October.
Outside the Prince Ping's mansion, a crowd of commoners had gathered, an unprecedented sight. The guards surrounding the area showed no intention of driving them away, as if deliberately wanting more people to witness the scene.
All eyes were fixed on Song Xiyan, kneeling at the mansion's entrance.
Song Xiyan knelt on the ground, her eyes vacant, her face still swollen.
"His Majesty has shown grace. Shouldn't the County Princess express her gratitude?"
Wu Qi's voice rang out. Song Xiyan tried to curl her lips into a semblance of a smile, but the movement sent sharp pain shooting across her face.
"I thank my Imperial Grandfather for his... kindness."
This was the final punishment. After today, she would no longer even have the right to call him 'Imperial Grandfather'.
Wu Qi's sharp palm strike swept towards Song Xiyan, showing not a hint of mercy.
Song Xiyan's screams grew increasingly hoarse. As her body slumped over several times, Wu Qi ordered two young eunuchs to hold Song Xiyan firmly on either side, forcing her to endure all fifty slaps.
The surrounding commoners were so terrified they dared not even breathe loudly.
After the punishment was over, Song Xiyan was tossed back into the Prince Ping's mansion like a ragged cloth doll. Liu'er let Song Xiyan burn with high fever, not once moving to call the mansion's physician for her.
In her feverish delirium, Song Xiyan saw Song Shihuan's face.
Song Xiyan immediately began to struggle. "Just because I said a few words, I have to suffer such torment? Song Shihuan, don't you feel even the slightest bit of unease in your heart?"
Outside the room, Lady Chang's hand, poised to push the door open, froze.
"Not only do I feel no unease, I am exceedingly pleased."
Song Shihuan reached out and pressed down on Song Xiyan's cheek, eliciting another scream.
"Song Hui used you. You should have figured that out by now." Song Shihuan's lips curled into a slight smile. "How does it feel to be betrayed by so-called family?"
"Song Hui, I curse her to die a horrible death!"
Mentioning Song Hui made Song Xiyan's emotions flare even more intensely. Thirty full days, fifteen hundred slaps—it was more than enough time to piece together the whole story.
"But Song Shihuan, you deliberately pleaded for my release from the Eastern Palace, didn't you? Just so I would make a mistake. May you all die horrible deaths too."
Song Xiyan's words did not anger Song Shihuan in the slightest. Instead, Song Shihuan nodded. "Not completely stupid after all."
"Then, do you know why I came here today?"
Without waiting for an answer, Song Shihuan continued on her own:
"I came to take your life."
"Song Xiyan, you owe me a life."
......
Outside the room, Lady Chang instantly covered her mouth, forcing herself not to make a sound.
Inside, clear fear surfaced in Song Xiyan's eyes. She could tell... Song Shihuan's words were not false.
"You are standing alive before me now. How could I possibly owe you a life?" Song Xiyan tried hard to swallow. "I can testify that Song Hui incited me... if you are willing to spare my life."
"You are no longer useful."
Song Shihuan let out a long sigh. "Song Xiyan, have you ever had dreams?"
"Dreams where I was a worthless county princess living worse than a servant, whom you could hit and scold as you pleased, just like... your venting doll."
Mentioning the events of her past life, Song Shihuan actually felt a sense of relief.
If she killed Song Xiyan today, her vengeance from that past life would be complete.
"I struggled to survive under your hands, willing to risk my life just to earn your favor. But what happened later? Song Xiyan, you killed me."
"You pushed me, with my limbs broken, into the lake of the Imperial Garden. The water was so cold, it chilled me to the bone. I swore in my heart that I would make you all pay."
Song Xiyan shook her head incessantly.
"Song Shihuan, I've never even heard of these things you speak of. Why are you slandering me?"
Hearing this, Song Shihuan stared fixedly at Song Xiyan for a long moment, then suddenly laughed. "Then consider it as me killing you for a crime that never happened."
Song Shihuan slowly drew out a short blade, its edge glinting coldly.
"Five stabs in total. Four for the hands and feet, one for the heart. By then, Imperial Grandfather will only know you committed suicide, unable to bear your current situation. No need to trouble his elderly heart with anything else."
Song Shihuan tightened her grip on the short blade and raised her right hand.
Before she left the palace, her father had called out to stop her several times, seemingly not wanting her to come to the Prince Ping's mansion. But she had come anyway.
If it was Song Xiyan's blood, she was willing to stain her hands with it.
Just as the blade was about to touch Song Xiyan, the door was suddenly pushed open. Lady Chang rushed in and wrapped her arms around Song Shihuan from behind, so tightly that Song Shihuan could feel the trembling of Lady Chang's body.
"A-Huan, be good. Put the knife down."
......
"Let go." Song Shihuan's face turned completely cold.
On the bed, Song Xiyan's tears streamed down her face. "Mother Consort, save me, quickly!"
But Lady Chang, looking at the veins standing out on the back of Song Shihuan's hand, gently coaxed her again. "Don't dirty your hands."
"Those things you spoke of... I know about them."
Song Shihuan was stunned.
"She was born from me. For committing such evil deeds, it should be me who ends her." Lady Chang took the short blade from Song Shihuan's hand and threw it to the ground. "You are a Princess. You already stand high, watched by many. Don't give anyone a reason to harm you."
"I will help you kill her."
Looking at Lady Chang before her, Song Shihuan felt a rare sense of absurdity.
Did Lady Chang... have memories of the past life?
Lady Chang wiped the tears from the corner of her eye and called out loudly to Liu'er in the courtyard. "Liu'er, escort the Princess away from the Prince Ping's mansion."
"Princess, please."
Song Shihuan pressed her lips together and followed Liu'er out. When she reached the courtyard gate, she suddenly stopped and looked back.
In her line of sight, Lady Chang's hair was completely white, aged like a woman in her fifties. Seeing Song Shihuan look back, she raised a smile on her face and waved at Song Shihuan.
The lingering warmth from Lady Chang's embrace still seemed to cling to her body. This was, astonishingly, the first time in both her lifetimes combined that she had felt the warmth of Lady Chang's embrace.
How laughable.
Song Shihuan left. Lady Chang stared in the direction she had gone for a long time before slowly bending down to pick up the short blade from the ground.
"Mother Consort..."
Song Xiyan called out to Lady Chang with panic in her voice.
"Xiyan, we all have to die. Not just you."
A flash of madness passed through Lady Chang's eyes. "These are the debts we owe A-Huan from our past life. That's why the people of Prince Ping's mansion are dying one after another. Today, I will send you on your way. Remember on the road to the Yellow Springs, do not drink the Meng Po soup. For life after life, do not forget our sins."
"After you die, Mother Consort will follow you. Don't be afraid."
Lady Chang used her other hand to gently stroke Song Xiyan's forehead, her tone almost coaxing. "But before that, tell Mother Consort, how did Song Hui use you?"
Song Xiyan was utterly terrified by now.
She answered whatever Lady Chang asked, terrified that the next second the short blade in Lady Chang's hand would pierce her flesh.
After hearing the full account of how Song Xiyan had been used by Song Hui, Lady Chang finally smiled.
Let this be the final gift from her, as a mother, to A-Huan.
