Fish Meat – Chapter 85
by Little PandaThe Ninth Year of Shenchu
Runing’s Winds and Clouds (Part 11)
“Wei Zizhuo.” Yan Ye’s cane slowly moved away from Wei Tingxu’s chin, tracing the shape of her face along her cheek, “I have seen your portrait; your fox-like face is exactly the same as in the painting. I heard your leg is crippled and you cannot walk.”
Yan Ye held the cane, pacing with a voice that rose and fell.
With her hands tied behind her back, Wei Tingxu remained silent from beginning to end, her expression unchanged. She lay on the ground, sweat slowly trickling down her cheeks.
Zhen Wenjun recalled the entire kidnapping process; she indeed had not watched from start to finish. She only saw Li Yanyi get down from the carriage and enter the restaurant, then saw her guard standing at the room’s door, naturally assuming Li Yanyi was already inside. She did not personally witness what happened inside the room, nor did she see Li Yanyi go in. But if the person inside was Wei Tingxu, why was Li Yanyi’s guard standing outside? The Teng brothers kidnapped the wrong person, Wei Tingxu, so what about Li Yanyi? Li Yanyi couldn’t have disappeared into thin air from the room. Or was it that during the Teng brothers’ process of taking her out of the restaurant, or even when they reached the black market, the person was swapped? No… that also doesn’t make sense. With Wei Tingxu’s crippled legs, she simply couldn’t walk on her own, and even if she wanted to replace Li Yanyi, it couldn’t have been done without anyone noticing, swapping such a big living person from the Teng brothers’ grasp.
No four-wheeled cart, no Xiaohua, no Lingbi, Wei Tingxu inexplicably appeared in the sack that should have contained Li Yanyi. Zhen Wenjun was baffled, unable to comprehend how this puzzling scene occurred, no matter how hard she thought about it.
Zhen Wenjun’s mind was in a mess, unable to find where the end of that ball of yarn was.
Yan Ye had already walked behind Wei Tingxu, raising the cane high and bringing it down heavily on Wei Tingxu’s legs. With this strike, Yan Ye used full force, staring at Wei Tingxu to observe her reaction, seemingly testing if her legs were truly disabled.
Yan Ye’s hand was ruthless with the cane, and even a person with agile legs could potentially be crippled by him.
Wei Tingxu’s body only slightly trembled, which was a normal reflex, as she lay there quietly, seemingly without feeling. She had no guard and could not stand, yet she was surrounded by five men. Zhen Wenjun did not know how all this had happened, but she knew she couldn’t let the Xie family people torture her.
Zhen Wenjun quietly retreated from the beam, touching her face as she did so; the mask was still there. At this moment, she needed to make a quick decision: should she appear with or without the mask? If she didn’t wear it, Wei Tingxu and Yan Ye would immediately recognize her, but if she continued wearing it, as soon as she spoke, these two would also identify her voice. This would bring her great trouble. If Wei Tingxu asked about the mask, how would she explain? Wait, she was originally just following Li Yanyi’s orders, and wearing a human skin mask to avoid detection actually made sense. But wait, the main issue wasn’t why she wore it, but how she possessed this disguise technique! That day, Wei Tingxu immediately saw through Yue family’s Ah Jiao’s disguise technique, and now Zhen Wenjun using the same trick could easily remind her of Ah Jiao, who died by her hands! Too risky! Zhen Wenjun immediately tore off the mask and threw it into the corner of the room.
“I always thought you were pretending about your legs, but I didn’t expect them to be truly crippled.” Yan Ye looked at Wei Tingxu’s legs, which were thinner than those of an average person, “For someone like you, a cripple, to actually hide behind the scenes and wield power for so long, and even kill my many righteous warriors! But today your luck should also end.”
The Teng brothers noticed the situation seemed not quite right, and from Yan Ye’s words, they could guess they might have captured the wrong person. They exchanged glances, thinking it unlikely—wasn’t it just about bringing out the unconscious woman from the room? When they went in, there was only one woman fainted on the ground; they put her into the sack and ran, with no mishaps along the way, even successfully shaking off the secret guards. How did she turn into another person in the blink of an eye?
This matter might change, and the little lady who paid for the kidnapping was also nowhere to be found. The Teng brothers saw that Yan Ye seemed difficult to provoke, and the two people beside him looked even more dangerous, with eyes like knives, making their whole body ache just from being glanced at. Although the Teng brothers had been in the black market for a long time and hadn’t done anything good, they were only in it for the money and didn’t want to provoke more disputes. Seeing Yan Ye seemed to have killing intent, what would happen next seemed to involve more complications, so the Teng brothers decided to back off, not even caring about the remaining unpaid money.
