Denghuangtai

Deep inside the imperial prison, the candlelight flickered and nearly went out, making the four walls appear even more gloomy.

Pei Qingyan rubbed his wrists desperately, but the ropes were too tight. He struggled for a long time to no avail. Instead, the wound on his wrist, which had been bandaged with great difficulty, was torn open again, and the ropes dug into his flesh once more.

The sack of earth was pressing against her chest, making each breath incredibly difficult. At that moment, she felt as if she were submerged in water; her hands and feet were cold, her breathing weak, and if it weren't for a faint warmth still lingering in her chest, she would probably have already lost consciousness.

Pei Qingyan, panting heavily, turned his head to stare at the flickering candlelight beyond the railing, through layers of shadows.

"Help……"

These two words almost exhausted all her strength, and they came out as a whisper, barely audible even to herself. Not to mention the guards inside the hall at the entrance, even those standing outside the railings might not have been able to hear her faint movement.

The adjacent cell, whether intentionally or unintentionally, has been empty since she was imprisoned there; there was no one to call for help for her.

The previous wails disappeared, and all was silent. Pei Qingyan was pressed down on the haystack by the sacks of earth. The nausea of ​​suffocation washed over her like a tide, slowly overwhelming her consciousness.

Pei Qingyan stared at the increasingly blurry candlelight, a sense of resentment spreading from his heart to every part of his body.

She wanted to live!

Pei Qingyan gritted her teeth and twisted her body desperately, just to turn over.

She'll have a chance if she turns over.

But how easy is it to say?

Those who wanted her dead were willing to risk everything to infiltrate the imperial prison and attack her; they were clearly aiming to take her life. Having already set a deadly trap, why would they give her any chance to survive?

The sack of earth she was carrying weighed at least as much as two strong, adult men.

The sheer power of this overwhelming force would be difficult for even Pei Qingyan at his peak to directly withstand. How much more so for her, injured and with her hands bound?

difficult.

Pei Qingyan tilted her head back, the veins on her neck throbbing, her heavy breathing making her throat burn. Cold sweat trickled down her temples, soaking the stray hairs on her forehead, and her clothes on the back were already drenched. Her breathing became increasingly difficult, and her vision gradually blurred.

She wanted to live.

This thought, like a faint yet persistent flame, suddenly surged in her fading consciousness.

Pei Qingyan bit her tongue hard, and the sweet and metallic taste of blood spread in her mouth. Stimulated by the pain, her fading consciousness returned.

The mountain of corpses and sea of ​​blood piled up by 30,000 soldiers pierced Pei Qingyan's heart like a sharp thorn, and the bugle calls from the battlefield of yesteryear seemed to echo in his ears again.

Prepare for battle! Prepare for battle!

She wants to live!

Only by living can we seek justice for the 30,000 heroic souls and wash away the stain on the Pei clan.

She was everyone's last hope.

If she dies, the entire Pei family, with their thirty thousand heroic souls, will truly be buried forever in the narrow passage along the river, never to see the light of day again.

Pei Qingyan slammed into the air with ferocity, once, twice...

Finally, with a muffled thud, she fell off the haystack, the sack of dirt burying her beneath her. She was soaked in sweat, as if she had been pulled from the water, with water droplets constantly dripping from her nose and forehead.

Pei Qingyan lay on the ground, panting heavily. Her eyes, which had once shone like stars, were now bloodshot. Her hands were pressed tightly against her forehead, her knuckles turning white, but she could not suppress the dizziness and tinnitus brought on by the near suffocation.

Not only her head, but her internal organs also felt as if they were being crushed and torn apart, causing her to cough incessantly, and when she coughed hard, she would also gag.

She huddled on the ground, the flickering candlelight outside the bars casting her frail, seemingly fragile shadow on the cold, mottled brick wall. She was still coughing and vomiting, as if she wanted to cough up her lungs and entrails. The heart-wrenching cries, one after another, mingled with the eerie wind blowing through the hall, drifted beyond the bars and swirled within the gloomy prison.

Yun Zheng stood quietly in the shadows, his cold gaze fixed on Pei Qingyan as he watched her hunched over, coughing so hard she looked like a stray dog.

"My lord?" The chief clerk, sensing Yun Zheng's thoughts, asked in a low voice, "Shall I go and investigate?"

Yun Zheng remained silent, but the cold, murderous intent emanating from him was undisguised.

The chief clerk understood immediately, bowed his head, and quietly withdrew.

Outside, the wind and snow intensified, with the gale howling and roaring.

Inside the Princess's residence, a female official in green robes hurried along the covered walkway, heading straight for the main hall.

