Prime Minister

Chapter 236, Section 235: [Winning Hearts and Minds]

Inside the dungeon of the Yangzhou government office.

The iron gate creaked open with a sudden, heavy stench of decay mixed with a faint, almost imperceptible smell of blood, which enveloped us like cold tentacles.

The torches on the wall flickered, casting distorted shadows on the damp stone wall, and also illuminating the head-bowed figure on the rack.

Liu Ying's waist and feet were bound by specially made steel shackles from the Jing'an Division. They gleamed coldly, without a trace of rust, yet were heavy enough to crush any attempt to resist.

Her disheveled hair obscured her face, and although the wound on her shoulder blade had been hastily treated, blood was still faintly visible under the bandage. Her whole being exuded a lifeless stillness, as if all life had been drained from her.

Jiang Sheng and Qi Qingshi stood solemnly on either side, Xue Huai slowly stepped in, and the rest waited outside.

The heavy iron gate slammed shut, separating the inside from the outside into two worlds.

Xue Huai stopped a few steps away from Liu Ying, his gaze calmly falling on her as if examining a piece of porcelain covered in cracks.

After a moment, his calm voice, carrying a penetrating power, precisely struck Liu Ying's most sensitive nerve ending: "Your real name shouldn't be Liu Ying, right?"

The figure on the rack remained motionless, not even a ripple in its hanging hair. Only a barely perceptible pause in breathing indicated that the solidified exterior was not entirely stagnant.

Xue Huai didn't care about this silent resistance. He took a small step forward, the soles of his boots making a particularly clear sound on the slightly damp stone slabs.

He continued, “Actually, whether the name is real or not is indeed unimportant at this moment. A name is just a symbol, and an identity can be discarded at any time. For believers like you who lurk in the shadows, having already dedicated yourselves to that old patriarch who pretends to be gods and ghosts, abandoning your mortal name and discarding your past identity, you must have already regarded it as a natural sacrifice?”

"Ah……"

A very soft and cold chuckle escaped from beneath Liu Ying's lowered head, filled with weary mockery, as if laughing at his useless nonsense.

"You think I'm talking nonsense?"

Xue Huai seemed to see through her thoughts and said calmly yet sharply, "No matter what you call yourselves, your essence has remained the same throughout history. To gather people's hearts and develop your followers, you need a supreme, unquestionable, and mysterious being, which is the ancestor you worship. And those followers, including you, the Holy Maiden, are just tools, firewood, or even stepping stones in his hands."

His voice echoed in the cold prison cell, each word like a sharp blade piercing the depths of Liu Ying's heart.

But she remained unmoved and did not utter a word.

This reaction was clearly expected by Xue Huai. He said with piercing eyes, "I admit that this Jimintang is the most ingenious move by you, Liu Ying, or rather, the old ancestor behind you. Under the guise of helping the world and saving people, it is actually used to buy people's hearts, transfer funds, and weave networks. How many shady evils has this glittering shell concealed for you? How much fresh blood and money has it supplied to you? Have those people who are grateful to Jimintang ever thought about what kind of monster their gratitude and offerings are ultimately nourishing?"

Liu Ying's body involuntarily tensed up.

Jimintang was the culmination of half her life's work, a crucial cornerstone of her position as a saintess, and a pure land deep within her heart—a place distinct from pure darkness and slaughter—that she herself may not have fully realized.

At this moment, being so nakedly and precisely dissected by Xue Huai was like having one's most cherished sacred place defiled by foul language. A chill mixed with anger and helplessness spread from Liu Ying's spine.

What terrified her even more was that Xue Huai had already figured out the intricacies of the Holy Sect before he even began interrogating her, a level of understanding that Xu Zhiwei could never have achieved.

She suddenly raised her head, her eyes, bloodshot and visible through her disheveled hair, fixed on Xue Huai with the ferocity of a wounded beast. She said with disgust, "You corrupt official, what do you know? Ji Min Tang has saved countless lives; it is a truly righteous and benevolent act. How dare you slander it like this!"

"A good deed?"

Meeting her gaze, Xue Huai said in a deep voice without backing down, "Actually, you're right. Jimintang is indeed doing good deeds, but you also know in your heart that you're doing these good deeds to cover up the real evil. Furthermore, when the situation changes, the patriarch behind you will definitely abandon Jimintang without hesitation."

"Shut up!"

Liu Ying growled hoarsely, the shackles rattling slightly as her body trembled, and said sternly, "How dare you, a dog of an official, presume to know the true character of our ancestor!"

Xue Huai chuckled softly and said slowly, "Liu Ying, ever since I exposed Xu Zhiwei's poisoning, that old ancestor has begun to sever the relationship between Jimintang and the demonic cult behind the scenes. Are you truly unaware of this, or are you deceiving yourself? Since last month, Jimintang in various places, including the one in Yangzhou, has begun to experience financial difficulties. Many managers and doctors don't even understand why this is happening. Don't you know any of this?"

Liu was speechless, and at the same time, a sharp pain shot through her heart.

Xue Huai keenly noticed this crack in the dam of her heart.

