Chapter 431: 431. The Little Monk’s Determination

Translator: 549690339

Su Liang hadn’t forgotten Nian Ruxue, but it had been a while since she had heard that name.

Nian Ruxue once had a marriage agreement with Gu Ling, but later it was proven that the so-called marriage agreement was obtained through deception. She deceived Nian Ruting, Nian Jincheng, and used all available resources to climb up the social ladder.

If it were not for Su Liang’s extraordinary return to the capital city to participate in the Military Exam, Nian Ruxue’s deception would have continued. With her unscrupulous nature to achieve her goals, she could have reached a very high position.

However, what she gained through manipulation would ultimately be hollow. The reason why Nian Ruxue failed miserably and lost everything was that she lacked the talent and strength to truly stand on her own.

Her beauty, which she was most proud of, was not only inferior to Su Liang’s, but also hardly worthy of mention in the eyes of truly shrewd men. For example, even Duanmu Chen, who was not the crown prince at that time, had no interest in Nian Ruxue. Instead, he admired ladies like Qin Yujin and Lin Xueqing who had both beauty and talent.

As for Nian Ruxue’s strength in the Military Exam, it was also a deception, making Nian Ruting her puppet.

In Nian Jincheng’s words: Nian Ruxue’s ambition was sky-high, but she had mediocre talent and couldn’t bear hardships. Focusing on taking shortcuts seemed to be her specialty.

With bad intentions and lacking morality and talent, falling down was just a matter of time.

Nian Ruxue, the primary cause of the disaster that befell the Nian Family, disappeared on the day the truth came to light. She had manipulated Nian Ruting to go to prison, nearly ruining Nian Jincheng’s life and career, and others in the Nian Family were also exiled, yet there has been no trace of her since that day.

Su Liang knew that Nian Ruxue must hate her and may even blame her for all her misfortunes. Su Liang became the Martial Arts Champion, shined brilliantly, exposed her deception, and married Gu Ling.

One could say Su Liang had everything Nian Ruxue wanted: fame, power, status, and the best man in the world.

Considering the efforts Nian Ruxue made in disguising herself as Yan Shiba to deceive Su Liang, including hurting herself, Su Liang couldn’t help but admire this woman who now lacked scruples and was willing to suffer.

It was clear from the words Nian Ruxue said to Qi Jun that her desire to kill Su Liang was extremely strong. If it were not for her lack of power, she would have done it a long time ago.

Qi Jun and Ren Dong noticed Su Liang was deep in thought, so they didn’t interrupt her.

It was only when Su Liang picked up her tea that Ren Dong asked, “Master, what should we do with that woman?”

Su Liang drank a few sips of the cooled tea and said, “Ren Dong, you take Min Rou home. Qi Jun, don’t remove your disguise for now. I’m going to talk to Nian Ruxue.”

After finishing the conversation, Su Liang went upstairs. The broken porcelain in the room had been cleaned up, but not discarded. It was placed in a box on the table. It was Gu Ling’s favorite vase, and Su Liang thought that he might want to fix it when he had spare time in the future.

Su Liang took a box off the bookshelf in the room, opened it, and found a set of Gu Ling’s carving knives. Gu Ling had another set he always carried with him. She picked the sharpest-looking one, closed the box, and put it back in its original spot. As soon as she walked out the door, she saw Ji Xiaoshu sticking her head out from the opposite room.

“Mother, Uncle Cheng Yun seems really sad. He’s lying down but not sleeping at all. What should we do?” Ji Xiaoshu tiptoed over and whispered as she held Su Liang’s hand.

“Then you guys continue doing your makeup homework.” Su Liang said softly.

“Huh?” Ji Xiaoshu was dumbfounded as she watched Su Liang walk downstairs. With a small sigh, she went back and told Zhengzheng that their master had a new command—hurry up and finish their makeup homework!

Su Liang went downstairs and saw Qiao Cong talking to Qi Jun, and she already knew what was going on. Nangong Qian was feeding Gu Xiaonuan water nearby.

