After being forced to leave the marriage, I became the wife of a top scholar.

Chapter 246 This is the real dead end

Chen looked at Bai Wanqing kneeling in front of her, her eyes red and silent. Even though she had given up on Bai Qinglian back then, she still harbored resentment towards Bai Wanqing.

Her Lian'er could have had a bright future. Although she was spoiled, she wouldn't have ended up like this if it weren't for the sudden change in her circumstances.

Isn't it all because Bai Wanqing divorced from the Meng family?

But Chen dared not speak or complain. She simply sat there quietly, letting the resentment in her heart numb her grief.

Bai Chenming had already lost one daughter, so naturally he couldn't bear to let his other daughter suffer as well.

"Qing girl, get up!"

"Ultimately, this was my decision as your father, so I don't blame you."

Although Bai Chenming was grieving, he knew in his heart that if Bai Qinglian was not taught a lesson, she would likely bring even greater trouble to the Bai family.

Bai Wanqing sensed that her father was angry, so she didn't move, and Bai Chenming didn't ask Bai Wanqing to get up again.

The three of them endured this for two hours.

Ruixin and Fengniang felt heartbroken seeing Bai Wanqing kneeling there.

"Ruixin, you've been with Madam all this time, so you must know Master Bai and Madam Bai's tempers. Is there any way to make them stop blaming Madam?" Fengniang whispered to Ruixin.

Seeing Bai Wanqing suffer, Ruixin was also anxious. She shook her head helplessly, "Miss has always been disciplined at home and has never angered Master and Madam. It is unprecedented for her to watch Miss punish herself without saying a word like this."

"I really don't know what to do!"

Fengniang and Ruixin discussed it for a while, but still couldn't come up with a solution.

Seeing that Bai Wanqing was about to kneel for two hours, Fengniang could no longer sit still. "Ruixin, why don't we go and beg Lord Cui now?"

"With the Marquis in charge, even if Master Bai is still angry, he will restrain himself."

Ruixin hesitated, after all, involving the Marquis in such a family matter might only make the Master angrier after he figured it out.

"Are you afraid?" Fengniang asked.

Spurred on, Ruixin steeled her resolve and said, "I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid of anything for Miss."

Ruixin suddenly adopted a look of resignation to death, which almost made Fengniang burst out laughing.

Just as Ruixin was about to seek help from Lord Cui, someone knocked on the Lin family's door.

Fengniang and Ruixin exchanged a glance, and Fengniang said in a deep voice, "You wait here first, I'll go take a look!"

With Fengniang as her pillar of support, Ruixin felt much more at ease. She nodded and watched Fengniang go to open the door.

"Second Miss, Madam Du!" Fengniang quickly bowed to the two of them.

Bai Furong's complexion was not very good, so Madam Du quickly told Fengniang to dispense with the formalities.

"Oh dear, what time is it? I just heard from the servants of the Du family that Wanqing has really gone all out this time, offending her parents and the Bai family, and has also dealt with Bai Qinglian who hurt Furong."

"We rushed here as soon as we heard the news. Did Mr. Bai and Mrs. Bai make things difficult for Wanqing?" Mrs. Du asked anxiously.

Bai Furong's face flushed and paled as Madam Du spoke, showing that she was more anxious than anyone else.

As if she had seen a savior, Fengniang invited Madam Du and Bai Furong into the room, saying, "Second Miss, Madam Du, our Madam knelt down in front of the hall as soon as she returned."

"We've been kneeling for two hours now, and we're worried about how to rescue the lady."

Hearing this, Madam Du roughly guessed what had happened. When Furong heard that her elder sister had been punished, she became even more nervous and tried to walk a few steps faster, but Baoyue pulled her back.

“Miss, you just gave birth, and you're still weak.”

Furong's eyes welled up with tears, and she choked out, "If it weren't for my eldest sister, I would probably be dead. I have to go and save her now."

As she spoke, Furong gritted her teeth and started running. Baoyue wanted to persuade her, but Madam Du gently waved her hand.

"Baoyue, don't stop her, let her go."

"At this moment, perhaps only Furong can save Wanqing."

Baoyue had no choice but to stop trying to persuade her. She simply increased the strength of her support for Furong, and the two of them practically stumbled and fell into the front hall.

"Father, Mother," Furong's weak voice sounded at the door.

Bai Wanqing turned around and looked at Furong, whose face was pale. Her brows furrowed. "Furong, why are you here?"

