Ink Burns

Chapter 201 It's so much fun! (The Chubby Chapter)

With his right hand immersed in warm water, Chang Yusu felt a chill spreading from his right wrist up to his right arm and shoulder.

He was forced to lie on his back on the bench, kicking his legs with all his might. His vision was completely black, yet he roared viciously, "You wretch! Let me go! You think the Chang family won't find you just because you've imprisoned me in the dungeon?! Until Xue Chen's trial is over, I am still the heir of the Marquis of Guanbei! If I die here—Xue Xiao—Xue Xiao—"

Chang Yusu's lips twitched, and his tongue unconsciously licked his lips: "The Grand Princess will force the Emperor to give you a quick death! Hahaha—you kill! You kill! I'll let you kill! I'll die in this underground place, and when you go to the underworld and see Uncle Su, please give him my regards!"

Shan Yue firmly believes in this statement.

The testimonies of the saint's ascension to the throne came from three people.

Empress Ji, Grand Princess Jing'an, and Grand Eunuch Xu, who accompanied the late emperor.

Empress Ji died, Eunuch Xu disappeared, and Grand Princess Jing'an was the only witness to the late emperor's death.

Princess Jing'an, having rendered meritorious service in supporting the emperor, has always been someone whom the emperor avoids confronting.

If Chang Yusu really dies at Xue Xiao's hands, the Grand Princess Jing'an will definitely force the emperor to severely punish Xue Xiao.

According to the laws of the Great Wei Dynasty, anyone who murders a second-rank marquis or nobleman shall have their entire family executed.

Chang Yusu's arrogance and boastfulness stemmed from both his violent personality and his deep understanding of this, making him fearless and emboldened.

"Who said it was Xue Qishu's entire clan that was executed?"

Shan Yue's calm voice rang in Chang Yusu's ears: "The one who married Xue Xiao is Liu Hezhou's niece from Songjiang Prefecture, while I am He Shan Yue from Shantang Street in Suzhou Prefecture. What does your death at my hands, He Shan Yue, have to do with Xue Xiao?"

Chang Yusu's legs were taut and straight, his mind consumed by a bloodthirsty frenzy.

Shan Yue continued, "Once your blood has dried up, I will carry your body and kneel outside the Forbidden City to confess! I will bear all the blame, and Xue Xiao will have no part in it!"

The woman's voice was shrill and high-pitched, so sharp it seemed to pierce the sky: "Whether you exterminate three generations or nine generations; whether you are Qingfeng or this damned third-rank lady! He Shanyue is already all alone, what is there to fear!?"

The taut string in Chang Yusu's mind was suddenly snapped by a sharp armor, exploding like a thunderbolt!

"You're insane!" Chang Yusu gasped, convulsing.

"Of course I'm insane!"

Shan Yue's face contorted with rage. She spread her arms wide, staring down at him with piercing eyes, clenching her teeth hysterically: "Yu Qingfeng, I'm nothing but a pawn! If you're tired of me, kill me! If you want to use me, keep me alive! I'm made of flesh and blood too, what right do I have! What right do I have!—You can see if I dare to kill you!"

"Come on! Let's bet! You'd bet your life on it!!"

The woman's voice exploded in my ears!

Explode!

Like a whistle! Like a thunderclap! Like the wail of a lamp running out of oil!

Chang Yusu's whole body began to tremble involuntarily—in his entire life, he had never known the meaning of the word "fear"! He was an evil spirit! The Chang family was a temple for exorcising evil spirits! He hid in the Chang family, and no matter how profound the Taoist priests outside were, they could not harm him in the slightest!

He's a little scared now!

This woman, this crazy woman, she really dares to kill him!!
This isn't bluffing! This isn't a feint! This crazy woman is truly willing to take all the blame for Xue Xiao!

His severed right wrist felt like it was sinking into ice, and the jade thumb ring on his right thumb struck the edge of the copper basin, making a tinkling sound.

It felt as if ice was forming from the water's surface up to the back of his hand, freezing with a crackling sound all the way to the back of his head and the top of his head! He felt like he was falling from a mountain peak! The wind was cutting sharp blades into his cheeks!
"What do you want to do! What do you want to do! I won't gamble! I won't gamble! Tell me! Tell me!" Chang Yusu shouted sharply, his voice breaking at the end!