Qiao Cong stood up and followed Su Liang out.

“Master doesn’t need to accompany me, she can’t do anything to me. I can kill her with just the flick of my finger.” Su Liang said. To be honest, she had been suspicious before, but she couldn’t be sure, so she added a poison to “Yan Shiba’s” medicine that could be triggered at any time, sending her to see the Yama King.

“I won’t show my face, but I’ll watch,” Qiao Cong snorted coldly.

In fact, learning that Pu Cheng was Sheng Yue’s father made Qiao Cong think of his own past blunders. Su Liang was right in saying that people would do anything for their children and grandchildren, even breaking the principles and bottom lines of being a human. Qiao Cong knew that the present and future he had with his grandchildren was purely good luck, and this luck was given by Su Liang. Considering what they had done, it wouldn’t be excessive for Su Liang and Gu Ling to kill them all.

Therefore, Qiao Cong cherished what he had even more, and wanted to make up for his past mistakes, protect Su Liang and her daughter, and this family. For this, he was willing to pay any price.

Su Liang was unaware of Qiao Cong’s thoughts, as they had long reconciled and let the past be the past. She was pondering what to say to Nian Ruxue…

Footsteps sounded in the courtyard, and Nian Ruxue quickly removed her shoes and socks, lay on the bed, and covered herself with a quilt.

Shortly after, a knock on the door sounded, followed by Su Liang’s voice, “It’s me.”

After a while, Nian Ruxue sat up and replied, “Come in, Sister Liang. I just fell asleep.”

Su Liang pushed open the door and entered, while Qiao Cong had already circled to the window.

Nian Ruxue got off the bed, yawned, “Why did you come here? Is there anything wrong?”

Su Liang walked straight to the bedside. The moment Nian Ruxue heard her say “something is wrong”, she was suddenly pushed back down to lie on the bed.

Nian Ruxue’s face turned pale in shock as she saw a silver-bladed sharp knife hanging in front of her! The blade was only half an inch away from her eyes!

Nian Ruxue broke out into a cold sweat and didn’t dare to move. “Sister Liang, what are you doing…”

The next moment, Nian Ruxue saw Su Liang’s lips move, and then she heard three familiar words that struck her like lightning!

“Nian, Ru, Xue.” Su Liang enunciated each word, every one of them like a heavy hammer, fiercely pounding Nian Ruxue’s brain, leaving her mind blank and her face devoid of color.

Before Nian Ruxue could even begin to think about how Su Liang could possibly know it was her, she heard Su Liang voluntarily explain, “The master who came just now was my guard in disguise. When you had Nian Ruting pretend to be you in the Military Exam, and now you’re pretending to be Yan Shiba to be a spy beside me, why didn’t you think that I would use the same method against you? Do you really think your disguise is flawless? Oh no, you panicked today, feeling that you were going to be exposed. You even mistook your own master for someone else. With that alone, I heard you want to kill me? Who gave you the courage and confidence?”

Su Liang’s knife approached Nian Ruxue’s eyes, clearly seeing the reflection of the blade in her eyes. “Now, you should only be thinking about one thing – prove your worth to me. Otherwise, I will first cut off your face that doesn’t belong to you, and then have someone peel your skin alive. Because I’m busy and don’t have the time, but I feel that I must send you off slowly and properly to do justice to your brilliant plan of using kidnapped hostages to threaten me. Within three breaths, give me one reason, or I will blind one of your eyes. Three, two…”

Nian Ruxue turned pale, “Yan Shiba… Yan Shiba is still alive!”

This was indeed one of the questions Su Liang had originally planned to ask. Su Liang guessed that Yan Shiba’s chances of survival were slim, but hearing Nian Ruxue’s words, she felt that it was not impossible for Yan Shiba to be alive. As the saying goes, “A living person has value.” The real Yan Shiba was not suitable to be a spy, but “killing her” and “temporarily sparing her life for future use” were more in line with Su Liang’s judgment of Sheng Yue’s style.

