It's a Showdown (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

Yet just as Xu Xing had gotten halfway through the thought, he dismissed the impractical idea.

He had not shared a bed with Zhao Yunniang for very long.

Even if she was pregnant, she could only have been pregnant for half a month at most.

A packet of abortion medicine would be enough to get rid of the unborn fetus.

A child and an unborn fetus were two entirely different things.

If he did not turn against Han Sui, Han Sui would not mind seeing his good deed through and letting Zhao Yunniang bear him an heir to carry on the family line.

But if he wanted to persuade Zhao Yunniang to betray Han Sui...

An unborn fetus alone was not worth the price of betraying Han Sui for Zhao Yunniang.

It was hardly unusual for women of the brothel to take abortion medicine.

Granted, Zhao Yunniang was a courtesan who sold only her arts, but having lived in a brothel, steeped in its sights and sounds, it would likely be difficult for her to develop much affection for an unborn child.

"What price or condition..."

"Could make Zhao Yunniang stand on my side?"

Xu Xing racked his brains.

Elsewhere, Zhao Yunniang carried a lacquered wooden food box to the prison.

She drew the red curtain shut.

The two sat facing each other once more.

"Husband..."

"After taking this last dose of Musk Dragon Powder, you will draw your final breath."

A hint of sorrow appeared on Zhao Yunniang's face.

After saying this, she took out her jewelry case and, using a bronze mirror she carried with her, began applying powder and dressing herself before the mirror.

Just as she had when she first met Xu Xing and married him.

Musk Dragon Powder was ostensibly an aphrodisiac, but in truth, it was also a poison.

Every medicine carried some poison, much less something as "greatly nourishing" as this.

It was exceedingly rare for an ordinary person to survive after taking it five times.

"Over these two years since I entered the capital, I've been busy with official duties. My father wrote to urge me to marry soon. The women he chose and proposed to for me were all young ladies from prominent families awaiting marriage—my cousin Lin Wan among them, as well as a young lady from the Zheng Family of my hometown. The Zheng Family... its head was once a Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate..."

"You should know them."

"Marrying into the Zheng Family wouldn't exactly be marrying above my station."

"After all, the Zheng Family was only marrying off a concubine-born daughter..."

As Xu Xing drank wine and ate, he chattered on to Zhao Yunniang.

It seemed that... only at this parting moment did he truly open his heart to Zhao Yunniang, a woman of the pleasure quarters, and regard her as his true wife.

As the saying went, if she had never known the world, take her to behold all its splendor.

If she had weathered every storm, take her on a carousel.

A courtesan who sold only her arts did not receive clients, but living in a filthy place like a brothel, she had surely long grown accustomed to the world's warmth and coldness.

It would not be easy to move Zhao Yunniang with ordinary words.

However... Xu Xing had no intention of moving Zhao Yunniang in such a short time.

Placing his hopes on something unknown was far too foolish.

He would not lightly cast away his life.

"I never thought..."

"After I was thrown into prison in chains, the only one who would die with me would be you."

Suddenly, Xu Xing changed tack, the map unrolled and the dagger revealed.

His eyes blazed as he stared at Zhao Yunniang, splendidly dressed, her face rosy with powder.

"What?"

"Husband? This servant... this servant never intended to go to the Yellow Springs with you and become a pair of ill-fated lovebirds."

Zhao Yunniang's lovely face instantly drained of color in fright.

She instinctively took several steps back. Only when she saw that Xu Xing had no intention of attacking her with a weapon did she pat her chest and barely calm herself.

"Husband, after you are gone... this servant will raise our son to adulthood."

"Teach him to study hard."

"I have saved up some dowry over the years, and with the hundred taels you gave me, my husband, Zhang'er will grow up well. I only ask that you forgive me for overstepping my bounds and naming our unborn child Zhang'er..."

Zhao Yunniang returned to her seat and began gently consoling Xu Xing, urging him to go to his death in peace.

She understood Xu Xing's "rambling nonsense" at this moment.

Indeed, between life and death lay a great terror. Xu Xing had spent nearly a month in the imperial prison and faced the threat of the cruel punishment of "flaying and stuffing with straw"... It was understandable that his mind was no longer quite normal.

"Sleep."

Xu Xing did not explain further.

The red candles behind the bed curtains were blown out by the two of them.

After the spring night had passed.

Xu Xing circulated the Rock Heart Method, purging the poison of the Musk Dragon Powder from his body once more.

By the time Zhao Yunniang noticed him with terror written across her face, he was utterly composed. He nodded and said, "That's right, Yunniang. As you can see... I can use a martial arts cultivation method to expel the poison of the Musk Dragon Powder."

"That is why I said that the only one who will die with me is you."

He repeated what he had said before.

"This..."

Zhao Yunniang's pearly teeth chattered.

For a long while, she could not utter a word.

No wonder Xu Xing tonight was so different from the previous nights—not only in his words, but in his actions as well. As the one who shared his pillow, she had not initially noticed anything unusual about him.

But now that she thought it over carefully, she indeed realized that Xu Xing's body was far stronger than before.

"No wonder... no wonder my husband said such things."

After a long while, Zhao Yunniang wiped her tears with a handkerchief, looking all weepy and pitiful. "Yunniang does not blame you, Husband. You cultivated martial arts only to survive. I only hope that after you leave prison, and in remembrance of the love we shared in bed, you will burn some paper money for Yunniang before my grave..."

If Xu Xing did not die, then her mission would be considered a failure.

What ability did a weak woman like her have to contend with Han Sui?

Even if she did not die, her fate would not be much better.

Of course, she was unwilling to simply resign herself to fate.

Though every word she spoke seemed to carry the air of someone accepting her fate, in truth every sentence was laced with calculation.

She had weighed these words carefully before speaking them.

First, she was openly showing weakness to Xu Xing, hoping to stir his compassion. Second, she was hinting that if he had no way of getting out of prison, then merely dragging out a wretched existence would be futile; he might as well let her fulfill her mission, so that a son could carry on his bloodline. Third, she was testing Xu Xing's hidden cards...

"Yunniang, there is no need to test me."

"Of course I have a way to survive. But I cannot tell you what it is."

Xu Xing's gaze flickered. He understood Zhao Yunniang's meaning.

When it came to being ruthless, Zhao Yunniang's tricks were a hundred thousand miles behind those of an official.

"I remember the affection between husband and wife, and I do not wish to put you to death."

"All I need to say is that you and I became husband and wife in truth, that you developed feelings between a man and a woman for me, and so... you did not give me Musk Dragon Powder the last few times. Tell me... will Lord Han believe it or not?"

He gave a cold laugh and spoke slowly.

Since Zhao Yunniang could not be swayed by emotion, he could only make her understand the stakes.

"Lord Han... may perhaps believe what I say."

"But outwardly, he will certainly punish me, because the corruption case at the Imperial Stud Directorate implicates not only Lord Han alone, but also quite a few court officials. Lord Han will surely push me out to take the blame..."

Seeing that Xu Xing was not easy to fool, Zhao Yunniang could only give a bitter smile and admit it.

Her status was not equal to Han Sui's.

When two equals met, public law was power.

When two unequals met, power was public law.

Han Sui would never listen to her explanation. Compared to her life, Han Sui cared more about steadying the hearts of his allies. Killing her would be easier than crushing an ant.

She... did not dare to gamble on it!