Instead of immediately pursuing the matter, he changed the subject, his tone carrying an almost pitying undertone that was more damaging than any rebuke: "Liu Ying, you've been scheming to eliminate Xu Zhiwei, seeing her as a useless pawn that must be dealt with, but she's the one who truly inherited the meager kindness of Jimintang. Her request was simple yet noble; she wanted those poor people waiting for help to have medicine and treatment available."

Hearing him suddenly mention Xu Zhiwei, Liu Ying gritted her teeth secretly. That night, when she saw Xu Zhiwei again at Shen Garden, the other party's cold and resolute attitude made Liu Ying extremely resentful. After all, she had raised Xu Zhiwei like her own daughter for the past eighteen years, which was why she openly scolded Xu Zhiwei as an ingrate.

At this moment, Xue Huai leaned forward, his voice lower but each word carrying immense weight: "When you forced her to commit suicide, her last thought before death wasn't hatred for you, but concern that the patients who depended on Jimintang for survival would be left without support after her death. She assassinated me to avenge the blood feud you spoke of, but in the end, she chose to turn against me, only to obtain one condition: to plead with the government to allow Jimintang to survive, so that those poor people wouldn't lose all hope!"

Xue Huai paused, his gaze sharp as a knife, staring intently at Liu Ying as he said, "Even after you were captured, knowing your sins were grave, she still couldn't bear to see you suffer such torture and begged me to spare your life! Such leniency towards evil, Liu Ying, do you deserve it?"

"Boom!"

Liu Ying's head felt as if it had been struck by a heavy hammer.

Xu Zhiwei's eyes, which had been filled with despair yet had returned to calm, appeared clearly before her eyes.

And there was that piece of paper that read, "All conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows."

Liu Ying painstakingly managed Jimintang, certainly for the sake of the Holy Church and her own status, but didn't she also have a genuine desire to do something for those poor people?

This thought might have been faint, or even deliberately ignored by her, but at this moment, Xue Huai tore it open bloodily, and it formed a stark contrast with Xu Zhiwei's thoughts. The enormous impact instantly engulfed her.

"No... not..."

Liu Ying's chapped lips moved, uttering a few indistinct syllables in a hoarse voice. Cold sweat streamed down her forehead, mingling with tears that had flowed unnoticed, which slid down and dripped onto the cold shackles: "She betrayed the Holy Church first..."

Upon hearing the words "Holy Religion," Xue Huai finally felt relieved.

This is indeed a folk organization similar to the White Lotus Sect I knew in my previous life.

Instead of eagerly exploring the secrets of the demonic sect, he followed Liu Ying's words and questioned her: "What did she betray? Was it the mission you wove for her with lies? Was it her fate that you arbitrarily controlled and sacrificed? Or was it the duty that the so-called holy sect bestowed upon her, but which she never truly understood and was never allowed to understand?"

Liu Ying's body trembled violently, the shackles making a screeching sound, whether from anger or fear, it was unclear.

"Xu Zhiwei did not betray anyone; she simply broke the shackles that you used to forcibly bind her by taking advantage of your kindness in raising her."

Xue Huai calmly delivered his verdict, pausing briefly before solemnly stating, "What Xu Zhiwei truly cares about is the benevolence of a physician she learned from the old doctor at Jimintang, the grateful smiles of those poor and sick patients after being saved, and the reverence and cherishing of life that has always resided deep within her heart. Perhaps you once had such thoughts, but from the day you decided to have Xu Zhiwei assassinate me and then forced her to commit suicide, you became a complete and utter traitor."

"It's not like this!"

Liu Ying struggled in vain, and said in a shrill voice, "I was forced into this! I never wanted Zhiwei to die, she just couldn't seize the opportunity! Otherwise... I spent so much effort raising her and making her a renowned young female doctor in Jiangnan, what was the point of all that?"

"You know why."

Xue Huai shook his head and said with a hint of disgust, "Do you really think Xu Zhiwei hates you to the bone? No, the last look she gave you that night was less hatred and more utter disappointment and a trace of pity, because she saw through your hypocrisy and despicable nature hidden beneath your reputation for goodness all this time. For your own status and power, you didn't hesitate to kill someone who regarded you as a mother."

"Liu Ying, why don't you ask yourself honestly, who betrayed whom? Was it Xu Zhiwei who betrayed you, the traitors hiding in the shadows, or did you betray the self that once harbored some desire to save the world?"

"So... Xu Zhiwei doesn't hate you. She just feels sorry for you, that you've lost your way in power and status, and that you've been used and enslaved by the lies of that so-called ancestor, just like what you've done to Xu Zhiwei in the past six months!"

"puff--!"

Liu Ying could no longer endure this interrogation, which was more cruel than any other form of torture.

A metallic taste suddenly surged up her throat, and a mouthful of dark red blood gushed out, staining her filthy prison clothes and the cold ground.

"You corrupt official, I'm going to kill you! I'm going to kill you! Kill you!"

Liu Ying stared intently at Xue Huai like a demon, struggling almost frantically, but her injured body could not budge the shackles around her.

Xue Huai stared silently at her hideous face and uttered a few words without hesitation.

"Who is the one who truly deserves to be killed?"

(End of this chapter)