Chapter 533: Exhausting Her Spirit
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
“Three days later, the academy will resume classes. I hope that everyone can go back and attend classes diligently. In the future, there will never be any incident that can harm the students,” Su Ying promised.
They could eat and sleep well in the academy, and they did not need to spend a single cent. Their lives were much better than at home. If nothing had happened, many students wished that they could stay in the academy for the rest of their lives.
“Yes, I’m willing to go back to the academy to study. I want to study.”
“I’m willing too.”
Gradually, more and more positive voices rang out from the crowd.
With Su Ying’s kneeling gesture, all the accusations against her disappeared overnight, and her reputation was finally preserved.
Night fell.
Su Ying appeared in the depths of the Imperial Prison, outside a cell that no one knew about.
The assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice personally went forward to open the cell door for Su Ying.
“Your Imperial Highness, please be careful.” After saying that, he retreated to the side.
Su Ying pushed open the cell door and walked in alone.
The cell was shrouded in darkness. Only a faint ray of light shone in through a skylight.
The dim light ray fell squarely on a thin figure in the corner.
Upon hearing the commotion, the figure slowly raised her head and looked at Su Ying. Her eyes were filled with suppressed madness. “Su Ying, why didn’t you kill me?” This person was none other than Zhou Xiangrong, who had supposedly been beheaded during the day.
Upon closer inspection, one could see that two large hooks had pierced through Zhou Xiangrong’s scapula on either side, but she did not seem to feel any pain.
Su Ying closed the cell door behind her and pulled off the cloak on her head, revealing a pair of deep, dark eyes in the darkness.
“Killing you would be letting you off too easily.”
Su Ying took out a fire sparks retainer and lit an incense stick.
Spirals of white smoke drifted out and wafted into Zhou Xiangrong’s nose.
Zhou Xiangrong felt her vision turning black gradually.
When she opened her eyes again, a sturdy iron cage had appeared in front of her. Many people were standing outside the iron cage.
Those people’s eyes were filled with contempt and indifference. They looked at her as if she was a commodity.
She had been sold. It was probably because she was too young that she was sold to perform hard labor in the low-class brothel. She was made to serve those women who were played by men until their bodies were covered in bruises.
Those women’s faces had a lifeless look, but their eyes were filled with intense hatred.
She had only knocked over their inferior rouge, yet they used the most vicious means to punish her. She was the outlet for them to vent their anger.
Zhou Xiangrong was thrown to the ground like a torn rag, but she was not afraid. She believed that once she grew up, she would trample all these people under her feet one day!
A man had appeared in her life and told her that she could trust him. Zhou Xiangrong laughed scornfully in her heart. In her view, men were just stepping stones for her to climb to the top. Why would she really care about him?
The man brought her out of the wolf’s den and raised her with care. Even when she was sick, he took care of her meticulously.
Zhou Xiangrong’s cold heart began to waver. Perhaps this man truly cared about her.
However, this still did not change her desire to make use of him to climb upwards. During an opportune time, she took the initiative to get the man to send her to a man of high authority. On the day she left, she saw the suppressed emotions in his eyes.
Zhou Xiangrong thought that he was also just using her anyway.
She was beautiful and intelligent, and she won the favor of that powerful person. She could finally stand in front of others in a glamorous manner and listen to all the flattery that she had never heard before.
She was satisfied with this sense of pride from standing on top of the clouds.
He told her to steal this man’s secrets, and she did as he said. However, just as she thought that his plan was about to succeed, the second man appeared in front of her with the first man’s head. That instant, she broke down completely.
“No, no!” Zhou Xiangrong screamed madly. She snatched that head and hugged it in her arms as if she had gone crazy.
After that night, she completely recovered her former self and served that man meticulously by his side. When that man completely let down his guard against her, she killed him in one shot.
She had taken revenge for him. When she carried that man’s head to his grave, she saw him standing in front of her with a smile on his face. A sharp dagger then pierced her heart.
Her two eyes widened in disbelief.
His heartless words reverberated in her ears endlessly. “You’re just a pawn.
After you have completed your mission, you should die.”
Zhou Xiangrong roared with indignant fury, “No! No!”
Su Ying stood in the cell and her eyes narrowed as she watched Zhou Xiangrong’s contorted face and expression of anguish.
This incense could bring out the most painful experience that was buried deep in one’s heart. It would make this experience play in one’s mind repeatedly in different eras and backgrounds. It would make one chew repeatedly on the pain that could break every inch of one’s bones.
Su Ying rarely used this kind of mental torture. To her, the most painful thing in the world was death, because once one died, there was nothing left.
However, to deal with someone like Zhou Xiangrong, even if she had to die, Su Ying must completely destroy her will before she died!
As long as Zhou Xiangrong didn’t take any medicine, she would be constantly immersed in the illusion and repeatedly torture herself and exhaust herself spiritually.
Su Ying turned around and left the cell. When she felt that Zhou Xiangrong had suffered enough, she would return to send her to the afterlife.
Xiao Jin was waiting outside the prison of the Ministry of Justice. When he saw Su Ying come out, he lifted the carriage curtain and motioned for her to get into the horse carriage.
As soon as Su Ying got into the horse carriage, she detected a sweet smell. Xiao Jin had gotten a bag of snacks in his hand from somewhere.
“When you’re in a bad mood, eat something sweet and you’ll feel happy again.”
Su Ying looked at the snack in his hand and felt that he was coaxing a child. However, when she ate the soft and cool chestnut cake, she did feel a little better.
“You didn’t kill her?”
Su Ying chewed on the chestnut cake in her mouth. “No. Death is too good for her now.”
Xiao Jin’s expression was ominous. “She’s indeed a scheming and ambitious one.”
“In this world, all cruel things are caused by human greed and desire. It’s fine if she is unwilling to accept the status quo, but she shouldn’t resort to unscrupulous means to improve her lot.”
“Are you really going to let Prince Jiangning off?”
“He is not a threat. His second son is still in the fiefdom. If I touch him, won’t it give those people in the fiefdom an excuse to rebel?” The Chu State had already exhausted much of its treasury during the war two years ago. If there was internal strife now, it would only cause the kingdom to lose even more. This was not a good thing, especially since the Imperial Court had not completely stabilized yet.
Su Ying nodded. She didn’t want to ask too much about these things. It was fine as long as Xiao Jin could handle it.
“Are you hungry?”
They had come over after dinner, so Su Ying shouldn’t have been that hungry.
However, after hearing his question, she seemed to be a little hungry again.
“Shall we go back to the palace to eat?”
Xiao Jin shook his head and instructed the coachman before saying to her, “I’ll take you to a place. That place sells a type of snack that is very delicious.”
Su Ying felt that Xiao Jin was someone who had no special desire for food. It was rare for him to take the initiative to bring her to eat something.
At this moment, there were no more pedestrians on the busy street during the day. However, after the horse carriage turned into an inconspicuous small street, the light outside the horse carriage became brighter.
Su Ying followed Xiao Jin out of the carriage. When she saw the scene before her, a hint of surprise flashed across her eyes..