Yangzhou!
Li Family Courtyard—
"Husband, I beg you, save my family. They are innocent. The Xiang household has been diligent and dutiful for so many years, never doing anything wicked. There must be a misunderstanding."
Xiang Wanyu knelt before the tightly shut door, tears streaming down her face as she listened to the unspeakable acts within. Her heart sank to the abyss.
Her heart was dead, but the pain remained. All 133 members of the Xiang family, from young to old, had been forcibly imprisoned and were scheduled for execution.
Her only hope now was for Li Fengsheng to implore Prince Duan to re-examine the case, allowing the Xiang family to be vindicated.
Xiang Wanyu still couldn't fathom how the rice from the shops became poisoned. There had to be a hidden motive.
"Husband, if you can save the Xiang family this time, I, Xiang Wanyu, am willing to be your ox or horse in this life and the next. Cough, cough..." Xiang Wanyu, frail and ill, her face pale, her lips dry and cracked.
Married for little over a month, Li Fengsheng already had two concubines. Rumor had it he had brought back a new beauty he had only recently met, and they were confined to their chambers, reveling in revelry nightly.
Due to her persistent poor health, she rarely left her chambers. When Li Fengsheng, whom she had only just met, pursued her relentlessly with sweet words, Xiang Wanyu had fallen for him. She now realized she was merely a fool in the world of love.
As Xiang Wanyu drifted in and out of consciousness, on the verge of tears, the door finally opened.
Li Fengsheng licked his lips, a look of satiety upon his face.
"Husband..."
Looking at the now useless woman before him, he stepped forward and kicked Xiang Wanyu to the ground.
"So noisy. You've ruined my good mood, you foolish woman," Li Fengsheng sneered. He was about to leave, but Xiang Wanyu clung to him like a lifeline, pleading desperately.
"Fengsheng, I beg you, we are husband and wife. Please save the Xiang family. They are being framed!"
"Framed? If your Xiang family being beheaded is unjust, then are the hundreds of souls who died tragically not unjust?" Seeing Xiang Wanyu still clinging to him, Li Fengsheng delivered another vicious kick, this time to Xiang Wanyu's chest. The pain made her arch her back, her brow furrowed as she clutched her stomach tightly.
At that very moment!
"Oh! Brother Fengsheng, how can you be so rough? Cousin Wanyu is still sick!"
From the doorway emerged a woman, her clothes disheveled, her neck bearing red marks. Anyone married would understand what those signified, hinting at the explosive scene that had just transpired within the room.
Hearing the familiar voice, Xiang Wanyu slowly opened her eyes from her agony. She looked at her cousin, Li Tingting, who had arrived fashionably late. Disbelievingly, she bit her lip. The cracks on her lips soon began to bleed.
"Why... why is it you?"
Looking at her cousin, who had always followed her, had a close relationship with her, and with whom she had shared everything since childhood, now engaging in such illicit acts with her husband, Xiang Wanyu felt disgusted.
"Why? Heh heh... Cousin Wanyu, I also want to know why you, since childhood, have lived in luxury, with everyone doting on you. You had beautiful clothes, and I didn't. You are the daughter of Yangzhou's richest man, envied by all, while I, a neglected concubine's daughter, was unwelcome in my own home. The prosperity you enjoyed was a realm others couldn't reach in lifetimes. Whenever you gave me a small trinket, I felt it was charity, an insult.
In the end, even the man I fancied was slowly drawn to you. Clearly, I knew Fengsheng first, why did you have to snatch him away? He loved me too! It's precisely because your Xiang family is wealthy that Brother Fengsheng had to step on you to climb higher. So, I vowed in my heart that I would surpass you and trample you underfoot."
"So that's how it is? Heh heh..." Xiang Wanyu felt like a joke at this moment. It turned out all of this was a scheme by Li Fengsheng and Li Tingting. Their initial approach was also preparation for taking over the Xiang family.
Facing the disappointment in Xiang Wanyu's eyes, Li Fengsheng suddenly felt guilty. He couldn't meet her gaze and left with a flick of his robe.
Seeing Li Fengsheng's heartlessness, Xiang Wanyu's heart turned to ashes.
But Li Tingting was not finished with Xiang Wanyu.
Bending down!
She extended her delicate, slender fingers and pinched Xiang Wanyu's chin. Her nails dug deep into the flesh. Xiang Wanyu winced, biting her lip tightly, uttering no sound.
"Still so stubborn. Do you think the Xiang family is still the same as before? Let me tell you a secret!"
Li Tingting narrowed her eyes, her ruby-red lips brushing against Xiang Wanyu's ear as she whispered, "This was all planned by Brother Fengsheng and me. Perhaps you don't know yet? The 133 members of the Xiang family weren't scheduled for execution; they were beheaded yesterday."
Boom!!
Xiang Wanyu was stunned. Why had she received no news? She had been kneeling here for two days and two nights, begging, listening to Li Fengsheng and Li Tingting entwined in their passion for two days and two nights.
It turned out everyone had kept her in the dark, treating her like an idiot.
"Pfft..."
Xiang Wanyu coughed up blood and then collapsed.
At this moment, she felt no pain, not even as Li Tingting continued to prattle on. She could no longer hear anything else.
Even as Li Tingting savagely stomped on her body, crushing her fingers until they bled profusely, she remained still.
Gradually, a light rain began to fall. Li Tingting finally let go of Xiang Wanyu and then ran away coquettishly.
The rain grew heavier—
Rumble—
Lightning flashed and thunder roared, intermingling. Servants bustled to and fro, but none dared to step forward to offer help.
The rainwater struck Xiang Wanyu's blood-stained face. Gradually, Xiang Wanyu's breathing weakened. She knew her time was nigh.
Less than fifteen minutes later, mingled with the rain, the cold corpse of Xiang Wanyu passed away—