Chapter 22.2

Opening the oil-paper packet, Gu Wan thought for a moment and still only handed Shang Rongyue one piece.

First, she was afraid the other girl would go back on her word. If she ate it and then changed her mind, Gu Wan could use the remaining walnut pastries as bait to urge her to drink the medicine.

Second, the taste of the medicine was indeed bitter. The sweetness of the walnut pastry could probably suppress the taste of the medicine a little, so perhaps it would not be so unbearable.

After receiving the walnut pastry, Shang Rongyue treated it like a treasure. She held it in both hands and ate it bit by bit.

Heavens. Only the ghosts knew what kind of days she had been living recently. This was the first time she learned that ordinary walnut pastry could actually be this delicious. Especially when she bit into a part with sesame, the fragrance of sesame mixed with the sweetness of the pastry and surged through her mouth.

Very quickly, the pastry in her hand was completely eliminated.

She reached out, just about to ask for a second piece, but what was handed over was that bowl of pitch-black medicine.

Shang Rongyue pouted and did not want to take it.

But it was, after all, for her own good. Wasting it would be too much.

Shang Rongyue brought the medicine bowl to her lips and lightly took a sip. The fierce bitterness made the root of her tongue go numb, and her whole body trembled twice uncontrollably.

She tried to bargain again, so she lifted her face and looked at Gu Wan. “Can I drink half first, eat one piece of walnut pastry, then drink the other half?”

Gu Wan stared at her. “With Eldest Miss Li’s dawdling speed, do you think the medicine will still be warm by then?”

Tsk. Even if it cooled, it was still medicine.

Of course, Shang Rongyue did not dare say this aloud, but she still refused to give up. “Half. If I drink half a bowl, give me another half piece. Or one quarter. A small piece is fine too.”

She gestured with her hand, but the circle representing the walnut pastry grew smaller and smaller.

Finally, when her fingertips had shrunk it to only the size of a copper coin, Gu Wan nodded. “Fine. Drink first. Once you finish, I’ll give it to you.”

Hearing that her goal was close at hand, Shang Rongyue gathered her courage again and looked at the medicine bowl in her hands. She closed her eyes, gritted her teeth, and drank several large mouthfuls from the bowl.

The bitter, thick soup surged down her throat and into her stomach. She did not dare carefully experience the taste at all. She only closed her eyes and poured it in, as if afraid the medicine would remain in her mouth for even a single second longer.

By accident, she drank too much. Now only a small half bowl of medicine remained.

But she truly did not have the courage to keep drinking. She hurriedly spread her palm toward Gu Wan, asking for the walnut pastry.

Who knew that before she had time to savor the pastry in her mouth, Gu Wan, sitting across from her, picked up the bowl of remaining medicine. With a lift of her wrist, she held the last of the medicine in her mouth. Then red lips pressed against hers, and the bitter taste was passed over bit by bit.

Shang Rongyue had no time to react. Her eyes instantly widened.

She wanted to retreat, but the other woman seemed to have guessed her thoughts in advance. Gu Wan held the back of her head with both hands, trapping her in place.

It was clearly such an intimate act, yet it came with suffocating sour bitterness.

Shang Rongyue had nowhere to hide. The last of the medicine entered her mouth completely.

After regaining her freedom, Shang Rongyue choked and coughed repeatedly, even her ears flushing red.

But Shen Sanniang opposite her had no reaction at all, as if she had no sense of taste.

Shang Rongyue wiped her lips with one hand and put the other on her waist as she questioned her. “How can you not keep your word?”

“Did I not keep my word? Didn’t I give you that little piece of walnut pastry?”

Shang Rongyue wanted to argue but found no way to begin. She was so angry that she stomped her foot. In the end, she barely managed to say, “Unreasonable!”

“Mm.” Gu Wan nodded, looking completely indifferent. “Miss Li seems to have forgotten. I am a bandit.”

“Miss Li cannot reason with bandits.”

