Chapter 4

He Yan gave Xu Qing a savage beating and expelled him from the duke’s residence.

He had intended to kill him. But the princess fought desperately to stop him, invoking the friendship they had shared while traveling together. He Yan could only swallow his anger and let Xu Qing go.

No sooner had Xu Qing left than the princess’s people took him away to recuperate in a small courtyard house in the north of the city.

That very night, I had him abducted.

The princess suspected He Yan of having Xu Qing killed. Frantic over her dear friend’s safety, she confronted her husband hysterically.

“There’s nothing between Ah Qing and me! Why won’t you believe me? He’s our friend! How can you be so cruel?”

He Yan would not concern himself with something he had not done, but he did not explain himself either. He watched coldly as his beloved wife wept and grieved for another man. His heart turned cold.

From that moment, the breach between them could no longer be healed.

For as long as Xu Qing remained missing, they could never regain their old closeness.

He Yan came home later and later, then moved into his study to sleep. Princess Pingyao remained preoccupied with Xu Qing’s safety, waiting as usual for her husband to come and apologize. She had no idea his heart had already turned away from her.

When I told Xu Qing all this, tears ran from his eyes. They were full of pity and love for the princess.

Then he glared viciously at me. “You bitch! You arranged this, didn’t you? The duke’s family has treated you so well. How could you do something so despicable?”

I was astonished. “Despicable? Compared with what you’ve done, what does this amount to?”

“Did I make the princess embrace you?”

His eyes were venomous. I continued without a trace of guilt. “Besides, the duke’s family adopted me, not the princess. She’s being unfaithful with you. Naturally I feel sorry for my brother and want him to know.”

Xu Qing looked as though his eyes might burst. “Bitch! You bitch!”

“If I’d known, I’d have slaughtered your whole family at once!”

He showed no remorse for what he had done. He looked as though he wanted to carve me to pieces. “A lowborn wretch like you only won the duchess’s favor because of your face. You’re a substitute for a dead girl. Do you really think you’re a young lady of this house? I spit on you!”

“As if you deserve it!”

He sneered. “You’d better release me soon. If the princess’s people rescue me and I tell her who you really are—”

I drove a knife into his lower abdomen.

His eyes widened in disbelief.

Expressionless, I twisted the dagger inside him with all my strength.

“Aaah!”

His body shook. He could not stop the screams pouring out.

Blood spattered my face, and I smiled. “So this is all you amount to. I thought you must be some heavenly warrior come down to earth, to treat ordinary people like insects.”

“But look at you. Flesh and blood like the rest of us. One little stab, and you can’t take it?”

My adoptive mother came from a military family. I had remained frail after recovering from my injuries three years earlier, so she had taught me hand-to-hand combat herself to strengthen my health.

I had been waiting for the day I could take revenge with my own hands, and I had studied especially hard. Now I used that skill to make his pain unbearable without letting him bleed to death.

Xu Qing had probably never suffered like this. His face flushed and contorted, his eyes filled with a startling hatred.

The more he hated me, the happier I became. Delighted, I drew another dagger from my belt and plunged it into the right side of his abdomen.

Cold sweat streamed down him. “B-bitch! If you’re going to kill me, do it! Eighteen years after I’m reborn, I’ll be a grown man again!”

That reminded me of something. “Doesn’t that sound familiar?”

He froze. I racked my brains, then remembered. “Didn’t I say that three years ago?”

“What did you say then? That you’d torture me. That you’d make me wish I were dead. Ha! Look at us now. Which of us wishes that?”

As I finished speaking, I pulled out the dagger.

A jet of blood burst from his abdomen and splashed over my head and face. I only grew more excited.

“Just as I thought. You’re vile, and even your blood stinks.”

I wiped my face carelessly and held up the dagger with eager interest. “Shall I carve something for you? Your name is Xu Qing, but everything you do is filthy. Why don’t I carve the two characters for ‘rapist’ into your face, so the whole world knows what you are?”