“We don’t know what grievances exist between you all, we brothers have always only been responsible for kidnapping, not involving in others’ matters. Your personal grudges we brothers find inconvenient to participate in, farewell!” After saying this, the Teng brothers left. Zhen Wenjun heard their words and felt utterly helpless—they just left like that, not even wanting the money. It seemed they had the sense to protect themselves. She lost her most likely helpers. What worried her more was that Yan Ye seemed to have a lot to criticize or wanted to interrogate Wei Tingxu for clues. This was the worst scenario; if Yan Ye suddenly decided that he could surely kill Wei Tingxu this time, thereby exposing “Zhen Wenjun” as a false identity and a spy, then it would all be over!
Zhen Wenjun knew Wei Tingxu too well; her heart was as deep as the sea, impossible to see through from the surface. Many times you think you’ve understood her thoughts, but she can change everything in the next second. So her inexplicable appearance here was truly hard to determine whether it was unintentional or intentional. Yan Ye was not a fool; being used by Xie Fuchen to specially contact spies showed he was still sharp-minded. However, facing the cunning Wei Tingxu, it was uncertain if Yan Ye could gain any advantage. Zhen Wenjun didn’t hope he would gain any advantage, as long as he didn’t become too arrogant and carelessly reveal the spy matter, it would be fine.
Once the Teng brothers left, the large room of Qinfeng Pavilion only had four people in the open and one person hidden.
The sunlight from the high window was cut into three beams, shining directly on Wei Tingxu’s face, turning her somewhat messy black hair into a golden hue. She, Yan Ye, and another stood directly in front of the closed wooden door, and besides a soft couch for sitting, there was another room inside, equipped with a soft concave bed for two people to lie on and use Furong Powder. In front of the concave bed was a jade screen, which divided the room into two. Zhen Wenjun, hiding on the beam of the inner room, could see Yan Ye and the others through the gap between the screen and the roof, without being easily discovered. Now, she could come down and hide behind the screen, waiting for the right moment to act.
After coming down from the beam, she dared not move easily. The room was not small but very quiet, and with her usual lightness skill, any movement might make a sound and get her discovered. She was waiting for the next voice to rise, it didn’t matter who spoke, she wanted to use the sound of speaking to cover her footsteps.
“Wei Zizhuo, do you remember Bo Chao, whom you cruelly killed?” Yan Ye pressed the cane against the back of Wei Tingxu’s head, “You shattered all his bones into a pile of rotten flesh, and tied him to a giant wheel for continuous crushing. Inflicting wheel punishment was not enough, you didn’t let him die, but threw him into ice and snow to let insects and birds eat his flesh, torturing him alive to death… The most poisonous is a woman’s heart, this saying is not wrong at all.”
Wei Tingxu suddenly laughed and spoke her first sentence inside Qinfeng Pavilion.
“You didn’t mention it, I almost forgot, the fool who tried countless ways to get close to me and failed? Turns out he was your comrade.”
Despite being at an absolute disadvantage, Wei Tingxu dared to provoke, and Yan Ye’s eyelid suddenly twitched, warning Wei Tingxu: “He’s already dead, what meaning does it have for you to slander him now? He and I grew up together; he was my bosom friend, wouldn’t I know what kind of person he was?”
“Since he was a bosom friend, let me tell you what he said before he died.” Wei Tingxu turned around with effort, not backing down and without a trace of fear, stared at Yan Ye, as if he was the one at a disadvantage, “He begged my subordinate to let him go, saying he could do anything as long as he wasn’t killed, even voluntarily admitted he was from the Xie family, instructed by Xie Taihang of Suichuan. He voluntarily cleaned my subordinate’s boots with his tongue, even promising to reveal all the information about the Xie family of Suichuan. Unfortunately, I despise traitors the most and have no interest in knowing about the Xie family of Suichuan. And your bosom friend, your dear friend, was a turncoat who betrayed his own. Unfortunately, you didn’t see how pitiful he was when his legs were broken; I’ve never seen an assassin as pathetic as him, with just three strikes of the iron rods, tears and snot were flowing. Before being dragged to the snow to die, he did mention a friend, but it was only to curse this person, saying if it weren’t for this person insisting he join the Xie family, he wouldn’t have ended up in such a miserable state. He went to Suichuan, and his friend was picked by Master Xie of Dongchun, made into Master Xie’s advisor, leaving him alone in Suichuan. Xie Taihang of Suichuan threatened him, if he didn’t become a spy, he would be expelled from the Xie Mansion and all the clans of Suichuan would isolate him. He had no choice but to comply. He said he hated that person; he simply wanted a meal to eat, but ended up in such a state, cursing the person who led him to the Xie family to die a horrible death…”
Yan Ye suddenly raised his cane, striking heavily on Wei Tingxu’s cheek with a “bang,” lifting her entirely off the ground, rolling her to the side. Enraged, Yan Ye rushed up and kicked Wei Tingxu’s abdomen twice, leaving her completely unable to dodge, enduring his punches and kicks.
