Jintang
CHAPTER 2
7
I didn’t move an inch, but my body instinctively responded with grief and pain.
It wasn’t mine—it was Meng Jin’s. Her soul was already gone, yet even her body still remembered how to ache.
Staring them down, I gave them one final chance:
“Everything she has—am I not entitled to as well?”
“You? Compared to Xueru?”
Meng Yunting exploded with rage.
“A peasant girl with no manners, disgracing the Yongyi Marquis Manor time and again. If not for Xueru shielding you, you'd have died a thousand times already.”
“Eloping? Who told you that?”
Meng Xueru approached step by step, a look of feigned innocence on her face. As she walked, she spoke sweetly:
“Don’t be scared, Sister. Since you’ve returned, of course your family will clean up the mess for you.”
“I’ve already destroyed that letter for you. As long as you apologize to Father and Mother, you’ll still be the eldest daughter of the Yongyi Marquis Manor. We’ll be a happy family again.”
“Look at your sister—even now, she’s still speaking up for you. And you, you repay her again and again with harm. You wonder why I favor her? Just look at yourself—how do you compare to her in any way?”
“Your mother was right—if you weren’t our flesh and blood, I would’ve sent this disgrace off to rot on some distant estate long ago.”
“Father and Mother are too softhearted. A disaster like you has no right to bear the Meng family name.”
“Stop saying such things… She’ll be hurt…”
Meng Xueru clung to my arm affectionately, but her gaze darkened as her sharp fingernails dug into my skin.
“Isn’t that right, dear Sister~”
Rip—
She was already preparing for me to throw her off in pain, ready to fall in a calculated tumble.
But I didn’t move.
Frozen in place, she bit down her unwillingness and hissed under her breath:
“You’ve grown bolder. Impressive. Filthy wretch—you really didn’t die out there?”
Such a cheap trick was all it took to force Meng Jin to her death?
I almost laughed.
“So, the rumor that I eloped came from your mouth?”
Her eyes flickered with disdain, though her face showed utmost grievance:
“Sister… are you blaming me? I didn’t mean to…”
Crack.
Her jaw dislocated beneath my hand with a single, fluid motion.
“Good. Now that you’ve admitted it, there’s no need to say anything else.”
I was too quick—by the time she held her jaw and sobbed with muffled cries, the others finally realized what had happened.
In an instant, everyone rushed at me to seize me.
But the old wet nurse who charged ahead for her was stopped short—one kick from me shattered her thigh bone, leaving her writhing on the floor, wailing in agony.
At the same time, a dagger pressed against Meng Xueru’s neck, her acupoints sealed.
“Move, and see what happens.”
Maybe my voice was too calm—too quiet. They thought I wouldn’t actually do it.
They lunged again.
Slash—
With a flick of my wrist, a long gash split open her cheek, blood spilling down.
“Ah—it hurts! Father! Mother! Brother! It hurts—Xueru’s face—my face—!”
“Cry again.”
She didn’t dare.
Another swift slice. Her blood-soaked earlobe hit the ground beneath my foot, and I crushed it.
The arrogance from earlier vanished. She shrank back, pale and trembling.
Everyone retreated behind the Marquis, too afraid to come forward.
Only then did I step toward the old wet nurse still rolling and screaming on the floor.
8
“Then tell me—who was it that drove your mistress out of the manor? And how did she end up in the water?”
The old wet nurse trembled with sweat from the pain, but her mouth remained stubborn:
“Even if you kill this old servant, I can only tell the truth. It was you, Eldest Young Miss, who couldn’t tolerate second young lady. When you failed to kill her, you had her thrown out.”
“She was nearly kidnapped by bandits. Her leg is still injured.”
So she wanted to play tough.
How amusing.
Just as I lifted my foot again, the Marquise’s voice shrieked out:
“Wretched girl! Do you want to defy the heavens?! Isn’t it just a gift you want? I’ll give it to you!”
“If you dare hurt my Xueru again, I will never acknowledge you, not in this lifetime!”
So loud.
Meng Jin—it really hurt, didn’t it?
Clink—
I yanked Meng Xueru’s earring off, and with a sharp flick, it flew straight into the Marquise’s headdress.
The only undamaged ear she had now bore a split.
And the once-graceful mistress of the house, now disheveled, her hair in a mess, her face pale and drained of dignity.