He was sweating profusely!

Sweat soaked through the blindfold, sticking stickily around his eyes!

Shan Yue leaned down, his face very close to Chang Yusu's, the tip of his small, straight nose barely brushing against Chang's nose: "How much do you know about the Duzhou dike breach case?"

Chang Yusu's nose was covered in cold sweat like a torrential downpour: "I! I don't know! The Duzhou dike breach happened twenty-one years ago, I wasn't even born then! How would I know! Let me go! I'll go back and ask around for you!"

Chang Yusu's hand was suddenly pulled downwards by an external force!
A stream of scalding water flowed down his arm into the basin!

That wretched woman's face was no more than an inch away from his!
The slut's breath, hot and rapid, hit his face!
"Heh—the water's cold, the wound's almost scabbed over, let me add some hot water for you—" The woman laughed, "So much blood! It's almost overflowing! Look! Look—oh, you can't see it."

Chang Yusu struggled desperately, like a gecko in a dead end trying to cut off its tail to survive!

"I know some! I know some!" Chang Yusu shouted. "The Duzhou dike breach and Guan'anzhai happened in the same year! Not long after the Duzhou dike breach, Guan'anzhai opened for business! You should have found out that the mastermind behind the Duzhou dike breach was the Grand Princess Jing'an. My mother, my mother should have told you that the Grand Princess Jing'an was also the owner of Guan'anzhai! The two, the two are definitely related! They are definitely connected!"

The Duzhou Dike Breach Case. Guan'anzhai.
One was a major case affecting people's livelihoods. The river was flooded, and the dikes breached, causing thousands of deaths and injuries in seven prefectures and twelve counties in the Jiangnan region. The late emperor specially dispatched an imperial envoy to thoroughly investigate. It was discovered that Su Guangtian, who was in charge of the dike repair and was then serving as the captain of the Western Suburbs Camp, had embezzled funds intended for the dike repair, which led to the dike's failure and the tragedy. Su Guangtian and Su Tan, the father of Xue Xiao's mother, Su Shi, and the commander of the Northern Frontier Army, were both beheaded at the Meridian Gate. The entire Su family was exiled to southern Fujian, and their whereabouts have since disappeared.

One is a top-tier calligraphy and painting shop in the capital city. It opened during the reign of the previous emperor and has been in business for over twenty years. It has a good reputation and offers hundreds of works by famous artists as well as paintings by newcomers. It is a place highly regarded by scholars who are skilled in calligraphy and painting.

How are these two things connected?
Shan Yue quickly raised her eyes and looked at Xue Xiao.

Xue Xiao hid in a dark corner, his posture upright, his eyes unfathomable, a hint of doubt hidden deep within them. He would ponder it later.

Now, the focus is on Changzhou, Henan, and Jiangsu.

Shan Yue quickly lowered her head, not giving Chang Yusu any chance to calm down, and raised her voice to maintain her previous exhaustion: "What did the Chang family do in all of this!? After the Su family fell, the Chang family took over Su Guangtian's position as the captain of the Western Suburbs Camp, while the Su family's main camp was controlled by the Cui family, the Marquis of Wuding. The Chang family and the Cui family divided up the Su family's power. What role did you play in all of this?"

Right hand
My right hand is almost completely numb!
Chang Yusu trembled all over!

The blindfold was soaking wet; it was hard to tell whether it was from sweat or tears of fear!
"I don't know! I don't know! Chang Lin won't tell me! That old bastard Chang Lin thinks I'm useless, and he thinks my mother is a cheap opera singer, and I'm just a worthless bastard born of a cheap woman who doesn't want money! He never entrusts me with important matters, how would I know!"

Chang Yusu, her right hand trembling, shouted, "I'm going to die! I'm going to die! I'm going to die, ahhh!!"

The black cloth in front of them was ripped off.

The man in black who had been holding him down released his grip and held a torch in front of him.

The sudden appearance of the flames made him involuntarily shrink back.

He hurriedly looked up and saw that the woman—that crazy woman—had taken three steps back, crossed her arms, and was looking at him calmly.

There was no trace of his previous madness.

He quickly raised his right hand again, looked down, and immediately froze in place—the basin contained only water! Plain water! There were no wounds on his wrist! No blood!

