Chapter 92: Borrowing a Knife to Kill

  Zhongrui Wang carelessly glanced over, his eyes touched Su Ying's body, and the hand holding the cloak suddenly tightened.

  Su Ying's gaze swept over the yellow ribbon on his waistband, seeing that they didn't intend to reveal their identity. He glanced at Fu Ye Yang and silently paid his respects to Zhong Rui Wangye, who replied "no need for formalities". Only then did he rise and withdraw to a side room.

  Lowering her eyelids, Su Heng saw Zhong Rui Wangye today just like when she first saw the living and breathing Zhong Rui Wangfei appear before her.

  For Su Ying, she crossed over from her real world to the world of the game she played. But for the people here, the original game character was once a living being, and she had also suspected that those people who seemed to be old acquaintances were not in the same real world as her before.

  Perhaps for Chen Wanqiu or Qingyuan, this is just a hollow world.

  Su Ying quickly collected her emotions and stood aside as a wallflower.

  Chen Wanqiu smiled slightly and bid farewell to Su Ying, she didn't leave with Prince Zhongrui, perhaps it was to avoid suspicion, Su Ying thought.

  Zhong Rui Wangye also left, and before he did, his eyes lingered on Su Ying's body for a moment, still pretending to be gentle and virtuous. After turning around, his lips suddenly pursed into a straight line. When they exited the wine tower, he seemed to ask casually, "It seems that Yongwu Hou and his wife are indeed deeply in love."

  The eunuch who followed him was very familiar with the conversation: "This slave has heard that the Marquis of Yongwu has just had a pair of twins, but it's rare. His wife is the eldest daughter of Su, the left censor-in-chief of the Ducha Yamen, and she has been married to the Marquis of Yongwu for five years without giving birth to any children. Now she can finally hold her head high."

  "I remember Zuodu Yu Shi is Su Wen Zheng?"

  "It's him."

  She also surnamed Su. Zhongrui Wangye took over the whip handed over by the inner attendant, "This year's big election, does the Su family have a talented girl participating?"

  The eunuch was shocked in his heart. Why would the king suddenly ask about Xiū Girl without any reason? Could it be that he has taken a liking to Miss Sū, this Sū family is truly lucky.

  The King of Zhongrui glanced over faintly, and the inner attendant trembled, hastily saying: "Yes. She is the eldest daughter of Mr. Su's legitimate son, her father being a fourth-rank official in the Imperial Academy." As an inner attendant, one must be able to answer any question from their master to be truly exceptional.

  "Oh."

  This eunuch is unsure what the meaning of King Zhong Rui's words is. If he wasn't interested, he wouldn't have asked out of nowhere. But if he was interested, why did his tone sound so unenthusiastic?

  The King of Zhongrui sprang onto his horse, the whip cracking loudly on the horse's buttocks. The fine horse let out a loud whinny as it galloped away, followed closely by the guards disguised as ordinary civilians.

  Returned to the Wang Fu. Today, according to the rules, it should be staying in the main courtyard of the Wang Fei, and Zhong Rui Wang Ye had shown his face once when the Wang Fei was hosting a banquet in the main courtyard, which was considered giving face to the Wang Fei. The inner attendant thought that Zhong Rui Wang Ye would not give face to the Wang Fei again this time, but unexpectedly he did not go to the main courtyard, instead hurrying towards the study. At this point, he did not dare to speak out, as it was not his place to interfere with the master's affairs.

  The eunuch followed closely behind, his waist bent in a bow. The lanterns along the way cast a dazzling glow. Just as they were turning a corner, a figure flashed by, and it was unmistakably a woman's shadow. The eunuch's heart skipped a beat, and when he looked up again to get a clear view of the person's face, his eyes widened in shock, like a copper bell ringing out, and his mouth opened wide as he stuttered out a single word: "Su". The rest of his words were swallowed back down. He had seen the shadow!

  The eunuch suppressed the shock in his heart and shouted in a low voice, "Who's there!" It was really too much like him. The eunuch didn't dare to look at Prince Zhongrui's expression, but he was secretly relieved that he had reacted quickly just now. If he had shouted out the three words "Su Ce Fei", his life might not have been spared.

