Her hair was cloud-like and beautiful! She opened her eyes and found herself back in the third year

Chapter 215 Zhang's Death

There was once a concubine of the emperor, Lady Qi, who relied on the emperor's favor to compete with the empress. When she lost power, she did not know how to bow her head and was eventually turned into a human pig by the empress dowager's wife.

Why is it called a human pig?

They chopped off a person's hands and feet, gouged out their eyes, poured copper into their ears to make them deaf, then poured in a drug to make them mute and cut off their tongue... Finally, they put them in a jar, making their lives worse than death.

Throughout history, torture has been a chilling spectacle.

Zhang dared to compare herself to Lady Qi, and Empress Dowager Cheng was naturally happy to grant her wish and let her be the second Lady Qi.

As for the eternal infamy, she was not afraid. Besides, as long as no one knew, it didn't exist. In this empty Chengen Marquis's mansion, who would know what she had encountered?

Zhang trembled, unable to continue her act any longer. Her gaze towards Empress Dowager Cheng gradually turned red, and a deep-seated hatred erupted from her. Her outstretched hand resembled a vicious claw, ready to grab her.

"Cheng Fuyao! Cheng Fuyao, you bitch! You bitch, you deserve to die a horrible death!"

Zhang lived a life of glory, but in her old age, her husband was paralyzed and bedridden, her son had no one to marry him, and she had no descendants. She even had to pound rice every day to make a living, and she herself suffered all kinds of humiliation.

"You'll die a horrible death! You'll die a horrible death!" Zhang rushed forward like a madwoman, but Empress Dowager Cheng sneered and kicked her away, sending her flying to the ground several feet away.

Zhang was old and had suffered a lot of torment over the years, so her health was very poor. When she was thrown like that, her bones were broken. She cried out in pain, her face contorted, and cold sweat poured down her forehead.

Cheng Shiyuan and Cheng Shiming wanted to go forward to help, but they glanced at Empress Dowager Cheng in fear and stood there, not daring to move.

Sometimes they even wished for Zhang to die, so that Empress Dowager Cheng could vent her anger and their lives would be better. Moreover, they thought that Zhang's life was better off ending with her death.

"If anyone is to meet a terrible end, it will surely be you." Empress Dowager Cheng lowered her head and looked at her hands. Her fingers were not as slender as those of pampered women. She had tilled the fields, managed household chores, practiced martial arts, wielded swords and spears, and even had her hands stained with blood...

But she never felt that she had done anything wrong. She returned what she had given back to her. What was wrong with that?

"I have come here today to tell you something personally. Your good nephew Zhang Hui colluded with the people of Xiliang to set fire to the market and frame the princess. Yesterday, the Zhang family was given poisoned wine."

Empress Dowager Cheng's voice was unhurried and gentle, like snowflakes falling lightly in the wind in winter.

There was a moment of deathly silence in the courtyard.

Cheng Shicheng and Shi Ming stared wide-eyed, their faces filled with fear and terror. Their bodies felt as if their bones had been removed, and they knelt on the ground with their legs weak.

The June sun blazed brightly, yet they felt a chill creeping into their very bones, threatening to engulf them.

Zhang was momentarily stunned, then her pupils contracted slowly, as if in disbelief: "Poison...poisoned wine..."

"Yes." Empress Dowager Cheng calmly watched Zhang's changing expression, her tone casual yet deadly. "The whole family, one cup each, this is only because I remember our acquaintance and will leave them with a whole body."

"It's a pity, though. The Zhang family is all dead, so there's no one to collect their bodies. The people from the mortuary can only clean them up and bury them in a mass grave. The dead cannot be brought back to life. Zhang, please accept my condolences."

She was once held down by Zhang's men and forced to watch helplessly as her mother died a horrible death. In the end, Zhang even smiled and said to her, "The dead cannot be brought back to life. Please accept my condolences."

Today, she returns those words to Zhang.

Zhang's breath hitched, her pupils widened, and she completely disregarded the pain from her broken bones: "This is impossible...this is impossible...Are you crazy? The Zhang family has so many members, even if you are the Empress Dowager, you couldn't just wipe them out like that, this can't be...you're lying to me, you're lying to me..."

Cheng Yan said, "Why would my elder sister lie to you? We never intended to take the lives of the Zhang family. It's just a pity that the Zhang family colluded with the people of Xiliang in order to make a comeback in Xiliang. They committed treason and rebellion, which is unforgivable. Giving the Zhang family a cup of poisoned wine to preserve their bodies is already an act of imperial grace."

"Mrs. Zhang, please accept my condolences."

This "please accept my condolences" is also ironic, after all, the brother and sister came today to kill him and destroy his spirit, to send the Cheng couple to their deaths.

Zhang was trembling all over. She was already very thin, and when she trembled, her bones were shaking.

"Ho...ho...you...you guys..."

“The Zhang family is gone. Your brothers who once protected you, your nephews, and even the younger generation—all your blood relatives—are gone from now on. Zhang family, you are the one who caused all of this.”

"If you hadn't harmed my mother, I wouldn't have been so heartless, the Zhang family wouldn't have ended up being hated by everyone, and they wouldn't have plotted rebellion to rise again, resulting in the extermination of the entire family."

"All evil is caused by you..."

All evil is caused by you...it's all your fault...

Zhang felt that the words kept echoing in her mind, making her head buzz and giving her a terrible headache.

She recalled a time when she was sixteen, in the prime of her youth. In March of that year, a newly appointed scholar rode by on horseback, and she immediately took a liking to the handsome and dashing Marquis Cheng'en.

She went boating on the lake with him, enjoying romantic moments under the moon and flowers, and they fell in love. Later, she was devastated to learn that he already had a wife, and she was overjoyed that he was willing to divorce his wife to marry her.

Therefore, when she suddenly learned that his ex-wife was pregnant with his child again, she felt an intense, deep-seated hatred...

She wanted Ming to suffer a fate worse than death, and she wanted Ming's children to suffer a fate worse than death as well...

As Zhang thought about it, her already thin and withered face became even more withered. Finally, she suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, lay on her back on the ground, and her eyes widened.

"No...it wasn't me...it wasn't me..."

No sooner had she finished speaking than Zhang died.

I was so angry I died.

"Mother!" Cheng Shiming's face changed drastically. He ran and scrambled forward, only to find Zhang Shi with wide eyes, trembling as she reached out to check her breath, only to discover that she was no longer breathing.

"Mother! Mother!"

"Mother, what's wrong?!"

Cheng Shiyuan shuddered, his face turning deathly pale.

Empress Dowager Cheng glanced at him: "Aren't you going to see your mother?"

Cheng Shiyuan gritted his teeth and said, "Elder sister, Mother deserves what she has done and is not worthy of pity. Elder sister, now that the culprit is dead, shouldn't we put an end to the past grievances?"

"I may have made mistakes in the past, but they don't deserve to die, elder sister..."