When the Female Lead Becomes Obsessive – Chapter 159

Volume Seven: The Years I Was a General

Closest Kin

“Gu Wen Nuan?!”

Su Hong clutched his chest, waves of pain spreading from his heart; that kick from Gu Wen Nuan just now had been forceful, nearly leaving him breathless.

He looked incredulously at Gu Wen Nuan, who had appeared in the Imperial Mausoleum where she absolutely should not be.

He clearly remembered that Gu Wen Nuan had already been sentenced to the Imperial Prison by Xiao Chuyu on the charge of colluding with the enemy and betraying the country, so why would she appear in the Imperial Mausoleum at this moment?

Why would she save Xiao Chuyu?!

“How can you be here?” Su Hong could not help but ask.

Wen Nuan used her internal force to alleviate Xiao Chuyu’s unbearable pain, looked at Su Hong’s flustered expression, and coldly snorted, saying: “Did the State Preceptor¹ think I would be suffering punishment in the Imperial Prison, waiting for Her Majesty to have me beheaded after the autumn?”

Every sentence she spoke was reasonable, but it was precisely because it was so reasonable that Su Hong was bewildered.

His brow furrowed: “You actually dared to escape from prison?”

“….” Wen Nuan failed to follow Su Hong’s brain circuit² and said, puzzled, “Do I look like I’ve escaped from prison?”

Su Hong sized Gu Wen Nuan up and down, seeing that she was dressed neatly and cleanly, looked refreshed and energetic, and the clothes she wore were all of silk and embroidered satin³ that only the imperial family would have. She indeed did not look like she had escaped from prison.

His mind tensed, and he looked at Xiao Chuyu in disbelief, saying in astonishment: “Xiao Chuyu actually released you? You two have actually flowed in the same stream and mixed in the mud⁴?!”

“Flowed in the same stream and mixed in the mud?” Wen Nuan’s gaze was sarcastic as she looked at Su Hong, “Dealing with a person like you is called sharing a common hatred for the enemy.”

“Gu Wen Nuan, Xiao Chuyu framed you to be imprisoned and punished, and you still save her?” Su Hong sowed discord, his words inside and out all wanting to pull Gu Wen Nuan into his own camp.

He had only one goal right now, and that was that Xiao Chuyu must die today!

He continued to provoke Gu Wen Nuan, “I know you were framed, you did not collude with the enemy and betray the country, you did not commit insubordination; all of this was self-directed and self-acted by Xiao Chuyu, who deliberately colluded with the hundred officials to fabricate false evidence and have you wrongfully imprisoned. And now you still dare to save Xiao Chuyu?”

“You are saving your enemy? You are scheming with a tiger for its skin⁵?!” Su Hong was emotionally agitated and shouted, “A woman as sinister and vicious, and full of cunning schemes as Xiao Chuyu shouldn’t be the Emperor of Ming’an Kingdom! Her status as a woman is fundamentally unfit to wield the great authority! This is departing from the classics and rebelling against the Dao⁶, this is defying worldly conventions, this violates the Heavenly Dao⁷, and will be struck by lightning!”

“Enough!” Wen Nuan’s eyes narrowed, her tone fierce and harsh, “Are you fucking done scolding or not?”

Is being endless really okay?

Seeing that Xiao Chuyu’s condition had improved, she held her in her arms, declaring sovereignty, “Can the State Preceptor not see it?”

Su Hong paused, completely bewildered by Gu Wen Nuan’s question, “What?”

“The relationship between me and Her Majesty?” Wen Nuan said deliberately, “Do you think we are enemies?”

Su Hong’s mind jolted. The two before him were behaving intimately; Xiao Chuyu was lying in Gu Wen Nuan’s arms, gasping for breath, looking very dependent. And when Gu Wen Nuan looked at Xiao Chuyu, her brows and eyes were gentle, the corners of her mouth holding a smile, an expression of doting concern.

How could this be the state of interaction that enemies should have? This was simply….

Su Hong looked at the two in horror, “You two actually… privately gave and received, and secretly crossed to Chencang⁸?!”

No wonder Xiao Chuyu could discover Yue Yao’s⁹ spirit tablet¹⁰, no wonder Gu Wen Nuan could appear in the Imperial Mausoleum, it turned out Xiao Chuyu had long known his plan and intended to join forces with Gu Wen Nuan to eliminate him!?

