beheading
In the chilly winter month, the wind and snow are dark, and the white snowflakes are falling so densely that it is hard to breathe. It is even more impossible to see the road ahead or the way home.
At this time, in Qingzhou City, every door was closed, and the sound of red charcoal and snow crackled.
At the end of the desolate official road, Suxi, wrapped in a thin cotton blanket, walked alone, braving the wind and snow. Her footsteps were shallow and deep, treading lightly through the white snow, yet the wind and snow seemed unnoticeable. Through the foggy noise, she could only see the execution ground, covered in a thin layer of snow in the third month of winter. The executioner raised his long knife high, and a strong drink mixed with spit sprayed from his mouth, knocking down many swirling snowflakes in the air. Then, almost instantly, before she could even make out what the young man, kneeling in disarray, muttered to her, she heard a sizzling sound, and a human skull tumbled to the ground below, splattering blood everywhere. The people watching the execution screamed in fear and scattered like birds and beasts. Only she stood there motionless, letting the blood that had splashed on her eyelashes flow into her eyes, stinging them painfully.
More than a month had passed since that day. Suxi should have been extremely happy that her revenge had been achieved, but for some reason, when she looked up again, she could still see the hazy blood color in front of her eyes that could not be washed away. It tortured her already fragile mind day after day after the man's death, making her unable to sleep at night. In just a few days, she became emaciated and looked like a skeleton.
It can be clearly seen...
She clearly didn't love him, and even his death was part of her plan.
To the north of Qingzhou, bordering the borderlands, snow fell year-round, and the winters were bone-chillingly cold. Her wealthy Su family, whose members were all members of the wealthy family, had died in just such a harsh winter, their bodies hastily wrapped by soldiers and thrown into an abandoned mine, where countless more corpses were buried.
As for her, she was sent back to her hometown in Youyang by her father a few days before the Su family was wiped out. Before leaving, she heard with her own ears the threatening words of the prefect surnamed Shen at the dinner table, and saw the dejected looks on her father and mother's faces. She didn't understand anything at the time, until even the Su family business in Youyang was confiscated by the government. Only then did she learn from word of mouth among the people that the head of the Su family, that is, her father, had privately printed money and mixed it with taxes for personal gain. His property was confiscated and his entire family was executed.
That day, she stood on the street and watched the servants of the business being brutally dismissed by the officers and soldiers. She felt a buzzing in her head and a chill all over her body, as if she had fallen into an icy cave. She was so shocked and angry that she could not think at all. All she could remember was the sound of the stack of silver bills in the hands of the fat and big-eared Shen Zhizhou slapping on the table, which made a crackling sound and tore apart her originally peacefully beating heart bit by bit.
The truth is obvious.
So after secretly burying her parents, Suxi used the dagger on her father's waist to cut a hideous scar across her cheek. She then found a human trafficker and infiltrated the group of female slaves into the Shen Mansion, where she was assigned to be the maid of the young master Shen Yunqiu, who was rumored to be suffering from a long illness and had not much time left.
Perhaps because of the horrible scar on her face, the whole family tacitly agreed that the Second Young Master Shen would not live to see the end of the year, and it was not a pity to take such an ugly woman as her to be buried with him.
Ever since she entered the mansion, all the maids and servants had looked at her with sympathy, as if this was her destined fate. However, three months later, at a family banquet at the Shen residence, the Shen family members, who were sitting around the table drinking and chatting in the inner hall, suddenly vomited blood and died suddenly. The only ones who survived were the Shen family's maids, servants, cooks, and the Shen family's second young master, Shen Yunqiu, who had been absent from the banquet.
During the family dinner, Shen Yunqiu, who had never been favored, was being pushed out by her to relax, and had no idea what was happening in the Shen Mansion.
That day, sitting by the stream, she told Shen Yunqiu all the past events.
Unexpectedly, the young master didn't seem that surprised, which made her feel a little guilty.
