Chapter 34: A Lesson

What’s all this racket!

As Xuan Rui raised his hand, Li Youqing caught a faint scent of sandalwood mixed with the cold fragrance of Night Lo Flowers.

Remembering that this was the same scent Bai Cha carried, she felt even more nauseated.

It was that woman who had reported her first, making her already precarious situation even more dire.

Xuan Rui looked at the huddled figure, feeling both exasperated and disappointed.

A sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl with such a timid nature—how vicious could she possibly be?

Yet she stubbornly refused to tell the truth—

He didn’t know where his patience came from, giving her chances again and again: “This General will ask one more time, who exactly are you?”

Li Youqing hung her head and murmured her name dazedly: “My surname is Li, given name Youqing.”

Xuan Rui didn’t know which characters made up her name and wanted to ask for clarification. But when he leaned closer, he saw her pale lips, making the bright red bite marks even more conspicuous. His breath hitched involuntarily.

Her face, smaller than a palm, rested on her knees as she tilted her head with closed eyes, her weak breathing resembling a stranded kitten.

A surge of impatience overwhelmed him. He hauled her over with one hand, then turned to fetch a cup of water, bringing it to her lips. “Drink some water, then explain everything clearly from the beginning.”

Li Youqing doubted his goodwill, suspecting the water might be poisoned—that drinking it would cause her intestines to rupture like Bai Yao’er, leaving her in unbearable agony.

She shook her head and pushed his hand away, her gaze scanning the surroundings. “Has the General come to torture me?”

Xuan Rui was taken aback. Following her line of sight, he noticed interrogation tools hanging on one wall and frowned.

“What do you think?” Glancing at her fearful expression, he felt an inexplicable tightness in his chest.

No matter how cold-blooded he might be, he would never resort to such methods against a young girl.

“You locked me in a place like this—isn’t that your intention?” Li Youqing wondered if she should be grateful to still be alive and not thrown into an ice cave.

“Torture you? Could you even endure it?” Xuan Rui grew increasingly irritated by her resentful look, his tone turning sharper.

Li Youqing fell silent, but the next moment, he pinched her chin and slowly forced a mouthful of water down her throat.

She hadn’t wanted to drink, but as her parched lips touched the cool liquid, she couldn’t help but take a sip.

The water tasted faintly sweet—probably not drugged.

Unable to resist, she drank a few more mouthfuls. When he pulled the nearly empty cup away, she reluctantly licked her lips.

Xuan Rui walked back, picked up the teapot, and poured another cup for her, placing it on the table. Instead of approaching her again, he swept aside his deep ink-colored robes and sat down.

Noticing her dazed stare at the teacup, he scoffed, “Still waiting for this General to feed you? Come and drink it yourself.”

Just as Li Youqing was hesitating whether to approach, she suddenly caught sight of a moon-white shadow flashing past the door.

From the sounds outside, it was Bai Cha trying to enter, but Xiao Ziqi stopped him in time.

Since becoming aware of the world, she had never been manipulated so thoroughly. Suddenly, an unknown strength surged within her. Furious, she scrambled off the bed and rushed toward the door.

“You actually betrayed me! I’ll kill you!” In her desperation, she pulled out the silver hairpin from her hair and stabbed fiercely toward Bai Cha.

Xiao Ziqi quickly stepped forward, grabbing her wrist and positioning himself between the two.

Noticing the General close by, he hastily released her hand and could only use his own body as a barrier.

Having suffered such a hidden grievance, Li Youqing threw all caution to the wind, lunging desperately at the other person.

A strong arm suddenly wrapped around her waist, lifting her off her feet. In an instant, the man flipped her around, pinning her back against the hard wall.

His turbulent emotions pressed down on her—cold, fierce, and rough—as he growled in her ear, “What are you causing a scene for?”

This reprimand only deepened her rebellious spirit.

A flash of ruthlessness appeared in Li Youqing’s eyes as she raised her hairpin and stabbed fiercely toward his heart.

The blood was barely visible on the deep black fabric. The man neither dodged nor flinched, not even furrowing his brow.