“Useful,” Su Liang’s eyes turned icy. “But it doesn’t reflect your worth. You should persuade me that your life is useful, for example, by keeping you alive, I can make Sheng Yue hand over the real Yan Shiba. Do you have that kind of worth?”

“Yes!” Nian Ruxue blurted out, “Don’t kill me, I’m useful!”

Su Liang sneered, “After so long, seeing you now disappoints me. I thought you were hiding somewhere, biding your time, waiting to strike back and pose a threat to me.”

Nian Ruxue’s face stiffened, Su Liang’s words struck her deepest pain. When she learned that her secret was discovered and fled, she indeed thought that one day she would make a strong comeback, reclaiming what belonged to her and crushing Su Liang underfoot!

But dreams are often grander than reality. Without talent and strength, Nian Ruxue couldn’t find a place to practice her deception, nor an opportunity to improve herself in the years she was missing.

And the result was her present state.

“Tell me, what use are you?” Su Liang coldly asked, “Three breaths time, and I’ve already picked an eye.” As she spoke, the knife in her hand slowly moved from above Nian Ruxue’s right eye to her left eye.

“I…” Nian Ruxue’s face turned ashen, “I’m Sheng Yue’s woman!”

“Really? I don’t believe it.” Su Liang’s face showed ridicule. To be honest, she thought Sheng Yue wouldn’t be interested in Nian Ruxue.

“It’s true… it’s really true!” Nian Ruxue’s expression was desperate, “It was Mo Yan who arranged for me to be with him on Xingluo Island, and he didn’t refuse! I even had a son for him!”

Su Liang was stunned, and put away her knife, sitting down by the bed.

Just as Nian Ruxue was slightly relieved, Su Liang’s hand gripped her neck!

“Tell me your story, starting from the day you disappeared on the Military Exam. If I find you lying once, I will poke your eye out.” Su Liang sneered, “At the moment, I don’t see your true value. Even if what you just said is true, looking at your current state, it’s obvious that Sheng Yue doesn’t care about you and his son isn’t in your stomach.”

Nian Ruxue looked at Su Liang’s icy eyes, and suddenly burst into tears, sobbing, “Su Liang, you must know how hard these years have been for me. It’s not easy for me to be alive, being manipulated by others, arranged by Mo Yan to be Sheng Yue’s woman, to have a child for him. He changed my appearance to this state, even hurting me to deceive you, I had no chance to refuse… In your eyes, I’m worthless, you can kill me with a flick of your finger. But do we really have that deep of a grudge to make you want to kill me? I was wrong back then but I didn’t hurt you. I know you have a kind heart, can’t you let me go? You have saved so many people and helped so many people, why can’t you help me and let me break free from the control and suffering?”

Su Liang’s hand did not withdraw, but neither did it tighten. She looked at Nian Ruxue, her expression calm, “Playing the victim? You’ve been in my house for a while. If you wanted to get free from Sheng Yue’s control and break free from suffering, what were you doing before? He poisoned you, but I could cure it, if you had confessed everything at the beginning, I might’ve let you go. Seeing how excited you were to see Qi Jun pretend to be Sheng Yue today, wanting him to take you away, my house must be the real suffering and I must be the wolf to you.”

Nian Ruxue’s face stiffened, “I… some things are beyond my control, and you know I have always been confused, making the wrong choices in critical moments, but I really didn’t mean to, I swear!”

Su Liang’s expression remained indifferent, “Can you stop talking nonsense? Answer my previous question. You can also choose not to say anything, and I’ll poke your eyes out and throw you in the dungeon to wait for death. What you want to say probably isn’t very useful, but it’ll save me some time.”

Seeing Su Liang raising the knife again, Nian Ruxue’s face changed drastically, “Alright! I’ll tell!”

Su Liang looked at Nian Ruxue, and saw her tear-streaked face suddenly give a cold laugh, “I’m not Sheng Yue’s woman, nor have I given birth to a child for him, but I know where he’s keeping Yan Shiba. As long as you swear to let me go, I’ll tell you where Yan Shiba is! This trade is not a loss for you, right? Unless you don’t care about Yan Shiba at all, but seeing how you’ve taken care of me, I think you still want to save her as soon as possible.”

