naaapseattle Chapter 366 - 214: Third Lady Liu (Part 2)
Chapter 366 - 214: Third Lady Liu (Part 2)
"His life is in my hands. If you do not comply, I will cut him down."
His words were not a pretense; his eyes held sincerity.
Liu Sanniang shouted angrily, vowing to let everyone see Shen Juke’s true face.
She added that even highly skilled individuals from the Blazing Hall were present today, and once Shen Juke’s actions were exposed, the revered Hero Jing Lan would become a laughingstock.
Listening to this, Shen Juke became even more arrogant:
"Alright, as you wish, just wait."
After speaking, he turned to leave, and Liu Sanniang thought she had startled him into retreat, so she hurried forward, hoping to revive her husband.
However, Young Master Chen had fallen victim to Shen Juke’s tricks, and Liu Sanniang, being a frail woman, was powerless to awaken him.
Her husband remained unconscious, while sounds of killing and shouting erupted outside the door.
By the time Liu Sanniang came to her senses and pushed open the door, the entire Chen Family had been engulfed in a sea of flames.
Driven insane, Shen Juke had actually committed murder in the dead of night. The poor Chen Family was merely a family of merchants; how could they withstand such skilled fighters?
In one night, Shen Juke exterminated the entire Chen Family.
Even the experts from the Blazing Hall perished that night.
Gazing at the raging fire, Liu Sanniang saw Shen Juke killing freely and went mad.
She had believed she married the husband of her dreams, and that her future would be filled with happiness and contentment... How could she have imagined that this fleeting glance would bring disaster upon the Chen Family?
She knelt, begging Shen Juke to stop killing...
But Shen Juke said that since he had done it, he must do it thoroughly.
How could he stop halfway?
Laughing, he told her:
"Murder is too bloody; a pure and innocent lady like you should not be tainted by such earthly tragedies."
Afterward, Liu Sanniang was knocked unconscious by a point of his finger.
When she awoke again, she was no longer in the Chen Family.
Later, she learned... that the Chen Family was burned to the ground that night.
During those days, she did not see Shen Juke.
She only knew he was injured.
At first, she thought he was wounded during his frenzy by the experts from the Blazing Hall. Later, she learned he had deliberately injured himself.
And he had framed others for the eradication of the Chen Family.
Many guests at the banquet claimed they saw a mad monk wreak havoc in the Chen Family.
The experts from the Blazing Hall were killed by this monk.
Even Hero Jing Lan was wounded by that monk...
In the end, the experts from the Blazing Hall who investigated the incident could only pin the crime on a demon who had wreaked havoc in South Ridge for years.
The demon’s name was... Ghost Lamp Wuchen.
As these words were spoken, the three people who felt the gossip was quite unsavory were stunned.
Wuchen’s identity was hidden from others but not from Gentle.
Gentle glanced at him with a peculiar expression, while Wuchen furrowed his brow and remained silent.
Liu Sanniang did not notice the unusual expressions of the three and continued:
"When I saw Shen Juke, it was already ten days later.
"He found me and said nothing, taking me to see my husband...
"My husband was imprisoned in an underground cell, bound to a rack, unconscious when I saw him.
"His body covered in blood, wounds countless.
"It was intentional, letting me see my husband in such a state, making me realize I could not escape his grasp.
"He told me I could refuse.
"But every time I refused him, he would come for my husband.
"Venting his frustrations from rejection on my husband..."
As Liu Sanniang spoke to this point, a bitter smile appeared at her lips, a smile full of sorrow and pity.
Shen Juke promised her that if only she would follow him.
Ten years, just ten years!
After ten years, he would grant her freedom.
Otherwise, her husband would die, and her family would follow the fate of the Chen Family.
Liu Sanniang agreed... she was just a weak woman, often with no room for choice.
If she could use her own body to save the one she loved, she was willing.
But she made a demand that her husband must be freed.
She would follow him for ten years, severing this relationship so he wouldn’t lose his freedom after losing all his relations.
Shen Juke agreed, as Young Master Chen had been in and out of consciousness mostly these ten days, rarely awake, never even seeing the true face of this great enemy.
