Jiang Ruan stepped out of the Buddha Hall, where Xiao Shao was waiting for her. Seeing her, he handed her a silver-plated hand warmer and tightened her cloak before asking, "Are you alright?"
"Very pleased," Jiang Ruan replied with a radiant smile. "Let's talk on the way back."
With such an incident occurring in the palace, it was inconvenient for Jiang Ruan and Xiao Shao to stay. At the very least, the Emperor would likely want some quiet time to reflect on the matter. Before leaving, Xuan Li cast a knowing, half-smiling glance at Jiang Ruan, as if he understood everything. Unfazed, Jiang Ruan even took her time to bid farewell to Huijue and lit an incense stick for the Crown Prince before leisurely boarding the carriage back to the manor.
Inside the carriage, Xiao Shao observed Jiang Ruan's composed expression and remarked, "What you did today was too risky." Though he knew Jiang Ruan often took bold actions, this one could easily backfire. Even with the backing of the Brocade Hero King Manor, such matters could inadvertently drag her into deeper trouble.
"I've thought it through carefully," Jiang Ruan reassured him. "Xuan Hua actually performed better than I expected. At the very least, Jiang Dan will find it difficult to recover from this." The entire scheme hinged on a precise understanding of human nature, with each step meticulously calculated to account for everyone's reactions. Xuan Hua, reckless and vengeful by nature, would seize any last chance to drag Jiang Dan down—after all, it was Jiang Dan who had directly caused his downfall. The Emperor, being autocratic, would see today's events as an opportunity to remove a thorn in his side. While Xuan Hua was doomed, Jiang Dan's betrayal and collusion with his son struck at the heart of imperial dignity, especially since she had once enjoyed the Emperor's trust and favor. Moreover, Jiang Dan's pregnancy would only further darken the Emperor's mood. A quick death for her was out of the question.
To avenge Zhao Mei, Jiang Dan had to die—a life for a life. But letting her die easily would feel like letting her off too lightly. After years of Jiang Dan's betrayal and schemes against Zhao Mei, Jiang Ruan was determined not to let her escape unscathed. The Emperor would ensure Jiang Dan suffered, and that was the price she had to pay.
Jiang Ruan turned to Xiao Shao, who noticed her gaze and asked, "What is it?"
"Do you think I'm ruthless?" she asked hesitantly. No one would want a partner consumed by vengeance, especially one whose heart had hardened like stone.
The corner of Xiao Shao's lips curled slightly, as if amused. "That's just right."
He didn’t feign denial but openly acknowledged her ruthlessness without a trace of disdain—even with a hint of admiration. "I like it," he said.
Jiang Ruan raised an eyebrow and smiled in return. Upon returning to the manor, they found Xia Qing had arrived earlier. He seemed eager to speak to Jiang Ruan but hesitated when his eyes fell on Xiao Shao. Finally, he couldn't resist blurting out indignantly, "Third Sister-in-law, you promised! Now can you finally arrange for me to meet Lin Zixiang?"Jiang Ruan inwardly laughed. To deal with a stubborn fool like Xia Qing, perhaps only Lin Zixiang would be effective. She smiled and said, "Of course, I always keep my word. Let me tidy up first, then I'll tell you how to meet her."
Xia Qing felt extremely aggrieved. Throughout his life as a physician, he had always valued medical ethics and integrity, never speaking against his conscience or making false diagnoses. Today, however, he had tampered with Jiang Dan's pulse reading—she wasn’t pregnant at all. This was the first time he had done something dishonest, and he was terrified. Later, when he learned the Emperor had mistakenly believed Jiang Dan and Xuan Hua were secretly expecting a child together, his guilt and unease grew. Ordinarily, he would never have done such a thing—physicians had their own code to uphold. But recently, Lin Zixiang had been conspicuously absent. Even the pastry shop she frequented no longer saw her maidservants making purchases. Through subtle probing from Jiang Ruan, he learned that Lin Zixiang’s father, the Lin Historian, was urgently arranging a marriage for her, and Lin Zixiang’s intentions remained unclear.