Since entering the mansion, Chen Yunqiu had treated her very well. She knew how he felt about her and knew that, given his temperament, he would most likely take the blame for her. Moreover, even if he didn't want to take the blame, she had already prepared perfect evidence in his study.
This was her plan.
The Shen family is extremely evil, and she will not let any member of the Shen family go.
But...but why...why, after more than a month, that frail young master hadn't appeared in her dreams once? Didn't he even want to blame her?
The hazy red was slightly blurred by tears. Suxi tightened the blanket with a familiar scent around her. Looking up, she was startled to find herself at Xiyuan Temple. However, the temple gates were closed today, as if the Buddha had sensed her and was unwilling to receive such a treacherous and evil person with bloody hands.
"It's time to end it."
Su Xi murmured, took off his cloak, folded it carefully and put it aside, then drew out the dagger again and put it at his neck.
"Dad, Mom, your daughter is here to see you..."
The cold light was unsheathed, shining through the silver-white light. Before Suxi could move, he caught a glimpse of an octogenarian woman sitting against the wall of the temple with her eyes half closed. She was wearing a single piece of clothing, and her face was almost purple. A thin layer of snow inevitably condensed into ice around the old woman, like a frozen statue.
Unable to bear it any longer, Suxi quietly approached, picked up the thin blanket on the ground, shook off the fallen snow and draped it over the old woman's shoulders. He saw that the pair of tightly closed eyes suddenly opened. The eyes did not seem old and dim, but were extremely clear, like the white snow.
Startled, Su Xi quickly stepped back, his face showing shock: "You, you are still alive... I thought..."
"Thought the old lady was dead?"
The old woman sneered, shook off the thin snow on her body, and stood up as if nothing had happened. Under Su Xi's astonished gaze, she pried open the girl's fingers hanging at her side and placed a glossy and transparent white jade bracelet on her fair and delicate palm.
The bracelet is painted with cloud patterns and has two plump white carps intricately carved, which look lifelike. One carp's head is holding the other's tail, as if they are swimming in the air and spinning in circles.
After staring at the jade bracelet for a long time, Su Xi's whole body suddenly froze, as if an electric current suddenly passed through her body, making her horrified and stunned.
This is Shen Yunqiu's bracelet.
When she looked up again, the old lady still had that mysterious smile on her face, as if she could see what she was thinking.
"Old man, where did you get this bracelet..."
"Little girl, the laws of fate in this world are extremely mysterious and cannot be peeped into. Today you have formed a good relationship, and this old man gave you this item. The fate has ended, so I cannot say more."
After saying this, the old woman ignored the girl's gloomy and sorrowful expression. She grabbed a thin blanket, draped it over her shoulders, and walked out into the vast snowstorm. When the snow cleared, the old woman looked back and saw the girl lying facedown in front of the temple gate, a hundred steps away. Blood oozes through the snow, leaving a narrow, crimson streak, resembling the hideous scar on her face. On the fair wrist holding the dagger, a glossy, translucent white jade bracelet had shattered into several pieces after being knocked against the hilt.
"Why······"
With a long sigh, the old woman shook her head helplessly, turned back to the depths of the wind and snow, and disappeared in an instant.
-
"Hey, have you heard? The young master of the Shen Zhizhou family poisoned his entire family and will be beheaded today!"
"Yes, it's truly shocking! Although the Shen family isn't exactly a good family, I never expected this usually kind young master to be so vicious! He even had the guts to turn himself in to the authorities after killing someone. What on earth is he thinking?"
"Hey, stop rambling. It's almost noon. Hurry up!"
Listening to the vague discussions around him, Suxi calmed down, opened his eyes wide and looked around, and found that he was being pushed by the crowd and slowly walking towards the city gate.
It was still snowing, but the snow was sparse. The rough-made execution platform in front of the west city gate was still dry, without any snow. In front of the charcoal stove on the platform with a blazing flame, the new prefect who was promoted from the county below according to the imperial decree narrowed his eyes and rubbed his red fingers. There was no tension or fear on his face, but instead it was full of the eagerness and excitement of the new official taking office.
This scene is exactly the same as what I saw at that time.
