In the front hall of the Zhenbei Estate, the air was as thick as congealed pork fat.
The pool of dark red blood on the ground had not yet dried, its fishy stench mingling with the smell of dust, piercing straight into everyone's nostrils. The letter of annulment, wrapped in deep purple brocade, lay quietly near the edge of the blood pool like a dirty rag.
Two coarse servant women were propping up Qin Lie. His head drooped, his body as limp as overcooked noodles, and his toes dragged across the golden bricks, leaving two grayish streaks. The stench of sweat, blood, and the sour odor of the woodshed made the women wrinkle their noses in disgust.
"Wait... wait..."
The thread-thin, hoarse voice sounded like the buzzing of a mosquito.
The women propping him up froze, their grip unconsciously loosening a fraction.
Qin Lie laboriously pried open his eyelids. Sweat mixed with blood blurred his eyelashes, leaving his vision a hazy red. He forced his eyeballs to roll, his gaze sweeping past the glaring bloody filth on the ground before finally fixing dead-center on that deep purple symbol of humiliation. His Adam's apple rolled with difficulty, and his voice trembled beyond recognition: "The letter... Miss Su's... letter..."
Zhao Gui had just finished wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. Hearing this, his mung-bean-sized eyes instantly widened as if he had seen a ghost.
"Oh, my living ancestor!"
He wailed in a shrill voice, practically wanting to pounce forward and cover Qin Lie's mouth. "You're in this state and you're still thinking about that piece of trash! Get him out of here at once! Bad luck!" He waved his hand as if shooing flies.
"Help... help me over..."
Qin Lie completely ignored him, staring fixedly only at the document. His withered-branch-like fingers trembled as they pointed toward it, his gaze vacant yet stubborn. "I... I will receive it..."
Behind the screen, Madam Liu peeked through a crack, her thickly powdered face bunching up as she cursed silently: *Boneless wretch! Serving as a cuckold serves him right!*
Qin Xiao even let out a snort of derision, his face full of contempt: "Trash is trash. He's lost all his face and he's still bootlicking!"
Su Qingxue had just been chilled to the core by Xia Yuanchen's icy gaze, and the pent-up shame and anger that had nowhere to vent suddenly found an outlet. Looking at the pool of filthy blood and the document on the ground, and then at Qin Lie's half-dead, pathetic appearance still yearning to "receive" it, a wave of extreme nausea and superiority rushed to her head.
Her red lips curved into a venomous arc, and her voice was like an ice pick: "Ha, still knowing what's good for you after all. Steward Zhao, give it to him! Let him take it! I'd like to see how else he can receive it!"
She deliberately emphasized the word "receive," dripping with humiliation.
Xia Yuanchen stood with his hands behind his back in the shadows, his brows furrowing imperceptibly. Qin Lie's abnormal "submission" made the shadowy unease in his heart grow a shade heavier. But he remained silent, merely watching coldly.
Having received the green light, Zhao Gui's fat face piled up with malicious flattery once more. He trotted over, used two fingers with utmost disgust to pinch the corner of the brocade, and picked up the document whose edges were stained with blood and filth—as if he were holding a dead snake. Pinching his nose and walking on tiptoe, keeping as far away from Qin Lie as possible, he thrust the document forward: "There! Young Lord! What you wanted! Hold it steady! Don't dirty Miss Su's eyes!"
The two women caught the cue and dragged Qin Lie stumbling forward two steps.
Qin Lie shook all over like a leaf in an autumn wind, relying entirely on the women to keep from collapsing. He laboriously raised that withered, thin hand, covered in mud and dried bloodstains, trembling like Parkinson's disease. His five fingers spread open, trembling as they inched toward the extended deep purple document.
When his fingertips were still an inch away from the document, his arm suddenly spasmed, and another heart-wrenching fit of coughing wracked his body: "Cough, cough... ugh..."
A glob of phlegm streaked with blood sprayed out, narrowly missing the document and splashing onto the toe of Zhao Gui's shoe.
"Oh, my goodness!"
Zhao Gui leaped back as if scalded by a hot iron, his face turning green. "You... you..."
As if he had exhausted every ounce of strength, Qin Lie coughed until stars danced before his eyes, his body sinking downward, saved only by the women pulling him for all they were worth. Gasping for breath, his unfocused eyes stared at the document within arm's reach. That trembling hand finally, extremely slowly, carrying the heavy weight of resignation, rested lightly upon the deep purple brocade.
His fingertips touched the cold, smooth satin surface, curling imperceptibly.
"Got... got it..."
His voice was hoarse and weak, carrying the exhaustion of release, yet also an endless desolation. His arm hung limply down, the document loosely "clasped" in his hand, resting softly against his tattered lapel.