Shang Rongyue: “…”

Since she could not win the argument, she would fill her stomach first. Shang Rongyue snatched the oil-paper packet from the other woman’s hands and hugged the walnut pastries, nibbling them bit by bit like a hamster.

After eating two more pieces in a row, her mouth was dry. Gu Wan timely handed over half a cup of clean water.

She sat quietly beside Shang Rongyue, watching the girl’s snow-white cheeks rise and fall as she chewed. For the first time, Gu Wan felt such a scene was very interesting.

Perhaps because she was full, or perhaps because Gu Wan’s staring made her uncomfortable, Li Yueyue put down the oil-paper packet and did not continue eating.

Her fingertips were covered in pastry crumbs, greasy and sticky against her skin. Seeing a basin of clean water outside, she reached toward it.

“Don’t.”

Just before her fingertips touched the water, Gu Wan took the copper basin away first and hid it behind her.

She awkwardly turned her face aside. “I had someone heat water. Go bathe next door.”

Shang Rongyue’s whole body was sore and aching at this moment. How could she have the strength? “I’ll wash tomorrow. I’m really sleepy.”

As she spoke, she tried to circle behind Gu Wan. But the other woman nimbly turned around, stubbornly preventing her from touching the basin at all.

“You should still wash.” Gu Wan stumbled over the words as she added, “I used this water.”

Just now, before Li Yueyue had gotten up, Gu Wan had used this water to wash her hands. Naturally, she was unwilling to let Li Yueyue use it after her.

Shang Rongyue had never seen such a troublesome person. She thought this bandit leader disliked that she had sweated earlier.

A bandit with a cleanliness obsession. How troublesome.

With no other choice, since she could not get around Gu Wan, she could only go to the bathing room next door and briefly wash herself in the bath barrel.

By the time she returned to the bedside, Shen Sanniang had already removed the previous bedding and replaced it with a fresh set. The clean sheets seemed to still carry the scent of sunlight.

But Shen Sanniang herself did not seem ready to rest. Instead, she was properly dressed, her black hair gathered with a hair ribbon and neatly tied into a bun on top of her head.

“Are you going out?” Shang Rongyue asked while wiping the water droplets from her hair. “It’s so late. What matter absolutely has to be handled right now?”

Gu Wan took the cotton handkerchief from Shang Rongyue’s hand and wiped away the final trace of moisture from her hair. “There are people guarding outside. You can rest peacefully. This is my bedroom. No one will come disturb you again.”

“But…” But after what had just happened, Shang Rongyue was a little afraid and did not dare stay in the room alone.

Gu Wan comforted her, “I’ll be back soon. When you wake up, you’ll be able to see me.”

But she did not dare ask her to stay. After all, the other woman had only helped her relieve the “urgent need” from Read on BaiLianTales earlier. Shang Rongyue did not have the identity or position to make her stay and accompany her.

After hesitating for a long while, Shang Rongyue could only say softly, “Then light a few more lamps for me. I… I’m afraid of the dark.”

Gu Wan ordered someone to bring in several more candles. The red candlelight illuminated the small inner room brightly. She sat beside the bed and accompanied Shang Rongyue until the other girl’s breathing became even. Only then did she step out.

After the night watch passed the chou hour, the gate of the camp dungeon was pushed open.

Inside, Gu Ze was tied to a chair. As the iron door of the cell opened and closed, the person whose head had been hanging gradually woke.

His cloudy eyes opened, and he saw clearly the person entering.

“Oh, awake?” Gu Wan’s tone was leisurely. One could not hear anger or fury in it as she slowly asked, “I wonder if Little Brother has been resting well here?”

The drowsiness in Gu Ze’s mind slowly cleared. He hurriedly explained to Gu Wan, “Sister, you have to believe me. That woman seduced me! Little Brother fell into her trap!”

Gu Wan did not rush to answer. Instead, she pulled over a chair and sat opposite Gu Ze. “A trap?”

“So the Spring-Welcoming Sigh that wasn’t fully burned behind the door was also her scheme?”

When Gu Wan directly said the words “Spring-Welcoming Sigh,” Gu Ze’s face twitched.

