Rebirth
"Who dares to obstruct the Qingzhou Prefecture from executing a wanted criminal? Are you tired of living?"
Seeing the prefect's face suddenly darken, the soldier standing beside him shouted in a deep voice.
Her eyes quickly passed over Shen Yunqiu's face. Su Xi pretended not to notice the man's face suddenly turned as dark as the bottom of a pot, and fell to her knees. "Your Excellency the Governor, please allow me to report that I am here to plead guilty."
"Confess your crime? If you want to confess your crime, go to the government office. Why are you running to the execution ground?" The prefect cleared his throat to block out the whispers from the audience and gave her an unpleasant look. The executioner understood and turned his aching wrist to chop it down.
"Wait a minute! The crime I'm accusing you of is poisoning everyone in the Shen family and framing the Shen family's second son!"
For a moment, the executioner's blade stopped again, the booing from the audience stopped, and even the prefect's rat-like eyes suddenly widened, like two round grapes.
"Sir, I have to tell you the truth. A few months ago, the head of the Su family committed a serious crime and was accused. His entire family was exterminated and their property was confiscated. It was Magistrate Shen who fabricated the evidence to frame him. Merchants cannot fight against the government, so I came up with this method to seek revenge. All of this is my own fault and has nothing to do with Young Master Shen! Please release Young Master Shen. I am willing to take the blame!"
"Su family?"
The magistrate's eyes rolled around for a long while, looking straight at him. The people below the stage were also whispering, as if they had heard something.
"To avenge the Su family, are you so ruthless? What is your relationship with the Su family?"
"My Lord, the head of the Su family, Su Bingwen, is my wife..."
"Little Creek!"
Su Xi, who was already trembling with panic, was frightened by the loud shout of suppressed anger and shuddered, swallowing the rest of his words.
But when she looked up at Shen Yunqiu's eyes that were covered with bloodshot, she thought to herself that something was wrong. She suppressed her fear and spoke again: "Sir, I am from the Su family..."
"Xiaoxi, there's no need to absolve me of my guilt! You've served me for over three months, and now the indenture has been returned. You're free again. You're just a maidservant, do you really think this will make me remember your kindness? Get out of here!"
Su Xi had never seen Shen Yunqiu speak so harshly, and had never imagined this frail young master could possess such masculine energy. For a moment, everyone's curiosity about the woman's connection to the Su family faded, and they all sighed, "What a devoted servant!" Some even secretly speculated that the young master of the Shen family had given the woman's family a large sum of money to stage this incident to exonerate him. After all, Young Master Shen had confessed to all these crimes himself. If he hadn't done them himself, who could have forced him to confess?
At this moment, standing at the execution ground, surrounded by the crowd, Su Xi listened to the incessant chatter and then looked at Shen Yunqiu. She knew she had no way to refute her. No matter how much she said, it would be dismissed as a joke because of this relationship. Shen Yunqiu had never considered her a lowly servant before, but now this move completely cleared her from the story. She was no longer involved in the same case as the Su family, and she could no longer have a say.
He was determined to die for her.
But it doesn't work.
She saw him die in front of her that day, and now she has to live it all over again. She doesn't know whether it is a nightmare or reality, but at least God has eyes. Such a good man should not be drowned in the quagmire of hatred and sink into the ground. He should not bear such a crime for her, and be cursed by thousands of people from then on and have no rest.
"What are you still standing there for? Why don't you execute me?"
As the prefect finished speaking, the sword and axe fell again. In the tense atmosphere where the people held their breath, the woman was seen desperately pushing away the shackles of the two officers and soldiers in front of her like a madman, and crawling up to the execution platform. However, before she could touch the long sword held by the executioner, her white hand suddenly stopped in place and trembled slightly.
Seeing the blood dripping from the tip of the long knife that pierced the woman's body, the woman in the audience screamed and hurriedly covered the curious eyes of the child in her arms. At the same time, the executioner's knife fell, the head rolled down, blood splattered, and the people in the audience fled in terror. No one dared to look at the head with its eyes open and bloody. Only the woman whose body was pierced by the long knife stared at the eyes on the ground that could not be closed, and refused to look away for a moment.
With a "swish" sound, the officers and soldiers suddenly drew out their long swords. Su Xi instantly fell to the ground exhausted, but still used up his last bit of strength to crawl towards the edge of the execution platform, trying to close his wide-open eyes.
But his heart seemed to be pierced by the sword, his body became heavier and heavier, his vision suddenly became dark, and he could not move a step. He could only feel the mutton-fat jade bracelet on his wrist stuck on the wooden board at the edge of the execution platform, and was pulled down by his desperate efforts, and broke into several pieces with a clang.
"Chen Yunqiu... I'm sorry..."
It was completely dark in front of him. Su Xi still stretched out his hand to hold something, until a cold snowflake fell on his palm. The hand that was stretched in the air and kept shaking finally dropped and spread out dejectedly, letting the small water droplets formed by the snowflake flow down from between his fingers, falling into the lifeless eye socket under the stage, and then sliding down the corner of the eye, just like a tear.
-
"Little stream? Little stream, hurry up and get up! If you don't get up now, it will be too late!"
"Xiaoxi!!"
Some familiar childish voices lingered in her ears for a long time in the dimness, and Suxi suddenly woke up. The tearing pain in her chest and the unspeakable sorrow had not yet dissipated. She sat up suddenly, covering her chest with her hands in fear and gasping for breath. Cold sweat dripped down her forehead, and her back was wet in an instant.
"What's wrong, Xiaoxi? Are you in a nightmare? Do you want some water?"
When the teacup was handed to him, Suxi finally realized the round-faced girl in front of him with two buns and was surprised: "Chunzhi? Why is it you?"
