Chapter 57: Now I No Longer Wish to Listen, Lord Zhang

“Bring that Beidi captive over.”

Dongfang Zhibai lifted his robe and sat down by the table.

Chu Si stuffed three bites of steamed bun into his mouth.

He waved to his men to bring out the Beidi prisoner from the neighboring cell.

The captive was thrown heavily before Zhang Huan.

The Beidi man was barely recognizable—his ears cut off, eyes gouged out, and both legs amputated at the knees. He could only curl up trembling in a corner.

Sensing someone nearby, the Beidi man shivered violently and scrambled on the ground.

He had revealed everything he knew during interrogation, but no one understood his words.

The men who questioned him were like demons—his ears were cut off and roasted to be fed back to him.

His eyes were gouged out; if he refused to eat them, his teeth would be knocked out one by one.

Now, all that remained was a broken body, gasping in terror within the darkness.

“Can’t interrogate properly, can’t even copy the answers? Treat Zhang Huan the same way as Chu Er did.”

Dongfang Zhibai sat leisurely aside, as if casually deciding what to eat today.

Chu Si gripped his dagger and stepped forward, the blade flashing—

“Shh—!”

A bloodied ear fell to the ground.

“Ugh—!”

Chu Si suddenly bent over and vomited up his breakfast.

Dongfang Zhibai frowned—Chu Si really was tall, but he had no stomach for this!

Chu Er was small but bold.

Chu Si was the opposite—big and strong, but scared like a rabbit.

A guard behind silently stepped forward, took the dagger, and swiftly cut off Zhang Huan’s other ear.

Zhang Huan struggled and screamed!

“Dongfang Zhibai, I swear, I’ll say everything!”

Tears streaming down his face, Zhang Huan wriggled desperately.

Dongfang Zhibai raised a hand and smiled, “Too late. I’m no longer interested in listening, Lord Zhang.”

Amid the screams, the bloody ear was thrown into the brazier—“sizzle”—the burnt flesh’s smell spread through the air.

The guard grabbed the half-cooked ear with iron tongs and forcefully shoved it into Zhang Huan’s mouth.

The other two men witnessing this immediately pissed themselves.

The stench of urine filled the cell.

Chu Si had just returned, saw the scene, and vomited again.

He covered his mouth and retched violently by the chamber pot.

The Beidi man kowtowed begging for mercy, the embroidered guard wet himself, Zhang Huan screamed like a ghost, and Chu Si vomited.

For a moment, the entire cell was deafening.

“Kill them!”

Dongfang Zhibai rubbed his temples and waved his hand coldly.

Just as the blade hovered over Zhang Huan’s neck, Zhang Huan suddenly shrieked, “The Emperor has invited the imperial advisor to trade his life for yours, on the fifteenth day, at the full moon...”

The blade halted abruptly.

Dongfang Zhibai waved his hand, signaling the guards to stop. He approached Zhang Huan and whispered, “The imperial advisor has long been discarded. How is he being reinstated?”

“It’s the Grand Princess. The Grand Princess told the Astronomical Bureau that the Ziwei star is weak and suggested consulting the imperial advisor to counter it.”

Zhang Huan trembled like a sieve, daring not to hide anything.

“The Grand Princess? I underestimated her.”

A cold gleam flashed in Dongfang Zhibai’s eyes. He waved for Chu Si to drag the other two away.

On their return, he casually beheaded the Beidi captive.

The prisoner babbled incoherently, and it was a waste of a bun every day.

“Master, I will send word to the Thirteenth immediately.”

Dongfang Zhibai nodded with satisfaction—finally, Chu Si was using his brain.

Zhang Huan breathed a sigh of relief, about to say he was saved, but the next moment Chu Si’s blade fell, severing his head.

Dongfang Zhibai twitched his mouth. “Why?”

“Master, didn’t your expression just imply this?”

Chu Si scratched his head, seeming to have misunderstood.

“No meals today!”

Dongfang Zhibai clenched his fists tightly, nearly fainting from anger.

His secret guards must never anger him.

“But I… I’ll be hungry…”

Chu Si lowered his head, dragging his feet.

“I said no meals, so no meals!”

Dongfang Zhibai snapped his sleeve angrily and strode out of the dungeon.

Chu Si arranged to have the bodies sent to the lady.

Ji Ci woke up to see two gruesome corpses placed at the door.

Had she not killed too many zombies during the apocalypse, she might have fainted from fright.

“Who! Put! These!”

Ji Ci’s voice pierced the courtyard. Chu Si immediately jumped out, looking like he came to claim a reward.

“Madam, it was me. Bai Yi said you liked collecting corpses. These were freshly killed this morning. I brought them here since you hadn’t woken yet, so I put them at your door.”

Ji Ci’s hands trembled. She desperately wanted to slap the foolish Chu Si away.

“Thanks!”

Chu Si smiled stupidly. “Just doing my duty.”

Chu Si left happily. Ji Ci stored the bodies in her spatial pocket.

Inside, Song Lecheng lay dead, body stiff, clutching a handful of grass at death.

Ji Ci snorted softly. She hadn’t yet planned how to torment Song Lecheng; this man was too disappointing and died prematurely.

Her eyes shifted to the mountain of bodies beside him, her mind racing.

She summoned Chu Si and had him find a patch of wasteland.

On ten acres of barren land, forty strong men dug deep pits.

Ji Ci waved for everyone to leave.

[Master, you seem like a big villain. Are you really going to farm with corpses?]

“It’s just farming, not harming heaven or earth.”

With a wave of her hand, the bodies lay neatly in the pits.

Another wave, and the surrounding soil was absorbed into the spatial pocket. In an instant, the earth covered the corpses.

Ji Ci stepped on the soil, her shoes covered in mud.

Persuaded by the system, she finally refrained from using corpses to farm.

In the apocalypse, bodies were buried to grow crops.

Here, such cruelty seemed too inhumane.

“Then I won’t farm. I’ll plant fruit trees here—one for each person—to let their souls rest.”

The system rolled its eyes: [Master, you’re just switching the concept. No farming, no trees either.]

“Why not trees? Even my great-grandfather’s grave is planted with trees.”

[Are they fruit trees?]

“Don’t care what kind, just tell me if it’s a tree!”

After bargaining with the system, it gifted Ji Ci fifty apple trees.

Diligent as a little bee, Ji Ci planted all fifty trees and thoughtfully watered them with spirit spring water.

The apple trees swayed in the wind, drinking deeply.

Ji Ci bounced happily back to the Xin residence.

On the way, Chu Si suddenly appeared, startling her into a scream.

“What are you doing! If you scare me again, I won’t forgive you!”

“Madam, I’m hungry.”

Chu Si looked pitiful, like an abandoned puppy.

“If you’re hungry, go eat.”

Ji Ci put her hands on her hips and pointed at him.

“My master forbids me from eating.”

His voice was even more pitiful.

“Why are you being punished?”

Dongfang Zhibai wouldn’t punish without reason.

After hearing the whole story, Ji Ci thought Chu Si deserved to be hungry.

But remembering Chu Si had worked all night, she told him to wait outside while she fiddled in the study, then bought a big pile of junk food.

“Come in.”

The table was piled with hamburgers, fries, and cola.

Chu Si’s eyes sparkled. “Madam, what is this?”

“Eat quickly, don’t ask questions. Don’t tell your master. If he finds out, neither of us will end well.”

As she finished speaking, Dongfang Zhibai pushed open the study door.

Ji Ci immediately stood up and stuffed a hamburger into Chu Si’s hand.