Doomed to be Cannon Fodder

“Your Highness, this servant really hadn’t done anything. Please...”

“Servants, chop off five of her toes first.” Long Heng didn’t waste his breath. He knew very well which part of the body would hurt the most when lacerated. But suddenly, a thought struck him. If he were to punish her while he was in the estate, wouldn’t her constant wailing cause rumors to spread? As the head of the household, nèe Bai would surely catch wind of this, to say nothing of anything else.

She was so extremely timid. Wouldn’t the rumors frighten her to death? Thus, when Sun Hong’er began to cry in horror, he immediately said, “Gag her.”

And so, Sun Hong’er’s mouth was stuffed until she couldn’t even let out a single sound when five of her toes were chopped off. How could a girl like her withstand this kind of pain? She fell into a dead faint almost immediately.

She still wanted to wail when she awoke later, but how could she have a chance to do so when she was still gagged?

Because she was afraid of pain, she’d initially planned on confessing and dying in a straightforward fashion. But she hadn’t expected that they would gag her, leaving her no chance to speak. Moreover, Long Heng intended to make her suffer more as well. So, before she could confess, he made sure to chop off her other five remaining toes.

Sun Hong’er was assaulted by extreme agony, as if her liver and gallbladder were torn apart from within. She dropped to her knees with a thud just before they were going to chop off her fingers. Only then did Long Heng finally gesture to have her gag removed.

Back in Winter Garden, Bai Xiangxiu had no idea all this was going on. She was still having the time of her life sleeping in bed.

When she woke up the next morning, she was immediately notified that one of the small workshops she’d made an agreement with had already shipped their merchandise. The rush job had been completed in record time, and ten or so pieces had been delivered to the estate. She inspected the merchandise personally and paid off the invoice after concluding that the workmanship was up to par. Although they had only sent over ten pieces of clothing, she still distributed them to the servants.

The servants who received the clothing felt that the clothing this year was very warm, and thanked the fourth madame with compliments before they took their leave.

Long Heng returned after he was finished with the matters at hand. On his way back, he noticed that the servants all had unusually happy expressions on their faces after they’d received their winter clothes. This was a rare sight. Isn’t it just some pieces of clothing? From his point of view, it didn’t seem like there was any difference between these pieces and the winter clothing of previous years.

He heard the conversation between Ye-mama and Bai Xiangxiu as soon as he went inside. The more he listened, the more he felt that Bai Xiangxiu was a very cute and kind-hearted person.

“Madame Xiu, you must’ve paid them with your own money this time. Otherwise, there’s no way that these cotton pieces could be as warm as this.”

“It was just a little bit of money.”

“It’s just clothing for servants. They’re not worth your money.”

“They’re people working for the prince’s estate. If they are kept warm, they will naturally work harder for the estate. Wouldn’t you say so, Ye-mama?” People in the past really enjoyed calling upon their ranks of seniority. And every time, Bai Xiangxiu was struck speechless for an instant.

Bai Xiangxiu felt like she was beginning to have more and more qualities of a white lotus flower, kind and beautiful on the outside, but scheming on the inside. However, she really didn’t like the hierarchy system where the servants were treated as lesser humans. The key person that everything revolved around was Long Heng. She didn’t know what he was currently doing either.

After getting wind of that incident yesterday, I wonder how he plans to handle it? Has he found the person who was trying to kill me yet? Someone walked in from the outside at this moment. To her surprise, it was none other than Prince Li, Long Heng. What had he come here for? This was the servant quarters, right?

As expected, everyone stood up. Bai Xiangxiu, sitting on the heated platform, stood up abruptly as well, but by doing so, she towered over everyone, twice as tall as the tallest person in the room. Feeling that this was a little inappropriate, she could only lower her body. However, sitting down wasn’t appropriate either. And so, in a panic, she decided to kneel on the heated platform.

The platform was different from a bed, since it was extremely hard. Therefore, abruptly kneeling like that on the platform was no different from abruptly kneeling on the floor, causing her to grimace in pain.

