I am invincible, that's why I lie down. You're using your entire clan to rebel?

Chapter 227 Even the most high-ranking person can fall one day!

Qin Mu looked at her like this and smiled gently.

He didn't ask any further questions.

He simply let go and patted the spot beside him.

"Sit down," he said.

Jiang Qingxue sat down as instructed.

He was standing next to Qin Mu, no more than a foot away.

She could feel his body temperature, smell his scent, and sense his gentle, smiling gaze.

Her heart was still beating very fast.

So fast it almost seemed to burst out of my chest.

Seeing her nervous expression, Qin Mu's smile deepened.

He didn't say anything more, but simply turned his gaze back to the two unfamiliar figures.

Hongjie and Xiaoyu.

Jiang Qingxue followed his gaze and then noticed the two women.

A woman dressed in a dark red dress, her face as pale as paper, her right wrist wrapped in thick gauze, was staring at her with a deep-seated hatred.

That gaze was terrifying, as cold and sinister as a venomous snake, causing Jiang Qingxue to instinctively shrink back.

Another girl, dressed in a light blue cloth dress with rosy cheeks, was looking around with a curious and awe-inspiring gaze.

A complex mix of emotions welled up in Jiang Qingxue's heart.

Who are these two women?

Where did Qin Mu go in the past five days?

Why did we bring them back?

Why did that woman in red look at her like that?

Countless questions churned in my mind, but I dared not ask them aloud.

She simply sat quietly beside Qin Mu, feeling the warmth emanating from him and the indescribable complex emotions within her.

Qin Mu did not explain.

He simply leaned back in his chair, his gaze sweeping over the few people in the side room.

Finally, it fell on Sister Hong.

"Little Red," he said, his voice soft yet carrying an undeniable authority, "you may begin."

Sister Hong shuddered, a glint of excitement flashing in her eyes, and walked toward a corner of the main hall.

Jiang Qingxue's gaze followed Hong Jie's figure, watching the woman in the dark red dress walk towards the deepest corner of the side hall.

The place was dimly lit, with only a small window letting in a sliver of afternoon sunlight, casting a thin, elongated patch of light on the floor.

At first, Jiang Qingxue saw nothing.

But when Sister Hong walked up to the spot of light and stepped aside—

Her pupils suddenly contracted.

There was a person in the corner.

He was hanging there.

The man's hands were tied behind his back, and he was suspended high up with a thick hemp rope, his entire body weight hanging on his shoulders.

My toes could barely touch the ground, but I couldn't get any leverage, and my feet could only sway slightly with my breathing.

Her long, black hair fell down, covering most of her face.

Her dress was tattered and torn, the pale white fabric riddled with tears, revealing bruised and bloodied skin underneath.

The crisscrossing scars, some new and some old, were a shocking sight in the dim light.

Jiang Qingxue's heart skipped a beat.

This person...

Why does it look so familiar?

She frowned slightly, trying hard to make out the figure.

Her figure was slender and graceful, and even though she was hanging there in such a disheveled state, her original charm was still evident.

That aura—

Even now, covered in wounds and with disheveled hair, he still possesses an indescribable, innate nobility.

That's the kind of aura that only women who grow up in the center of power and look down on everyone else have.

Jiang Qingxue's brows furrowed more and more tightly.

Where has she seen this person before?

Was it at a palace banquet? Or somewhere in the Imperial Garden?

She tried hard to recall, but her mind was a complete mess.

Just then, the man seemed to sense her gaze.

He slowly raised his head.

Long, disheveled hair slid down the side of her face, revealing that—

Jiang Qingxue's breath caught in her throat for a moment.

That face.

Even though her face was swollen and red, with dried blood still clinging to the corners of her mouth, and even though her deep purple phoenix eyes were filled with exhaustion and emptiness—

She recognized her too.

That was Empress Li Yang.

She was the Empress of Liyang, who stood opposite Qin Mu from afar and whose imposing presence rivaled his at the grand wedding ceremony in the imperial city a few days ago.

