The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 16 Ending
Li Miao actually already had a rough judgment about Zhao Dehua in his mind.

His character is that of a cold and cruel person.

As mentioned earlier, martial arts are largely idealistic.

How well a person can use a martial art depends largely on the person's character and whether it matches the martial art.

For example, swordsmanship is often very vigorous and advanced, and a person who is indecisive will find it difficult to reach the state of perfection. However, if this person turns to learn the palm method of using softness to overcome hardness, he is likely to make rapid progress.

The claw skills used by Zhao Dehua were of a feminine and ruthless nature, tearing out hearts and lungs, peeling off skin and scraping flesh. A person with an upright character would never use them to such an extent.

Li Miao could tell at a glance that Zhao Dehua had very poor physique, and the reason he was able to reach the level of a second-rate master was because he was really suitable for this claw skill.

The thief at that time probably thought that he could not escape the pursuit of the Jinyiwei, so he deliberately "transformed" Zhao Dehua into a suitable successor to his mantle.

Zhao Dehua did not disappoint him.

Of course, not everyone in this world does things according to their own nature. For example, Wang Hai's claw skills are more vicious than Zhao Dehua's, but under Li Miao's hands, he can also restrain his habits and be a good person in general.

So Li Miao did not make a hasty judgment, but asked the two to explain what happened that year.

He had served in the Jinyiwei for twenty years and his martial arts skills were unfathomable, so he naturally had the means to tell whether the two men were lying or not.

Mei Qinghe saw Zhao Dehua rolling on the ground wailing, scratching his ears until they bled, and shook her head.

He turned to Li Miao and said, "Senior, do you have an antidote?"

Li Miao raised his eyebrows: "Why, you can't bear it?"

Mei Qinghe shook her head: "No."

"I want to kill Zhao Dehua, not a madman who doesn't know why he wants to die."

"It's too easy for him to die in such a confused way."

Mei Qinghe thought that when her great revenge was about to be achieved, she would burst into tears with excitement.

But now she is calm and composed, as if she is watching other people's affairs.

Only the true energy in her body was surging, like a fire that had been smoldering in her body since fifteen years ago, burning in her chest and drying her lips.

Li Miao raised his hand and threw a small bag over: "Use this."

"Put it in his mouth and use your innate energy to catalyze it. It will be fine in a moment."

Mei Qinghe took the packet, thanked Li Miao, turned around, pinched Zhao Dehua's mouth, and stuffed the antidote in.

Then he pinched Zhao Dehua's pulse and transferred his true energy into him.

Gradually, Zhao Dehua stopped wailing and his hands and feet stopped moving.

After another stick of incense had passed, his eyes finally became clear again.

Zhao Dehua looked up at Mei Qinghe in front of him, moved his lips, and finally said dryly: "You... you are not dead?"

It was the same thing he said when he first saw Mei Qinghe, except that he was poisoned the first time, and in his mental disorder he thought it was the ghost of Mei Qinghe's mother who was seeking revenge.

Now he has come to his senses and knows that Mei Qinghe is the little girl he let go that year, and she has come to him to avenge her mother's death.

Mei Qinghe nodded: "Yes, I survived."

"I am going down the mountain with the intention of dying. From the moment I go down the mountain, only one of us can survive."

"Although I won't torture you like you tortured my mother, I won't let you die just like that either."

Mei Qinghe took action and instantly pressed the major acupoints all over Zhao Dehua's body, blocking the flow of his true energy and making his hands and feet lose strength, so that he could only move around randomly.

"Back then, you tortured my mother for ten hours, so I stabbed you ten times. Every time an incense stick of time passes, I will stab you once."

"Besides, I'll give you another choice."

Mei Qinghe picked up the half of the short sword, then picked up the half of the long sword, and walked to Zhao Dehua.

She thrust the dagger into the ground with all her might, then let go and stood up.

The dagger stood on the ground, the sharp blade pressed against Zhao Dehua's neck, causing goose bumps.

“This is the first sword.”

After saying that, the long sword stabbed into Zhao Dehua's left arm.

Blood splattered everywhere, Zhao Dehua wailed and rolled on the ground.

His acupuncture points were sealed by Mei Qinghe. His limbs could move but were out of control, and he could only twist them around at his sides.

Another incense-burning time passed.

"The second sword."

This went on and on until the ninth stick of incense, when Zhao Dehua was covered in blood, with wounds of varying depths, leaving gruesome bloodstains all over the ground.

He had been in the martial arts world for many years, and the pain of the wound was not so difficult for him. What was really difficult was the process of walking towards death step by step.

He slammed his head against the ground and kowtowed to Mei Qinghe repeatedly, his face covered in blood.

"I have no choice! I have no choice! He forced me to do it! He forced me to do it!"

Mei Qinghe looked at Zhao Dehua struggling on the ground coldly without saying a word.

It was not until the sky gradually brightened and a pale sky rose in the east that Zhao Dehua collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.

He muttered something incoherently.

“I don’t have a choice.”

“I don’t have a choice.”

Mei Qinghe walked up to him.

"If you do evil, you must pay it back."

"Back then, my mother was tortured for ten hours by you and the Plum Blossom Thief."

"The Plum Blossom Thief didn't say anything. You took the initiative to put the bug you took out of your ear into her ear."

"This... is your choice. You hate her, but you don't dare to choose to hate the Plum Blossom Thief. You only dare to choose to hate her, and hate her for making it impossible for you to continue to be a good person."

Mei Qinghe said softly.

"You always say you have no choice, now you do."

"This dagger has always been stuck in the ground. You can see it. You can hit it and die at any time, but you never dare to look at it."

"Now it's the last strike. You can choose. Do you want to do it yourself, or do you want me to do it?"

Zhao Dehua said nothing more.

"Have you made your choice?" Mei Qinghe asked softly after waiting for a while.

Zhao Dehua still didn't say anything. He clenched his teeth and slowly moved his neck towards the dagger.

He kept crying, and his neck was sometimes close to the sword and sometimes farther away.

This was repeated for a long time, but there was still no movement.

Mei Qinghe looked into Zhao Dehua's eyes and said.

"Don't you dare choose."

"You don't want to choose life, but you don't dare to choose death. You don't deserve to be a good person, and you don't dare to be a bad person."

"You're not a good person who's cornered. You're just a coward who doesn't dare to choose anything."

Mei Qinghe kicked the hilt of the dagger, and the sword tip cut Zhao Dehua's neck, and blood gushed out.

"In the end, you still have to let others choose for you."

Zhao Dehua struggled, as if he wanted to argue something, but the blood rushed into his mouth and nose, and he could only make a "hehe" sound.

He struggled for a while and then stopped moving.

Watching Zhao Dehua gradually lose his voice, Mei Qinghe sat down on the ground.

She gasped for breath and tears finally flowed down.

Mei Qinghe didn't want to show any weakness in front of Zhao Dehua, because that might make Zhao Dehua no longer afraid.

So she didn't dare to let her tears flow, and tried hard to keep her voice low and put on a cool attitude.

Now, she finally walked out of the mountains where she was fifteen years ago.

Li Miao stepped forward and patted Mei Qinghe on the shoulder.

"Well done, he must be terribly scared."

Mei Qinghe finally burst into tears.

Li Miao waved his hand: "Hey, keep your voice down."

"Last night, in order to let you take revenge, I set off smoke screens in all the houses nearby."

"It should be almost ineffective now. Take control of it and clean the roof for them."

"I have given you the benefit, so please concentrate on working for me in the future."

"Pack your things and go buy a sword. Follow me in an hour."

(End of this chapter)