CHAPTER 273: CHAPTER 271: LIKE A VENT, LIKE A PUNISHMENT

Lu Ying lowered his gaze to her. "The officials in Jiangnan are corrupt. I deeply despise them. The reason I haven’t eradicated them completely is because I still need to use them against the Luo Family, and I must also consider the stability of this region. Even so, those officers who had the closest ties to the Luo Family have already been thrown into prison under my orders. Shen Zhaozhao, you must understand: I am the Crown Prince, the future Emperor. I cannot turn a blind eye to Luo Xibai’s corruption and shield him from justice."

Shen Yinning pursed her lips tightly, yet still clung to the hem of his robe.

The stark contrast between her slender, pale fingers and the dark embroidered gold robe was striking. Her skin was like jade and snow, with only the tips of her fingertips flushed a vivid crimson, revealing how forcefully she was gripping it.

She locked her eyes on Lu Ying, her long and delicate lashes casting soft shadows into her pupils, strands of desperation woven deep within her gaze.

It was rare for her to be like this.

Lu Ying furrowed his brows, his tone harsh: "If it were me lying there, would you beg for me this desperately?"

Shen Yinning understood—he likely wouldn’t relent.

Lowering her head, her shoulders caved as she collapsed to kneel on the ground, as though all strength had drained from her body.

She whispered, "You would never fall into such despair."

Lu Ying was far too cunning.

From a disregarded outcast to a Crown Prince who wielded power over the court, which other Prince in the royal court could stand against him?

Even herself...

From the Lantern Festival to Jiangnan, there were two instances where she’d had the chance to harm him. She had schemed relentlessly, pouring all her efforts into her plans, but in the end, she hadn’t managed to harm so much as a single strand of his hair.

Despite having studied under the same teacher, the teachings they received were worlds apart.

Her mentor taught her, "The bond between father and child, the union between husband and wife—these are innate in their nature. Even when confronted by calamity, one will risk death to preserve them. True affection resides within, imbued with utmost kindness and care—how could one go against it?" But Lu Ying was taught the art of governance—the essence of ruling a country—and the creed of emperors.

She could not defeat Lu Ying.

The storm blew the front window open.

The faint sounds of slaughter from Zhaoyue Tower drifted in.

Shen Yinning rose and walked to the window, peering through the heavy curtain of rain. She saw Luo Xibai, bathed in blood, his loyal men all dead. He was cornered by the Imperial Guard, a true beast trapped in a cage.

He kept shouting and provoking, even managing to knock over five or six Imperial Guards that rushed toward him.

But in the end, two fists could not fend off countless hands. Exhausted, he could only lean against the railing, panting heavily, his sleeve wiping away the mix of blood, sweat, and rain from his face.

The Imperial Guards seemed endless, impossible to extinguish.

The gleaming spearheads and swords pointed at him, resembling a pack of hyenas testing the strength of a lone lion.

After slaying the second wave of Imperial Guards, Luo Xibai supported himself with a broken spear, kneeling on the ground. His armor was shattered, blood beads rolled down his eyelids, every pore on his face stretched from the brutal fighting. His gasping breaths reverberated through the rain, his heaving chest resembling a fish in its final struggle before death—

Brother.

In his daze, Luo Xibai felt as though someone was softly calling him.

His appearance was ugly, his deeds vile—proper young ladies of good families wouldn’t dare marry him. Even his two legitimate sisters despised him and kept their distance. The only one who had ever called him this way was the Shen Family’s young lady.

Wind and rain swept down, dislodging pear blossoms from the tree.

Luo Xibai slowly turned his head, his blood-blurred eyes landing on the pear tree outside Zhaoyue Tower.

Pear blossoms, whiter than snow, just like her beauty.

To have met the young lady of the Shen Family in this lifetime, someone so celestial—it was enough. He harbored no regrets.

In the next life, he wished to be a good man.

Even if he remained unattractive, it wouldn’t matter, as long as he could stand proud and tell the young lady of the Shen Family that he adored her.

