Chapter 22 Only Love Can't Die
Fu Yi carefully straightened his clothes, turning his relatively more advantageous left profile towards the emperor before sniffing and employing his usual tactics to appease the abbot: "Your Majesty, ever since the Immortal Master moved into our Yuqing Temple, she has been arrogant and domineering. I was walking peacefully when, for some reason, I offended her, and she grabbed me and gave me a severe beating! Later, beating people became a habit; she would beat or curse everyone at the slightest provocation. Everyone feared her like the plague, but because we lacked martial arts skills, we couldn't fight back, and we suffered terribly. In the end, it was the abbot who, for the safety of the entire temple, moved the Immortal Master to the back courtyard, where no one dared to approach, and our temple finally calmed down a bit. But—" Fu Yi stole a glance at the emperor, disregarding whether it was white or gray, turning everything black, "once, I boldly passed by the back courtyard, and through the wall, I heard her cursing Your Majesty!"
The next instant, Fu knelt down and kowtowed: "Your Majesty, spare my life! This humble Taoist absolutely, absolutely dared not speak recklessly, I truly heard it! But this humble Taoist is no match for that immortal master, otherwise I would have stepped forward to protect Your Majesty this morning, even if it meant death! Also, this humble Taoist has long felt that something was wrong in the backyard, as if a man was going in and out, but I was intimidated by the immortal master's lewd power, and dared not say anything..." Fu cried and sobbed while secretly peeking at the emperor. Sure enough, the emperor's face became even more unpleasant, and even murderous intent appeared.
Fu Yi was overjoyed: Wang Yuying, you're dead this time!
She then prostrated herself, arms outstretched, pleading, "Your Majesty, you must do me justice!"
"Anything else? If you don't associate with her, how does she manage her daily life?" Xu Heng asked coldly.
Fu Yi was taken aback, wondering why the emperor cared about this. She curled her lips in disdain: "What can be done? Let them fend for themselves! She has done so many evils, surely Heaven will punish her once and for all, otherwise it would be too unfair."
Boom!
Xu Heng suddenly raised his hand and smashed the table beside him. The wine pot, cups, and saucers on it shattered all over the floor, and his straw hat rolled around on the ground. Even the round stool next to him was knocked over by the force of his palm strike. The veins on his forehead throbbed. How dare they isolate Wang Yuying and ostracize her to some remote and desolate place!
She was such a lively person, usually sociable and talkative, yet she was isolated from the world for three years, with no one to talk to, struggling alone in this secluded prison.
He failed to protect her, causing her to suffer injustice in the palace and even after leaving it.
Xu Heng felt as if his heart had been gripped by a hand, and his stomach felt like it was being churned by a stick. He quickly stood up and left the backyard. The guards hurriedly followed, glancing back into the courtyard and asking Fu Yi, who was trembling with fear, "Your Majesty, this female Taoist priest..."
Xu Heng's pale lips parted and he coldly uttered, "Kill Wuji."
A short, sharp scream rang out from the backyard, then silence fell.
The weather was gloomy and cold, with a gust of wind blowing through the pine trees.
Xu Heng swiftly ordered the sealing off of Yuqing Temple and detained all the female Taoist priests in the Lingguan Hall. He sat down on a chair and interrogated them meticulously. The more he listened, the more heartbroken he became, and the more he understood, the more remorseful he felt. It turned out that she had been living such a life for the past three years, especially the last two. He owed her so much. Xu Heng suddenly felt that it was understandable that Wang Yuying sought solace in Jingye under such circumstances.
The two of them supported each other in the backyard in order to survive. What we see is not necessarily the truth; perhaps the two of them did not have sexual relations or have any romantic feelings for each other.
Wang Yuying must have another untold story to tell him.
"You all need to think this through carefully!" Xu Heng exuded a fierce aura that blotted out the sky, his voice like thunder. "Carefully recall what the Immortal Master has done in the temple these past three years? How many times has she gone down the mountain? Who among you has she met? How did you treat her? How did you interact with her? Every single detail of every day, think it through clearly, and report it to her one by one. Not a single moment should be missed!"
He glared down at the kneeling female Taoists, his heart filled with resentment: these people had bullied Yingniang, and he would not let a single one of them get away with it; he would help her get revenge on them all.
"From this moment forward, if any word I have spoken in my investigation is leaked to outsiders, the person who hears it shall be executed on the spot!" he emphasized again.