The room was warm and cozy. The eldest princess knelt before the incense table, her jade-like fingers holding an incense shovel, carefully filling the mold in the center of the incense burner with incense powder.

The female official pushed open the door and entered, bringing in the wind and snow from outside.

"Your Highness, news has come from the Imperial Prison that our men have failed." The female official's voice was tense, her head bowed, not daring to look up, her fingers tightly gripping the hem of her clothes, her heart pounding.

In her nervousness and panic, she disregarded the rules and stole glances at the princess's expression.

The princess remained calm, but her hand paused slightly. Before she knew it, the incense shovel had gone astray, and the mold had shifted, causing the lotus pattern to become crooked and messy.

"Not dead?" The princess asked indifferently, her tone revealing neither joy nor anger.

"Yes." The lady-in-waiting lowered her head even further, awaiting the princess's punishment.

Unexpectedly, the princess simply said, "I know," and then fell silent. The room became eerily quiet, with only the relentless pounding of the wind and snow against the windowpanes.

The female official dared not breathe. Although she was in a warm room, a chill rose from her head and penetrated to her bones, causing her body to tremble uncontrollably.

thump!

The female official knelt on the ground, her eyes filled with terror, her voice trembling: "Your Highness, please spare my life. I promise I will never fail again."

The eldest princess looked down at the mess of incense powder, and after a long while, slammed the incense burner onto the table. "Fix it."

After saying that, she got up and walked outside. The old woman beside her quickly followed, walking slowly along the corridor towards the back hall.

The snow outside was falling even more heavily. The princess stopped and stared blankly at the snow piled up on the eaves.

"Your Highness, is this matter likely to succeed?"

The eldest princess remained silent, gazing into the distance through the layers of walls and courtyards. After a long while, she slowly spoke: "Success depends on man, but planning is up to Heaven."

"Come out and talk, stop hiding."

Inside the prison, the draft still howled through the hall. Pei Qingyan sat on a haystack, her gaze falling on a patch of dark red blood that had just seeped onto the ground—the blood she had just coughed up.

Although the taste of blood still lingered in her throat and her chest burned with pain, her eyes were clear and her mind was even more lucid than when she first entered the prison.

The surroundings were quiet, and her words did not cause a ripple; no one responded to her.

A few moments later, Pei Qingyan turned his head, his gaze fixed on the shadows beyond the railing, and said, "What? Even the dignified Grand Minister of Works has to resort to self-deception? Or do you really think that hiding in the shadows and remaining silent will fool others?"

Although it was dark and she couldn't see anyone, she spoke with certainty, convinced that Yun Zheng was standing there.

It remained deathly silent.

Pei Qingyan didn't urge him, but just stared at that spot.

After a long while, a cold laugh finally drifted out from the shadows.

"You have good ears."

Yun Zheng didn't ask Pei Qingyan how she knew of his existence. Having known each other for over a decade, he naturally knew Pei Qingyan's abilities and knew that as a martial artist, she had extraordinary hearing.

However, he did not expect that, with his life hanging by a thread, Pei Qingyan would still be able to pay attention to the surrounding movements.

Yun Zheng emerged from the shadows, hands behind his back, and stopped outside the railing. He glanced down at Pei Qingyan on the haystack, his tone undisguisedly sarcastic: "Even as a prisoner, General Pei still has that arrogant look on his face. Aren't you afraid of making a few more enemies in Chang'an?"

"Having too many lice doesn't weigh you down."

Upon hearing this, Yun Zheng chuckled, "General Pei has quite the composure."

"Having escaped death, the mindset..." Pei Qingyan paused, a slight smile playing on his lips, his tone light and cheerful, "is naturally good. As for the Grand Commandant, he's probably having a terrible headache right now, isn't he?"

"Me?" Yun Zheng sneered, a murderous intent surging between his brows. "Seeing that you're still alive is indeed a headache for me. After all..." He paused, then gritted his teeth and said, "I wish you were dead right here in front of me."

"But you won't let me die." Pei Qingyan interrupted him, her tone still firm.

"In the entire city of Chang'an, no one wants me dead more than you and your aunt, Empress Dowager Yun. But before the Pei family was convicted, you were also the ones in the entire city who least wanted me to die. If I die, how can you rightfully pin all the blame on the Pei family? Based on the Pei family's military achievements and the merits of generations who died on the battlefield, a hundred years from now, there will surely be people who will speak out for the Pei family."

Yun Zheng, not wanting to beat around the bush with Pei Qingyan, asked directly, "So, what do you want?"

I want you.