Is this the revolving lantern before death?
Suxi stared at the crackling charcoal on the stage in a daze, and suddenly someone bumped into his shoulder. Before he could dodge, he was stepped on hard by the tall and strong man next to him. Suxi felt pain, but his mind suddenly became clear.
This nightmare is too weird. If it's a dream, why can I still feel cold and pain? Why are the faces of everyone around me so clear? And...
Suxi raised his hand and looked at the mutton-fat jade bracelet on his wrist through the dim light from the sky.
She clearly remembered that the bracelet was broken. Why was it still intact on her hand?
"Bringing people to capture Shen Yunqiu---"
"Bringing people to capture Shen Yunqiu---"
The pawn loudly repeated the prefect's words, and a moment of silence fell. Su Xi suddenly regained consciousness and looked up to see the man being roughly dragged up the steps by two jailers. His gray prison uniform was streaked with dried mud, and his hands were bound with chains as thick as bowls, causing his wrists to swell red and swollen, and his hands, too, to swell like two purple eggplants. The jailers dragged the prisoner all the way to Taichung, seemingly oblivious to the blood-soaked uniform from the knees to the ankles, leaving a long trail of blood on the dark brown wooden boards. The pawns must have known that Young Master Shen's legs were disabled and unable to walk, so they had even omitted the shackles. They often dragged him like this in prison, rubbing his legs until they bled.
As if possessed by a ghost, he pushed through the crowd and walked closer, until he was stopped in the chest by the sharp long swords of two soldiers. Su Xi was stunned for a moment, and looked up, only to see the man half-lying on a wooden stake that had been soaked with the blood of countless people, and his eyes looked at him through the soldiers' long swords that were flashing with cold light.
Su Xi was all too familiar with Shen Yunqiu's eyes: a look tinged with sadness, helplessness, and surprise, but mostly with a gentleness that seemed to overwhelm her like a tide. After searching for a long time, Su Xi couldn't find the resentment and blame hidden in those eyes. Instead, her heart tightened, as if someone were strangling her, making it impossible to breathe.
Thinking back, Shen Yunqiu always had this strange look in his eyes when he looked at her, even when they first met. She never understood what was going on in the heart of this young master, who was barely twenty years old. She also didn't understand why, with so many beautiful women in Qingzhou, he had set his sights on a humble servant like her.
"Little Creek..."
The extremely hoarse voice brought Su Xi back to her wandering mind. She came back to her senses suddenly and was shocked to find that everything in front of her was blurry. Her eye sockets were swollen and she could only vaguely see Shen Yunqiu's lips opening and closing.
The last time she came, she didn't see the young master in such a miserable state. She just stood outside the crowd and took a quick look. Their eyes met, and then the head fell to the ground and the onlookers dispersed.
"Live well..."
His heart suddenly skipped a beat, and Suxi stood there in disbelief, as if all the strength in his body had suddenly been drained away.
She never imagined that what Shen Yunqiu murmured that day was this.
The sun shifted, the late autumn sun shining directly down, obliterating the dark shadows beneath. The snow had suddenly stopped, but the bright white sunlight offered no warmth, and was even colder than the snowflakes falling on one's face.
"It's noon—execution—"
The prefect threw down the wooden sign, and the executioner, upon hearing the sound, raised his long sword, grabbed the wine jug and took a gulp, and the wine and saliva sprayed on the back of the sword.
Fearing that they would be splashed with blood and tainted with bad luck, everyone stepped back. They saw the executioner's long knife, dripping with strong liquor, flash with a cold light, and the sound of the knife breaking the wind, even the snowflakes falling in the air were split in half by the sharp blade.
“Wait!”
Everyone in the audience shuddered, perhaps frightened by the blade suspended in mid-air or captivated by the sudden sound. Turning to look, they saw a thin, fair-skinned girl in a light, gray coat standing before the crowd. She looked like a servant from a wealthy family. But when they glanced sideways and saw a hideous, raised scar on her cheek, several curious people gasped and stepped back in fear.
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