Chapter 256: Mysterious Freak (1)

The westward-slanting moonlight shone through the window lattice into the luxurious inner room. The silvery-white light could not compare to the warm orange light in the room. The soft light source was not an ordinary candle, but night-shining pearls placed in the four corners of the inner room. The fist-sized pearls were lightly covered by orange gauze hanging to the ground, reflecting a faint, warm orange light. It was not too bright, but it was enough for lighting, adding a bit of nobility and luxury to the already exquisitely decorated inner room.

"What exactly is going on tonight?" Xin Yuening had already changed out of her gorgeous clothes and was sitting in front of the bronze mirror in plain white undergarments. Her personal female official, Shui Xin, carefully untied her high-coiled hair bun and combed it bit by bit. Although Xin Yuening's question was abrupt, Shui Xin still replied intimately, "Replying to my mistress, the woman originally sent into the palace was not the Qing Ling the Emperor wanted. She is the second daughter of the Qing family, Qingfeng."

Xin Yuening was stunned, then smiled, "There's such a thing?" Someone dared to send the wrong person when the Emperor specifically named who he wanted?

Sensing that Xin Yuening was quite interested in this point, Shui Xin continued in a low, urgent voice, "It is said that the Haoyue officials made a mistake, sending Qing Ling to the Prime Minister's mansion and Qingfeng to the palace. The Emperor was furious about this and has already sent someone to Haoyue to verify it. Currently, Qingfeng has been locked in the Heavenly Prison, and Qing Ling, with the protection of Prime Minister Lou, has left the palace."

Lou Xiyan knew that Qing Ling was the woman the Emperor wanted, yet he actually protected her and let her leave the palace. He must have taken a fancy to that Qing Ling. This woman was also quite capable, being able to make the Emperor miss her and also make the usually cold Lou Xiyan plead for her. Thinking of everything that happened at the palace banquet tonight, Xin Yuening's face suddenly turned pale, and a feeling of nausea surged up. She snorted in disgust, "That woman named Qing Ling is simply a monster." A proper young lady from a good family, what else could she not do, but go and dissect corpses! She didn't know what the Emperor and Lou Xiyan were thinking, how they could be interested in such a terrifying woman. Even if they were looking for something novel, there was a limit.

Xin Yuening's face didn't look good, and she retched a few times while holding her chest. Shui Xin put down the jade comb and brought her ginseng tea.

After Xin Yuening drank a mouthful of ginseng tea, she finally felt better and asked casually, "Has Qingfeng been locked in the Heavenly Prison?"

"Yes, she was sent to the Heavenly Prison an hour ago."

Thinking of Qingfeng's stubborn and arrogant appearance tonight, Xin Yuening raised a cold smile, "The Heavenly Prison is not a good place to stay. She is a weak woman, I don't know if she can survive it."

Shui Xin lowered her brows and pondered for a while before replying in a low voice, "This servant knows what to do."

Putting down the ginseng tea, Xin Yuening seemed to have thought of something else and specifically instructed, "Don't make it too obvious." People dying in the Heavenly Prison was a common occurrence. Now it seemed that the Emperor had no interest in Qingfeng, otherwise, he wouldn't have thrown her into the Heavenly Prison. Whether that woman lived or died didn't have much impact on her. If she were to be caught by Consort Hui because of this matter and give others a handle, it wouldn't be worth it.

Shui Xin replied obediently, "Yes." Helping Xin Yuening to bed, Shui Xin quietly exited the room.

In the third month of spring, flowers were blooming. A young thrush bird that had just learned to fly hopped around in the branches and finally landed in front of the small window next to the branch, chirping, as if telling the person inside the small window about the bright spring light outside. A beam of sunlight shone through the small window onto the cold stone floor, and also onto that curled-up, thin body. Even with the warm sunlight gently stroking it, that body was still trembling slightly, and her tightly closed eyes showed that she hadn't woken up yet.

"Bang!" The tightly closed cell door suddenly made a crisp sound, startling the bird on the small window to fly away immediately, and also shaking Qingfeng, who was in a deep sleep, awake.

Qingfeng opened her eyes abruptly, and everything in front of her was white, and she couldn't see anything clearly. Everywhere she looked, there were layers of beautiful halos. She stared at the halos for a long time until her eyes began to sting, and then Qingfeng reached out to cover her eyes. Everything that happened last night replayed in her mind instantly. She was in the palace now, in prison! Qingfeng sat up straight immediately. Perhaps the movement was too urgent, and her chest suddenly hurt. Qingfeng coughed violently. Every time she coughed, her chest would twitch along with it. That kind of pain almost made her wish she could just sleep and never wake up again.

Qingfeng finally caught her breath. With a "clatter," a bowl of turbid porridge was thrown in from the square opening at the bottom of the cell door. Because the force was too great, a lot of it spilled out. She hadn't eaten properly for almost a day and a night, and she hadn't even had a drop of water. Qingfeng struggled to get up and run over, picking up the earthenware bowl on the ground and bringing it to her mouth. Before the porridge even entered her mouth, a rancid smell hit her directly, and her already parched throat immediately couldn't take it and retched.

This was simply rancid food that even a dog wouldn't eat. In the vast palace, was it impossible to even give a bowl of white porridge? Or was it that people locked up here were not even as good as a dog! Qingfeng sneered and was about to throw the rancid food in her hand aside when that cold woman's voice rang out again, "If you don't want to die, you have to swallow everything into your stomach."