  The King of Zhongrui's eyes were like a sharp sword, his phoenix eyes narrowed slightly, and he shot towards the woman.

  The woman stared at the piercing gaze, still calm and composed, stepped in front of Prince Zhongrui, her eyes like dots of ink, her eyebrows and eyes made up with a few more strokes of beauty, smiling without speaking, looking charming and affectionate. The peacock blue and red gemstone white pearl step shake gold phoenix on her head was particularly dazzling under the lamp light. She wore a long dress with a wide hem in emerald green, golden flowers and silver blue, this color that did not lose its brightness made her look even more charming and beautiful.

  "Your Highness." The voice was soft and gentle, without a hint of fear, with a subtle flirtatious tone, as she elegantly bowed her head in greeting.

  It really is too similar, the imperial attendant sighed in his heart, but after sighing, he looked at that charming and beautiful woman with a hint of disdain and a thread of sympathy.

  Originally, Su Ce Fei was a taboo in front of the king, but this person who imitated her must have put in a lot of effort. The question is, where did she learn to imitate from?

  The loyal and wise prince did not wake up, so the woman maintained her posture of eternal prosperity, with her hands clenched into fists and then overlapping at her waist to the left, with her knees open and her forehead bowed. This posture was not comfortable at all.

  Qing Wan had been waiting here for a while, and she was not wearing enough thick clothes. In order to show off her outfit, she didn't even wear a cloak, and the cold night wind made her head jump up and down, her face turned pale, and her lips were frozen purple.

  Fortunately, she abandoned her original light makeup and elegant attire to make herself look more like that, applied heavy makeup, and put on the crimson color that she would never apply on a normal day, making her originally gentle and beautiful face become charming.

  She abandoned her self-esteem, trampled her dignity underfoot, as long as she could become superior to others. Qingwen didn't think it was wrong to imitate a dead person. She had suffered enough from being out of favor. If she succeeded this time, she would not let go of those who had despised her!

  Feeling the scorching gaze of Zhong Rui Wangye on her, Qing Wan's lips curled up slightly, but before she could feel proud, a piercing pain spread through her shoulder. As she fell onto the cold bluestone floor, Qing Wan finally came to her senses. She hadn't even had time to react when she heard a cold voice from above: "Good, very good!"

  "King, King Ye?" Qing Wan suddenly lifted her head in disbelief and unwillingness to look at Zhong Rui Wang Ye, what was wrong with him?

  Her face was pale and frightened, her eyes brimming with tears of pain, yet she still looked like that. It made Wangye Chongrui even more disgusted, his hand clenched tightly as if he was trying to suppress the anger burning inside him.

  His gaze swept from head to toe over Qing Wan, that familiar style piercing the eyes of Zhong Rui Wang Ye, "You wretch!"

  Qing Wan bit her lip to death, closed her eyes and fainted. The candlelight shone on the handsome face of Zhong Rui Wang Ye, highlighting his slightly gloomy eyes, making people tremble with fear. "Go bring everyone to me, I want to see who dares to be presumptuous in my mansion."

  Zhong Rui Wangye narrowed his eyes, seemingly still seething with anger in his chest. Finally, he fixed his gaze on Qing Wan, who was lying on the ground, his eyes cold and unfeeling as if looking at a lifeless object.

  The eunuchs and others had already knelt down. Although they were mentally prepared, they did not expect the prince to be so angry, and they felt a chill all over their bodies.

  Qing Wan was awakened by a scream. Before she could even focus on where she was, she heard what sounded like another scream coming from next door.

  "I was wrong, I was wrong, Your Highness spare my life, spare my life...!" Then there were the sounds of knocking heads on the ground.

  Qing Wan's pupils suddenly constricted. She had figured it out, that was her maid Yulu, she remembered. It was all because of Yulu's instigation that she imitated Su Ce Fei, and somehow got some trivial details about Su Ce Fei's attire, she spent half a month to gradually transform herself into another person!

  Qing Wan tried to open her mouth to speak, but found that it was blocked. As soon as she moved, she heard the sound of iron chains clanking. She shook her head to observe and only then realized that she should be locked in a prison-like place.

