The final outcome of this matter was that Tantai Jin was temporarily imprisoned.
He was locked up in the dilapidated East Courtyard. The concubines and Second Young Miss intended to prevent him from disposing of stolen goods.
Third Young Miss could continue investigating. If he was truly wronged, he could be released later.
Su Su was indifferent to this arrangement.
Among the missing items, aside from others, was Old Madam's beloved Jade Guanyin. The elderly lady was devoutly Buddhist and regarded that Jade Guanyin as extremely precious—to put it seriously, it had even risen to the level of faith.
That was why Concubine Lian and the others were so anxious to find out who had taken the items.
After all, Su Su was only the legitimate daughter, not the mistress of the household. Being allowed to reinvestigate was already quite an achievement.
Keeping him locked up shouldn't be a problem—as long as Tantai Jin didn't die.
The next day was the fifteenth of the month.
Bi Liu went out and returned cheerfully to tell Su Su: "Third Young Miss, I've found out that the Sixth Prince has been enfeoffed as Prince Xuan. The imperial edict for his enfeoffment was issued today, and the residence bestowed by The Emperor is not far from our General's Manor."
"The General has received a visiting card. Presumably in a few days, he will take you to Prince Xuan's residence to congratulate him."
Su Su reacted calmly: "Oh."
Bi Liu said: "Miss, don't worry, this time I will dress you up beautifully, making that wretched Ye Bingshang feel utterly ashamed."
Although Su Su hadn't yet met that concubine-born elder sister and didn't know what kind of person she was.
But getting so excited about stealing someone else's husband—wasn't that just sick?
Su Su really didn't want to see Bi Liu, so she said: "Go inquire about what items were stolen from the manor in total, and who lost what."
Bi Liu had no choice but to leave reluctantly. Passing by Chun Tao outside, she shoved her: "Get out of the way, don't block the path."
Chun Tao quickly moved aside.
Bi Liu was very unhappy. Compared to doing these miscellaneous tasks, she cared more about whether Third Young Miss could marry Prince Xuan.
Before, whenever she mentioned the Sixth Prince, the young miss would look expectant with spring in her eyes. But since returning this time, whenever she brought up Prince Xuan, the young miss didn't seem very interested.
Once Bi Liu left, Su Su took out another inventory.
This was what she had asked Xi Xi to compile last night.
Su Su didn't trust Bi Liu.
Looking through it, Su Su found that those who had lost items were Old Madam, Concubine Du, Second Young Miss, Eldest Young Master, Fourth Young Master, and Concubine Yun had also lost several gold hairpins.
This thief certainly knew what to take—they didn't dare take anything from the General or Su Su. Old Madam's Jade Guanyin and Second Young Miss's dowry were the most valuable, worth taking the risk for. Eldest Young Master and Concubine Yun were relatively tolerant and would probably not make a fuss. And Fourth Young Master didn't understand anything.
After thinking for a moment, she called for Chun Tao.
"Chun Tao, do you know what Second Young Master and Third Young Master have been doing recently?"
Chun Tao shook her head: "Miss, I only know that Eldest Young Master recently went with the Lord to train in the military camp. As for Second Young Master and Third Young Master, I don't know. If you want to find out, Xi Xi and I can investigate over the next couple of days."
Su Su smiled and nodded: "Thank you for your hard work, Chun Tao."
Tantai Jin was imprisoned in the East Courtyard.
The East Courtyard was in the wind's path, the coldest courtyard in the entire General's Manor.
It had been abandoned for many years, usually used to store firewood.
The windows were broken, and the cold wind blew in, making one shiver all over.
Tantai Jin leaned in the corner, licking his dry lips.
Until evening, still no one had brought him food. Tantai Jin's expression remained calm. This was expected—he was used to such days.
Going without food for a day or two wouldn't starve a person to death.The winter night sky was moonless, and the outside world was utterly silent as snow began to fall once more.
He grabbed two handfuls of snow and swallowed them down.
His stomach still churned with unbearable discomfort. Tantai Jin sat back down and took out the peace talisman from his sleeve.
