Chapter 17: 1.17

The prison cells in the ancient dynasties were not like the modern 21st century and did not care one bit about hygiene or obligatory facilities. Although the dungeon was no 5-star hotel, at least there were rules that regulated how inmates should be treated.

Feng Mian, a pampered and wealthy second-generation miss, had waited inside a damp, smelly, cockroach and rat-infested prison cell for three whole days. Yet, she had neither raised a fuss nor demanded to see Concubine Zhou to seek justice.

555 grew incredibly worried for its host's unusual mental state. If this was her usual self, a storm would hit sooner in the dungeon before she cusses all the seven generations of those who wronged her.

In the first two days, Feng Mian had refused to eat or drink anything but her own saliva but she finally relented on the third day with System 555's begging.

System 555: "Host ah, don't be sad. That Zhou person won't be reincarnated well, repaying good with bad. I think this time's mission is a lost cause, why don't we abandon this soul shard and go to the next world first?"

Feng Mian who sat tightly on a straw mat with her face between her knees didn't answer her system's call. In front of her was a half bowl of broken rice. Her teeth hurt as she chewed, but not an ounce of complaint escaped her lips.

System 555 was scared of this type of host who was as silent as a mouse but as stubborn as a mule.

For the first time in three days, Feng Mian finally spoke. "She'll come."

555 knew that 'she' meant Noble Consort Zhou.

System 555 could only offer a sigh from the recess of her consciousness. Its host was not a dumb person but she tends to trust people blindly and wholeheartedly.

Finally, there was a sound of footsteps coming towards the prison.

Feng Mian recognised those light sounding footsteps belonging to Consort Zhou. She sprang to her feet and clenched the bars of her cell to look at the approaching woman.

The difference between her and Consort Zhou was made appallingly clearer under the light of the warm torch. Feng Mian with her coarse garment and dirty feet looked wretched when compared to the luxurious Consort Zhou.

Feng Mian stared without blinking.

Consort Zhou spoke first. "Bengong has wronged you."

Feng Mian's face remained stoic but the croak and hoarseness from her voice gave away her inner feelings. "Why?"

Consort Zhou didn't answer her. The prison's warden opened the gates of her cell with a click. Consort Zhou had brought with her a large piece of paper that covered the surface of the wooden table placed in the cell.

On the paper, was a written note.

'I, criminal Wan Mei, have colluded with the Prince of Chu for treason. This servant had fallen in love with the prince and against better judgement, have unwittingly agreed to spy on the emperor for the prince. The handkerchief is a token of affection between the prince and this servant. This criminal pleads guilty and asks the emperor to grant this one punishment by death.'

"The crime for treason is death by a thousand cuts. But bengong has begged the emperor to go easy on you if you confess."

Her? Confess?

Feng Mian wanted to laugh this off as a bad prank between old acquaintances, but couldn't muster enough conviction to do it.

She had been betrayed.

So suddenly and ruthlessly betrayed.

Tears fell down like broken pearls and wetted the areas on the paper blotched. A few characters written in black ink expanded as they were hit with warm water.

Feng Mian cried silently, the tears accumulated in her ducts were so obtrusive that she was no longer able to see the treacherous words on the paper placed in front of her.

She had waited. Night and day for the consort to show up, not believing one bit that the consort had abandoned her like an old shoe.

'There must be a reason, she must have a plan,' she thought over and over as she crouched in the cold cell. Turns out her waiting has been in vain and that it was only wishful thinking.

But still, she held on to that shred of hope. She did not mean for her voice to quaver but it came out too heartbrokenly, "You're abandoning me?"

"Bengong has no other choice." There was a pained look in Consort Zhou's eyes.

"Then what about me?" Feng Mian whimpered. The pain in her heart was enormous, so much that it felt like it could give out at any moment. This was what it felt like to have the world turn its back on her.

Consort Zhou stiffened, turning her head sideways.

"Bengong has to think about the Fifth Prince as well. This life that bengong owes you, bengong will repay it back in the next life."

Feng Mian smiled ruefully through her agony, her cracked lips morphing into an unrecognisable asymmetric grimace that was neither smiling nor frowning. The sight burned Consort Zhou's eyes.

"You really are cold-hearted." She paused to look at Zhou Yunqi's evading face.

"Just as cold-hearted as you were when you poisoned your child."

Consort Zhou's eyes snapped back to her.

