Chapter 231
Chapter 231
The kick landed with brutal force.
Gu Yan was a frail scholar with no martial skill. It sent him flying several feet.
Wei Wu looked down at him and ordered the others to retreat ten paces. Then he dismounted, walked over, and crouched before Gu Yan. Gripping Gu Yan’s collar with one hand, he slapped his cheek with the other.
“Why would you turn back toward the capital?”
“You agreed to this yourself. We are locusts tied to the same rope. Did you think there was still a road back?”
“Were we supposed to let you return so Shen Si’s men could take revenge on us?”
Gu Yan glared coldly at Wei Wu. Clutching his aching chest, he coughed. “What exactly was the antidote you gave me?”
Wei Wu raised a brow. “What, you still don’t know?”
“That was a pleasure drug prepared especially for you. Haven’t you always pined for that beauty? We delivered her straight into your hands. Don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy her.”
Gu Yan understood everything.
He gritted his teeth, his gaze turning icy. “You never intended to give me an antidote. You wanted me to violate her, then blame everything on me and make me your scapegoat.”
“You never intended to let me live either, did you?”
Wei Wu was surprised that Gu Yan had grasped the scheme so quickly. A scholar did possess a little intelligence after all.
Flashing his white teeth, he smiled. “If you’re so clever, how did you fail to realize that after learning so much, you could never be allowed to live?”
“Why did you turn back?”
He lowered his voice. “With Marquis Shen’s methods, who could guarantee any of us would escape unscathed?”
“You moved too slowly, concerned only with whispering sweetly to your cousin. Do you know that Marquis Shen has already blocked every escape route? Even the waterways are closed to you.”
Wei Wu’s face twisted with rage. He jerked Gu Yan closer by the collar. “The boat I prepared waited and waited, but you never came. You cared only about soothing your cousin. You couldn’t bear for her to suffer the slightest hardship, so you insisted on taking her somewhere to rest. Now you’ve missed the hour. You can’t get away!”
“We went to all that trouble to abduct her for you, and you proved completely useless.”
“That aphrodisiac was prepared especially for you. At least you could have died a satisfied ghost after one final taste of pleasure. Was even that not enough?”
Gu Yan closed his eyes.
It was his fault. His single-minded desire to possess Ji Hanyi had blinded him to every danger.
He drew a deep breath, then coughed several times as pain tore through his chest. Looking directly at Wei Wu, he said, “I can be your scapegoat. I will confess that I did everything.”
“I will surrender to the authorities now and clear all of you. If you don’t trust me, come with me.”
Wei Wu sneered. “How devoted. But I trust only the dead.”
“Do you take me for a fool? Once you’re inside a government office, we truly won’t be able to touch you.”
He drew a dagger from his waist and went around to the carriage, intending to drag Ji Hanyi out.
The carriage was empty.
Wei Wu’s expression changed. He turned on Gu Yan, eyes blazing, and kicked him several more times.
Wei Wu had followed the carriage from a distance. Ji Hanyi could not be far away. He immediately ordered his men to search.
Gu Yan lay amid the unsteady, panicked torchlight. At the sight of the mounted bandits preparing to scatter, terror filled his face.
Wei Wu looked coldly down at him from horseback. Leaving two men to guard Gu Yan, he followed the carriage’s tracks back the way it had come.
—
Ji Hanyi huddled in a corner of the fields. Clouds covered the crescent moon, leaving everything around her utterly black.
Every rustle sent a chill through her as she stared into darkness she could not penetrate.
She had no attention to spare for fear of the night itself. Far more frightening was the terror in Gu Yan’s voice before he left, as though he had finally understood something and sensed a beast lurking in the dark.
She knew she could not wait here forever. It was not a safe hiding place.
Perhaps Gu Yan had left her here because pursuers were coming, but she could see no light at all.
Gritting her teeth, she struggled to stand. She could not simply sit and wait for death.
Then rapid hoofbeats sounded nearby. Ji Hanyi froze, crouched again, and tried to conceal herself beneath weeds that could not possibly cover her.