  A cold wind carrying snowflakes drifted in through the narrow window, her teeth chattering with fear and cold. She was only wearing a thin dress, and tears fell from her eyes as she could only make a low humming sound. The empty cell had only herself, but the muffled cries from next door pierced her ears.

  Qing Wan immediately heard the voice of Zhong Rui Wang Ye, full of murderous intent: "Beheaded."

  The sound of "peng peng", the mournful cry gradually weakened, Qing Wan was shocked to see the bright red blood flowing in through the door gap, the scarlet blood, the more and more intense bloody smell, and from that side came a cold "the king is dead", the impact on Qing Wan was really too great, it scared her into urination.

  The intense pain on her body made her dizzy, Qingwen tightly closed her eyes, forcing herself not to look or listen, but those voices followed her like a shadow, and the crimson blood slowly flowed in front of her, emitting heat, Qingwen could smell the strong bloody odor right in front of her.

  The intermittent sounds from the neighboring cell stopped after a while, and Qing Wan's spirit was on the verge of collapse. Her eyes were unfocused, and she couldn't even cry anymore. After that, there was complete silence from the neighboring cell.

  In the empty and dimly lit prison cell, there was no light, only darkness. However, it was precisely this darkness that allowed her to hear the howling of the cold wind outside, like a mournful cry. Qing Wan tightly closed her eyes, unaware of why the prince had locked her up here. Was it simply because she had impersonated Su Ce Fei?

  Is he just trying to show off his deep feelings? Qing Wan thought of mocking him, but her mouth was gagged with a cloth strip, and every movement made her feel like sandpaper.

  In this case, Qing Wan fell into a daze and dozed off, during which she was woken up by the cold several times. The last time she woke up, she heard a rustling sound, and she shrank her body to listen carefully, only to find that it was coming from within her own cell.

  Qingwen recalled the TV drama she had watched before, and the rustling sound in the cell was what kind of creature made it, she didn't know if it was psychological, Qingwen felt that her ankle was being bitten, she shook her head with a hum, her two legs kicked wildly, causing the iron chain tied to her ankle to make a clattering sound, which was particularly jarring in the quiet night.

  When Qing Wan heard the sound again, she had already been in a daze for an unknown amount of time. The people below were afraid that she would freeze to death and let her lie on a thick layer of dry grass. As for her clothes and jewelry, they were still considered extremely eye-catching by Zhong Rui Wang Ye, so someone was ordered to strip them off her.

  Her eyes were unfocused for a moment before they refocused, and she saw who was standing in front of her.

  The King of Zhongrui wrapped in a large cloak made of black sable, inside was a straight-bodied cotton-padded robe with a silver-white wind-rolling pattern on a navy blue background. Even in this cramped and dark prison cell, he couldn't hide his radiant aura.

  Qing Wan had a moment of daze, she thought of the scene when she first met Zhong Rui Wang Ye, his youthful vigor and recklessness, his sharp eyebrows and eyes shining in the sunlight made her unable to open her eyes. Although she had been thinking of using him to escape her miserable life, she had used all her skills to make him infatuated with her, but she couldn't control her own heart, and had developed a good impression of him. But why did it become like this now? What was the reason?!

  The King of Zhong Rui looked at Qing Wan as if she was a lowly ant. He felt that even looking at her once would sully his own eyes. Qing Wan's entire body was stiff, but her face was burning hot. Someone came over and removed the cloth tied around her mouth, and poured her a cup of hot water.

  Qing Wan had never felt so humiliated before. With her chin pinched, she was forced to drink hot tea, and the hand on her chin made her feel nauseous, but she couldn't move at all, especially in front of Wangye Zhongrui, it was as if her skin was being peeled off, extremely uncomfortable.

  "Who are you?" Prince Zhong Rui narrowed his phoenix eyes, and his voice was like a knife that directly pierced Qing Wan's heart.

  A flash of panic flickered in Qingwen's eyes. Despite her efforts to conceal it, Zhongrui Wangye had caught on. Her fingernails dug into her palm, and the originally pale skin was already scratched and bruised. "I... I don't understand your meaning, Your Highness," she stammered. "If you're displeased with my impersonation of Consort Su, why not just abandon me or kill me outright? Why must you humiliate me so?"

