Ink Burns

Chapter 213 Slaughtered into Twenty-Two Pieces
Seeing Zhou Shi bury her head and huddle in the corner trembling, Chang Lin felt a little enjoyment. He loosened his grip, and the loose strands of hair slipped through his fingers.

Chang Lin had intended to let it go, but suddenly a wicked thought arose in his mind. He grabbed a clump of hair about the thickness of his wrist and pulled it into his palm. With a sudden swing of his arm, he ripped the clump of hair off with a "rip" sound, revealing a strip of white scalp on his head. Then, tiny beads of blood sprouted from the hair follicle like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.

Zhou let out a scream.

Chang Lin burst into laughter: "You're bald, hahaha! You're bald!"

Zhou buried her head in her arms, her face contorted with sobs. A rush of tears to her nose nearly suffocated her; her scalp burned and tingled, the pain radiating from the very top of her head. Tears streamed down her face, but then she suddenly remembered the satisfied smile on Chang Lin's face when he lifted her veil on their wedding night. "The daughter of a scholar from a refined family, so delicate and pretty," he had said.
When Chang Lin somehow learned of her true identity and that of her brother Zhou Fangguan, and that she was pregnant with Yu Niang, he unhesitatingly used the tip of his knife to lift her chin. "She really is a vile wretch. These sticky eyes and brows were born just to seduce men!" Chang Lin said.

It's clearly the same face, it hasn't changed.

When she was Zhou Xingyun's younger sister, she was delicate and pretty; when she was Zhou Fangguan's younger sister, she was clingy and alluring.

All the tenderness, joy, trust, and companionship changed overnight, even her child was reduced to a slick, inferior being. Su Ge'er was already ill-tempered, and after his father changed his attitude towards him, he became even more violent. As a child, Su Ge'er's favorite thing to do was skin cats and watch the furless cats struggle in the sand, dragging their bloody flesh and bones. She was terrified. She hoped Chang Lin could discipline her son, but Chang Lin praised Su Ge'er, saying, "To wash away the blood of the inferior being flowing in your veins, you must be more ruthless than others!"

When Su Ge'er was young, he was a fierce fighter, which made Chang Lin, who came from a military family, feel very proud.

As Su Ge grew older, his fighting escalated into murder and arson, and he began to act aggressively and offensively regardless of the situation, resulting in a series of misdeeds that required the Chang family to clean up. Chang Lin felt very embarrassed.

Chang Lin feels embarrassed, but she is often the one who gets hurt.

As soon as Chang Lin entered, all the maids and servants who were serving her, as usual, tacitly disappeared and left all the open space for her to be beaten alone.

Zhou squatted in the corner, her face raised from her arms, glancing at Chang Lin with teary eyes.

Chang Lin stood under the lamp, his dark, sallow face adorned with two large cheeks. When he clenched his back teeth, the skin on his cheeks would ripple into thin strands. Chang Lin felt uneasy under Zhou Shi's gaze and waved his large, fan-like hand in the air, saying, "What are you looking at!"

Zhou instinctively lowered her head to avoid eye contact, timidly averting her gaze. She took a deep breath before speaking, "Could you help me find Su-ge'er?"

Chang Lin paused, his drunken mind a bit sluggish: "Isn't he being held by the Prefect of the Capital?"

Zhou kept her lips tightly shut, her eyes fixed on the blue bricks, avoiding direct eye contact with Chang Lin. She stretched her neck and patiently explained, "Half a month ago, Princess Suiyuan helped him escape from the Jingzhao Yin to find a seventh-rank clerk in the Six Departments who had seduced Xue Chen to take revenge. She also found a 'beating shop' employee as a scapegoat. Later, she found out that the employee was the nephew of the 'beating shop' owner."

Zhou choked with sobs: "After that, after that, Su Ge'er was tied up by this 'beating gang' owner! Now we have no idea whether he's alive or dead!"

Zhou crawled on her knees to Chang Lin's side, grabbed his clothes, and cried out, "Please! Send someone to find Su Ge'er! I want to see him alive or dead! My lord, my lord!"