Chen slowly raised her eyes and looked at Furong, who was still weak after giving birth. She could no longer hold back.

He jumped directly off his seat and strode over to Furong.

"Silly child, you just gave birth, how can you walk around like this? How can you treat yourself like this?" Chen scolded him angrily but also with heartache.

Bai Chenming's face also showed heartache. He ordered Baoyue, "Baoyue, take your master back and don't wander around!"

Ignoring everything else, Furong shook off Chen Shi and Baoyue and knelt down beside Wanqing with a thud.

"Father, Mother! My eldest sister is doing this because she wants to protect me."

“If you think the eldest sister is wrong, then Furong is wrong. If you want to punish the eldest sister, then you should also punish Furong.”

Chen said angrily, "Furong, what nonsense are you talking about!"

"We didn't punish your older sister, nor did we punish you. Get down here right now. If you keep causing trouble like this, don't you want to ruin your health!"

Bai Wanqing also spoke up to persuade her, "Furong, listen to your mother, go back quickly."

"If you don't recover well, how will your elder sister feel?"

Furong turned her head and said to Bai Wanqing through tears, "Big sister, I can listen to you in everything, but this time I have my own decision."

Seeing her daughter kneeling on the ground, swaying precariously, Madam Chen's heart broke. She had no choice but to walk up to Bai Chenming and plead, "Master, please..."

Bai Chenming was only putting on an act for Chen Shi's benefit, and now that Chen Shi has spoken up, he naturally won't hold a grudge.

"Qing, you should take your sister downstairs to rest now."

"Don't let her overwork herself!"

Bai Wanqing understood her father's good intentions and responded softly. She then helped Furong up and the two of them walked out of the house.

Seeing that no one was in the room, Bai Chenming walked up to Chen Shi and hugged her tightly.

"For the sake of our other children, let's put this matter aside."

Madam Chen covered her mouth with a handkerchief, tears streaming down her face. "Master, you don't need to say anything, I understand."

Bai Chenming sighed, closed his eyes, and dared not think about Bai Qinglian's current situation.

At this moment, Bai Qinglian was being escorted onto an oxcart, which was filled with prisoners, men and women, young and old, all of whom were also imprisoned in the jail.

These prisoners all came from impoverished backgrounds and were forced to commit heinous acts. Now, being sent to work in the mines is, in a way, a relief for them.

Bai Qinglian was standing next to an old man who was covered in dirt and whose face was not recognizable. She moved away from him with disgust.

The old man smiled maliciously and said, "Young lady, where are we now? Why are you still being so particular!"

If you keep being so particular, you probably won't live long!

Bai Qinglian snorted coldly, rolled her eyes, and shouted, "What are you, daring to lecture me like this?"

Do you know who's behind me?

"They're just trying to scare me, they won't really abandon me." "It's not certain who will survive in the end."

The old man was intimidated by Bai Qinglian's imposing manner and dared not provoke her any further, but the lewd man with the mustache next to him burst out laughing.

"What are you laughing at? Do you think I'm lying?"

The sleazy-looking man with the mustache squinted and said, "Madam, the place we're going to is a mine!"

"A mine, do you know what that is?"

Bai Qinglian didn't actually know much about the mines, but she had heard from her friends that if they didn't like a servant or wanted to punish one, they could sell them to the mines.

Therefore, in her eyes, the mine was a place to punish the servants.

"A mine is a mine, what else could it be?" Bai Qinglian said impatiently.

Everyone gasped in shock, and a young boy burst into tears.

"Why are you crying! You're such a bad omen," Bai Qinglian snapped.

The sleazy-looking man with the mustache grabbed Bai Qinglian's ankle. Bai Qinglian gasped and demanded sharply, "What are you doing?"

"Let me go! If you don't, I'll make you pay once I get out of the mine!"

The lewd man with the mustache ignored Bai Qinglian's shouts. He reached out and tore Bai Qinglian's clothes to shreds. Bai Qinglian felt a chill on her body and looked at the man in front of her in horror, struggling to resist.

But at this moment, the mustachioed, lewd man had already covered Bai Qinglian's mouth tightly with his hand, and Bai Qinglian could not make any other sounds except for muffled noises.

The sleazy man with the mustache took Bai Qinglian's place on this oxcart.

The official driving the carriage merely glanced indifferently at the commotion behind him, neither stopping nor intervening.

Seeing that the man with the mustache had gotten a good deal, the other men on the oxcart were all eager to do the same.

