Ink Burns

Chapter 304 Bad People Get Their Retribution (Part 2)

Fu Mingjiang was stunned by the resounding slap.

Shan Yue's palms were throbbing with pain from the impact. She raised her hand, shook it, and remained extremely calm, as if she hadn't been the one who had just made the move.

Fu Mingjiang suddenly erupted in anger: "You hit me!"

“I’ve hit you, but with so many people watching, I can’t get away with it—Princess, you can go to the Prefect of the Capital to sue me.”

This slap didn't need to be delivered by someone else—it should have been returned long ago!
Shan Yue stretched out her palms, her slender fingers extending to the extreme, her ruby-like lips pressed together, like a rare treasure found in a cave.

Shan Yue said with a half-smile, "Look, is it my crime to beat up a spoiled brat who shouted and yelled in front of his loved one's funeral, or is it your crime to slander the Grand Princess Zhenguo with every word you uttered!"

"What did you say?!" Fu Mingjiang was so angry she felt dizzy, her stomach cramping and tightening!
“I say, you keep accusing the Grand Princess of Zhenguo of forging documents, confusing clan bloodlines, and arbitrarily manipulating the marriage of officials—Article 132 of the Great Wei Law states that anyone who accuses or curses their grandparents or parents shall be hanged!”

Shan Yue shouted, “Sui Yuan! This is your mother’s mourning hall, not your stage! This is unfilial! Your mother was the Grand Princess Zhenguo, bestowed the title by the Emperor himself. You have falsely accused the Grand Princess Zhenguo, which is disloyal! Your mother has passed away, and instead of mourning, you have uttered foul words, which is unjust! Such an unfilial, disloyal, and unjust person deserves my punishment, even if it means being detained by the Prefect of the Capital!”

Inside the mourning hall, all those coming and going were people from the imperial court, who had all come from the turbulent times. They watched as Madam Liu, the wife of Xue Xiao, turned the situation from a seductive "honey trap" into a condemnation of Fu Mingjiang's disloyalty, injustice, and filial impiety with just a few words!

She doesn't need to prove that she is Liu!

All she needs to do is prove that Fu Mingjiang is an incompetent fool!
Regardless of his background, his wisdom, magnanimity, and talent far surpass Fu Mingjiang's by several times!
Words can lie, but eyes can't.

Everyone's gaze swept over Fu Mingjiang as if they were scraping off a layer of her face!
Fu Mingjiang was so angry that her chest felt foggy and her mind was filled with dizziness. Her knees buckled and she almost couldn't stand up. Her eyes darted around frantically, and finally, in the northeast corner of the mourning hall, behind a citron ornament lying on a celadon plate, she saw the figure of her beloved Yulang.

Yu Lang stood slightly turned to the side, his posture elegant, his gaze fixed on Liu Shanyue with a devout and fervent intensity, fixed on the southwest corner.
Fu Mingjiang's rapid breathing stopped instantly.

and many more.

Fu Mingjiang stiffly turned his head and happened to see Shan Yue slightly raising her long, slender neck, like a swan, elegant and graceful.

This little slut, doesn't she look a bit like the original Aunt Lin?

wrong.

wrong!

Aunt Lin looks just like her!

Is it Aunt Lin who looks like her?

Panic and tension, like rising tides, flooded into her seven orifices.

The best way to conceal panic is through anger.

Fu Mingjiang's response was a furious outburst: "Don't you dare slander me like this! If I am disloyal, unjust, or disobedient, Heaven will judge me in its own way! The Emperor is no good, and you—are even less so—!"

Fu Mingjiang's face was flushed red, her whole body like a taut bow, her back stiff, her shoulders hunched, and her eyes almost bursting out of their sockets. She was frantic and desperate: "No matter how much you say, you can't change where you came from! Everyone has heard it! But tomorrow, everyone in the capital will know that you are nothing but a slut sent to bewitch Xue Xiao! You are a traitor! You are a traitor! You betrayed Xue Xiao first, and then when you saw that we were weak, you changed your tune and betrayed Mother!"

"Liu Shanyue—no, your surname isn't Liu! What is your surname!?"

Fu Mingjiang, her pregnant belly protruding and her face contorted in a rage, screamed, "You think you can still go back to the Xue family?! That mad dog Xue Xiao, do you think he'd want you?! He's powerful and influential, what woman can't he have?! Why would he want a traitor, a slut, a bastard with an unknown father?!!"

A person's dignity may require many things to support it: money, experience, status, power, precious jewelry, and eloquent pleasantries.
But a person's lack of dignity can crumble in just one bout of madness.

Fu Mingjiang had lived a life of luxury for over twenty years. Born into a noble family, he was treated with utmost respect and honor. He had everything he asked for, no problem he could not solve, and everyone who asked of him would respond to his requests.

She has every right to make mistakes.

Perhaps, in her eyes, it cannot be called "wrong".

It's just "scenery" on the journey of life.

Throughout her life, she could never have imagined that the not-so-unique scenery of Fushou Mountain would be enough to make all her dignity and prestige in the capital city vanish.

Fu Mingjiang roared with all her might, and all her anger and panic dissipated with her outburst. She breathed heavily, feeling satisfied, but then realized that everything around her had become quiet.

Everyone looked at her.

Like a disheveled, grumpy rat.

"—As long as she still wants me, she'll do anything."

A deep, somber voice came from below the steps of the mourning hall.

Everyone turned to look. In the stark white of the mourning hall, Xue Xiao's purple python official robe from the Western Mountain Camp was dazzlingly striking. The powerful minister who was currently in power stepped up the stairs, the hem of his robe brushing against the stone steps, like a silent flame burning up into the mourning hall.

