Chapter 75: Cage

【Tearful — Tangtang must stay strong, must stay alive.】

【Win back the Emperor's heart, become someone others can only look up to.】

【The person upstairs has romance on the brain — who needs the Emperor's heart? He's just a trash dragon, better off without him.】

Wan Tang's tears rolled down, and the despair in her eyes gradually receded, slowly turning into a piercing, cold light.

These people — she would not spare a single one!

Li Ping'er was choked awake by the smell of blood.

She struggled to force open her heavy eyelids; before her eyes was a sea of crimson, the winding trails of blood on the floor tiles not yet dried.

"My lady!" she cried out, throwing herself toward the figure curled up in the corner.

Wan Tang's disheveled black hair clung to her deathly pale cheeks, yet in her arms she still clutched that severed finger in a death grip.

Xiao Shunzi also stumbled over on all fours, his legs going weak at the sight of the blood-soaked floor: "Th-this is..."

"Shh." Wan Tang suddenly looked up, her eyes terrifyingly lucid. "Listen."

The heavy sound of chains came from outside the Gongmen, accompanied by the footsteps of guards.

Someone outside sneered coldly: "By imperial decree, under guard — not even a fly will fly out of here!"

"Answering Xu will be handsomely rewarded."

Li Ping'er trembled all over, using her sleeve to wipe the blood and grime from Wan Tang's face: "My lady, you're covered in wounds. I will go fetch the imperial physician."

"No need," Wan Tang said softly.

She opened her palm; that pale severed finger lay like a blood-stained dagger. "No imperial physician will come."

She suddenly laughed low, the sound more chilling than weeping. "The Xu Family, Wang Jingyi, Xu Mingde, Xu Luoyan, Xu Chengyuan — not one of you will escape..."

Xiao Shunzi suddenly dropped to his knees and kowtowed desperately: "This Nubi is useless! I failed to protect my Master!"

Wan Tang reached out and pressed her hand on his shoulder.

Her nail beds were caked with blood and mud, yet her grip was remarkably steady: "Remember this day."

She enunciated each word, her voice light as a feather yet heavy as a sledgehammer striking the heart, "Every single drop of this blood — I will make them repay a hundredfold."

Autumn grew ever colder.

Li Ping'er was using the palace's dilapidated...

Xiao Shunzi supported Wan Tang across the threshold, reminding her in a low voice: "Master, careful — the floor tile here is missing a corner."

Wan Tang leaned against a peeling pillar and slowly sat down, suddenly coughing lightly, a thin line of blood seeping from her lips.

"Master!" Xiao Shunzi hastily reached up with his sleeve to wipe it, but Wan Tang gently stopped him.

"It's nothing." She shook her head, her voice light as a feather. "What did you say you found just now?"

Xiao Shunzi glanced warily at Li Ping'er, who was busy outside the door, then leaned close to Wan Tang's ear: "This Nubi followed your orders to secretly investigate Miss Ping'er, and found a thread of a lead."

"She seems to have come from outside, and even has some connection to the Prince of Yan."

Xiao Shunzi lowered his voice further: "What's more, I looked through her belongings — perhaps she also has some connection to Li Defu."

Wan Tang's fingertips trembled slightly.

Wan Tang gazed at that frail silhouette outside the door.

"Xiao Shunzi." Wan Tang suddenly smiled, beads of blood oozing from her cracked lips. "We already have nothing left."

"In this man-eating place, anyone still willing to endure alongside me is family."

Li Ping'er came in, saw the unusual expressions on master and servant, and hastily knelt: "Did I do something wrong?"

"Rise." Wan Tang helped her up with her own hands and gave her the hidden gold. "From now on, the three of us are each other's family."

Li Ping'er suddenly burst into tears, clutching the gold in a death grip, as if clutching her last lifeline.

Xiao Shunzi turned his face away and rubbed his eyes fiercely with his dirty sleeve.

Wan Tang looked at the two pained figures and gently pressed her hand to her chest.

Family — that word burned so hot it made her eyes sting.

Winter came to Cuivei Palace especially early.

Barely past Frost Descent, the broken window lattices could no longer keep out the biting wind.

Wan Tang and her two servants huddled in the only Side Hall still somewhat intact, wrapped in moldy cotton quilts, shivering.