Where does the extreme cold, felt when frozen by ice, come from?
Where does the feeling of weightlessness when falling from the mountaintop come from?
Even the fear of the numbness and rapid blood loss in that arm, the clenched heart...
Are all these feelings just his imagination?!

Chang Yusu's overwhelming rage at being tricked surged to his head. He buried his head in his hands and charged towards Shan Yue like a black bear that had lost its mind: "You bitch! You tricked me!! Ah—!"

Chang Yusu's muscles bulged, ignoring the torment of not having eaten or drunk for three days. His strength was so great that it felt as if he could smash an old tree in front of him to pieces!
The men in black on either side couldn't hold on in time and were broken free by her sudden charge!

That vile woman is right in front of me!

He's going to kill her!

He swore to kill her!

The wind whistled past my ears!

"Bang—" The sound of the wind stopped abruptly!

"Pa-ta-!"

A loud bang!
Xue Xiao rushed forward, flipped over and grabbed Chang Yusu's shoulders, lifted him up with both hands, and then threw him down hard!

Xue Xiao stopped his sudden momentum, turned sideways and stood beside Shan Yue with his eyes lowered. As soon as he looked up, a murderous intent appeared in his eyes!
“He’s right. Grand Princess Jing’an is as steady as Mount Tai. If he dies here, we will only become cannon fodder to be sacrificed to the heavens.” Shan Yue turned halfway to the side, holding a silver-gray silk handkerchief in her hand, lightly covering her nose, and looked at Chang Yusu with calm but disgusted eyes: “Although I really want to kill him, he cannot die by our hand.”

Chang Yusu only just realized: he'd been tricked! He'd been tricked!
The two men in black robes on either side lunged forward on their knees and slammed him to the ground.

"Let him live a few more days." Shan Yue smiled, a smirk playing on her lips. "I'll think carefully about how he should die. Should he be hung upside down from a tree and bleed to death, or torn apart by five horses, or like the commoners of Fushou Mountain that night—burned alive?"

Chang Yusu was forcefully pinned to the ground, unable to move at all. He cursed under his breath, and then heard three words: "Fushou Mountain"!
Fu Shoushan?
It looks so familiar.
Chang Yusu's not-so-large brain started working quickly.

Fushou Mountain? Where is it? It seems to be in Songjiang Prefecture?
Burned to death?

fire?
Wildfire?

Chang Yusu suddenly straightened his neck, his two gazes shooting at Shan Yue like two sharp swords: "You, you're a piglet from Fushou Mountain!?"

Memories and the scene before my eyes overlap in my mind!
"Who are you?! Are you the five or six-year-old girl I shot through the chest at the beginning? Or the long-legged woman who was dragged into the bushes and raped? Oh, oh, oh!" Chang Yusu suddenly realized: "You're the one who survived to the end! With a little bitch and an old woman whose tongue I cut out! You're the sister who schemed against Fu Mingbo!!"

Chang Yusu finally understood, and burst into laughter, his mouth agape: "You little piglet, you're still alive?! Hahaha! Fu Mingjiang lost three hundred taels to me! Hahaha! Lost three hundred taels to me!"

Shan Yue stood behind Xue Xiao, her gaze fixed on him calmly.

Xue Xiao's back was tense, like an arrow nocked on a bowstring, ready to burn everything to ashes at any moment.

Shan Yue gently placed her palm on Xue Xiao's back.

After the back muscles tighten, they slowly relax.

Chang Yusu was still laughing, laughing so hard he was bent over, his head hitting the ground as he cried out "Ouch!" a few times. "After all that, it turns out it was you! I thought it was some deep-seated grudge! — The scene at Fushoushan was the one I had the most fun with. Your screams, your cries, you all protecting each other...tsk tsk tsk, it was truly captivating, both moving and thought-provoking—"

"is it?"

Shan Yue bypassed Xue Xiao and stood looking down at Chang Yusu. She slowly raised her right hand, frantically pleading for help from both sides: "I'm going to die! I'm going to die! I'm going to die—!"

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha--"

Shan Yue put her hands on her hips, laughing so hard she could barely breathe. She bent over, laughing so hard she was breathless: "Your cowardly way of being afraid of death, tsk tsk tsk, is really—so—fun!"