Last words?
A flicker of confusion passed through Song Yanzheng's eyes. If before, Great Yue could still treat him as a human, ever since the Yu Fan incident caused Great Yue to lose face completely, the Great Yue imperial family had vented their full fury onto him, a royal grandson of Great Qi.
He went hungry, wore only thin clothes in the dead of winter, and suffered endless bullying.
He was used as a living target for the imperial descendants' archery practice, and even the lowest servants could insult him at will.
And also...
The fingers of Song Yanzheng's hands, bound behind his back, were already mutilated.
From the moment his fingers were cut off, Song Yanzheng knew he could never go back.
Great Yue could never let Great Qi know their royal grandson was being abused like this; it would harm diplomatic relations between the two nations.
So, from some unknown point on, Song Yanzheng's wish had been... simply to die.
But he had never thought about last words, or rather... had never imagined he would have a chance to speak last words to "his own people."
"If you don't speak now, you know my methods..."
Prince Rui's voice rang out, and Song Yanzheng shuddered violently.
Prince Rui was a man with a heart as venomous as a snake's, possessing countless methods of torture.
Lifting his eyes to look across the way, a great army was pressing forward—the soldiers of his Great Qi.
The man at the forefront wore the distinctive python robe of the Crown Prince. It was his eldest uncle, also the Crown Prince of Great Qi.
It had been over half a year since they parted; his uncle had indeed become Crown Prince after all.
And also... Ah Huan.
Song Yanzheng suddenly felt a sharp pain in his heart, so intense it forced him to double over uncontrollably.
"Go beg Great Qi to withdraw their troops like a dog. Aren't you best at playing the dog?"
It was Prince Rui's voice again.
After a few more moments, Song Yanzheng let out a long sigh.
Summoning every ounce of strength in his body, he roared towards the Great Qi banners that were so close yet impossibly far:
"Soldiers of Great Qi! Do not concern yourselves with my life or death! Charge forward! One day, trample Great Yue flat and display our Great Qi's might! I can die in peace!"
To act for these beasts who had humiliated him to this extent—he could not do it.
Behind him, Prince Rui's face suddenly turned grim.
A gust of wind blew, making the Great Qi banners flutter sharply.
An arrow pierced through the air, but its target was not Song Yanzheng—it was Prince Rui.
Driven by the instinct to survive, Prince Rui subconsciously pulled Song Yanzheng in front of him, using him as a shield against the arrow shot by Song Shihuan.
This arrow, shot personally by Song Shihuan, ultimately struck Song Yanzheng squarely between the brows, killing him instantly.
The wheel of karma turns.
...
"Soldiers! Great Yue has killed a royal grandson of Great Qi, scorned our national might! Their crimes are intolerable to both heaven and reason! If we cannot win this battle, will we have any face left to return home and see our parents?"
Song Shihuan's voice rose, accompanied by the stirring beat of war drums, making Prince Rui's expression turn utterly foul.
He had calculated many possibilities, even considered that Great Qi might actively kill Song Yanzheng to save face. The only thing he hadn't calculated was that the arrow would be aimed at him.
Openly forcing him to use Song Yanzheng as a shield.
One arrow, two targets.
This Commandery Princess of Great Qi, her cunning and capability were not to be underestimated.
"Victory! Victory! Victory!"
The roars of the Great Qi soldiers pierced the sky, forcefully suppressing the morale of Great Yue.
As a commander, one knows that a moment's delay in seizing the opportunity can be fatal.
Gu Zheng's eyes gleamed, and he directly led the soldiers behind him into battle.
For no other reason than this: the fury ignited in the Great Qi soldiers at this moment was the most invincible weapon.
This time, Song Shihuan did not arrange any battle formations. The Great Qi soldiers fought based on their most familiar formations, relying purely on primal killing intent.
Song Shihuan wanted precisely to use this method to instill fear in Great Yue.
From dawn till dusk, Great Qi captured another city.
"Do not pursue further."
Song Shihuan spoke slowly, ordering the drums to sound the retreat.
"Clear the battlefield. We've pushed Great Yue to desperation this time. They will likely make a desperate, all-out counterattack. Have everyone rest and regroup where they are."
After speaking, Song Shihuan lifted her gaze to the city wall, where Song Yanzheng's body lay.
A quarter of an hour later, several people ascended the wall.
"Showed some spine before he died," Gu Zheng couldn't help but mutter.
Song Shihuan, however, knelt down and carefully examined Song Yanzheng's body.
"General Gu, send a message to the capital immediately. Say that the Eldest Royal Grandson suffered inhuman abuse in Great Yue: four of his ten fingers were severed, his body is covered in wounds, and the injuries have festered," Song Shihuan said with an abnormally calm demeanor. "His Majesty will know how to make good use of this."
This matter was enough to place Great Qi firmly on the moral high ground.
Gu Zheng left hastily, leaving only Song Yu and Song Shihuan.
"Ah Huan, are you saddened by his death?"
Song Yu stared at the wound on Song Yanzheng's brow, his hands clenched into tight fists beneath his sleeves.
"No. He once tried to kill me."
Instantly, the clenched fists loosened.
"When I first arrived at the Prince of Qin's residence, he poisoned me for Song Xiyan's sake. Father, I am not a magnanimous person."
Song Shihuan had already stood up, her whole person resembling a prickly little hedgehog.
Song Yu simply placed his hand on the hedgehog's spines. "It's fine. 'A crooked beam produces a warped rafter.' I'm not a magnanimous person either."
It was better not to be magnanimous. The torment Song Yanzheng suffered in Great Yue was not half of what Ah Huan endured in her past life.
To maintain the moral high ground for condemning Great Yue using Song Yanzheng, his remains were properly collected and encoffined. The coffin would soon be transported to the capital.
That night, Song Yu got up from his tent and came to the open ground where Song Yanzheng's coffin was temporarily placed.
His first words were:
"Your death was still too easy."
"My coming here now is not to see you off. It's to ensure you don't get reborn into a good life."
Song Yu sat on the ground, his hair dancing in the wind, holding three sticks of sandalwood incense in his hand.
Lighting the incense, Song Yu glanced up at the sky. Behind him, a dense, intense purple aura seemed to shimmer faintly.
"Heaven and Earth bear witness."
"Song Yanzheng harmed my daughter; his crimes are too numerous to record."
"He abandoned Ah Huan like worthless trash because of the absurd talk of a 'lucky star' and a 'disaster star.' As an elder brother, he harbored malicious intent, making multiple murderous attempts against her across two lifetimes. He also used Ah Huan's knowledge to pass off as his own talent, causing my daughter to suffer unbearable pain in her past life."
"Since Heaven and Earth took pity on my daughter, allowing her to live again through fate's chance, I beg you, do not let such a heartless, ungrateful wretch go unpunished."
After learning of the past life's events, what Song Yu hated most was not Song Ling, his incompetent and cruel father, nor the jealousy-filled Song Xiyan, but Song Yanzheng.
A Song Yanzheng who helped Song Xiyan commit evil without any bottom line. Whenever Song Xiyan took a dislike to Ah Huan, Song Yanzheng would immediately offer hundreds of ways to harm her.
Thus, most of the suffering that befell Ah Huan originated from Song Yanzheng.
He wanted Song Yanzheng to have no peace even in death.
The three sticks of sandalwood incense burned out. Some incense ash, carried by the wind, landed on Song Yu's jade-white hands. A searing, stinging pain came, yet Song Yu smiled.
Incense ash adhering to the body signifies the spirits have accepted the plea.