The already aged peace talisman had its threads torn from yesterday's struggle.
His gaze, deep as a still pond, swept over the damaged parts.
A surge of malice swelled endlessly from this tear in his heart. The young man took a light breath, barely suppressing the turbulent emotions, and tucked the peace talisman back into his chest.
It was a pity her earring had been lost.
He closed his eyes and rested against the corner of the wall.
He had to preserve his strength—he couldn’t die ignobly in this woodshed. He didn’t trust Ye Xi Wu to help him; if anything unexpected happened, he would have to find a way out on his own.
In the middle of the night, amid the howling wind and snow, Tantai Jin heard stumbling footsteps outside the door.
He opened his eyes.
From the sound, it was two women.
The darkness amplified his senses, and Tantai Jin heard faint, panting breaths. The next moment, a young girl draped in a white cloak stumbled into the eastern courtyard.
As she fell to the ground, her expression held a trace of bewilderment.
In the faint glow of the lantern, Tantai Jin saw the slightly disheveled girl on the ground.
Bi Liu set down the quilt and the glass lamp, quickly helping the fallen Su Su to her feet.
She cast a disdainful glance at Tantai Jin and curled her lip. "Hostage Prince, you know what you’re supposed to do, right?"
With that, Bi Liu closed the eastern courtyard door and left.
Only Su Su and Tantai Jin remained in that small space.
Su Su trembled, leaning against the opposite corner.
Her fingers clutched her cloak tightly, her cheeks flushed red, her breathing rapid.
Tantai Jin rose from his corner and walked toward her.
"Third Miss?"
"Don’t come closer." Su Su gasped out the words. Though it was snowing outside, she felt unbearably hot.
She had just fallen asleep tonight when a sudden wave of heat coursed through her body. Opening her eyes, she realized something was wrong.
At that moment, Bi Liu entered and whispered, "It’s the fifteenth today. Has the medicine taken effect, Miss? This servant will take you to the Hostage."
Su Su hugged the quilt tightly, panting. "What do you mean?"
A sense of foreboding washed over her.
Bi Liu explained, "Have you forgotten, Miss? The Spring Silkworm Curse’s poison flares up every three months. Your antidote was eaten by the Hostage."
Only then did Su Su realize the poisoning incident was far from over.
The Spring Silkworm Curse was more like a poison in nature. Its meaning, "the silkworm spins silk until death," referred to the poisoned person experiencing an episode every three months, which could only be relieved by coupling with the one who had taken the antidote.
The person who consumed the antidote only experienced aphrodisiac effects on the first day, returning to normal afterward.
It was said this drug was a lost secret of the Yiyue tribe, once used by nobles to control captured women, ensuring they could never leave.
The original host, consumed by hatred for Ye Bingshang stealing her beloved, had sought out this suffocating Spring Silkworm Curse instead of a common aphrodisiac.
Even the most chaste woman would succumb after taking it.
The original host had wanted to see Ye Bingshang unable to escape the portly son of the Minister.
Little did she expect she would end up taking the poison herself.
Su Su finally understood why, given the original host’s status, the Ye family had married her off to a hostage for the sake of reputation.
It turned out they had no choice.
Without marriage, she would die.
Of course, the Spring Silkworm Curse could be endured, but each time grew more unbearable than the last.Last time, the original owner had endured for half an hour, but this time Su Su had to endure two hours.
After meditating for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, she was drenched in sweat and in unbearable agony.
Bi Liu said, "Third Miss, let me help you go find the Hostage. You'll feel better when you're near him."
Su Su gritted her teeth. "No, no!"
She persisted for another cup of tea's worth of time until she felt like her soul was about to leave her body. Without another word, Bi Liu helped her to the eastern courtyard.
Su Su had no strength left and was practically carried by Bi Liu, her consciousness growing hazy.
Flickering shadows danced before her eyes, but she could still barely make out the silhouette of the person in front of her.
She recognized him as that wicked demon.
Her lips were bleeding from where she had bitten them. Hugging her arms tightly, she barely managed to suppress the urge to tear off her clothes.