The torchlight drew closer and closer. When it finally reached her, every remaining hope collapsed.
Wei Wu approached with a torch.
In its glow, he looked at Ji Hanyi’s face, flushed by the aphrodisiac, and briefly lost focus. No wonder a man like Shen Si had been willing to marry a divorced woman.
But to Wei Wu, even the most beautiful woman was no more than a skin.
Especially when she belonged to Shen Si.
Without the slightest gentleness, he seized Ji Hanyi’s arm and hauled her upright. He threw her limp body across his horse, then mounted behind her.
His filthy hand pinched her tender cheek and forced her to face him. He savored the terror in her eyes. Had his own wife once looked this frightened?
The greater Ji Hanyi’s fear, the greater his satisfaction.
He squeezed the horse’s flanks and rode back.
When Gu Yan saw Wei Wu throw Ji Hanyi from the saddle, he instinctively tried to catch her. The men restraining him forced him down. One wrenched his shoulder until bone cracked. Gu Yan screamed, eyes reddening as he stared at Ji Hanyi curled in pain upon the ground. He struggled desperately, only to have a heel slam down upon his knee.
The fall left Ji Hanyi feeling as though every bone had shattered, but the pain cleared her mind slightly.
She raised her head. Gu Yan was pinned on his knees nearby. Around them stood more than ten bare-armed men, tattoos covering their bodies and bright sabers hanging at their waists.
Her gaze focused on the man approaching her with an open dagger. The others watched with the anticipation of spectators at a show.
Wei Wu crouched before her. Mud streaked her flushed, frightened face, but could not diminish her beauty. Smiling, he drew the flat of the dagger across her cheek. With only a little more pressure, that flawless face would be ruined.
Gu Yan’s trembling voice rose nearby. “Don’t hurt her. I’ll do anything you ask…”
By the end, he was choking back sobs. “Don’t treat her this way…”
His interruption reminded Wei Wu of the task at hand. Shen Si’s men had blocked their retreat and would soon arrive. Wei Wu thrust the dagger into Ji Hanyi’s hand and shoved her until she stumbled and fell before Gu Yan.
Cool night wind brushed her face, and shifting firelight reflected in her eyes. Mounted men formed a complete ring around them; beyond lay only desolate grassland.
Ji Hanyi looked down at Gu Yan. Her fingers opened, and the dagger fell.
Gu Yan knew how deeply Wei Wu hated Shen Si and knew he would not spare Ji Hanyi. Summoning all his strength, he snatched up the dagger and lunged for Wei Wu’s throat.
Wei Wu was faster. He sidestepped, seized the weapon, then crushed Gu Yan’s wrist. Bone snapped. Cold sweat drenched Gu Yan, but he stifled his cry for fear of frightening Ji Hanyi.
Wei Wu found his endurance laughable. Had Gu Yan not delayed, none of this would have happened. No matter. He would send the scholar to the underworld now.
Knowing they could wait no longer, Wei Wu ordered two men to raise Gu Yan’s limp body by the shoulders. He stuffed a packet of aphrodisiac into Gu Yan’s robe, then forced the dagger firmly into Ji Hanyi’s hand.
His expression sinister, he leaned close to her ear, inhaling her fragrance. His lowered voice hissed like a snake.
“Madam Shen, I have arranged everything for you.”
“Your cousin was obsessed with you. He abducted you, drugged you, and violated you. Unable to bear the disgrace, you killed him with your own hands and then took your own life.”
“What do you think? Do you like the ending? Such a chaste and virtuous woman.”
“Shen Si will probably be devastated…”
Wind tangled Ji Hanyi’s hair across her face. She closed her eyes, strangely calm. “Do you think my husband is so easily deceived?”
“I am the Grand Princess’s adopted daughter and the legitimate wife of a second-rank court official. If I live, you might survive. If I die, you will drag five branches of your clan into destruction.”
Wei Wu met her gaze in the wavering firelight and laughed coldly. “Five branches? Shen Si already destroyed them. I am alone in this world. If exchanging my life for yours makes Shen Si suffer, it will be worth it.”