Xiao Yue gaped at him.
"But... but..."
"I was the one who found her and cut her down from the ceiling. She was already cold before I called the others. And look what happened. Someone else took her place, and pretended to be her. I have been watching you, you know."
Chun Ya was not married to Long Zhao Xue, but to 'General Long Zhao Xue', which position was filled by Long Zhao Feng after his brother's demise. And she did not commit suicide. She was killed.
Long Zhao Feng's hand closed around Xiao Yue's neck.
"At first I thought it was a miracle. After a row of disasters, my wife might come back alive. Why else do you think I hang out around you so much? And then..."
The fingers tightened around her neck.
"I thought, maybe this kind of thing does happen. A stray soul occupying her body. That is also good. At least I get to see her alive, although she is not what she used to be. But then..."
Xiao Yue choked. She clawed at Long Zhao Feng's hand desperately.
"Then you just have to be one of them. You fell into my trap. So tell me, will it be wrong if I kill you here, right now?"
Xiao Yue started to feel dizzy. Just before she passed out, Long Zhao Feng released her and she fell to the ground, wheezing for air.
"Well. There is no use for me if you die now. They will just send more and I will have to start from zero. You will instead help me to find the real culprit."
"I-If your brother truly had passed then the one who I met back then... the one who took me to the palace was..."
Long Zhao Feng flashed her his most charming smile.
"It was me of course."
"B-but... you... you said you were my brother-in-law. You... Everyone... everyone said so!"
Long Zhao Xue calmly sat back at the table and observed her.
"Obviously, my brother's death was never publicized. Only a few people know I have long since inherited the position. Else how can we catch the true culprit? Now, the first thing you have to do is to shut your mouth and not reveal this to anyone else. Else I will personally execute everyone in your manor."
A wild glee danced in the cold eyes. He was holding a whole manor hostage against her cooperation.
Rumors quickly spread throughout Long Zhao Xue's vast residence. The Third Madam who always seemed to have given up on her husband, who always busied herself with everything else but schemes to win the general's favor, had shown her hidden side.
She apparently ached for the general so much that the separation ate at her very being. When the general finally came home, never mind that the Second Madam just bore him a son and thus deserved his loving care, Third Madam boldly sneaked into the First Madam's manor - the maids swore they knew nothing about it - and seduced the tired general.
After not being home for so long and missing the touch of women, naturally the general would not resist. They made love passionately for the first time, and in the house of the First Wife too!
The whole night the guards had to hear unending moans coming from the general's bed-chamber as he pampered his virgin wife in bed. When morning came, the blushing Third Wife stepped down from the general's bed wrapped in a quilt, looking a lot like a blooming pink lotus in the morning.
Her clothes had long since been destroyed by the general during the passionate encounter. The general was truly blessed. A newborn baby and three women who thirsted for his love and attention. It had not taken long for Second Madam to fall pregnant after marriage.
Third Madam was just the Second Madam's age. Would General Long's tranquil residence be soon filled with the laughter and crying sound of little children???
Xiao Yue wanted to throw up at anyone who spread the stupid rumors. What blushing? What passionate encounter??? When she stormed out of First Madam's manor with red face, it was due to fury and embarrassment! Long Zhao Xue had pointed out that she could not leave wearing the tight black suit as it would draw suspicion.
Xiao Yue thus could only play the role of a seductive young woman who became the husband's plaything for the whole night. Even the clothes had been ripped to shreds. Did she have the face to borrow clothes from the First Madam? She ended up waiting for Yu Fen to come and bring her some change clothes before she could emerge from the First Madam's manor with barely any self-respect left.
In her manor, though, Xiao Yue was celebrated like a war heroine. A steaming pot of herbal chicken soup was waiting for her, and everyone was just dying to serve Xiao Yue and hear her side of the story.
Unfortunately, Xiao Yue was not in the mood. Yu Fen had bought bags and bags of lotus seeds, so Xiao Yue spent the day grumbling about her unluck and eating the lotus seeds.
In the evening, the maids drew her a flower bath. Xiao Yue steeped into the bath and sighed happily when the warm water tickled her sore muscles. She inhaled the flower fragrance while mulling over her conversation with Long Zhao Feng this morning.
She left the manor the night before with only one goal in mind : kill Long Zhao Xue. After that she would escape, ask to go back to Chun Ya's parents, and then move on with her new life. She had not accomplished that single critical goal. Instead, she came back to a set of unpleasant truths, which she still could not believe but had no reasons not to.
Long Zhao Xue. The original Long Zhao Xue was dead.
Her tribe was somehow involved in his death.
Long Zhao Feng stepped in after his elder brother died, and went to continue pretending as if Long Zhao Xue was still alive to unearth the culprit behind his brother's death.
And... Long Zhao Feng was the one who eliminated the Xi'an Tribe out of revenge.
Chun Ya did not commit suicide.
She was killed.
That Xiao Yue revived in her body afterward... it could not be a coincidence, could it? Xiao Yue knew very well who was responsible for her revival. It was the shaman. If what Long Zhao Feng said was true, then the shaman was the one who orchestrated everything from the beginning. Even after knowing all of this, the shaman was still a person from her tribe. She could not just give her away, could she?