“Ouch...”

“You... There’s no need for such formalities.” Long Heng extended his hands to nonchalantly support her a little. There were too many people in the room, so it wasn’t too appropriate for him to hold her hand tightly and help her up. However, who would still dare stay in the room when such a situation was developing? They all backed out of the room one by one.

“Are you still not getting up?” Only when everyone had left the room did Long Heng come over to help her up. He put her arm around her and pulled her to the edge of the platform. Because of how petite Bai Xiangxiu was, that little impetus pushed her whole person to fall into his embrace. Her person was so soft and her body so very tender. Her fragrance rushed into his nose.

Falling into his embrace was like the straw on the camel’s back; it was as though something in his heart suddenly broke. He ferociously lifted her chin, and lowered his head to give her a kiss. The kiss could only be described as tyrannical. It bathed Bai Xiangxiu with all of the force behind his pent up desire, leaving her short of breath in just a few seconds. It was so powerful, she became somewhat delirious.

His strong hug and caring gesture tugged at her heartstrings. What do I do if my heart stops? My brain has lost the ability to think. What do I do? The only movement Bai Xiangxiu could make was to gently kick her legs, because the edge of the platform was making her very uncomfortable.

But Long Heng felt that such an action really suited his intentions. He lifted her, carrying her over to the center of the platform and gently lay her down. Then, he bent over and pinned her down.

Oh my god!

The group of servants who were still lingering outside the quarters were all very surprised by their master’s actions. They didn’t expect that their master would actually be this brash. At a place like this....

Could it be that the prince wants to do that to the fourth madame at this time of the day? How impatient is he?! Logically speaking, they should’ve gone inside the quarters to stop them. How could they let such a thing happen in the estate while the sun was still out? However, nobody was bold enough to go inside to stop them.

But while they didn’t dare to, others had to. Someone had come to report the arrival of Minister Lin just as the others were nervously standing around. Since Minister Lin had personally come by to pay a visit, the prince naturally had to greet him personally as well. Without much of a choice, Shu’er faced the room and called out, “Your Highness, Lin Shangshu asks to see you.”

Your father-in-law is here. Stop fooling around inside with your concubine. If Minister Lin were to get wind of this, he would surely faint with anger.

Long Heng froze for a second. He could clearly hear what was being said from the outside. But the beauty before his eyes had already captured his heart, even though he had yet to obtain her in her entirety. When he lifted his head to glance at Bai Xiangxiu’s face beneath him, he immediately felt his entire body tighten.

This girl is simply too mesmerizing! She was squinting slightly, a slightly intoxicated expression on her face. Her clothes were half undone, the sensuous picture an overwhelmingly seductive and tantalizing scene. He was actually a bit reluctant to let go of her, but his guest was already waiting outside, and it wouldn’t be good to make him wait.

“I’ll go meet him for a bit. You will return to Winter Garden to wait for me. Don’t busy yourself with other things.” Long Heng reluctantly got to his feet and tidied his clothes. While he was leaving the room, he saw that the girl was still lying on the platform, as though paralyzed.

He asked Xiao Shi to go in and tend to her mistress before he left. Then, feeling a little depressed, he hurried off to meet with the insidious Minister Lin, who was rumored to be extremely protective of his children. He was a person who would never investigate the truth no matter what his children had done. He would only blindly cover for them.

Some sort of emergency must have happened, or else Minister Lin would’ve never gotten off his high horse to personally come and call upon him. He had been busy circling around nèe Bai lately, so he hadn’t bothered with the Lin family. He hadn’t expected that trouble would rear its head yet again.

After seeing him in person, Long Heng noticed that Minister Lin must have had his own share of troubles lately. Hints of grey streaked his sideburns, and there were signs of dark circles under his eyes as well. He probably hadn’t slept well for the past few nights.

“Servants, pour some tea.” Long Heng was in an irritated mood since he’d been interrupted in the midst of his... act. He had to set aside his little beauty to come and meet this old man. No one would be in a good mood if they were put in his situation either.