Fish Meat – Chapter 87
by Little PandaThe Ninth Year of Shenchu
The great bell of the ancient temple
“These injuries were left behind by Xie Fuchen the year he imprisoned me.”
The soft candlelight reflects in Wei Tingxu’s eyes, turning her calm gaze into an amber color, like a thousand-year treasure buried in ice and snow first breaking the ice seal.
“Xie… Xie Fuchen?”
Wei Tingxu spoke so suddenly that it made Zhen Wenjun confused for a moment before she could react.
Wei Tingxu had promised that when the two met again, she would tell her where the injuries on her back came from. However, Wei Tingxu, always cunning, suspicious, and as guarded as a forest of swords and halberds, would not easily reveal her true inner thoughts. Therefore, Zhen Wenjun never expected she would lower her defenses and speak frankly with anyone about her hidden past.
Did not expect that after trying every possible way to seize something and being unable to obtain it, it would appear on its own when there was no hope.
“Yes, that is Xie Fuchen, respected as the great scholar Xie Zhongcheng of the present age.”
Zhen Wenjun once imagined how the injuries on Wei Tingxu’s back were left, believing she must have experienced a terrible past. Zhen Wenjun even speculated on the details of abuse, but in the end, all were disproven.
It should not be. She thought, those scars look like they are more than ten years old, and ten years ago, Wei Tingxu was still a child. Who would inflict torture on a child? Perhaps it was an accident.
Unexpectedly, it was not an accident.
Actually, her imagination brushed against an edge, brushing past the edge of Wei Tingxu’s real pain.
In the Wei Mansion that night, having just escaped life-threatening danger, the two of them, one lying and one sitting, supported their aching bodies and, once they started talking, continued until dawn. After listening to Wei Tingxu’s past, Zhen Wenjun felt no sleepiness at all.
This was the most horrifying thing she had ever heard in her life, and she never thought that the malice of the human heart could surpass her imagination by so much.
In Wei Tingxu’s almost emotionless recollection, a scene of hell seemed to unfold before Zhen Wenjun’s eyes. The young Wei Tingxu pulled her, slowly stepping onto a boundless dark place, arriving at the entrance of an abyss. Wei Tingxu, pointing at the pitch-black abyss that occasionally emitted screams, said:
“You see, this is my past.”
Zhen Wenjun always believed that every person’s growth has traces to follow. Why would she be full of schemes today, even at the cost of her hands being stained with blood? It is precisely because Lord Yunmeng gave Xie Taihang that painting back then. If it were not for her resemblance to the lifesaving benefactor Wei Tingxu was seeking, perhaps she would still be with her mother in Suichuan or perhaps have successfully escaped the Xie Mansion, randomly finding a place with green mountains and clear waters, far from strife, to live peacefully. She would not have appeared in Runing, much less become a person full of lies, killing without blinking an eye.
Wei Tingxu is also like this.
Growing up in a noble family and being the youngest daughter, Wei Tingxu should have received her whole family’s love. She perhaps did not have the conditions to grow into a resourceful, thoughtful, and impeccable person. Creating today’s ruthless Wei Tingxu, Xie Fuchen’s role was indispensable.
Wei Tingxu was born in Runing, and from birth, her body was not well. At two years old, she got pneumonia, which was extremely dangerous and almost led to her early death. Her father and mother searched throughout Da Yu for doctors, pouring more than half a year of medicinal soup, and finally pulled little Tingxu back from the edge of life and death. But her body was still very weak, with minor illnesses every three days and major illnesses every five days, drinking medicine like water.
The Wei family worried their daughter would not survive, so they invited a famous fortune teller to look at her fate. The fortune teller said this girl had the aspect of Buddha burning four fields, with the capital city being a place of the water dragon. The clash of both sides’ evil forces greatly harmed her body, so she could not stay long; otherwise, her body would never be well. They must send her to a place with green mountains and clear waters to absorb the essence of nature, raise her until she is sixteen years old, and then bring her back. Thereafter, she would surely be healthy, have a long life without illness or disaster, living up to ninety-nine.
