Surviving in the General's Mansion - Chapter 15: The Second Meeting
Chapter 15: The Second Meeting
Early the next morning, after eating the temple breakfast, Cang Chuli and his party set off down the mountain.
In every sense of the phrase, this blessing trip was over.
The ones who truly suffered were Xia Heng and the others. Yesterday, they had just been jostled all the way up the mountain in a carriage.
That night, they had been forced into a life-or-death escape.
Before they had even recovered, they had to get back into the carriage today and be jostled all the way down again.
The vegetable-and-tofu soup they had drunk at the temple that morning was about to be vomited clean out of them…
“Are you all right?”
This time, Chuqing finally got to ride in the same carriage as her.
“Ugh… urk…”
Xia Heng hugged the spittoon and retched once, which counted as her answer.
Once she retched, the others in the carriage could not hold back either.
For a moment, the sounds rose and fell one after another…
No. This could not go on.
If she kept throwing up, she was going to start puking bile.
“Yesterday… afternoon, where did you all go? When I woke up, everything was pitch-black.”
Weakly, Xia Heng started a conversation.
“The general went into the hall to pray and told us we didn’t need to keep following him, so I went back to my room to rest first,” Chuqing answered as she rubbed Xia Heng’s back. “After five in the afternoon, the monks came to call us for dinner.
“We’d only just reached Five Contemplations Hall, and the food hadn’t even arrived yet, when we heard a ton of people outside shouting and fighting.
“Qiulin and I went out to help.
“A bunch of men in black were hacking at people like madmen!
“The others stayed in Five Contemplations Hall. At least the personal guards were there to protect them.
“I didn’t see you in Five Contemplations Hall, so at the time I thought you’d been killed!”
Noticing Xia Heng’s gloomy stare, Chuqing hurriedly added, “But it’s really great that you turned out fine in the end.”
“I didn’t hear anyone call us to eat!”
Her guess confirmed, Xia Heng ultimately received a look of admiration from everyone.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Die was actually a Buddhist.
On the ride back, she silently recited the Great Compassion Mantra the entire way.
Even when she got off the carriage, she was still muttering for the Buddha not to take offense.
As soon as the carriages entered the city, Cang Chuli received a report from his men.
He immediately split off from them and galloped straight into the imperial palace.
Wang Jian was dead.
They had finally caught both the man and the evidence, and the ledgers ultimately pointed to him as well, yet he had somehow hanged himself in his own residence.
He had even left behind a suicide note confessing to his crimes.
But given Wang Jian’s personality, no matter how one thought about it, it did not seem right.
==========
After Xia Heng finally returned to the mansion, she did not even enter her own courtyard. She headed straight for the communal kitchen.
She had thrown up every bit of breakfast. Right now, she was so hungry she could eat an ox.
As she chewed big mouthfuls of food, she sighed in bliss.
The food at Putuo Temple really was incredibly light. Though the taste was decent enough, it always felt like it never filled her up.
Chef Xiang’s steamed flatbreads were much better at keeping hunger away!
After eating, Xia Heng strolled slowly back, treating it as a way to digest her meal.
It was only when she saw the note on her windowsill that she felt her head swell in frustration.
“Who gave you the nerve? Tonight at midnight, come to the Purple Bamboo Grove!”
Again. Again! But the last time, it was clearly that person who had failed to show up!
How did this turn into him blaming her instead? And with a personal attack, too?!
In this freezing weather, she had waited in the Purple Bamboo Grove for two whole hours in the middle of the night!
“Ridiculous!”
Muttering, Xia Heng flung the note onto the table.
“Sigh.”
Once she calmed down, Xia Heng sat and sighed while thinking through a plan.
What should she do? Going against the protagonist’s side definitely never ended well.
But not going to confirm things did not seem like an option either…
Xia Heng opened the Check-in System and looked at the big, blatant “0” displayed in the points section.
Her heart ached even more at once…
“Ah Heng, Ah Heng!”
Chuqing came bouncing over to find her. Xia Heng hurriedly picked up the note.
“Huh? What are you doing?”
Xia Heng clenched the note in her hand. Suddenly, a bold idea came to her.
Chuqing watched as the person who had seemed so nervous just now abruptly calmed down,
then slowly revealed a serene, almost enlightened smile at her.
Unable to help herself, Chuqing tilted her head curiously…
At midnight, in the Purple Bamboo Grove.
The man looked at Xia Heng as she hesitated over her steps and let out a mocking laugh.
“Hmph. I thought your wings had hardened and you no longer needed the antidote.”
Xia Heng’s heart tightened. It really was this bunch!!!
Since you refuse to show any decency, don’t blame me for being ruthless!
“How could that be? I came last time, but I didn’t see you!”
The man frowned.
“Lying to me? Ha. Do you know how long I waited last time?”
“What, are you one of the Heng-Ha Generals?”
Now that Xia Heng knew the Purple Bamboo Grove had two entrances, her deadpan retort came without the slightest change in expression.
The man seemed a little stunned.
“What?”
“Nothing. What did you need me for?” Xia Heng asked.
“My lord has already decided not to hold your failed poisoning attempt last time against you.
“But you’ve been in the General’s Mansion for quite some time now. Do you know where Cang Chuli’s official seal is?”
