Chapter 225: Chen Tao's Death
She was stunned for a moment, until Song Jiaoyue fell down beside her with a thud.
"Sir... Sir Song, Sir Song..." She discovered that he had sustained a heavy wound on his back. It looked to be a very long cut caused by a sharp blade. The fresh blood kept flowing. Bai Xiangxiu quickly held his head up and lightly probed to see whether he was still breathing. Only upon finding that he was still breathing did she relax. However, her heart still thumped wildly, as she was scared that he would never wake up ever again.
"Someone come! Hurry up to save Sir Song!" Someone jumped up after her shout, coming over to quickly take Song Jiaoyue downstairs. As they descended the stairs, they saw the gravely injured enemy soldiers. Amongst them, Chen Tao had the heaviest injuries. One of his legs was in tatters from the explosion. The grave injuries had made him pass out, and because of this unexpected attack, all of the enemy soldiers who had come with him had been captured, resulting in few casualties.
A soldier asked, "Madame Bai, how are we to handle these people?" Sir Song had led them here, but was unconscious. They could only ask Madame Bai. In their eyes, Madame Bai was a very smart woman as she always helped them with so much.
"Take them away and lock them up. Treat the ones with injuries. Don't let them die, otherwise we won't be able to get anything out of them.."
"What about him?" Everyone despised traitors, so the soldier kicked Chen Tao's leg as he spoke.
"Take care of his wounds too and send him to Prince Rong's residence. I wish to ask him about some matters."
"Understood."
As a result, Chen Tao was sent to Prince Rong's residence. She then went to check on Song Jiaoyue's condition. His wounds were severe, but they didn't seem to be fatal. He quickly came to when the physician bound his wounds.
"He was coming for you, so be careful," Song Jiaoyue said as he pulled Bai Xiangxiu close.
"Yes, I'll be careful. You should get better first. There's no need to worry about other things."
Song Jiaoyue had only woken up for a moment due to his agitated emotions, so he quickly fell back into slumber again. Bai Xiangxiu then went to Prince Rong's residence. She wanted to find out more about the other transmigrator's circumstances. Chen Tao didn't take long to wake up, but was thrown unceremoniously onto the ground. Bai Xiangxiu glared at him and coldly said, "I only have one thing to ask you. Who amongst you made the bomb? Is it a female or a male? What does he or she look like?"
"I want to see my wife and mother."
"Your current situation isn't looking too good." Prince Rong struck the table as he continued, "On the other hand, we can make you die slowly."
"I only want to see them. When the time comes, I... will tell you whatever you want to know," Chen Tao glanced at her. The women from that world were all very scary. She was from that place, and that woman was also from that place.
Prince Rong nodded and gave his consent. Bai Xiangxiu had someone bring in Chen Tao's wife. Chen Tao became very emotional as soon as he saw his wife. Never once had he thought about how important she was to him. "Mother of my child."
"My husband, is it really you?" She looked at him, almost as if looking at someone she didn't know.
"Wife, where's my mother?"
"After you betrayed the country, mother couldn't bear the gossip of the neighbors and the servants, so she died from illness."
"What? She... she died from sickness?" Chen Tao's heart spasmed with pain. He had never thought that his mother would die like that.
"Actually, she was angered to death by you," The lady still remembered the bitterness she'd faced after he had betrayed their nation, and what kinds of attacks they had suffered. After Chen Tao's mother had died from her anger, Chen Tao's children had cried as they asked their mother why people called them little traitors.
"Wife, help me take care of our children."
"I will. They're all surnamed Wu now," She kept her eyes on him even as they glistened with tears. Chen Tao's leg had begun to bleed again. His wife didn't wish for him suffer and fell to her knees, "Madame Bai, please save him. Even though he has done many evils, he is still my husband, and the father of my children."
Bai Xiangxiu glanced at Prince Rong. The physician he had brought here was also kneeling, "It's not that we won't save him, but that we have no way of saving him."
The lower half of his body had been completely savaged by the bomb. Even if they wanted to save him, they could no longer do so. "He isn't worth your pleading. Why do you still want to help a man who abandoned you?" Bai Xiangxiu sighed. Even though she couldn't overlook everything that had happened, she felt that it wasn't worth the lady's efforts.
"Ha, what do cold-hearted women like you even know about the three obediences and four virtues! One teaches women not to respect their husbands, while the other uses the lives of others to experiment with their bombs." Chen Tao was near delirious.
"Women? Are you saying that the person who helped that commander was a woman?" Bai Xiangxiu frowned. She might've been happy to find someone from the same world as her if it'd been a man. But according to novels, women who usually transmigrated were assassins, special agents, what not or another. And according to what he had said, this was no ordinary woman.
"That's right, she doesn't care about anyone's life. She's an extremely cold woman... but you're very different from her." He lightly coughed but quickly spewed out a mouthful of blood.
"What's her name?"
"Su... Su Yun," He couldn't hold on after saying this name and slowly drifted into unconsciousness.
"Wait a second! What does the Su Yun you speak of look like? Is she about 25 or 26 years old? Does she look like a daughter of an affluent family?" Bai Xiangxiu wanted to ask many questions, but she couldn't get anything more out of him.
Prince Rong instructed Bai Xiangxiu to move him to a room, allowing Chen Tao to spend time alone with his wife until evening came around. Prince Rong thought it strange that his godsister knew of this Su Yun's origin, but when he asked her for specifics, her face became puckered like she'd tasted bitter melon, no, as if she'd tasted the most bitter goldthread herb.
"Your Highness, may this concubine withdraw? My head hurts." It didn't just hurt a bit, it hurt quite a lot. Even though there were many people with the same name in the world, only Su Yun could accomplish something like this, unless it wasn't some sort of assassin or secret agent instead.
Su Yun came from true wealth. In the past, Bai Xiangxiu's family had done gardening work for a rich villa. She'd tagged along with her family and met the prideful, ruthless young miss Su Yun. At that time, she'd thought, if this person was to time travel to the ancient era, she would definitely become the female lead, because she's really too strong.
There was only one flaw; she had a serious Princess Syndrome. She would immediately pursue someone that she fell in love with, bashing her target over the head with money and her body. Bai Xiangxiu had a sharp looking coworker at that time who'd just turned twenty one. He was a poor child who had to make a living without having graduated from university. But Su Yun had fancied him. And at the time, that boy and Bai Xiangxiu had been a bit close.
Bai Xiangxiu had been subject to her mockery and ridicule for this reason alone. Su Yun would often make cracks about how Bai Xiangxiu's perfume was too cheap or wonder if she needed to gift Bai Xiangxiu some free samples from department stores. That or Bai Xiangxiu's clothes were too old and ragged, and whether Su Yun needed to find some old castaways for her. The Bai Xiangxiu at that time had been only average looking, so she'd been thoroughly defeated.
As for the sharp looking lad, Su Yun had successfully slept with him in the end. Bai Xiangxiu had been taking care of the lawn at the time, beneath a window just outside their room. Though she obviously saw Bai Xiangxiu, Su Yun didn't tone her activities down any. In fact, she purposely made her sounds much louder.