Xu Heng stepped out of the Lingguan Hall, and the hall door was immediately closed and locked from the outside. Xu Heng lifted his round-necked robe and took three steps at a time to descend the mountain gate.
On his way back to the palace, he rode his horse while pondering: Perhaps Wang Yuying was truly wronged?
Upon closer reflection, it's highly likely that she and Jing Ye were framed by the various sects within the temple. For example, they might have been drugged with sleeping pills, rendering them unconscious. Unaware of this, they were stripped naked by the female Taoists and placed on the same bed.
Nothing actually happened.
Xu Heng believed that for a court to sentence someone to beheading, the proceedings had to go through the county magistrate's trial, the prefect's review, the provincial judicial commissioner's autumn review, then a joint trial by the Ministry of Justice and the Grand Secretariat, and finally the emperor's decision. This was the best way to avoid wrongful convictions. How could he, based solely on a glance in one room, so indiscriminately sentence Wang Yuying to death?!
He almost became a tyrannical ruler!
Xu Heng had barely passed through the palace gates when he saw Qingfu, who had come to greet him upon hearing of the emperor's return: "Your Majesty, you're back."
Xu Heng glanced at her and continued walking. His face remained sullen, a stark contrast to Qingfu's beaming smile.
Qingfu sensed something was amiss and dared not laugh anymore. He composed himself and hurried after him. The master and servant approached the imperial study one after the other. Xu Heng had just stepped across the threshold when the eunuch who was usually called to announce his arrival rushed over: "Reporting—the Vice Chancellor requests an audience."
"Have him write a report on the disaster situation in Shihong. I don't have time to see him right now." Xu Heng finished speaking and stepped over the threshold.
The eunuch acknowledged the order and was about to turn around to announce it when Xu Heng suddenly instructed, "Qingfu, you take care of this matter."
Qingfu was taken aback, then said "Yes, sir" and left. Xu Heng continued forward, walked around the desk, and sat down in the armchair. He first summoned the undercover agents who had been removed two years ago, and re-examined them, using both soft and hard tactics. The undercover agents insisted that they had never seen the deposed empress involved with any other men.
Xu Heng pondered for a long time, dismissed the spies, and then summoned the two eunuchs who had returned to the palace from Yuqing Temple and were now waiting outside the door.
The two eunuchs knelt on one knee, addressing him as "Your Majesty." Xu Heng gripped the armrest and leaned back, saying, "Interrogate the Immortal Master Miaojing."
Wang Yuying arrived after a long time. From the moment she stepped through the door, Xu Heng stared intently at her walk, then his gaze moved upwards and lingered on Wang Yuying's face—if she said that what he saw in the bedroom wasn't real and there was another story, he would believe her as long as she said it.
After all, those hidden agents also said there were none, right?
Why is General Wuwei in your room?
Xu Heng asked, his voice echoing, his heart pounding slowly but intensely. He stared intently at Wang Yuying, holding his breath.
Wang Yuying replied casually, "It's just about men and women in their pants and crotches." She glanced at Xu Heng and couldn't help but add, "What can a lone man and woman do in bed? Are they going to imitate His Majesty and the Imperial Concubine, having a long talk in bed?"
Xu Heng clenched his teeth tightly behind his closed lips. At this moment, he no longer cared about her rudeness, because the words of the woman in front of him were even more cruel—she was really stupid. He had given her a chance. If she had just gone along with it and lied to him, she could have saved her life.
Xu Heng couldn't help but have tears welling up in his eyes.
"Where's your jade? Is it lost?" he asked, enunciating each word clearly. Had she forgotten their vow? Had she really slept with another man?
At this moment, Xu Heng suddenly wished that Wang Yuying in front of him would be thin, sallow, or pale, so that it would prove that she only suffered when she was with other men, but that she was still full of vitality.
Wang Yuying seemed oblivious to the tears welling in Xu Heng's eyes, her expression unmoved, her tone unyielding: "So what if I lost it? His Majesty only found it before ascending Mount Fuyou!" She leaned forward, "Do you dare swear that you usually wear it? If you didn't, may you die a horrible death—"
"Enough!" Xu Heng slammed his fist on the table, his chest heaving violently, his wide-open eyes bloodshot.
Wang Yuying calmed down and stopped talking. She looked at Xu Heng with her lips closed. She had already realized that it wasn't that she was mean, shrewish, or too domineering. It was that he was immoral, didn't know what fidelity was, couldn't resist temptation, and was arrogant, ridiculous, hypocritical, and selfish!