Xia Qing often bickered with Lin Zixiang, appearing to dislike her, but now he realized with a shock that he didn’t want her to marry someone else. Yet Xia Qing was a fool—he had no idea how to express his feelings. Moreover, with Lin Zixiang now confined to her residence, how could he even find an opportunity?
In desperation, Xia Qing turned to Jiang Ruan for help. But Jiang Ruan was not one to suffer losses. She struck a bargain with him: if he played along with a scheme before the Emperor, she would personally teach him how to win the lady’s heart. Torn between his steadfast medical ethics and the possibility of his beloved marrying another, Xia Qing, the miracle healer, finally made up his mind. After all, Jiang Dan was no saint—she had even tried to smear the Brocade Hero King Manor. Deceiving such a person couldn’t be too wrong. Thus, the scene in the meditation room where Jiang Dan was falsely diagnosed with pregnancy came to pass.
So Xia Qing’s appearance in the palace earlier was no coincidence—it had all been Jiang Ruan’s arrangement. Every time he thought about it, Xia Qing felt a renewed sense of fear toward his third sister-in-law. How could someone be so cunning as to orchestrate such a scheme? Xuan Hua and Jiang Dan’s attempts to outmaneuver Jiang Ruan were like an amateur challenging a master.
Seeing Xia Qing’s awkward demeanor, Jiang Ruan found it rather amusing. Xia Qing and Lin Zixiang were a bickering pair, blind to their own feelings while obvious to outsiders. But Lin Zixiang’s outrageous temperament could likely only be tolerated by someone as unconventional as Xia Qing—in truth, they were a perfect match. The reason Lin Zixiang hadn’t been seen lately was simply because she had caught a cold and was bedridden. Meanwhile, the Lin Historian was busy compiling a historical text, leaving the household in disarray and Xia Qing with no chance to see her. Jiang Ruan had merely seized the opportunity to tell a small lie—helping herself while playing matchmaker. If these two ended up together, they would have her to thank.
After sending Xia Qing away, Luzhu asked curiously, "I wonder how His Majesty will deal with the Fourth Miss. She has humiliated the royal family so greatly—the Emperor must be furious. The punishment will surely be severe.""Perhaps death by a thousand cuts?" Lianqiao shuddered. "I've heard that for those sentenced to lingchi, the executioners are true masters of their craft. They slice the flesh into paper-thin pieces—a thousand cuts in total—and the condemned only breathes their last at the final slice. Until then, they must endure the agony fully conscious, forced to watch as their body is carved piece by piece."
"Oh dear, that's truly horrifying," Luzhu also trembled. "That must be the most torturous method in the world."
The most torturous method? Jiang Ruan smiled faintly. Naturally not. Within the imperial family, the palace's secret punishments were countless, and the cruelty known to the outside world was but a fraction. Take, for instance, the suffering she endured before her death in her past life—was that not also a form of torture? It was simply a matter of whether anyone noticed.
Noticing Jiang Ruan's expression, Luzhu's heart stirred. "Could it be that the young lady has already guessed the method?"
"She is with child—what other method could there be? I've long prepared this punishment for her." Jiang Ruan's tone was gentle. "Stoning."
...
That night in the palace was exceptionally eventful. The culprit behind the plot against the Crown Prince had been uncovered—shockingly, it was the Fifth Prince, Xuan Li, who seemed entirely unrelated. According to reports, the Dali Temple had investigated, and the Emperor himself had overseen the matter. The evidence was irrefutable, and Xuan Hua had confessed his crime in the Emperor's presence. Upon hearing the news, De Fei fainted. When she regained consciousness, she went straight to the Emperor. Many speculated that, given their decades of affection and De Fei's impeccable conduct and restraint, the Emperor would surely show some leniency for propriety's sake. Yet when De Fei emerged from the Emperor's study half an hour later, her face was ashen, as if she had aged ten years overnight. Resigned to her fate, she voluntarily requested to take the tonsure and become a nun.