The fortune teller said this, so the Wei family had to send Wei Tingxu away, sending her back to their hometown in Pingcang to be raised.
At that time, Wei Lun was not yet honored as one of the Three Dukes; he was still an official in the Ministry of Personnel. His legitimate eldest son, Wei Jinghe, was praised as a rare military talent in Da Yu for fifty years. At sixteen, he followed the army on an expedition to resist the Guqiang tribe and completely defeated the Guqiang tribe people with extraordinary skills. In the following seven years, he fought all the Hu tribes, expanding the Da Yu territory from the original thirty-six counties to forty-eight counties. Wei Jinghe’s martial bravery and military genius were the most talked-about topics from the central government to the people in Da Yu at that time. The Hu tribe soldiers would retreat without fighting upon hearing Wei Jinghe’s name.
In an era where effeminate fashions prevailed and Furong Powder was rampant, Wei Jinghe was like a sword appearing from nowhere, piercing through Da Yu’s decadent appearance, infusing a hot current into the people of Da Yu, who were accustomed to receiving news of war defeats, telling them that Da Yu also had masculine men capable of killing enemies and protecting the country.
At that time, the Emperor greatly appreciated Wei Jinghe, exceptionally promoting him, personally conferring upon him the high position of Grand General of Agile Cavalry, opening a residence for him, and rewarding him with a million in gold, so that the entire Da Yu could see, to invigorate the people’s spirit, and to encourage more people to voluntarily enlist and defend the country.
Then Wei Jinghe was called “Taijing Great General,” and many people currying favor with him had to queue. Moreover, his appearance was delicate, and despite long years on the battlefield, he was still fair as jade, which could drive the women of Da Yu crazy. Countless young women took him as their dream lover, and inviting matchmakers to the Wei Mansion to propose marriage was not something new. But Wei Jinghe did not let these honors go to his head; he always knew who he was and what he should do. Until reaching thirty years old, he did not marry or have children, wholeheartedly focusing on training the Wei family army and studying military tactics and strategies. His thoughts were on defending the country and expelling the Hu tribes, without any personal feelings.
Wei Lun always took pride in his son, until one day the strategist of the Wei Mansion expressed concern:
“The eldest young master is a dragon among men, an unparalleled talent; this is the people’s blessing, but it may not necessarily be the lord’s blessing.”
Wei Lun immediately understood the strategist’s meaning. Although the late Emperor outwardly greatly admired Zixiu, the royal mind is hard to predict. Zixiu now has too much prestige, and it’s difficult to ensure that the Emperor won’t suspect him of overshadowing the ruler and harboring treasonous intent. Zixiu naturally is pure-hearted and wholeheartedly serves the sovereign, but Wei Lun had to be on guard.
Wei Lun many times probed the Emperor’s heart. The Emperor repeatedly praised Wei Jinghe, showing no sign of suspicion in front of Wei Lun, yet secretly had Xie Fuchen, who was then the Huben Colonel, set an ambush during his visit to relatives to kidnap him.
Wei Jinghe secretly returned to Pingcang without telling idle people, betrayed by the very attendant he trusted most at that time. This attendant was his childhood companion and study mate; they grew up together, studied Confucian classics together, and went to the battlefield to kill enemies together. He was Wei Jinghe’s confidant, a person to whom he could entrust his life. Never did he think that in the end, his life would truly be entrusted to his hands.
Wei Tingxu only learned the full story of this matter later.
At that time, the nine-year-old Wei Tingxu was still too weak to bear clothing and liked her elder brother very much. She had just been brought back by her family from the Suidong Mountains to rest, as her legs were already disabled and she could not walk, so she spent most of her time at home. Wei Jinghe knew his sister always clamored to see him, but due to health reasons, she could not come to the capital. So amidst his busy schedule, he took time to return to Pingcang to see his sister, bringing a cart of the capital’s most fashionable toys for children for her to play with, and took the opportunity during spring to take her to the outskirts to enjoy the greenery. It was on this outing that he was captured by Xie Fuchen and others.
