SWNOVELXO CHAPTER: 6
Chapter Six: The Tiger Fallen from Power
Gu Yong was like a tiger fallen from grace, never expecting to encounter such a fierce and sharp-tongued little girl in a place like this.
He peeled off the outer layer of his gray robe. From his chest downward, blood had soaked through in sheets—like someone had stabbed a hole right through him.
Liu-shi, being a woman, dared not look a second time. But Shen Qingqiu stared intently, biting her lip. He’s this badly wounded, and he still managed to overpower me?
To be fair, she was only seven years old right now. But she’d trained in deadly techniques for over a decade—even grown men might not be her match.
Are all the people in this world like him? She was about to move closer for a better look when—
“Concubine Liu! Madam Liu!” a voice suddenly called out from outside.
Liu-shi jumped in fright. “It’s Shen Gui!” Shen Gui was the servant placed by Madam Song to watch over her punishment. Liu-shi hurried to respond, but Gu Yong grabbed her sleeve.
“I hear more than one set of footsteps outside,” he said quietly.
Liu-shi, pure-hearted as she was, looked at Gu Yong in confusion. Her almond-shaped eyes shimmered, naturally alluring. Gu Yong’s tongue flicked across his teeth.
“What a vicious scheme,” Shen Qingqiu sneered, her black eyes glinting. She’d already pieced it together.
Crude in execution, but undeniably effective.
“Oh my heavens!” a wail came from the doorway.
It was Chen Mama, storming in with a wooden club. But she stepped straight into the room—right onto the corpse of the black-clothed man. With a scream, she fell flat on her behind.
She barely had time to react before the seventh young miss stepped toward her, holding a candlestick. The candle’s bright flame cast flickering light across her little face like a ghostly specter.
Chen Mama’s eyes rolled back—she nearly fainted.
“If you’re going to faint, do it after you help me clean up the corpse,” came the cold, emotionless voice.
Then Shen Qingqiu turned to Gu Yong. “If you don’t want to be beaten to death as an adulterer, you’d better find a good place to hide.”
Meanwhile, down the mountain, Lin Zhier and Shen Gui were watching the hilltop with gleeful anticipation.
“Should we go now?” Shen Gui called loudly for Liu-shi while whispering his plan with Lin Zhier.
“What’s the rush?” Lin Zhier smirked, a venomous grin curling her lips. “At least let my cousin enjoy her a little first. Once he’s had his fun, then we’ll kill the cheap slut.”
If Liu-shi had anyone to blame, it was for giving birth to that little bastard.
Shen Gui glanced at the woman’s face and shivered. Truly, the most venomous heart belongs to a woman.
After giving her cousin plenty of time for his “pleasure,” Lin Zhier finally waved her hand. A dozen Shen family guards with torches stormed toward the ancestral hall.
They were just about to break the doors open—when to their surprise, the door swung open from the inside.
The scene inside was nothing like they expected.
The hall was brightly lit. Liu-shi sat calmly on a chair, fully dressed. She was trembling, staring at the ceiling beam.
Instinctively, Lin Zhier followed her gaze—and the moment her eyes landed on the beam, she let out a piercing scream.
“Cousin!”
Hanging from the ceiling was a corpse.
And that face… it was none other than her cousin.
His face was ghostly pale—clearly dead. His clothes had been stripped completely, and across his bare chest was carved a single character: “Slut.”
But that wasn’t all. His entire body—front and back—was covered in hundreds of whip marks. It was impossible to tell whether they had been inflicted before or after death.
If they were done while he was alive… what kind of agony must he have endured?
Eyes brimming with tears, Lin Zhier stared at the figure sitting calmly at the center table.
Shen Qingqiu lifted her eyes lazily, idly twirling a candlestick in her hand—its shape suspiciously similar to the wound that pierced the body.
She licked her lips and smiled.
“Well, aren’t you all just on time.”