Volume 3 Chapter 31
Chapter 31: A Million Taels of Gold
"Jue Chen is sincere in these words. Although back then, An Bingshan had taken away all of the second prince's roads of retreat, the one behind all of it was Ye Hongyi! Jue Chen is loyal to his old master, so how could Jue Chen accept struggling at death's door while working for Ye Hongyi? If Your Imperial Highness and Prince allows Jue Chen to stay in the palace, Jue Chen will enter the pill refining room, but let Jue Chen make things clear. There will definitely be no less poison in the pills Jue Chen refines compared to those An Bingshan had refined!" Jue Chen made his feelings clear.
"This consort won't make you do something like killing the monarch. As of now, this consort has come up with a good place for you to go. Are you willing to comply with this consort's arrangement?" Yao Mowan internally sighed in relief. Reality has proved that she hadn't misjudged him.
"Jue Chen refuses to go anywhere before personally seeing An Bingshan breathe his last. Your Imperial Highness had promised Jue Chen this," replied Jue Chen in a manner that was neither servile nor overbearing.
"Don't worry about this, you're not the only one that wishes for An Bingshan's death. This consort will arrange for you to see An Bingshan tomorrow night, but before that, this consort hopes that you can come up with a way to safely send the palace maids in the pill refining room out of the palace. This consort is sure that you're aware of what fate will befall those palace maids once you leave the palace." Yao Mowan looked towards Jue Chen solemnly as she waited for his reply.
"Don't worry, Your Imperial Highness, just leave it to Jue Chen!" Jue Chen nodded firmly.
Once Jue Chen left, Yao Mowan walked to Ye Junqing with a faint smile.
"Does Prince wholeheartedly accept defeat this time?"
Ye Junqing angrily rose to his feet when he saw Yao Mowan's vulgar smile.
"How much?" Ye Junqing's eyes were flashing brightly like the surface of a lake in midsummer.
"A million taels of gold!" Yao Mowan's smile grew even brighter.
"How much!?" Ye Junqing's eyes widened as he looked at Yao Mowan. His expression was exaggerated to an unprecedented degree.
"A million taels of gold," repeated Yao Mowan like it was nothing.
"If Your Imperial Highness is able to find a person that's willing to spend a million taels of gold to buy the flame soul blade, then please allow this prince to take a look at him first. In this lifetime, this prince has yet to have the chance to see what a true imbecile looks like!" After saying this veiled curse, he brushed past Yao Mowan and stomped out of Guan Osprey Palace. A million taels of gold!? Why didn't she just go rob someone!?
Ye Junqing never imagined that after just one night, he would have the chance to see the rumored imbecile.
At breakfast the next morning, before Ye Junqing even walked in, he already heard Yan Nansheng's voice.
"Why are you here?" Ye Junqing looked towards Yan Nansheng, puzzled, as he slowly walked into the main hall of Guan Osprey Palace.
"Why would I be here except for you? It's the one and only flame soul blade! How could you lose it to her?" Back then, no matter how much Yan Nansheng was trolled, he still felt like Yao Mowan was as beautiful as a celestial. However, in this moment as he took in Yao Mowan's expression as she carefully sized up the banknote, he only found her appearance repulsive!
"You couldn't have really spent a million taels of gold to buy the flame soul blade, right?" Ye Junqing looked at Yan Nansheng, dumbstruck. So this was what an imbecile looked like!
"What else could I do? She wanted to smelt the sword! You're seriously treacherous ah, Yao Mowan!" cried Yan Nansheng in sorrowful indignance.
"You're seriously vicious ah, Yao Mowan!" added Ye Junqing in identical sorrow.
"This was mutual consent. What? You're not willing? Then you guys can take the banknote back. Mowan doesn't like to force others." Yao Mowan languidly leaned back on the chair as she handed the banknote back to Yan Nansheng.
As Yan Nansheng looked at the banknote, he heard the sound of his heart shattering. Did he murder Yao Mowan's entire family in his last lifetime? Did he? Was that why!?
"Take the banknote and hand over the sword!" Ye Junqing took a deep breath, then glowered at Yao Mowan.
"Ting Yue, bring the sword for the prince." Yao Mowan once again took the banknote back as her lips curved in a beautiful smile.
Just as Ye Junqing reached out for the sword, Yan Nansheng moved in front of Ting Yue and snatched the sword to hang it off his own waist.
"That's this prince's sword!" Ye Junqing looked towards Yan Nansheng as he said this seriously.