Xia Heng looked at him like he was a lunatic.
“I’ve only seen the general a handful of times in total. Do you think he’d possibly let me see where his official seal is?”
The man seemed to choke on Xia Heng’s shameless reply, his embarrassment turning quickly into rage.
“Xia Heng! Don’t forget who your father is.”
“Of course I know who my father is. He’s my father.”
Xia Heng looked at him strangely. This man didn’t seem very bright.
He was deeply displeased by her attitude.
“Have you forgotten whose hands your life is in?”
“My fate is mine, not heaven’s.”
Xia Heng answered without missing a beat.
“Fine, fine, fine! Then I’d like to see just how tough your filthy bones really are!”
The man flicked his sleeve.
“In that case, I suppose you won’t be needing this month’s antidote.”
“You think you’ve found yourself a backer just because you entered the General’s Mansion?
“I’ve seen plenty of girls like you. But how should I put it? If you regret this, you can come find your big brother anytime in the next couple of days.”
As he spoke, his malicious gaze roamed up and down Xia Heng.
“Considering this is your first offense, I can still turn a blind eye.”
“You’re so practiced at this. You must have a lot of work experience, huh?”
Xia Heng smoothly went along with his words.
“Girls with ‘backbone’ like you almost always come crawling back to me in the end. Unfortunately, most of them aren’t much use. I hope you don’t keep me waiting too long.”
Although he had never heard the phrase “work experience” before, the man clearly understood what Xia Heng meant and answered as such.
“Is that so…”
Xia Heng’s gaze gradually hardened.
Scum who relied on poison to control others deserved death and nothing less.
“You aren’t still dreaming of being some young miss, are you? Hahahahaha!
“You’re even worse off than people like us.”
The man said viciously, “I advise you not to reject kindness when it’s offered.”
He turned to leave, casting one last glance at her.
It was as if he could already see her unable to endure the agony over the next two days, sobbing as she went to beg him.
“Did I say you could leave?”
Xia Heng’s red lips parted slightly.
The man was startled by the confidence in her voice.
“What, have you already forgotten what kind of life you had back home?”
Xia Heng couldn’t help laughing.
“Forget? That’s impossible. That’s why people should cherish their blessings.”
Before the man could react, dozens of guards from the General’s Mansion suddenly rushed out from all sides.
Deputy General Zhang led the charge and took him down.
Even after he was forced to his knees, the man still lifted his head in disbelief.
He seemed unable to understand why Xia Heng would court death like this.
“You really don’t want to live! How dare you betray His Lordship!” the man cried in shock.
“Shut your mouth. I think you’re the one who doesn’t want to live! How dare you betray the general!”
Deputy General Zhang’s voice boomed like a bell.
“Liu Hao! Your father was a veteran of the Zhenbei Army! And now you dare betray the general?”
“You shut up!”
Liu Hao struggled under Deputy General Zhang’s grip.
“My father died because he cared too damn much about saving face!
“Why does my whole family have to serve the Cang Family like oxen and horses?
“The world is so vast!
“I want fame and success! I want ten thousand taels of gold! I want every single one of you to be buried with my father!”
Liu Hao was already unable to accept the fact that he had been exposed.
“Why did my father die while all of you lived? Why does the Liu Family have to risk our lives for the Marquis of Northern Pacification’s Mansion generation after generation?”
Liu Hao lifted his head and glared fixedly at Xia Heng.
“You think you’ll end up well!? Hahahaha, what a joke!
“They’ve only ever cared about themselves! You traitor! You even abandoned your own family! You’ll die a miserable death!”
Xia Heng gently cut him off.
“Did you ever tell him that?”
Liu Hao clamped his mouth shut.
“Did you ever tell him you wanted to leave the General’s Mansion, establish your own household, and make a name for yourself?”
Liu Hao clenched his teeth hard.
“You didn’t, because you assumed he wouldn’t let you go.”
Xia Heng slowly stepped closer, crouched down, and looked Liu Hao straight in the eye.
“Do you think everyone is as vile as you are?
“You were never so outstanding that others would refuse to let you leave.
“The reason you chose betrayal was because you wanted to climb to the top by stepping on the General’s Mansion of Northern Pacification.
“Because you knew that on your own, you would never be able to accomplish anything.
“Talent, character, methods, even money-you have none of them.
“You never possessed a single quality necessary for success.”
“Bullshit!! You wretched woman!!! You’re lying! I’ll kill you!”
Xia Heng leaned back slightly and stood, completely ignoring his meaningless shrieks.
“You thought that troubled times produce ruthless heroes, and that you could stand on a hero’s shoulders and inherit everything he had?
“First of all, you need to be a ruthless hero.
“But all you know how to do is hide in the dark and judge other people’s intentions through your own narrow mind.
“You don’t even have the courage to seek the truth.
“Tell me, have you ever seen a bedbug?”
Liu Hao’s eyes looked ready to split from rage, but Xia Heng only gave a soft laugh.
“You’re this stupid-does your father know? Can the lid of the old man’s coffin even hold him down?”
Xia Heng finished her barrage in one go. Liu Hao was finally so furious that his blood rushed to his head; his neck lolled to the side, and he passed out.
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