Beat Them All to Death

Shen Yangge's heart seemed to leap into his throat. He kicked his four stubby legs, trying to fight back, but the Eleventh Prince's grip was terribly strong, and he had a fistful of fur on top of Shen Yangge's head clenched tight.

The kitten's fur stood on end, his body reacting instinctively to the imminent danger.

"Meow, meow."

The Eleventh Prince gripped the kitten by the neck and lifted him high, an evil grin curling his lips. "Before I kill you, I'm going to gouge out your eyes, then skin you and chop off your legs."

He grew more excited as he spoke, leaving the outskirts of the Eastern Palace with his hand still clamped around the kitten's neck.

The kitten's disappearance sent the maids and servants of the Eastern Palace into a panic. Almost everyone was mobilized to search, but even after a long, long time, they found no trace of him.

They were frantic. With so many people watching over their little master, they had still managed to lose him. Even ten heads apiece would not be enough to pay for it. Remembering the terrifying scenes of the Crown Prince's brutality, they broke out in cold sweat.

"What are we going to do? His Highness will be back soon."

"Where could he have gone?"

"Wasn't he tethered? How did he get away?"

"Green Willow, could you think of something?"

The maid whose name they had called froze, then said awkwardly, "What could I possibly do? I can't conjure him out of thin air. Besides, I wasn't the one who lost the cat."

"If you want someone, you should find whoever lost him."

"Green Willow, you used to attend His Highness all the time. Surely he has a special fondness for you. Could you plead with him for us?"

"Exactly! If people like us accidentally offended His Highness, we'd never live to see tomorrow. But when you were dragged out that day, you only received a beating, and you're still here."

Green Willow said bitterly, "You saw it yourselves. Whatever fondness His Highness might have had for me ended before that beating. Now, I'm nothing in his eyes."

The maids and servants hurried to reassure her. "Green Willow, if you really were nothing to him, as you say, His Highness wouldn't have let you remain in the Eastern Palace."

"That's right, that's right..."

"Well..."

"Please, Green Willow. We don't want to be disposed of like those maids and servants before us. Please think of something."

Green Willow looked troubled. After much consideration, she said, "It's not as though there's no way. Here's what we'll do: bring out the maid who lost him and insist she was the one who let him go. Then I'll plead for you."

The maids and servants, desperate to save their own skins, accepted Green Willow's suggestion.

Upon learning that his cat was missing, the Crown Prince abandoned his visit to pay his respects to the Empress. He went straight back to the Eastern Palace, his face dark.

He had barely stepped through the gates of the Eastern Palace when a shadow guard came to report. "Your Highness, the Eleventh Prince took the cat."

"The Eleventh Prince?"

The Crown Prince was about to say more when a group of weeping maids and servants rushed out and dropped to their knees with a thud.

"Please forgive us, Your Highness. Someone let our little master go."

"We are to blame for failing to watch him properly."

Then a maid bound up like a parcel was roughly shoved forward. "Your Highness, this is the maid who let our little master go!"

"Mmph, mmph..."

The maid wept soundlessly, her eyes filled with despair and misery.

The Crown Prince fell silent for a moment. A breeze stirred his wide sleeves, and as they fluttered, he said sinisterly, "Then all of you will receive sixty strokes."

"Spare us, Your Highness!"

"Your Highness, it wasn't our fault!"

"Your Highness..."

Just then, a maid dressed in green stepped forward and said in a delicate voice, "Your Highness, it truly wasn't their fault. That maid was the one who let our little master go."

The maids and servants nodded eagerly. But just as they began to relax, the Crown Prince cast her an imperious glance and said coldly:

"You. Beat her to death."

Green Willow's eyes widened instantly. She could not believe it. "Your Highness?"

"Drag them all away."

The guards stepped forward and seized them one by one. Green Willow wept prettily, looking delicate and pitiful. "Your Highness, have you forgotten everything I once did for you?"

"Your Highness, you said you wouldn't kill me."

The Crown Prince stood with his hands behind his back. "I am not killing you. If you survive the beating, you may live. If you cannot, you die."

"I will not keep someone who seeks death time and time again."

Seeing that she was about to meet her end, Green Willow cried out, "Your Highness, I know where our little master is!"

"Please spare my life!"

At the time, she had watched the Eleventh Prince take the cat without doing a thing. She had intended to use that information to earn the Crown Prince's favor, never imagining that events would spiral so far out of control.

Why did that damned beast have to run off?!

Green Willow seethed inwardly.

"Your Highness, I know where our little master went."

This was her last bargaining chip for survival.

Yet the Crown Prince gave her no chance to continue.

"Do not make me repeat myself. Take them away."

Drenched in cold sweat, the guards stepped forward to seize them one by one. Afraid they would disturb the Crown Prince, some even covered their mouths.

They dragged them away by force.

Before long, the sound of wooden clubs striking flesh rang out from the rear courtyard of the Eastern Palace, accompanied by agonized screams.

The screams grew weaker and weaker until, at last, no one was screaming anymore.

Eleven maids and twelve servants were all beaten to death.

Shen Yangge knew nothing of this bloodshed. The Eleventh Prince was stabbing him with silver needles, one after another. Whenever he fainted, another stab jolted him awake. His features twisted together in pain.

A weak rumble escaped his throat.

"I'll stab you! I'll stab you to death!"

The Eleventh Prince laughed as he worked, while the maid beside him gently reminded him, "Your Highness, be careful not to prick yourself."

Then the maid took out an embroidered handkerchief and carefully wiped the sweat beading on the Eleventh Prince's forehead.

"Your Highness, why not rest a little before you play again?"

"All right!"

The Eleventh Prince tossed aside the silver needle in his hand and kicked the kitten out of the way.

"His Highness the Crown Prince has arrived-"

Consort Xue was surprised, but she still set aside her "work" and went to receive the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace.

"Your Highness, what brings you here?"

The Crown Prince went straight to the point. "Little Eleven took my cat. I have come to find him."

Consort Xue frowned. Realizing that the prince she had adopted had caused trouble, her expression gradually changed. She had scolded him severely last time and thought the Eleventh Prince had changed his ways and no longer liked those cats and dogs.

Who knew he would turn around and bring such a huge disaster down on her?

With a grim expression, Consort Xue told her senior maid, "Bring the Eleventh Prince here."

"Yes, Your Grace."

"Your Grace, we have brought the Eleventh Prince."

The maid held the Eleventh Prince by both hands and dragged him forcibly before Consort Xue.

"Little Eleven, I hear you brought your brother the Crown Prince's cat back here. Is that true?"