Chapter 106: Easy to Part After First Sharing the Spring Breeze (I)

"Fine! I confess." Wen Xian finally saw the truth clearly. Today in the interrogation hall, Chu Xiu’s intent was not to question but to take her life: "Chu Xiu, you are truly ruthless."

"You forced my hand," Chu Xiu said with an unchanging expression.

"No, it's different," Wen Xian replied. "That day during Yun Qi’s interrogation in the hall, I already realized you were merciless. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have devised the punishment of castration. You know better than anyone the heart of a parent."

"Yes, I know all too well, because I once carried a child myself." A trace of sorrow flickered across Chu Xiu’s eyes as she unconsciously pressed her hands to her abdomen. "If not for the venom of passion, my child wouldn’t have been lost."

Wen Xian felt her heart turn to ashes. She looked at Chu Xiu again: "You really won’t harm Xian’er?"

"What do you think?" Chu Xiu seemed almost to enjoy provoking her, striking hard: "I won’t take his life, at most, I’ll make him like the Second Master."

Like the Second Master! Castrated! "You madwoman!" Wen Xian, furious, tried to step forward, but was grabbed by the officials in the hall and could only struggle and curse, "You madwoman!"

"Mad? Who’s madder, you or me?" Chu Xiu rose and stepped down the red steps to stand before Wen Xian. "I wish I could skin you alive, strip your sinews, just to vent my rage! The Marquis has treated your third wife well, yet you could do such a cruel thing!"

At that moment, Wen Xian saw the fierce murderous intent and bloodshot veins in Chu Xiu’s eyes. Such hatred must be profound to reveal such a gaze: "How did you know?"

"The more you walk a dark road at night, the more ghosts you’ll meet," Chu Xiu hinted cryptically.

Those words... sounded familiar. Wen Xian recalled for a moment and remembered it was Luan Qing who had mockingly said the same at the lotus pond.

So it really was what Luan Qing said! Wen Xian was furious, but then she thought, if Luan Qing had truly reported her, why would she repeat such a trivial insult to Chu Xiu?

Suddenly, Wen Xian realized: "You were there that day!"

Chu Xiu said nothing but bent down slowly to pick up the paper listing her crimes and handed it over. "Third Madam, seal it with your mark."

Wen Xian bit her lip, scrutinizing Chu Xiu for a long while before freeing one arm and taking the paper. "If they don’t let me go, how can I seal it?"

Chu Xiu narrowed her beautiful eyes and signaled the officials to release her. "You’d better not have any more tricks. If something happens to the Third Master on the road, don’t blame me."

Wen Xian’s body stiffened and she said no more, only closing her eyes slightly. "I want to see Xian’er one last time."

"At this point, you still make demands?" Chu Xiu said coldly. "Seal it first. The Grand Madam is waiting for my report."

The mention of "Grand Madam" seemed to strike a nerve. Without hesitation, Wen Xian slowly raised her hand, bit her finger, and shakily wrote her name at the bottom of the paper, then pressed a bright red handprint, vivid and glaring.

Chu Xiu took the paper back from Wen Xian and momentarily seemed dazed. It was as if she had returned to that day in the Qingxin Study, when Yun Ci had pointed to the blank last page of the household registry and said with a faint smile, "Write your name here, press your handprint, and you will be a member of the Yun family."

Back then, she had also pressed a bright red handprint, sealing a marriage contract that changed her life unknowingly. And now, she had truly avenged him!

"Wen Xian, I wish I could kill you with one stroke!" Chu Xiu clenched the paper. "But death is too cheap for you; you must live and suffer slowly!"

Wen Xian seemed not to hear, staring blankly at her bleeding finger. After a long moment, she knelt down with a thud and pleaded, "It has come to this, I admit it all. I only beg you to spare Xian’er and Mu Ge. They know nothing."

—

"If they knew anything, do you think I would have let them live this long?" Chu Xiu said no more, her white robes flowing like snow as she passed Wen Xian and walked out without looking back. Her skirt swept as if treading on clouds, making the kneeling Wen Xian sigh deeply.

"I never thought, after a lifetime of struggle, I wouldn’t be defeated by Xie Miaodan, but by you," Wen Xian sighed behind Chu Xiu.

Chu Xiu stamped her foot, turned, and looked down at the kneeling Wen Xian. "This is fate."

Still unsatisfied, she seemed to recall something, commanding the officials, "Lock her in the Dark Iron Prison. Keep her alive as long as she breathes."

There was a hint of pity in Chu Xiu’s face—whether for herself or Wen Xian, no one could tell. "You’ve played the quiet and gentle role all your life. Before you die, let the Third Master see your true face!"

With that, she left resolutely.

*****

Twenty days later, Yun Xian hurried back from Jingzhou and went straight to the Rongjin Hall to see Grand Madam.

It was late February. Chu Xiu was reporting to Grand Madam about the month’s household expenses and income. Seeing Yun Xian suddenly enter, the two women paused their conversation.

"You should thank Chu Xiu for all this. If she hadn’t persuaded me, I wouldn’t have spared your life, let alone Wen Xian’s," Grand Madam said coldly, mercilessly.

Yun Xian had already heard what had happened on the way back, but even now, he could not believe his gentle, quiet mother could do such a thing—planning over twenty years!

He felt disappointed and heartbroken, but she was still his birth mother. He must see her once more, hear her confess with his own ears.

Thinking this, Yun Xian earnestly pleaded, "Please allow me to see my mother. If it’s true... I am willing to pay with my life."

