In the middle of the night, Ye Chuyan was awakened by the sound of being shackled. When he opened his eyes, he found Pei Xiuyan sitting next to him.
He was wearing the same prison uniform as himself, his hair was messy, his hands and feet were in chains, his body was scarred and stained with blood, he had a stubble, and he looked a little embarrassed and haggard.
There was no dignity or coldness in his body at all, and only the handsomeness of the past could be seen vaguely between his brows and eyes.
The way he looked at himself was still so affectionate.
Ye Chuyan felt that he was probably having a nightmare. He actually dreamed about Pei Xiuyan. It was really unlucky. Is the luck of a dying person so bad?
She closed her eyes and prepared to continue sleeping, when a familiar voice came to her ears, "Ayan."
Ye Chuyan suddenly sat up with a start. It's not a dream, it's real!
She looked around Xizhou and found that she was still in her cell, and none of the guards in Xizhou were there. The prison was empty at this time, and in front of her was a living Pei Xiuyan.
She was a little angry and said coldly: "Why are you here?"
Death row inmates belonging to the same case are held separately. Logically speaking, they are never allowed to meet before execution.
"I begged Shilu to let me come and see you once before I die, and he gave me half an hour."
Ye Chuyan couldn't help but frown deeply. It's incredible that Shi Lu, such a pedantic person, would set such a precedent for Pei Xiuyan.
She had become very thin these past few days, and the prison uniform she wore was empty, which made people feel distressed.
Pei Xiuyan wanted to touch her face, but as soon as he raised his hand, there was a clatter of iron chains.
Ye Chuyan slapped Pei Xiuyan's hand away, "Don't touch me, it's disgusting!"
Pei Xiuyan's breath suddenly suffocated.
"Ayan, I..."
"Don't call me Ayan, you don't deserve it!"
Pei Xiuyan opened his mouth and made a promise, not knowing what to say, like a wounded child.
Ye Chuyan sat back a step.
"Pei Xiuyan, if you want to say anything, just say it quickly. After you finish speaking, get out of here. I want to vomit if I look at you one more time."
Pei Xiuyan lowered his head and closed his eyes, covering up the deep pain in his eyes, trying not to lose control of his emotions.
"Ayan, I want to ask you, do you really hate me that much?"
Ye Chuyan's eyes widened and he looked at Pei Xiuyan in disbelief.
After a while, he said in a disgusted and impatient tone:
"Pei Xiuyan, what are you thinking? If I didn't hate you so much, neither of us would be here today."
Pei Xiuyan looked up at Ye Chuyan, pursed his lips for a moment, and said cautiously:
"Ayan, you did this because of the Ye family, right?"
"Actually, what happened to the Ye family was not of my own free will. Mr. Ye called me over at that time and said that the emperor couldn't wait to attack the Ye family. He wanted me to do it myself, and I had to be careful when Ling Chi was in trouble. Only in this way could he avoid me and the Ye family. The relationship between the Ye family does not allow the emperor to be suspicious of me. He also asked me to protect you no matter what."
"I decided to make a quick decision within ten days just to stop everyone from talking. I tried my best to save the female members of the Ye family. Otherwise, according to the national law, the whole family should be punished for the crime of collaborating with the enemy and treason."
"I didn't let anyone collect Mr. Ye's body because he was afraid that after he died, some scholar would annoy the emperor by trying to rehabilitate him. He asked me to throw his bones into a mass grave and see who would collect them, and then find a way. Protect these corpse collectors and don’t let them cause trouble.”
Pei Xiuyan spoke faster and faster, fearing that Ye Chuyan would drive him away before he finished speaking.
"Those scholars built tombs for your father and brother. I followed Mr. Ye's instructions and dispersed those scholars so that they would not cause trouble again."
"On the day the palace banquet ended, the wilderness I took you to was the place where the scholars set up tombs for your father and brother. I originally wanted to explain all this in front of the tomb, but who knew who had buried those three tombs? Moved away, I haven’t found any clues yet.”
"Ayan, it's all my fault. It's all my fault that I didn't explain these things clearly to you, which caused you to misunderstand me. That's why you did these things..."