At last, a trace of terror appeared on his face. He tried to struggle, but he was bound to a post and could not move. All he could do was bluster.

“I’m warning you, the princess won’t abandon me. I’m her closest friend. If she finds out you’re treating me like this, you—ah!”

My very first stroke went crooked. Irritated, I looked up and slapped him hard. “Shut up.”

Before he could react, I gripped the dagger and cut down hard.

“Aaah!”

I have always been careful and thorough. Xu Qing kept shrieking and twisting his head, trying desperately to escape. But once I had someone hold him still, I finished carving those two characters under his increasingly terrified, murderous gaze.

Not only that, I thoughtfully added four more across his forehead and chin: “I am a vile wretch.”

When I had finished, I held up a mirror for him myself. “Those four are a gift. Well? Are you pleased?”

At last, fear entered the way he looked at me. He broke down at the sight of himself in the mirror. “Madwoman! You’re mad!”

“Not pleased?”

I tossed the mirror and dagger aside and smiled amiably. “That’s all right. I have other ways to entertain you.”

I gave him a meaningful smile, then ordered him taken away for treatment.

I had already destroyed his ability to use martial arts. He was badly injured from the beating, and now I had stabbed him twice. Without treatment, he really might bleed to death.

Wouldn’t such an easy death be letting him off lightly?

I ordered them to use the best medicines. When I visited a few days later, the wounds on his belly and face had begun to heal.

Seeing me, Xu Qing forced himself to remain calm. “Zhao Yang, let me go now and we can pretend none of this happened. I killed your parents, you stabbed me twice. We’re even!”

“If you really kill me and the princess finds out, she will never let you get away with it!”

His voice trembled. He did not seem to realize how much fear still lingered in his eyes.

I stared at him as though he had told the most ridiculous joke imaginable. “You don’t honestly think that will frighten me?”

“Your beloved princess can barely protect herself now. How could she possibly look after you?”

His expression changed. “What do you mean? What have you done to her? You—”

I could not be bothered to waste more words on him. I clapped my hands. At once, someone led in several beggars in filthy rags, their bodies reeking.

“I know what you like, so I’ve found you all these strong men. Well? Are you happy?”

Xu Qing seemed to understand what was coming. He struggled wildly, cursing. “How dare you? How dare you! Have you lost your mind? When I get out, I’ll tear you to pieces—”

“In Jiangnan, you raped sixty-five women. Seventeen drowned themselves. Eighteen hanged themselves. Eleven families were destroyed. Ten women lost their minds and lived at the mercy of every bully…”

The smile slowly left my face. I looked at him coldly. “What makes you think you’ll ever get out?”

“How could I let you die so easily before you’ve suffered everything those innocent women suffered?”

The filthy, stinking beggars advanced with leering smiles. At last, a pleading look came into Xu Qing’s face. “I know I was wrong! I was wrong! Third Miss, let me go. Please, Third Miss…”

I stood outside from the time the sun was high until the daylight began to fade.

Listening to the increasingly agonized screams within, I felt as refreshed as if I had eaten a bowl of chilled milk pudding on the hottest day of summer.

Cuiyu and I took a detour to a restaurant to buy a packet of my adoptive mother’s favorite pastries before returning home.

But the moment I entered, Princess Pingyao appeared from nowhere and slapped me.

“Bitch! How dare you drive us apart!”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw He Yan hurrying toward us. I let myself fall to the ground, and tears spilled instantly. “Sister-in-law?”

The princess glared at me. “Don’t call me that! What kind of sister tries to set her brother against his wife?”

She raised her hand to strike again, but He Yan caught her wrist. “Pingyao!”

He pushed her away impatiently, then softened his voice as he helped me up. “Yan, are you all right? Does it hurt?”

The princess was almost mad with rage. Staring in disbelief at the way He Yan spoke so gently to me, she screamed.

“He Yan! I’m your wife!”