  Snap.

  Qing's face was slapped to one side. Her cheek swelled up high, the metallic taste drilled into her mouth, her ears buzzed, and her mind went blank.

  Chong Rui Wang Ye took over the handkerchief handed over by the inner attendant and carefully wiped his fingers, then casually threw the handkerchief into the brazier.

  "'No coffin, no tears,' Prince Zhong Rui's voice was as cold as ice. Qing Wan had indeed succeeded in enraging him. 'I didn't know that an uneducated and coarse person like you would have such great talent for poetry and literature! Should I praise your innate genius?'"

  Qing Wan was stunned, she had no memory of her original body when she crossed over, she wanted to get rid of that crying life as soon as possible, so she took a risk, but unexpectedly she exposed herself from the very beginning. Did he suspect himself from the start? Qing Wan's lips trembled, and her expression showed signs of impending collapse.

  "You have the audacity to plagiarize the talents of your predecessors, if it weren't for... I, the king, would not have known that you are nothing but a mere empty fame, indeed you are despicable!"

  The tone of Zhong Rui Wangye's words was very strange, and she spat out a mouthful of blood. She had never thought that it might be someone else who had exposed her, and her first thought was that Chen Wanqiu had betrayed and framed her. For the past two days, she had been frightened and fearful, and the bloody smell lingered for a long time. Her dignity had been trampled into the mud, and all these things made her suppressed anger towards Chen Wanqiu burst out, without needing Zhong Rui Wangye to guide her anymore.

  A faint, mournful smile appeared on her face, and her voice was shrill and piercing to the ear: "Is it not that cheap thing Chen Wanqiu? The king thinks she is so pure and innocent, but she's just a prostitute!"

  "Shut up!" In Qingyan's eyes, Zhongrui Wangye was just defending Chen Wanqiu. How could Qingyan be willing to let that happen? She sneered: "I want to say it, Chen Wanqiu has become a prostitute, and she still wants to set up a memorial archway. How can such a good thing in the world be monopolized by that cheap person?"

  "She said I plagiarized, but isn't she the same? That 'The Legend of the Condor Hero' is actually Chen Wanqiu's plagiarism from others. How come the king didn't suspect her, a young lady who never leaves the house, could write something like this?"

  Qing Wan was almost frantic, her face twisted in a scowl. "Not only that, Chen Wanqiu's greenhouse, glass soap, which one is not plagiarized from others' wisdom! She's just a cheap person! The prince must have been seduced by her too, but what she really wants to seduce is the emperor, the prince is just her stepping stone to get close to the emperor, haha!"

  "Chong Rui Wang Ye sneered: 'Do you think I will believe you just because you say so?'"

  Qing Wan's eyes were brimming with tears as she grasped Chen Wanqiu's hand, her complex emotions swirling together in a mix of sadness and despair. She forced a faint smile: "When a person is about to die, their words are always good. Chen Wanqiu is a thousand-gold missus; if we hadn't come from the same place, how would someone like me have ever met her, known so much about her?"

  "I don't have her ambition, and I was lucky to be saved by the king from a desperate situation. My heart is small, I only want to follow the king, I am sincere and true to the king, how could I possibly wish to bring harm to the king?"

  Two lines of clear tears flowed down, "It was all my fault for being too greedy, wanting to get the king's favor, and foolishly believing in the rumors of others, imitating Su Ce Fei. Now that I've ended up like this, it's also because I was too blindly optimistic."

  Qing Wan was willing to humble herself to dust, molding herself into a devoted person. To her, Prince Zhong Rui was her god, her everything. She never thought of harming Prince Zhong Rui, even if he asked her to die, she would be willing, sweet as honey, just hoping that the prince wouldn't be deceived by petty people.

  It was heart-wrenching to see her like this, but unfortunately Qing Wan had forgotten her current situation. The cramped prison cell reeked of blood and urine. Half of her face was swollen, her hair disheveled and dirty. When tears fell, they also washed away the thick makeup on her face, making her look even more unsightly.

  Besides, what was said earlier in a frantic tone can't be taken as if it wasn't said.

  Zhong Rui Wangye fell silent for a moment, his voice no longer as cold and stern as before: "This king will believe you this once."

