Chapter 255: An Eerie Smile

Shen Yanliu took another sip of bird's nest soup, then his gaze suddenly shifted, as if he had thought of something.

"Someone, come here!"

Following Shen Yanliu's deep-voiced shout, a Personal Attendant stepped in and stood quietly, awaiting orders.

Shen Yanliu said, "Go call the young lady over!"

Shen Yanliu and Shen Mizhi arrived in the Dungeon together; the foul odor inside the dungeon made Shen Mizhi frown, and an impatient expression appeared on her fair, delicate face.

Shen Yanliu led Shen Mizhi into a secret cell; a stench of blood and rot stung Shen Mizhi, causing her to immediately cover her nose with her sleeve.

Shen Yanliu walked over, dragged the blood-covered, one-armed Su Di, who was curled up in the corner, to the cell door, and grabbed Su Di's hair to expose her face.

The dim, yellow light from outside shone onto Su Di's face.

"Do you recognize this woman?"

Shen Mizhi did not know what her father meant; how could she recognize such a pig or dog? However, she still leaned in a step closer to look carefully, and at this sight, her heart skipped a beat.

It had been over half a year since she had been humiliated and molested by Duan Rong at his painting stall; she had already put the matter behind her, but seeing Su Di now, the past surged back into her heart, and a sense of disgust rippled through her once more.

"I have seen her!" Shen Mizhi said coldly.

"At Duan Rong's painting stall?"

Shen Mizhi did not expect her father to already know so clearly; her face flushed red, and she nodded, saying, "Yes."

Shen Yanliu felt a weight lift from his heart and let go of Su Di. It seemed that brat hadn't lied to him; he didn't want the Merit Token because he was indeed afraid of the Filthy Blood Sect settling scores later.

Shen Yanliu said coldly, "Let's go."

He took Shen Mizhi out of the dungeon and went straight to his study; throughout the rest of the way, he did not say a single word to Shen Mizhi as he was deep in thought about the case.

Shen Mizhi stood blankly in the Corridor for a while before leaving in a rage.

Shen Mizhi returned to her room, and thinking of her father's coldness, she felt a wave of irritation.

Moreover, she was due to participate in the Taiyi Sect's Registered Disciple selection in March, yet Shen Yanliu had never asked how her preparations were going, nor had he ever cared about her cultivation progress, focusing only on pondering the political performance review for next year.

He had finally called for her, and she had thought he would ask about the assessment, but who knew he would only ask about an annoying matter she had already put behind her.

Shen Mizhi had indeed been under great pressure lately; with the assessment approaching, she still could not achieve the Great Accomplishment of the Inner Breath Realm Fourth Layer.

Furthermore, deep down, she was an extremely insecure person. Recently, because of cultivation, she had been driven to the brink of a breakdown and often suffered from insomnia; morning was already the time when her mental state was at its worst, and Shen Yanliu suddenly calling her to the filthy dungeon and treating her coldly became the final straw that broke her mental defenses this morning.

Shen Mizhi sat before the carved rosewood desk and smiled to herself, a look of madness beginning to emerge in her eyes.

She suddenly stood up and fished a yellow snakeskin dagger out of a chest by the bed.

Shen Mizhi clutched the dagger and sat back down at the desk, her hands rubbing incessantly against the dagger due to nervousness...

Shen Mizhi suddenly drew the dagger, looked at its cold gleam, and smiled eerily, the madness in her eyes intensifying...

She rolled up her sleeve, took the dagger, and slashed at her own fair, delicate forearm...

The sharp dagger instantly pierced the tender skin, and bright red blood flowed out...

Shen Mizhi looked at her own crimson blood, a sense of gratification appearing in her eyes.

The crimson blood flowed over her fair skin; on that lotus-root-like delicate forearm, there were actually several old scars of varying depths...

The first time she had done this to herself was when she was ten years old. At that time, Shen Yanliu had already been remarried to Ma Chunmin for several years, but as Shen Mizhi grew older, she grew increasingly disgusted with her stepmother deep down; what she found most nauseating was how Ma Chunmin always acted as if she cared about her.

It was during her most agitated moments that she had slashed herself as if possessed by ghosts or gods; in that instant, watching the fresh blood gush out, she felt a cruel pleasure.

Since she had reached adulthood, she had not done this for a long time.

She knew this was not normal.

But, on this annoying morning, she had repeated her old mistakes.

As the pleasure faded, Shen Mizhi was suddenly seized by panic; she wiped away the bloodstains, applied Golden Sore Medicine, and bit the bandage to carefully wrap her wound.

After finishing all this, her heart felt inexplicably light, as if a heavy stone had been removed; she gave a faint smile and went to the courtyard to practice her skills.

Over here, Sun Huang's wife was sitting in the courtyard cursing him early in the morning.

"You thousand-cut wretch, just die out there and don't come back!"

Sun Huang had said he would be back by night, and she had waited through the first half of the night, but she never saw a shadow of him.

Waking up in the morning, she concluded that Sun Huang had stayed overnight in Tanghe County, and with Luan Jingfu at that.

"Who knows what kind of shady business they were up to?" Sun Huang's wife muttered, sitting in the courtyard.

Just then, a knocking sound echoed at the courtyard gate.

Sun Huang's wife smiled and said, "So you know how to come back? Watch how I deal with you!"

Thinking it was her own husband who had returned, she walked over and opened the gate, but it was Cai Shi from next door; she saw that Cai Shi was carrying an empty basket, her face pale and panicked, and she said, "Sister Liu, I just saw your Sun Huang on the street?"

"Sun Huang?" Liu Eying peered behind Cai Shi and asked with a smile, "Where is he?"

"Your Sun Huang is dead," Cai Shi cried out.

Liu Eying's expression changed, and she said angrily, "It's the start of the year, what nonsense are you spouting?"

"Go ask at the Ya Men," Cai Shi said. "I just saw his corpse on the street, hanging over a horse..."

Liu Eying's face looked very ugly; this Cai Shi was usually fond of stirring up trouble and often gossiped among the neighbors, but this joke was a bit too big.

Seeing Liu Eying looking at her with unkind eyes, Cai Shi said no more, turned around with her basket, and left.

Liu Eying felt uneasy; she locked the courtyard gate and headed toward the Ya Men.

Along the way, she kept pondering Cai Shi's words, but then she thought, her husband had been escorting goods for over a dozen years and had never had an accident; this time he had only gone to Tanghe County, a place she herself had visited several times. Moreover, Sun Huang was with Luan Jingfu this time.

She was a woman and didn't understand much, but she had heard Sun Huang mention that Luan Jingfu was able to be the chief leader because he was some kind of... True Qi Realm expert.

The more Liu Eying thought about it, the more she felt that Sun Huang couldn't have had an accident.

Liu Eying arrived at the County Government Office and pestered the guard at the gate, asking for a long time, but the guard didn't give her a straight answer, only making lewd remarks and teasing her from time to time.

Liu Eying stepped down from the stone steps of the Ya Men; she felt that no news was good news, for if something had really happened, the Ya Men would have been in an uproar long ago.

But on her way back, she heard much discussion on the street, saying that Luan Jingfu's home had been raided.

She also heard that the County Magistrate had entered the city early in the morning, leading a horse with two corpses hanging on it.

"Right away? Two corpses?" Liu Eying felt irritable, and her footsteps unconsciously quickened; she was going to the Cai Shi residence to ask her for a clear explanation.

As Liu Eying walked, tears began to stream from the corners of her eyes without her realizing it...

(End of chapter)