Li Ping'er draped the last intact lined jacket over Wan Tang's shoulders, while her own lips turned blue from the cold.

"Master, cough, cough — drink a little more hot water." Xiao Shunzi held out a chipped earthenware bowl, in which floated two unnamed withered leaves.

Ever since being imprisoned, they hadn't even seen proper tea leaves — they could only gather fallen leaves to boil for drinking.

Wan Tang shook her head and pushed the bowl toward Li Ping'er: "What about the food delivered today?"

Xiao Shunzi's eyes suddenly reddened: "The Imperial Kitchen said the Emperor gave no order to feed us. Grannie Zhang told us to help scrub the chamber pots, and then she'd give us food."

"But yesterday she said we didn't scrub the chamber pots clean enough, that we had no right to eat."

Piercing laughter suddenly came from outside the hall.

Grannie Zhang stood at the bottom of the steps with two rough-service palace maids, pouring the food that should have been delivered into the slop bucket.

Black, rancid rice mixed with rotten vegetable leaves splashed onto the snow, glaringly conspicuous.

"My, not starved to death yet?" Grannie Zhang deliberately raised her voice. "If you ask this old servant, even the rats in this Cold Palace are better off than you lot. At least they can find their own food!"

Li Ping'er trembled all over with anger, but Wan Tang gripped her wrist in a death hold.

"Grannie's lesson is well-taken." Wan Tang calmly curtsied, but the nails hidden in her sleeves dug into her palms. "Tomorrow we will scrub the chamber pots until they shine."

Grannie Zhang hadn't expected her to endure it so well; she spat in disgruntlement: "Putting on such airs of purity!"

Before leaving, she deliberately kicked over the charcoal basin outside the door, and those few sparks were instantly swallowed by the accumulated snow.

Only when the footsteps faded did Wan Tang pull out the last piece of broken silver from the pouch close to her body: "Xiao Shunzi, go beg the gate guard, Guard Wang."

Her voice was so soft it was barely audible: "Just say... we are willing to trade double the price for some charcoal."

Xiao Shunzi clutched the silver and cried out, "Master, this is your last taels of silver."

"Go quickly." Wan Tang looked out the window at the drifting snow, the white breath she exhaled vanished swiftly in the cold wind, "Only by staying alive can we wait for the snow to melt."

That night, they finally exchanged for half a basket of inferior coal.

The three of them gathered around the faint flame, sharing a cold, hard steamed bun.

Li Ping'er suddenly discovered that Wan Tang's wrist had several more blood marks.

They were wounds that had been frozen and cracked while she was scrubbing the bucket in daylight.

"Master…"

"Shh." Wan Tang shoved the last bite of the bun into her mouth, "Tomorrow is Xu Luoyan's birthday; given her temperament, it will surely be a grand celebration."

A glint of darkness flashed in her eyes, "Then it will be our chance to turn the tables."

Next day.

The dawn light was faint, the snowy hue reflected into the broken window lattice, coating the bronze mirror with a layer of frost.

Wan Tang stood quietly before the mirror, her plain white inner garment fluttered slightly in the morning breeze.

She slowly untied the cotton cloth wrapped around her abdomen, the layers of fabric slipping down, revealing a slightly bulging belly.

The curve was still soft, yet in the morning light it displayed a breathtaking presence.

"Little Master!" Li Ping'er entered carrying hot water, and upon seeing this hurriedly turned and shut the door, "Didn't you say no one could know about your pregnancy?"

Wan Tang's fingertips brushed her abdomen, the corner of her mouth lifted a smile as cold as ice, "It's been three months."

She took a wooden comb, slowly combed her long hair, "It's time to make those people repay their blood debts."

The bronze mirror reflected her slender face, dark shadows under her eyes heavy, yet her eyes shone terrifyingly bright.

Li Ping'er suddenly noticed that the Master's touch on her abdomen was extremely gentle, but her gaze was very cold.

"Child." Wan Tang suddenly lowered her head and whispered, her fingertips drawing a circle on her belly, "Mother is sorry to you."

A single tear struck the back of her hand, "Before you're even born, you have to be stained with these filthy affairs."

