She thought for a long while and seemingly feeling tired again she laid back down “It seemed that the crime I committed was not a small one. Judging by the look in your eyes, you really want to kill me. In that case, we don’t have to waste time dealing with one another. I am very tired. Even if you are not planning to feed me, you should let me get a good sleep before I die.”
“Either you intend to sleep forever, or — answer me.” Jin Siyu roughly tilted her chin up and forced her to turn to take a good look at the torture tools.
The woman’s gaze fell on the tools that are full of sharp teeth and hooks, let out a hopeless smile, and said with her head inclined to one side, seemingly thinking as she spoke “Yes, I didn’t lose my memory. I lied to you just now. My name is Wang Shao Yao, um…I am your enemy. I approached you while disguised as a man, I wanted to kill you for revenge but failed and was captured by you. That’s it.”
“What were our grievances?”
“You are a bully, especially keen on oppressing the good and the weak. You would forcefully take girls and seize people’s land.” The woman spoke in all seriousness, thinking as she spoke “You saw that my ancestral home was on good land, and wanted to take it and make it your own ancestral home. You killed my dad by pushing him into the river…um, you also forced my mother into committing suicide by hanging herself…”
“Enough!” Angry and amused at the same time, Jin Siyu finally stopped her nonsense.
The woman stopped, sighed, and stopped moving after holding a hand to her head again.
*CLANK!*
A pile of hideous torture instruments was thrown in front of her.
“Not torturing you is giving you a chance. Since you don’t appreciate the kindness and insist on spouting nonsense then you can’t blame me for being ruthless.” Jin Siyu said with a cold smile, “Here are 18 types of torture tools. Whichever one you put on will make you sleep in a painful slumber forever…choose one for yourself.”
The woman raised her head, looked over the blood-stained torture instruments one by one, and said after a long moment “Since a prince came personally to interrogate me, then that means I must be a felon who committed something really bad. Felons like that should be treated accordingly, such as poison wine or hanging rope.”
“You want to die?” Jin Siyu’s gaze turned even colder.
“I just don’t want to be tortured to death.” The woman smiled, “I don’t have the answers to your questions but you are determined to get me to answer them. I will be tortured if I can’t answer. I will still be tortured if my answers are wrong. I know the result will be the same so why struggle?”
Jin Siyu fell silent, he is beginning to think this woman who won’t respond to enticement or threat is going to be kinda troublesome.
His gaze moving over the scar on her forehead again, a hint of puzzlement flashed across Jin Siyu’s eyes. The female physician who had checked on her previously did say that the blow to her head was indeed severe and it was possible that the blow would cause some damage. Moreover, the female physician also said that there is poison in the woman’s body, along with some sort of sickness. The woman’s internal vein network is in such a mess that it was impossible to determine what’s wrong with her. (In these novels, all fighters have internal energy, all internal energy flow through a person’s veins = vein network. The stronger a person’s internal energy is the wider (or free flowing) a person’s vein network would be. Conversely, if something goes wrong with a person’s internal energy then their vein network will end up getting blocked or messed up.)
He himself had also personally taken her pause and was indeed unable to figure out the mess of it. But he did discover that the internal energy that was once in her body have all disappeared.
In other words, her martial arts has been completely destroyed.
It would be very difficult for a strong and highly skilled female fighter to suppress the overwhelming anger and despair that would come when she wakes up to find her martial arts completely gone. Yet, she doesn’t seem to care, as if she really doesn’t remember that she was once a highly skilled fighter.
“Your Highness.” Sensing his hesitation, the leader of his guard popped out of the darkness, “Under “Three Wood Torture”, there are no questions that won’t be answered…”
Jin Siyu’s eyes swept over the torture instruments on the ground. Some could scald a person’s skin, some could separate a backbone from its body, some could tear off the scalp bit by bit, some could snap every joint in the body one by one…
The sight of the torture instruments made him pursed his lips. He didn’t think anything of them before but looking at these torture instruments today, he found them extra hideous.
Gazing past the torture instruments to the thin fragile body seemingly floating on the straw pile, Jin Siyu can’t help but feel like the woman’s figure looked more like that of a youth whose thin back and protruding joints are like a pair of thin-winged butterflies, so fragile that even the weight of his gaze would be too unbearable.
The fingers under his wide sleeve curled up slightly, loosened. Loosened, then curled up again.
After several moments of internal struggle, he finally pointed at the smallest, finger-piercing instrument of torture and said “This one.”
The guard picked up the torture instrument and walked over. Looking at the row of long needles, the woman smiled wryly and said “I really wish now that I could list my family history back eight generations.” (That’s a way of saying that someone is telling you every little detail about their background.)
“I wish that too.” Jin Siyu replied without emotion, “Don’t think you have to suffer certain death. You are just a woman. Perhaps you were forced. If I am willing, it would be easy to save your life. What would be bad is for you not to know how to act in your own best interest and ended up sealing your own death sentence.”
