“Ying Dangjia, get up!”
Ying Yan Long was awakened from his semi-conscious state and his first reaction was to curl up his body instantly because the torture he went through had made him think every grass and tree is an enemy*.
(Every grass and tree is an enemy means a person who is on guard and suspicious of everyone around him.)
“Ying Dangjia, it’s me!”
Ying Yan Long slowly opened his eyes and saw Deputy General Ji standing in front of him.
He noticed Deputy General’s face did not show any grim expression and heard him addressing himself as Ying Dangjia. He guessed the situation would not be too bad and maybe the Emperor had finally decided to see him.
Ying Yan Long wanted to use the wall as support to get up but for the last ten days, he had not eaten much. In addition, his tortured body had grown extremely weak and as a result, he did not even have the strength to push himself up.
Then the Deputy General Ji and an imperial guard stepped forward to stand on his left and right to assist him.
“Endure for a little longer.” Deputy General Ji used a black cloth to blindfold Ying Yan Long’s eyes and then helped him onto a soft sedan chair.
(Soft sedan chair is a sedan chair with a soft-padded seat. A normal sedan chair is usually made fully of bamboo or wood.)
“Please don’t take off the blindfold to avoid endangering your life.”
Ying Yan Long nodded, then felt the sedan chair began to sway as it moved forward.
The soft sedan chair moved very fast and the wind together with the damp air in the prison blew on the face of Ying Yan Long.
He heard the sound of a hatch opening and closing but could not feel any difference in the light and only felt the air he was breathing in became more and more humid.
Ying Yan Long knew he was still in the palace prison and had entered a secret passageway. They had traveled for quite a while which indicated the secret passageway was wider and longer than he imagined.
“Please get down from the sedan.” Deputy General Ji said.
Ying Yan Long was helped down the sedan and his blindfold was removed.
He blinked his eyes and was still trying to adapt to the blinding light when he noticed the Emperor wearing a two-color patterned dark blue robe sitting in a big wide chair in front of him.
“Greetings to Your Highness.” Immediately, Ying Yan Long’s knees landed on the ground.
“You may rise.” Hei Xing Jian said indifferently and looked at Ying Yan Long whose face had thinned down by half.
“Grant him a seat.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.” After Deputy General Ji helped him to a seat, Ying Yan Long followed the Emperor’s gaze. In front of him was a bright stone wall about the width of three people and through the wall, he could see a bed, a table, and chairs.
Ying Yan Long wrinkled his eyebrows because this chamber obviously consisted of only a table and two chairs.
“We are now sitting in a chamber with two doors, a Yin Yang design of double chambers. This is the ‘Kun’ Chamber. The other one is the ‘Gan’ Chamber and it is inlaid with echo stones and mirror stone walls that can transmit sounds and project images to the ‘Kun’ Chamber. However, the people in the ‘Gan’ Chamber will not know the existence of the ‘Kun’ Chamber and they can’t hear us.” Hei Xing Jian said.
Ying Yan Long nodded and did not answer. He did not know the Emperor’s purpose of bringing him here and since the Emperor did not ask him any questions, he also did not dare to plead his innocence and could only wait.......
Hei Xing Jia looked at the ‘Gan’ Chamber in which he had once kept Mei Yi Wen for a month. During that time, he would be here in the ‘Kun’ Chamber every day to observe Mei Yi Wen’s every move. Mei Yi Wen was kept in this chamber because he had made a vicious oath saying he would commit suicide the moment he sees him, Hei Xing Jia, again.
Once he had broken his promise and appeared in front of Mei Yi Wen because he missed Mei Yi Wen very much. As a result, Mei Yi Wen bit his tongue and tried to commit suicide which scared him so much that he did not dare to show up in front of Mei Yi Wen again. Later, when he saw Mei Yi Wen going on a hunger strike and showing signs of disorientation after being imprisoned in this chamber, he finally agreed to Mei Yi Wen’s request to be sent to Qingcheng Mountain Villa.