“Fine.” Su Liang nodded.

Nian Ruxue snorted, “Swear on your daughter, or I won’t believe it.”

At the next moment, the knife in Su Liang’s hand cut across Nian Ruxue’s face, drawing a crimson cross on it.

Nian Ruxue screamed, covering her face, blood seeping through her fingers. She stared at Su Liang, “Don’t you want Yan Shiba’s life anymore?”

“Her life is not in your hands. Since you waver in your words about your relationship with Sheng Yue, how can I be sure when you say Yan Shiba is still alive?” Su Liang said coldly, “Anyway, it’s easy for Sheng Yue to get hostages to threaten me, adding another Yan Shiba. If she’s alive, Sheng Yue would definitely use her. As for you, you can go to die now.”

As the words fell, the sharp knife in Su Liang’s hand stabbed towards Nian Ruxue’s neck.

Nian Ruxue pushed Su Liang away violently and fell to the ground, her expression full of shock and horror, “Don’t kill me, I’ll tell you a secret!”

As Su Liang approached her with the knife, she heard Nian Ruxue’s trembling voice, “Sheng Yue… Sheng Yue’s mother was killed by Mo Yan! I accidentally overheard this, he thought I was under the influence of sedatives, but I woke up early! This must be useful to you! I swear it’s true! Absolutely true!”

Su Liang’s heart stirred. Sheng Yue’s mother, the wife who made Pu Cheng sad enough to become a monk, was harmed by Mo Yan? What can be confirmed is that Nian Ruxue was transformed into Yan Shiba by Sheng Yue himself. From this, it can be inferred that Sheng Yue’s mother, with a high probability, was an unknown Transmigrator, and was discovered by Mo Yan back then, just as Mo Yan had sent people to investigate Gu Ling and Su Liang previously. Sheng Yue’s “Divine Hand” art might have been taught to him by his mother.

Considering what Min Rou said about Sheng Yue’s age and process of getting to Xingluo Island, Su Liang had a bold guess: Did Sheng Yue follow Mo Yan outwardly but actually sought revenge?

Su Liang looked at Nian Ruxue again, “Where is Yan Shiba? If you tell me, I won’t kill you today, and I might consider how to use you later. This is the best condition I can give you, or else you’ll see Yama King within three breaths.”

Nian Ruxue bit her lip, “If I tell you, you really won’t kill me?”

“Don’t test my patience any further.” Su Liang frowned.

“In Liang Country, on Wolong Mountain.” Nian Ruxue stated a place that surprised Su Liang.

“Alright, since you’ve learned to be obedient, now answer my previous question and tell me what happened between your disappearance and appearing in Su Family Village again.” Su Liang sat down once more.

Nian Ruxue’s expression stiffened, and it was apparent she didn’t want to say it, but Su Liang was insistent. It was difficult to weave fabrications into a coherent story that could stand up to scrutiny.

“It’s meaningless for you to fight against me right now.” Nian Ruxue was still trying to stall, “You should hurry and figure out how to deal with Sheng Yue. He may come back tonight.”

“You don’t need to worry about that.” Su Liang shook her head. She had already thought about how to deal with Sheng Yue and Pu Cheng next.

After leaving Ren Dong’s courtyard, Su Liang walked back to Yuanming Pavilion alone, only to see Cheng Yun coming out from inside.

“Su Liang.” Cheng Yun spoke, his voice somewhat hoarse, and he no longer called her Su benefactor.

“How are you?” Su Liang asked.

Cheng Yun shook his head, “I am fine. But there is something I need to tell you.”

Su Liang nodded slightly, “Go ahead.”

Cheng Yun’s eyes suddenly became sharp, “Since that person is my master, you said he cares about me. If he takes another hostage to threaten you again, don’t show yourself. If he doesn’t back down, I’ll end my own life!”