A Crushing Blow to a Lovestruck Fool

That evening, Shen Shixu finished his shift, changed his clothes, and prepared to head home. As soon as he stepped out of the Court of Judicial Review, he saw Xiao Jinyi waiting by the entrance.

"Shixu, do you have anything to do later? I'd like you to come with us to the Ministry of Justice's prison. If I take Aunt Shou Jia alone, I'm afraid I won't be able to comfort her if she breaks down. If it comes to that, I'll probably just knock her out and carry her away."

Shen Shixu thought that sounded exactly like something Xiao Jinyi would do. Since he had nothing planned that evening anyway, he decided he might as well go along.

"I have nothing to do tonight, so I'll come with you. I've been wanting to see what the Truth-Telling Gu can do, too."

The two went to the princess's residence together. She had been eagerly awaiting Xiao Jinyi and had even stationed someone at the entrance with orders to report the moment a carriage from Prince Jing's Residence appeared.

As soon as Princess Shou Jia learned that the carriage from Prince Jing's Residence had stopped outside, she grabbed the things she had packed over the past two days and climbed aboard. She paused briefly when she saw Shen Shixu there as well.

But all she could think about now was the joy and excitement of finally seeing Liang Junda again. Nothing else mattered to her.

The carriage soon stopped outside the Ministry of Justice's prison. Xiao Jinyi had already made the arrangements, and no one stopped the three of them as they entered.

Princess Shou Jia burst into tears the moment she saw Liang Junda. She had never seen him in such a wretched state. He wore filthy prison clothes, his hair was disheveled, his face dirty and covered in stubble. His bare feet were so grimy that their original color was impossible to make out. He lay on a pile of straw, staring blankly at the ceiling.

There was no trace of his usual swagger and high spirits.

"Junda, Junda, you've suffered so much."

Princess Shou Jia covered her mouth and began to sob. At the sound of her voice, Liang Junda got up from the straw and walked over to the cell door.

When he saw Princess Shou Jia in her sky-blue embroidered silk gown, jealousy and madness filled his eyes. All those days in prison had already driven him close to breaking.

And with the Truth-Telling Gu Bai He and Mo Yu had put in him yesterday, he could no longer hold back his true thoughts. He unleashed them all on Princess Shou Jia.

"Well, look at you! You keep saying you love me, yet you dress so lavishly to visit me. And I've been locked up here all this time, but you never once came to see me or got me out.

"Is this the love you're always talking about? If I'd known you were this useless, I never would have schemed to marry you. If not for your status, I would never have brought a pampered noblewoman like you home and put up with you at every turn.

"We've been married for seven or eight years, and you haven't given me a single child. You're nothing but a hen that won't lay eggs.

"At your age, you still spend all day obsessing over love. If you weren't a princess born into the imperial family, someone would have skinned you alive long ago."

Liang Junda had far too much resentment bottled up inside him. He had only meant to say one thing, but once he started, he could not stop.

His barrage of words hit Princess Shou Jia so hard that the bundle slipped from her hands. She stared at Liang Junda in shock, even wondering whether she had come to the wrong place.

Otherwise, how could the man who had always loved her more than his own life say such things to her?

Just as Princess Shou Jia considered going out and coming back in again, Liang Junda spoke once more. "Hey, you stupid woman, did you come to get me released? I knew it. You're so hopelessly in love with me that you'd do anything to get me out.

"I really was careless this time. I thought taking just that little bit wouldn't attract any attention. Who knew it was meant for the disaster-stricken areas?

"If those lowborn wretches die, they die. Do they think they'll be fine just because the supplies are sent over? How naive. I'm not the only one embezzling them. Once everyone along the way has taken their cut, there won't even be enough left to feed them for three days.

"But in the end, they pinned it all on me. Still, it doesn't matter. With an unbelievably stupid princess like you around, all you have to do is shed a few tears in front of that old hag, the Empress Dowager, and I'll be free.

"Once I'm out, just watch how I deal with those people. Making me take the fall for them? I won't let them off until I've torn a chunk of flesh from every last one."

Princess Shou Jia had still wanted to lie to herself, to believe she had come to the wrong place or that this was only a dream. Now she could no longer keep up the lie.

She clenched her hands, her neatly rounded nails digging into her palms, yet she felt no pain at all. All she felt was the helplessness and shock of being played for a fool and deceived, followed by the anger that finally began to sink in.

Princess Shou Jia had been pampered into naive innocence, but she was still a woman of the imperial family who had grown up cherished by everyone around her. She had only tolerated Liang Junda because he had put on a convincing act and truly seemed to treat her well.

But now she realized it had all been a lie. In Liang Junda's eyes and heart, she was nothing but a stupid woman who would clean up his messes. She felt her entire world collapse in an instant.

It was a terrible feeling, and she began to tremble uncontrollably, as though she had fallen into an ice cellar. As the chill in her heart spread through her body, a large hand, rough but warm, settled on her shoulder.

"Aunt, we told you before that he wasn't a good man, but you wouldn't believe us. Now that you've heard these words yourself, surely you believe us?" Xiao Jinyi sounded deeply helpless.

When Princess Shou Jia and Liang Junda first got together, all of them had opposed the match. But she had been so adamant, even threatening to kill herself, that they had been left with no choice but to agree.

Now that he had a chance to separate Princess Shou Jia from this scumbag for good, Xiao Jinyi would never let it slip away.

So he began urging Princess Shou Jia along. "Aunt, you heard what he said. He never regarded you as his wife or the woman he loved. He only saw you as a gullible fool, an idiot.

"From beginning to end, he only wanted to use you, and he despised you on top of that. So stop doing everything you can for him. End the marriage by mutual agreement, or simply divorce him yourself.

"If you ever want to marry again, I'll find you someone suitable. I promise whoever I find will never be a hypocrite like Liang Junda.

"Aunt, we all want you to be happy. So leave him, all right?"

Seeing how eloquent Xiao Jinyi was, Shen Shixu's eyes widened in astonishment. He had claimed he did not know how to comfort people and had brought Shen Shixu along for that very reason.

But as far as Shen Shixu could see, wasn't he doing a perfectly good job of it?

And wasn't Xiao Jinyi acting completely out of character? Wasn't he the famously cold-faced god of war?

Taciturn and coldhearted were the traits he was best known for. So who was this gentle man pouring out a whole flood of words?

Princess Shou Jia let Xiao Jinyi lead her out in a daze. This visit to Liang Junda had truly dealt her lovestruck heart a crushing blow.

All their sweet memories had collapsed in an instant. Even those that remained felt as though they had been smeared with shit, utterly revolting.