“What are you talking about?” Wen Nuan tsked, retorting, “This old master and Her Majesty are what’s called a meeting of minds¹¹, a match made in heaven. You’ve studied for so many years for nothing, your choice of words is still inappropriate, you waste of space.”

Su Hong: “….”

Is this the time to be concerned about such a problem?

It’s truly a scholar meets a soldier, reason cannot be explained clearly¹².

The sound of hurried footsteps came from outside the Zunling Hall¹³. Ye Mingxiu ran in from the Zunling Hall, and the Imperial Guard drew their sharp long-sabers, surrounding the Zunling Hall.

Su Hong looked at the long-saber resting on his neck without showing a trace of cowardice. He knew that his defeat was sealed and there was no way to salvage the situation, but he did not regret it, because Xiao Chuyu would accompany him in death.

“What in the world is going on?” Ye Mingxiu looked at Su Hong and Xiao Chuyu; both had vomited blood.

Xiao Chuyu’s face was deathly pale as she lay weakly in Gu Wen Nuan’s arms, while Su Hong had a casual air of “allowing oneself to be carved up by the sovereign¹⁴.”

He had originally been in his room reading a book and admiring the moon, but a dagger shot into the room. A paper slip was tied to the dagger, and on the paper slip was written: Su Hong is assassinating Xiao Chuyu.

This frightened Ye Mingxiu so much that he immediately mobilized the Imperial Guard and rushed to the Zunling Hall.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t doubted the credibility of that paper slip, but since it concerned Xiao Chuyu and State Preceptor Su Hong, he couldn’t spare the time to verify its authenticity. He had to go to the Zunling Hall to check first, to prevent the real assassination of Xiao Chuyu, as that would be a sky-fallingly huge matter.

As a result, the moment Ye Mingxiu rushed over, he saw that both Su Hong and Xiao Chuyu were injured.

Gu Wen Nuan was holding the extremely weak Xiao Chuyu, while Su Hong was glaring fiercely at Gu Wen Nuan and Xiao Chuyu.

“Did you write this paper slip for me?”

Ye Mingxiu took out the paper slip. Thinking about it carefully now, the handwriting on the slip was somewhat familiar. He should have seen the owner of this handwriting before. Seeing Gu Wen Nuan now, he immediately realized that this handwriting seemed to be Gu Wen Nuan’s.

“Mm,” Wen Nuan admitted, “I was thinking of having you bring the Imperial Guard to come rescue the sovereign.”

Her own power was weak and isolated, and her internal injuries had not yet healed. Who knew if Su Hong had hidden many death warriors¹⁵ in the shadows, planning to use superior numbers to bully the few. But in the end, there was only Su Hong alone; it seemed he was very confident in his scheme.

Gu Wen Nuan looked at Xiao Chuyu, carefully stroking her chest, and asked with concern: “Chuchu, are you feeling any better?”

Hearing this form of address, Ye Mingxiu’s brow furrowed.

Xiao Chuyu looked at the person before her, only now certain that Gu Wen Nuan had come to save her. At the moment of her life and death, Gu Wen Nuan had descended like a deity, protecting her.

“You… how did you come here?”

She had clearly told Gu Wen Nuan to stay put at the Qinglong Temple.

A trace of slyness flashed through Wen Nuan’s eyes as she smiled: “Our hearts have a spiritual connection¹⁶. I sensed you were in danger, so I rushed over immediately.”

Xiao Chuyu was in too much pain to have the strength to laugh. She hooked the corners of her lips, “….Oily mouth, slippery tongue¹⁷.”

But hearing it made the flower of her heart burst into full bloom¹⁸.

Ye Mingxiu was utterly speechless listening to this and could only look at Su Hong, only to see that he too wore an expression of wanting to die.

He could not help but sigh internally; they were all fellow travelers on the same path.

“Are you feeling any better?” Seeing that Xiao Chuyu’s vital energy and blood had recovered slightly, Wen Nuan withdrew her internal force.

Xiao Chuyu nodded and took a deep breath, saying: “Much better.”

She looked at Su Hong, who wholeheartedly wanted to go to his death, her eyes filled with a cold chill, “Su Hong, since you think Zhen is ruthless and cruel, if Zhen isn’t ruthless and cruel for once, how could I be worthy of your praise?”

“How about Zhen invites your beloved out to see the sun?”