"Stop talking!" Ye Chuyan interrupted Pei Xiuyan unbearably.
Her hands and feet were shaking with anger.
"Pei Xiuyan, you are always like this every time, selfish, cold and arrogant."
"What do you mean by explaining this to me now? Do you want me to feel ashamed, or do you want me to thank you? Thank you for saving the women of the Ye family, thank you for protecting those scholars, thank you for still having a trace of conscience?"
"Don't you understand why I did this?"
"Remember what I told you on New Year's Eve? I said that even if the emperor had to destroy the Ye family, why did you use the palace defense map I gave you to frame the Ye family."
"What you did made me feel that it was the knife I handed you that killed my father and the others. Every time I think about this, I can't sleep."
"You threw me into the attic and lost my child. I will never be a mother. Do you know how I felt at that time?"
"You didn't explain anything after what happened to the Ye family. You first threatened me with the female members of the Ye family and forced me to live in a life worse than death. Do you know how painful I was at that time?"
"You made me kneel in the courtyard for Zhao Yujiao. Do you know what it feels like to kneel in the snow with a broken rib?"
"I am your princess, but for the sake of power and position, you allowed me to dance with my sword barefoot, and I was despised by thousands of people. Have you ever thought about how shameful it is that I come from the Zhongding family and act like a prostitute?"
"Have you forgotten all the things you have done?"
Pei Xiuyan froze on the spot, speechless.
He has not forgotten these things, he remembers each one clearly. He desperately wants to make it up to Ye Chuyan, just so that these wounds can heal over time and the pain will slowly disappear.
It turns out that the scars and pain never disappear, they are all there.
It was just that Ye Chuyan wrapped it up and hid it deep in his heart, slowly transforming into Ling Chi's own knife.
After a while, he said in a hoarse voice: "Ayan, I haven't forgotten. I've been thinking of ways to make up for it. I thought I could..."
When he said this, he choked up a little.
Ye Chuyan only regretted that he was now unable to restrain the chicken and couldn't take out Pei Xiuyan's heart to see what color it was.
"To make amends? Pei Xiuyan, what you call amends is to send someone to kill Wu Mu, thus killing my mother, sister-in-law and niece!"
"Do you really think you can hide it from me? You didn't dare to take me to Ninggu Pagoda, and when you asked Shi Lu to cover it up, your simplicity made me sick."
Pei Xiuyan felt as if he had been doused with ice water, and was as cold as head to toe.
He remembered that night, Ye Chuyan knocked on the door to remind him to go to bed early. It turned out that Ye Chuyan had heard all the conversations before knocking on the door.
He regretted it so much. If he hadn't sent someone to follow Wu Mu out of jealousy, wouldn't he have reached this point?
"Ayan, this matter is my fault. I never thought of hurting your mother and the others. I really didn't expect that things would turn out like this..."
Ye Chuyan was so angry that she laughed, how could there be such a person? Until now, she still doesn't know where she went wrong.
"Pei Xiuyan, after I had a miscarriage, I told you clearly that I no longer wanted to love you, and we made peace. What did you say? You said that I would die in the Qing Palace."
"You think that I have loved you for twelve years and will not give up easily. You confidently think that as long as you give me a little sweetness, I can pretend that nothing happened and continue to be with you."
"Pei Xiuyan, to tell you the truth, everything I did was to destroy you. Only by making you love me deeply can you voluntarily break into the harem for me and completely break your trust with Pei Ye."
"I poisoned your left eye."
"The purpose of suppressing bandits is to win your favor and make you mistakenly think that I am willing to fight for you through life and death. The second reason is to find opportunities to frame you for colluding with bandits."
"The gunpowder incident in Tianlang Village was an accident, but it just became evidence of your rebellion. I accompanied you to the south of the Yangtze River to provide disaster relief, so that you could help me write poems and help you gain fame."
Ye Chuyan became more and more excited as he talked.
"When I endured nausea and was with you for revenge, you must have been very proud, right? You must have thought that your deep affection made up for everything in the past, right?"
Pei Xiuyan's heart almost stopped.