Feng Mian spoke on. "I have thought about it for a long time. Although the emperor really was the one to poison the prince, QianJi drug doesn't cause muteness. After pondering about it, there was only you and me at the Cold Palace and I have always watched for what you eat. The only conclusion I could come up with was that you poisoned the fetus yourself."

Feng Mian let out a dry, miserable laugh.

"How ironic, you didn't want the child because it was the emperor's but the emperor didn't want him because he thought it was Prince Tian Yu's."

She sat down in front of the confession letter and signed her name in one stroke.

"I want you to know something."

Feng Mian kept her tears at bay and her rasped voice as steady as she could.

"I will never forgive you. And in the next life too, I don't want to meet you ever again."

After Consort Zhou left, Feng Mian stood alone inside her cell in a daze. Her sobs hiccuped but she stubbornly held her cries back. Soon, the bouts of sobs could no longer be contained and broke out into a miserable cry that reverberated alone in its company against the grey walls.

As if she was letting go of all her frustrations and sadness, her sorrowful cries shook the air like a torrent of tidal waves hitting shore. 555 remained silent.

*********************

Under the hot blazing sun, several prisoners kneeled as their hands were tied back by a single strand of rope. Surrounding by the high palace walls were several archers in uniform who got ready to pull their bows upon command.

Noble Consort Wei stood next to Consort Zhou.

"Don't avert your eyes and look closely meimei. Today is the day that you sell your soul to the devil."

Consort Zhou didn't respond to the taunt.

System 555 looked at its host who had her head bowed the entire time.

System 555: "Host, should we transfer now?"

"Not yet," Feng Mian croaked.

She lifted her eyes and stared at the figure next to the emperor. All her tears had been wrung dry last night; the whites of her eyes bloodshot red. It sent shivers down Consort Zhou's spine.

The emperor lifted his right hand and every archer there pulled the string of their bow taut. The head of the arrows glinted under the scorching sun.

Before he could give the command to shoot, Feng Mian stood up abruptly and opened her dried lips to speak for everyone there to hear. Amidst hundreds of people, she stood solemn, the ambers in her eyes gleaming sharper than the arrows.

"Red strings intertwined across ten thousand li,

Jars of wine were buried and turned dusty,

On the riverbank, they laid to watch the moonlit night.

Alas, the boatman no longer waits by the riverside,

Message bearing swan shed tears from age,

Nor had the letter sending fish wait past its migrating date,

Drunk again when the flowers wither.

If once more she dreamed of falling flowers that would not stay,

She would knew fate had ended, and their paths untangled."

Nobody knew why she would recite such a poem at that time, but Consort Zhou knew. It was the response to her poem at the Qixi festival's boat. Tears slowly slid down her white cheeks.

Old memories and promises that were destined to never be kept unfolded in her head.

'Bengong is not someone who forgets favours. Bengong remembers clearly that it was you, this little maid who saved bengong's life. Don't worry Xiao Mei, bengong will treat you well'

'This servant has lived under niangniang's roof for so many years. Niangniang's life-saving grace, this servant will remember until my teeth fall out! Nubi doesn't want status nor wealth, this one just wants to serve niangniang just like the time at the Cold Palace.'

'But, YOU! You don't appreciate me at all, do you? I trusted you. I took care of you. I chopped woods, I cleaned rooms, I sew jackets, I padded clothes so you wouldn't experience the winter cold! I was there when everyone and no one else was there for you!'

'Tonight… it was bengong's mistake. Those things won't happen again in the future.'

The emperor gave the signal.

Several hundreds of arrows were shot in one go and Consort Zhou finally snapped out of it.

"NO!" she yelled. Her hands reached out midair.

It was already too late.

System 555 had hastily put up a pain shield for its host, but it could only block out sixty per cent of the pain. It then immediately sent an emergency request to the main system.

Feng Mian felt one of the arrows pierced her heart, then her stomach. The pain in her chest was unbearable and carried the storms of betrayal with it. A trail of blood rose up and escaped from the corners of her mouth.

Consort Zhou's mouth gasped in shock, and her hand covered her mouth.

Many years from now on, this image of her servant being shot dead would awaken her from many fitful nights of sleep.

[SYSTEM PROMPT: Request for emergency transmission has been accepted. Preparing to evacuate the host's soul and transfer data. Ding! Transmission complete.]