Ink Burns

Chapter 40: Take Off Clothes (3000)

As soon as Cheng Xinghe said this, the whole room fell silent.

Only four or five fools didn't know what it meant, but they relied on the unique sensitivity of fools to shut up in time, holding back their doubts in their chests, and letting them all sink into the seemingly calm waves.

Duan is also stupid, not in terms of personality, but in terms of heart.

She did not understand immediately. After a moment of silence, she realized the meaning of Cheng Xinghe's simple words. She stammered, stared at her eldest son with a dull look, and did not utter a word for a long time.

Cheng Xinghe carefully lifted the white mourning veil on Duan's head, revealing Duan's forehead that was broken by the porcelain bottle, his eyes full of pity.

Duan's forehead was red and swollen, and there was a bump on her scalp.

Duan sat helplessly on the stool, looking desperate and silent, but she didn't know whether it was because of the beating from her husband or because of her son's diversion of blame.

Miss Wang Er sighed softly.

Shan Yue glanced sideways: "Do you think she is pitiful?"

Poor?

If you say it's pitiful, it's really pitiful. Born as a human being, but being a chess piece, a discarded piece, being manipulated by others all your life;
If you say he is not pitiful, he has indeed been stained with the blood and tears of many innocent women and has become an accomplice of the evil tiger.

Miss Wang Er sighed and shook her head: "It's a pity that I didn't grab a handful of melon seeds in my hand."

Such a wonderful play, but I always feel like there is something missing from my lips. Go ahead and chew it.

Shan Yue: I shouldn’t have asked her.

In the middle of the mourning hall, Uncle Seven waved his hands impatiently: "You mean, after your mother was beaten up, she got angry and accidentally killed Daxing?"

Cheng Xinghe stood up, tears in his eyes: "My father treats my mother sometimes well and sometimes not. When he treats her well, he sends her gold and silver jewelry to the main hall. When he treats her badly, he scolds and beats her. If he wasn't really angry, this wouldn't have happened!"

Duan felt as if a thunderbolt was falling on the top of her head, blasting her skin and flesh to pieces!

Uncle Seven didn't believe it, and several old uncles who came out from the village head shook their heads secretly and didn't believe it.

What's the big deal about beating a woman?

As for killing people?

One punch and a woman's front teeth will be broken, and even the hardest iron will be broken!

What's the big deal about hitting a woman?! You're not going to kill her! Is it necessary to fight with your husband? Besides, what can a woman do with that little strength?! It's hard to hit a mosquito!
Uncle Seven shook his head: "How could it come to that?"

Shan Yue lowered her eyes slightly: The alibi is useful if you really want to report to the police; clan trials are full of risks. The elders in the rural villages believe in their own set of rules.
The second master Cheng was even more unwilling to believe it: What good would it be to push his widowed sister-in-law down? If the Cheng family still couldn't fall into his hands, he would have to bite his eldest nephew to death!

"You are talking nonsense! You were the one who got the bronze mirror. Since you didn't go back to the main courtyard, how did it end up in your mother's hands? You didn't even tell me that you asked someone to deliver it to the main hall - this is for your wife, not your mother!"

Master Cheng Er said in a high-pitched voice: "Uncle Seven, there is something fishy about this matter. Report it to the police! My eldest brother can't die in vain!"

"Why are you reporting to the authorities? Do you think the Cheng family is shameless?" Uncle Seven slammed his hand on the table and shouted angrily, "The younger brother dragged the unmarried girls into the house, and the older brother beat his wife to death. What do you call this a family of good people? They look shiny and bright with lard on their faces, but their insides are covered in dust!"

Uncle Seven said simply and rudely: "Lock up Duan and investigate slowly! Don't delay the funeral of the eldest brother! - Dalang should stay in the inner courtyard these days and don't go anywhere! The Cheng family's ancestral tomb is buried in a valley, so it will smoke. Don't let people laugh at it!"

Women must be kept under strict guard! As for men, restricting their activities is a punishment.

Shanyue raised his eyes slightly and glanced at Duan, only to see that Duan's face was pale and his eyes were swollen, as if all the strength in his spine had been drained away, leaving only an empty body struggling in the world.

"I can stand up and prove it for you." Shan Yue bent down to support Duan and whispered in her ear: "I will tell you the truth. I won't let you bear the crime of murdering your husband for nothing. According to the laws of the Wei Dynasty, anyone who murders their husband shall be hanged."

Duan Shi seemed to have suddenly come back to life, and reached out to grab Shan Yue: "According to the laws of the Great Wei Dynasty, how will one be punished for patricide?"

Shan Yue's throat choked up, and after a long pause, he said, "It is the most unfilial for a son to kill his father. He should be executed immediately or beheaded and thrown into the streets."

When a person dies, they cannot be buried, let alone preserved.
Duan suddenly covered her face with her hands, howled in her throat, and cried out in pain. In an instant, she was viciously dragged away on the left and right by the two mothers-in-law from the Cheng family who came to pay their respects.

Shanyue looked at her dying, stiff body without any struggle, and he already understood her choice.

The word "mother" is the heaviest shackle the world can give to women. From the ten months of pregnancy to raising a child to adulthood, a mother only regrets that she cannot give up her flesh and blood to raise her child.

Just like her mother, she was obviously just a short-sighted, bad-tempered, calculative and cowardly village woman. If there was an egg at home, she would definitely give it to her father who was of little use. If there were two eggs, she would think for a long time about which daughter to give it to. If there were three eggs, she would give one to her husband and one to her daughter, and she would pick up the wild chives on the plate for herself.
Such a cowardly and stupid woman, yet she dared to rush into the fire with a hoarse voice and hold her tightly in her arms.