The Emperor granted her request with a wave of his hand. De Fei's departure meant Xuan Hua's fate was sealed. The crime of plotting against the Crown Prince was grave, and Xuan Hua could not escape death. With his downfall, the court's landscape was irrevocably altered. The faction that had once rivaled Xuan Li's quickly crumbled, its members scrambling to pledge allegiance to new masters. Since Xuan Li, as their former adversary, was hardly approachable, most of Xuan Hua's followers turned to the newly rising force in the court—Xuan Pei's faction.
Such was the nature of people, especially those in the political arena. When one's star falls, the tea grows cold, and everyone must look out for their own future. No sooner had Xuan Hua fallen than his followers rushed to serve another master. The connections, influence, and wealth he had painstakingly built over a lifetime had unwittingly paved the way for another—Xuan Pei, who now reaped the benefits. In the ensuing struggle for succession, Xuan Pei's power surged, compensating for his lack of a strong maternal family and nearly matching Xuan Li's influence. The court's tensions escalated anew, but that is a tale for another time.At the same time, Jiang Dan, the favored consort by the Emperor's side, met her end by being beaten to death for disrespect—uttering harsh words in the Emperor's presence. As for Wang Lian'er, she suddenly contracted a severe illness and was sent out of the palace for treatment. Outsiders speculated that something significant must have occurred in the inner palace, yet not a whisper of the truth emerged. Left to endless conjecture without answers, it became an unsolved mystery. Among the Emperor's three newly favored consorts, two had abruptly vanished, leaving only the icy Mu Xirou by his side. The swift turn of events was truly lamentable.
The night was cold and gloomy. In a deserted corner of the palace, crows roosted, and owls hooted eerily. A garden stood filled with people, surrounding a figure bound hand and foot with thick ropes, lying on the ground. This was a desolate courtyard, seemingly untouched by human presence for years, even within the palace walls.
The woman on the ground looked disheveled, a ragged cloth stuffed in her mouth as she whimpered helplessly. Her eyes were wide with terror, bulging as if about to burst from their sockets.
Strangely, beside her stood a black water buffalo harnessed to a plow—an unusual sight in the palace, where such laboring beasts were rare. The buffalo was enormous, and behind the plow was a massive, rounded stone object, resembling a roller, clearly of substantial weight.
The lead eunuch shrilled in a mocking tone, "Be careful now, don't crush her prematurely." He then turned to the woman cloaked in a crimson cape and said, "Your Highness, please step back, lest blood stains your robes."
"No matter," the woman replied, her voice gentle as a breeze. "Since I’ve come specifically to see Fourth Sister off, such trifles are of no concern." She gazed at the struggling woman on the ground and smiled faintly. "Don’t be afraid, Fourth Sister. To ease your heart, I’ve come to accompany you through this ordeal. Having an old friend by your side might bring you some comfort."
"Ughh..." The bound woman writhed futilely, her eyes burning with hatred toward Jiang Ruan, who met her gaze unflinchingly. With tender eyes, Jiang Ruan said, "Fourth Sister, you’ve always been so kind-hearted, shunning anything bloody. You probably don’t even know what punishment awaits you. Since I’m here, let me explain, so you won’t be taken by surprise when the time comes."
Jiang Dan shuddered and lay still, her eyes still fixed venomously on Jiang Ruan."This is called stoning, a punishment that has existed since the founding of the Da Jin Dynasty. It was specifically designed for women who violate chastity, targeting those who have defiled their bodies. If a woman commits adultery and conceives a bastard child with another man, once caught, this is the punishment she receives. The condemned is made to lie on the ground while a heavy stone roller, pulled by water buffalo here, slowly crushes her belly. The bastard is gradually pressed out from both sides of the abdomen. The executioner must be highly skilled—they cannot let the victim die from sheer pain but must control the pressure precisely. The roller passes over the woman's belly again and again until her intestines are all crushed out, her stomach flattened into a thin sheet of human skin, and only then does she breathe her last. Fourth Sister, this is stoning."