She was the Empress of Liyang, sitting in her gilded imperial carriage, with beaded curtains hanging down, exuding majesty.

It was the Empress Li Yang, whom she felt inferior and could never reach, even after just one glance from afar.

But now, he's hanging here.

His hands were tied behind his back, his clothes were tattered, and his body was covered in wounds.

Those phoenix eyes, once as deep as a frozen pool, enough to inspire awe in anyone, now held only an empty blankness, and a trace of something she had never seen before—

fear.

A loud "boom" exploded in Jiang Qingxue's mind.

She stood there blankly, her eyes wide open, her mouth slightly agape, but no sound came out.

Empress Liyang.

Empress Li Yang!

How did I get here?!

How could it have turned out like this?!

That woman whose every stomp shook the entire Eastern Continent, that legendary empress who purged eight princes in five years and whose power shook the world, that woman who made countless heroes bow down in submission—

Right now, right in front of her, like a captured prey, it was hanging in this dim corner.

Jiang Qingxue's mind went blank.

She even forgot to breathe.

It wasn't until a suffocating, sharp pain shot through her chest that she snapped back to reality, gasping for breath.

Her gaze involuntarily swept over the wounds on Zhao Qingxue's body.

Those red, swollen palm prints.

Those torn dresses.

Those bruises and bloodstains.

And those small, thin old shoes on his feet, squeezing his toes until they turned white, were even more glaring compared to his disheveled appearance.

These injuries...

How did it come about?

Who hit him?

Countless images flashed through Jiang Qingxue's mind, but she dared not think any further.

And at that very moment—

Sister Hong moved.

She walked up to Zhao Qingxue and stopped.

With his intact left hand, he grabbed Zhao Qingxue's hair and pulled it back forcefully!

Zhao Qingxue was forced to tilt her head back, revealing her swollen face.

Those deep purple phoenix eyes met Jiang Qingxue's gaze.

The moment their eyes met, a complex emotion flashed in Zhao Qingxue's eyes.

The emotions were too complex.

I was surprised.

She clearly hadn't expected to see Jiang Qingxue here.

There was self-deprecation.

A faint, sorrowful smile appeared on Zhao Qingxue's lips.

There is also a deep, almost resigned sorrow—

Just a few days ago, she was still in the Liyang Imperial Palace, peering through the beaded curtain at the woman who had been forcibly taken as a concubine.

She remembered thinking at the time: This woman's fate was tragic; she was sent into the deep palace as a pawn, and from then on, she became Qin Mu's plaything.

But at this moment, looking at Jiang Qingxue's neat dress, her unblemished face, and her still clear eyes—

Zhao Qingxue suddenly felt extremely ironic.

She thought the other person was miserable.

Unexpectedly, in just a few days, she became a million times more miserable than the other person.

At least--

Jiang Qingxue still has dignity.

And dignity.

They still look human.

And she—

Zhao Qingxue lowered her eyes.

I don't want to watch anymore.

Sister Hong noticed her movements and gave a sinister laugh.

"What?" Her voice was sharp and cutting. "Don't want to watch? Afraid of being embarrassed?"

She pulled hard, causing Zhao Qingxue's head to tilt even further back.

"Then watch closely!"

Look at yourself now!

"Look at you, Empress Li Yang, what do you look like now!"

She raised her left hand and pointed at Jiang Qingxue.

"Look at other people!"

"Dressed impeccably, sit beside His Majesty!"

"Look at you again!"

She tugged hard at Zhao Qingxue's hair.

"Junk!"

"A prisoner!"

"Not even as good as a dog!"

Every word was like a knife, piercing Zhao Qingxue's heart.

Her body trembled slightly, but she kept her eyes tightly closed and refused to open them.

Hongjie was angered by her silence.

She loosened her hair and raised her hand—

"Snapped!"

He slapped Zhao Qingxue hard across the face.

The force was so great that Zhao Qingxue's head snapped to one side, and a trickle of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth again.

But she didn't call out, she didn't shout.

He simply turned his head back slowly.

