“Please, kill me. Please kill me.” The bloodstained woman, her hair hanging loose, let out a thin, barely audible whimper. It was just possible to make out that she was female.
Yu Feng, usually a smiling Yu the Simpleton in front of her, now held a bone-scraping knife in his hand. His face was vicious as he slowly dragged the blade across the woman’s body, allowing her shrill cries to echo through every corner of the prison cell.
Shen Xiabai sat down opposite the woman, propping his forehead up with one hand. His gaze was cool and detached as he watched the scene, as though the person before him were not a human being but a landscape painting he was admiring.
“Everyone who enters the Department of Judicial Punishment begs for death,” Yu Feng said.
With that, he applied a little more force with his wrist, driving the bone-scraping knife deeper into the woman’s flesh.
“Ah—!”
The shriek made Cui Yunchu’s eardrums ache. It was like the wailing of ghosts, sending a chill through her.
“This is only the beginning,” Yu Feng said. “You won’t hold out until the end. Confess honestly, and you’ll suffer less.”
The woman’s head drooped weakly, her breath so faint it was almost inaudible. “I’ve told you everything I know. I truly don’t know who wanted your father dead. We’re an organization of assassins. We only take money and carry out orders.”
Shen Xiabai slowly rose to his feet and took several steps forward. Then he frowned in distaste and stopped, lowering his head to look at his white brocade robe.
“Who paid you? Are you sure you don’t know?”
The woman shook her head.
Yu Feng lashed her with a whip. “Think carefully. Was it someone connected to the Cui family?”
At those words, a chill shot up from the soles of Cui Yunchu’s feet. She stared fixedly at the woman, then, after a moment, looked toward Shen Xiabai’s back.
Her fingers curled tightly around the bars of the cell door.
“The Cui family?” Confusion was unmistakable in the woman’s voice.
She shook her head again. “I truly don’t know. I only heard that the person who paid for the hit was a woman.”
Yu Feng turned to Shen Xiabai. “My lord, apart from Old Madam Cui, there doesn’t seem to be another woman in the Cui family.”
“It couldn’t have been my grandmother.”
The sudden voice made Shen Xiabai’s expression stiffen. He turned sharply.
Cui Yunchu walked in step by step, her face pale. “My grandmother would never do such a thing.”
“Why are you here?” Shen Xiabai strode forward and blocked her view, but Cui Yunchu moved around him. Yu Feng immediately dropped the tools of torture and bowed in greeting.
Cui Yunchu repeated, “It couldn’t have been my grandmother, Shen Xiabai. She already said she didn’t know. What you’re doing is forcing a confession through torture.”
It was because he had long since decided that the Cui family was responsible. That was why he kept assuming the woman was lying and had her tortured again and again.
He could accuse anyone in the Cui family, but Old Madam Cui alone was Cui Yunchu’s forbidden ground—untouchable and beyond reproach.
“A Chu, you misunderstand. I never suspected Old Madam Cui.”
Cui Yunchu looked straight into Shen Xiabai’s eyes, but he shifted his gaze slightly, as though he felt guilty.
When she was young, Old Madam Cui had been far more than an ordinary woman confined to the inner chambers. She had been a woman who could hold her own against any man, so spirited and formidable that even men had seemed inferior beside her.
That was why Shen Xiabai had suspected her for that brief moment.
“Now that the situation has settled somewhat, Lord Shen is going to settle old scores and avenge his father and brothers, is that it?”
Shen Xiabai knitted his brows but said nothing.
Cui Yunchu was silent as well. She turned to look at the woman pinned to the rack, her body drenched in blood.
She truly did not know what to say. Shen Xiabai’s desire to avenge his father and brothers was only natural. If the person he sought revenge against had not been one of her own family, she would have been happy for him—that he might finally lay to rest the pain that had tormented him for years.
“Shen Xiabai, I don’t care what you do to anyone else. But if you dare hurt my grandmother, I’ll fight you with my life,” Cui Yunchu said, each word deliberate.
She understood Shen Xiabai completely, but she truly could not stand by and let anything happen to her grandmother.
Even if her grandmother really had been in the wrong.