The unburned incense by the door had been discovered by Gu Wan, but he had never explained the specific details of ​read the original at bailiantales.com​that aphrodisiac. Now that everything had been exposed, Gu Ze forced himself to stay calm.

“It was only a drug to add to the mood. What Spring or not Spring, Little Brother doesn’t understand.”

Gu Wan sneered. It seemed this younger cousin’s memory was poor. Then she would help him remember properly.

The charcoal fire in front of her burned brightly. Gu Wan casually picked up a piece with iron tongs and held it near Gu Ze’s face, letting him clearly see the sparks scattered over it.

Suddenly, as if by accident, the iron tongs loosened. The red-hot charcoal fell directly onto his thigh, making a sizzling sound.

The bone-piercing pain made Gu Ze cry out instantly. He hurriedly begged for mercy. Gu Wan calmly picked up the charcoal again with the tongs and threw it back into the brazier.

“Remember now?”

Gu Ze’s pain had not yet faded, and his voice was weak as a thread. “People from the black market often make trades at Tianxiang Tower. I only asked them for the strongest aphrodisiac. They said that one worked best. I really don’t know anything else!”

Gu Ze knew very well that what Gu Wan most avoided was people mentioning Sangxie in front of her. In the current situation, if he deliberately brought up the wrong thing, who knew what Gu Wan might do?

Without waiting for Gu Wan to ask, Gu Ze took the initiative to confess. The reason was that Li Yueyue had framed him that day and caused him to suffer Gu Wan’s punishment. He could not swallow that anger, so he wanted to teach Li Yueyue a lesson.

Gu Wan questioned him in a low voice, “When you chose such a filthy method, did you still remember Grandfather’s family teachings?”

The Gu family had served in the military for generations, and their family rules were strict.

One of them stated that anyone who humiliated a respectable woman, regardless of status, should be punished with castration.

Castration—ending his line forever.

Hearing Gu Wan mention the family teachings, Gu Ze truly panicked. Gu Wan had killed no small number of people. Carrying out punishment was much easier than killing.

He quickly begged for mercy. Even if he could delay for just a little while, that would be good. Once he returned to the Gu family and his parents made the decision, they definitely would not bear to let him suffer such pain.

Sincere Love

But across from him, Gu Wan took out a dagger and placed it over the brazier to heat. The sharp blade was roasted red by the charcoal fire. Gu Ze hurriedly tried to curry favor.

“Sister, listen to me. We grew up together. You wouldn’t treat your little brother like that for the sake of an outsider of unknown origin, right?”

Seeing that the dagger had heated enough, Gu Wan walked toward Gu Ze step by step.

Her tone was full of helplessness. “But the family teachings are like this. I am only acting according to the rules. I believe once I report it clearly before Grandfather and Grandmother, they will also approve of what I do today.”

“Gu Wan!” Seeing the blade grow closer and closer, Gu Ze panicked completely.

“Gu Wan, don’t forget! My mother treated you so well. She only has me, one son. If you do this, how can you face her?”

This was Gu Ze’s trump card to save his life. In the end, Gu Wan owed the third branch a debt of gratitude. Asking her to spare him once was not too much.

But it would have been better if he had not mentioned Aunt. The moment he did, Gu Wan remembered that her deceased parents had died because of Sangxie. And now, her younger cousin had actually handed silver to Sangxie in exchange for a poisonous drug to harm someone.

Gu Wan raised her arm, and the dagger sliced across the rope tied around Gu Ze.

Suddenly freed, Gu Ze thought Gu Wan had listened to him and spared him this time.

Cold sweat still covered him. Trembling, he stood and cupped his fists in thanks. “M-many thanks, Older Cousin, for sparing—”

Before he could finish the word “me,” Gu Wan’s dagger swept sideways and stabbed between his legs.

Blood burst out, soaking through the front of Gu Ze’s robes.

He crashed to the ground, curled up there. Because of the intense pain, his face turned deathly pale, and bean-sized beads of sweat covered his forehead.

The gaze he cast toward Gu Wan was vicious and unwilling.