Her smile was radiant and charming, her tone gentle, yet the words she uttered sent chills down the spine, each syllable dripping with icy malice, growing ever more terrifying. Upon hearing this, Jiang Dan struggled even more fiercely, using every last ounce of her strength to break free—such a punishment was simply too horrifying.
Jiang Ruan watched her leisurely, then glanced at the hourglass nearby before suddenly saying, "The time seems to have come. Let the punishment begin." As she had anticipated, the Emperor had indeed chosen stoning—the penalty reserved for those carrying the child of an adulterer. The Emperor intended to dispose of Jiang Dan in secret, but she had come to witness the execution firsthand.
Jiang Dan thrashed desperately as the old eunuch beside her waved his hand sharply and shrilled, "Begin the punishment—"
Four men pulled the ropes binding Jiang Dan's limbs, stretching her flat on the ground. Nearby, the water buffalo snorted heavily, and even from a distance, the metallic stench of blood seemed to waft from the stone roller. The base of the roller bore strange, vivid red stains—likely dried blood.
Jiang Dan shook her head violently as the buffalo dragged the heavy stone roller step by step toward her. Finally, the cold surface of the roller touched her skin. Her upper body was already bare, and the icy contact made her eyes bulge wide, as if she wanted to scream, but her mouth was gagged. Her eyeballs seemed ready to burst from their sockets.
Jiang Ruan stood indifferently to the side as the roller passed over Jiang Dan's body, pressing directly onto her belly. Though Jiang Dan carried no so-called bastard child, the first pass still drew blood, and her expression twisted in agony, her gaze too overwhelmed by pain to even convey hatred.
The men guiding the buffalo dared not pause, immediately beginning the second pass. This punishment demanded precision—the victim must not die from the pain too quickly but must cling to life until the very end. After the first pass, someone sprinkled a thin layer of salt over Jiang Dan's abdomen.
As the seconds ticked by, not all present were witnessing such a scene for the first time, yet even these battle-hardened men could not remain unmoved by such cruelty. The woman's piercing screams lingered in the palace halls, painting the grim chambers with a ghastly hue, as though hell itself had descended upon earth.No one knew how much time had passed before the eunuch finally waved his hand, and the oxcart handlers retreated to the side. Only a bare, thin layer of human skin remained on the snowy ground, spread out flat, alongside a pile of colorful filth. The air was thick with a nauseating stench. The accompanying guards felt their stomachs churn, and as they looked at the woman standing before them without so much as a flicker of emotion, they couldn't help but shiver. Even they, grown men, found the scene horrifying. How could Jiang Ruan remain so composed from start to finish, not even showing a hint of discomfort?
Jiang Ruan lowered her eyes. Jiang Dan had hidden her wolfish ambitions while following Zhao Mei, who had always treated her with kindness. Yet, Jiang Dan repaid that kindness with such malice. Such a person likely had no conscience—or perhaps her heart, liver, and innards were all pitch black. Jiang Ruan had wanted to see for herself, to personally orchestrate Jiang Dan's hollow death, to see if her heart was as black as she imagined.
"Eunuch, may I take this skin with me?" Jiang Ruan asked softly. Tianzhu promptly slipped a hefty gold ingot into the old eunuch's hand. The eunuch grinned from ear to ear. "Of course, of course. As long as the princess consort cleans up properly, this humble servant is happy to oblige."
"Thank you, then," Jiang Ruan said with a smile, then instructed Tianzhu, "Take this to the Heavenly Prison. After all, she was Lord Jiang's own daughter. Father and daughter should have one last meeting."
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