"Who else could it be if not me?" Chunzhi looked suspicious and stuffed the teacup into Suxi's hand. "Drink it quickly, and then leave quickly! Look, there are only two of us left in such a big house. They must have already gone to the corner gate of the Shen Mansion and waited for us!"
"Chen Mansion?" Su Xi deliberately ignored the strange look that the girl in front of him gave him as if he were a fool. He turned around and glanced around at the furnishings in the house: the leaky windows, the corners covered with cobwebs, the copper basin on the ground that collected the water seeping from the beams, and the long bunk bed with more than a dozen thin quilts, each of which was densely covered with green mold spots, and the damp smell was pungent, wet and cold.
This was clearly the remote house where he had been placed by a human trafficker before he entered the Shen Mansion as a slave. It was rumored to be a haunted house. A few years ago, all ten of its inhabitants had mysteriously died, their bodies only discovered by neighbors after they had become extremely decomposed. Since then, no one had dared to set foot in the house, and rumors of its haunting spread throughout Qingzhou City. The human trafficker, in order to save on rent, had placed slave women he had purchased from various sources in this haunted house. As for the damp, cold, and eerie atmosphere of the house, it was unclear whether it was truly haunted by ghosts.
But... why did I come back here? Could it be...
Suddenly noticing a heaviness on his wrist, Suxi lifted the sleeve of his jacket and saw that the mutton-fat jade bracelet with two carps holding pearls was intact on his wrist, without any signs of breakage.
"Hey, this bracelet is really beautiful! Xiaoxi, where did you get it? It couldn't be a reward from some official..." Chunzhi's eyes were immediately attracted by the jade bracelet. She looked at the bracelet, then at the scarred and hideous face of the girl in front of her, and instantly denied her guess.
Suxi was still immersed in disbelief for a long time. He caught a glimpse of Chunzhi's fat black fingers touching the bracelet. He was so scared that he stepped back and hid the bracelet behind his back.
Suxi has always known about Chunzhi's habit of stealing, but except for her, the other women here are afraid of the scar on her face, and no one is willing to get close to her.
"Chun...Chunzhi, this bracelet was left to me by my parents."
Suxi held the bracelet tightly in his hands behind his back. He glanced up and saw the embarrassed expression on Chunzhi's face disappear in an instant, and then she put on a friendly smile.
"Well, I was just taking a look, why are you so nervous? You're really stingy!"
"this····"
"Forget it, just dawdle on your own. I don't want to be late and get sent back by the Shen family and then have to stay in this dark and gloomy place!"
There was a hint of anger in Chunzhi's words. Without waiting for Suxi to speak again, she slammed the wooden door and ran out of the yard.
The wooden door at the front of the house made a strange sound with the wind, like a baby's laughter, but Suxi was no longer afraid. He carefully took off the jade bracelet and looked at it for a while, then threw it hard to the ground. The jade bracelet was still intact, rolled a few times and stopped at the door, stopping the sound of the wooden door.
"What happened? Why didn't it break?"
Su Xi was suspicious and threw it a few more times. He used a door clamp, chopped it with a knife, burned it with fire, and hit it with a hammer. He was sweating profusely, but the bracelet still showed no signs of breaking. There were only a few subtle scratches on the surface.
"What the hell is this thing? It's really amazing..."
Sitting exhausted on the couch, panting heavily, Su Xi looked up at the bracelet in the sunlight, realizing she probably couldn't return to the days before the Su family was ransacked. Given this, she certainly wouldn't let the Shen family live a life of luxury while carrying the blood and flesh of her parents. However, if she wanted to free herself and Shen Yunqiu together, she would have to find another way.
But no matter what method is used, the only way is to get close to the Shen family.
"It's bad, it's too late!"
Suddenly coming to his senses, Su Xi didn't care about his appearance. He hurriedly put the bracelet on his wrist, put on his cotton boots, and rushed out of the door in a hurry.
-
Qingzhou is extremely cold all year round. At sunrise, the sky is still dark and gloomy. Even the crescent moon is still clinging to the residual warmth of the night sky, as if it wants to compete with the rising pale sun.
He hurried through several streets and alleys and arrived at the corner gate of the Shen Mansion in one breath. The sun had just risen, and the corner gate of the Shen Mansion was still closed. A sharp-nosed and monkey-faced human trafficker led a dozen young girls in their prime to stand in a line in front of the corner gate, holding a handkerchief to block out the unpleasant smell coming from the slop bucket beside the door.
"Why are you here so late? Are you looking for a fight?"
When the human trafficker saw the girl running towards him with sweat all over her forehead, he frowned and slapped Suxi hard on the back. He rubbed his palms hard with a handkerchief as if he was touched by something unlucky, and then threw the handkerchief into the sewage bucket.
Suxi felt a dull pain in his back, but he wasn't in the mood to pay attention to the traffickers. He simply ran to the end of the line and stood there. However, he couldn't ignore the bursts of sneers coming from the crowd.
Suxi looked up and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Sure enough, he saw several people in front of him turning back and looking at him from time to time. The contempt in their eyes was obvious.
"She really dares to come here. She's not afraid of scaring you."
"That's right, don't let yourself be kicked out of the house. You'll lose all the skin you have left!"
······
In her new life, Suxi, who prided herself on being more mature, still couldn't ignore the harsh comments. This time, Chunzhi, who had always been close to her, didn't stand up for her. Instead, she stared blankly at her cuffs, wondering what she was thinking.
Suddenly, there was a creaking sound and the corner door opened. The housekeeper of the Shen Mansion came out and counted the number of people just like in the previous life. He waved his hand, and the human trafficker led a group of women in with a flattering smile.
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