Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 772 Unable to Survive
As Cui Yuan spoke, he bent down to pick up the rough porcelain wine cup that Li Guorui had thrown away. Perhaps because the ground was damp and muddy, the cup hadn't shattered from the fall, but it was covered in grime. Cui Yuan pulled a plain white handkerchief from the inside of his oilcloth and slowly and carefully wiped away the mud from the rim and inside of the cup, his movements as gentle as if he were handling a precious object.

Just as he picked up the prepared poisoned wine, preparing to pour it into the cleaned glass—

"No—!!" Li Guorui suddenly let out a bloodcurdling scream, "I don't want to drink it! I don't want to die! I can't die!!"

Cui Yuan didn't even lift his eyelids, as if he hadn't heard the dying wails. He poured himself half a cup of poisoned wine; the clear liquid swirled slightly in the rough porcelain cup, reflecting the flickering lamplight and exuding an aura of death. He gently placed the cup on the edge of the kang (heated brick bed) in front of Li Guorui, his voice eerily calm: "Young Marquis, please. Soon, it will all be over."

The will to survive was squeezed out by extreme fear. He sprang up from the corner, his withered hand swinging wildly, aiming hard at the wine glass in Cui Yuan's hand. Cui Yuan had anticipated this, and slightly lowered his wrist to avoid most of the force, but the wine glass was still knocked away and crashed into the wall.

The wine glass shattered, spilling poison that seeped into the filthy soil.

Like a dying, trapped beast, Li Guorui burst forth with astonishing speed, staggering toward the open prison door.

But as soon as he reached the doorway, he was easily stopped by the guards who stood like iron towers in the shadows. Two guards stepped out silently like ghosts, their iron-like hands gripping his withered arms tightly, pressing him against the cold wooden fence with effortless ease.

Li Guorui's face was pressed against the fence, twisted and deformed. He struggled desperately, his jagged body bursting out with its last bit of strength, but it was like an ant trying to shake a tree.

Unable to break free, Li Guorui descended into utter madness, letting out a heart-wrenching roar into the deep tunnel: "Let me go! Let me go! You dog slaves! How dare you dogs touch me?! Father! Father—! Save me! Save me! I don't want to die! Father! Save me!!"

A more aged and desperate response immediately came from the opposite cell. Marquis Wuqing, Li Mingcheng, had already been awakened and was now clinging desperately to the cell door bars. Hearing his son's utterly desperate cry, his heart broke, tears streaming down his face. He too screamed frantically, "Stop! Cui Yuan! Stop! My son is the Empress Dowager Cixi's grand-nephew! He's the Emperor's cousin! Officials are above the law! Cui Yuan! You can't kill him! You can't kill him!"

Cui Yuan seemed amused by the father and son's wails. He slowly took the pine torch from the wall, strolled to the door of Li Mingcheng's cell, and lit the oil lamps in the recesses on both sides of Li Mingcheng's cell. The flickering light spread out, barely illuminating this small area of ​​intertwined cages and Li Mingcheng's completely bloodless face.

Cui Yuan stuck the torch into the iron ring on the wall and leisurely walked to Li Mingcheng's cell door.

"His Majesty originally intended to show leniency. But alas, public opinion is in uproar, and the memorials from the officials are almost flooding the Imperial Secretariat." Cui Yuan pointed back at Li Guorui, who was being held firmly against the opposite prison door by two guards, his voice filled with undisguised mockery. "There's really no other way. Tonight, the young marquis must give the world an explanation." Cui Yuan paused, a smile he had just forgotten to reveal slowly appearing on his face. "Marquis of Wuqing, why don't you take this last moment to say a few intimate words to the young marquis? Say goodbye? It would be a way to fulfill the bond between father and son."

Li Mingcheng shook his head frantically, his gray hair disheveled: "Impossible! Absolutely impossible! The Emperor's word is law, his pronouncements are golden, how could he not protect my son?! It must be you, you eunuch, who forged the imperial edict and killed him! I want to see the Emperor! I want to see the Emperor!"

Cui Yuan let out a very soft sneer and curled his lip. He deliberately lowered his voice, as if sharing some secret: "My lord, you'd better believe what I'm saying. This will be good for you, and for the eldest son of your Li family."

Li Mingcheng suddenly reached out through the fence, trying to grab Cui Yuan's collar, but only grasped air. Cui Yuan nimbly took a step back and exaggeratedly patted his chest: "Oh dear, my lord, what are you doing? You've frightened me!"