And if their positions had been reversed, she would have protected Shen Xiabai just as fiercely.
Cui Yunchu did not bring up the promise Shen Xiabai had made when they married.
Even if he wanted to go back on his word now that they were married, she had no right to reproach him.
But her grandmother was different. No one was allowed to touch her.
“A Chu, I…”
“I remember now.” The woman on the rack suddenly spoke. “The year Lord Shen’s father and brothers died, it was during the famine relief efforts. The route they were taking was indeed disclosed to us by an official surnamed Cui.”
Yu Feng nearly lunged forward to cover the woman’s mouth.
Why say it now of all times?
His master had already investigated this matter thoroughly. There was no need for her to say it.
Cui Yunchu glanced at the woman, then looked back at Shen Xiabai. After several moments of silence, she turned and walked out of the prison cell.
Her grandmother was Cui Yunchu’s bottom line. She did not believe that Old Madam Cui had been responsible for the deaths of Shen Xiabai’s father and brothers.
Shen Xiabai’s hand, hidden within his sleeve, clenched into a fist, his knuckles turning pale. He barked, “Who brought Madam into the prison?”
The soldiers standing outside immediately dropped to their knees. One of them trembled, too frightened to speak.
“Go and receive your punishment.”
The man rose and hurried away.
“Make her explain clearly where the assassin organization is located and what distinguishing characteristics it has.”
After giving Yu Feng his instructions, Shen Xiabai also strode out.
A quarter of an hour later, Yu Feng emerged from the cell, wiping blood from the knife that was still dripping. He ordered the soldiers beside him, “Take her out and bury her.”
Once he left the prison and put away the knife, he became the same dull-witted fool as before.
“My lord is going to have a rough night tonight,” he said with a click of his tongue.
Cui Yunchu did not return to the residence after leaving the prison. Instead, she immediately rushed to the Cui estate.
When she arrived, she happened to run into Cui Qingyuan, who was about to leave. She acted as though she had not seen him and hurried toward Songhe Garden.
“Elder Sis—” Cui Qingyuan began, but the word caught in his throat.
“The eldest young lady hasn’t come back for several days. She must have missed Old Madam,” the steward said with a smile, offering a word of consolation.
“Let’s go.”
Cui Qingyuan flicked his sleeve and left the estate for the palace.
At Songhe Garden, Old Madam Cui went straight to the gate as soon as she learned that Cui Yunchu had returned.
Leaning on her cane, she waited there unsteadily. Though her eyes were somewhat clouded, they remained fixed on the entrance. The moment Cui Yunchu stepped inside, her face broke into a kind smile.
“You’re back.”
Cui Yunchu stopped, the tip of her nose beginning to sting.
“Grandmother.” She hurried forward and threw her arms around Old Madam Cui’s waist. “Your health is poor. Why did you come outside?”
“Li Po told me you were back. I waited and waited, but you never came in, so I decided to come out and see you. It was a good chance to get some fresh air, too. Staying indoors all day is dreadfully stifling.”
Cui Yunchu supported her into the room.
Old Madam Cui’s aging had become increasingly apparent, worsening with each passing day. The last time Cui Yunchu had seen her, she had not yet been hunched over. Now, her back had bent considerably.
Cui Yunchu felt a pang in her heart.
“Why are you crying? Did you suffer some grievance in the Shen household?” Old Madam Cui asked, her voice turning stern.
“No.” Cui Yunchu shook her head. “How would he dare mistreat me? If he ever dared do anything sorry to me, I’d cheat on him and give him a taste of being cuckolded.”
“Stop talking nonsense.” Old Madam Cui glared at her.
“Grandmother, I really love you so much.” Cui Yunchu leaned against Old Madam Cui.
Birth, old age, illness, and death were all part of the natural order—things she could accept. But even if her grandmother’s life were destined to end tomorrow, she would never allow anyone to hurt her today.
She knew she was being selfish, and that she shouldn’t make things difficult for Shen Xiabai. But everyone had a line that must never be crossed.
As she had said before, if the Cui family ever tried to harm Shen Xiabai, she would turn against them all the same—fighting them to the bitter end.