【Tangtang finally gets to strike back, wonderful.】

【This time, the Xu Family must pay the price.】

【Just thinking of Xu Yanchuan's severed finger makes me wish the Xu Family would die.】

The Barrage sound rang out again.

Although Wan Tang is locked in Cuivei Palace, the events outside, heard through the Barrage, were only partially understood.

Xu Chengyuan's power grew increasingly overbearing.

He was awarded a first‑class merit of a different surname, receiving the "hereditary unreplaceable" title.

During this period, Xu Luoyan constantly met with Wang Jingyi, becoming even more obedient and charming, regaining a holy heart.

Whenever news from that side arrived, Wan Tang's heart grew colder.

The dusk closed in fourfold, the ruined walls of Cuivei Palace were tinted blue by the snow.

From the direction of Jingren Palace, just a wall away, the faint sounds of strings and bamboo flutes drifted, mixed with the concubines' coquettish laughter.

Here, only the whimper of the cold wind through the broken window and the crisp crack of snow‑laden dead branches breaking.

Wan Tang stood in the courtyard center, her thin plain robe fluttered noisily in the wind.

She looked up at the towering palace wall, thick snow piled on the glazed tiles atop, shimmering a faint blue cold light under the moon.

"Are you ready?" she asked softly, her exhaled breath vanishing quickly in the cold wind.

Li Ping'er tightened her grip on the firefold, nodded heavily: "I (serving woman) have poured lamp oil in the side hall; it can burn along the curtains to the main beam."

Xiao Shunzi rubbed his frozen hands: "Nubi also ready."

His voice trembled, "But Master, do you really want to do this? The risk is huge."

"Either live or die." Wan Tang brushed the slightly bulging belly, her gaze colder than snow, "I can't stay in this cage even for a day."

"Bang!" a sudden sound echoed from afar, and the night sky over the direction of Jingren Palace abruptly burst with a golden firework.

Then the second and third followed, lighting half the sky with shimmering colors; that marked the start of Xu Guifei's birthday banquet.

"Now!"

Wan Tang took the firefold and gave it a gentle blow.

The orange‑red flame leapt up, illuminating her pale face.

She stared at the cluster of glimmer for a moment, then suddenly raised her hand.

The firefold traced an arc, landing precisely into the dried grass that had been pre‑doused with lamp oil.

"Boom!"

The tongues of fire instantly rose over a person's height, crazily spreading along the oil‑slicked curtains.

In the blink of an eye, the entire side hall was engulfed in flames. A wave of heat hit the face, melting the courtyard's snow and steaming up a white mist.

"It's on fire! Cuivei Palace is on fire!"

Outside the palace walls, chaotic footsteps erupted instantly.

Wan Tang immediately ordered, "Xiao Shunzi, hold the door, don't let them put out the fire."

The fire waves rolled, devouring half the palace, thick black smoke surged skyward, dyeing the night sky a ferocious dark red.

From afar to near, the imperial guards' shouts rang: "Quick! Break open the palace gate!"

"Clang! Clang!" The heavy palace gate was struck, shaking, its latch groaning under the strain.

Xiao Shunzi pressed himself firmly against the door, his frail body trembling from the shock, yet he still used all his strength to hold the latch.

He turned his head toward Wan Tang, the firelight illuminating her ash‑covered face, full of resolve: "Master, they brought axes."

Wan Tang stood in the courtyard center, flames dancing wildly behind her, stretching her shadow long and twisted.

She remained perfectly still, letting the heat lift her robes, her voice chillingly calm, "Make the fire burn even hotter."

Bang! Another fierce impact, and the snow piled on the doorframe fluttered down.

Li Ping'er suddenly lunged over, using her frail shoulder to press against the Gongmen: "I heard Chief Li's voice."

Wan Tang's lips curled into a cold smile.

She walked slowly toward the most fiercely burning West Side Hall, took a paper‑wrapped bundle of oil from her bosom, and without hesitation threw it into the fire.

It was the lamp oil she had secretly saved over the past three months.

"Boom!" The flames surged instantly, and the heat wave forced people to keep their eyes shut.

Wan Tang stepped back a few paces, looked up at the sky‑piercing flames, and suddenly let out a mournful long laugh: "No place can ever bind me!"