Shan Yue gently raised her head and took a deep breath. For a moment, her murderous intent almost condensed into a physical sword and flame. She just wanted to burn this absurd mourning hall! Kill Cheng Xinghe who hid behind the woman and the clan's interests!
The white knife goes in, the red knife comes out, no matter what laws and morals, no matter what the suffering is, she was so aroused that she had a strong desire to kill!
The condolences continued, the Cheng family members stayed in the outer courtyard, Shanyue returned to the embroidery building and drank several pots of strong cold tea. Miss Wang Er started a small red clay stove to boil water, adding firewood while drooping her eyes and casually said: "Killing people is not easy, you think the knife is very sharp, but in fact, no matter how sharp the knife is, it is still 'dull' when facing flesh - human flesh looks loose, but it is actually tight. You have to use all your strength to cut and pick it to see blood."

"It's not over until you see blood. Push the knife in as deep as possible! You may encounter obstacles along the way, perhaps the spleen, liver, or stomach. Don't stop, otherwise the person will not die, and will smell bad while hanging on for a breath."

The small stove had a narrow fire and strong flames, and soon the copper kettle was burning with a "rumbling" sound.

Shanyue didn't say anything, just stared at Wang Erniang.

Miss Wang Er wiped her face and smiled, revealing dozens of wrinkles on her face: "What are you looking at? Is there a story on my face?"

Shan Yue blinked.

Miss Wang Er slowly poured hot water for Shan Yue, mixing the cold water to make it just warm enough to drink: "Don't drink cold water, don't kill people when you're angry - you'll be happy at the time, but you'll suffer afterwards. If you wake up in the middle of the night and feel like there are bones touching your feet, it's not worth it to get scared."

"Killing people is not the right thing to do. His death will put an end to everything, but you will be haunted by nightmares. Just follow your original plan. Let your family be destroyed and your life be impoverished. Which one would not be more satisfying than killing someone with your own hands?"

Miss Wang Er was a little angry when she saw Shanyue didn't drink the warm tea: "Give it to me! I worked so hard to boil the water!"

Shanyue lowered her head and took a sip, but she felt as if a heavy weight had fallen from her heart: it seemed that her secret had been discovered by the second lady.

On this side, Shanyue didn't have time to kill Cheng Xinghe, but on the other side, Cheng Xinghe's slap almost hit her in the face.

"Is it you?" Cheng Xinghe stood in the flower room of the main hall of the inner courtyard with red eyes. He looked down at Shanyue with his arms spread out to encircle Shanyue in the chair, and clenched his fists tightly. The last bit of reason restrained him from taking action, trying his best to preserve He's flawless face: "Did you secretly hide the bronze mirror on the corpse!"

Shan Yue's shoulders trembled, as if she was frightened, and her voice was tinged with tears: "Why should I do this?"

These six short words made Cheng Xinghe dazed.

"Everything has its cause and effect. Why should I do this? What good will it do me?"

Shan Yue cried silently, tears immediately falling down: "If I destroy the first house, what can I gain? I have obviously already won the approval of you, the master and the mistress, and even the grandmother in Lord Liu's house likes me very much. I have a bright future. As long as the marriage contract is passed, I will be reborn. Why do I do these things?"

Cheng Xinghe slowly loosened his grip.

Shan Yue wiped his eyes with his sleeves: "I didn't study much, but I have worked my way up through all kinds of people. There is a saying that goes, whoever benefits the most is the real murderer! Think about it yourself, once the eldest master dies, if you are removed and only the wife is left in the eldest house, what kind of trouble can be caused? In this situation, who can benefit the most?"

Cheng Xinghe's mind flashed with the image of his second uncle standing on the coffin, holding a bronze mirror and showing off his power.

"Second Master Cheng has always wanted to control the lifeline of the Cheng family. Didn't he try to control the shopkeeper to change the source of medicine? Since he wants to change the source of medicine to his own, why wouldn't he bribe Doctor Cao who has always treated us, the maids who go in and out of the main hall, and the gatekeepers of the outer courtyard?"

Shan Yue sobbed and wiped her nose with a handkerchief. "I returned to the embroidery building at noon, and Wang Po in my room told me that I stayed in the main hall all night and did not go back. He Yao Niang downstairs even came to our house to ask where I was. Think about it, He Yao Niang is the niece of the second wife!"

Cheng Xinghe gradually calmed down and listened to Shanyue talking while she was crying. He felt that what she said made a lot of sense.

Is it true that bystanders see more clearly while those involved are more confused?

Cheng Xinghe was silent for a moment, then thought of another possibility, and said sternly: "Don't you have any complaints about the Cheng family sending you to the capital to get married? Not all girls in the embroidery building are willing to be manipulated by others! If you are resentful of this, it is not impossible for you to take revenge on us!"

Shan Yue sobbed but stopped crying. She slowly stood up and lowered her head to unbutton the buttons on her collar one by one.

"What do you want to do!" Cheng Xing frowned.

Shan Yue dropped his coat to his arms.

"I told you I came from all walks of life, but if you don't believe me, I'll just let you see it with your own eyes—"

Shanyue turned his back and showed Cheng Xinghe his back and arms.

Dense whip marks, brand marks, and the pink traces of new flesh growth are intertwined together.

"Think about it, I came from the fire, how could I want to go back?"

Shan Yue's voice was soft and sincere, but her eyes were slightly raised in a cold tone.

What she said was true.

Every word is true.

(End of this chapter)