The deep purple contrasted with the filth, glaring and desolate.
Watching this pathetic wretch finally accept the "verdict," Su Qingxue felt the foul air in her chest lift for the most part. She thrust her chin even higher, her frozen face left with only utter contempt and disgust, like looking at a pile of garbage waiting to be cleared away.
Her red lips parted slightly, spitting out words frozen in ice: "Now that you have the item, from this moment on, you and I are strangers! Qin Lie, take care of yourself, and don't die too ugly a death, lest you dirty the estate's grounds!"
With that, she turned to leave, feeling that staying a single moment longer would be utterly defiling.
"Wait... wait..."
The weak voice sounded once more, like a fine needle puncturing Su Qingxue's desperate urge to flee.
She abruptly halted her steps, whirling around, the fire in her eyes almost bursting out: "Are you ever going to finish?!"
Her voice was shrill and harsh.
As if startled by her suddenly raised voice, Qin Lie trembled violently, nearly slipping from the women's grasp. He struggled to steady his posture, raising that pale, ghost-like face covered in sweat, mud, and bloodstains.
His gaze remained turbid, carrying a heavy exhaustion and a trace of... an indescribable pity?
He gasped violently, tightening his grip on the document so that the deep purple brocade was crumpled into a ball by his dirty fingers. He looked at Su Qingxue's exquisitely beautiful face twisted by anger, his lips trembling, his voice intermittent yet piercing clearly into everyone's ears:
"Miss... Miss Su... don't... don't be angry... *cough, cough*... I... I just... have a few words... pent up in my heart... and I must speak them..."
He gasped even harder, as if he might stop breathing at any second, yet his gaze stubbornly glued itself to Su Qingxue's face: "You and I... though lacking in fate... ultimately... bore the name of betrothal... some things... I... I must remind you of..."
"Remind me?"
Hearing this as if it were the greatest joke in the world, Su Qingxue shook with rage, pointing right at the tip of Qin Lie's nose, her fingertips even trembling. "Qin Lie! What do you think you are? A crippled wretch who can't even protect himself, and you dare come to remind me? What qualifications do you have?!"
"Just on the grounds... *cough, cough*... on the grounds that I... was once your nominal... fiancé..."
Qin Lie coughed heart-rendingly, new blood seeping from the corners of his mouth, yet his gaze carried a stubbornness bordering on the tragic. "On the grounds that... I do not wish to watch you... jump into a fire pit..."
"A fire pit?!"
Driven utterly insane, Su Qingxue's voice rose shrill and sharp, sparking harsh echoes in the empty hall. "I see you're raving as you approach death! Utter nonsense! Zhao Gui! Drag this madman down at once!"
Zhao Gui gave a start, rolling up his sleeves to step forward.
"Second Prince!"
Qin Lie suddenly raised his volume a fraction. Although still hoarse and weak, it carried a strange piercing quality.
He no longer looked at the enraged Su Qingxue, instead laboriously turning his neck to cast his gaze toward Xia Yuanchen, who had been watching coldly all along.
In those turbid eyes seemed to linger a trace of... pleading?
"Second Prince... you... your status is noble... you are a sensible man..."
Qin Lie gasped, his tone humble and respectful, yet faintly harboring a profound implication. "You... you judge this fairly... am I... am I not doing this for Miss Su's own good?"
The chill in the depths of Xia Yuanchen's eyes grew heavier.
This piece of trash actually dared to drag him into this? The corner of his mouth twitched into an extremely cold arc, his voice level and wave-less, yet carrying an invisible pressure: "Prince Qin, Qingxue has her own judgment. Since you have already accepted the document and matters are settled, why raise further branches? Rest assured and recuperate is the proper course."
He cleverly kicked the ball back, both absolving himself and implying that Qin Lie was making unreasonable trouble.
"Recuperate? Ha..."
Qin Lie let out a desolate, bitter chuckle, half self-mocking, half despairing. "Can this body of mine... still recover? Second Prince... you are a noble person... you do not understand the obsession... of us dying men..."
He looked back toward Su Qingxue, the pity in his eyes deepening, even taking on a hint of heartache:
"Miss Su... you are young and beautiful... of illustrious background... and your martial talent... *cough, cough*... is also passable... your future... should have been bright..."
Su Qingxue felt thoroughly uncomfortable under that gaze, and hearing him evaluate her martial talent as merely "passable," she burned with even greater fury, opening her mouth to erupt.