His eyes were still closed.

Seeing her like this, Sister Hong was so angry that she trembled all over.

"OK!"

"You're good!"

She took two steps back and glanced around.

Finally, it landed on the thick wooden stick in the corner.

That was used to prop up the door before, and now it's leaning against the wall.

Sister Hong walked over and grabbed the wooden stick.

The stick was heavy, and she struggled to hold it with one hand, but her face was contorted with excited ferocity.

She walked back to Zhao Qingxue and raised the wooden stick—

"Snapped!"

The wooden stick slammed down hard on Zhao Qingxue's calf!

A dull thud was particularly clear in the quiet side hall.

Zhao Qingxue's body arched suddenly, and a suppressed, almost inaudible groan escaped her throat.

Those tightly closed eyes finally opened.

It's not because of pain.

Rather, it's because—

The pain was so intense that her body reacted instinctively.

A bluish-purple bruise quickly appeared on his calf.

Sister Hong looked at the wound, a satisfied glint in her eyes.

She raised the wooden stick again—

"Snapped!"

Another one!

This time it hit my thigh.

"Snapped!"

The third time!

It hit my side.

The wooden stick struck Zhao Qingxue hard, again and again.

Each fall left a shocking purplish-blue mark on her snow-white skin.

Zhao Qingxue's body was trembling violently, and cold sweat poured down her forehead.

She bit her lip hard, trying not to make a sound.

But those muffled groans still leaked out from between his teeth, one after another.

Jiang Qingxue stood frozen in place, watching this scene unfold.

Her eyes widened in disbelief, her pupils filled with shock.

What are they doing?

What are they doing?!

That woman—

That woman in red—

She's attacking Empress Li Yang?!

Hit it with a wooden stick?!

Jiang Qingxue's fingers clenched tightly inside her sleeve.

My fingernails dug deep into my palm, sending a sharp pain through me.

But that pain was nothing compared to the turbulent waves surging in her heart.

She looked at Zhao Qingxue's swollen face, at the newly added wounds, and at the pride in those deep purple phoenix eyes that was crumbling bit by bit—

She suddenly remembered the grand wedding ceremony in the imperial city a few days ago.

At that time, she sat on the phoenix throne, looking at the woman sitting in the VIP seat through the red silk and golden candles of the hall.

Zhao Qingxue wore a black dress with gold phoenix patterns and a nine-phoenix crown. The pearl and jade tassels covered most of her face, but could not hide her innate, domineering aura.

She simply sat there, doing nothing, yet the entire hall of guests involuntarily held their breath.

At that time, Jiang Qingxue thought: This is what an emperor should be like.

This is the true, supreme, and inviolable existence.

But at this moment—

That being was right in front of her.

He was hanging.

He was being hit.

They were being humiliated.

Like a captured prey.

Jiang Qingxue's mind was in complete chaos.

She didn't know what was going on.

I don't know why Empress Li Yang is here.

She didn't know why Qin Mu treated her this way.

I don't know who that woman in red is, or what gives her the right to hit an emperor like that.

All she knew was—

The scene before her completely overturned her understanding of the world.

It turns out that even the most high-ranking person can fall one day.

It turns out that even the most inviolable existence can be trampled upon one day.

turn out to be--

Her long-standing fear, humiliation, and despair paled in comparison to Zhao Qingxue's current predicament.

This realization stirred up a complex and indescribable emotion within her.

There was shock.

There is fear.

There was something strange about it, something that made her feel ashamed—

Fortunately.

Fortunately, she is not the Empress of Liyang.

Fortunately, she was still dressed neatly and sitting next to Qin Mu.

Fortunately, she hasn't fallen to that level yet.

Jiang Qingxue abruptly lowered her eyes, unable to look any longer.

She was afraid that if she continued watching, she would start trembling uncontrollably.

I can't help it—

An emotion that shouldn't exist arises.

But just then—

A voice rang in her ear.

Gentle, languid, with a hint of a meaningful smile.

"Shocking, aren't you?"