"But that's this alliance head's money! That's a million taels of gold! They could've made countless flame soul swords!" Yan Nansheng gripped the flame soul sword even harder as grief and indignance filled his face.
"You shouldn't be so hung up over it. After all, this one's the only one your master personally forged." Yao Mowan pretended to kindheartedly console them.
"Of course! You think this alliance head is a fool? Little Junior Brother ah, Senior Brother will keep this sword for you for the time being. Leaving it in your hands…. Senior Brother truly doesn't have much money left, so please learn to be more careful! Haa!" Yan Nansheng shook his head mournfully, then turned and left.
"What does he mean by that? Does he think this prince was willing!?" complained Ye Junqing angrily when he saw Yan Nansheng leave with such a disappointed expression.
"Yin Xue, send the banknote over." Yao Mowan paid no attention to Ye Junqing and calmly called out Yin Xue to hand the banknote to her. Yin Xue immediately disappeared from Guan Osprey Palace to carry out the order.
"What do you need so much money for?" asked Ye Junqing curiously when he saw Yao Mowan got up like a huge load had been taken off her shoulders.
"Is it a lot?" The question Yao Mowan responded with caused Ye Junqing to fall over…
That night, once Yin Xue brought Jue Chen into the hidden room, he saw that a woman was currently standing stiffly in front of An Bingshan.
"You guys best hurry up. Don't make the support outside wait too long, lest any accidents occur." After Yin Xue warned them, she turned and left. Jue Chen didn't waste time and walked over. It was only now that he saw the woman clearly. It was Ming Yu.
"Ming Yu! You double-stabbing wretch! Why did you lie? Why did you betray me!?" On the torture rack, An Bingshan's eyes were bloodshot as he bellowed angrily. The iron chains on the rack clanked loudly as he struggled futilely to get free.
"For Hong Mei." Ming Yu's eyes were ice cold and so black they seemed like the eyes of a sinister demon.
"Hong Mei?" An Bingshan furrowed his brows as he repeated this questioningly.
"Ming Yu has been dumb. How could a great noble like Eunuch An remember Hong Mei? But Ming Yu can't forget. Ming Yu can't forget how Eunuch An had humiliated Hong Mei, how you had used a small knife to cut the flesh off her body slice by slice! How you had thrown Hong Mei who was at her last breath to those damned castrates for them to humiliate as they pleased!" Tears overflowed and streamed down her cheeks. Ming Yu's voice choked with sobs as she spoke, accompanied by An Bingshan's screams of pain. Her mournful voice caused Jue Chen's heart to ache faintly with sympathy.
"Ah! Stop! Hurry and stop! Hong Mei had died at your hands! If you want to get revenge for her, just kill yourself!" An Bingshan wailed in pain. He was in so much pain that the flesh on his legs were contorting.
"Yes! Hong Mei had died at Ming Yu's hands! But if it weren't for you, how could Ming Yu have personally killed her closest friend!? You deserve to die!" Ming Yu grabbed the dagger that was stabbed into An Bingshan's leg and abruptly turned it hard. An Bingshan screamed even louder like he was a pig that was being slaughtered.
"Stop! It hurts so much! Aah…" An Bingshan's forehead was covered with cold sweat and he struggled with all his might to get free from the iron chains binding his hands.
"It's only been one cut, but Eunuch An already can't handle it? If Ming Yu's memory isn't off, Hong Mei had suffered an entire fifty cuts at your hands! Fifty cuts! How much pain must she have been in!? So how could one cut possibly be enough?" As Ming Yu spoke, she abruptly pulled the dagger out and then fiercely stabbed towards An Bingshan's other leg.
"Save me… Someone save me!" An Bingshan screamed with all his might. He was in so much pain that even his face was contorting.
"Someone save you? Every palace maid in the palace itch to skin and eat you alive! Who would save you? An Bingshan! You've committed hideous crimes. Countless palace maids have been abused by you and died because of you! Today, Ming Yu will be getting justice for them! Once you go to hell, you definitely won't be lonely, because they'll definitely attend to you well!" shouted Ming Yu as the dagger in her hand fell like rain on An Bingshan's body. However, she made sure that none of the stabs were fatal.
She only stopped once she was completely out of strength.
"Save me…" As of now, An Bingshan's body was already filled with bloody holes and he was barely breathing.
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Credits: Translated by Chiyomira
[Chiyomira's Corner]
Enjoy~