Chapter 132 - The Wish before Death

Shi Qingxue refused directly and didn’t want to have anything to do with Shi Baojin.

“I beg you. Baojin is about to be sentenced to death. Before going, she regrets treating you like that in the past and wants to apologize to you. If you don’t agree, she wouldn’t die with relief.” Shi Baoyou said while sobbing pitifully.

Shi Baoning was about to enter the room. Hearing that, she instantly came up to help Shi Baoyou and wiped her tears carefully.

Meanwhile, she looked at Qingxue disapprovingly. “Qingxue, even if Baojin did something wrong to you, Baoyou is always nice to you. How can you treat her ruthlessly?”

Shi Qingxue was speechless and knew that no matter what happened, the weak would easily win others’ compassion, so she didn’t say anything.

Dong Shuang standing aside was resentful because her lady was bullied by others, especially one of whom was her sister helping an outsider. It was annoying.

She couldn’t help but say angrily, “My Lady, you are not fair. Lady Baoyou made things difficult for Lady Qingxue and asked her to visit Lady Baojin in the prison. Lady Qingxue is unwilling to, and Lady Baoyou cried. How can you blame my master?”

Shi Baoning had no idea why Shi Baoyou came to the Luotong Boudoir, and Qingxue was always aggressive, so she thought by instinct that Shi Baoyou had suffered injustice. And she hadn’t expected it, so she blushed automatically.

She was bashful and embarrassed, so she could do nothing but rebuke, “We are talking. Why did you interrupt as a maid? Did the old maids teach you for nothing?”

Dong Shuang shrank her neck and trembled, too scared to speak a word.

Shi Qingxue couldn’t bear to see that and pulled Dong Shuang to hide behind her, saying indifferently, “Baoning, you can get angry, but why did you vent your anger on a maid?”

Shi Baoning noticed the indifference in Qingxue’s tone. Seeing that her sister helped a maid, she was furious, about to lose her temper, but Baoyou pulled her sleeve. So Shi Baoning controlled herself and asked, “I hear that Baojin wants to see you, right?”

“Hmm.”

Shi Qingxue responded with no emotion and didn’t say more.

Shi Baoning frowned and said with displeasure, “I know you bear a grudge against Baojin, but the dead should be respected. Why do you still bother about her?”

Shi Qingxue smiled, which made the other two think she was about to agree, and then told the truth coldly. “She is not dead.”

Shi Baoning was put in an awkward situation by Qingxue’s noncooperation and thought her dignity as the eldest lady was provoked. So she showed her displeasure. “But you didn’t want to save her. Now she is dying. Are you so cruel and unwilling to make her last wish come true?”

“…Cruel?” Shi Qingxue felt that her heart was stabbed, and it didn’t hurt a lot, but she felt sour and depressed.

She raised her head and looked at Shi Baoning with a complicated expression. She wanted to ask, “Am I a cruel person in your heart?”

But Shi Baoning turned away and avoided seeing her.

Ha!

Shi Qingxue laughed with self-mockery and gave up her plan to defend herself. Anyway, the two in front of her, or everybody in this mansion believed that she was cruel, and it would be useless to say anything.

She was clear that they said Shi Baojin hoped to see her for the last time because they wanted her to get soft-hearted.

“Since you two said that, if I don’t go, Baoyou’s tears and Baoning’s lesson would be wasted.” Shi Qingxue finally agreed.

Shi Baoyou smiled immediately and seemed not to notice the sarcasm in Qingxue’s words, saying, “I am going to tell someone to prepare the carriage. It won’t take long.”

She ran away rapidly and was afraid that Shi Qingxue would regret.

Shi Baoning looked awkward and probably realized that she was not friendly just now, so she explained softly, “I don’t force you to save Baojin, but she wants to see you before she dies, and you have to see her. Otherwise the outsiders would comment on you. I did it for your good…”

“Okay, you don’t need to say more. I understand.” Shi Qingxue interrupted her and smiled. “Baoning, if you have nothing to tell me, please go back to your room.”

Those whose courses were different couldn’t lay plans for one another. She had been objected and criticized a lot from her family today and didn’t have enough energy to talk with Baoning.

Shi Baoning bit her lower lip and didn’t want to go. “Mother told me to keep you company. Let’s go together to see Baojin in the prison, and then you won’t feel uncomfortable.”

Shi Qingxue didn’t care and agreed, walking out of the Luotong Boudoir with Xia Mang.

Dong Shuang wanted to go with them, too, but Qingxue didn’t allow her to.

The maid was straightforward and liked to defend her lady against an injustice, and Qingxue wouldn’t let her maids be bullied.

It was hot in June, but the prison was cool and wet. Anybody standing inside would tremble with fear.

Shi Qingxue felt cold and quivered, silently looking at the untidy person in the room with messy hair, whose face couldn’t be seen clearly.

For a long while, the prison was quiet.

Shi Baoyou found that Qingxue didn’t want to say something first and then called in a low voice, “Baojin, Qingxue came to see you. Just tell her what you want to.”

The person in prison curled up and shrank after being scared by Shi Baoyou’s words. She made sounds of “Hmmm” like little animals and nobody could hear what she was saying.

“What’s wrong with her?” Shi Baoning looked at the person inside in surprise and couldn’t believe that was Shi Baojin who was always arrogant. Why would she make herself so miserable?

Shi Baoyou looked worried and sighed gently. “When I came to see her a few days ago, she could not think clearly. The environment here is poor and she is pregnant. Even if she is sick, she can’t be cured in time. I wanted to tell Doctor Qin to check on her, but the workers in the prison didn’t allow him to. I am afraid that she can’t insist for long.”