Wei Tingxu remembers the day that changed her life. Early in the morning, she woke up to find her mother, elder sister, and elder brother all standing in the corridor looking at the sky. She also curiously looked up and saw two golden suns side by side in the sky, illuminating everything on earth so brightly that it was dazzling.
“Two suns competing for brilliance is an ominous sign,” Wei Jinghe said, stroking his beard, quite melancholy.
Mother said, “Zixiu, since you rarely come back, don’t think about those bothersome things. Rest well at home for a few days.”
Wei Jinghe made an “mm” sound and went inside the room to see if his sister had woken up.
After drinking only a few mouthfuls of porridge, Wei Tingxu couldn’t bear to wait and wanted her brother to take her out. Wei Jinghe picked her up and steadily set her onto the carriage. The two sat face to face, composing poems, and were just in high spirits when the carriage suddenly stopped. Someone outside shouted, “there are assassins,” and Wei Jinghe’s expression became stern. He told Wei Tingxu not to get off the carriage and immediately rushed down, kicking over an assassin and snatching his weapon. Like a strong ox running wild on the grassland, everywhere he went, all the assassins were crushed by him, with no power to fight back.
Just as Wei Jinghe was about to single-handedly overturn them all, he suddenly heard his sister’s crying. An assassin had seized Wei Tingxu, forcing Wei Jinghe to surrender, or else they would kill her.
Wei Jinghe had to throw away his weapon, and together with Wei Tingxu, he was taken away bound.
Wei Tingxu to this day does not know the specific place where she stayed for that whole year. She only remembers waking up and being locked in a narrow water prison.
The water prison was only as wide as two of her bodies, and visually it was taller than her height. At first, her neck was encircled with an iron ring, which was connected to the wall, her hands were locked behind her back, and her legs were separately locked to the ground on the left and right. She couldn’t even change her position, let alone escape, and she could only painfully maintain a straight back posture.
The floor of the water prison was extremely cold, filled with a layer of cold water that submerged her waist. Wei Tingxu, afraid of the cold, was locked in this eerie water prison for three whole days and nights without eating a bite. Countless times she was unbearably thirsty and wanted to bend down to drink the water below her waist, but her neck was firmly locked, and she couldn’t do it.
The top of the water prison was covered with a round wooden board, and the middle of the board had bars covering the water prison. Countless times, in a semi-conscious state, she dreamed of her brother appearing above, coming to save her, and her returning to her warm home in Pingcang, eating the food made by her mother and sister. But upon waking, she was still in the water prison, and nothing had changed.
Soaked in the water for too long, her already fragile waist was in severe pain. She was hungry, thirsty, and cold, sobbing and calling out, but from beginning to end, no one appeared. Fortunately, her legs were already damaged and without sensation, so even if they soaked and rotted, she couldn’t feel the pain. Rats crawled down from the wooden board’s bars, gnawing on her body freely, but she was unable to resist. The pain of having her flesh bitten off was not the ultimate pain; it was just the beginning.
On the fourth day, her brother truly appeared, but it was not to save her.
The tightly bound Wei Jinghe was heavily thrown onto the wooden board above Wei Tingxu’s head. With his face full of blood, he struggled to open his eyes and saw his sister’s fearful face, weakly smiling:
“Tingxu, don’t be afraid, brother is here…”
Trembling incessantly, Wei Tingxu exhaled white breath from her mouth. Upon confirming that she really saw her brother this time, her despairing heart warmed again. Just as she was about to call out to her brother, an iron rod struck the back of Wei Jinghe’s head. Wei Jinghe forcibly endured this blow, eyes wide open, teeth clenched, without making a sound.
The iron rod struck his head, back, and legs crazily; no matter where it hit, he never uttered a sound, nor did he say any words of plea. Wei Tingxu just watched her brother’s face, which was an incomparably resolute face, a body of righteous iron bones stronger than any iron rod.
“Zixiu indeed is a tough man, Xie admires.”