Su Hong’s eyes widened. He looked at Xiao Chuyu in disbelief, ignoring the sharp long-saber on his neck, his face as ferocious as a malevolent ghost emerging from its cage, as he roared with a heart-rending and lung-splitting cry: “Xiao Chuyu… Xiao Chuyu… I’ll kill you ahhh….”

Xiao Chuyu slowly straightened up from Gu Wen Nuan’s embrace, casually spitting out a bit of black blood. Her lips were still tinged with a bluish-purple, appearing just like Yama descending upon the world.

She held the malevolent ghost firmly in her palm, watching his pained and desperate appearance, and an even more intense resentment and sinister cruelty grew in her heart. “Let Zhen guess, where did you bury Yue Yao?”

Su Hong was pressed to the ground by the Imperial Guard. He could only let out mournful shrieks and curses.

“Zhen thinks you must have buried Yue Yao in the Qinglong Temple, next to that Yingyue Spring¹⁹, right?” Xiao Chuyu stated with iron certainty.

Digging up a grave and exposing the corpse²⁰, killing a person and punishing their heart²¹.

Su Hong was stunned in place, his eyes filled with bloodshot veins.

Xiao Chuyu looked down from a commanding position at the demoralized Su Hong and sneered: “Su Hong, Zhen originally did not want to kill you. You brought this upon yourself.”

Su Hong collapsed on the ground, his entire body exuding an aura of death. Just as Xiao Chuyu was about to have the Imperial Guard drag Su Hong away, he suddenly burst out laughing.

“Hahahaha….” Su Hong spat out a mouthful of blood, his entire mouth stained with fresh blood. As if casting a curse, he spoke the most vicious words, “Xiao Chuyu, you will not get a good death hahaha, you will not get a good death hahaha….”

“I will be waiting for you in hell hahaha…. You will come to accompany me hahaha….”

Ye Mingxiu’s brows were tightly furrowed as he looked at Su Hong’s crazed appearance, “Still not taking Su Hong away!”

Just as the Imperial Guard was about to drag Su Hong away, they heard him roar: “How does the feeling of ten thousand insects gnawing at the heart feel? Is it so painful one wishes not to live, wishing you could die immediately? Xiao Chuyu, you will die even more miserably than I, you will be gnawed on by ten thousand insects, you will die without a whole corpse²² ah hahaha…..”

“Wait!” Ye Mingxiu looked at Su Hong, his expression solemn, “What did you say?”

Su Hong sneered repeatedly, his gaze fixed on Xiao Chuyu, his smile filled with malice: “Xiao Chuyu, you are beyond saving. How does the Heart-Bewitching Gu²³ taste, ah?”

“Heart-Bewitching Gu?” Ye Mingxiu grabbed Su Hong’s collar and questioned, “What is the Heart-Bewitching Gu?”

Su Hong kept his mouth tightly shut. No matter how Ye Mingxiu pressed him, he would not utter a single word, but that resentful and vicious gaze was fixed tightly on Xiao Chuyu, as if determined to carve a piece of flesh from her body.

“The Heart-Devouring Gu²⁴, is a product of Jiaoping Kingdom. The person afflicted by the Gu will have a great change in temperament, gradually losing their conscience, warmth, and kindness, and their disposition will become more and more violent.”

“The greatest characteristic of this Gu is that it makes the afflicted person forget all the kindness in the world. Only hatred will remain in their heart, and it will infinitely magnify that hatred. The desire for hatred produced will nourish the Gu poison to grow, causing the afflicted person to be gradually hollowed out in body and mind by the Gu poison, and finally be completely devoured by the Gu poison.”

Wen Nuan looked at Su Hong, whose eyes were full of disbelief, “I spoke correctly, right?”

Su Hong blurted out: “How could you know?!”

The moment these words were out, it happened to prove that every sentence Wen Nuan had said was true.

Ye Mingxiu was greatly terrified in his heart as he listened. He finally understood why Xiao Chuyu’s temperament had changed so drastically these past few years.

Why had she become so violent and paranoid?

It turned out all of this was because Su Hong had planted the Heart-Devouring Gu in Xiao Chuyu!

Xiao Chuyu also had not expected that Su Hong would actually plant a Gu in her body. She had only thought just now that Su Hong had taken advantage of her inattention to drug her, not that Su Hong would use Gu poison on her.

A person afflicted by Gu will have no kindness, will not remember the good deeds of others, and will only infinitely magnify hatred, ultimately leading to self-destruction.