Gu Wan did not care. She slowly crouched down, took out a handkerchief, and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Leisurely, she asked, “I remember you hit her then?”

Gu Ze forced himself to lift his head and glared at the person before him.

Through the handkerchief, Gu Wan’s fingertip pressed against his vital point. “Which hand?”

In his current state, as long as Gu Wan used a little force, she could neatly take his life. Filled with hatred and resentment, Gu Ze still trembled and slowly stretched out his right hand.

Gu Wan stood, chuckling softly. “So it was this one.”

In the next moment, the tip of her shoe crushed the bones, making cracking sounds.

Along with Gu Ze’s screams, the sounds echoed through the dungeon and did not fade for a long time.

When Gu Wan came out of the dungeon, the sky had already taken on the bluish-gray of a crab shell.

The handkerchief she had used to wipe Gu Ze’s sweat was thrown into the brazier in disgust, where it burned into a ball of flame and turned to ash. At this moment, her body smelled of blood, and her hands were stained with specks of blood.

Not far from the dungeon was a lake. Gu Wan did not hurry back to her room. Instead, she first went near the lake and cleaned the blood from her body. Only after everything had dispersed did she walk back.

Along the way, she carefully reviewed the events of the night, afraid she had missed something.

A few days ago, she had taken Li Yueyue to the night market in Furong City. On the surface, it had been to choose a gift for Su Zhaoyun, but in truth, it had been to meet a contact.

The masked performer was the person she had contacted. If there was something to discuss, when the child came to ask for a reward, three copper coins would be placed on the gong in advance. Otherwise, it meant everything was well.

Her silver ingot was her response that she could attend the meeting. If it was inconvenient, she only had to turn and leave.

Sure enough, the next day, the third prince’s inside line sent a message saying that Old General Shang had already arrived at the border. When the soldiers saw the old general personally take the field, their morale greatly increased.

Right now, most of Great Zhou’s troops had been transferred to the border. A small portion remained, with more than half stationed in the imperial city to guard the peace of the six palaces. The last remaining force was Gu Wan’s.

At this moment, Great Zhou was also at its weakest. If another country struck straight at the capital, they would definitely catch Great Zhou unprepared. So the third prince had instructed Gu Wan to be especially careful, particularly regarding the restless Sangxie.

Yet at this critical moment, Sangxie poison had appeared in the capital. How could Gu Wan not be alert?

Now, the person responsible for the imperial city’s garrison was Gu Wan’s younger male cousin, Zhao Shuheng, who had been promoted some time ago because of Shen Rong. Gu Wan felt she should appropriately exchange information with him to ensure Great Zhou’s absolute safety.

By the time she returned to her bedroom, the candles inside were still lit. However, the candles in several lamps had already burned out, and the wax had solidified again, piling up on the candle stands.

From the moment she stepped over the threshold, Gu Wan walked carefully with every step, afraid of waking the person on the bed.

But just as she entered the inner room, the person on the bed sat up vigilantly.

“Who is it?”

The girl held a candlestick in her hand, the sharp end used to secure the candle ​stolen content​pointing outward. Her body, hidden beneath the quilt, appeared tense.

After seeing clearly that it was Gu Wan, she threw the thing in her hand aside. She did not even bother putting on shoes. Barefoot, with a pair of jade-like feet, she stepped onto the floor tiles and ran to Gu Wan.

The next moment, slender arms wrapped around Gu Wan’s waist, and Shang Rongyue buried her face in her chest.

“Didn’t you say you would be quick? Why did you only come back at dawn?”

It seemed the sleeping appearance before Gu Wan left had been a lie. But at this moment, Gu Wan did not care about that. In any case, with her alone in the room, she could not stir up any trouble.

But Shang Rongyue, who was hugging her, touched something wet with her palm.

She turned her hand over. The water stain on her palm carried a faint red mark.

It seemed to be blood.

Extremely sleepy, Shang Rongyue did not have time to pass her words through her brain and blurted out, “Did you go out in the middle of the night to kill someone?”