"Pay with your life?" Grand Madam swept the teacup off the table. "Do you think your lives can match two former Marquises of Lixin?"

Her voice trembled with unprecedented hatred. "Yun Ci is dead, the second brother is dead, and although Cheng’er is the heir, he was adopted. If Chu Xiu hadn’t reminded me that you are the old Marquis’s only son, do you think I could tolerate you?"

Indeed! He was now the only son left of the old Marquis Yun Li. Yun Li, Yun Ci, and Yun Qi were all dead, all because of his mother. None of his older brothers left heirs.

Yun Xian had never seen Grand Madam so unhinged. Remembering his father and brothers’ deaths, he was even more grief-stricken. But he understood her current loss of composure was already restrained.

He looked at Chu Xiu again and said sheepishly, "Thank you, sister-in-law."

"Go to the interrogation hall to see Third Madam first, then thank me," Chu Xiu said calmly and expressionlessly.

As Yun Ci’s widow, she hated Yun Xian, wishing the third wife and child to suffer terribly, avenging Yun Ci and the child she carried. But as the Lady of Lixin Marquis, she had to consider the Yun family as a whole and set aside personal grudges—

Yun Ci and Yun Qi were dead. Yun Xian was now the only heir of the old Marquis Yun Li. For that alone, he could not die. Besides, he knew nothing of his mother’s deeds.

"Go see Third Madam. This will be your last meeting with your mother," Chu Xiu said again.

The last meeting! Yun Xian was shocked and barely had time to grasp the meaning before hurrying to the interrogation hall...

In the Dark Iron Prison, Wen Xian had been tortured beyond recognition. Though no wounds showed on her body, she slumped against the wall, gaunt, aged, and haggard—no longer the refined third madam of the Yun household. She was more like a terrifying ghost, neither fully human nor spirit.

Yun Xian knew many punishments in the Yun household’s interrogation hall did not draw blood, but the pain was worse than bleeding. Obviously, his mother was enduring this invisible torment.

"Mother..." Yun Xian knelt quickly, calling out in anguish.

Just this one word made Wen Xian, who had her eyes closed, suddenly open them. From her sunken dark sockets, a faint glimmer appeared and a smile graced her face. "Xian’er!"

Looking closely, Yun Xian saw her mother’s eyes were utterly lifeless—completely blind.

"Mother..." Yun Xian lowered his head in pain, unable to look directly at Wen Xian. Though she was his mother, this woman had killed his father and his most revered elder brother... She was the cause of all the Yun family’s suffering and tragedy in the past twenty years!

Yet Wen Xian could not perceive his struggle or pain. She seemed happy, reaching out to touch him. Yun Xian did not pull away, letting her gnarled fingers roam his face. Moments later, he realized something was wrong—her ten fingers were all broken.

More shocking, she seemed not to feel pain and joyfully stroked him with those deformed fingers, saying, "It’s you, my Xian’er. You’ve come to take me out, haven’t you? You’ve killed Xie Miaodan and Chu Xiu, haven’t you?"

What terrible torture could transform a beautiful woman into this state in less than a month! Blind eyes, ruined hands, aged and gaunt like a specter, her mind barely clear.

But who could be blamed? Grand Madam and Chu Xiu? How could it be their fault? If it were him facing the killers of his father and brothers, his methods of torture would be hundreds of times worse.

At this point, Yun Xian could bear no more and grasped his mother’s hands. Knowing she no longer felt pain, he still dared not squeeze too hard. "Mother, I never coveted the title of Marquis of Lixin. I only wished to assist my eldest brother and bring honor to our family... Now, even if you and I pay with our lives, this sin may never be atoned!"

His father Yun Li, elder brothers Yun Ci and Yun Qi, Zhuo Yan and the child in her womb... and the lifelong sorrow of Grand Madam, Chu Xiu, and Second Madam Hua Wuying...

His mother had orchestrated all their fates. The dead were gone. The living would be tormented forever.

At this moment, Wen Xian paid no heed to Yun Xian’s words, speaking to herself. Her blind eyes made her words sound even stranger: "Xian’er, they’re all dead. You’re finally the Marquis of Lixin! After so long, we, mother and son, have finally made it through!"

Wen Xian was lost in delusional joy, laughing softly for a long while before her face darkened: "I know you and Luan Qing have a deep affection, but she is your stepmother. I will never allow you two to be together! You are the Marquis of Lixin; she must not ruin your reputation!"

As she spoke, she tried to stand: "I will drive her away! I will drive her away now!"

"Mother!" Yun Xian pressed her down with all his strength, heart aching and guilty. Tears welled up: "Luan Qing and I..." He lifted his handsome eyes, resolute: "I will go see Grand Madam now, even if I must sacrifice my life to save yours!"

But just as he finished speaking, Wen Xian appeared to choke with excitement, twitching twice, her face turning a dark shade.

"Mother! ...Someone, help!" Yun Xian shouted, pressing the acupoint between her nose and upper lip, stabilizing her waist, noticing how thin she had become.

In that fleeting moment, when he regained awareness, Wen Xian’s eyes were wide open, a strange smile frozen on her face as her spirit left her. She had long been spent, only waiting to see her beloved son one last time.

Yun Xian slowly closed his mother’s eyes. At least, in her final moment, she believed she had won—finally securing him the title of Marquis of Lixin.

Though a delusional fantasy, it was, in some twisted way, her last wish fulfilled.