“General, be careful!” Xiao Ziqi and Bai Cha cried out simultaneously.

“What are you doing? Let go!” Xiao Ziqi shouted angrily, stepping forward to pull her away.

Xuan Rui turned to block their view, his voice icy. “Get out, all of you.”

“But General, you’re bleeding. You need to bandage it quickly,” Bai Cha urged anxiously, pulling out her handkerchief.

Xuan Rui gave her a cold glance. “You’d do well to leave while I haven’t yet found the time to deal with you.”

Bai Cha’s face paled, her heart sinking in despair as Xiao Ziqi pulled her away together.

In the prison corridor, only Li Youqing’s ragged breathing and the man’s long sigh remained.

Xuan Rui casually pulled the silver hairpin from his chest, studying her frightened expression with cold mockery. “Where did you learn these rules? That you can deceive others, but others deceiving you deserves death?”

As his chest rose and fell, the bloodstain slowly spread across his deep black robe.

He lifted the bloodied silver hairpin and tucked it back into her hair, his large hand sliding heavily from her crown down to her chin, finally gripping her sharp jaw.

Li Youqing instinctively tried to escape, but the arm around her waist was like an iron band, not only restricting her movement but squeezing the breath from her.

Unable to bear this oppression, she suddenly felt transported back to childhood—when her mother had locked her alone in a room and summoned several Jingqi Momos to discipline her.

No matter how obedient, adorable, and pleasing she appeared in public, in her mother’s eyes, she would always be arrogant, willful, and utterly unruly.

Just as he saw her now—

That was why he wanted to lock her away.

Waves of cold and heat alternated through Li Youqing’s body. Dizzy and disoriented, her head drooped heavily.

In her ears, she seemed to hear the Jingqi Momos’ scolding—

“Why is Third Princess so difficult? Miss Li Yuan has come all this way. Her Majesty only asked you to share one casket of the Southern Pearl bestowed by the emperor with her. Can’t you even do that? Where have all the rules and etiquette you learned gone?”

“Third Princess, stop this nonsense. Today is Miss Li Yuan’s birthday. Everyone is celebrating at Yunshui Pavilion. Her Majesty specifically instructed you to bring a gift… Oh, don’t dawdle. Take advantage of the fine weather to get some sun—perhaps your chill will improve.”

“Where did the Princess learn such rules? Don’t you know you should yield to your elder sister?”

“Third Princess, stop making a scene!”

Li Youqing suddenly clutched her head and screamed, desperate to silence those voices, to never be locked away again, to never again be scolded for being unreasonable.

She had been very obedient, very docile.

After moving to Liu Chang Hall, she paid respects to the Empress every day, crossing through the bamboo grove before dawn to accompany the Crown Prince in his studies. She lived meticulously, calculating and ingratiating, wanting them all to like her.

But what was the result…

She screamed incessantly, as if venting all the grievances she had accumulated over these days, until her throat grew hoarse and swollen, her voice breaking.

A large hand covered her mouth, a man’s voice pressing down heavily: “Stop screaming, do you hear me!”

Worried she might suffocate, Xuan Rui loosened his grip slightly, only for her to bite down hard on his hand.

Lifting her head to force her to look at him, he met her panicked, helpless, and deeply aggrieved eyes. For a moment, his heart felt as if gripped by something, a genuine, sharp pain.

She had made a scene, she had bitten him—what was she so aggrieved about?

Was it because he had confined her?

First, he learned she was planning to elope with a man, then his spies brought back a portrait of the true thirteenth young lady of the chancellor’s residence—

With all these incidents piling up, shouldn’t she be taught a lesson rather than indulged to continue her reckless behavior?

“Fine, as long as you don’t scream, just keep biting.” He took a deep breath, his chest pounding like thunder.

He didn’t understand what was wrong with himself, why every time he saw her eyes, he would—

Why? Who exactly was she, and what was happening to him?

Damn it, he couldn’t keep looking.