Yet Qin Lie spoke on unbidden, his pace quickening with a desperation akin to the return of consciousness before death:
"You chose the Second Prince... I... I understand... truly I understand... big trees are good for shade, after all... who wouldn't want to cling... *cough, cough*... and find something to lean on..."
The word "cling" dropped like a thunderclap from a clear sky!
Su Qingxue's face turned ashen white in a flash, then instantly flushed crimson!
It was as if her deepest, most unsightly thoughts had been ripped open bleeding in public!
Trembling with rage, her voice shifted pitch: "Qin Lie! You are sullied with slander! Who is clinging?! I, Su Qingxue, act upright and aboveboard! My relationship with the Second Prince is pure! You... you filth-minded trash!"
Xia Yuanchen's face instantly darkened like water!
The murderous intent in the depths of his eyes nearly solidified! Clinging?
As a dignified imperial prince, he was actually described by a piece of trash as someone others "cling" to?
This was simply an insult to his status!
Behind the screen, Madam Liu and Qin Xiao were both stunned, mouths agape, forgetting to breathe.
As if blind to Su Qingxue's fury and Xia Yuanchen's murderous intent, Qin Lie coughed violently, his body swaying dangerously!
Yet the hand holding the document lifted and waved weakly, as if pacifying her: "Don't... don't be excited... Miss Su... hear me out... *cough, cough*... clinging... is nothing shameful... really... in this world... who doesn't want to climb higher?"
Catching his breath, his gaze grew even more "sincere," carrying the world-weary seasoning of someone who had "been there":
"It's just that... Miss Su... you... you were too impatient... your table manners... *cough, cough*... were a bit too ugly..."
"You... what did you say?!"
Feeling a rush of hot blood surge straight to her crown, dark spots dancing before her eyes, Su Qingxue nearly fainted from anger!
Ugly table manners?! He actually dared to say her table manners were ugly?!
"Look..."
Qin Lie "analyzed" on his own accord, his voice intermittent yet exceptionally clear in logic, like a dull blade slowly carving flesh:
"The betrothal... hasn't even been officially dissolved yet... and you... you were so impatient... dragging the Second Prince here in person to slap my face..."
He "painfully" pointed to the pool of his own blood on the ground, then pointed to the bloodstain whipped across his cheek by the palm wind. His gaze was innocent yet desolate:
"Annulling the marriage... is your Su family's right... I accept it... but you... you had to do it in front of the Second Prince... using such... such an intense method... stepping on me... to prove your loyalty... your determination?"
He shook his head as if in supreme heartache: "This... this is not cutting through a knot with a sharp knife... this is... kicking a man while he is down... this is... murdering a man's heart after killing his body, Miss Su!"
"You... you're talking nonsense!"
Trembling violently, her sanity completely snapping, Su Qingxue shrieked shrilly, "My actions, Su Qingxue, require no explanation to you! Nor do I need to care about the face of trash like you! The Second Prince and I came together b-because..."
Her mind was in chaos, desperately searching for a grand-sounding excuse.
"Because of what?"
Qin Lie abruptly cut her off, a flash of sharp light crossing his turbid eyes, too fast to catch, while his voice remained weak: "Because the Second Prince's status is noble... and can back you up? Because you were afraid of me... afraid that I... this piece of trash... would still dare to pester you? Or because..."
He deliberately paused, gasping violently, his gaze sweeping back and forth between the enraged Su Qingxue and the livid-faced Xia Yuanchen.
The corner of his mouth twitched into an extremely faint arc carrying endless sarcasm:
"...You wanted the Second Prince to see with his own eyes... to see how I, this stray dog... was kicked away with a single kick by you, Miss Su? So as to prove... to prove that you, Su Qingxue... have an exceptional eye... turned away from darkness to light... and chose the right... true Son of Heaven?"
Boom!
These words were like countless poisoned daggers, piercing with absolute precision into the most sensitive, vain, and guilty parts of Su Qingxue's heart!
They completely tore into shreds her layer of self-deceiving pride, along with the deep-seated desire to cling, exposing them to the broad daylight!
"Ah—! Qin Lie, I'll kill you!"
Su Qingxue went completely mad! With bloodshot eyes, her reason was entirely swallowed by towering shame, anger, and murderous intent!
The aura of a 3rd Layer Martial Artist erupted without reservation. Her fair-skinned palm raised once more, carrying fierce palm wind as she recklessly smashed down toward Qin Lie's heavenly spirit!
This time, it was a true killing blow!
She wanted this piece of trash who had humiliated and exposed her in public to shut up immediately, right now, forever!
The palm wind howled, reeking of murder!
"Qingxue! Stop!"
Xia Yuanchen's face changed drastically as he shouted sternly!
He could finally no longer maintain his composure!