Yan Ye was usually steady and gentle, rarely out of control, and the two attendants didn’t know who Zhong Chao was, nor did they expect such fury from him. However, understanding “Wei Zizhuo’s” importance, they had to step forward and persuade Yan Ye to calm down:
“Master Yan, reconsider.”
Yan Ye was pulled back, and his emotions gradually stabilized, as the flush slowly receded from his sweat-covered face. He wanted to use his cane to support himself on the ground but found that the cane, thicker than a finger, had been broken by the strike.
Wei Tingxu lay slightly curled on her side on the ground, her originally clean clothes covered with footprints, and her hair scattered over her face, almost obscuring it. The blood covering the ground all came from her, this crippled-legged demon woman had been beaten to death.
Yan Ye drew out a pipe from beneath the soft couch, used for smoking Furong Powder, and used it to lift Wei Tingxu’s long hair, confirming if she was dead or not. When he lifted her hair, he did not see a completely disfigured corpse, but a slightly upturned, still disdainful smile.
On Wei Tingxu’s face, where the cane had hit, a terrifying red swelling had risen, with blood all over her eyebrows and the corners of her mouth.
Her hands were still behind her back, and she couldn’t even stand up. Yan Ye felt that with just a little more force, he could pinch this woman to death. But why was she not crying out in pain despite such severe injuries, and why was she not afraid being surrounded by three men, isolated and helpless? What gave her this courage?
Yan Ye suddenly thought of a method, a means to instill fear in all women in the world. He revealed a dagger, grabbing Wei Tingxu’s hair to pull her up. The sharp dagger was pressed against her face, gradually raising the blade, aiming at her delicate skin.
“Begging for mercy, screaming, are these things really worth mocking? Isn’t that the despair and fear your evil deeds brought to others?” Yan Ye lifted her head and laughed, “I really want to see how a demon woman will beg for mercy and scream. Come, let me see what’s special when you are afraid.”
With just a slight wrong move, the dagger would easily cut Wei Tingxu’s skin, leaving a permanent ugly scar on her beautiful face.
Yan Ye knew that there were many kinds of women in this world, some worldly, some chaste, some timid, some not brave, but regardless of their personality, they all cared deeply about their appearance. Able to hide in the dark offering strategies to Li Yanyi and personally taking countless lives, Wei Zizhuo was not an ordinary woman. Yan Ye was very eager to know if this extraordinary woman, when facing disfigurement, would instantly be cast into the ranks of ordinary people.
The sharp knife’s blade was pressed against her face, its tip pointing at her eyes. Wei Tingxu’s eyes slowly moved downward, glancing at the knife that could cut her at any time. Suddenly, her shoulders shook, and she laughed out loud.
“Do you think you can see something different about me with just this knife? Do you think this knife is scary? Can it change anything? Is cutting ten or so lines on my face a very terrifying thing? Worthy of me begging for mercy? Screaming?” Wei Tingxu’s eyes seemed to captivate one’s soul, “You simply do not know what true hell is.”
Yan Ye indeed did not expect her to be completely unafraid. Wei Tingxu did not look at him again; her gaze fell on his two attendants not far away:
“I indeed used the most extreme means to punish spies, and I am also the demon you hate the most. And very easily, without any effort, I made you become like me.”
These two attendants were all Xie Fuchen’s capable assistants. They followed Xie Fuchen because they admired him as a great scholar of the age, with the ambition to eradicate Da Yu’s malignant tumor. But now, Yan Ye abusing private punishment on this unarmed woman, without directly killing her, harmed the demeanor of a scholar. They had already considered this in their hearts, but for the sake of the overall situation, they did not speak up.