  Qing Wan was first delighted and then shocked. She fell limp on the haystack.

  With such a beginning, no matter what King Zhongrui asked next, Qingwen would not say anything, biting her teeth and saying everything she knew. She didn't naively think that King Zhongrui would really let her off, now she was thinking of how to drag Chen Wanqiu down with her.

  Actually, Qingwen didn't know much about Chen Wanqiu's affairs, but one thing she was certain of was that Chen Wanqiu had extremely ruthless methods. She must have been protected by a treasure similar to a portable space.

  She thought of the female leads in the novels she had read before, whose personal spaces were usually a bangle or some other decorative item. Qing Wan had paid special attention to the accessories Chen Wanqiu often wore and indeed found out that Chen Wanqiu always wore a certain bangle, which she believed was Chen Wanqiu's space.

  Qing Wan had an idea to die with Chen Wanqiu, and her spirit was also on the verge of collapse. She made a seven-part true and three-part false statement about her and Chen Wanqiu's past. She didn't say that Chen Wanqiu had space. She only said that Chen Wanqiu knew magic, in order to make Zhongrui Wangye and the Emperor wary of Chen Wanqiu, such a threat should not exist.

  "There are still people like me and Chen Wanqiu. There may be more than just the two of us, Chen Wanqiu once said that there were others, but she couldn't find them. At first, it was she who took the initiative to find me, forcing me to say that if I didn't cooperate with her, she would expose my plagiarism."

  "But I didn't expect that Chen Wanqiu was such a woman! She thought I was useless, so she wanted to use your hand, Prince Wang, to get rid of me, wanting to kill me by borrowing a knife!" Any man cannot tolerate being played with by a woman, let alone a powerful and arrogant man who has always regarded women as playthings. Qingyan doesn't believe that Prince Zhongrui won't be enraged and will still be deceived by Chen Wanqiu!

  Tit for tat, Qing Wan twitched the corner of her mouth, pulling on her swollen cheek, and she didn't dare to make a sound.

  Zhong Rui Wangye looked down at Qing Wan with a condescending gaze, left behind a sentence "take care of yourself" and walked out.

  Qing Wan didn't even have time to call out to him, her throat was blocked as if something was stuck in it, she didn't even have the strength to say a few more words, and with a tilt of her head, she fainted.

  It's also true that Qing Wan hasn't eaten a single grain of rice since she was locked up, and only drank a cup of water, which was also a favor to let her speak. The physical torture is painful, but the mental torture can make her hold on to say so many words, it's all because she wants to bite Chen Wanqiu to death, hatred.

  The King of Zhongrui walked into the next room, and the Emperor was wearing a large cloak and holding a hand warmer, with two charcoal basins lit beside him, and even the tea fragrance wafted, not at all like being in a cramped prison cell, but rather still in the magnificent golden palace.

  Seeing his younger brother come out, the emperor looked at his dark face and smiled: "You are so charming, I'm even jealous as your older brother."

  "I'm no match for the Emperor, they're here because of him." Zhongrui Wangye was not afraid of the Emperor and would not take this loss, so he immediately retorted back.

  The emperor nodded, and soon recovered, saying: "It seems that making a breakthrough from her will not yield much." Qingyuan said those things they already knew more than half of, except for the fact that they were transmigrated, originally their guess was that they were reincarnated. "You're too impatient."

  His Majesty naturally knew the reason for Prince Zhong Rui's anxiety, he was a good brother and wouldn't rub salt in his little brother's wounds. He stood up: "Next, we should still take a long-term view."

  "Heh heh, it's not me who's being looked at with suspicion, I'm in no hurry." Crown Prince Zhong Rui raised an eyebrow and gazed at the Emperor, speaking slowly.

  The emperor's face was thick-skinned and he didn't take it seriously: "Let's just consider it a form of entertainment."

  "Oh." Zhong Rui Wangye narrowed his eyes and added, "To win someone's heart, to grow old together without parting. This leisurely life indeed has a poetic charm."

  "Your Majesty: '...'. Where is the fraternal affection and respect I imagined?"

  ps：

  Selling cute as usual (＝^^＝)