While speaking, she shed tears again.

Shi Baoning hurriedly comforted her, “Don’t be sad. I will tell somebody to check on Baojin later and wash her. We can’t let her suffer the humiliation before death.”

Shi Baoning spoke while looking at Qingxue again.

Qingxue pretended not to notice the complex expression in her sister’s eyes and said to Shi Baojin inside indifferently, “You told me to come, and I am here now. If you have something to say, just say it.”

Shi Baojin put her hands on her chest and crouched in the corner, murmuring. She didn’t look at them, nor did she plan to answer.

After waiting for a while, Shi Qingxue said, “If you don’t want to talk to me, I am leaving.”

Nobody knew which of her words irritated Shi Baojin, and the latter pounced on her as if she were full of energy. Shi Qingxue moved backward automatically, but she couldn’t because Shi Baoyou was behind her.

Her arm was grabbed by Shi Baojin, and her clean sleeve was stained. She could sense the overwhelming stink.

“What are you doing? Let me go!”

Shi Qingxue wanted to withdraw her hand, but Shi Baojin seemed to get more power all of a sudden and grasped her wrist tightly, refusing to let her go. She even mumbled, “No. Don’t go. Don’t go…”

Shi Baoning and Shi Baoyou witnessed that and didn’t come to help Qingxue but stopped Xia Mang from pulling Shi Baojin away. “Qingxue, just feel pity for Baojin and talk with her.”

Shi Qingxue was unable to say a word and wanted to curse them.

They told her to pity Shi Baojin, but who would pity her?

Qingxue clenched her fists and restrained her rampage. Staring at the crazy woman with turbid eyes who was bumbling in the room, she said calmly, “Enough. Shi Baojin, I know you are not crazy. Just say whatever you want.”

Shi Baojin was still raving and didn’t respond to her.

“I don’t have time to play dumb with you. If you want to go on, I won’t mind telling a prison guard to separate us.” Shi Qingxue said coldly.

She didn’t believe that Shi Baojin would be crazy. This woman was too selfish and sinister. How could such a person get insane?

It was silent again in the prison. Shi Baoyou couldn’t bear to see that and prepared to talk into Qingxue.

But Shi Baojin suddenly moved. She raised her head and looked at Shi Qingxue tearfully, begging, “Qingxue, my good cousin, I know I did something wrong to you in the past. I know I was wrong, but I don’t want to die. I really don’t want to die. Help me, please? Just once, just save me once. I promise I won’t go against you anymore. Okay?”

Her voice was sad but her words were properly and logically arranged. She wasn’t like the crazy woman in a confused state of mind before.

Shi Baoyou and Shi Baoning looked at each other and noticed the confusion in each other’s eyes, but Shi Baojin cried so sadly and they couldn’t bear to hear that, so they forgot to mind that she played dumb but helped her try to persuade Shi Qingxue.

“Qingxue, my sister has suffered enough. Just forgive her this time.”

“Yes. Just consider us if you don’t care about her. Anyway, we are family. If you insist on taking Baojin’s life, how would Mother keep a foothold in this family in the future?”

“…”

Shi Qingxue almost laughed out of anger because they echoed each other. She had never seen such shameless people even though she had experienced a lot.

She had guessed that they wouldn’t give up begging her to spare Shi Baojin, but Shi Baoning even talked about Dong Hui’s dignity in order to force her to do that. It seemed that if she didn’t agree, she would disrespect her parent and embarrass her mother.

Xia Mang couldn’t bear to see that. When they didn’t pay attention, she patted Shi Baojin’s hands away and pulled Shi Qingxue out of the encircling ring. She stood in front of Qingxue and said seriously, “My Ladies, you are joking. Lady Baojin would be punished by law because she made mistakes, and nobody can change the situation. And Lady Qingxue came to see her just because you requested. Please don’t humiliate yourselves.”

With Xia Mang’s identity, it was not proper for her to speak like that, but she was upright and reasonable, and they did say that before coming. Both Shi Baoyou and Shi Baoning couldn’t be shameless to deny what they had said, and they had to lower their heads silently.

“Since I have seen her and talked with her, I am going.” After coming here, Shi Qingxue didn’t get soft-hearted but felt more disgusted, and she was anxious to leave now.

But as soon as she turned around, Shi Baojin’s shriek came from behind. “Shi Qingxue, are you so heartless and planning to see me die without helping me?”

Shi Qingxue stopped in her tracks and looked back, telling the truth coldly. “Since you sent someone to insult me in the Peace Temple, you are not qualified to say that I am heartless.”

The truth astonished Shi Baoyou and Shi Baoning. Both of them didn’t know such a horrible thing had happened. They went pale and didn’t say anything.

Shi Baojin’s face paled, too, and she sat on the floor, frustrated, looking sad and desperate.

Shi Qingxue was not in the mood to enjoy the scene and turned to leave.

When she took a few steps, she saw a man coming from outside.

The tall and big figure was against the light and his face couldn’t be seen clearly, but Shi Qingxue recognized him at a glance and smiled automatically, even becoming light-footed.

“Mo Junyang.”

Mo Junyang saw her and also smiled, but before his smile spread, the man’s dark pupils shrank suddenly, and he shouted sternly, “Qingxue!”

“My Lady!”

Before Shi Qingxue reacted, she was pushed hard, but she still felt the slight pain which couldn’t be ignored on her neck. Then she fell aside.