Chapter 27: Unyielding before illegal punishment (1) (2/2)

It was definite that he’d wake up within the next three days. But if the poison wasn’t expelled by then, there would be big trouble. If Mu Qingwu died because of his poison, even Long Feiye wouldn’t be able to save her tiny life if he appeared. At this point, the young general’s life and hers were tied together.

Three days! It could be as slow as slow could be, or as fast as the blink of an eye! Gu Beiyue should visit the prisons, right? All her hopes rested with him.

After a tiring day and night, Han Yunxi finally drifted off to sleep in the midst of her thoughts. Not too long afterwards, she was chilled awake from her legs down. No matter how she huddled up in the covers, she couldn’t get warm. She discovered that the firewood beneath her brick heated bed had long burned itself out, but there was no other wood in the cell.

This was too much!

Wrapping herself in the flimsy covers, Han Yunxi sneezed multiple times as she climbed off the bed to call for help.

“Someone, come!”

“Is anyone there? Someone come!”

The night watch didn’t reply, so Han Yunxi decided to throw around outright lies.

“Help…!”

“There’s an assassin!”

……

But no matter how or what she shouted, only echoes answered her cries. She exhaled and decided to stop wasting her energy, rubbing her hands constantly as she hopped in place to warm up. Most of the people who died in the justice court prisons never saw blood or injuries from tortures. Even without these methods, there were plenty of ways to cause an inmate to die from illness.

Han Yunxi realized that she’d underestimated the darkness behind the justice courts.

Just as she was hopping and jumping, there was the sound of footsteps and people hurrying over. She was about to turn around when a bucket of ice water came flying her way, drenching her from head to toe! The cold drilled through her skin down to her very bones and every corner of her four limbs, chilling her to a point where she froze in place. Outside the cell door, she saw Princess Changping wrapped warmly in a cotton-padded jacket, face flushed with success as she grinned from ear-to-ear. The North Court Official and a few water-carrying lackeys stood respectfully to one side.

“Princess Changping, you dare to try and torture the wangfei?” Han Yunxi asked coldly, her body dripping wet. She was battered and exhausted, but her eyes were clearer and colder than anything around her.

Though she knew this woman couldn’t do anything against her, Princess Changping still felt her heart quail at the sight of those eyes.

No! There was imperial grandmother[3] and imperial mother to support her, so no one would ever spread what happened here. Han Yunxi wouldn’t have any proof, either. As a result, Princess Changping calmed down and gave an chilly laugh. “Han Yunxi, you’re speaking too highly of the princess. I know you’re my imperial aunt so I have to respect you. See, I’ve especially come to supervise the North Court Official as he cleans your cell. I heard plenty of people have died from disease here since it’s so dirty.”

Cleaning her cell in the middle of the night? She could sure think up excuses!

“There’s no need,” Han Yunxi declined, but the North Court Official was already impatiently issuing orders.

“Come, hurry up and clean out the place. Do you think you can take responsibility for treating Qin Wangfei unfairly?”

As his words finished, four to five old jailers lifted their buckets of water, so cold that it held chunks of ice inside.

“Pour for the princess!” Princess Changping ordered without any hesitation.

The cold water, mixed with ice, splashed in from different places, forcing Han Yunxi to dodge. Any rebukes she tried to make now would be useless. She turned to escape for the furtherest corner of the cell, running back and forth to evade the water. But these jailers were thoroughly experienced and hit her without fail, one after the other!

-o-

[1] sink Han Yunxi in a well…throw a rock after her body (落井下石) – luojingxiashi, basically a figurative way of saying she wanted to ruin her.

[2] heated-brick bed (火炕) – huokang, some forms of ancient beds worked like an oven; the interior was hollowed out to make room for firewood, which would be lit until the heat warmed the surface of the bed above.

[3] imperial grandmother (皇奶奶) – huangnainai, aka her father’s mother, the empress dowager.