were like a thunderbolt, splitting apart all her despair and numbness!
She was like a dying fish struggling, her body being stepped on twisted violently, and a broken "ho ho" sound came from her throat.
"Let...let go...of me..."
She wanted to look up and see the queen's expression clearly, but the foot pressed down on her like a mountain, making her unable to move.
“Empress…Empress!”
Her voice was filled with tears, and a hint of crazy hope ignited in her despair.
"Please... please let my son go!"
"As long as...as long as you are willing to let my son go...I will do anything! Anything!"
She shouted desperately, her voice hoarse, and every word seemed to be torn out from her chest.
The queen loosened her grip a little, as if she was quite satisfied with her reaction at the moment.
She chuckled softly, her laughter gentle but poisonous.
"Oh? You're willing to do anything?"
"It's such a touching motherly love."
The Queen leaned forward, her voice a touch playful, "It's just... I'm curious, since you love your son so much, don't you care about your daughter at all?"
"daughter?"
The woman in prison clothes was trampled to the point where she could hardly breathe, and the air in her lungs became less and less.
She was breathing heavily, her chest heaving violently, and her vision was blacking out.
"I...I don't have...a daughter..."
She uttered a few words with difficulty, each word draining away all her strength.
The smile on the Queen's face grew deeper and colder.
"Yeah?"
She pushed harder with her feet.
“Uh…ah…”
The woman in prison clothes could no longer utter a complete sentence. She could only moan in pain, her body twitching in vain.
Chen He watched in the dark with fear and trepidation, his stomach churning.
In her eyes, the queen's graceful and elegant face was more terrifying than a ghost that was seeking her life!
She can't stay any longer!
If she looked at it any longer, she was afraid that she would rush out uncontrollably!
Moreover, the Queen might discover their whereabouts at any time.
Shen He shuddered and forced himself to calm down.
She moved her body carefully, little by little, trying not to make any noise.
Guyu was so frightened that his face turned pale. He followed Shen He closely, not even daring to breathe.
The tunnel was still damp and dark, and the black insects seemed to have sensed their retreat and were ready to move.
But at this moment, Shen He no longer cared about these things.
She just wanted to leave this suffocating place as soon as possible!
The road ahead seems longer than the one we came from.
Every step feels like walking on the edge of a knife.
Finally, a faint light appeared ahead.
It’s that dry well!
Chen He was delighted and quickened his pace.
The bottom of the dry well was still that familiar slippery surface.
She looked up.
At the mouth of the well, a circle of hazy moonlight shone down, illuminating a tall figure.
It’s Xue Minglan!
He was clinging to the edge of the well, looking down anxiously.
Seeing Shen He sticking his head out of the tunnel entrance, relief was evident on his tense face.
"quick!"
Shen He lowered his voice and stretched out his hand toward the well.
Xue Minglan immediately understood and took out the rope that had been prepared long ago from his waist. He tied one end to the stone railing at the wellhead and quickly let the other end hang down.
"Hold on tight!"
His voice was also low, but it was unquestionably calm.
Chen He grabbed the rope, and Gu Yu followed closely behind.
Xue Minglan pulled hard on it, and Chen He felt his body lighten, and was dragged up steadily.
When his feet stepped on solid ground again, Shen He's legs went weak and he almost fell.
Xue Minglan quickly supported her.
"call--"
He looked at Chen He's pale face, exhaled deeply, and his heart finally settled down.
***
Chen He was still in shock, his body covered in wet mud and unknown stains from the tunnel, and he exuded a faint musty smell.
She subconsciously brushed the dirt off her sleeves, her movements a little stiff.
"you……"
Xue Minglan held her arm, his voice still tense, like a fully drawn bowstring.
"Down there...what on earth did you see?"
His gaze was as sharp as an eagle, as if he wanted to penetrate Shen He's eyes and see clearly everything she had experienced.
Chen He's lips moved, the color on his face had not yet faded, and his eyes were still a little dazed.
The scene in the cell, the queen's hideous face, and the desperate wails of the woman in prison clothes were like sharp needles piercing her heart, making it almost impossible for her to breathe.
"I...I need to change my clothes." Her voice was hoarse, with a barely perceptible tremor, and she avoided his pressing gaze.
Guyu quickly stepped forward and took out a neatly folded moon-white coat from the small bag she carried with her: "Miss, this servant has brought it to you."
Xue Minglan couldn't wait.
He suddenly grabbed Shen He's arm with such force that her slender wrist felt a pain and her eyebrows furrowed slightly.
"Chen He!"
His voice suddenly rose, carrying a hint of uncontrollable anxiety and a firmness that brooked no argument. "Tell me, what did you see?!"
In the faint moonlight at the wellhead, his eyes were bloodshot, his jaw was tense, and his unique paranoia and ruthlessness were clearly revealed.
Chen He was gripped by him and it hurt, but he did not struggle.
She slowly raised her head and met his urgent and fierce gaze.
At this moment, looking at the anxiety and the faint madness in his eyes, and recalling the desperate screams of the woman in prison clothes in the stone chamber who was struggling to survive for her child, an inexplicable emotion surged into Shen He's heart.
Not fear, not disgust.
But it was a sudden, sharp pain that made her heart tighten.
She just stared at Xue Minglan quietly, her eyes becoming extremely serious, as if it was the first time she truly saw clearly the always gloomy and cruel man in front of her.
"Xue Minglan," her voice was not loud, but it was unusually clear in the silent night, with a kind of calmness that seemed to see through everything.
"Why did you never tell me that you worked for the Queen?"
Xue Minglan's tall body suddenly shook, and the hand holding her arm subconsciously loosened a little.
The eagerness and madness that were about to burst out of his eyes froze in an instant, as if a basin of ice water was poured over his head, and was replaced by a sudden surprise and panic.
Chen He didn't give him a chance to breathe, and continued to ask questions. Every word was like a small carving knife, gently, yet deeply engraved on his heart:
"And why did you never tell me that you worked for the Queen for your mother and your sister?"
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