Chapter 185:
Lu Ziyan ignored him no longer, but stood up and walked toward Miss Xie on the side.
“I said I would chop him into minced meat to cleanse your humiliation,” he took the cleaver presented by Ming Feng and handed it to her, saying: “The first cut is yours, stab anywhere you like.”
Minced meat…
Miss Xie reflexively thought of the scene that night of blood and flesh flying everywhere, her hands trembling slightly.
“Don’t be afraid,” Lu Ziyan’s voice softened, saying: “Go chop him once, chop away all the shadows he brought you.”
The enemy who brought those torments was right in front of her; facing him, defeating him, killing him—that was the way to resolve everything.
He felt both pain and pity for her ordeal, wholeheartedly wanting to help her move past it, but what shadows did Miss Xie have? After falling into Jin Wuji’s hands for half a month, the greatest blow she suffered was being held at the waist and having her cape untied in front of everyone.
The humiliation was certainly humiliating, but hadn’t those hands already been crippled by him?
On the other side, Jin Wuji was utterly terrified, realizing that the one who could break the situation now was Miss Xie, so he looked at her and urgently said: “It was my rash actions that frightened the young lady; please, Miss Xie, for the sake that I treated you with some courtesy, speak a few good words for me and let me leave.”
What he said was actually not wrong; apart from that day confronting Lu Ziyan, during that half month his words and actions had indeed been somewhat courteous.
But Lu Ziyan seemed to have his reverse scale touched and erupted in fury; his wrist bone flipped, the cleaver in his hand deftly swirling out a blade light, and by the time everyone reacted, Jin Wuji’s eyes were already streaming blood tears.
“Who permitted you to look at her!” he said, as if only then reacting, frowning: “Courtesy?”
Jin Wuji’s eyes were blinded, writhing in pain and howling, unable to hear any outside voices at all.
Lu Ziyan glanced at Miss Xie, not knowing what he thought of, then raised his wrist, pressing the blade against Jin Wuji’s jaw, coldly saying: “Explain clearly, how exactly did you show courtesy?”
“Go get me a doctor!” Jin Wuji’s face was full of blood tears, panic-strickenly pleading: “Quick! Quick, get me a doctor!”
The blade edge advanced another fraction, drawing a wound on his face; Lu Ziyan’s voice impatient, “Speak! How did you show courtesy!”
The chill so close at hand restored some of Jin Wuji’s senses; from noble crown prince fallen to prisoner, now with hands crippled and eyes blinded, he no longer hoped to escape today, and upon hearing this, he laughed through tears: “Kill me.”
Lu Ziyan completely lost patience; the blade light flashed again, this time directly slicing off one of his ears, “Tell me, what all did you do to her!”
If not held down by someone, Jin Wuji would probably have rolled on the ground in pain, unable to speak for the moment.
Miss Xie turned her face away, saying: “If you want to know something, just ask me directly.”
It couldn’t be hidden forever anyway, so she simply confessed, “He’s right; during those ten-plus days, he treated me with some courtesy, no violation, no offense, didn’t touch a single finger of mine; everything you imagined didn’t happen. He only said he wanted me to enter the Jin raiders’ military camp tent and dance amid the two armies’ confrontation, to make you lose face and throw your mind into chaos.”
At these words, even the deputy generals who had watched the whole thing nearby changed expressions; they had been there that day too, all thinking their general’s beloved had already…
A fierce wind howled past; the courtyard shrouded in night was deathly silent, and even Jin Wuji had his mute acupoint sealed by a sharp-eyed deputy general, unable to even cry out.
Lu Ziyan was silent for a long time, not knowing what he thought of; suddenly his palm loosened, and the half-man-long cleaver clanged to the ground.
That sound was especially piercing in the deathly silence, startling Miss Xie with a jump; before she could react, she was scooped up around the waist.
After tossing out the words ‘chop into minced meat,’ Lu Ziyan directly carried the person away.
Another loud crash; he kicked open the door, threw the person in his arms onto the couch, stared fixedly for a moment, then turned to shut the door.
Miss Xie was intimidated by his demeanor, hurriedly retreating toward the foot of the bed: “What do you want to do?”
Lu Ziyan’s long arm hooked out, directly yanking her over, pinching her jaw to lift it, lowering his gaze to her eyes: “Why did you lie to me?”
“…I,” Miss Xie stiffened for an instant, her gaze dodging: “I didn’t mean to…”
The hand on her jaw tightened; she drew in a cold breath, then heard the man before her say: “Do you know how much I’ve hated myself these past days?”
His voice was flat, but Miss Xie’s heart skipped a beat upon hearing it.
…She knew.
How could she not know.
Everything she suffered, he seemed to feel even more painfully than she did, yet in front of her, he couldn’t show any breakdown, had to carefully coax her.
He leaned in closer, his reddened eyes staring straight at her, as if to see into her heart: “Why did you lie to me?”
Looked at with such a gaze, Miss Xie was speechless for the moment.
“Can’t say?” The hand on her jaw moved to the back of her neck, pinching hard: “Worried I’d do something to you?”
Miss Xie gave a dry laugh: “…No.”
“Is that so?” Lu Ziyan smiled too, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes: “Wanwan, have you really thought about starting over with me?”
His gaze was icy; his other hand stroked over her heart, asking: “Is the position in here all taken by him? Can I still squeeze in?”
“Calm down,” Miss Xie gripped his wrist, “Don’t be like this.”
“Then how should I be?” He let her hold it, staring at her unblinkingly: “Tell me, are you worried I’d take advantage of you, so you deliberately lied that you were gang-raped by the Jin raiders?”
“…” Miss Xie parted her lips, not knowing what to say.
“Because of Pei Yuqing?” His rough thumb slowly rubbed the wound on her neck side that had just scabbed over, stirring a shiver; he glanced at it, tone flat: “Afraid of betraying him by losing your virginity to me, so you’d rather pin such shame on yourself?”
After reasoning it out, he laughed again: “True love, huh? He’s that good, making you scheme with all your heart to guard your chastity?”
“What to do, I’m the most petty person, can’t stand seeing true love in the world,” he went to undo her clothes: “Tell me what all he did; I’m fairly clever, sure to learn from one and apply to ten, to satisfy you.”
Miss Xie stopped his hand, anxiously saying: “I didn’t mean to deceive you on purpose!”
He paused his movements, waiting for her to continue.
“Pei Yuqing and I are still a couple now; I can’t do… mmph…”
Her mouth was blocked, her unfinished words all swallowed by him.
He didn’t want to hear a single word of it.
The long kiss ended; Miss Xie’s lips were vividly red, her head turned as she panted rapidly; Lu Ziyan raised his hand to stroke her lips: “Determined to have only Pei Yuqing in this lifetime?”
Miss Xie opened her eyes, about to speak, when his kiss fell again…
A kiss heavy with a sense of plunder; she couldn’t resist it at all.