They kept hitting until the iron rod bent, and the executioner breathlessly stopped. Wei Tingxu heard a man’s voice echoing in the cold room, referring to himself as “Xie someone.”
Wei Jinghe completely ignored that person and grinned at his sister, with a string of blood droplets dripping from his mouth, leaving Wei Tingxu staring in a daze.
“Brother… does it hurt?” Wei Tingxu asked.
“It doesn’t hurt,” Wei Jinghe said, “I, a good man of Da Yu, don’t know what pain is. Villains don’t even have the strength, only enough to tickle brother!”
Wei Jinghe stretched his philtrum and stuck out his tongue at her, which was the monkey manner Wei Tingxu most often had him imitate. Every time Wei Jinghe impersonated a monkey, it could make her laugh heartily. This time was no exception; Wei Tingxu saw his comical appearance and trembled as she laughed.
Wei Tingxu’s smile had just begun when suddenly four streams of icy water surged out from the four walls of the water prison, pouring into the cell, instantly causing the small water prison’s water level to rise significantly. Directly above Wei Tingxu’s head was a water inlet, and the piercingly cold water poured down on her, choking her into continuous coughing. The more she coughed, the more water poured into her mouth and nose. Just as she felt she was about to suffocate, suddenly her neck could move, and the locks on her hands opened. At this time, the water surface had already reached her chin, about to submerge her head.
Wei Jinghe shouted, “Breathe!”
Wei Tingxu hurriedly took a deep breath, and her vision went dark, her ears buzzing as the water passed over her head.
She had known how to swim from childhood and had good swimming skills, but after losing her legs, she never swam again. Her whole body was immersed in ice water, and her legs couldn’t be used. Fortunately, the locks on her legs were also opened. Wei Tingxu struggled to paddle with her hands, reached out, and grabbed the bars. With strength in her arms, she pulled her body up and discovered that the water had stopped pouring, leaving a small gap between the water surface and the wooden board. As long as she lifted her head, her mouth and nose could breathe air. To survive, she had to maintain this position. Any slight slack and a wave crest on the rippling water would push water into her mouth and nose. Without legs, she used all her strength to maintain her posture, not daring to slacken for a moment. Even so, she was still choked several times, her nose burning painfully.
The ice water froze her arms until they almost lost sensation, and even her heartbeats nearly stopped. Wei Tingxu didn’t want to die here, so she could only bite her lip, using pain to stay awake. Once she fainted, drowning was the only possibility.
“Tingxu! Hold on!” Just moments ago, he was calmly making funny faces, and now, watching his sister on the brink of life and death, Wei Jinghe found himself unable to break free from the iron chains binding his body. Frantically, he used his head to hit the wooden board, trying to break it.
He actually broke it.
Wei Jinghe flipped over and tried to rush into the water prison but was pulled back by people holding onto the iron chains. Initially, one person pulling him almost got dragged in, but then two more came. Using the combined strength of three people, they finally dragged him back.
“Cut his tendons,” that person named Xie commanded again.
Wei Tingxu could do nothing and couldn’t even protect her own life.
In the water, she didn’t know how long she had struggled, and when she felt she had been soaked into a corpse, she was finally pulled up.
Wei Tingxu, in a daze, was thrown into another room. She drowsily curled up, tightly embracing herself, struggling to make her arms move, to rub warmth into her body, to keep herself alive.
Just as she finally could move her fingers, a wet panting sound blew past her ear, and a group of dark shadows surrounded her.
This was not a human sound, Wei Tingxu could tell; it was the breathing of dogs.
Wei Tingxu was greatly shocked and dared not move, even holding her breath. The only thing she dared to move were her eyeballs, sliding around. She had been thrown into a dog pen, surrounded by four flat-headed, wide-mouthed fierce dogs. The fierce dogs circled her, constantly sniffing, seemingly determining if she could be eaten. Saliva from the fierce dogs dripped on her hair, and she could clearly smell the fishy stench from the dogs’ mouths.