Thus, before even reaching the mine, Bai Qinglian had already encountered inhuman torture.

After everyone finished their work, the mustachioed, sleazy man patted Bai Qinglian's face and said with a smile, "Didn't you say you had someone backing you up?"

"Then why didn't they come to rescue you?!"

“Madam, you need to understand that going to the mines, regardless of your status or background, means you're handing your life over to someone else.”

"You think you can get out of the mine alive? That's just wishful thinking."

Despite the excruciating pain in her lower body, Bai Qinglian roared, "Bastards! You bunch of bastards!"

"One day, I will kill you all!"

"I also want to kill Bai Wanqing and Bai Furong."

"I want you all to die!"

Bai Qinglian stared wide-eyed and kept shouting loudly.

Annoyed by the noise, the mustachioed, lewd man raised his hand and slapped Bai Qinglian.

"You filthy bitch, I'm already being very generous by calling you 'Madam'."

"Be quiet."

Whether she was frightened or afraid of being beaten again, Bai Qinglian turned her head away and stopped uttering a sound.

They rode in the oxcart and entered the mine on the evening of the third day.

When the official arrived at the destination, he turned around and told everyone in the carriage to get off.

The mustachioed, lewd man and everyone else on the oxcart got off one after another, but Bai Qinglian kept her eyes closed, maintaining the same posture as that day and refusing to get off.

"What's wrong with her? Why isn't she getting out of the carriage?" The officer's patience had reached its limit.

Fearing the officials would take their anger out on them, the mustachioed, lecherous man quickly jumped into the car to call Bai Qinglian.

"Hey, wake up! We're getting off the bus."

Seeing that Bai Qinglian didn't move, the sleazy man with the mustache became angry and threatened her directly in her ear, "You bitch, if you cause us to be killed, you won't live either."

After saying that, the man with the mustache went to pull Bai Qinglian.

The mustachioed, lewd man was startled when he placed his hand on Bai Qinglian's wrist.

"It's hard." The mustachioed, lewd man practically rolled off the oxcart.

The others on the oxcart seemed to have noticed it long ago, but they just looked at the oxcart indifferently.

The official cursed twice, kicked the mustachioed man rolling on the ground, and personally climbed onto the oxcart to check. Sure enough, Bai Qinglian had already stopped breathing.

The man with the mustache was afraid of being implicated and was about to beg for mercy when he saw the officer beckoning to him expressionlessly.

The man with the mustache didn't dare delay and quickly stepped forward, "Sir, what are your orders?"

"Hmph! Don't think I don't know what you've been doing on the way!"

"However, since it's already happened, there's nothing we can do! Find the two people in your car and have them throw her into a mass grave."

The officer pointed to the back of a mountain, "It's right there."

"Go now, and come back to work right away! If you dare to run away!"

"You'll all end up just like this woman!"

The official raised his voice deliberately for the last sentence, so that everyone present could hear it clearly.

Although they were all prisoners and had come to the mine, none of them wanted to die.

They immediately followed the mustachioed, lewd man as he carried Bai Qinglian's body to the mass grave next to the mine.

It's less of a mass grave and more of a mountain of corpses, with countless bodies piled up at its foot. Even before you arrive, you can smell the stench of decay permeating the entire mountain.

They were horrified by the sight before them. Without even choosing a good burial site, they simply threw Bai Qinglian's corpse aside and ran away.

Bai Qinglian never imagined that after a lifetime of fighting and scrambling, she would end up like this.

If she looked back now, she might realize that if she hadn't framed Bai Wanqing out of jealousy and resentment, she might have found a good family and become someone's wife.

Perhaps Bai Wanqing could fight against the Huang family for her sake, and her father and mother wouldn't abandon her.

But Bai Qinglian never had the chance to think about it again.

On the other side, at the foot of the high mountains on the border, Wu Huan and Wu Shuang looked at the towering snow-capped mountains and hesitated.

“Young Master Lin said that once we cross this mountain, we will reach the Shang Kingdom,” Wu Huan said, frowning.

Wushuang gave a soft "hmm" and then lifted her leg to walk forward.

Wu Huan pulled him back, her eyes wide as she looked at Wu Shuang. "You're not actually planning to climb, are you?"

"We can't climb such a high mountain."

Although Wu Huan didn't say it, Wu Shuang knew that Wu Huan had begun to have some doubts about Lin Yun Che.

"How do you know if you haven't tried it?" Wu asked, his eyes gleaming.

(End of this chapter)