Was it the same voice as last night? Qingfeng's hand holding the bowl trembled, and she hurriedly looked up. The first thing she saw was not a person, but a fence blocked by tree trunks as thick as an arm. The trunks were arranged very densely, and only a hand could pass through. In the upper right of the cell where she was, there was a small window the size of a palm, and only a ray of sunlight passed through that small window into the cell. The window was too small, the light was too weak, and the cell on the other side of the fence had no windows and was even darker. If the woman hadn't spoken, Qingfeng wouldn't have discovered that there was another person opposite.

It turned out there was a fence between the two cells. Although Qingfeng was still nervous, compared to the fear of last night, she was much calmer now. Putting down the bowl in her hand, Qingfeng slowly approached the fence, squinting her eyes, trying hard to see the woman opposite clearly.

After looking for a long time, Qingfeng finally saw a shadow in the dark corner. In such an environment, let alone seeing her appearance and age clearly, even distinguishing between male and female was difficult. Qingfeng could only guess from the blurry figure and voice that she should be a middle-aged woman of about forty.

The woman was holding the bowl, her head buried in the porridge as if she were pouring all the porridge into her mouth, and finally, she licked the residue on the edge of the bowl bit by bit, as if it were some kind of delicacy in the world. Qingfeng's brows furrowed tightly. She looked down at the rancid porridge in her hand, then looked at the humble woman in the corner. Her hand holding the bowl tightened, and she threw the bowl in her hand next to the cell door. The porridge spilled all over the ground, and the bowl also had a small crack.

The woman in the corner trembled all over and turned to look at Qingfeng. Qingfeng glared at her coldly. Thinking that she had been terrified by this woman last night and had been in fear all night, a nameless fire rose in her heart. Qingfeng asked coldly, "What exactly do you want to do?"

The woman also looked at her for a long time, and Qingfeng could feel that cold gaze. Just when she thought the woman wouldn't pay attention to her, the woman suddenly laughed and replied neither lightly nor heavily, "Once you get here, you have no chance of getting out alive, but you won't die immediately either. Just endure it slowly."

Her appearance now was still a bit strange, but compared to the madness and weirdness of last night, she was not much different from an ordinary person now. Qingfeng became more and more curious about this person and took another step forward. Qingfeng continued to ask, "Who are you?"

"Who am I?" The woman sneered but didn't continue.

Even if she couldn't see her expression, Qingfeng didn't miss the disdain and unwillingness in her tone. There must be an unusual story behind this person.

I don't know if it was because she was hungry, tired, or for some other reason, Qingfeng felt a little dizzy, and the pain in her chest reminded her how ruthless Yan Hongtian's palm was. Qingfeng didn't forget the woman's crazy appearance last night, so she took a few steps back, sat with her back against the cell door, and asked casually, "Have you been here for a long time?"

"Not long." The woman was silent for a long time. Just when Qingfeng thought she wouldn't answer, she replied softly, "Only seven or eight years."

Only seven or eight years? Hiding in the shadows, she curled up her body. Qingfeng could only vaguely see that she was very thin, and her prisoner's clothes were so tattered and dirty that the original color couldn't be seen. Her scattered hair hung behind her head like dry grass, covering her face.

Seven or eight years?

The porridge spilled on the ground occasionally emitted a foul smell, and the dark, sunless cell was cold and damp. There would be no warmth here, nor hope. Seven or eight years? Perhaps she couldn't even stay for seven or eight days. If she were to stay here for a lifetime, she would rather die!

The iron door she was leaning against moved suddenly, and the square opening at the bottom of the door opened again. The person outside paused, seemingly seeing the spilled porridge and the broken earthenware bowl on the ground.

"You don't want to eat, do you? Then don't eat for the next few days." The man's angry clamor came from outside the cell door. Qingfeng raised the corners of her mouth indifferently, not caring at all about what he said. This kind of rancid food, even if she starved to death, she wouldn't eat it.

Just as Qingfeng was sneering arrogantly, the cell door behind her was kicked fiercely by the guard outside. Although it didn't kick her directly, she was sitting against the cell door, and the force of that kick vibrated through the cell door onto her chest. Qingfeng only felt a darkness before her eyes, and a fishy, hot current overflowed from her throat.

Qingfeng raised her hand lightly to wipe the corners of her lips, and dark red blood slid down her fingertips bit by bit. Qingfeng frowned, estimating that she wouldn't need seven or eight days to die in this prison.

"You? You vomited blood?" A suspicious woman's voice came from the corner with a trembling tone. Qingfeng raised her arm and wiped the blood from the corners of her mouth with her sleeve, snorting indifferently, "I won't die for the time being."

Blood stained her sleeve, leaving a dark red bloodstain on the blue fabric. Qingfeng was full of arrogance, as if the one vomiting blood wasn't herself. The woman, who had been calm and normal just now, became irritable, muttering something in her mouth. Qingfeng didn't listen carefully.

"It's her!" The woman climbed up from the ground abruptly and pounced on Qingfeng like a madman, scaring Qingfeng into hurriedly moving toward the cell door. This time, the woman didn't reach out to pull Qingfeng, but just gripped the fence tightly, her fingertips turning white from using too much force.

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 257 =====