For a moment, Lou Qianying and the others below wailed and begged for mercy. They also brought up their past experiences in the Yun family, hoping to arouse the pity of Liu Jingyue and the others.
Concubine Shen cried like a weeping willow, complaining that the nunnery was as cold as an ice cellar in the severe cold and that Yi Zhen, who had been used to a life of luxury, would surely die there.
The scene was in a complete uproar.
Yun Xi and several members of the Yun family pretended not to see them. They all bowed in unison and thanked:
"Thank you, Your Majesty—"
Downgrading Yi Zhen from a princess to a county mistress was actually a way to lower her status. For someone who had been born with a silver spoon in her mouth, this kind of humiliation was the most heart - wrenching.
The welcome banquet ended in a fiasco.
Lou Qianying and the others were escorted away by the guards. Yi Zhen also returned to the palace silently.
Concubine Shen shed tears non - stop and left under Cao Shu's disgusted and complex gaze.
Emperor Zhaohuan said a lot of words to comfort Yun Xi and bestowed many precious jewels and objects. It was hard to tell whether he was trying to comfort Yun Xi herself, the Yun family, or maybe Yi Yuan.
However, Yun Xi was preoccupied with what Emperor Zhaohuan had just said. He wanted to compensate her and asked her to name her wish.
This could be regarded as a promise in disguise.
Yun Xi lowered her eyes:
What should I ask for?
Should I ask for a chance to read his mind to find out how much he knew about the events of that year? Did he play a part in the matter of Prince Chi Xuan?
But if he did, then Yi Yuan would be in great danger.
And this promise from Emperor Zhaohuan might save Yi Yuan's life in the end.
Yun Xi temporarily put aside the idea of getting close to Emperor Zhaohuan. She glanced at Yi Yuan, who had been standing beside her. Without a word, they understood each other.
Making an excuse for Liu Jingyue and the others to go back first, Yun Xi and Yi Yuan turned around and followed the guards who were escorting Lou Qianying.
The dungeon was dark, damp, and filled with the stench of decay.
Protected by Yi Yuan, Yun Xi stood outside the cell. She coldly looked at Lou Qianying, whose voice was hoarse from shouting, and Zhang Rui, who was locked up with her. She said indifferently:
"Why did your daughter happen to be on the way to the border of my parents that year?"
"Who came up with this idea? And what was the purpose?"
"Why should I tell you!?"
Lou Qianying let out a shrill scream. Her eyes were filled with venom, as if she wanted to devour Yun Xi. She grabbed the railing and cursed with filthy words:
"It's all your fault! You ruined everything for me! Why did you come back? Why didn't you just die... Ah!"
Lingyan's long sword was unsheathed, and with a "swish", a piece of flesh was cut from Lou Qianying's face.
Blood was dripping.
Frightened, Lou Qianying let out a shrill scream. She covered her face and stepped back in horror.
Yi Yuan looked at her as if she were a dead thing. His eyes, like those from the depths of hell, almost froze Lou Qianying:
"If you say one more word of nonsense, I'll cut off another piece of your flesh."
"You can talk more."
Finally realizing her situation, Lou Qianying was so scared that she could hardly stand. She shrank into a corner, trembling and looking at Yi Yuan in panic. She didn't dare to be arrogant anymore.
Yi Yuan's calm but extremely oppressive gaze turned to Zhang Rui. He said indifferently:
"You..."
"I'll tell you. I'll tell you."
After seeing what had just happened, Zhang Rui didn't dare to hide anything anymore. As soon as Yi Yuan said one word, she couldn't wait to start confessing:
"It was my sister's idea to send this dead girl to the place where General Yun and his wife were bound to pass."
"She said, she said that Miss Yun, you had caught the epidemic and General Yun and his wife had hidden it. They wanted to take you out of the capital, but unfortunately you died in the end. The general and his wife were too afraid of being discovered to make a sound. They were in great pain at that time, so she encouraged me to send this girl there."
"She said that she knew the two of them best and that they would surely take this girl in as a young lady of the Yun family. By then, whatever the Yun family had, our family could enjoy too. Especially when this girl grew up, with the status of the Yun family, she would surely marry into a high - ranking family. There would be even more benefits for us."
Carefully glancing at the two people standing in front of the cell, Zhang Rui stammered:
"That's... that's how it was. My husband and I were blinded by greed for a moment, so we dressed her in rags and left her on the way where General Yun and his wife were bound to pass. Later... later it developed into this situation..."
Yun Xi tilted her head slightly and said expressionlessly, pulling the corner of her mouth:
"Is that all?"
"After Lou Qianying married into a high - ranking family and established a firm foothold, didn't she want to frame the Yun family and plunder the Yun family's property to pave the way for your precious son? Why? Are you too embarrassed to say it?"
Suddenly, Zhang Rui's eyes widened in shock. Her mouth was wide open:
"How... how do you know?"
The hands in her sleeves were already cold. Even when she clenched them tightly, she couldn't feel any warmth.
Yun Xi endured and endured before suppressing the urge to kill these two people immediately.
Since she could read minds, she had seen a lot of ugly hearts. But someone as extremely selfish and vicious as Lou Qianying, who had been scheming and deceiving people since childhood, was really the first one she had ever met.
The Yun family had treated her with all their hearts. They had never mistreated her just because she was not their own. Even when Liu Jingyue first recognized her as her biological daughter, she had not abandoned Lou Qianying because of her previous actions. Instead, she had wanted to promote harmony between the two.
For more than a decade of sincere kindness, Lou Qianying had not shown a bit of gratitude. Instead, she had been secretly planning how to swallow up the Yun family and make it her own!
Yun Xi's eyes were red with hatred.
If she hadn't been able to read minds by some strange chance, she and the Yun family would surely have been destroyed without knowing why.
Sensing that Yun Xi's mood was wrong, Yi Yuan gently held her hand in the sleeve. He calmly ordered:
"Lin An, Mian Xiao, each of you give them thirty whips first to vent Xiao Xi's anger."
After a pause, he continued:
"Don't forget Young Master Lou on the other side. Have someone 'take good care' of him."
"Yes."
The two of them clasped their fists in unison and immediately carried out the order.
Screams rang out one after another in the cell.
Yun Xi only felt great pleasure. If it weren't for the fact that she thought it would dirty her hands and Yi Yuan was afraid that she would hurt herself, she would have wanted to whip them thirty times herself.
After enjoying the bloody scene in front of her for a while, Yun Xi finally felt that she had vented her anger. She was led away slowly by Yi Yuan.
On the other side, in the palace—
"Slap!"
The clear sound of a slap echoed in the silent palace hall.
Yi Zhen tilted her head. There was a clear finger mark on her fair face.
"Why didn't you listen to your grandfather's words!?"
Concubine Shen had long lost her sobbing and sad look. Instead, there was undisguised anger on her face.
"If you hadn't acted rashly, how could it have come to this today?"
"Now it's all right. You've even dragged me down. Your father has long been suspicious and suppressing the Shen family. That bitch Cao Shu has been sitting firmly on the position of the queen for so many years. I was just waiting for the Shen family to marry into the Yun family to consolidate my position. With what happened to Cao Sheng before, I was going to find a chance to pull that bitch down. But today, it's all ruined by you!"
The angrier she got, the more she raised her hand. With another "slap!", she slapped Yi Zhen on the other side of her face.
Yi Zhen lowered her eyes and listened to her scolding for a long time without saying a word.
Suddenly, she said:
"Mother, you listen to grandfather so much. Has he told you all his secret plans?"