His gaze drifted downward, noticing a few strands of hair clinging to her thin cheeks. Further down, her delicate jaw was propped open by the edge of his palm.

Her rosy little mouth was stubbornly clamped around his hand.

The feeble force was no stronger than a stray cat’s.

Somewhere, a twitch ran through him, and his grip faltered, his fingertip accidentally slipping inside—

Cool and moist.

The sensation jolted him sharply, a wild glint surfacing in his eyes.

Like yellow sand rising over desolate plains, a crimson moon sinking into an ancient well, his mind exploded into chaos.

After a brief daze, he quickly came to his senses.

In the earlier struggle, he had actually been marked—if word got out, it would be utterly humiliating.

Seeing her brows furrow in discomfort, Xuan Rui couldn’t resist gently stroking her cheek with his finger.

Li Youqing was roused by the rough sensation, her consciousness returning as she gasped for air in ragged breaths.

She remembered—those Jingqi Momos who had bullied her had later been dispatched on various pretexts, either sent to the laundry bureau, handed over to the Department of Justice, or severely beaten with boards.

The palace was a place that devoured people without spitting out bones. As she grew older, she had firmly ingrained its survival rules in her mind. It was always others who feared her—when had she ever endured such casual disrespect again?

Feeling his palm pressed against her cheek, Li Youqing’s face paled, her eyes filled with defiance and stubbornness.

Xuan Rui cupped her chin, pulling her closer, and said in a gentle tone, “What’s all the fuss? So you were tricked by someone. Let this be a lesson—don’t trust just anyone from now on, and don’t try any tricks in front of me… You don’t even know your own limits, yet you dare rush out and harm people.”

Li Youqing was pulled forward, forced to grip the clothes at his waist with both hands to maintain her balance.

Xuan Rui’s hand shifted from her chin to the back of her neck, easily lifting her up and creating some distance between them.

Li Youqing’s eyes were red as she muttered resentfully, “She can disguise herself as a man and sneak in without consequences, yet you throw me into the dark prison and dunk me in the ice cave. What kind of logic is that?!”

Xuan Rui was taken aback, then couldn’t help but laugh in exasperation. Dunk her in the ice cave? He had never done any such thing.

But her accusations grew increasingly bitter: “You keep condemning me for lying, but did you ever give me a chance?… That kick to the chest you gave me still aches so badly at night I can’t sleep. If I hadn’t lied, I’d probably be dead by your hands already. Last night you just took someone else’s word without even questioning me before locking me up. Isn’t that bullying the weak? Besides, I already explained that no one put me up to it, but you refused to believe me. Do you only plan to stop when you’ve forced a confession through torture?”

“Bullying the weak? Forced confessions through torture?” Xuan Rui shook his head, feeling it was impossible to communicate properly with her.

“Li Youqing.” He uttered her name while glancing at her sideways. “Consider today as you having confessed a little. As for the rest, we can continue with the ‘forced confession through torture’ tomorrow.”

“Fine.” Li Youqing turned to return to the interrogation room, but found the man’s grip unyielding—she couldn’t move at all.

Looking up, she saw him staring at her with a stern expression.

That same look he gave prisoners—

Tilting her chin up, her face filled with determination, Li Youqing said, “Let go. I want to go back.”

Suddenly, the world spun around her as the man hoisted her over his shoulder and carried her down the dimly lit corridor.

Xuan Rui unceremoniously dumped her onto the carriage seat, then sat coldly beside her without a word.

Li Youqing closed her eyes and suddenly felt as if she weighed a thousand pounds, unable to even lift a finger.

Her body alternated between chills and fever, her clothes clinging to her skin like an airtight film.

Hearing her rapid breathing, Xuan Rui leaned over and touched her forehead. Realizing she had a fever, he took off his cloak and draped it over her.

Burning with delirium, Li Youqing still remembered that detestable scent and kicked the cloak off with her hands and feet.

Xuan Rui’s throat tightened. He simply pulled out a blanket and wrapped her up like a zongzi.

Unable to break free and utterly miserable, Li Youqing curled up and gradually fell into a deep sleep.