"Eunuch Cui! Eunuch Cui!" Li Mingcheng gripped the fence tightly with both hands, knelt down, his nails almost digging into the wood: "I beg you! I beg you to report to the Emperor and strip me of my title! I don't want this hereditary title anymore, I don't want anything! Demote me to a commoner! I only beg for my son's life! Please spare him, spare him!"

Cui Yuan's face broke into a bright yet eerie smile: "My lord, what you're saying... you can't trade something that doesn't belong to you in the first place. The court was going to take back your title anyway." His smile vanished, and his voice turned cold and realistic, like a viper's hiss, "Besides, with the young lord dead, won't you and Young Master Li be safe? Hurry up and say goodbye, time is running out."

Li Mingcheng felt as if he had been struck by lightning; his heart clenched, but his protective instincts kept him clinging to a sliver of hope: "Imperial edict! Even if it's a death sentence, there must be an imperial edict! Produce the imperial edict! Without it, you are plotting against a member of the royal family!"

Li Mingcheng shouted hoarsely, but Cui Yuan sighed softly as if he had heard some ridiculous joke: "My lord, you are confused. The young marquis committed suicide out of fear of punishment, how could there be an imperial edict?"

"Suicide!?" Li Mingcheng exclaimed in shock.

“It’s so dark and gloomy deep in the dungeon that it’s perfectly normal for someone to have a moment of despair.” Cui Yuan ignored Li Mingcheng, who was slumped on the ground and weeping bitterly, and turned back to Li Guorui’s cell door.

He bent down slightly and looked into the eyes of Li Guorui, who was being pressed against the fence and whose eyes were bloodshot.

“Young Master,” Cui Yuan’s tone was even “gentle” at this moment, “Although you just spilled a cup of wine, there is still quite a bit left in this pot. How about it? Do you want to drink now? Drink it, take a nap, and everything will be over.”

"Get out! Get away!" Li Guorui struggled violently, his eyes filled with boundless hatred and fear, his teeth grinding together: "You spineless castrated dog! You wouldn't dare kill me! You absolutely wouldn't! Father! Father! Save me! Save me!"

"Looks like he's not going to accept the toast. Fine." Cui Yuan straightened up, shrugged indifferently, and said to the servant holding the hemp rope, "Let's help our young lord... to maintain some decorum."

A fierce glint flashed in the eyes of the constable. He nodded emphatically, took the rough hemp rope from his shoulder, skillfully made a noose, and then suddenly tightened it around Li Guorui's neck.

"No! Stop! My son!" Li Mingcheng, on the other side, was terrified and let out a heart-wrenching scream.

Cui Yuan remained expressionless, merely raising his chin slightly: "Make your move."

The constable no longer hesitated. He first wrapped the rope around his wrists several times, and once the rope was shortened and tightened, he raised one foot and stomped hard on Li Guorui's back. Then, he crossed his arms and pulled hard with all his might!
"Uh...ha..." All the sounds in Li Guorui's throat were instantly cut off, leaving only the terrifying gasps of someone suffocating and dying.

Li Guorui's body convulsed and struggled violently like a fish out of water. His eyeballs bulged outwards, filled with bloodshot veins, and his tongue stuck out uncontrollably. His face quickly changed from deathly pale to a horrifying purplish-red.

Li Mingcheng's cries, curses, and pleas echoed wildly through the corridor, mingling with Li Guorui's dying struggles, like a symphony of hell. Cui Yuan, a cold smile playing on his lips, watched with amusement as Li Guorui's face contorted in death, as if watching a magnificent drama. To him, Li Mingcheng's desperate cries sounded utterly delightful.

Just as Li Guorui's struggles were waning, his pupils were beginning to dilate, and he was about to breathe his last, Cui Yuan suddenly raised his hand: "Enough!"

Upon hearing the order, the guards immediately relaxed. Li Guorui took a deep breath and coughed violently. The filthy, foul air in the dungeon felt like sweet rain to him at that moment. He breathed it in greedily, his face covered in snot, tears, and saliva.

Cui Yuan leaned closer again, looking at his violently panting appearance as if he had just escaped death, and slowly asked, "Young Marquis, this feeling of being strangled is not pleasant, is it? It's a hundred or a thousand times more painful than poison. If you change your mind now and want to drink, this servant can let you drink. How about it?"