Ying Yan Long noticed the sounds of the Emperor’s breathing had become heavier but he could not ask any question, so he just sat up straight and looked at the ‘Gan’ Chamber through the mirror wall........
In the ‘Gan’ Chamber, someone pushed the door opened and entered.
It’s Hua Ming Zi!
Ying Yan Long’s body trembled and his heart skipped as he leaned forward involuntarily to stare at her with his fiery eyes.........
Behind her, Deputy General Ji dragged in an unconscious Luo Ji Cai through the door and pushed him against the wall before chaining him up.
“Look at how your woman helps to absolve you from your crimes.” Hei Xing Jian said.
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
Ying Yan Long felt excited. After he struggled to bend his body to thank the Emperor, immediately he turned to watch Hua Ming Zi who was on the other side of the mirror wall, in the midst of showing her gratitude to Deputy General Ji for his assistance.
After Deputy General Ji withdrew, Hua Ming Zi dragged a chair and sat in front of Luo Ji Cai with her arms crossed.
When Ying Yan Long looked at her thin face which was almost showing bones, he felt his heart ached. But when he looked at her with her arms folded across her chest glaring fiercely at Luo Ji Cai, he felt reassured that she is still in good spirits.
“Luo Ji Cai, it’s time for you to wake up!” Hua Ming Zi kicked Luo Ji Cai’s stomach as he lay on the floor.
That kick was really strong and Luo Ji Cai’s screams were really heart-stirring.
“Ah!....... It’s painful! It hurts terribly!” Luo Ji Cai blinked and shouted loudly.
Ying Yan Long lifted his eyebrows and the corners of his lips curved. He really wanted to give him a kick as well.
Hei Xing Jian watched Hua Ming Zi’s actions and thought of Mei Yi Wen........does he really want to be such a strong woman like her? However, if Mei Yi Wen was to shout at him with his hands on his hips, he would only think Mei Yi Wen was full of vitality. If only Mei Yi Wen is still alive and is sitting next to him watching Hua Ming Zi as she teaches Luo Ji Cai a lesson, it would be so good....... Taking a deep breath, Hei Xing forced himself not to think again and watched as Hua Ming Zi threw a kick on Luo Ji Cai’s lower abdomen.
Luo Ji Cai screamed and curled up his body. “Don’t kick anymore! I am going to die!”
“Die? Who said it will be so easy for you?” Hua Ming Zi sneered and once again delivered another kick at the side of Luo Ji Cai’s waist. She had already consulted Deputy General Ji about this and every kick she delivered should land on the most vulnerable part of Luo Ji Cai.
Luo Ji Cai screamed and shouted until tears and snot covered his face.
“If you scream once more, I will hang you upside down over the fire basin and let you slowly burn! Do you know about this way of dying? You can smell your own flesh burning as you slowly die........do you want to give it a try? It is said that it takes a day for one to die but someone had endured for two days but he was still unable to die.......” Hua Ming Zi looked at him without any expression.
Luo Ji Cai sucked in a breath and shivered then he shook his head repeatedly.
“Are you not going to talk? Then I will have to let you take a look at this.” Hua Ming Zi lifted off the thin quilt on the bed revealing a woman who was lying motionless with a pale face.
When Luo Ji Cai looked at the woman, his body started to tremble.
“You.......you........you killed Concubine Xu!”
“You incited Concubine Xu to accuse Ying Yan Long of molest and she received this for her moral integrity. If you don’t spit out the truth, you will end up just like her.” Hua Ming Zi said coldly.
Luo Ji Cai’s teeth chattered as he stared at Concubine Xu wordlessly.
“You......this.......where is this place? What do you want to do?” He remembered going out and sitting in the sedan. After that, he could not remember anything else.