“Next time, I’ll aim for your eyes. What use are they if they can’t even see clearly?”
The Marquise collapsed onto the floor in fear, not daring to utter another word.
The others, having witnessed my ruthlessness, also stood frozen, no longer daring to act rashly.
9
“I gave you a chance. You didn’t cherish it. Don’t blame me, then.”
The blade tip dropped onto Nanny Wu’s wrist. With a swift flick, her tendon snapped.
“Still not ready to tell the truth?”
She didn’t dare respond—only screamed like her life depended on it.
I rubbed my buzzing ears, then plunged the knife straight into the tender spot between her lungs, twisting the handle deliberately.
It wouldn’t kill her.
But the pain would make her wish she were dead.
Blood gushed like a stream, instantly silencing everyone around.
Back when I worked with Shen Chong, hunting for news and information, I’d learned many ways to torture people in prison cells.
Using such techniques on a lowly courtyard servant today felt like overkill.
But it wasn’t about how sophisticated the method was—only whether it worked.
And clearly, it did.
Just two cuts in, and Nanny Wu pissed herself from the pain.
She was about to speak—when Meng Yunting shouted:
“What do you want? We’ll give it to you!”
“Xueru’s courtyard? Your name restored in the family registry? Or the Third Prince’s marriage alliance?”
“Put down the knife. We can talk this through. Don’t take anyone’s life—if you do, even I won’t be able to save you.”
His endless babbling cut off my interrogation.
Rage surged instantly.
“Come here. I’ll tell you exactly what I want.”
He hesitated, glancing at the tears in Meng Xueru’s eyes—then stepped forward.
“You—”
The blade hidden behind his back hadn’t even made it out before I had my hand around his neck.
And then—slap slap slap slap slap—a flurry of vicious slaps fell across his face.
When I finally flung him to the ground, blood mixed with teeth spilled from his mouth, and he passed out cold. The blade he’d been hiding clattered beside him.
“Talk too much again, and I’ll end you, you worthless idiot.”
The Marquis met my smiling gaze—his body trembling with hatred, but for the sake of his two children, he had no choice but to endure it.
Grinding his teeth, he ordered through clenched jaws:
“Do as she says. No one move!”
Satisfied, I gave him a slight, mocking smile—then tapped the cold blade against Nanny Wu’s face.
“Now… will you speak?”
She didn’t dare hold back anymore.
Like beans spilling from a torn bag, she confessed all the pain and torment Meng Jin had suffered.
10
The eldest young lady who returned from the countryside was never welcomed by her family.
On her very first day back at the manor, she made the fake heiress cry and was punished by being confined to the smallest courtyard to ‘learn proper manners.’
Later, she was accused of breaking a piece of jewelry bestowed upon the fake heiress by the emperor, then of lighting a fire in her courtyard in a fit of rage, and even of pushing the fake heiress into a lake out of jealousy after the Third Prince showed her favor.
In the end, she was said to have used her identity as the true heiress to drive the fake one out of the marquis’s residence. If the family hadn’t found her in time, the fake heiress would have been ruined by bandits.
She was left with nothing but a fingernail-sized scar on her leg—and yet the entire household turned on the true heiress and cast her out to ‘learn a lesson.’
And then, they said she had the nerve to elope out of spite.
“It was all the eldest young lady’s doing… no, the second young lady’s orders,” Nanny Wu confessed.
“She couldn’t stand being suppressed by the eldest young lady just because of blood ties. So she wanted her dead.”
“From beginning to end, it was all second young lady’s scheming. The eldest young lady never did a single wicked thing.”
“When she was locked in the ancestral hall, it was the second young lady who volunteered to bring her meals—but she never brought a single one. The eldest young lady survived an entire month on leftovers from the servants.”
“The birthday gift she made for Madam, a peace charm, was hand-stitched by her own fingers. It was the second young lady who swapped it for a lump of dirt.”
“The medicine for Master’s cold was personally boiled by the eldest young lady by the stove. But before she could bring it into the study, she was stopped—and the second young lady added laxatives to it and pinned the blame on her.”
“As for the young lord’s painting, the eldest young lady only glanced at it. It was the second young lady, who had easy access to the study, who destroyed it with her own hands.”
House arrest. Kneeling in the ancestral hall. Beatings. And ultimately, being thrown out to survive alone.