This was the first time Chang Lin had heard of this matter. He squinted and lifted Zhou's chin: "How do you know that Su Ge'er has been kidnapped? Perhaps he has just run away to avoid trouble? Sichuan? Zhongdu? The north?"

The alcohol hit Chang Lin hard, causing him to sway slightly. His face flushed red as he gasped for breath, his throat filled with the smell of rotting food. He gagged, "Those debt collectors, it's not like they haven't done it before. They run back to central Henan, hide in the ancestral graves and ancestral halls for ten days or so, and then naturally come back once the heat dies down—"

"No, no!" Zhou shook her head frantically. "No! The 'gangsters' have already escaped! I watched Su Ge'er being kidnapped right in front of me! It was them! It was them! Go investigate! The 'gangsters' traveled by sea! They circled the sea, found a deserted island to hide on for two years, and then came ashore and nothing happened! Go investigate! Go investigate!"

Chang Lin tilted his head back, his dazed expression gradually returning to normal. After a while, he asked, "How...how do you know the escape route that repeat offenders usually take?"

"Xue—" Zhou opened her mouth to reply, but suddenly stopped.

She couldn't say.

She couldn't tell Chang Lin that she had chosen to make a deal with Xue Xiao, and that she had given nothing in return. Chang Lin would definitely kill her.

I'll definitely kill her!
Zhou opened her mouth, but only managed to utter a meaningless breath. She was instantly flustered and didn't know how to respond to her husband's question.

If you can't answer, you'll get beaten.

In a flash, Zhou answered, "Grand Princess! It was the Grand Princess who told me!"

Chang Lin let out a heavy burp from his stomach. He hated hearing Jing'an's name from Zhou Shi the most! Hearing it once reminded him of how Jing'an had completely fooled him, and how she had brazenly married an actress, a low-class prostitute!

He's let his grandfather down because of his rotten leg!
He has let his father down for the hardships he endured in the wind and sand of northern Xinjiang, eating grass and digging for water!

Chang Lin raised his hand again, this time not just to scare Zhou Shi, but to slap him hard, heavily, and accurately, one slap after another landing on Zhou Shi's forehead, eye socket, and bridge of the nose!

The wine is good wine.

When he finally escaped the sandstorms of Shanhaiguan and the constraints imposed on him by the Su family, and after overcoming countless hardships, he finally entered the capital. It was then that his father buried a pot of "Top Scholar's Drink" for him under the old locust tree at home.

Today, we are digging up the old soil and unveiling the old wine because Chang Yurong has passed the imperial examination for military officers.

Aged wine has a lingering sweetness and aroma, and also a strong aftertaste.

Chang Lin felt dizzy and grabbed Zhou's hair, pulling her up. He saw that Zhou's nose was bleeding bright red blood, and her eyes were different sizes. The smaller eyelid was trembling violently and could no longer be opened.

"I've taught you a lesson so many times—" Chang Lin's stomach churned: "Don't mention that old woman at home. Why can't you listen to me? Why can't you learn?"

Zhou's lips trembled as if she wanted to say something.

Chang Lin bent down and leaned closer to listen, still a little dazed.

"My son... find my son." Zhou's mouth was full of blood.

Chang Lin loosened his grip.

Zhou's head bounced back like a spinning spring and slammed against the wall.

"You and Jing'an are so close, why don't you go and beg her!" Chang Lin shouted, raising his voice.
With a tingling sensation in her throat, Chang Lin let out a "waa" and grabbed Zhou Shi, deliberately spitting his mouthful of filth onto her head!
The fishy, ​​sour, and pungent smell of fermented liquor enveloped Zhou Fangjie completely, instantly extinguishing and covering up the dull pain all over her body, the pricking pain in her bones, and the waves of heat trickling up her face!

Zhou Fangjie leaned against the corner of the wall, her lips twitching, and barely managed to open her trembling eye, glancing sideways at Chang Lin, who had completely fallen asleep from the effects of the alcohol.

If only I had a knife right now.
She must have done everything in her power to kill him.

It was cut into twenty-two pieces.

No more, no less, twenty-two yuan.

That's exactly the age her son is.