If Su Qingxue were to truly kill Qin Lie right in front of him—even if he were a useless young lord—it would still spell immense trouble! Neither the Zhenbei Estate nor court opinion, nor even His Majesty the Emperor, could be easily answered to!
His figure shifted slightly, preparing to intervene.
Yet, it was too late!
Su Qingxue's palm wind had already reached its target!
At that very moment of extreme peril!
*Clatter!*
A sound so slight yet exceptionally clear rang out.
A gray, fingernail-sized, unremarkable "pebble" slipped extremely covertly from the edge of Qin Lie's tightly clenched hand holding the letter of annulment, dropping onto the cold, smooth golden brick floor.
The sound was not loud, but in this dead-silent, murder-laden front hall, it appeared exceptionally abrupt.
Almost the instant the pebble hit the ground!
The hand of Qin Lie that had originally gripped the deep purple document tightly seemed to be completely drained of its last ounce of strength by this "accident."
His five fingers abruptly loosened!
*Plop!*
That letter of annulment—symbolizing Su Qingxue's resolve and arrogance, symbolizing Qin Lie's endless humiliation—slipped from his powerless palm like a butterfly with broken wings, tumbling down into the dust once more.
The deep purple brocade unfolded, and upon the snow-white paper, those few drops of dark red bloody filth appeared even more glaring and ironic under the dim light.
And Qin Lie himself, the moment the document left his grip, felt his body stripped of its final support.
The very instant before Su Qingxue's wrath-filled, fatal palm wind was about to strike his crown!
His head tilted sharply!
His entire person slumped straight down like a scarecrow blown over by a fierce wind—softly and without warning toward the side—falling directly in the direction where the gray "pebble" had dropped!
*Thud!*
His heavy frame crashed onto the cold, hard golden brick floor with a dull echo.
Dust drifted up slightly.
His eyes tightly closed, his complexion as ashen and lifeless as golden paper, new froth bubbled continually from the corners of his mouth, and his breath instantly faded until it nearly vanished. He had thoroughly "fainted."
Su Qingxue's fatal palm strike, carrying her 3rd-layer cultivation and enough power to split monuments, swept past Qin Lie's falling scalp with a shrill whistle and slapped fiercely into empty air!
The fierce palm wind stirred, fluttering the robes of a nearby coarse servant woman.
The front hall fell once more into dead silence—more silent than any moment before.
Not a pin could be heard.
Only Su Qingxue's ragged, heavy breathing from her wasted full-power strike sounded exceptionally grating in the silent hall.
Maintaining her posture of executing a palm strike into empty space, she froze in place.
Her palm still trembled slightly, her flesh aching faintly from the backlash of gathered True Qi.
Looking at the "trash" who had "fainted" once more on the ground less than three feet from her toes, and then looking at her empty palm, an indescribable sense of absurdity, stifling grievance, anger, and a trace of lingering fear washed over her like an icy tide.
The killing blow had missed.
Right before the Second Prince, she had acted like a hysterical madman, throwing her full might at an unconscious piece of trash, only to... strike empty air? This was a hundred times more embarrassing than a direct hit!
Xia Yuanchen had already rushed close, his extended hand freezing mid-air.
His extremely gloomy gaze swept past the on-the-verge-of-death Qin Lie on the floor, then over the frozen Su Qingxue, finally landing upon the gray, unremarkable "pebble" lying not far from Qin Lie's cheek, and beside it, the letter of annulment that had once again fallen into the dust, defiled by blood. His expression shifted unpredictably.
Zhao Gui and the two women had long since been scared out of their wits, standing dumb as chickens.
Behind the screen, Madam Liu covered her mouth, her eyes wide as saucers.
Qin Xiao's mouth hung open even wider, his jaw practically dropping to the floor as he utterly failed to make sense of the situation.
"Ha... haha..."
An extremely faint chuckle, laden with endless sarcasm and exhaustion, slipped like a ghostly whisper from the throat of the "unconscious" figure on the ground.
The sound was so weak as to be nearly inaudible, yet like an ice pick, it pierced fiercely into Su Qingxue's ears.
Beneath his tightly closed eyelids, Qin Lie's pupils rolled imperceptibly.
His left hand, covered in mud and bloodstains and pressed flat against the cold ground, shifted forward—in everyone's blind spot—with an extremely covert movement so small it was practically negligible.
His fingertips precisely, flawlessly touched the gray "pebble."
A tiny, icy breath of energy flowed instantly up through his fingertips.
His tightly pressed, bloodless lips curved upward imperceptibly into an extremely faint arc.
Cold, mad, and carrying a trace of... dust-settling mockery.