Outside the dog pen, Wei Jinghe, with his tendons cut, was pressed to the ground by two people, who grabbed his hair and forced him to watch.
“Rest assured, my dogs are very obedient. I will try to control them so your sister won’t be bitten to death. But my control won’t last long; the later you speak, the more your sister suffers. Zixiu, you better think clearly.”
Wei Tingxu didn’t know what that person named Xie wanted to obtain from her brother’s mouth, and her wounded brother always smiled at her.
“Tingxu, today you and I will die here, you tell me! Are you afraid!”
Wei Tingxu knew her brother’s greatest fear was her surrender. She also understood that Xie wanted her to cry, wanted her to scream so that her brother would soften and possibly yield for her. She couldn’t drag her brother down, absolutely couldn’t.
“I am not afraid,” Wei Tingxu said, shivering. “Today, we siblings… will die together, on the road to the Yellow Springs, we’ll have each other’s company!”
Hearing his young sister speak such heroic words, Wei Jinghe laughed heartily: “Good! Worthy of being my Wei Zixiu’s sister! Today, we siblings will die together!”
“At that time, I was already prepared to die. Actually, I also feared death, but I was more afraid of losing face for my brother, losing face for the Wei family.”
One oil lamp had already burned out, so Zhen Wenjun went to add oil and used a fire starter to relight it. After the firelight stabilized, she returned to the soft couch and continued to check the wounds on Wei Tingxu’s body, carefully applying crushed herbs.
“Of course, in the end, I did not die, but was just kept in the dog pen, becoming part of their food.”
Wei Tingxu recounted this old story with a detached tone, as if talking about something that happened a hundred years ago to someone else.
The four fierce dogs were properly tied in the four corners of the dog pen. They pounced from all sides, and the only place to avoid them was the center of the pen. After being bitten off several pieces of flesh, Wei Tingxu finally found this life-saving center point. The hungry fierce dogs, smelling the scent of blood, became more excited, barking madly and continuously pouncing and biting in her direction. If they couldn’t bite, they used their paws to scratch. Wei Tingxu, holding her head, curled into a ball; she had to protect her fragile head and chest, exposing only her back to take all the attacks.
She didn’t know how long she stayed in the dog pen. She remembered holding her head and kneeling there, day and night not daring to move, having to maintain high vigilance, absolutely unable to let any dog bite and drag her over, or she’d be bitten into rotten meat in an instant.
The dog’s barking constantly buzzed in her ears. After her back was scratched and bitten into a bloody mess, the dog pack would rest for a while, and then, once the wounds scabbed over, the dogs would pounce again. During that period, her wounds never healed, even festering and feverish, but that person named Xie would actually let people give her food, not letting her truly die.
Wei Tingxu, in despair, repeatedly despaired and also repeatedly hated, hating that person named Xie.
Someone came to feed.
Once food was delivered, those dogs would shift their attention to the food, and at this time, Wei Tingxu could get a moment of relief.
The person delivering food only prepared dog food, throwing a bowl in front of Wei Tingxu.
The dog food emitted a fishy stench, almost making Wei Tingxu vomit. But if she did not eat, she would only die.
At that time, she was hesitant about whether or not to live on. Living on could become her brother’s burden, but if she died…
If she died, who would punish this villain named Xie? All her hate would have nowhere to go, and dying with hate was not what she wanted.
She had to live on, to return all of today’s humiliation entirely.
“So, did you eat?” Zhen Wenjun dared not imagine. Her heart already had a definite answer, but emotionally she wanted Wei Tingxu to deny it.
Wei Tingxu’s swollen left face could not make any expression, but she answered Zhen Wenjun’s question with silence.
Zhen Wenjun could not say a word, completely unable to imagine what struggle Wei Tingxu went through.
Mouthful by mouthful, eating the dog food, Wei Tingxu did not cry, and she did not even blink an eye. She saw Wei Jinghe was caught again, as Xie intended for him to see his sister’s miserable state to make him surrender, but Wei Tingxu did not let Xie get his wish. She used a determined gaze to tell her brother, I will not let you be ashamed, absolutely will not.