Yan Ye saw through her thoughts: “Do you think sowing discord is useful? If this is your final struggle, I advise you to save your strength; I will grant your wish and kill you now.”
Wei Tingxu responded: “Have you changed your mind so quickly? Wasn’t your intention to humiliate me? What are you waiting for, go ahead.”
“Do you think I don’t dare?!”
“Master Yan,” one of the tall attendants spoke, “Humiliating women is not what we do. It’s better to hand her over to Master Xie for judgment.”
“Yes, Master Yan, it’s not just you; we also have many dear friends who died at the hands of the demon woman. But we are different from her; we are all upright gentlemen and should not abuse torture. Although we didn’t capture Li Yanyi, capturing Wei Zizhuo is still a gain. We should follow Master Xie’s arrangements for what comes next.”
Yan Ye knew that at this moment, he must not provoke conflict with them, otherwise he would truly fall into Wei Zizhuo’s trap. But Zhen Wenjun clearly promised to exchange Li Yanyi for her mother, so why did it become Wei Zizhuo? What kind of trickery is involved here, Yan Ye couldn’t help but think more. Could it be they want to secretly swap Li Yanyi to make Master Xie believe I was ineffective and thus punish me? Such small schemes are too naive, and moreover, now that Wei Tingxu is already in hand, how can this crippled-legged demon woman succeed alone?
Wait a moment.
Yan Ye’s spirit lifted as he looked around the other places in the room one by one. Speaking of which, where did Zhen Wenjun go? She called two thugs over to hand over people, but where is she hiding herself? Besides not wanting to show her face to avoid exposing her identity if things go wrong, is there another intention? Could she be hiding in the dark, thinking Master Xie would personally come and trying to ambush her?
If she is calculating like this, then she will be disappointed. To Master Xie, she is just a small pebble in Li Yanyi’s courtyard; if it can hurt Li Yanyi’s foot, naturally it’s good, but if kicked away by Li Yanyi, it won’t cause much loss to the Qingliu Faction. These small matters Master Xie cannot possibly handle personally; her desire to see Master Xie or even harm him is truly wishful thinking.
“Ka.” A sound, someone accidentally kicked something.
A subtle sound revealed the position of the person who had been hiding in the depths of the room. Yan Ye stood up, holding the dagger in his hand, his gaze falling on the abrupt screen, and slowly walked over.
“Zhen Wenjun.” Yan Ye’s eyes moved cautiously from side to side, his footsteps also quite careful, “Come out, what use is there in hiding here?”
Wei Tingxu’s always calm expression subtly changed upon hearing this name, and she looked in the direction Yan Ye was heading.
“Do you think you can ambush me by hiding? Come out now, and I might spare your life, otherwise…” Yan Ye suddenly flipped the screen to the side, raising the dagger to stab at the person behind it. But he stabbed nothing, finding the area behind the screen empty, while a commotion erupted behind him.
When Yan Ye turned around, he saw that one of the attendants had pinned a person to the ground, and that person was Zhen Wenjun!
Just now, that sound was deliberately made by her to draw Yan Ye over, taking advantage of Yan Ye walking towards the screen, which also drew the attention of the two attendants. When Yan Ye flipped the screen, at the most tense moment, she attacked from the rear, intending to first kill the two attendants and then decide victory or defeat with Yan Ye. Unfortunately, this small lowly slave was truly daydreaming—how could she kill the Xie family’s experts alone? The assassination failed, and she was instead subdued; with just a bit of pressure from the attendant’s fingers, they could break her delicate neck.
Yan Ye’s mocking smile was just about to appear, but he saw the one holding Zhen Wenjun suddenly fall down, and the other couldn’t say a word, stiffly collapsing on top of him.
Looking closely, both of their calves had a small wound, with only a little blood oozing out. How could such a minor injury possibly take their lives?
“They are not dead,” Zhen Wenjun struggled to push the two aside and read Yan Ye’s great confusion from his expression, “I just made them fall asleep.” Zhen Wenjun had rushed to the attendants with extreme speed, betting on using the golden cicada knife dipped in Sai Mafei to cut them. Even if it just grazed the skin, Sai Mafei could paralyze them before they could retaliate fatally.
She succeeded.
After coldly and hostilely throwing words at Yan Ye, Zhen Wenjun’s tone immediately changed when she turned to Wei Tingxu.
