Chapter 176: The Last Dignity

That night, the night was like ink and all was silent; Jun Zijin had only just fallen asleep.

Suddenly, a sharp, shrill scream that pierced the heavens shattered her dream.

"Ah—!"

The sound was incomparably shrill, like a night owl with its throat constricted, sounding exceptionally ghastly in the silent night.

Jun Zijin was startled into sitting up from her bed and asked:

"What happened?"

Miaozhu, who was on night watch outside the room, heard the commotion and hurried inside.

"Young Lady, it seems to have come from the Jun residence next door."

Jun Zijin became interested; she threw on an outer garment and walked out the door while fastening the buttons.

A flash appeared before her eyes, and Feiying emerged from nowhere, smiling with a mysterious expression:

"Master, there is more excitement to watch over at the Jun residence."

Jun Zijin grabbed Feiying's arm and said to him:

"Let's go, let's go watch the excitement."

Feiying twitched his mouth; he had always looked down on Jun Zijin for not knowing light-body techniques. He could fly, but she could only walk slowly and couldn't even climb a roof—would it kill her to learn some light-body techniques?

"Master, when will you ever learn light-body techniques?"

Jun Zijin rolled her eyes:

"If I knew how to do everything, wouldn't you be out of a job?"

Feiying's eyes nearly rolled to the heavens; she was clearly just clumsy and clearly just couldn't learn it.

Yet he was left speechless by the girl, so he had no choice but to take Jun Zijin and fly toward the rooftops.

The Jun residence was brightly lit with shadows flickering everywhere; the sounds of noise and weeping were mixed together, creating a chaotic mess.

Maidservants were coming and going, carrying water basins and towels with panicked expressions.

On the bed, Qingyu's face was as pale as paper, devoid of any color. Cold sweat soaked her hair, plastering it to her cheeks. Her eyes were filled with despair and pain, and tears flowed uncontrollably.

Beneath her was a shocking pool of blood, like a blooming flower of sin, appearing particularly glaring under the dim light.

"Master, our son... our son is gone. I beg you, Master, to seek justice for me."

Qingyu weakly reached out a hand, wanting to grab Jun Zhengyuan, but it fell powerlessly back down.

Jun Zhengyuan's heart sank abruptly. His face was ashen, his fists were clenched tight, his knuckles were white, and he was trembling with rage.

He had hired a physician to examine Qingyu, who said there was a nine-out-of-ten chance she was carrying a son.

He had originally thought that with this child from Qingyu, the Jun residence would have hope, but now, Qingyu had suffered a miscarriage—this was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue for him!

However, before he could even ask, the housekeeper hurried in and whispered a few words into his ear.

Jun Zhengyuan's complexion turned livid in an instant, and a flash of incredulous anger crossed his eyes.

"What did you say? It was done by the maidservant beside the Young Lady?"

Jun Zhengyuan's voice trembled slightly from anger.

The housekeeper kept his head lowered, not daring to look him in the eye, and only replied softly:

"Replying to Master, this servant cannot be certain. However, according to the cook, she was called away by the Young Lady, but upon returning, she bumped into the Young Lady's personal maid, Mo'er, sneaking out of the kitchen."

The cook hadn't thought much of it at the time, but thinking back now, it was indeed suspicious.

Jun Zhengyuan was furious and immediately summoned Mo'er for questioning:

"Mo'er, was it you who harmed the concubine and caused her miscarriage?"

Facing the Master's interrogation, Mo'er denied it vehemently:

"Master, this servant is wronged! How would this servant dare to do such a thing? It must be that someone is framing me."

Jun Zhengyuan let out a cold snort, his eyes filled with majesty and anger:

"Hmph, you still dare to be stubborn! Someone, bring the torture implements!"

With the implements applied, Mo'er finally could not endure the torture and cried out:

"Master, spare my life! It was... it was the Young Lady who ordered this servant to do it. This servant did not dare to disobey her command!"

Jun Zhengyuan felt a surge of rage rush to his head; he turned and charged toward Jun Zhidie's living quarters.

Along the way, the image of Jun Zhidie kept appearing in his mind—that wicked daughter was just as unlikable as her mother.

He had only been waiting for her to come of age to marry her off, yet she had actually committed such a cruel act.

At this moment, Jun Zhidie was sitting in her room, staring blankly at the mirror, appearing calm and composed.

But when the door was kicked open and Jun Zhengyuan stood at the entrance in a rage, her hand still couldn't help but tremble.

"Zhidie, do you know your crime?"

Jun Zhengyuan's voice was cold and severe, as if it had come from the Nine Nether Hells.

Jun Zhidie slowly raised her head to meet her father's angry gaze; she shrank her neck in fear, but spoke stubbornly:

"What crime do I have?"

Jun Zhengyuan strode up to her and slapped her across the face.

"You still dare to quibble! Qingyu's child is gone; it was you who put abortifacients in her tonic. Why must you be so heartless?"

Blood hung from the corner of Jun Zhidie's mouth, and tears gushed out.

"Heartless? In this residence, who has ever been kind to me? Mother has been lying in bed for days; have you ever gone to see her? Yet you dote on that slut in every way, and the base-born child in her belly is treated by you like a treasure. I simply didn't want her to have it easy."

Jun Zhengyuan was trembling with rage; he raised his hand and slapped her again:

"You rebellious daughter, how can you say such treasonous words!"

Jun Zhidie was struck, her head tilted to the side, her hair disheveled, and she cried out while shouting:

"Do you think you are so noble? You dote on your concubine and destroy your wife; who in the entire Jun family doesn't know this?"

Jun Zhengyuan's chest heaved violently with anger, and he pointed at Jun Zhidie, cursing:

"No matter what, harming an heir is a grave crime. I will certainly not spare you today."

Jun Zhidie suddenly burst into laughter:

"You remember me as your daughter now? When have you ever cared about me even a little in your daily life?"

Just as Jun Zhengyuan was preparing to have people drag Jun Zhidie away, Jun Zhihao pushed the door open and began to plead for her:

"Father, Younger Sister... she was just confused for a moment. I beg Father to spare her this once."

"Very well, the three of you are now singing from the same hymn sheet!"

Jun Zhengyuan suddenly erupted. His eyes were wide, his face livid, and he rushed into Lady Li's room in a fit of extreme rage—this was the first time he had entered this room since Lady Li was burned.

Lady Li was sitting quietly in the room, her head wrapped tightly in a headscarf.

This was the last bit of dignity she had tried to preserve since her hair was burned off.

Jun Zhengyuan stepped forward and rudely ripped the headscarf off.

He had originally intended to grab Lady Li's hair, but only after reaching out did he remember her hair had been burned away.

As the headscarf hit the floor and Lady Li's bald head was exposed under the dim light, Jun Zhengyuan regretted it.

Her large, bald head was covered in pustules, appearing exceptionally ghastly under the light.

"Jun Zhengyuan, have you gone mad?"

Lady Li let out a cry of alarm, frantically blocking her bald head with one hand while trying to pick up the headscarf from the floor with the other; the pus from her head flowed slowly down her cheeks.

Jun Zhengyuan's stomach churned; he retched repeatedly, nearly vomiting up his entire dinner.

Jun Zhihao, who had followed behind, was stunned. He hadn't expected Lady Li to be in such a miserable state; he retreated while cursing the entire Jun household from top to bottom.