“I want to say I was forced…but you probably won’t believe it.” The woman smiled forlornly, obediently held out her fingers then laid down, unmoving.
The fingers resting on the straw had thin calluses at the knuckles but there were still long and elegant. Even the soldier who was administering the torture felt that it’s a shame to pierce such beautiful fingers with long needles.
Also showing an expression of regret, the woman held her fingers in front of her eyes and peered at them while muttering “I am sorry, I have treated you badly. From now on, we will say goodbye to perfection…”
Jin Siyu turned his back to her.
The light from the lamp projected the black shadows of the torture execution onto the mottled wall. The movements were delicate and morose, slow and sullen with a cold intensity. The vague scent of blood permeated the air. Jin Siyu remained expressionless as he carefully discerned the smell in the air.
While his face remained impassive yet there was a breath caught in his throat, waiting for a sound behind him. He didn’t go so far as to expect the woman that is delicate looking but tough on the inside would cry and beg for mercy. Yet he didn’t know what else he was really waiting for. In the end, there was no sound at all. Quiet all around other than an almost imaginary sigh.
The sigh seemed to be far away, filled with a sense of relief and something else that he can’t figure out. Then he heard the guard’s report “Your Highness, she passed out.”
Jin Siyu turned around, the woman had fallen on the straw pile, her eyes tightly closed, her forehead glistening with sweat reflecting in the lamp light.
Jin Siyu’s gaze slowly moved down but quickly stopped and averted his eyes when he reached the edge of her sleeve.
In the darkness, another figure walked out slowly and bowed to Jin Siyu, “Your Highness, this woman is a bit strange. Was she really turned into a fool by that blow?”
Jin Siyu smiled, “We will have to see. If we can’t get our answers today, then we will ask tomorrow. If we can’t get our answers tomorrow, then we will ask the day after that. The answer will come eventually.”
“I don’t think Your Highness has to waste the effort.” The person smiled, “After all, she is a woman. She has lost her fighting ability, her hands are destroyed, what else can she do now? If Your Highness doesn’t mind, I think she should just be put into the Red Tent.”
Rent Tent, meaning the military prostitutes in the army.
“Alright.” Without another word, Jin Siyu gets ready to give his orders according to the man’s suggestion.
Surprisingly it was the same man who then hastily jump in to stop Jin Siyu, “Your Highness, I reconsidered and this woman’s identity is still unknown. Who knows what trouble she could cause if we put her in such a place. It is better to trouble Your Highness to continue to interrogate her.”
“Interrogate what?” Jin Siyu raised an eyebrow, seemingly impatient, “After killing so many of our Da Yue’s men, it wouldn’t be too much to give her death by a thousand cuts. I think there is no need to ask more, might as well just drag her out and kill her.”
“There is some strangeness to this woman’s identity.” The man laughs “If it is really amnesia, perhaps her memory could be recovered with the aid of medication. She might be someone important in Tian Sheng who knows of important military intelligence so it would be a pity to kill her right now.”
Jin Siyu pondered for a moment before agreeing reluctantly “We will detain her for the time being to figure out her identity first.”
The person excused himself with a smile. Jin Siyu watched his retreating figure, his eyes flickering with some emotions– This is His Majesty’s newly appointed military advisor. Military advisor as in another name for army supervisor. After this defeat, he might still be enjoying the same royal favor on the surface, but only he knows that His Majesty’s trust in him has greatly diminished.
Thinking of the battle at Baitou cliff, a dark expression flashed in his eyes. That Wei Zhi who was rumored to only be 17 years old, actually dared to attack his main camp with mere three hundred death guards and caused the lifetime of success he has built to crumple in one shot!
It is said during the chaotic fighting of that night Wei Zhi was killed by stray arrows. He couldn’t find him among the countless corpses– all the corpses were chopped into meat paste by Da Yue soldiers venting their hatred so it was impossible to discern the corpses’ identities. In the end, to save some face among the people, he had found two heads and hung them up on the city gate. Even if they suffered a horrible defeat but at least the enemy’s general was killed. It at least helped him retain the military power he had.
Jin Siyu stood in silence. Under the wide sleeves, his figures curled up so tightly that the knuckles made crackling sounds in the silence.
Wei Zhi!
You better be really dead!
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I don’t remember the wei zhi getting to tired in the drama? Did they leave it out? Oh man- I hope her hands aren’t toast forever
In the drama, it was not Wei Zhi who attacked Da Yue but queen Shunyi. FZW was never tortured, she lost her memory due to poison that Jin Siyu administered. NY was there almost immediately to rescue her. My question is FZW truly lost her memory or it was only a survival strategy? She seems to answer everything with a cold calculating logic?
I vote amnesia. But I’m really wondering when she will get her powers back. Can the doctors simply unblock the acupuncture points and open back up her internal energy?