Chapter 11: She Plays the Villain, He Plays the Hero

“You call me vicious? Then tell me, General Li, if I were to hack off your arms and legs and send you home as a human stick, would that be better? Would that finally be worthy of the ‘viciousness’ you speak of?” Ye Zhenghuang took a step forward.

This step felt like a death sentence.

Li Hao shook his head frantically, wanting to retreat in fear, but he had not a shred of strength left in his body and couldn't even lift his feet.

“Sigh, what a pity. You are in the prime of your life, yet from now on, you will be a general without arms or legs. I recall you are already married? And you have two concubines, right? I wonder, once your wife and concubines see you in this state, will they despise you? Will they still be willing to fight and bicker all day just to bear your children?” Ye Zhenghuang said, her tone filled with feigned pity that masked a hidden threat.

This tone of regret was far more biting than when Li Hao had lamented that the two of them would be left to rot in the wilderness.

But the next moment, her expression shifted.

“Or perhaps you’d like to tell me who gave you the order to kill us both? If you tell me, I’ll spare you. If you don’t…” Ye Zhenghuang’s face turned cold, “It just so happens that the blade in my hand is hungry and impatient!”

As she spoke, Ye Zhenghuang didn't give Li Hao any time to think, and immediately swung her blade down!

“Don’t, don’t! It was Zhang Zhiqiue! It was Young Master Zhang Zhiqiue who ordered me to kill the Princess and the Prince! I was just following orders, it really has nothing to do with me!”

Li Hao’s psychological defenses completely collapsed, and he wailed, snot and tears streaming down his face.

The blade in Ye Zhenghuang’s hand stopped abruptly. Soon, she searched her memories for information regarding Zhang Zhiqiue.

“Zhang Zhiqiue? Hmph, don’t try to fob me off! Zhang Zhiqiue is merely a merchant, yet you are a military general. How could a merchant command a general?!”

Ye Zhenghuang gritted her teeth, the blade in her hand shifting as if it might strike at any moment.

“Since you don’t want to tell the truth, I might as well let this blade fall!”

Li Hao felt his heart racing, tightening and loosening in turns. Seeing the blade flash, he hurriedly shouted, “It really is Zhang Zhiqiue! Although he is only a merchant by status, he has an exceptionally close relationship with the Crown Prince’s residence!”

This time, Ye Zhenghuang fully retracted her blade.

Hearing the words “Crown Prince,” a sudden, uncontrollable pang of pain pierced her heart.

Ye Zhenghuang frowned slightly. Why did she have this feeling?

In her past life, the only time she had felt such a sensation was when that scumbag Lou Qingshu pierced her heart with his sword.

But in this life, logically speaking, this Crown Prince—whom she had never met—should have no direct connection to her or the original owner of this body.

Though she couldn't make sense of it, her intuition told her that this definitely had something to do with the Crown Prince.

Could it be that the original owner of this body didn't love Chu Jinchen as deeply as the memories she had read suggested, but instead had some unknown connection to the Crown Prince?

Ye Zhenghuang was certain that the only thing capable of causing a young girl such heartache was the word “love.”

However, now was not the time to dwell on that.

Ye Zhenghuang crouched down, grabbed Li Hao’s chin, and forced his mouth open with a firm grip. She then dropped a black pill into his mouth and tilted his chin up, forcing him to swallow it.

As she let go and stepped back, Li Hao immediately began rolling on the ground in agony, his face twisted in pain. “What did you feed me?!”

Ye Zhenghuang gave a wicked smile, looking Li Hao up and down with a malicious glint in her eyes. “This is called ‘Nine-Month Poison.’ It won’t kill you immediately, but it will slowly torture you over nine months of different flare-ups, making you wish you were dead! In the first month, all the hair on your body will fall out. In the second month, your testicles will spontaneously explode, and from then on, you will lose the ability to enjoy the bed with your wives and concubines, losing your manhood entirely. In the third month, your skin will fester and emit such a foul stench that no one will be able to get near you…”

“As for the fourth, fifth, and sixth months… oh, it’s too disgusting, I won’t go into detail. You’ll find out when the time comes anyway. And in the end, your death will be absolutely miserable!” As she spoke, Ye Zhenghuang stared at a certain part of Li Hao’s anatomy with a look of feigned regret.

At this moment, Chu Jinchen took three steps back on his own accord, keeping his distance from Ye Zhenghuang with an indescribable expression.

He was worried that if he kept listening, he wouldn't just vomit; more dangerously, he might lose his own dignity.

How could there be such a stomach-churning poison…

Testicles spontaneously exploding—that was a nightmare no man would ever want to imagine!

“You’re lying! Everyone knows you’re just an ignorant, useless fool! How could you possibly know how to concoct poison!” Li Hao’s face was pale, and he gritted his teeth, accusing Ye Zhenghuang with a look of resentment, as if by deceiving himself, he could convince himself she was lying.

Even as he said this, Li Hao’s legs trembled as he squeezed them tightly together.

Though he refused to admit it, his body reacted honestly, terrified that his private parts might suddenly explode and splatter his own face with blood at any second…

Without a word, Ye Zhenghuang grabbed Li Hao’s left arm and rolled up his sleeve.

On his arm, nine black poison marks had appeared.

Li Hao’s eyes widened in terror as he stared at the marks that had appeared out of thin air; they hadn't been there before!

“‘Everyone knows’? Heh, there is much you don’t know about this Princess! You say I can’t concoct poison? Then tell me, in a small place like Wanshou Town, would there be high-grade poison like ‘Yuan-Dissipating Powder’ for sale? You’ve seen the nine poison marks; if you don’t believe me, just wait nine months to die a miserable death. Or rather, perhaps by the third month, you’ll be so rotten and foul-smelling that you won’t be able to go on living and will just kill yourself.”

Having said this with complete indifference, Ye Zhenghuang stood up.

Just then, Li Hao suddenly felt something rustling as it fell from his brow onto his legs.

When he looked down, he discovered it was a clump of black hair!

“Sigh, Huang’er, has your ‘Nine-Month Poison’ started to take effect? Why did General Li’s eyebrows suddenly fall out? Tsk, it seems it’s not just his eyebrows; his eyelashes have fallen out too!” Chu Jinchen stepped forward, looking at Li Hao in surprise.