Meng Jin had endured all of this in her own home.
She returned with hope in her heart, longing for love she’d never known.
Only to find that the love she yearned for had already been enjoyed by someone else. And the people who should’ve cherished and protected her—her flesh and blood—gave her nothing but hatred and cruelty.
Betrayed. Rejected. Abandoned.
She must have felt so helpless.
I sighed and pressed on, “And what about the so-called elopement?”
Nanny Wu trembled and stammered in terror, “The eldest young lady never eloped. Master and Madam, upset over second young lady’s sudden disappearance, drove the eldest out of the manor so she’d realize how hard life is without the protection of her family.”
“But second young lady had already bribed a group of bandits to humiliate and murder the eldest young lady outside the capital.”
“As for the letter… it was written by Cuizhu. She’s skilled at forging handwriting.”
I turned toward the crowd and locked eyes on Cuizhu with a cold smile.
Before I even lifted the knife, she dropped to her knees in terror.
She corroborated everything Wu Ma said—and added even more damning details.
In the end, she kowtowed madly, forehead hitting the floor like a drumbeat.
“It was second young lady who forced me! How could we servants dare to disobey?”
“Please spare me, Eldest Young Lady, please!”
See? When you’re the one holding the knife, everyone bows their head.
Meng Jin, that’s what you’ve been missing—your own blade.
Meng Xueru’s crimes were now all but nailed to the wall.
“Take Meng Xueru away. Interrogate her with heavy punishment!”
“Who dares!”
11
The servant I deliberately let go returned with the furious Third Prince, Shen Yuchen.
How should I put it? He wasn’t even half as clever as Shen Chong.
Not even a fraction of his mother’s beauty had been passed down to him.
As a child, he had some charm—but now, he was just plain repulsive.
“You still have the face to look at this prince? Meng Jin, you’re utterly shameless.”
Clutching the nearly unconscious Meng Xueru in his arms, surrounded by guards protecting him like he was some national treasure, he barked arrogantly at me:
“You’ve grievously harmed a court official—and my fiancée! Meng Jin, you must be mad. Do you have a death wish?”
“Men! Seize this wicked wench and send her to the Dali Temple for severe punishment!”
“Oh? Arresting the daughter of the Marquis's household—you got their permission first?”
Even after learning the full truth—even after knowing all the injustice Meng Jin suffered—the Meng family remained silent when the Third Prince lashed out at their pitiful daughter and sister.
Compared to their wealth and future prospects, their daughter’s suffering meant nothing.
Meng Jin, they’re not worth it.
I gave them a chance. They chose their fate.
The Third Prince sneered arrogantly, looking more and more like that man:
“This prince says you are not the true daughter of the Meng family—who dares say otherwise?”
The Marquis lowered his gaze, feigning indifference.
The Marquise opened her mouth, hesitated, then fell silent.
Only Meng Yunting, covered in wounds, growled viciously:
“Kill her! I only have one sister—Xueru.”
The Third Prince wore an expression that said, “See? No one will protect you,” as he looked down on me from above:
“You think you can marry me just because you harmed Xueru? Dream on.”
“Now that the Meng family has abandoned you, I’ll make you wish you were dead, to atone for what you did to Xueru.”
“If you have any sense left, kill yourself in front of Xueru. I might allow you to keep your corpse intact.”
I let out a cold breath. “So, Your Highness would ignore the law and kill me in broad daylight, just to play the gallant hero—even knowing the truth?”
He scoffed and spat back, “What truth? It’s always been you running wild and killing in the Meng household.”
“Xueru merely tried to stop you. You disfigured her.”
“Lord Meng tried to talk sense into you, and you broke his teeth.”
“That’s the truth. Nothing more.”
The fact that he could stand there and twist the truth so brazenly in front of the crowd only made me feel reassured.
Seeing me smile for no reason, he waved his hand imperiously:
“Take her to the Dali Temple. Give the Minister my version of the events—have him interrogate her harshly.”
“Forgive me, Your Highness,” a voice replied.
From the shadows stepped the very Minister of the Dali Temple.
Unfortunately for the prince, he was on my side.
I smiled—cold and sharp as a blade.
“Apologies,” I said softly. “By imperial order, I am here to investigate this case.”
“All those present who distorted the truth and sought my death—drag them to the dungeons.”
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