The unsightly man with bulging muscles, at his last gasp, opened bloodshot eyes wide.

He roared ferociously and charged toward the Imperial Guards once more.

The wind howled and the rain poured.

Pear blossoms danced in the air.

Fighting until the end, Luo Xibai suffered multiple knife wounds before falling from the rooftop of Zhaoyue Tower, his body resembling a pear blossom descending.

His corpse struck the ground, unrecognizable, lifeless.

Fallen petals scattered thinly across the floor, their pristine white stained with blood, while the rain silently washed over the sins.

A crowd began to gather slowly.

It was the batch of merchants Yin Shanshan had discovered at the dock, brought back to Liang Garden by Lu Ying in recent days to testify against Luo Xibai.

They spat on Luo Xibai’s mutilated corpse, picking up rocks to throw at him.

"Stand back!"

Luo Wanxiang shouted as she forced her way through, leading two white wolves.

She let go of their leashes, letting the beasts charge forward to devour Luo Xibai.

She declared, "Though I am a Luo Family daughter, I am nothing like Luo Xibai. In the past, when he committed wrongdoing, I always tried to persuade him toward good, but he never listened to me and even raised his fists against his own sister! Such a vile person deserves no mercy! Even dying like this is far too lenient for him!"

The surrounding crowd, having no sympathy for Luo Xibai, began discussing his life of wrongs.

Shen Yinning tightly held the window frame.

By reason, she knew all of this was Luo Xibai’s own doing.

But emotionally, she still couldn’t stop herself from harboring a faint resentment toward Luo Wanxiang.

Her voice faltered, "Since Luo Xibai is dead, may I collect his body?"

Lu Ying stood beside her, seizing her chin and forcing her to lift her head.

His thin eyelids hung low, the shadow of a towering banana tree in the rain falling across his face, adding an air of cold aloofness.

Their eyes met.

Lu Ying could clearly see Shen Yinning’s bloodshot eyes, with two lines of tears rolling down.

He used his finger pads to wipe away her tears, his tone drenched in a chilling dampness like the rain. "Luo Xibai sheltered you for two months, but me? How long have I sheltered you? Shen Yinning, if today the one lying dead were me, would you feel this same ache for me? Would you shed tears for me like this?"

Shen Yinning did not answer.

Through tears-blurred vision, she gazed at Lu Ying, her eyes holding three parts resentment, three parts cold detachment. The rest of her emotions were too intricate for Lu Ying to decipher.

Lu Ying grew unwilling to look into her eyes any longer.

He covered her eyes with his large palm, leaning closer, lowering his lips to kiss hers.

Shen Yinning was pressed against the lattice window, her upper body tilting back slightly, the man’s hand covering her eyes while his other hand pinned both of hers high above her head. Rain from the banana leaves behind her trickled down, soaking her peach-pink silk blouse. The dampness crept along her spine, causing the fabric to cling tightly to her skin, outlining her slender translucent curves.

The chilly dampness permeated the space, seeping into her very bones, leaving Shen Yinning trembling from the cold.

Lips and teeth met.

Lu Ying seemed to lose control, his kisses on her lips bordering on violent bites, simultaneously an outlet for his pent-up frustration and a form of punishment.

Shen Yinning’s delicate lashes quivered uncontrollably against his palm, her pale face wet with tears, silently enduring his ferocious kisses.

His breath and lips burned fiercely, and Shen Yinning remained silent as he seized and consumed her, her full weight relying on the window sill, as though she no longer had the strength or determination to fight him.

It was only after a long time that Lu Ying ended the deep kiss.

He wrapped his arm around her slender waist, his lips still brushing hers, as he murmured, "Aside from the silver coins embezzled and bribed, Luo Xibai also secretly moved a portion of the assets—two million taels of snow-patterned silver. Do you know that Great Zhou’s annual tax revenue is only a mere two million taels?"

Shen Yinning remained silent.

Lu Ying fixed his gaze on her eyes. "Did Luo Xibai ever tell you where those two million taels of patterned silver have gone?"