He probably guessed this when he stood at the gate of the palace. When he was arrested, he fully understood that this was all Ye Chuyan's plan. He didn't blame her, he just thought of it as atonement. I came here specifically to ask for her forgiveness.
But he never expected that his left eye would be blinded by Ye Chuyan. She felt so uncomfortable when she saw that her left eye was blind. How could it be intentional?
Pei Xiuyan had difficulty digesting this fact, and his back slowly bent.
He sat dejectedly and helplessly on the grass, looking in a daze.
Seeing Pei Xiuyan distracted and pale, Ye Chuyan felt extremely relaxed.
She decided to make one more stab.
"Pei Xiuyan, let me tell you another secret. I was the one who saved you at the border."
"After I rescued you, Zhao Yujiao learned that you were the prince and wanted to seize the identity of the savior, so he pushed me off the cliff and fell into the glacier."
"I also became seriously ill because of this. I lost my memory and forgot everything. I also had a cold in the palace and it was difficult to have children."
"After I recalled all this, I limped Zhao Yujiao's leg. Otherwise, why do you think she didn't dare to mess with me? She was afraid that you would know the truth."
"Don't think about it seriously. How could Zhao Yujiao, a person who is so timid and cherishes his life, have the courage to drag you out of the woods and find the antidote next to the poisonous snake's nest?"
"I was the one who saved you back then. It's a pity that I was busy taking revenge on you and didn't have time to deal with Zhao Yujiao before I died."
This news was like a sharp blade, piercing into Pei Xiuyan's heart.
If Ye Chuyan's blinding of his left eye only made him feel heartbroken, then this news made his heart bloody.
Recalling that over the years, every time he asked Zhao Yujiao how he rescued him from the woods, Zhao Yujiao was vague, saying that he was too scared at the time and could not remember clearly.
Zhao Yujiao never told herself the specific details. He later tried to find a way to investigate the truth, but it was a long time ago, there were no witnesses, and there was nothing. He could only choose to believe Zhao Yujiao.
What has he done all these years? He turned the woman who saved him and loved him deeply into a death row prisoner.
He regarded the vicious woman who murdered his savior as his sweetheart.
He killed his own children.
He destroyed himself and Ye Chuyan.
He lost the happiness at his fingertips.
He put himself in a desperate situation.
Pei Xiuyan suddenly lost all his strength, lying on his side on the ground, curled up, hugging himself in the same posture as a fetus in the mother's body, as if he could no longer be hurt in this way.
He shook his head wildly, in disbelief, and kept muttering.
"How could this happen? How could this happen..."
Seeing that Pei Xiuyan was as miserable as a bereaved dog, Ye Chuyan raised her lips and smiled, slowly stood up, and looked down at Pei Xiuyan with a voice as cold as ice.
"Pei Xiuyan, you heard me clearly."
"I, Ye Chuyan, hate you to the core in this life. If there is an afterlife, I would rather be a pig or a dog than meet you again. I want to never see you again for the rest of my life."
These words completely crushed Pei Xiuyan.
He trembled and tried his best to look up at Ye Chuyan.
She stood there, like a superior god and Buddha, looking at herself with a compassionate expression.
There were various emotions mixed in her eyes, including ridicule, disgust, contempt, disdain, disdain, hatred, determination, joy of revenge... everything was there, except for the slightest trace of love.
This is her true feelings for herself.
Pei Xiuyan's breath felt like there was a needle hidden in it. Every time he took a breath, he felt excruciating pain. The pain was so painful that his internal organs felt like they were being crushed. The pain slowly soaked into his blood and flowed through his body.
In the end, he couldn't even tell where the pain started to spread.
※
Later, Ye Chuyan couldn't remember exactly how Pei Xiuyan was dragged away.
She only remembered that when Shi Lu brought people in, she was shocked to see Pei Xiuyan lying on his side on the ground as if dead, thinking that she had killed Pei Xiuyan.
She smiled at Shi Lu Zhan and said, "Don't worry, we had a good chat when we met. He is not willing to hurt me, and I am not willing to hurt him."
I haven't seen him being tortured with my own eyes, so how could I be willing to let him die?