Tantai Jin understood something then. His usual gentle and harmless expression instantly turned cold and detached.
So this was why she had stopped them from crippling him yesterday—she thought he would still be useful tonight.
The youth crouched before her, gently brushing aside her sweat-dampened bangs. "Third Miss, you look like you're in great pain."
Su Su kept her mouth tightly shut, afraid that if she opened it, some improper sound might escape.
She felt like she was being burned alive, and right before her was a block of ice.
Su Su said, "Stay away from me!" She finally understood why Ye Xi Wu, despite her deep affection for Xiao Lin, had ultimately cast aside her pride and begged Tantai Jin to help her.
This drug was utterly tormenting!
The youth before her tilted his head slightly.
Under the glazed lamp, the boy appeared fragile and innocent.
But his voice told a different story—it was cold, as if slowly and deliberately shattering solid ice. "Third Miss, can you tell me what's wrong with you?"
A faint, elusive malice emanated from him.
Whatever mindset Ye Xi Wu had once possessed, Tantai Jin now mirrored it.
He wanted to see that bright, resolute light from yesterday now writhing and moaning at his feet without dignity, overflowing with wantonness.
The pride in her eyes would be shattered, forcing her to become like him—a creature that shunned the light, a maggot—begging for the touch of someone she despised.
But he wouldn't touch her. It was filthy.
Tantai Jin leaned against the cold wall, no longer bothering to maintain his harmless facade, and watched her intently.
Look how pitiful—her fair skin had turned pink, and blood trickled from the corner of her lips.
Her clear, bright eyes grew hazy, their pupils gradually losing focus.
He curved his lips into a cold smile.
The girl's pupils trembled slightly, blood continuing to drip from her lips.
Tantai Jin kindly reached out and wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth.
"You look truly pitiful," he said softly, his tone icy.
Shamelessly beg me. It's time for your disgrace to show. She's lasted longer this time than before.
Tantai Jin counted silently in his heart. Finally, when her eyes had completely lost focus, the girl before him moved, no longer stubborn.
She lifted her slender arm, but instead of embracing him as Tantai Jin had expected, she covered her own face.
Her long lashes closed, quieter than the snowflakes outside.
Leaning against the window, with snowflakes fluttering down outside, she was silent, as if she had fallen into an eternal slumber on a winter night, transformed into a trembling butterfly with folded wings.
The glazed lamp illuminated the space around her.
Snowflakes drifted in, settling in her hair.
He watched coldly, witnessing this bizarre yet sacred scene.
That feeling had returned.She stood at the boundary between snow and light, while he remained in his own darkness. Suddenly, he felt an even deeper loathing for the person before him.
Tantai Jin covered his lips with icy fingers. Unlike his usual scornful disdain, this was a bone-deep revulsion that made him tremble.
Had this suffocating feeling started from that day in the bandits' den?
The young man retreated to the corner, watching Su Su all night with a gaze as sticky and gloomy as spider silk.
Curled up in the corner, she remained completely unaware.
Morning light streamed into the eastern courtyard, and Su Su felt she had come back to life.
She was exhausted, just like the name of that drug suggested—as if she had emerged transformed from a cocoon.
Her palm rested on lean, thin muscle. When she opened her eyes, she discovered she had been sleeping on Tantai Jin's lap.
She bolted upright immediately, quickly moving away from him.
Su Su ran her fingers through her hair.
No way, no way!
She had endured so much hardship last night precisely to avoid coupling with this fiend.
Could it be that her Dao Heart remained unstable, unable to withstand the drug's effects, and she had ultimately thrown herself into the fiend's arms after all?
Overwhelmed with disgust, the place where her hand had touched him felt as if it were burning. She glared resentfully at the fiendish youth at her feet.
The young man's eyelashes fluttered slightly.
Tantai Jin's lashes were even longer than those of Su Su's current body.
Like two raven feathers.
With his red lips and dark hair, he possessed a delicate, sickly beauty, his entire appearance pale and pitiful.
Su Su didn't particularly want him to open his eyes.
