"The civilian woman says, the civilian woman will say everything!"
Jia Huan watched the woman who was crying uncontrollably after being splashed with water, wishing she could confess everything she had ever done in her life. He remained silent for a long time.
He had thought she would at least endure the standard three-piece set (branding, nail pulling, and hot iron), but to his surprise, she immediately knelt down after he mentioned the Prince's mansion.
Jia Huan sighed with a hint of regret, "Speak, who told you to spread those words?"
"No, no one!"
Hearing this answer, Jia Huan's eyes lit up. He turned and picked up the red-hot branding iron, "It seems you refuse the toast and prefer the punishment."
"No, no, it really wasn't anyone who told the civilian woman to spread it, it was, it was..."
On the tenth day of the month, their opera troupe performed at Marquis Linyang's residence. Miss Dieyi, the star of the troupe, overheard some secrets at Marquis Linyang's mansion. Unable to contain herself, she confided in the woman. After speaking, Miss Dieyi regretted it and solemnly instructed her never to speak of it again. It was her own fault for not controlling her loose tongue; it was all her mistake!
"Does that Dieyi know you can't keep secrets?"
"Yes, she knows!"
"That means she deliberately revealed it to you!"
The woman was slightly stunned by this. Having been in the opera troupe for so long, she wasn't unintelligent. She understood Jia Huan's implication, and disbelief mixed with anger flickered in her round eyes.
"It was her, it must have been her, deliberately using my mouth to spread the news. Sir, quickly arrest her! Our troupe is gathering tomorrow to leave the capital. If you delay, she will escape!"
This woman was afraid of Dieyi escaping.
If Dieyi escaped, then even if she had mouths all over her body, she wouldn't be able to explain herself.
The Prince's mansion's hidden guards quickly rushed to the inn where the Southern Opera Troupe was staying and apprehended Dieyi while she was asleep, bringing her back to the mansion.
"Lan Dieyi."
"Who are you? Although I am an actress, the Countess of the Marquisate dotes on my singing. On the tenth day of the month, the Countess even gave me a jade pendant, admonishing me to seek help if I was ever wronged. If you don't want to incur the wrath of Marquis Linyang's mansion for no reason, release me quickly!"
Dieyi opened her eyes. The dim prison before her sent chills through her body. However, having seen some scenes, she wasn't as pathetic as the civilian woman. She glared defiantly with wide eyes, mentioning Marquis Linyang's mansion, trying to deter these thieves who might be after money or lust.
"Marquis Linyang?"
Jia Huan sneered, "This is the Regent's Mansion!"
Dieyi's strong facade of ferocity instantly crumbled upon hearing the words "Regent." In this capital, even His Majesty the Emperor could not save someone from the Regent's hands. Falling into the Regent's grasp meant only one outcome.
To leave horizontally, or to become mud and flowers.
Dieyi trembled like a sieve, her voice also quivering, "This civilian... this civilian..."
"Confess honestly, and perhaps you will live. Resist, and your life will be worse than death. Miss Dieyi is the pillar of the opera troupe. Although an actress, her living expenses are likely much better than those of ordinary people. Has the prosperity of the capital blinded your eyes, breeding ambition and causing you to be bought off? Or has your mind gone addled? To actually take on such a mission that could lead to the extermination of your clan!"
Jia Huan slowly heated the branding iron, not even looking at her. "Miss Dieyi was not sold into the opera troupe. Your father was the troupe leader of this Southern Opera Troupe. Your brother is a constable in the Changting County yamen. Within three generations, there are one hundred male descendants and fifty-three female descendants. If their heads were cut off, the piles of heads could form a small mountain. Do you think this mountain should be piled up in your hometown of Changting County, or in front of Marquis Linyang's mansion?"
Lan Dieyi sobbed uncontrollably, "It was Marquis Linyang's fifth son!"
"He said, he said that if I completed this task, he would bring me into the mansion."
"Heh!"
Jia Huan threw down the branding iron and turned to leave.
In Xin Yuan Pavilion, after hearing Jia Huan's report, Nan Shiying inquired, "Who is the fifth son's birth mother?"
"The illegitimate daughter of a minor official. It is said that she has some connection with the Wang family," Jia Huan chose his words carefully. Marquis Linyang had no reason to undertake such a dangerous task that could cost him his head at any moment. The only possibility was a foolish idea concocted by a secluded noblewoman. It seemed they hadn't realized that the Prince's mansion's eyes and ears were spread throughout the entire capital.
Nan Shiying tapped her fingers on the table and turned to look at Ji Jinmo, "What do you think?"
"It doesn't seem like it!"
He replied concisely.
"Are you sure that what Dieyi said is the truth?"
This was a question to Jia Huan.
Jia Huan felt it was unlikely to be false. How many people dared to lie after being brought into the Prince's mansion's dungeon!
Nan Shiying pondered for a moment and asked, "When Dieyi was apprehended, were all the members of the opera troupe brought back?"
Jia Huan was slightly taken aback. Because he didn't know what might be hidden behind her, he hadn't caused a great disturbance when arresting her, only secretly brought Dieyi back. However, he had left guards to monitor them. Whether to arrest them or not was simply a matter of issuing an order. "Your subordinate will go and fetch them now."
Nan Shiying nodded slightly. After Jia Huan withdrew, she signaled for those monitoring the opera troupe to proceed with the arrests.
...
At the inn, guards in black entered. They threw sleeping smoke through the cracks in the window frames. After counting to ten, they quietly pushed open the door and walked to the bedside, lifting the covers.
"Swish, swish, swish, swish~"
Several cold lights shot out from under the covers, raining down on the guards.
The guards, unable to dodge, were pierced by the silver needles. The blood emerging from the wounds was tinged with a dark aura; the needles were poisoned.
...
The entire opera troupe vanished without a trace under the surveillance of the guards. Before disappearing, they had planted hidden weapons. The hidden weapon concealed within the quilt was called: the "Stormy Pear Blossom Needles."
It was a unique hidden weapon of the Tang sect, renowned in the martial world for their hidden weapons.
The silver needles within the hidden weapons were infused with potent poison; the poison meant instant death upon contact with blood.
Looking at the bodies covered with white cloths on the ground, Nan Shiying's moonlit face was grim and stern. She turned and walked towards the dungeon, and to no one's surprise, she saw Dieyi's dead body.
Nan Shiying pried open her mouth. Hot blood spilled out, and a piece of red flesh rolled onto the ground with the blood. The body was still warm. She had bitten off her tongue only after hearing the approaching footsteps!
Nan Shiying turned to look at Jia Huan and questioned, "You didn't seal her mouth when you left?"
"Your subordinate deserves to die!"
Cold sweat broke out on Jia Huan's back, and he felt a chill to the bone, his heart pounding. He knelt with a thud at Nan Shiying's feet, lowering his head to admit his mistake. He realized with lingering fear that he had believed Dieyi's words without question just now, as if his mind had been flooded. He didn't know if it was the illusion created by his previous interrogation of the civilian woman or some other reason, but he had made an unforgivable mistake. Regardless of how the Prince or the Madam punished him, he was willing to accept it.