Li Guorui coughed so hard he almost vomited, and it took him a long time to recover. The extreme fear finally crushed his last shred of hope. He no longer resembled a marquis, but rather any dying mortal. His voice was hoarse and broken, filled with utter pleading: "I...I don't want to die...Please, please...spare me. I...I still have a cellar of gold hidden...only I know where it is...a thousand taels of gold, and a whole chest of jewels and antiques! You...you find me a scapegoat, find me a scapegoat! And I'll tell you...it's all yours!"

A sharp glint of greed flashed across Cui Yuan's eyes, but it vanished instantly, replaced by a stagnant calm: "A thousand taels of gold is a hundred catties. How could someone as precious as you bury it yourself? It must have been a trusted servant. I'll interrogate your personal servants thoroughly a few more times and find out."

"No! No!" Li Guorui shook his head desperately, afraid that this last bargaining chip would fail. "I've already found a way to kill the person who buried the gold! I've silenced them! Only I know about that place! Only I know!"

Cui Yuan narrowed his eyes: "Then tell me the location first. We can talk about the substitute death after I find the gold."

On his deathbed, Li Guorui's mind became unusually clear. He roared hoarsely, "No! I don't believe you! Let me go first! Or find a scapegoat to kill first, and then I'll tell you! What about... what about that bastard Li Guochen! All the Emperor wants is for my Li family to be accountable! He's also my father's son! Let him take the blame! Let him die in my place! All the money will be yours, all yours!"

Upon hearing this, Cui Yuan's fingers twitched slightly. After a moment of contemplation, he actually took the torch from the wall and walked to the dimly lit cell next door.

Inside the cell, a prisoner, dressed in tattered but slightly neater clothes, had already been awakened by the commotion outside and was now sitting silently in the darkness.

Cui Yuan held up a torch, illuminating the man's face, and called out, "Young Master!"

Li Guochen slowly rose and walked to the fence, his voice surprisingly calm: "Eunuch Cui, what are your orders?"

“Young Master, your dear brother wants you to die in his place. Name your price,” Cui Yuan held up one finger, a playful smile on his face: “What do you say?”

A faint trace of sorrow flashed across Li Guochen's eyes: "Ten thousand taels of silver?"

Cui Yuan blinked and nodded.

"Ha. You've already squandered all my savings over the years, there's nothing left." Li Guochen was very calm, even chillingly so. "If Eunuch Cui isn't afraid of future troubles, please give me that pot of poisoned wine."

"Oh?" Cui Yuan stared at him. "You're willing to die in his place?"

"What if I'm willing? What if I'm not? The Emperor gave the order, and you, Eunuch Cui, carried it out. I'm just an animal in this circle," Li Guochen raised his head, his gaze piercing through the bars, as if trying to see through the dungeon's dome: "just livestock waiting to be slaughtered."

Cui Yuan looked at him, remained silent for a moment, sighed softly, and said quite sincerely, "It's such a pity. Young Master, if you hadn't been born into the Li family, with your temperament and vision alone, you might have really achieved great things."

Li Guochen thought Cui Yuan was planning to have him die in his place, so he smiled and said, "To receive such praise from you, Eunuch Cui, before I die, I, Li... can say that my life has not been in vain."

Cui Yuan smiled and shook his head, offering no further comment. He turned and walked back to Li Guorui's cell door, ordering the guard holding the rope, "Make your move."

Li Guorui's pupils suddenly shrank to pinpoints, and he roared with his last ounce of strength, "No—! Only I really know where that money is! If you kill me, you'll get nothing!"

Cui Yuanli ignored him and simply repeated the order: "Make your move."

The constable holding the rope hesitated, clearly tempted by the promise of "one thousand taels of gold": "Sir, that's one thousand taels of gold!"

Cui Yuan abruptly interrupted him, his eyes sharp as knives: "You're alive to take it, but are you alive to spend it? Do it!"

The constable shuddered, his greed instantly suppressed by chilling fear. Without hesitation, he gritted his teeth and tightened the rope around Li Guorui's neck once more. He squeezed it with resolute force, as if to kill him!

"Ugh... cluck..." Li Guorui's pleas, threats, and curses were completely choked in his throat by the rope, leaving only a desperate "ho ho" sound.

Li Guorui's body gradually went limp. His eyes bulged out, staring intently at Cui Yuan, his increasingly faint life force filled with endless resentment and incomprehension.

Standing in the torchlight, Cui Yuan stared blankly at the scene before him. He listened to Li Mingcheng's distorted, inhuman cries from the cell behind him and Li Guochen's low sobs, which were neither crying nor laughing, from the cell beside him. Suddenly, he felt a little tired.

(End of this chapter)