"Rather than guessing, I think we can ask someone."
Nan Shiying patted her head. How could she have forgotten Yin Silan? And if she remembered correctly, Lan Yue'er was still locked up in the imperial prison, wasn't she?
"Will she talk?"
"She will!"
The Imperial Palace, the Imperial Prison.
Yin Silan leaned against the wall, her face still as pale as paper. Footsteps echoed from the end of the corridor. She heard the sound of a lock being opened, and the chains clanged together with a 'hu la la' sound.
Yin Silan raised her head and saw the figure standing outside the cell. Her whole body trembled reflexively. She pressed her hands down, gripping them tightly together.
"Yin Silan, long time no see!"
Nan Shiying walked into the cell. The jailer re-latched the chains. The sound of the lock made Yin Silan tremble even more violently. She looked at Nan Shiying, at the radiant smile that seemed etched onto her face, and the fear in her heart instantly spread to every cell in her body like bamboo shoots after rain.
When death is inevitable, people will break through fear; but when death never comes, people will forever be drowned in fear.
She had not yet avenged her clan; she could not die. She could only taste the torment of wanting to die but not being able to, over and over again.
"What, here to practice on me again?" Yin Silan's lips trembled, her smile more unsightly than crying. Yet, her tone remained defiant. She tilted her chin slightly, looking at Nan Shiying through her nostrils with contempt and sarcasm.
Nan Shiying saw through the fear beneath her toughness. The smile on her lips softened further, and even her voice was tinged with gentleness, as tender and warm as a lover's soft murmur. "Don't be afraid, I won't be practicing today."
Nan Shiying's kindness did not dispel Yin Silan's fear; instead, it made her feel that a more cruel and painful torment awaited her.
Nan Shiying raised her hand and tucked Yin Silan's stray hair from her temple behind her ear. "I'm here today just to ask one thing."
"What is it?" Nan Shiying's fingers brushed Yin Silan's earlobe. Her hand was as cold as the sharp edge of a dissection knife. Yin Silan turned her head away, avoiding her touch, and asked.
Nan Shiying sat beside her and said, "Don't worry, I'm not asking you to reveal the hiding place of the Miao border remnants. I just want to ask, the one who destroyed your entire clan was the Emperor of Dali. Why didn't your Miao people go directly to Dali, but instead caused all this trouble here in Lin Yuan?"
Yin Silan suddenly laughed. "So that's what you want to ask? You want to know? I refuse to tell you!"
"Ai~"
Nan Shiying sighed. She raised her hand and grabbed Yin Silan's neck, pulling her forward. She looked closely at Yin Silan's pale face and shook her head regretfully. "Yin Silan, Yin Silan, why are you so stubborn? Do you only speak when tortured?"
"Fine, I can do it!"
Nan Shiying tightened her fingers, and Yin Silan's neck bones made 'crackling' sounds. She opened her mouth wide, but the air she inhaled was far less than what she exhaled. Her face slowly turned purplish-brown, and the bulging veins on her forehead and neck seemed about to burst at any moment. Her chest heaved rapidly, trying to relieve the suffocation with hurried breaths.
But all of this was in vain.
In her ears, Nan Shiying's voice was like a devil's whisper: "I forgot to tell you, there are still many Miao border remnants for me to practice on, so you are not important. Do you understand what I mean?"
"If you want to live, answer whatever I ask; if you want to die, I can fulfill that wish now!"
"If you want to speak, blink your eyes."
The suffocation had caused Yin Silan's eyeballs to roll upwards, and even the threats in her ears seemed to come from a distant place. The will to survive made her blink her eyes with all her might.
"Truly stubborn!"
Nan Shiying released her grip. Yin Silan clutched her neck, slumping onto the bed like a drowning dog, gasping for air.
"Speak!" Nan Shiying watched her struggle with cold eyes.
"It's because the Empress Dowager, who was still in her boudoir at the time, saved me. So I played along with the plan and entered the palace using her identity."
Nan Shiying looked at Yin Silan, her eyes filled with mockery. "So the reason you only spoke after being tortured was simply because you thought your story would sound more convincing in this situation?"
"Me?" Nan Shiying pointed at herself and asked Yin Silan, "Do I look like a fool?"
"Good, very good. I see you won't cry until you see the coffin."
Nan Shiying grabbed Yin Silan by her hair, pulled her off the bed and onto the ground, then dragged her to the door. She shouted to the jailer outside the door, "Open the door!"
Yin Silan's hands reached for Nan Shiying's wrist. Nan Shiying raised her foot and stomped forcefully on her ankle. With a "crack," Yin Silan's ankle was directly broken by Nan Shiying's stomp.
She raised her foot again and stepped on Yin Silan's other foot.
Piercing screams echoed throughout the imperial prison. The jailers' running footsteps were slightly unsteady, fearing that if they were too slow, they would suffer the same fate as Yin Silan.
After breaking Yin Silan's ankles, Nan Shiying forcefully swung the hand holding Yin Silan's hair downwards. Yin Silan's head hit the ground heavily, blood trickling down her forehead, flowing along the lines of her brow.
Nan Shiying then raised her foot and broke her wrists.
In his panic, the jailer dropped the key. Nan Shiying turned to look at him. The jailer's body went limp, and he almost couldn't pick up the key. Staring at Nan Shiying, the jailer's hands trembled as he fumbled with the key. He finally managed to insert it into the lock.
The lock clicked open, and the chains fell to the ground.
Nan Shiying grabbed Yin Silan by her hair again and dragged her out of the cell.
"Lord Feng, you, you cannot..."
Nan Shiying turned back and looked at the jailer. The jailer swallowed hard, cold sweat trickling down his temples, rolling around his jawbone before dripping into his collar, wetting his clothes.
"I will explain myself to His Majesty."
As she spoke, she dragged Yin Silan out of the imperial prison like a dead dog, pulling her through a secret passage towards the outside of the palace city.
"The secret passages in the palace, you... I'll tell you, I'll tell you everything, let me go back. I haven't seen this secret passage, and I don't remember the route. Let me go back, let me go back!"
With her hands and feet broken, Yin Silan was powerless to struggle. When she realized that Feng Luan was taking her through a palace secret passage, Yin Silan cried out in panic. She regretted it. She shouldn't have lied to her. She was a lunatic, a lunatic!
She really wanted to kill her!
"Go back?"
Nan Shiying sneered, "Didn't I give you a chance?"