After all, if he woke up, she wouldn't know what to say. Should she explain that she had a habit of taking aphrodisiacs every three months?
She remained tense for a while, but he showed no signs of waking.
Su Su breathed a sigh of relief, only then noticing his pale complexion and cracked lips—clearly not normal.
"Tantai Jin, wake up." Fiends were always scheming—could he be feigning sleep to gain sympathy?
"If you don't wake up, I'll hand you over to Concubine Lian."
She shook him, but the youth remained completely unresponsive.
Su Su crouched down and placed her hand on his forehead. This time, instead of feverish, his skin felt like touching ice.
Su Su's face went blank: "..."
Even raising a child in the mortal world wouldn't be this fragile and troublesome, constantly falling ill and nearly dying.
Finding no water in the cramped room, she could only cover him with the quilt first.
As Su Su stepped outside, Green Willow hurried forward. "Miss, are you alright?"
Su Su shot Green Willow a sidelong glance. Although she had been weak and not entirely conscious last night, she knew that if she had been in her own room, she could have endured.
Green Willow had disregarded her wishes and forcibly brought her to Tantai Jin's side.
She felt like laughing at Green Willow's "devotion," it angered her so much.
"I recall you were the one who gave me the Spring Silkworm Curse, right? Green Willow, how did you come to possess such a thing?" She didn't believe this maid was innocent.
Green Willow said, "Miss, as I mentioned before, I have a distant cousin who once married a woman from the Yiyue tribe. The Yiyue tribe excels in poisons, and the Spring Silkworm Curse is their secret formula."
"Aside from the antidote Tantai Jin swallowed, can another antidote be prepared?"
Green Willow shook her head, her expression slightly displeased. "There's only one key ingredient, Miss. You're not blaming Green Willow now, are you? I was only following your orders."
Su Su said, "I don't blame you, but from today onward, I won't keep you either. Go find Concubine Lian and have her arrange a new position for you."
Green Willow looked shocked. It took her a moment to process that Su Su was actually dismissing her. Only then did she panic, quickly kneeling and kowtowing."Third Miss, I beg you, please don't drive this servant away."
So now she knows to beg for mercy?
Su Su ignored her, stepping through the accumulated snow as she left the eastern courtyard.
She had originally intended to keep Bi Liu around for observation, always feeling there was something unusual about this maid.
But Bi Liu had been duplicitous, freely entering and leaving her master's room as she pleased, and frequently bullying Chun Tao and Xi Xi.
Better to just drive her away. If she had someone follow Bi Liu, they might discover something.
A maid like Bi Liu, spoiled by the original mistress, would face hardships wherever she went after leaving her master.
Before long, Su Su returned, bringing a physician with her. She roughly knew how to handle a fever, but what about chills?
The young man in the corner remained in the same position as when she had left.
"Sir, please examine him."
The elderly physician stepped forward to examine Tantai Jin.
He had long heard of the Third Miss of the General's Manor's cruel reputation and hadn't wanted to get involved, but ultimately, a physician's heart is like that of a parent. He bowed and said, "Although this young gentleman is still youthful, his body is already severely deteriorated, plagued by chronic illnesses and internal injuries. If Third Miss doesn't wish to take his life, perhaps show him some mercy."
Su Su pressed her lips together and shook her head firmly. "Sir, you don't understand. He's not a good person. Just prescribe medicine to keep him alive."
As for recuperating his health - completely unnecessary. The more this evil creature suffered, the better.
The elderly physician sighed. "If Third Miss only wishes to keep him alive, this old man need not prescribe medicine. He's like this because he hasn't eaten or drunk anything for a long time. Just give him some food and water."
Su Su never expected that Tantai Jin, confined here, would have no food or water.
She froze, wondering why it was like this.
Hadn't Concubine Lian said they were only confining him?
Were they doing this intentionally, or... had the manor's neglect of Tantai Jin become so habitual?
They forgot he was human, that he needed to eat, needed to drink, needed to breathe.
While ruthlessly manipulating him without any compassion, they still mocked him for not being strong enough.
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