He was the one who betrayed their vows of eternal love first.
One heavy breath after another echoed in the room, carried by Xu Heng.
After a long silence, he swallowed hard, turning his head away from the table below. "I know you always speak first, then think, and in the heat of the moment, you say things against your conscience. I... don't blame you." He paused, took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Love is the same. You haven't carefully distinguished between blood ties, friendships, and marital love, so it's easy to get confused. Between you and him, it's like two people clutching a straw for help, like two people huddled by a fire for warmth. There's kindness, comfort, gratitude, and perhaps even sympathy and a momentary impulse—" Xu Heng paused again, swallowing the bitterness in his throat, "but it's probably not romantic love. Think about it carefully, aren't you confused?"
After Xu Heng finished speaking, he looked down, expecting to see a bewildered face, but found that Wang Yuying showed no confusion at all. She raised her eyebrows and sneered at him: "Does Your Majesty think that I am like you? You pity people and ghosts alike."
Xu Heng's breathing, which he had finally managed to regulate, suddenly became heavier, and his face turned gloomy again.
Wang Yuying said softly, "I am willing to be intimate with him, so naturally I like him."
At least he was pleasing to the eye and not repulsive, and Jingye also had a youthful and firm body that attracted her.
She didn't glance at the head of the table again, unaware that Xu Heng's mouth suddenly gaped open after hearing her words—hearing that she had fallen in love with someone else, he suddenly felt breathless.
Xu Heng parted his lips as wide as possible, but still felt his breath was thin. He curled up but it did not relieve his heartache. Did she feel this way before?
It took Wang Yuying a while to notice Xu Heng's strange behavior. She slightly raised her chin, her eyes conveying only three words: Stop pretending.
Xu Heng felt very sad, because he could always read her eyes.
He slowly stood up, walked around the desk, and approached Wang Yuying.
"Aren't you afraid I'll kill him?" he asked through gritted teeth as he walked, feeling his vision begin to darken again.
Wang Yuying glanced back at Xu Heng briefly, then immediately looked away.
A fleeting moment of tension completely enraged Xu Heng. So close, he pulled her close, buried his face in her waist, and kissed her. The moment he touched her, Wang Yuying felt nauseous and struggled fiercely. Xu Heng's arms tightened even more. She tried to raise her hand to touch her acupoints, but he anticipated her move and caught her—she wasn't the only one in the world who knew kung fu.
Wang Yuying kept shaking her head to avoid his kisses, but his lips landed on any part of her face, without any particular method, as long as he could touch her.
He sucked so fiercely, he himself didn't know if it was lust or catharsis. Wang Yuying couldn't break free. The moment her lips were sealed, she bit Xu Heng without hesitation, almost biting his tongue, but the bite landed on her lips. Xu Heng's lower lip immediately broke, and blood seeped into both of their mouths, yet he continued kissing. Wang Yuying was horrified. In the past, he had been an extremely gentle person in bed, and if he went too far, he would always ask for her feelings from beginning to end. He had never been so rough and brutal.
Wang Yuying squeezed her hand between the gaps in Xu Heng's chest, inching her way to his chest, and then unleashed a powerful palm strike.
Xu Heng let go, and stepped back with both feet planted on the ground, stopping after several steps. He swayed, unable to tell whether the increased blood in his mouth was from a lip injury or an internal injury.
"Are you crazy!" Wang Yuying was furious.
Xu Heng laughed, swallowed the blood in his mouth, and clearly said, "I am not crazy. Consummation is the seventh rite between husband and wife."
Wang Yuying frowned, stunned, then couldn't help but laugh: "Not crazy yet? What nonsense are you talking about? Think about it yourself, are we still husband and wife?"
Xu Heng suddenly froze.
In an instant, his arrogance vanished, his face turned pale, and pain, sorrow, grievance, despair, and regret flashed through his eyes like a revolving lantern. Finally, he raised both arms to his chest, clenched his fists, and shouted, "Guards! Guards! Throw her into the imperial prison! Throw her into the imperial prison!"
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Author's Note: Tomorrow I have to go to a magazine, so the update will be delayed until 11 PM. Starting the day after tomorrow, updates will be at 6 AM daily. We encourage everyone to avoid staying up late and to go to bed early and wake up early!
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