But he wanted to cut off some thoughts, making Liu Sanniang write a farewell letter to Young Master Chen.
Stating that the Chen Family had been annihilated, and Young Master Chen was no longer worthy of her.
Shen Juke had saved her in crisis, so she was willing to offer herself to him.
Urging Young Master Chen to abandon deluded hopes and to never meet again.
The day Young Master Chen left, Liu Sanniang, wrapped in Shen Juke’s arms, watched him step by step, his silhouette desolate as he walked out the Shen Family’s door.
That day, Liu Sanniang’s heart broke into pieces, and she fainted, vomiting blood.
Afterwards, she indeed stayed beside Shen Juke for a full ten years.
Letting him take whatever he wanted... except in those ten years, she bore no children.
When the ten-year term arrived, she then asked to leave the mansion.
That day, Shen Juke set aside his aristocratic demeanor, pleading bitterly, hoping that for the sake of ten years of emotion she would give him a chance and not abandon him.
But Liu Sanniang’s heart was as firm as iron, unmoved.
Regarding Shen Juke’s claims of deep affection, she scornfully dismissed them.
She stated if not for his threat on Young Master Chen’s life, there would never have been these ten years between them.
Ten years had passed, Young Master Chen should already be married with children.
If Shen Juke was unwilling to honor his promise, then he might as well kill her.
Only when Liu Sanniang took out a dagger to her throat, Shen Juke eventually sighed and let her go.
Walking out of Shen’s house, Liu Sanniang felt as if a lifetime had passed, she hazily made her way to the old Chen Family site.
A new house had long been built there, and she stood crying at the gate, reflecting on ten years of experiences, feeling utterly exhausted.
She probably should have died a long time ago...
That night, it shouldn’t have been the Chen Family’s demise but hers, Liu Sanniang.
It was she who caused her husband’s family’s demise.
After wiping away the tears on her cheeks, she returned to her family’s home, intending to bid farewell to her parents, then end her own life.
The Liu family parents were in relatively good condition.
Shen Juke was ruthless, but he especially cared for Liu Sanniang and her family.
However, upon meeting her parents, she noticed their eyes seemed to hold many concerns.
But when she questioned them, they kept hemming and hawing, unable to say anything conclusive.
Finally, pressured by her insistence, the elder couple revealed that not long after Young Master Chen left the Shen Family, he somehow learned the truth about the Chen Family’s demise.
He begged many people, including the Blazing Hall, but due to the ironclad evidence Shen Juke forged back then, his pleas had become a joke.
Multiple times, he attempted to break into the Shen Family to take Liu Sanniang away but was beaten half to death every time by the Shen family’s servants, ultimately thrown out the door.
The last time he visited Liu family’s elderly couple, he left a letter.
Instructing the elders, if Liu Sanniang didn’t return after ten years, to destroy the letter.
If... she came back, to give her the letter.
The old couple initially wanted to avoid unnecessary trouble, but seeing their daughter’s appearance, as if not long to live, they eventually handed over the letter.
Liu Sanniang treasured it, not until she returned to her room did she look at the letter.
The content was brief, merely telling Liu Sanniang...
None of this was her fault.
Her natural beauty wasn’t to blame.
Being coveted by others wasn’t to blame.
To blame was the person’s cruelty and viciousness.
He knew the farewell letter was false, those cruel, heartless words weren’t Liu Sanniang’s true intentions.
He said that having loved Liu Sanniang in this life, being fortunate enough to marry her... no regrets!
Liu Sanniang clutched the letter, wailing in grief, frantically pursuing the whereabouts of Young Master Chen.
She went searching, disregarding everything.
Her makeup was smeared from tears, hairpins fallen, shoes lost in her haste...
But none of that mattered.
She ran wildly, seemingly seeing Young Master Chen, aged ten years, smiling at her.
Gently saying: during these ten years, you suffered.
But when she arrived, she did not see the person who haunted her dreams.
She saw only a solitary grave, sitting by the lakeside, letting leaves fall and weeds grow.
The inscription on the tombstone had been faded by rain but could still be seen, reading: the tomb of Chen Sheng!