Sharing One Life with My Nemesis - Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Lu Xingzhou had wasted away in the condemned cell, reduced to little more than skin and bones.

But when he saw Xie Huaiyan and me walk in side by side, he still smiled.

“You came faster than I expected.”

Xie Huaiyan stood outside the cell door, his voice cold.

“Who delivered the letter?”

Lu Xingzhou leaned against the wall.

“Beg me, and I’ll tell you.”

I took the keys from the jailer.

Xie Huaiyan looked at me.

“What are you doing?”

“Going in.”

“No.”

I unlocked the cell door.

“The Soulbound Gu is gone now. Your pain can’t reach me anymore.”

Lu Xingzhou’s smile deepened.

“Tingyun, look at him. Even now, he still wants to control you.”

I walked up to him and crouched down.

“Lu Xingzhou.”

“Mm?”

“Do you really think everyone in the world revolves around your little games of winning and losing?”

His eyes darkened slightly.

I unfolded the note.

“You said Xie Huaiyan wouldn’t live past winter because you wanted to force him out of the capital. You knew that if he requested exile himself, I would investigate the Remnant Gu.”

Lu Xingzhou said nothing.

“But the person you truly wanted to lure out wasn’t me. It was Princess Ningjia.”

Only then did Lu Xingzhou lift his eyes.

I continued, “Princess Ningjia’s father commands the Former Northern Border Troops. If she blamed Xie Huaiyan for the humiliation of the broken engagement, Xie Huaiyan would have no choice but to go to the Northern Frontier to apologize. Once he reached the Northern Frontier, it would be much easier for your people to make their move.”

Xie Huaiyan watched me from outside the cell.

Lu Xingzhou slowly smiled.

“You’re much smarter than you were in the last life.”

I slapped him across the face.

A crisp crack rang out.

This time, only his face turned red.

To my surprise, it felt a little satisfying.

Xie Huaiyan asked softly, “Does your hand hurt?”

I shook my hand out.

“A little.”

Lu Xingzhou stared at us, the smile in his eyes vanishing bit by bit.

“Jiang Tingyun, do you really think Xie Huaiyan can survive?”

I looked at him.

“Talk.”

“The Remnant Gu wasn’t planted by Zhou Xuan.”

Lu Xingzhou lowered his voice.

“It was the Crown Prince.”

Xie Huaiyan’s gaze sank.

Lu Xingzhou said, “Zhou Xuan only knows how to raise Gu. The Mother Gu is with the Crown Prince. You can search Zhou Xuan’s Gu Manual until you die, and all you’ll ever find is half of the antidote.”

“Where is the Mother Gu?”

“The Eastern Palace.”

I frowned.

The Crown Prince had already been deposed. The Eastern Palace was sealed off and guarded by heavy troops.

Lu Xingzhou seemed to know exactly what I was thinking.

“In three days, the old belongings from the Eastern Palace will be moved into the Inner Treasury. The moment the Mother Gu leaves its original place, the Remnant Gu inside Xie Huaiyan will start gnawing at his heart.”

Xie Huaiyan asked, “Why tell us this?”

Lu Xingzhou laughed.

“Because I want to watch you go to the Eastern Palace and get yourselves killed.”

I stood up.

“Then take your time watching.”

Lu Xingzhou suddenly called out to me.

“Tingyun.”

I looked back.

Through the dim lamplight, he stared at me, and for the first time, there was a trace of wretchedness in his eyes.

“If, in the last life, I hadn’t drugged you… would you have married me?”

I thought about it.

“Yes.”

He froze.

Xie Huaiyan’s fingers also tightened slightly.

I said, “And then I would have killed you on our wedding night.”

All color drained from Lu Xingzhou’s face.

I turned and walked out of the cell.

Xie Huaiyan followed. After a few steps, he suddenly asked, “Would you really have married him?”

I looked at him.

“That’s what you’re focusing on?”

He fell silent.

I was so exasperated I laughed.

“Xie Huaiyan, isn’t it a little late for you to be jealous?”

He coughed very softly.

“It’s not too late.”

“What?”

He looked ahead at the damp corridor.

“As long as I’m not dead, it’s not too late.”