Who...
Xi Yin was stunned for a moment. Who wouldn't be afraid of someone as sharp-clawed as a fierce ghost? Her soul felt like it was being torn to shreds, and there was no way she could fake it.
A burst of pain like an explosion shot up her spine and into her brain. If the first whip was a warning, this one was the real deal. She had lived on the streets as a child, enduring countless beatings, but she had never experienced pain as deep and piercing as this. Her neck tensed, her veins bulged, and her breath caught in her chest. She couldn't even scream. All that was left was her body, its flesh and bones writhing in the fading twilight.
He didn't give her a chance to catch her breath. Raising the whip handle, he lifted her chin.
"You dare to kill someone in the palace, but you don't even know about the poison that triggers death?"
His voice was cold and deadly. Before his words were finished, he struck her again with the whip, this time across her waist, with no regard for her life.
Xi Yin, her heart pounding, cried out in agony. Her vision blurred, and she could no longer hold onto the rope on the branch. Her body fell heavily into the snow, curling up into a ball and convulsing uncontrollably. Three deep whip marks, each bleeding profusely, crisscrossed her body.
"Stop hitting me... I beg you, stop hitting me..."
Her voice was a pitiful cry, accompanied by the involuntary chattering of her teeth, as it dissipated into the wind.
To strip away a person's defenses, the most direct way is to inflict pain until they are at their limit, until their body loses control and they revert to a bestial state. If one hasn't personally experienced this kind of hellish training, they would never be able to understand this level of despair.
Zhang Duo looked down at the woman curled up on the ground and said calmly, "Who told you to kill?"
"Who told me to kill... ah! It was a eunuch in the palace."
Afraid of being beaten again if she responded too slowly, she almost bit her tongue.
But unexpectedly, she received another vicious whip across her bare shoulder.
As expected, but also sudden.
Her back stiffened, and the pain caused her to lose control and collapse. She fell forward, prostrating herself on the ground, and could no longer restrain herself. She cried out heart-wrenchingly, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably, as she stammered, "I'm not lying to you! They captured my brother, and I wouldn't listen to them... they... they were going to kill my brother..."
As she cried, she reached out and grabbed his robe, clutching it tightly, as if it could somehow alleviate her pain.
"Let me go... please, I beg you, I don't know anything. I just want to be with my brother. I beg you, please... please... I'm going to die, I'm really going to die. Don't do this to me, don't do this to me, okay..."
Her words were a mixture of defiance and desperation.
Zhang Duo looked at her hands, their knuckles white from digging into the ground, and the four whip marks that starkly contrasted with her snow-white skin, creating a strangely beautiful and eerie effect. These details were clear and real, and he liked them. But contrary to that, he was hesitant about his judgment of this woman.
Assassination was a desperate gamble, but she was as timid as a rabbit under a knife. Was she truly that timid, or was she simply putting on an act?
Zhang Duo couldn't help but doubt it. But what troubled him even more was that he saw a glimpse of his own past in her twisted body, a struggling force that was both similar to and vastly different from his own.
"Begging will not save you. Fool."
When she heard Zhang Duo's voice lower, she dared to look up at him. Seeing that the whip in his hand had dropped, she quickly curled up again. Her fingers dug into her shoulder blades, and her toes curled together as she sobbed, "When I was younger, I stole rice from the granary, and they caught me and beat me... I begged them, I begged so hard... and then they stopped beating me and gave me rice porridge..."
"Who taught you that?"
"Ah?"
When she hesitated for a moment, he struck her leg again, though it was noticeably lighter than before, even though it still made her kick her legs wildly.
"Who taught you that?"
"Ah! My brother taught me! My brother said that was the only way we could survive."
"Hmph, he taught you that, and you still killed for him."
She looked at Zhang Duo in terror. Although she was so scared that her heart was about to burst, she still pleaded with tears in her eyes, "No... my brother was really good to me. His eyes were already so bad, and every time I got beaten, he would... he would hold a lamp and apply medicine for me. Sir... we are all lowly and useless people. In order to survive, we must stick together."
She was in so much pain that she couldn't clench her teeth anymore. However, he didn't interrupt her, letting her sob and stutter as she finished speaking.
He felt neither empathy nor disgust.
After all, a beautiful woman's weakness, her humility, and her ability to seduce men with her bloodlust, even though he deliberately avoided these things, still left a crack in his mind. Moreover, her desire to live, regardless of her reputation or dignity, was both like him and very unlike him.
Zhang Duo squatted down and lifted his robe. The end of the whip accidentally brushed against her waist, causing her to convulse again.
"Don't hit me anymore... I'm really going to die..."
He held the end of the whip in his hand.
"I'll ask a different question."
"Okay... okay..."
She agreed immediately.
"Who told you to stop my carriage?"
She didn't understand the question at first.
When she finally realized what he meant, she was terrified. Ignoring the pain in her body, she scrambled to her knees and grabbed his sleeve, "I really don't know anything. I didn't know that was your carriage. I was just scared of being caught by them. I was so scared that I offended you. I'm sorry... I'm sorry, sir, please forgive me!"
Zhang Duo stared at her face, even without makeup, it was still hauntingly beautiful, with tears welling up in her eyes. He tried to find a flaw in those crystal-clear tears, but it seemed like she was truly terrified out of her wits. Her pupils constricted, and she babbled incoherently, not knowing what to do, only begging for forgiveness.
Pure fear, pure desire to live.
This blatant desire was like an outstanding target in the chaotic forest of Luoyang.
With an arrow drawn from ten paces away, it would be hit instantly, turning its owner into a ghost beneath the arrow, a prisoner at the feet of the archer.
Before a prisoner, one could temporarily let down their guard.
So, at this moment, Zhang Duo was secretly pleased.
The dim light above faded, and dark clouds gathered in the sky.
The last spring snow of the twelfth year of Xingqing fell quietly, the smell of blood mingling with the fragrance of the plum blossoms, making the fragrance cold and overbearing.
Zhang Duo used the handle of his whip to pick up the robe she had discarded in the snow and threw it over her.
"Put it on."
As soon as he finished speaking, he was about to get up when he caught sight of a package that had fallen from her belt.
"What did you take?"
Kneeling in the snow, clutching the robe, she looked in the direction of his gaze, and after a long while, she timidly uttered a word, "Incense."
"Stolen?"
She hurriedly searched for it in the snow, "Don't hit me..."
"Why did you steal it?"
"I... I... I wanted to take some back for my brother, and I could sell the rest."
He watched her search in the snow, enduring the pain, and suddenly said calmly, "Today is the third day of the month. Remember, you have nine more days to live. Is it necessary?"
After saying that, he got up and without waiting for her response, he shook off the hand she had grabbed onto his sleeve and turned to walk towards Quiet Study, saying as he walked, "Come in when you've caught your breath, or tomorrow you'll be a bone in a dog's mouth."
She survived the ordeal under the plum blossoms.
However, Xi Yin didn't know why she had been beaten or why she had been allowed to live.