“Such days continued for a whole year. I stayed with the dogs for a whole year. In this year, Xie Fuchen used all imaginable and beyond ordinary methods to deal with our siblings, even having people humiliate the maidservant in front of me, threatening me, saying that if I still did not let my brother speak, those people would treat me in the same way. Now thinking back, I am lucky. Just at the last moment, my father and several brothers finally found the place where we were imprisoned and rescued me.” The wounds on her back and arms had all been treated with medicine, and Wei Tingxu wanted to reach for clean clothes. Zhen Wenjun helped her before she could, draping them over her shoulders, “Yes, only me. My brother and the other attendants all died. Those maidservants were humiliated to death even more.”
Wei Jinghe did not reveal what Xie Fuchen wanted to know until the end. When Wei Tingxu was held by her second brother, she saw his corpse. Her admired big brother was no longer the strong, tall figure she knew, having been tortured to skin and bones, the final corpse a small bundle, pitifully curled up.
This was the legendary Taijing General’s final end.
Mother took her back to the Runing Wei Mansion to recuperate, but Wei Tingxu’s condition worsened. Mother recalled the fortune teller’s words, and Wei Lun suspected this matter was directed by the emperor from behind. Runing had already become a high-risk place, unsuitable for placing family there, so Wei Lun let his wife take the family elders and young back to Pingcang, and began to cultivate skilled shadow guards to protect the family’s safety. Since then, Wei Lun’s character completely changed; he became sinister and unpredictable, embarking on the path of a “traitorous minister.”
Wei Tingxu’s injuries never improved, so her mother had to find a century-old temple and sent her there to nurture, hoping Buddha could save her poor daughter’s life.
Until now, Wei Tingxu still remembers the muddled bell sound in the ancient temple every morning and evening, whether under the bright sun or in the snow, the monks practicing martial arts bare-chested. She lived in the scripture library, and because her health was not good, she basically had no opportunity to go out. Even in the mild climate of Pingcang, she was very likely to become seriously ill due to even one warm spring day’s outing.
The small window of the scripture library was her lonely small world’s only exit. She often leaned on this window to look outside, never speaking with any monk in the temple, but she could distinguish every person living there, could count the number of steps on the long staircase leading to the temple gate, the number of bricks in the monks’ martial arts courtyard, and also knew when the wild geese would fly away and when they would fly back.
Besides taking various medicines, she could do nothing else and did not want to see anyone. At that time, Xiaohua and Lingbi followed her to live in the temple, but they were not often seen; only when she needed them would she call, and then they would appear.
Reading scriptures and ancient texts was her only pastime. The scripture library there, besides housing Buddhist scriptures, also stored over four thousand volumes of various classics, which was a great scholar’s treasured collection from more than thirty years ago. The abbot once told Wei Tingxu this past story, saying that the great scholar loved seeking and collecting ancient books all his life, but his descendants went into business. He feared that after his death, his family would casually dispose of these unique editions, so before dying, he gifted them to the temple.
Wei Tingxu read day and night, almost as if possessed, not putting the book down.
“I do not want to use reading to forget. I always remember all the things Xie Fuchen did to me and my brother. I want to grow fully, learn more, understand more, and find the method of revenge in books.” Wei Tingxu’s eyes, calm for so long, finally stirred with emotion, “Hatred and humiliation calm me. I once vowed to myself to kill all the descendants of Xie Fuchen’s clan. I want all these people with the surname Xie to die by my hands, to make Xie Fuchen pay the price he should pay.”
Originally, this long story finally reached its ending here, and Zhen Wenjun should have sighed in relief, but upon hearing Wei Tingxu’s last sentence, she thought of something she hadn’t remembered for a long time.
Even if she does not want to admit it, no matter how disgusting, there is one thing she cannot change.
She is not “Zhen Wenjun”; her surname is Xie.
In her bones flows the blood of the Xie family, making her Wei Tingxu’s irreconcilable enemy.
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