Xue Xiao took three incense sticks, lit them by bringing them close to the candle flame, raised his sharply defined chin, blew them out with a "whoosh," and placed one hand in front of the coffin. The movement was so sudden that one of the incense sticks broke off.

A broken incense stick is considered unlucky, as it symbolizes the end of one's lineage.

Xue Xiao casually brushed away the incense and nonchalantly put it back in the incense burner. He turned his head and looked at Shan Yue with extremely serious and earnest eyes: "If she wants it, I will give her my life."

What is the mad dog saying?

After thinking for a moment, everyone realized: Mad Dog was answering Fu Mingjiang's question!
Heavens!

Everyone clicked their tongues in amazement!

Xue Xiao meant that regardless of whether his wife was a "beauty" sent by "Qingfeng", she could do anything as long as she was willing!

Xue Xiao took a half step back, bowed, and spread his hands in a gesture of "please": "The mourning hall is cold and damp. It is no use staying here any longer. Please return to your residence, Madam."

Shan Yue gathered her skirts and slowly walked outside.

Xue Xiao followed closely behind, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, exuding a powerful aura. To the onlookers, however, he inexplicably gave the impression of loyalty and following.

Cui Yulang remained standing behind the citron ornament in the northeast corner, his hands gripping the edge of the wooden table so tightly that his flesh was almost embedded in the wood chips. A moment later, Cui Yulang turned his head, and the buck-toothed, limping Li Musheng beside him stepped forward. His master succinctly said, "Deliver this to..."

He disagreed with referring to Shanyue as "Madam Xue".

Cui Yulang flicked his sleeve, and a square letter was handed to Mu Sheng: "Deliver this to Miss He."

Li Musheng tensed up, quickly glancing up at the back of the rumored Mad Dog Lord: "If...if Lord Xue sees us..."

Cui Yulang's expression was calm, but his voice was arrogant: "I'm afraid he can't see it."

The letter was decorated with a flower, or rather a vine, with tiny, golden forsythia blossoms hidden among the drooping tendrils—the very flowers that bloomed most profusely on Mount Fushou that year.

Meanwhile, upon witnessing this turn of events, Chang Lin's widow, Zhou Fangniang, swallowed hard and turned to look at Fu Mingjiang. She saw that this once arrogant and proud young woman was pale and looked as if she had suffered a crushing defeat.

Zhou Fangniang couldn't help but feel a surge of satisfaction: back then, Fu Mingjiang could slap her or humiliate her at will, how could she treat her like a human being? Now, things have changed, and she can actually see this noble lady getting her comeuppance!
All thanks to the mountain moon!
Zhou Fangniang was extremely grateful that she and Shanyue had never been enemies, which gave her a chance to survive after Jing'an's death!
Zhou Fangniang lifted her skirt and chased after her: Please wait for her! She doesn't ask for much! She used to have Jing'an looking after her, but now that Jing'an is dead, she needs to find herself a powerful patron!
When Zhou Fangniang caught up with Shanyue, Xue Xiao was just about to take the horse when a familiar, ugly servant brushed past her. Shanyue was looking down at something.

"Hiss—that servant looks familiar?" Zhou Fangniang looked back every few steps.

Shan Yue stuffed the letter back into her sleeve, but held the slip of paper between her fingers and waved it: "This is a servant from the side of the Marquis of Wuding's heir, here to deliver a letter to me."

"Send a letter? What kind of letter?" Zhou Fangniang asked.

Shan Yue frankly handed the note to Zhou Fangniang.

Zhou Fangniang took it.

The note, written in elegant, refined handwriting, read: "Tomorrow at dusk, at the Autumn Water Pavilion of the Drunken Pavilion, to discuss the welcoming of spring in detail."

Zhou Fangniang was somewhat taken aback: "The heir of the Marquis of Wuding has asked you to meet him?"

Shan Yue nodded calmly, "That Cui family's young master has been very enthusiastic since the first time he met me, about once, twice, and three times. He never seems to lose heart—"

Shan Yue smiled and lowered her eyes, her eyelids drooping slightly, her gaze casually falling on the note: "If Fu Mingjiang finds out, she'll probably die on the spot."

Shan Yue smiled gently and soothingly: "For so many years, she was high and mighty, looking down on everyone and letting everyone take advantage of her. It's just a pity that now she's fallen from grace, her bones buried in the mortal world, a broken phoenix is ​​no better than a chicken—Auntie, don't you think?"

Zhou Fangniang clutched the note tightly in her hand, speechless for a long time.

"Clap clap-"

The sound of Fu Mingjiang slapping his face echoed in his ears, one after another.

The Xue family's carriage arrived with a clatter. Shan Yue placed her slender, soft hand in Xue Xiao's large palm, gracefully boarded the carriage, lifted the curtain, and asked with a smile, "Auntie, shall I give you a ride?"

Zhou Fangniang seemed to wake from a dream, and hurriedly shook her head. After a moment, she asked again in a hurry, "Tomorrow—can you go tomorrow?—" Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the cold and stern profile of the powerful and ruthless mad dog of the court, and quickly added, "Go to Chenshui Shop. They have made some new rouge."

Behind the carriage curtain, Shan Yue smiled nonchalantly, "Go, why wouldn't we go? There's something good, everyone has to go."

Zhou Fangniang couldn't help but smile. As the carriage drove away, she clutched the note, turned around, and hurried toward the mourning hall.