“Where this place is.......is not important. What is important is......if you don’t tell me about how you framed Ying Yan Long, then you can expect a slow death.” Hua Ming Zi pulled out a long whip and cracked it in the air.
The whooshing sound of the leather whip cutting through the air made Luo Ji Cai’s face instantly turned white.
“I......I really don’t know what happened to Ying Yan Long. What happened to him?” Luo Ji Cai pretended to be surprised and said.
“Still pretending?” Hua Ming Zi cracked the whip and lashed the arm of Luo Ji Cai.
He let out a scream like a pig to be slaughtered and the intense pain made him screwed up his face.
Hua Ming Zi could not feel any sympathy for him because there is still no news of whether Ying Yan Long is dead or alive and it was all due to him!
“You took advantage when the Emperor left the city and incited Concubine Xu to falsely accuse Ying Yang Long so that Imperial Consort Luo can instruct her people to torture Ying Yan Long to extract a confession. Is this true?” She asked loudly.
“I don’t know what you are talking about! Why should I falsely accuse Ying Yan Long? You...... you kidnapped me!....... The Imperial Consort, my Father and the Emperor won’t spare you......”
“You knew Ying Yan Long and I were going to be married and you were scared he would take revenge on you for your attempt to kill me. In your haste, you looked for Concubine Xu with whom you were having a relationship and threatened her that if she did not accuse Ying Yan Long, you will say that she seduced you........”
“You are talking nonsense!” Luo Ji Cai looked around the place as if he was afraid the words would be heard by others.
“Do you want the people around Concubine Xu to be brought forward as witnesses?”
Luo Ji Cai looked at her and his lips curved slightly into a smile. When he first noticed Ying Yan Long’s hatred, he already knew the matter was not good. Since he had a way of falsely accusing Ying Yan Long, then now he will also have a way of getting out of this.
“Since Hua Dangjia can falsely accuse me of this, naturally, you can also threaten the people around Concubine Xu. In my opinion, it is just because Ying Yan Long's misconduct was exposed by Concubine Xu, so you want to vent your anger on me. However, you actually killed Concubine Xu. Your behavior is too arrogant and if the Emperor is to know about this, what will be your end? Our Emperor is not to be trifled with.........Ah!.........”
The long whip landed on Luo Ji Cai’s face and left a blood-stained streak.
He let out a loud scream and looked at Hua Ming Zi who was holding the whip standing in front of him. “You even dare to mention the Emperor?! I want to know what will be the Emperor’s reaction if the Emperor knows you are selling off the royal gifts in the capital city?”
“I didn’t!” Luo Ji Cai said and his face suddenly turned white.
“We have sent people to investigate this matter and the merchant who bought your royal gifts had already confessed it was your people. And your people had testified that it was you.” Hua Ming Zi sneered. “No one is willing to bear the death penalty of selling off the royal gifts. So, you can only bear it yourself.”
“You tortured them to extract their confession! They were afraid, so they lied.” Luo Ji Cai said with trembling lips.
“Is that correct? One, two, three, four and five......all of them are still alive. Who do you think the Emperor will believe?”
“I......I was just muddle-headed at that time. If you hand me over to the Emperor, you are guilty of secretly meting out punishment which is also a dead-end for you. It’s better for us to talk.........”
“So what if I come to a dead-end? It was because of the injuries you inflicted on me that I only have two more years to live! Now even if I have to give up my life, I will make sure you get your retribution!”
Hua Ming Zi’s long whip snaked out and Luo Ji Cai rolled around the floor in pain. In the ‘Kun’ Chamber, Ying Yan Long’s eyes had turned red.
How did she know she only has two more years of life?
Hei Xing Jian looked at Ying Yan Long and saw the heartache and sadness on his face. When he recalled he did not even get to see Mei Yi Wen one last time before he passed away, he could not help but clench his fists.
“Don’t whip........don’t whip......it hurts!” After Luo Ji Cai was lashed several times, his voice gradually weakened.
