Nightfall

The Death of Censor Zhang Yiqi

After a while, Ning Que stopped pressing. He removed the towel and cautiously examined the back of Zhang Yiqi’s head. Pushing the hair of that spot aside with his fingers, he noticed that the wound created by the rusty nail had already shrunken and the remaining blood had also solidified. It should be difficult for the coroner to discover it without the help of lighting.

He lowered his head and looked at the towel in his hands. There was a patch of the bloodstain, which was about the size of a copper coin, in the middle of the snow-white towel. Part of it had already turned dark, like a wilted wintersweet flower.

Amazingly, Zhang Yiqi did not die immediately. Instead, he was in pain as he continuously trembled on the small bed. He wanted to shout out in pain, but his voice was hoarse and powerless. He rolled his eyes upward, revealing a large part of his sclera, which looked extremely horrifying.

He could feel an intense pain at the back of his head, thinking that Ning Que had used a baton to strike him on his head. He was unaware of the truth. Should he know that a nail was pierced into his head, he would definitely be frightened to death.

“You should know that if you work for a person, you should be prepared to die for that person. However… If you can now run to your horse carriage by yourself, I might be able to spare your life.”

With these words, Ning Que loosened the towels tied to his limbs and threw them into the bucket at his side. He then disappeared into the night, where he had just arrived.

When a person was near death, any words he heard at that time would be his last hope. Hence, the person would subconsciously follow what he was told to do. Furthermore, the censor was already in great pain and fear. He was unable to make any judgment or thinking. Should he have any rational thinking remaining, it would just be his natural reaction to the situation: Regardless of whether the merciless lad would spare his life, he must run to his horse carriage to be safe.

Ning Que stood in the shadow of the bamboos, not far away from the side door, and observed. It took longer than he thought as he slightly frowned.

Just as he was worrying, he noticed the censor Zhang Yiqi clumsy and hurriedly ran out of the side door. Instead of being half naked, he had already worn his clothes as he stumbled out. His eyes were already emptied. He opened his mouth and tried hard to shout but no sound was heard. He looked like a drunkard, or worse, like a dying fish yearning for water.

The attendant standing by the side of the horse carriage did not notice the unusual behaviors of the censor. He looked anxious as he exclaimed. “Master, I heard that madam overheard some reliable news and know that you’re here. She has brought a group of women and is on her way here now. Let’s hurry up and leave!”

Zhang Yiqi dashed forward with a “keke” sound from his mouth. His legs were wobbly. Before he could reach his horse carriage, he lost control of his body and fell flat onto the ground. He appeared despair as he stretched out his trembling hand, hoping to grab his attendant’s clothes. His face then turned pale as his body cramped and twitched in an ugly state.

Perhaps it was due to his scary facial expression, the horse became frightened and after a loud howling noise, the carriage unexpectedly broke apart!

Like a lego, the carriage was broken apart into pieces as they fell and stacked into a mountain on top of Zhang Yiqi.

With dust in the air, the few attendants and bodyguards stood like fools beside the broken carriage. They stared blankly at their master, whose face was covered with blood and was no longer breathing. They had no idea what had happened.