She looked at Wen Nuan, a sense of sorrow and helplessness surfacing in the depths of her eyes.

“You wanted to use this Gu to control Xiao Chuyu, making her lose more and more of her conscience, become more and more violent and gloomy. A person like that would be opposed by the people of the world, who would believe that Ming’an Kingdom was ruled by a fatuous monarch, a tyrant harming the nation.”

“Conveniently, Xiao Chuyu summoned me back to the capital city, and used the crime of colluding with the enemy and betraying the country to detain me. You thought the time was ripe. You planned to use the pretext that Xiao Chuyu, for the sake of the imperial throne, would not hesitate to harm loyal and good officials, and that her harsh governance was harming the country and the people, to launch a crusade against Xiao Chuyu.”

“Let me think, your original plan was to activate the Heart-Devouring Gu, kill Xiao Chuyu in the Imperial Mausoleum, and thus disguise it as Xiao Chuyu, knowing her own sins were grave, committing suicide in the Imperial Mausoleum out of guilt, so as to console the world and give the people an explanation, am I right?”

Everyone was extremely surprised, and Su Hong was even more shocked. He swallowed, and a terrifying thought flashed through his mind, “You did it on purpose?”

Wen Nuan raised an eyebrow: “What?”

Su Hong roared: “You deliberately returned to the capital, deliberately did not bring a single soldier, deliberately did not resist, deliberately let Xiao Chuyu capture you, and deliberately set a trap to lure me out!?”

Xiao Chuyu and Ye Mingxiu both looked towards Wen Nuan, their eyes full of disbelief.

Wen Nuan smiled calmly: “I suppose so. Leaving you by Her Majesty’s side, I was ultimately not at ease. Therefore, you must die.”

Ye Mingxiu was already too shocked to speak, while Xiao Chuyu’s eyes reddened.

Su Hong let out a laugh: “Good, good, good. I, Su Hong, have lost to your, Gu Wen Nuan’s, hands. I admit defeat.”

“But so what if I’ve lost?” He looked at Xiao Chuyu and said triumphantly, “Xiao Chuyu will still die. So what if you destroyed the bell? The Heart-Bewitching Gu will still completely devour Xiao Chuyu.”

“Oh right, I can kindly tell you how to remove the Heart-Devouring Gu. Do you want to hear it or not, ah?”

Ye Mingxiu angrily rebuked: “Spit it out!”

“Two methods. The first method: go to Gu Mountain, capture the Myriad Gu King²⁵, and it can remove the Heart-Bewitching Gu. But even if the Heart-Bewitching Gu is removed, Xiao Chuyu will not live past fifty.”

Ye Mingxiu clenched his fists, “What is the other method?”

Su Hong smiled maliciously, “This last method is the best. It only requires one person to lure out the Heart-Bewitching Gu from Xiao Chuyu’s body and kill it.”

“How to lure out the Heart-Bewitching Gu?”

“That is…” Su Hong deliberately let his gaze wander back and forth over Gu Wen Nuan and Xiao Chuyu, his eyes sarcastic and malicious, “…the heart’s blood²⁶ of the afflicted person’s closest blood kin can lure out the Heart-Bewitching Gu ah hahaha… what a pity that Emperor Chongming and Empress Xianren have long since turned to white bones hahaha…”

Ye Mingxiu froze.

Hearing this, Xiao Chuyu smiled nonchalantly and looked at the head-thrown-back, laughing Su Hong, “You are very pleased with yourself?”

Su Hong’s eyes looked like they were about to split: “Of course I’m pleased! With you accompanying me down to hell, I couldn’t be happier.”

“Good. After I’ve thoroughly tortured your beloved, I will go down to find you.” A flash of brutality passed through the depths of Xiao Chuyu’s eyes. “Take Su Hong away. I want him to watch with his own eyes how his beloved is trampled by me.”

Su Hong laughed ceaselessly, as if mocking Xiao Chuyu’s unwillingness to resign and her struggle.

“Who told you that Xiao Chuyu’s closest kin has already turned to white bones?”

Su Hong froze and roared: “Didn’t you kill Empress Xianren with your own hands? You should be clearer about this than I am, ah?”

“I did kill Empress Xianren,” Wen Nuan’s eyes shifted, her gaze sharp.

She gave a sarcastic smile, “But who told you… that Empress Xianren was Xiao Chuyu’s closest kin?”

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