Since learning that Wei Tingxu was already engaged, Zhen Wenjun had indeed been annoyed with her for some time, feeling that all their past ambiguous interactions were like a joke. She told herself she couldn’t have any extra feelings for Wei Tingxu; she was a spy, coming to Wei Tingxu’s side only to exchange for the bargaining chip to save her mother. She needed to be ruthless toward Wei Tingxu, treating her as a tool to achieve her goals, and she had to harden her heart.
But when she saw with her own eyes Yan Ye using fists and feet against Wei Tingxu, seeing Wei Tingxu covered in injuries, she found she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t stand by and watch this person in danger without feeling anything; even as she spoke to her at this moment, tears welled up, and her voice was somewhat hoarse:
“Sister, don’t be afraid. I am here…”
Facing Yan Ye, Wei Tingxu was extremely cold and unfathomable, making people feel she didn’t care about her life or death, as long as she could mock her opponent, she cared about nothing. But when Zhen Wenjun risked her life to appear and save her, the ice in her eyes quickly melted, revealing a smile with warmth familiar to Zhen Wenjun:
“You are here, I am not afraid.”
Zhen Wenjun forcibly held back her tears, not letting them flow; this was still not the time to celebrate, as Yan Ye, holding a dagger, was already standing by Wei Tingxu’s side.
“Quite brave, to actually dare to ambush. But your trick ends here. Shall we see whether your trick is faster, or my dagger?” Yan Ye stood beside Wei Tingxu, not squatting down to hold her hostage. Yan Ye is not a fool; if Zhen Wenjun could suddenly attack, Wei Tingxu might also still have a backup plan. Rashly approaching her might backfire. Keeping a certain distance from her was the wise choice. Lying on the ground, Wei Tingxu could not reach him, and he only needed to squat quickly for the dagger in his hand to stab into Wei Tingxu’s head, taking her life. Meanwhile, Zhen Wenjun was at least seven or eight steps away from him, and in terms of speed, he was definitely faster.
Zhen Wenjun was somewhat intimidated and indeed did not dare to act recklessly.
The blow darts were already used up, but she could throw the golden cicada knife from her fingertips to make a stand. But what if Yan Ye dodged? With both sides facing each other, all their attention focused on each other, if Zhen Wenjun could not hit with one strike, the consequences would be unimaginable. She did not dare to risk Wei Tingxu’s life.
“Throw your hidden weapon away. Now!” Yan Ye ordered.
Zhen Wenjun hesitated; if she threw away the golden cicada knife, she would completely lose her chance of victory.
“Quick!” Yan Ye gripped the dagger tightly, intending to kill Wei Tingxu.
“Wait a moment!” Zhen Wenjun could only comply with his demand and threw the golden cicada knife away.
Everything was already set, and Yan Ye laughed heartily: “Bean curd brain, seeking your own death! Now I will kill you both, so you can accompany each other on the road to the Yellow Springs!”
“Stop!” At this point, Zhen Wenjun could only put everything on one bet, “If you kill us, how will you explain to Xie Fuchen? What will you use to control Li Yanyi?”
“This matter does not need you to bother, you…” Yan Ye’s expression froze as a small sleeve knife accurately pierced his throat, causing his expression to suddenly change with shock.
“You…” Yan Ye was unable to believe what he saw before him, and even Zhen Wenjun was struck dumb, unable to say a word.
Wei Tingxu actually stood up.
She had somehow, at some point, cut the ropes binding her hands, seized the opportunity, and swiftly leaped up, stabbing Yan Ye’s throat with lightning speed, reversing the situation in one move.
Blood spewed from Yan Ye’s throat, and he madly slashed wildly with his dagger. Wei Tingxu retreated to dodge, stood unsteadily, and fell back to the ground. After his last moments of madness, Yan Ye breathed his last and fell flat on his back.
Until Yan Ye no longer breathed, Zhen Wenjun still couldn’t recover from the shock.
Wei Tingxu… she actually could stand up?!
Had she cured her leg ailment during this period of separation, or was she always just pretending?
Thinking of the latter possibility made Zhen Wenjun’s scalp tingle, and her heart was stirred with shock waves.
Whether it was when she once used a heavy hand during massages to test, or just now when Yan Ye first used a cane to strike heavily to confirm, Wei Tingxu did not reveal the slightest flaw, enduring it all as if she truly had crippled legs. She could actually endure to this extent.
How much more does this woman have hidden? It’s completely unimaginable.
It’s timeeeeeeee